Catholics and Orthodox, what do you appreciate and/or admire about each other?

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Robyn_p

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There’s a lot of threads on this forum dealing with the differences and disagreements we have with each other, which I believe is necessary. But that’s not what this thread is about.

This is about what good we each see in the other’s Church. Things we admire and are grateful for from the other. Things we think our own churches could benefit from having more of. 👍

Please, no backhanded compliments. (From either side) If you have “changed sides” (either from Catholic to Orthodox, or Orthodox to Catholic) no need to point out the flaws you found in your previous church. As a wise rabbit once said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” 😉 Lets keep this friendly.

I’ll start. I appreciate the sense of the sacred and ancient in Orthodoxy. I really believe Catholics could benefit from having more of that. And of course, icons! Gotta love those icons.

Is there anything my Orthodox friends appreciate or admire from us Catholics? Feel free to share!
 
Robyn_p said:
Is there anything my Orthodox friends appreciate or admire from us Catholics? Feel free to share!
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Eucharistic Adoration, the Divine Mercy chaplet, the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, the Rosary, beautiful statuary, and some pretty neat saints. 😛

I’m sure there’s more, but can’t remember right this second.
 
I appreciate and admire the willingness of the Catholic hierarchy to stand up and bear the brunt of the hatred from the world for representing Christian values around the world.
 
Icons and their regular use of incense.

I am right into incense.

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I must say icons too, beautiful (I just painted my first one and it was the Mandylion.) I love that we share so much in common. I love that they have preserved iconography and did so much to combat iconoclasm (we were together then but still…)

I have never been to an Eastern Liturgy but I believe I would have more to say if I did.

I LOVE the Jesus prayer!

To the OP, great idea for a thread 👍
 
I admire the reverence of the laypeople and the beauty of the their liturgy.
 
What drew me to Eastern Christianity (both Catholic and Orthodox) was the MUSIC.

Eastern Orthodox troparions and kontakions rule! 👍
 
**I love the Ancient Reverence with which the Orthodox worship

I LOVE the Icons. I realize that Icons are not paintings but Windows to Heaven. I also love the Reverence and minute-like attentiveness that the Orthodox (and Catholic) use when painting the Icons.

The Incense is also awesome (I used to be an Altar Server in the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church)

The Komboskini AKA Chotki

The “JESUS” Prayer- Lord JESUS CHRIST, SON of the LIVING GOD, have Mercy on me, a sinner

Greek Orthodox Chant (I prefer Gregorian but Orthodox is also beautiful and mystical)

The Liturgical Fasts that are observed in the Coptic Orthodox Church (goes with their traditions)**
 
Several Masses per day, it makes it convenient when you can’t come to Liturgy in the morning.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Several Masses per day, it makes it convenient when you can’t come to Liturgy in the morning.
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This is part of a larger aspect of Roman Catholicism that I admire: it’s accessibility. It is better at reaching out to the world, at getting its hands dirty, than Orthodoxy is at present. Of course there is a downside to that also.

Of course in theory one Sunday liturgy per parish is nice too, in the sense that it makes the unity and catholicity of each church more apparent.

I think this thread was an excellent idea. As Orthodoxy and RCatholicism (hopefully) get closer, they can each look at each other and recognize where each should improve. Steel sharpening steel.
 
I admire the way the Orthodox seem to have preserved better the sense of sacredness in their liturgy, the music, facing east etc. I like icons. I want to explore Eastern theology in the future.
 
Schism_hater said:
This is part of a larger aspect of Roman Catholicism that I admire: it’s accessibility. It is better at reaching out to the world, at getting its hands dirty, than Orthodoxy is at present. Of course there is a downside to that also.

Of course in theory one Sunday liturgy per parish is nice too, in the sense that it makes the unity and catholicity of each church more apparent.

I think this thread was an excellent idea. As Orthodoxy and RCatholicism (hopefully) get closer, they can each look at each other and recognize where each should improve. Steel sharpening steel.
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I understand the reason why the Orthodox would normally only celebrate one Liturgy per altar per day, and I completely agree with that reason. But just for convenience, I wish there were more Liturgies per day. Like there was a time I had to pick someone up from the airport on 2 Sundays, 3 weeks apart from one another. The arrival time was around the tail end of the Liturgy, and my parish is 20kms east of my home, and the airport is 30kms west. So I had to miss Liturgy on those two Sundays.

Now if there was a later Liturgy, I could have attended it.
 
The music. Everyone needs to listen to Rachmaninoff’s Vespers at least once in their life.
 
St John Chrysostom, St Basil the Great, and many other great Saints of the Church! 🙂

Their great sermons and wisdom too. 👍
 
Strange though it may sound, I admire the Orthodox for their “separateness” so to speak. (You can perhaps understand what I mean if you ever spoken with a Christian whose attitude is “Meh, maybe I’ll become Catholic, or maybe I’ll stay with my current church. Whatever.”)

P.S. I admire the LCMS for the same reason.
 
Great posts everyone! This is exactly how I hoped this thread would turn out. It’s refreshing to see the good in each other.

Keep it coming! 👍
 
Incense and icons, for sure. I also appreciate the reverence of the liturgy.
 
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