Understanding and Healing the Schism between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches
His Broken Body is my study of the historical and theological causes of the separation between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and of the paths that could lead to their reconciliation. Writing from an Orthodox perspective, I have tried to tell both sides of the story fairly and to let the sources speak for themselves.
The central thesis of the book is ecclesiological. Each local church, gathered around its bishop in the Eucharist, is the catholic church in its fullness in a given place. Seen in this light, the divisions between larger ecclesial structures, painful as they are, do not erase the deeper communion that remains among the Churches.
The book also examines the history and claims of the Roman primacy, the way these claims were received in the East, and the role of councils, patriarchates and honorific language in the first millennium.
Following its publication, I received letters of endorsement from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Cardinal Kasper, and the reviews have been very positive from both Orthodox and Catholic readers.