Delayed Reaction
I’m a couple days late with this but I wanted to weigh in on the discussion of the differences between sacramental and jurisdictional union. In Chapter 5 of “The Orthodox Church” by Timothy Ware, its page 108 in my 1985 paperback edition, there is an interesting account of sacramental and devotional union between Catholics and Orthodox. Ware wrote:
“Outside the Ukraine, relations between Orthodox and Roman Catholics were often friendly in the 17th century. In many places in the eastern Mediterranean, particularly in the Greek islands under Venetian rule, Greeks and Latins shared in one another’s worship: we even read of Roman Catholic processions of the Blessed Sacrament, which the Orthodox clergy attended in force, wearing full vestments, with candles and banners. Greek bishops invited the Latin missionaries to preach to their flocks or to hear confessions.”
I’m not saying there aren’t any questions that can be raised about how Latin and Greek relations were handled during this period. But this is certainly an interesting historical example of how a high level of sacramental unity was achieved without jurisdictional union.