Vladimir Soloviev writes: “The ‘Latins’, as you call the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, have never abandoned the faith. No amount of detailed argumentation can refute the fact that, apart from Rome, there are only national churches such as the Armenian or Greek churches, state churches such as the Russian or Anglican churches, or sects founded by individuals such as the Lutherans, Calvinists, Irvingians, etc. The Roman Catholic Church is the only church that is neither a national church nor a state church nor a sect founded by a human being; it is the only church in the world that upholds and defends the principle of universal social unity against individual egoism and national particularism; it is the only church that upholds and defends the freedom of spiritual power against the absolutism of the state; in a word, it is the only church against which the gates of hell have not prevailed.”
This is correct. In fact, most Orthodox churches are de facto national churches, and many of them are also historically or currently state churches, or at least have very strong ties to the state. Accordingly, they call themselves, for example, Russian, Serbian, or Greek Orthodox churches. There are exceptions among smaller patriarchates where this is not the case. This is a historical phenomenon that does not arise from the theological self-image of Orthodoxy (the latter is universal).
In contrast, the Roman Catholic Church is a universal church without any national or state affiliation. It is present practically everywhere in the world. The attribute “Roman” refers to the current seat of the pope in Rome and to the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome. Both apostles are of fundamental importance to the Church. The fact that they both suffered martyrdom in Rome is not an insignificant historical detail, but in a sense documents the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and his successors, the popes, who see themselves as successors of St. Peter, who died in Rome. Christ founded the Church on Peter and promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Soloviev points this out without envy. This is the basis for the unity of the Catholic Church: agreement and canonical (not idealistic) unity with Peter, or the pope. Soloviev is also correct in this regard.
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