The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

"i URGATORY, ETC. 257tion of the venerable antiquity of this Catholicdoctrine.The Eastern and the Western churches werehappily united until the fourth and fifth centuries,when the heresiarchs Arius, Nestorius, and Eutycheswithdrew millions of souls from the centre of unity.The followers of these sects were called, after theirfounders, Arians, Nestorians, and Eutychiaus, andfrom that day to the present the two latter bodieshave formed distinct communions, being separatedfrom the Catholic Church in the East, just as the Protestant churches are separated from her in the West.The Greek schismatic church, of which the present Russo-Greek church is the offspring, severedher connection with the See of Rome in the ninthcentury.But in leaving the Catholic Church, these Easternsects retained the old Liturgies, which they use tothis day, as I shall presently demonstrate.During my sojourn in Rome at the EcumenicalCouncil, I devoted a great deal of my leisure timeto the examination of the various Liturgies of theschismatic churches of the East. I found in all ofthem formulas of prayers for the dead almostidentical with that of the Roman Missal :Remember, O Lord, Thy servants who are gone before uswith the sign of faith, and sleep in peace. To these,O Lord, and to all who rest in Christ, grant, webeseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, andpeace, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord."22* R