What if a Pope became Orthodox?

Posted on 10/14/06 in Church of Greece, Education, Europe - West, Greek history, Orthodox Christianity
Reference Address: http://www.ellopos.com/blog/?p=106

Let us suppose that a Pope suddenly decides to become Orthodox and to bring all the Catholics to Orthodoxy. With that outward change would even one of the millions of Catholics really become Orthodox? And even if they all had the best disposition to memorize and believe all the doctrines of Orthodoxy, they would not be able to take even one step towards her, because Orthodoxy is not only a system of doctrines or a series of customs, but something much deeper and substantial. It is a whole orientation of life and thought. Orthodoxy is a spirit, the spirit of Tradition, which cannot be acquired from books but is transmitted from the living to the living, from father to son, mother to daughter, brother to brother, friend to friend, priest to priest, monk to monk, from spiritual father to spiritual child, «not by means of ink and paper, but from mouth to mouth», from soul to soul. And all this within the life of the Holy Mysteries of the Church, within the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit, with the passing of time, little by little, with the slow development of an organism… - Complete text