Update:
Doh! He was an Orthodox. So, being a member of the wrong church, couldn't be saved.
"...so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church." (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)
Heh.
They really hate that.
Patriarch Kirill did not mention directly Sysoyev's work among Muslims, and warned against jumping to rash conclusions.
ReplyDelete"For now the names of the criminals are not known, and I ask all to refrain from any hasty accusations or sharp judgments against particular persons or groups," Kirill said. He called on clergy and laity "not to forget that we are called by God to preserve peace among ourselves".
Russian religious leaders and political officials, including President Dmitry Medvedev, have spoken in recent months of Russia's unique religious harmony.
Yup. Sure sounds like you have a unique sort of religious harmony there.
Thanks for the link, Hilary. By the way, I'm on my way to Rome right now (on layover at Dulles International in DC). This time, another Brother is with me. Maybe we'll see you at the Mass at Santa Trinita dei Pellegrini?
ReplyDeleteGod bless you.
Oh hey! I remember you.
ReplyDeleteCool. Look forward to seeing y'all.
Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. All the categorical strength and point of this aphorism lies in its tautology. Outside the Church there is no salvation, because salvation is the Church" (G. Florovsky, "Sobornost: the Catholicity of the Church", in The Church of God, p. 53).
ReplyDeleteDoes it therefore follow that anyone who is not visibly within the Church is necessarily damned? Of course not; still less does it follow that everyone who is visibly within the Church is necessarily saved. As Augustine wisely remarked: "How many sheep there are without, how many wolves within!" (Homilies on John, 45, 12) While there is no division between a "visible" and an "invisible Church", yet there may be members of the Church who are not visibly such, but whose membership is known to God alone. If anyone is saved, he must in some sense be a member of the Church; in what sense, we cannot always say.
So the pope meant outside of salvation there is no salvation?
ReplyDeleteIf it really is tautological, then the other claim above, "...still less does it follow that everyone who is visibly within the Church is necessarily saved" must mean, "...still less does it follow that everyone who is visibly within salvation is necessarily saved."
Contradiction?
Granted, the statement: "..yet there may be members of the Church who are not visibly such, but whose membership is known to God alone." is plausible enough, but if such folks really are saved in a way known only to God, then how can there be any grounds for claiming God fails to offer them the Catholic Faith (without which, the Athanasian Creed tells us, it is impossible to please God)? Perhaps this happens at the moment of death and invisible to others. And maybe God offers unbaptized men of goodwill baptism. Why not? It would be better to ignore fallible opinions than subordinate infallible statements to them.
Perhaps this blogger got it wrong about this priest, but that doesn't mean she got it wrong about this pope.
By the way,
ReplyDeleteA father of three risking his life by trying to convert Muslims probably doesn't subscribe to G. Florovsky's opinions either.
Billy,
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that if I were founding a religious order, or a religion for that matter, one of my requirements for entry would be that they have to get the joke.
Plodding earnestness would get you blackballed immediately.
God may love a bore, but no one should be expected to live with one.
ive been a loyal reader, but im not sure if theres supposed to be anythin funny about the murder of a priest in his own church
ReplyDeleteYou're just not getting it, George.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry jorge, I'm sure it was my usual grim humourless laugh.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's true the guy probably is in heaven and has had the last laugh.
Wow Jorge, you rated a direct address! I had been a loyal reader of this blog for a while too (I thought it was because I found it hilarious, it turns out though
ReplyDeleteI don't get jokes after all.) but recently learned that bores like me ought to be tolerated by God alone.