Pontifical Orthodoxy

What is Pontifical Orthodox? It refers to Christians of the Eastern Rite, Oriental Rite, or of other rites with Eastern or Oriental Christian origins and customs that are in communion with the Supreme Pontiff of the Imperial Roman Church. It is also of Roman/Latin heritage. In fact, multiple Old Roman Catholic/Old Catholic jurisdictions incorporate the concept of Orthodoxy, even including it in their jurisdictional name. Pontifical Orthodoxy is pan-Roman, spanning the original Roman Empire from west to east and extending throughout all of the Christian world. It is at once western and eastern, incorporating the rich and diverse heritage of the Christian faith and dedicated to the desire of our Lord Ut unum sint - That all may be one.

Basic Principles

1. Pontifical Orthodoxy is the unified continuation of the Holy, Orthodox, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, the only church founded by Jesus Christ. We say in the mass, the Holy, Orthodox, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

2. Pontifical Orthodoxy maintains the principle of global Christian unity that existed before the Great Schism between East and West. It accomplishes this in part through maintaining diverse apostolic lineage and authority that incorporates and unifies Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox.

3. Pontifical Orthodoxy is, therefore, both Catholic and Orthodox. Because of the combination of its diverse Apostolic lineage and authority, combined with its Roman pontifical authority within the Imperial Roman Church, its membership is simultaneously Catholic and Orthodox.

4. Pontifical Orthodoxy, due to its unifying heritage, is not of a particular rite, but instead embraces all traditional and doctrinally sound Christian rites.

5. Pontifical Orthodoxy is inextricably linked with Old Roman Catholicism of the See of Utrecht, which maintained and preserved intact pure Roman Apostolic lineage.

6. Pontifical Orthodoxy is inextricably linked with the history of the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, for the Imperial Roman Church is the ecclesiastical heir to the Roman Empire and several other historical states.

7. Pontifical Orthodoxy maintains the faith delivered to the Apostles and incorporates the doctrinal and dogmatic precepts of the collective wisdom and teaching authority of the Church. It accepts that rightful Apostolic authorities within the universal Church have debated and disputed various doctrinal points in history and continue to do so. Our Lord appointed the apostles and their successors to lead the Church, and it is their sacred duty to serve as guardians of the doctrine and traditions of the faith. It is natural within human nature that the comprehension of the vastness of the mysteries of the Christian Faith require diligence in their interpretation and application. Thus Pontifical Orthodoxy by its very unifying essence does not seek to condemn those of proper Apostolic authority who may have differing opinions from others of proper Apostolic authority. Rather, a principle of cooperation is promoted, with the belief that all shall be reconciled in God's time.

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