CHAPTER XIV
THE HOPE OF REUNION
We have now completed our account of all lesser separated Eastern Churches. But a word must yet be added concerning the question which will most interest Catholics. What hope is there of reunion with these? First of all, we note that the idea of reunion with the "East," as if it were one body, is absurd. These Churches are divided among themselves; any one might return to Catholic unity without affecting the others. Indeed, reunion with one might even make greater difficulties for the others. If the Jacobites joined us, their hereditary opponents the Nestorians would probably see in that only a new reason for standing aloof. If the Orthodox came back, all these smaller Churches so dread Russia that they would be more frightened of us than ever. Certainly our chief hope, for many reasons, is the reunion of the Orthodox. Yet we must hope for the other Churches too.
At first sight it may seem that they are further off than the Orthodox, since they have each one more (and a great) heresy. But I doubt whether that obvious point is really important. For one thing, it is rather crude to estimate the error of a heretic mechanically by the number of dogmas in which he is wrong. In every case what matters most is the schism. If a heretic comes back to the Catholic Church he accepts her as one thing, he submits to all her teaching on the same basis, because she is the Church of Christ with whom her Lord is all days. The number of particular points he accepts is a minor matter. Then the hereditary heresies of these Churches do not really move
446
