We all wish for the various schismatic groups to reunite. But knowing the hardness of the hearts of men, this simply is unlikely. Even if Rome, the Oriental Orthodox or the Protestants repent of their various innovations and reunite with us, there will be a schismatic group(s) that will seek to maintain the innovations of Rome. Think about it. If Eastern Orthodoxy were to today adopt the Filioque and Papal supremacy, wouldn’t we schism and maintain the faith of the Holy Fathers? Now we have an ecclesiological dilemma. I do not think anyone gave this paradox a name yet, so here I propose: “The Paradox of Schismatic Reunification.” Here is the dilemma: “A house divided amongst itself cannot stand.” If we reunite with the Roman Catholics for example, they would have to concede and repent of their various innovations. But as stated before this would cause various new schisms, undoing what we sought out to do, to become one. But still if millions rejoin the fullness of faith, that would be amazing, but the concern is still here.
Some Ecumenists argue that we need to accept the differences of the various faiths, and reunite in spite of these differences. The Ecumenist Roman Catholics already did this, they have the Eastern Catholics that maintain a Pseudo-Orthodoxy. They recite our creed, do our services, serve our feast days, venerate our saints etc., but they submit to Rome. The Eastern Catholics literally recite a different creed and venerate saints that were very outspoken against the Roman Catholics, but yet they are still Catholic. St. Gregory Palamas, St. Mark of Ephesus, St. Photius the Great, are just some examples. But one can object that in Orthodoxy we have different style services that reflect the diversity of our faith. But they are expressions of the same exact faith. The Slavonic liturgy is different in expression than the Greek liturgy, the Serbian from the Romanian, the Georgian from the Antiochian, the Western Rite is different from the Eastern Rite etc. But they all have the same dogmatic beliefs. We all cite the same creed, we all believe in the same exact things. The same cannot be said about the Eastern Catholics and the Western Roman Catholics.
Logically there can only be one truth. The Holy Fathers did not die, or get their tongues and hands chopped off for preaching the one truth of Holy Orthodoxy, just for their future spiritual sons and daughters to squander what they fought for. The tragedy of schism cannot be healed by sacrificing the very truth whose rejection produced the schism in the first place. Amen.