Anti-Orthodox????

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Joey1976

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Ever wonder why there is so much attack on the Catholic Church but i never hear of an attack on the Orthodox Church. Why is that? That is as close to Catholicism as you can get yet you never hear about that. They pray the Rosary and believe in the intercession of saints, the real presence, etc. These are many things that some anti-Catholic protestants bash about the Catholic faith. Why isn’t the same thing done to the Orthodox Church. Not once have i ever heard a preacher have anti-Orthodox remarks but i hear alot of Anti-Catholic remarks. Anyone know why?
 
Joey1976 said:
Ever wonder why there is so much attack on the Catholic Church but i never hear of an attack on the Orthodox Church. Why is that? That is as close to Catholicism as you can get yet you never hear about that. They pray the Rosary and believe in the intercession of saints, the real presence, etc. These are many things that some anti-Catholic protestants bash about the Catholic faith. Why isn’t the same thing done to the Orthodox Church. Not once have i ever heard a preacher have anti-Orthodox remarks but i hear alot of Anti-Catholic remarks. Anyone know why?
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Lack of contact/familiarity I guess. Most places in America have low percentages of Orthodox believers. Many people may not have ever seen an Orthodox Church. Besides, as long as anti-Rome moves the needle, why change?
 
The Protestants protested against the Roman Catholic faith. They have to justify that protest by continuing it to this day. They do not go back further than the Reformation as that is where they began.

Since east and west unfortunately weren’t united at the time of the Reformation, the east practically doesn’t exist to them. Most know nothing about it. It is a symptom of Protestants, on average, not knowing their history. The only Protestants I’ve met who know what the East teaches are people who have begun questioning their denomination’s teachings and looking for the church Christ founded.
 
Joey1976 said:
Ever wonder why there is so much attack on the Catholic Church but i never hear of an attack on the Orthodox Church. Why is that? That is as close to Catholicism as you can get yet you never hear about that. They pray the Rosary and believe in the intercession of saints, the real presence, etc. These are many things that some anti-Catholic protestants bash about the Catholic faith. Why isn’t the same thing done to the Orthodox Church. Not once have i ever heard a preacher have anti-Orthodox remarks but i hear alot of Anti-Catholic remarks. Anyone know why?
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They are around, just not in the West:

orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,12043.0.html

Read through this (slightly sad) page.
 
Joey1976 said:
Ever wonder why there is so much attack on the Catholic Church but i never hear of an attack on the Orthodox Church. Why is that? That is as close to Catholicism as you can get yet you never hear about that. They pray the Rosary and believe in the intercession of saints, the real presence, etc. These are many things that some anti-Catholic protestants bash about the Catholic faith. Why isn’t the same thing done to the Orthodox Church. Not once have i ever heard a preacher have anti-Orthodox remarks but i hear alot of Anti-Catholic remarks. Anyone know why?
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I actually have seen anti-Orthodox statements and messages, but they are much rarer. I concur with Woodstock and ralphinal otherwise…Also, some Orthodox pray the Rosary, but very few…

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius:cool:
 
Joey1976 said:
Ever wonder why there is so much attack on the Catholic Church but i never hear of an attack on the Orthodox Church. Why is that? That is as close to Catholicism as you can get yet you never hear about that. They pray the Rosary and believe in the intercession of saints, the real presence, etc. These are many things that some anti-Catholic protestants bash about the Catholic faith. Why isn’t the same thing done to the Orthodox Church. Not once have i ever heard a preacher have anti-Orthodox remarks but i hear alot of Anti-Catholic remarks. Anyone know why?
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they do. they tend to lump the doctrines of the orthodox in with the doctrines of the roman catholic. i have heard people talk exactly the same way about both. there are many converts to protestantism from orthodox as well, and they tend to not look favorably on their original faith, just like many catholics who leave the church.
 
Protestants may respect the Orthodox for not believing in a supreme authority (such as the Catholics and the Pope).

Any criticism that the Protestants may have towards the Orthodox would be not be Orthodox specific (as the criticism would apply to the Catholics too).

Also, we Catholics are greater in number and so we are an easier target. Catholics are also an easier target because we are more vocal on contemporary issues (such as contraception etc).
 
Charlie_Zeaiter said:
Protestants may respect the Orthodox for not believing in a supreme authority (such as the Catholics and the Pope).

Any criticism that the Protestants may have towards the Orthodox would be not be Orthodox specific (as the criticism would apply to the Catholics too).

Also, we Catholics are greater in number and so we are an easier target. Catholics are also an easier target because we are more vocal on contemporary issues (such as contraception etc).
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I think your first point may be true, but once most Protestants hear the other teachings of the Orthodox (i.e. rather than an infallible Pope, infallible councils), it’s like deja vous…
 
**but i never hear of an attack on the Orthodox Church. **

Trust me, I hear them all the time.

But usually they are hurling their anti-Latin thunderbolts.

They get shocked when I point out that Protestantism (esp. confessional Protestantism) has more in common with Roman Catholicism than they realize.
 
bpbasilphx said:
**but i never hear of an attack on the Orthodox Church. **

Trust me, I hear them all the time.

But usually they are hurling their anti-Latin thunderbolts.

They get shocked when I point out that Protestantism (esp. confessional Protestantism) has more in common with Roman Catholicism than they realize.
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I agree.

Most Roman Catholics are shocked (and disbelieving) as well.

Michael
 
One is more likely to hear an Anti-Orthodox statement from Roman Catholics than from Protestants. That has been my experience.

Yes, the two faiths (RC and Orthodoxy) are very close, like sisters almost!

But Holy Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and the Church of the East stand as a witnesses to the early church that are uncomfortable for some Roman Catholics, who may wish to portray their own church as having a monopoly on Apostolic origins.

Since Protestants are often uninformed about Orthodoxy (being themselves children of the West) it works for Roman Catholicism very well. Many RC do not bother to tell Protestants any more about it than absolutely necessary, and often paint the Orthodox with the old “afraid of authority” brush, which is not true, but a handy method of dismissal.

So this is a message for all Anti-Catholic lurkers out there: Start sharpening your daggers if you want some action because the Orthodox have been overlooked for far too long. You have a new target to practice your attacks on! 👍

Jack Chick…you reading this?

C’mon! …get loud and nasty! We can take it! :knight1:

Michael
 
Hesychios said:
But Holy Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and the Church of the East stand as a witnesses to the early church that are uncomfortable for some Roman Catholics, who may wish to portray their own church as having a monopoly on Apostolic origins.

Since Protestants are often uninformed about Orthodoxy (being themselves children of the West) it works for Roman Catholicism very well. Many RC do not bother to tell Protestants any more about it than absolutely necessary, and often paint the Orthodox with the old “afraid of authority” brush, which is not true, but a handy method of dismissal.
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I’m one RC that’s not the least bit uncomfortable with the EO claims. They are just that, claims.
I noticed in the old forum that approx 90% of the attacks went EO–>RC, pope, filioque, blah, blah, blah. Same threads day after day after day.
When one possesses the truth, one doesn’t feel the need to attack and denigrate others.
 
dessert said:
They argue as much as we do:o
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Yep, sometimes.

But that thread wasn’t an argument really, from what I can tell (I only read the first page). It was one nutcase making a pitch in the OP and everyone else just talking about different small traditions of signing themselves.

The Old Believers are interesting, because Russia was evangelized fairly rapidly and a whole buch of unique small traditions originated among them in the vast, mostly rural environment.

Patriarch Nikon, made a serious effort to standardize Orthodox practice in his country according to the Greek and Kievan usages. This was met with a horrendous backlash from what appears to have been perhaps 10 percent of the population. People (mostly very pious but scrupulous sorts) were concerned that if they had been doing things wrong all along, their Christian ancestors were not saved after all…so it just could not be, they had to reject all reform. It’s really a great example of what can happen in a Faith and Works theology when the public are not properly catechized and they are expected to accept changes. A good lesson for us, I’d say.

Some of those groups of people are still around today. In fact, some Old Believers were prominant in the formation of the Russian Catholic church, and both liturgical usages, the Nikonian and Old Believer (and signing practices you see discussed there) are actually STILL in practice within the Russian Catholic church, as well as the Russian Orthodox church.

But like I stated, that thread was just a nutball having some fun and everyone else sharing stories and talking about him.

Michael
 
flyersfan1088 said:
I’m one RC that’s not the least bit uncomfortable with the EO claims. They are just that, claims.
I noticed in the old forum that approx 90% of the attacks went EO–>RC, pope, filioque, blah, blah, blah. Same threads day after day after day.
When one possesses the truth, one doesn’t feel the need to attack and denigrate others.
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I’ve seen it both ways…
 
flyersfan1088 said:
I’m one RC that’s not the least bit uncomfortable with the EO claims. They are just that, claims.
I noticed in the old forum that approx 90% of the attacks went EO–>RC, pope, filioque, blah, blah, blah. Same threads day after day after day.
When one possesses the truth, one doesn’t feel the need to attack and denigrate others.
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I agree, The RC claims are likewise.

But if you are going to bring up the old forum you must remember that in those threads it was often, if not usually the case of RC asking direct questions about what Orthodox believed, or challenging Eastern Christian theology. In a way ‘baiting’ the Orthodox.

To illustrate the point, go back there now and read the first two weeks worth of threads where the Roman Catholics and latinized Eastern Catholics have been thrashing and bashing the rest of the Eastern Catholics…with De Fide’s rolling off the keyboards. Without Orthodox to attack, they turn on their own. It is a poor witness.

Sort of like your post above.
 
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