Rome and the Eastern Churches

Aidan Nichols, a Dominican theologian, presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the history of ties between Rome and all divided Eastern Christians in this new version of his seminal book.

Events in Eastern Europe at the end of the twentieth century, such as the conflict between Orthodox and Uniate Churches in the Ukraine and Rumania, tension between Rome and the Moscow patriarchate over the re-establishment of a Catholic hierarchy in the Russian Federation, and civil war in the then federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, brought attention to the fragile relations between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, which once had been two parts of a single C. A papal visit to Russia, which would represent a significant symbolic advance in the "healing of memories," seems to be a serious possibility for the first time in the twenty-first century, under the papacy of Benedict XVI.

The Assyrian (Nestorian) and Oriental Orthodox (Monophysite) Churches, two smaller but no less important Christian lineages than Rome, are also dissected. The book also includes a history of the Eastern Catholic Churches and an analysis of their current state, information that Western Catholics were urged to learn more about at the Second Vatican Council and following synods and popes.

This insightful and provocative book details the recent efforts made by the Ecumenical Movement to heal these schisms and provides a sobering assessment of the challenges (theological and political) that any such reunion would face.