[Pete789]

I think the first thing we must establish is that when Patriarch Bartholomew meets with the Pope, he is meeting him on behalf of the Church of Constantinople, not the entire Orthodox Church. He is not an Eastern Pope. If the Orthodox Church were to enter into communion with the Roman Catholic Church it would have to be decided by all the local Orthodox Churches in a conciliar fashion. The second point that must be made that, yes, while there is much that unites us, there is much that divides us. There are significant dogmatic differences between the theologies of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. These would include but are not limited to the RC understanding of Original Sin, the procession of the Holy Spirit, Papal Primacy, Papal Infallibility, Purgatory, and the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God, to name just a few. What also must become a focus of Orthodox and Roman Catholic dialogue is the Palamite controversy. Through an ecumenical council, not recognized by the RCC, the Orthodox Church declared the theology of Saint Gregory Palamas to be the theology of the Orthodox Church. As far as I have seen, there has been no discussion in such theological dialogues.