Православие и католичество

In his work “Repentance in the Church and Repentance in Catholicism,” he makes an attempt to show the difference between Catholicism and the Church not on the basis of disagreements of a dogmatic nature, incomprehensible to many, but in life itself. To do this, Father Hilarion chooses the path of comparing the attitude towards repentance and the very nature of repentance in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, since “repentance is the essence of Christian life” 190. For this purpose, Archimandrite Hilarion makes a comparative analysis of Eastern and Western disciplinary rules regarding repentance, from ancient to modern, which leads him to the following conclusion: “In the Orthodox Church, repentance is a healing clinic from which people emerge with a bright, hopeful face, because in their hands they carry medicines to heal their serious and conscience-oppressing sinful ailments. In Catholicism, repentance is a court from which criminals accused and sentenced to heavy punishments emerge gloomy and depressed by the mercilessness of justice. It’s good that you can buy your way out of punishment; otherwise there is no hope of salvation, because it is impossible to completely satisfy an angry Master” 191. This sad conclusion, representing the Western attitude towards God as an inexorable Judge, satisfied only with punitive measures, places Catholicism on a level lower than that on which the Old Testament society, familiar with the concept of God's mercy, was located. Therefore, the author’s conclusion that “Catholicism... does not allow a person to rise above the first stage - slavery... and the Church elevates its member to the level of a son” seems too soft in relation to Catholicism, since “servant of God” is a positive characteristic, although it speaks of imperfection. However, at the conclusion of the work, the author explains that Catholic “slavery” remains outside the Church, “having retreated from which, Western Europe lost the grace of the Divine Spirit that enlightens every person.” Meanwhile, both before and now, “the Church is the pillar and affirmation of the truth, and outside it there is only earthly wisdom, often at war with the Divine thought” 192.