The Office of Primate and the Authority of Councils Volume One (SVS Press)

The Office of Primate and the Authority of Councils is the first volume in a series of books entitled Primacy in the Church. The book begins with a Foreword by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware and an Introduction by John Chryssavgis. In both of these  sections, they stress the importance of the primacy issue, not only for the Orthodox Church but ecumenism, specifically with the Catholic Church. The book is then divided into five parts:

1. Insights from the Early Church
2. Primacy and Councils
3. Theological and Liturgical Developments
4. Contemporary Evolution and Assessment
5. Select Sources from the Recent Past

As evidenced by the topics, it is clear to see that this book is going to take a chronological approach to the issue of papal primacy. Within each of these parts are individual essays written by some major names in Orthodoxy - Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, John Chryssavgis, John Behr, Alexander Schmemann, and John Meyendorff to name a few. Refreshingly, the Catholic and Anglican voices are also represented by Paul McPartlan and Paul Valliere respectively.

As a Roman Catholic, I of course enjoyed reading Paul McPartlan's Catholic perspective. I knew that the recent Popes were making a more ecumenical effort both with the titles with which they referred to themselves as and in the joint-meetings they have had with the recent Ecumenical Patriarchs. What I did not know was that this effort extended as far back as Vatican II and Pope Paul VI. After that I enjoyed reading on Primacy, Collegiality, and the People of God. Perhaps, this is because I am admittedly biased toward Metropolitan Kallistos, but all the times I have heard him speak, the knowledge, holiness, and respectful tone of this sensitive subject just permeates his every being. Overall, I would say that the section which spoke to me the most had to do with the Early Church. It is in these pages where the term "Primacies of Honor" was more fleshed out as well as the Apostolic Tradition and the Early Church Fathers. Near the end of the book, the Ravenna Document is included, which is essential reading for this topic, so I am glad that they chose to include it in the book, rather than make the reader find it independently.

Overall, I found this volume to be a very thorough, objective, and respectful look at the issue of Primacy within the Church. The essays were historical accurate and proved to be a challenging read at times, but after making your way through them, you felt spiritually enriched. I look forward to reading Volume Two of this series and seeing the progression in this topic from one of history and development of the idea of Primacy to a more contemporary nature of the Church and current practices. If this is a topic you have an interest in, like myself, then I highly recommend this book to you.

This book was provided to me for free by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press in exchange for an honest review.

CUA Press: A Service of Love

Welcome back to Stuart's Study! I am very excited to announce that Catholic University of America Press has agreed to let me review one of their books. Those of you who love the Church Fathers should be very familiar with their Fathers of the Church series. It was this series, which I first discovered at Auburn University's Library, that kept calling my name as I made my first few tentative steps on my journey to Catholicism. While I only own a few books in this impressive collection, I have a goal to one day own them all. Today, I will be reviewing A Service of Love, which I hope will be the first of many reviews for this wonderful publisher!

Ecumenism, or perhaps one day even reunion, between the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church has long been hindered by a few sticky subjects in high theology. These issues serve as points of disagreement and contention between people on both sides. Some of the major issues that plague these two groups include the primacy and infallibility of the pope and the Filioque as it relates to Trinitarian procession. Rev. Msgr. Paul McPartlan, a professor of Systematic Theology and Ecumenism at the Catholic University of America, addresses some of these issues in his work A Service of Love.

With fewer than 100 pages and only three chapters in this book, one might infer that this is a quick read. Don't be fooled by the relatively small size, though. Rev. Msgr. McPartlan packs these pages with depth and insight. Throughout this book, we are shown the contrast between primacy and collegiality through the millennia. For example, Pope Innocent III was the first to use the papal title "Vicar of Christ." Before him, all other popes used the title "Vicar of Peter." The book also states that Pope Innocent III believed that all bishops were "the members of the body of which he was the head." This contrast of primacy and collegiality led to the issue of jurisdiction. Cardinal Ratzinger offered a possible solution to the issue of primacy; he suggested the use of papal titles from the patristic era, such as, "first in honor."

To me, the most fascinating section in this book was the discussion of the Council of Vatican I. The only thing people really remember about that council was that papal infallibility was established/defined at that time. However, since Vatican I was cut short for political reasons, the bishops never had a chance to read and debate Tametsi Deus, which dealt more fully with bishops and the Church at large and was supposed to complement Pastor Aeternus, the document that dealt with the primacy and infallibility of the Pope.

This is a superb book, which is easily worth 5 stars. I consider myself of average to above average knowledge with regard to the subjects of papacy, primacy, and ecumenism, but I learned a great deal from this little tome. What I most appreciated about this book was that it didn't just present problems. It also offered possible solutions. We must come to accept and embrace that the primary ministry of the Bishop of Rome is "a service to the Eucharist, and to the ecclesial communion that flows from it." If you would like to better understand the subjects in the above paragraphs, this is the book for you. In fact, I would recommend it to Catholics and Orthodox alike. May the Eucharist unite what has been separated, and may there be unity of East and West in our day.

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