The Schismatic Orthodox
and Conversion

By John Vennari

Pope Saint Pius X spoke specifically of the need for the schismatic Orthodox to return to the Catholic Church. In his 1910 Encyclical Ex Quo

It has always been Catholic teaching that those belonging to the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, are not members of Christ’s one true Church, since they are cut off from her by schism. The Council of Florence defined infallibly that “Pagans, Jews, heretics and schismatics” are “outside the Catholic Church,” and as such, “can never be partakers of eternal life,” unless “before death” they are joined to the one true Church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church.

In other words, they must convert.

This truth has been taught by the Church from the beginning. St. Fulgentius in the 5th Century expressed the same doctrine in words obviously used as the basis for the Council of Florence’s definition. He wrote, “Hold most firmly and in no way doubt, that not only pagans, but also all Jews and all heretics and schismatics, who terminate this present life outside of the Catholic Church, are going to go into the everlasting fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”

The Catechism of the Council of Trent, likewise teaches, “infidels, heretics, schismatics and excommunicated persons” are “excluded from the Church’s pale”.

The Catechism of Pope Saint Pius X, centuries later, presents the same truth without change. It teaches, “Outside the true Church are: Infidels, Jews, heretics, apostates, schismatics and excommunicated persons”. It states further, “No one can be saved outside the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, just as no one could be saved from the flood outside the Ark of Noah, which was a figure of the Church.”

Pope Saint Pius X spoke specifically of the need for the schismatic Orthodox to return to the Catholic Church. In his 1910 Encyclical Ex Quo, he wrote that all work for the reunion of the schismatic Orthodox “will be in vain unless first, and above all, they (the Eastern Orthodox) hold the true and whole Catholic Faith as it has been handed down and consecrated in Holy Scripture, the tradition of the Fathers, the consent of the Church, general councils and the decrees of the Supreme Pontiffs.”

Saint Pius X prayed that God will “hasten the day when the nations of the East shall return to Catholic unity and, united to the Apostolic See, after casting away their errors, shall enter the port of everlasting salvation.”[1]

We see Saint Pius X reiterates that the Eastern Orthodox:

1) embrace heretical teachings that they must abandon;

2) are not united to the true Church of Christ due to their schism;

3) will not arrive at the port of salvation unless they cast away their errors and join Christ’s one true Church, by submitting to the legitimate Apostolic Authority of the Papacy.

Contrary to the ecumenical teaching now prevalent among Church leaders, conversion can only have one meaning: the return of the schismatics, heretics and dissidents to the true Church established by Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church.

Note:
1. See Ex Quo, by Pope Saint Pius X, December 26, 1910.

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