Greek archbishop optimistic

Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States believes that Pope Benedict XVI could do much to heal the millennium-old schism between Rome and the Orthodox Church.

“If Benedict, so characterized as a conservative, decides to do something so daring, no one will question him because he has the credentials,” Demetrios says. “There is something that he (Ratzinger) said that is an indication of what I mean. He said, ‘For me, our real sister is the Orthodox Church.’ He didn’t say the Protestant Church. He said the Orthodox Church.”

That said, however, even if the papacy and the several Orthodox jurisdictions agreed on terms of a reunion, the Orthodox faithful could decide not to accept them — something which seems to lie within their power and for which there is precedent. I seem to recall from somewhere a saying about élites taking the led for granted.