represent the purity of the human flesh which it pleased the Divinity to unite with itself."[1]
It would be impossible to urge too strongly that this discussion represents exactly the invariable habit of the two sides in this controversy. The Byzantine Christians have never ceased impudently to quarrel with our customs, have never ceased calling us offensive names because of mere trifles of rite in which we differ from them; on our side there has always been the most complete, the most generous recognition that custom and rite are not in themselves essential things; that it is quite natural that East and West should each have their own practices; that both are equally lawful, both may be defended equally well by mystical interpretations; that the only duty on either side is to keep its own uses, and not to quarrel with the other, not to call other people silly rude names, because they differ in such a matter as this.
The idea that the Popes have demanded uniformity is about as gross a misrepresentation as an ignorant controversialist could make. They have never done so. It is always the other side, the insolent Patriarchs of Constantinople, who cannot tolerate any custom different from their own, who curse us for being Latins (we have never cursed them for being Byzantine), call us heretics, and deny the validity of our sacraments because of differences of mere ritual; who have forced their own late derived rite on the whole Orthodox Church, and destroyed the far more venerable uses of Alexandria and Antioch.
The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) assured the Greeks that it intends "to cherish and honour them, maintaining their customs and rites, as much as, with the help of the Lord, we are able."[2]
In 1222 Pope Honorius III writes to the King of Cyprus (Henry I de'Lusignan, 1218-1253): "We wish to favour and honour the Greeks who come back to the obedience of the Apostolic See, maintaining the customs and rites of the Greeks as much as we can, with God's help."[3]
In 1247 Basilicus, King of Lodomeria, wrote to the Pope, asking to be restored to communion with him. Innocent IV (1243-1254) answers: "We admit that the bishops and priests of Russia shall be allowed to consecrate in leavened bread,
