Do you notice this? Orthodox tend to distance themselves from Catholicism, while Catholics

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Hello @catholic1seeks ! I myself am an Orthodox Christian and we do not believe in the immaculate conception or purgatory. We do uphold the apostolic teaching of transubstantiation. This has never been something that we have rejected for it is most definitely true.

The reason why we reject the Roman Catholic teaching of the immaculate conception is primarily for two reasons: (1) we have a different understanding of what original sin and its effects are, and (2) we believe that the doctrine creates a distance between the Theotokos and other human beings. We believe in the sin of our foreparents (Adam and Eve), but we do not believe that every human being bears the guilt of their sin. The act that they committed is their own sin as we did not commit that act along with them. Rather, since sin is like a contagious illness, a human being’s inherently good nature becomes corrupted by the world around it, causing it to fall into the same errors of sin as Adam and Eve. This is why we also reject the teaching of immaculate conception as there was no need for God to cleanse the Theotokos of original sin’s guilt. Instead, she was blessed with much grace from her birth to have a zeal for godliness. In our understanding of the holiness of our Blessed Lady, we know that she was born just like any other human being, but she, out of great devotion and love for our Lord, chose to live a righteous life free of sin.

In regards to purgatory, the Holy Orthodox Church believes in an intermediate state between death and judgement, but it is significantly different. Canonically, it is undefined, but what is known is that, during this time, a soul goes through a process of purification by means of the church’s prayers, liturgical offerings, and acts of charity which appeal to God’s mercy. This is not a state where a soul is purged by means of fire or torture, and it is not something to which an indulgence can be applied. Some saints describe this state as “Aerial Toll Houses” (certain gates a soul must pass through where angels and demons fight over it); others say that some souls that are being prayed for are loosed from a temporary residence in Hell. We do not know exactly how merciful God is, yet, since we know Him to be a good and loving God, we appeal to him to look upon souls and have mercy upon them, rather than giving them his justified chastisement. We also ask that He have mercy upon these souls who may be stuck in the “Toll Houses” or who may be confined to Hell due to certain circumstances.

I hope this helped clear up some confusions. Have a wonderful day!
 
I would disagree with you actually. Of course there are a handful of people in both the Holy Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches who are condescending to others and try to “evangelize” in a harsh manner. I do not agree with this and support this at all. The Orthodox Church’s stance on bringing converts to the faith is that no one should try to force someone to convert or impose their beliefs on a non-believer. Orthodox try to avoid being confrontational about religious differences and usually try to promote their faith by inviting people to experience the church or to answer questions people may have. It is because we believe that the Holy Spirit is the one who truly draws someone to Orthodoxy. The Holy Spirit builds that connection and fills their heart with peace and devotion. Our faith, when challenged, does stand upon its own merit and teachings. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to have assurance in that. I am sorry if you have experienced some negativity from some Orthodox in the past, but I assure you that this is far from the norm. Especially in America, it is not even close to the norm. But this is a common issue in every faith and every branch of Christianity- including Catholicism.
 
Hi @dochawk ! Nice to meet you 🙂 I am Eastern Orthodox (with a very mixed ethnic background). My dad’s family is Eastern Catholic (Melkite/Greek Catholic) and Orthodox. I chose to become Orthodox myself and it is very similar to Eastern Catholicism. I, myself, do not hold any animosity towards Catholics as I see them as my brothers and sisters in Christ. Majority of my friends are also Catholics and, of course there are some differences in belief, but it isn’t a reason to mistreat one another. I think this is a common problem for religious people in general. I have also not really encountered an Anti-Catholic Orthodox person (and I have been to many Orthodox churches and monasteries in several countries), only once have I experienced it in regards to my dad’s family. I have heard from some Orthodox that they do not like the history of what happened between our churches, and some still do not like the Pope for his actions in the past. It has become associated with control and domination (especially in regards to the crusades). But, like you said, the majority of animosity and hostility I received was from Catholics who did not like my religious beliefs. I have been accused of “mimicking Catholicism” by some and I have also experienced much harsher things. Very disappointing. Even when attending a Roman Rite mass for my Great-Grandmother’s funeral, the priest hated the way I would sign the cross because it was “absolutely wrong”. I wish people did not disrespect each other in these ways. Neither church is perfect, but we can work to be more Christ like by truly respecting and loving our neighbour.
 
As others have said, I tend to find more anti-Catholicism online vs real life. Admittedly, I’ve only met a few Orthodox individuals but they were all very welcoming. The converts are a bit more wary of Catholicism (usually it’s the whole Pope thing) than the cradles. I had one lady tell me we’re the same. So yeah, it’s mostly on the internet that I come across the hostility.

And, also as others have stated, I think there’s a lot of anti-Orthodoxy here on the internet more so than in real life. Most of the Roman Catholics I know have very little knowledge of Orthodoxy…some of the more rad-trady types usually quip “Orthodox? They reject the Pope right? Eastern Catholic? You’re UNDER the Pope right?”
sigh…

I’ve also thought about leaving the forum and I have in the past. It was WAY worse before the new format. I wasn’t around for the great Orthodox Purge of '07 but I’ve read that it was pretty bad. 😦
 
I started, about a year ago, it investigate the Orthodox Church. I will say, that many times when I am trying to sort through information from different sites or books, many of them have an undercurrent of anger aimed at the RC Church. I think I have finally found one that refrains from that, so looking forward to reading it.
 
You will definitely find such things going both ways, but their existence doesn’t make them the mainstream.

You will find just as vicious and uncharitable statements here by Catholics about Orthodox . . .

hawk
 
jsnath said:
I would disagree with you actually. Of course there are a handful of people in both the Holy Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches who are condescending to others and try to “evangelize” in a harsh manner.
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I am not addressing one’s personal negative opinion’s per-se toward’s another’s faith. I am speaking from experience, that it is known from the leadership spoken from the pulpits in Protestantism, teachers from the Orthodox Church’s and Islam leader’s and teacher’s attack and or discredit other faith’s in-order to prove their faith existence.

I addressed the OP’s question of how in my opinion, whey the Orthodox tend to distance themselves from Catholicism (Latin), when most Orthodox members due to their instruction, attack the Latin expression of faith and the Bishop’s of Rome, taking the same path as Protestant Christians who protest against the Catholic Church.

I should hope that no Orthodox Church’s ever try and force one to convert. That is never a question.

Officially Vatican II has declared, Latin Catholic members are not to try and convert any Orthodox Catholic members to become Latin Catholic members.

Do the Orthodox follow this same example towards Latin Catholic members as declared by Vatican II?
 
I have read many anti-catholic books from many different faith’s.

Yet , I have never read or heard of a Catholic book or Catholic author who attacks another’s faith, in the example you give.

Can you give me the name of such a Catholic author or book?
 
@OriginalGabrielof12 Sorry for a long message. I’m trying to respond to all that was said:

Thank you for your response, but I am also speaking from experience as well. Catholicism is not exempt from this and its believers are not always the most welcoming of Christians. I have experienced Catholic hatred for Orthodoxy, plenty of times, from both the laity and the clergy. Maybe you have not seen or felt anti-Orthodox sentiments within your parish, but, then again, you are not Orthodox and not at the receiving end. Every church is guilty of this, whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant. The amount that the clergy (specifically) follows in this behaviour also depends on the country: for example, our clergy are more relaxed in the United States than, say, in Russia. The same goes for Catholicism. American Catholic clergy tend to be more relaxed than clergy in Malta (which is actually one of the most conservative Catholic countries). These more relaxed clergy tend to be more respectful of people with differing beliefs.

Regarding distancing oneself from the Roman Catholic Church, this is somewhat true because we do not want people to misconstrue the doctrines and beliefs we hold. Many people assume that we have one pope, believe in the immaculate conception, and other things, and we simply don’t want to be associated with that. It is simply because we are not Roman Catholic and do not believe in the same teachings as that church. I acknowledged that there are some people within the Orthodox Church who do not like Catholicism, but the majority do not have such feelings. And if an Orthodox person is asked why they do not believe in papal primacy, is it wrong for them to explain? Catholics tend to do the same.

Yes, we Orthodox believe in a similar concept of what was written into the Vatican 2 documents in regards to evangelization, but we do not adhere to Vatican 2 because we are not Catholic. This has always been the doctrine of the Orthodox church because we believe (as I said) that the Holy Spirit is the one who draws someone to Orthodoxy and changes their heart. This is why we never led our own crusades, colonised countries and changed their religion by force, persecuted people who held Orthodox beliefs (like the Croatians to the Serbs), or other things. These are just some historical examples to illustrate my point

These articles may also illustrate Orthodox perspectives better than I can: Anti-Catholic - Questions & Answers - Orthodox Church in America
http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/convert.html
 
I agree with you @dochawk
It happens constantly here which further illustrates that any ideas of superiority or negative sentiments go both ways and depend on the circumstance
 
I read an interesting article where the author tries to look at the problems from the inside.
This article is the honest self-criticism and identification of the problems in Orthodox tradition( quite different from the usual self-righteous reasoning) by the Greek Professor of Philosophy, at University of Athens.

 
Thank you for that link. I thought I was the only one who felt this way about the Orthodox faith. It is welcoming to hear that I do not stand alone on this view.

I pray (name removed by moderator) and dochawk would read this Orthodox commentary and realize that my commentaries here are indeed charitable.
Athanasiy said:

Fundamentalism as “Orthodoxism”​

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I would yeild to Athanasiy’s post in answer to the OP of why the Orthodox tend to distance themselves from Catholicism in the Western Rite.
Peace be with all of you
 
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I have no books to cite offhand, no. And no recent ones would bear an Imprimatur . . .

There is however, an abundance of such on this site . . . including the post I read ( not in this thread) immediately before this one . . .

hawk
 
OriginalGabrielof12 said:
I pray (name removed by moderator) and dochawk would read this Orthodox commentary and realize that my commentaries here are indeed charitable.
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It is not your comments that I am describing as uncharitable–but it’s hard to read a thread around here where Orthodoxy is mentioned that doesn’t contain them (many cannot be seen now, as the moderators are pretty good at responding and deleting when these are flagged).

I didn’t research the author of that article, but it certainly sounds like criticism by an Orthodox, not from the outside. And he has many good points.

hawk
 
I agree with you. I also think that no religious organisation is perfect and is able to be criticised. Roman Catholicism is just as criticisable (not sure if that is a word) as the Holy Orthodox Church, and vice-versa. I wish we could see less hostility in these feeds in general. It’s not constructive at all
 
my greatest & best friend in the world is russian orthodox

he doesn’t think or care about the church of rome; Our Church means nothing to him

he pays no attention to “catholicism”

he married an irish catholic: she converted to russian orthodoxy ( his 2nd marriage)

i (roman catholic) was the best man at his first wedding to another roman catholic girl
 
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catholic1seeks said:
It happens on both sides, but like @Vonsalza said (even if I disagree with his points or general bitterness), there are sometimes more general reasons that would apply.
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No bitterness here at all. I just try to argue the facts - which is a fools errand in matters of faith. I know.

I love your faith. I just consider it a less-complete presentation of the truth. And I don’t try to use empathetic language to present that. Maybe foolishly.
 
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