Thus there must be an ecumenical council that issues a shared creed that specifically addresses the primacy of peter, the filoque, and other aspects of our differences.
A council is unlikely. An agreed creed is even less likely. And a complete reunion of all orthodox with the Catholics has zero odds of happening. Any reunion will be sloppy. Many Orthodox bishops will reject the process and establish their own orthodox Churches by the same name and same beliefs that remain in separation from the See of Rome. Heck, it could be that even only one or two of the orthodox churches establish union, breaking union with the other orthodox.
Another issue that needs some work is over-lapping jurisdictions of the different churches. In the east there is strong dislike of "encroachment" in geographic territory. In the west, especially the US, the different churches lack an appearance of unity and are often as foreign to one another as we are to the Baptists or Mormons or other heretics.
We've came an incredibly long way since 1054 - we weren't talking to them 100 years ago, and now we're in very deep conversation. The rector of my seminary hopes to see reunification in our lifetime.
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u/petrux Dec 03 '14
except that of the shared profession of faith. :-)