Orthodox and Roman Catholic relations

Hippolytus of Rome, bishop and martyr and last of the Greek-speaking fathers in Rome, writes Refutation of All Heresies (Philosophumena), and Apostolic Tradition.

Cyprian of Carthage rejects Pope Stephen I's ruling on the Donatist controversy.

First use of papal title Pontifex Maximus, as Emperor Gratian relinquishes the former pagan imperial religious title and bestows it on Pope Damasus I of Rome.

Series of correspondences between Augustine of Hippo and Jerome, where Augustine maintains the validity of the Septuagint, while Jerome favours the Hebrew (Rabinnical) Bible which becomes the OT basis for the Latin Vulgate.

Pope Leo I wrote to the bishops of Sicily, rebuking them for permitting baptism at Epiphany, as the Greeks did, and ordering them to observe the Roman custom of baptizing on Easter and Whitsunday.

Fourth Ecumenical Council notes that Rome's primacy is because it was "the imperial city"; Tome of Pope St. Leo I endorsed by Council after review.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire as Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman emperor, is deposed by the German Odoacer, leaving the emperor in the Greek East as the sole imperial authority, and an unstable political environment in the West where the Church of Rome slowly developed a centralized structure, concentrating religious as well as secular authority in the office of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome.

The Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine domination of the papacy from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for episcopal consecration, and many popes were chosen from the apocrisiarii (liaisons from the pope to the emperor) or the inhabitants of Byzantine Greece, Byzantine Syria, or Byzantine Sicily. Justinian I conquered the Italian peninsula in the Gothic War (535–554) and appointed the next three popes, a practice that would be continued by his successors and later be delegated to the Exarchate of Ravenna.

With the exception of Pope Martin I, no pope during this period questioned the authority of the Byzantine monarch to confirm the election of the bishop of Rome before consecration could occur; however, theological conflicts were common between pope and emperor in the areas such as monotheletism and iconoclasm.

Greek speakers from Greece, Syria, and Byzantine Sicily replaced members of the powerful Roman nobles in the papal chair during this period. Rome under the Greek popes constituted a "melting pot" of Western and Eastern Christian traditions, reflected in art as well as liturgy.

The island of Sicily passed to the Greek rite during the six years when Constans II made Syracuse his residence and the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

The Pentarchy form of government of universal Christendom by five patriarchal sees received formal ecclesiastical sanction at the Council in Trullo, held in Constantinople, which ranked the five sees as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.

Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian transfers the territories of Southern Italy (Sicily and Calabria), Greece, and the Aegean away from the jurisdiction of the Pope to that of the Ecumenical Patriarch in response to Pope St. Gregory III of Rome's support of a revolt in Italy against iconoclasm, in effect throwing the Papacy out of the Empire.

Forging of the Donation of Constantine, a false document claiming to be from St. Constantine granting universal secular power to the Pope and his successors.

Pope Leo III forbids addition of Filioque to Creed and has original Creed in both Greek and Latin inscribed on silver tablets displayed in Rome.

Council in Constantinople (endorsed by papacy) reinstates St. Photius and anathematizes any changes to Nicene Creed, including the Filioque.

Mieszko I, the first historical ruler of Poland, accepts Baptism, after marrying the Christian princess Dobrawa in 965, who as a Czech, had strong Orthodox connections.

After the repose of Pope John XV (985-996), the Frankish King Otto III installs his cousin Bruno of Carinthia as Pope Gregory V (996–999), the first German (non-Roman) Pope, marking the point at which the Roman papacy is converted to a Frankish organization.

Patriarch Sergius II of Constantinople removes name of Pope Sergius IV from the diptychs of Constantinople.

First use of Filioque by Pope of Rome, at coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Henry II.

At a Council of Pavia, Pope Benedict VIII officially reaffirmed the celibacy of the clergy (first documented at the Synod of Elvira in Spain, ca. 306 AD), banning marriages and concubines for priests.

Excommunication of Ecumenical Patriarch Michael Cerularius by Cardinal Humbertus, papal legate, the conventional date point of the Great Schism. Michael returns the favor by excommunicating the Pope (who had died, rendering his legate's authority null).

Invasion of England by Duke William of Normandy, carrying papal banner and with papal blessing as a crusade against the "erring English church," engineered by Hildebrand, archdeacon of Rome.

Hildebrand becomes Pope Gregory VII and institutes Gregorian Reforms, the largest increase of papal power in history, including the claim to be able to depose secular rulers.

Council of Burgos reorganizes national Church of Spain as Roman Archbishopric, replaces use of Mozarabic rite with Roman. Sentences Bishops who refuse to recognize decrees to imprisonment.

Abp. Anselm of Canterbury completes Cur Deus Homo, marking a radical divergence of Western theology of the atonement from that of the East.

Pope Innocent II declared all priestly marriages annulled and declared clerical celibacy the rule for all Roman Catholic priests from that day forward (Second Lateran Council, canons 6 and 7).

Saladin retakes Jerusalem after destroying crusader army at Battle of Hattin, and returns Christian holy places to the Orthodox Church.

Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople; Crusaders set up Latin Empire and Patriarchate of Constantinople (lasting until 1261).

The Byzantines recover Thessaloniki and surrounding area, liberated by the Greek ruler of Epirus Theodore Ducas Comnenus.

Delegates of the two churches met first at Nicaea and then at Nymphaeum (Asia Minor), negotiating the issues related to the union of the Churches, including dogmatic issues, however the dialogue came to a dead end.

Pope Gregory IX issued a crusading bull authorizing a crusade against the Byzantines under Emperor John Vatatzes, on the occasion of the joint Byzantine-Bulgarian siege of Latin Constantinople.

Byzantines defeat Latin Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, marking the beginning of the Byzantine recovery of Greece.

Martyrdom by Latins of monks of Iveron Monastery.

End of Latin occupation of Constantinople and restoration of Orthodox patriarchs; Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos makes Mystras seat of the new Despotate of Morea, where a Byzantine renaissance occurred; Pope Urban IV endeavoured without success to stir up a crusade to restore the Latin Empire of Constantinople.

Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas writes Contra Errores Graecorum (Against the Errors of the Greeks).

Orthodox patriarch returns to Antioch after a 171-year exile and usurpation by Latin patriarch.

Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, excommunicating Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Greeks and renouncing the union of 1274; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year due to the Sicilian Vespers.

Death of 26 martyrs of Zographou monastery on Mount Athos, martyred by the Latins.

Councils in Constantinople vindicate Palamite theology of hesychasm against Barlaamist philosophy.

Council of Constance ends Western "Great Schism;" this council emphasized the Conciliar Movement over the authority of the pope.

The 13th Session of the Council of Constance (June 15, 1415) decreed that the administering of the Eucharist in Both Kinds to the Laity was to be forbidden, and that the Laity should receive the Eucharist under one kind only, that of the Bread, even though the Council itself noted that: "Christ instituted and administered to his disciples this venerable sacrament under both kinds of bread and wine; and that it was received by the faithful in the primitive church under both kinds."

Council of Siena in the Roman Catholic Church was the high point of conciliarism, emphasizing the leadership of the bishops gathered in council, but the conciliarism expressed there was later branded as a heresy.

Nicolas of Cusa writes his major work on church government, The Catholic Concordance (De concordantia catholica), a manifesto of conciliarism, advancing the notion of a constitutional papacy subject to the authority of a council representative of the different parts of Christendom, balancing hierarchy with consent.

Council of Florence fails to force Orthodox capitulation to papacy and confesses Purgatory as dogma; St. Mark of Ephesus courageously defended Orthodoxy at the Council of Florence, being the only Eastern bishop to refuse to sign the decrees of the council, regarded as a Pillar of Orthodoxy by the Church.

Unification of Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in the cathedral of Hagia Sophia on December 12, five months before the city fell, on the West's terms, when Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, under pressure from Rome, allows the union to be proclaimed by the former Metropolitan of Kiev Isidore (who had participated in the Council of Florence and was now a cardinal in the Roman Catholic church) who read the solemn promulgation of union and celebrated the union liturgy, including the name of the pope, arousing the greatest agitation among the population of the city.

Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks; numerous Greek scholars flee to West, triggering European Renaissance.

Greek scholar and pro-unionist Basilios Bessarion, formerly an Orthodox Metropolitan, later becoming a Roman Catholic Cardinal, is given the purely ceremonial title of Latin Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Pius II.

Decrees of the Council of Ferrara-Florence repudiated by Patriarchate of Contantinople; martyrdom of Isidore of Yuriev and 72 companions for refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism.

The Greek Orthodox Church of Saints Peter and Paul is founded in Naples, Italy, to serve the needs of Orthodox faithful who became refugees after the Fall of Constantinople.

The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George in Venice is founded in Venice Italy (completed in 1573), to serve the needs of Orthodox faithful in the West.

Pope Pius V recognizes four Great Doctors of the Eastern Church, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Athanasius.

Union of Lublin unites Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, placing the Ruthenian Orthodox lands of Belarus, and modern Ukraine under direct Roman Catholic rule.

Pope Gregory XIII establishes Congregation for the Greeks, a committee of cardinals who addressed issues relating to the Greeks in southern Italy and Sicily in the hope of resolving tensions between Greeks and Latins.

Pope Gregory XIII establishes Pontifical Greek College of St. Athanasius (popularly known as the 'Greek College') in Rome, which he charged with educating Italo-Byzantine clerics.

Union of Brest-Litovsk, creation of the Unia (Eastern/Byzantine/Greek Catholics); after initially having supported rapproachement with Rome, Bp. Hedeon (Balaban) of Lviv opposed the Union of Brest until his death.

Death of Nicephorus, the Protosyngellos of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who had supported the Orthodox synod at Brest (against the Uniate synod), and was sentenced to prison by the high court of Poland on charges of espionage.

Council of Moscow presided over by Patr. Philaret of Moscow insisted that only Orthodox Baptism by triple immersion was valid, and that all Latin converts had to be rebaptized.

Death of turbulent Uniate Bp. Josaphat Kuntsevych who openly persecuted the Orthodox to such a degree that he was even rebuked by the Lithuanian chancellor Leo Sapiega, the representative of the Polish king himself.

Ethiopian emperor Fasilides expels Jesuits and other Roman Catholic missionaries from Ethiopia.

Union of Uzhhorod joins 63 Ruthenian Orthodox priests from the Carpathian Mountains to Roman Catholic Church on terms similar to Union of Brest.

Martyrdom of Igumen Athanasius of Brest-Litovsk due to his very strong opposition to the Union of Brest.

French Roman Catholic nun Margaret Mary Alacoque promoted devotion to the Cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form.

Synod of Jerusalem convened by Patr. Dositheos Notaras, refuting article by article the Calvinistic confession of Cyril Lucaris, defining Orthodoxy relative to Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, and defining the Orthodox Biblical canon; acts of this council are later signed by all five patriarchates (including Russia).

On October 15, 1724 Roman Catholic Bp. Dominique (Varlet) of Baghdad consecrated the first dissident bishop of Utrecht, Bp. Cornelius van Steenhoven (elected in 1723), as the Church of Holland, (or Church of Utrecht) broke with Rome under its own archbishop and hierarchy, becoming the mother church of the Old Catholic Churches.

Synod of Constantinople declares Roman Catholic baptism invalid and ordered baptism of converts from Roman Catholicism.

Suppression of the Jesuits in Roman Catholic countries, subsequently finding refuge in Orthodox nations, particularly in Russia.

Death of New Hieromartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles Kosmas Aitolos, who prophecied that Christians should condemn the position of the Pope since he will be the root of many catastrophes: "You should curse the Pope, because he will be the cause of harm."

Patriarch Anthimus of Jerusalem contended in the Paternal Teaching (Dhidhaskalia Patriki) that the Ottoman Empire was part of the Divine Dispensation granted by God to protect Orthodoxy from the taint of Roman Catholicism and of Western secularism and irreligion.

Slavophile movement co-founded by Alexei Khomiakov and Ivan Kireyevsky in Russia, drawing on the works of Greek patristics, Russian poets and literary critics to reinforce Orthodox Christian values and Slavic cultural traditions, denouncing "westernizations" by Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, and stressing Russian mysticism over Western rationalism.

Council of Constantinople held, attended by Patriarchs Gregory VI of Constantinople and Athanasius V of Jerusalem, whose main theme was the Unia, and the extermination of Latin dogmas and usages, in particular Absolution Certificates.

Russian diplomat Ivan Sergeyevich Gagarin converted to the Roman Catholic Church and joined the Jesuit Order, becoming dedicated to union between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs sent by the primates and synods of the four ancient patriarchates of the Orthodox Church, condemning the Filioque as heresy, declaring the Roman Catholic Church to be heretical, schismatic, and in apostasy, repudiating Ultramontanism and referring to the Photian Council of 879-880 as the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."

Crimean War is fought between Russia on the one hand, and the Ottoman Empire, Britain, France, and (later) Sardinia on the other, ostensibly over which church would be recognized as the "sovereign authority" of the Christian faith in the Holy Land, and over Russia's claim of protection over the Greek Christians in the Turkish Empire; the French Catholic Abp. of Paris Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour pronounded that this was a holy war against the Orthodox.

J.P. Migne produces the Patrologia Graeca in 161 volumes, including both the Eastern Fathers and those Western authors who wrote before Latin became predominant in the Western Church in the 3rd century.

Abbé Vladimir Guettée, a French Roman Catholic priest who converted to the Orthodox Church, writes "The Papacy: Its Historic Origin and Primitve Relations with the Eastern Churches", a strong criticism of the Papacy.

Uniate diocese of Chelm in modern day Poland incorporated into Russian Orthodox Church under Alexander II, with all of the local Uniates converted to Orthodoxy.

Roman Catholic priest Fr. Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares (Julius of Goa) and hundreds of Goan Catholic families (approximately 5000 Roman Catholics) left the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman and joined the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as the Independent Catholic Church of Ceylon, Goa and India, with Fr. Antonio being ordained as the first (Latin-Rite) Oriental-Orthodox Metropolitan of Goa-Ceylon (1889-1923).

Pope Leo XIII issues Orientalium Dignitas, a papal encyclical concerning the Eastern Catholic Churches including a prohibition aganist Latinizing influences among Eastern Catholics

Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae (on the Reunion of Christendom), an Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIII promulgated on June 20, called for the reunion of Eastern and Western churches into the "Unity of the Faith", while also condemning Freemasonry; criticized by Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus VII in 1895.

Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch Anthimus VII, and attended by 13 bishops, condemns all the Franco-Latin heresies, including the new false dogma of the so-called Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary by St. Anne, and the blasphemous teaching that the pope is supposedly infallible and undeposable.

English Roman Catholic priest and Byzantine scholar Dr. Adrian Fortescue writes The Orthodox Eastern Church, written to teach Roman Catholics and people in the West about the Orthodox Church.

The "St. Sophia Redemption Committee" is formed in Britain after the Armistice, whose members included two future Foreign Secretaries and many prominent public figures, seeking to restore Hagia Sophia into an Orthodox Church (1918-1922);[21] Roman Catholic opposition to the St Sophia Redemption Committee included Msgr. Manuel Bidwell (Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Westminster) who was on the initial committee, Roman Catholic British MP Sir Stuart Coats also on the committee, Cardinal Pietro Gasparri the Papal Secretary of State, and the Vatican who wished to block Hagia Sophia from becoming a Greek Orthodox Church again according to the Grand Vizier of Constantinople who had an offer of Papal support.

Pope Pius XI proclaimed the controversial Uniate Bp. Josaphat Kuntsevych a "hieromartyr" on the 300th anniversary of his death, in the encyclical Ecclesiam Dei (The Church of God).

Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky (Warsaw) is demolished by Polish authorities less than 15 years after its construction.

Concordat of 1925 between Poland and the Holy See included recognition of the Uniate Church in Poland.

Pope Pius XI decides to attempt the establishment of a provisional hierarchy for the Roman Catholic Church without the knowledge of the Soviet government.

French Jesuit scholar and Roman Catholic bishop Michel d'Herbigny receives episcopal ordination in secret and behind closed doors from Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) in the failed attempt to establish a clandestine hierarchy for the Catholic Church in the Soviet Union during the religious persecutions of the 1920s.

The Benedictine monastery Chevetogne Abbey is founded in Belgium, dedicated to Christian unity, being a ‘double rite’ monastery having both Western (Latin rite) and Eastern (Byzantine rite) churches holding services every day.

the Society of St. John Chrysostom is founded to promote awareness and friendship in the Christian West for Christians of the East, through prayer and liturgy, conferences and lectures, and praying for the unity of the Churches of East and West

Papacy and the Kingdom of Italy ratify the Lateran Treaty, recognizing sovereignty of Papacy within the new state of the Vatican City, bringing to an end the so-called "Roman Question".

Papal Bull "Cum data fuerit" regulates Uniate clergy in the US, mandating celibacy, resulting in the return of several parishes back to Orthodoxy in 1938.

Russicum (Russian College or 'College of St. Therese') founded in Vatican City by Pope Pius XI and run by the Jesuits

A Pan-Orthodox Consultation in Mount Athos concluded that the only possible relations on the part of the Orthodox toward the Roman Catholics was "Relations of defense on the part of the Orthodox toward Roman Catholic Proselytism."

Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Divini Redemptoris, condemning Communism and the Soviet regime.

the Serbian Orthodox Church led by Patr. Varnava (Rosic) of Serbia and Bp. Nikolai Velimirovic fiercely resisted the attempt by the government of Yugoslavian Prime Minister Milan Stojadinović to implement a Concordat with the Vatican, which would have virtually established the Roman Catholic Church in Yugoslavia and granted it privileges denied to the Orthodox Church, resulting in the proposal never being ratified.

American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese founded, when a group of 37 Carpatho-Russian Eastern Catholic parishes, under the leadership of Fr. Orestes Chornock, were received into the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In the Volhynia region of modern day Western Ukraine, by 1938 the Polish government had overseen the destruction of 190 Orthodox churches and converted a further 150 churches to Roman Rite Catholicism, despite its Ukrainian majority, and despite Pope Leo XIII's encycical Orientalium Dignitas of 1894; the few Orthodox churches that were permitted to stay open were forced to use the Polish language in their liturgies.

The last remaining Orthodox Church in Lutsk, the Volhynian capital was converted by Polish State decree to Roman Rite Catholicism.

Croatian Ustasa terrorists, part of whose ideology included Roman Catholic Clericalist Fundamentalism, kill 500,000 Orthodox Serbs, expel 250,000 and force 250,000 to convert to Catholicism; the Orthodox in Croatia were forced to wear the Cyrillic letter "P" for Provoslavets, or Orthodox, like the Jews who were forced to wear the Star of David during World War II; martyrdom of Bp. Sava of Gornji Karlovac, and Fr. Djordje Bogic.

Hundreds of Orthodox priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church eliminated, tortured and drowned by Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists - Ukrainian Rebel Army, aided by Uniate Metr. Josyf Slipyj who was a spiritual leader of Nazi military units that were later condemned by the Nuremberg tribunal, and who was imprisoned by Soviet authorities for aiding the UPA.

Zenith of the Papist persecution in Poland against Orthodox faithful in the region of Helm and Podlaskia - Holy Poles martyred by the Papists.

Croatian Roman Catholic Abp. of Zagreb Aloysius Stepinac is tried and found guilty of collaboration with the fascist Ustaše movement and complicity in allowing the forced conversions of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism.

state-sponsored synod held in Lviv Ukraine dissolves the Union of Brest-Litovsk and integrates the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church into the Russian Orthodox Church, with Soviet authorities arresting resisters or deporting them to Siberia.

Death of Alexei Kabalyiuk, Apostle of Carpatho-Russia, who played a major role in reviving Orthodoxy in Transcarpathia in the early 20th century.

Papal Decree against Communism by Pope Pius XII excommunicates all Catholics collaborating in communist organizations.

Ecumenical Patr. Athenagoras officially visited, for the first time in the last one thousand years, the Papal representative in Constantinople, who returned the visit.

Pope John XXIII and Ecumenical Patr. Athenagoras exchanged formal letters calling for peace among the Christian churches.

Vatican II institutes major reforms, especially liturgical, into Roman Catholic Church; Patr. Maximos IV Sayegh of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church urged reconciliation between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, spoke forcefully against the Latinization of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and championed the Eastern tradition of Christianity, winning a great deal of respect from Eastern Orthodox observers at the council and the approbation of the Ec. Patr. Athenagoras I.

The secretive Metz Accord is made between the Holy See and the U.S.S.R. (attended by Metr. Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad) at Metz, France, on 13 August 1962, renewing the previous pacts of 1942 and 1944 concerning the Vatican's Ostpolitik, by which Eastern Orthodox participation in the Second Vatican Council was authorized in exchange for a non-condemnation of atheistic communism during the conciliar assemblies.

Pope Paul VI announced the relaxation of the Roman Catholic ban on cremation in a confidential letter to bishops and issued his Instruction on 5 July, 1963

The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation is founded, meeting twice yearly

Pope Paul VI continued John XXIII's policy of dialogue with Soviet leaders in order to reduce persecutions against local Christians (Ostpolitik policy), receiving Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and USSR President Nikolai Podgorny; however while the Soviet officials considered themselves calling on the pope as the head of the Vatican City State, the Vatican announced the visit as made to the Holy Father as supreme pastor of the Holy See.

Translation of the sacred relics of the Holy Apostle Titus of Crete, from Venice (which took them in 1669), back to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Crete.

Visit to Patriarchate of Alexandria by Vatican representatives, who give Patr. Nicholas VI a part of the relics of St Mark from Venice, on behalf of Pope Paul VI.

The Centro Pro Unione center is founded by the Society of the Atonement (Graymoor Friars and Sisters) as an ecumenical research and action center.

The new Roman Missal Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani or General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) is issued, indicating a preference for the liturgical orientation in which the priest celebrates the Liturgy "Versus Populum" ("towards the people"), rather than "Ad Orientem" ("towards the east"), becoming the new pattern worldwide in Roman Catholic parishes.

Through the efforts of Metr. Panteleimon (Chrysofakis) of Thessalonica, the sacred relics St. David of Thessalonica were triumphantly returned to Thessaloniki from Milan, Italy, after having been taken by Crusaders in 1236 AD.

Pope John Paul II called the first officially recognized synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), presided over by controversial wartime Metr. (now Cardinal) Josyf Slipyj.

Extraordinary Joint Conference of the Sacred Community of Mount Athos, April 9-22, resolved publicly to state the opinion of the Athonite fathers on the subject of dialogue with the heterodox

Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission publishes in Munich first official common document, "The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in Light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity."

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) issues The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church, where he caricatures all Eastern Orthodox Churches as doctrinally "static" and "petrified as it were."

Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission in Bari issues common document "Faith, Sacraments and the Unity of the Church."

Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission in Valamo publishes common document "The Sacrament of Order in the Sacramental Structure of the Church"

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) publishes "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation," where he rehearses historical heretical arguments against hesychasm (in sections 26-28), caricaturing hesychasm as a "psychological-corporal method" with numerous inherent dangers.

The Soviet Union and Holy See established official relations 15 March 1990.

Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Balamand, Lebanon, issuing common document "Uniatism: Method of Union of the Past, and Present. Search for Full Communion" (the "Balamand document"); the Balamand Document declared that what has been called "uniatism" "can no longer be accepted either as a method to be followed nor as a model of the unity our Churches are seeking".

Pope John Paul II issues Encyclical Ut Unum Sint ("That they may be one") on May 25, reiterating that unity of these two sui juris churches is essential (as well as further dialogue with the Protestant churches), showing that the Roman Catholic Church is officially moved to unity.

Beginning of the annual series of Orientale Lumen Conferences, a grassroots movement among lay persons and clergy providing a common forum for Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholics and Roman Catholics to meet and learn about eachother's traditions; "Orientale Lumen I" is held in Washington D.C.

Pope John Paul II beatified Zagreb's controversial wartime Abp. and later Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac.

Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Baltimore, but is suspended after an acrimonious meeting, in particular due to the issues of papal primacy and the role of Eastern Catholic Churches, with the Commission not resuming again for six years

in view of the celebration of the Roman Catholic Great Jubilee year (Jubilaeum), on Sunday March 12 in his "Day of Pardon" homily Pope John Paul II formally asked forgiveness for the various sins committed by the Roman Catholic Church over the last two millennia.

Pope John Paul II goes on a controversial visit to Ukraine during which he was fiercely opposed by that country's largest Orthodox Church, where he beatified 28 Greek Catholics, including 27 martyrs, most of whom were killed by the Soviet secret police

Pope John Paul II apologizes to Orthodox for Fourth Crusade, on the first trip to Greece by a Pope since AD 710; a day earlier some 1,000 Orthodox conservatives took to the streets to denounce his visit.

Patr. Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople and Pope John Paul II co-sign Venice Declaration of Environmental Ethics.

Problem of Vatican proselytism is highlighted in its decision to upgrade its four Apostolic Administrations in Moscow, Saratov, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk to fully fledged Diocese status, and elevate the former Apostolic Administrator, Msgr. Tadeusz Kondrusiwicz, to Metr.-Abp. of Moscow, drawing a storm of protest from Patr. Alexei II and the Holy Synod of Russia who described the move as "unfriendly" claiming the Roman Catholic Church saw Russia as a field for missionary activity.

Holy Synod of the Church of Poland canonizes the Holy Polish Saints and Martyrs of the eparchy of Helm and Podlaskia, martyred by the Papists during the zenith of the persecutions in 1944.

Return of relics of Ss. John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian to Constantinople from Rome (after having been stolen by Crusaders).

the Saint Irenaeus Joint Orthodox-Catholic Working Group is established at Paderborn (Germany), composed of 26 theologians, 13 Orthodox and 13 Roman Catholics, attempting to go through Church history chronologically to understand and analyze the development of the interrelationship between primacy and synodality in terms of both theology and praxis.

the Orientale Lumen EuroEast I conference is held in Istanbul, May 10-13, 2004;

Major controversy in Ukraine involving the almost exclusively western Ukraine-based Uniate Greek Catholic Church moving its administrative centre on from Lviv to Kiev, constructing a large cathedral there, and its plans to establish a patriarchate, criticized by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and other Orthodox.

in his first major policy statement as pope, Pope Benedict XVI issued an instruction barring actively gay priests from seminaries, the only exception being for those with a "transitory problem" that had been overcome at least three years prior to ordination to the diaconate.

Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens visits Vatican, the first head of the Church of Greece to visit the Vatican, reciprocating the Pope's visit to Greece in 2001, and signing a Joint Declaration on the importance of the Christian roots of Europe and protecting fundamental human rights

Pope Benedict XVI met with Bp. Agathangelos of Fanarion and Greek Orthodox Seminarians from the Apostoliki Diakonia theology college in Greece who were visiting Rome, urging them to confront the challenges that threaten the faith by working to unify all Christians.

Pope Benedict XVI visits Ecumenical Patriarchate, drawing criticism from the common Assembly of the twenty Sacred Monasteries of Mount Athos.

The Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches confronted Secular Humanism at the conference "Giving a Soul to Europe" (Vienna, May 3-5, 2006), discussing the challenges facing Christianity, specifically materialism, consumerism, agnosticism, secularism and relativism, all based on liberal humanist ideology, constituting a real threat to Christianity today.

Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission meets in Ravenna, Italy, 10th plenary, led by co-presidents Cardinal Walter Kasper and Metr. John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon, agreeing upon a joint document consisting of 46 articles providing an ecclesiastical road map in discussing union ("Ravenna Document"); Russian delegation walks out of Ravenna talks in protest of presence of Estonian delegation (EP).

Pope Benedict XVI issues the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum, granting greater freedom to use the Tridentine Mass in its 1962 form and for administering most of the sacraments in the form that they had before the liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council, being well received by supporters of the Tridentine Mass and Traditionalists.

the Vatican issued a 16-page document prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, restating its belief that the Catholic Church is the only true church of Jesus Christ, also stating that although Orthodox churches are true churches, they are defective because they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope.

At the invitation of Cardinal Walter Kasper, Abp. Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk visited Pope Benedict XVI and several officials of the Roman Curia who have key roles in the Roman Catholic ecumenical dialogue.

Led by three senior archbishops, a group of Orthodox clergy in Greece published a manifesto, A Confession of Faith Against Ecumenism, pledging to resist all ecumenical ties with Roman Catholics and Protestants, amongst its signatories including six metropolitans, as well as 49 archimandrites, 22 hieromonks, and 30 nuns and abbesses, as well as many other priests and church elders

Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission meets in Paphos, Cyprus, 11th plenary, studying the theme "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium".

Russia and the Holy See upgraded their diplomatic relations to full ambassadorial relations in 2009, following improvements in the working relationship between the Holy See and the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow.

The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation issues "A Common Response" to the Ravenna Document of 2007, identifying a number of criticisms.

Pope Benedict XVI proclaims the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation

Cardinal Walter Kasper stated that there can be no full integration of eastern and western Europe without ecumenical dialogue and the contribution of the eastern European Orthodox churches.

First ever visit by a pope to Cyprus, as Pope Benedict went on a sensitive three-day day visit to the divided island

At the “Orthodox Constructions of the West” conference at Fordham University (June 28-30), keynote speaker Fr. Robert F. Taft, (S.J) delivered the address "Perceptions and Realities in Orthodox-Catholic Relations Today," calling on Catholic and Orthodox Churches to Restore Communion.

Renowned Swiss theologian and Patristics scholar Hieromonk Gabriel Bunge (O.S.B.) is received into the Orthodox Church

North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation meets in Washington DC, issuing two statements: Steps Towards A Reunited Church: A Sketch Of An Orthodox-Catholic Vision For The Future", and "Celebrating Easter/Pascha Together".

Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission meets in Vienna, Austria, 12th plenary, studying the theme "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium".

Over half a million Guatemalan Indians of the "Orthodox Catholic Church of Guatemala" (OCCG), a branch of the "Orthodox-Catholic Church of America" (OCCA), are received in their entirety into the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Holy Metropolis of Mexico (Central America).

Patr. Bartholomew firmly addressed the opponents of the Orthodox theological dialogues in the Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, signed by 12 Bishops in addition to the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Croatian Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zadar gives cherished relic of St. Simeon to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

official introduction of the new English-language translation of the Roman Missal in most English-speaking countries, on the first Sunday of Advent (November 27, 2011), representing a translation that more faithfully tracks the original Latin.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) releases a revised edition of the New American Bible which further departs from the authority of the Septuagint, in favour of the later Masoretic text, most controversially in Isaias 7:14, revising the NAB from "the virgin shall be with child" to "a young woman shall be with child", essentially serving to undermine the doctrines of the Perpetual Virginity of the Theotokos, and the Virginal Conception of Christ.

The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land (ACOHL) issues a directive stating that within two years (by 2015) all Eastern Catholics and the Latin Patriarchate in the Holy Land will officially adopt the Greek Orthodox Julian calendar date for the celebration of Pascha.