Is Eastern Orthodoxy a Part of the True Church?

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Antonius_Lupus

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A Catholic friend of mine told me that Catholics believe that the Orthodox are part of the “True Church.”

Is he right when he says this?

Dave Armstrong said in his book Orthodoxy and Catholicism: A Comparison that Catholics “must believe that Orthodoxy is part of the universal Church.” He cites the Vat II and Papal encyclicals.

All this sounds heretical to me.

Sure they have Apostolic Succession, and sure they are Churches, but that doesn’t make them any less schismatic from the visible Church of Christ.

Does it?

I have been led to believe that the Catholic Church is the True Church of Christ, and the EO, even though they have Apostolic Succession and valid sacraments, are in schism with the True Church.

I am I wrong on this? If I am, can y’all show me how from like the CCC or something authoritave?

I want to make sure that my understanding of the Church is following Catholic dogma. I am still learning about the Catholic Faith and I really am confused now.

Thanks in advance.
 
Antonius_Lupus said:
I want to make sure that my understanding of the Church is following Catholic dogma. I am still learning about the Catholic Faith and I really am confused now.
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I hope someone of Catolic faith will answer you.

As Orthodox, I believe Orthodox Church is True Church of Jesus Christ.

However, I have been much interesting by such as Archimandrite Lev Gillet who personally witnessed to what he believed was the oneness of Catolic and Orthodox churches. Being Catolic priest, he becomes Ukrainian greko-Catolic and then Russian Orthodox always believing himself to be the same as before each change. There are others who hold such a view perhaps this author you quote is one of them. But each Church must believe that in ways other church is different, that other church is less correct.
 
Volodymyr said:
I hope someone of Catolic faith will answer you.

As Orthodox, I believe Orthodox Church is True Church of Jesus Christ.

However, I have been much interesting by such as Archimandrite Lev Gillet who personally witnessed to what he believed was the oneness of Catolic and Orthodox churches. Being Catolic priest, he becomes Ukrainian greko-Catolic and then Russian Orthodox always believing himself to be the same as before each change. There are others who hold such a view perhaps this author you quote is one of them. But each Church must believe that in ways other church is different, that other church is less correct.
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Thank you very much for your reply.

I enjoy reading your posts.

I too hope that some Catholics answer me.
 
Well, we know by reason that there can not be two One-True-Churches
 
it’s my understanding that the orthodox are the closest subset of the catholic church.

the way we did it in my apologetics class (when doing the ‘no salvation outside the church’ thing) had it listed as this:
  1. catholics
  2. protestants
  3. other religions
  4. atheists, non-religious
these are basically the levels of the church. orthodox were kind of a 1b. like between 1 and 2 because they have valid sacraments and succession, but are not in communion with rome as the end-all authority. so yeah, like you said, they are in schism. but they are still part of our universal church. it’s the reason why orthodox can receive the eucharist in catholic churches, but not vice versa usually (unless subjected to on-the-spot tests of faith, which is a good thing in principle, but i’m just saying it illustrates the point.)

catholics are more open to orthodox than vice versa basically so yes, we do consider them part of a our church even if they deny it. they are our closest brothers in faith. closer than anglicans or lutherans. probably closer than ‘old catholics’.

this is not based on anything other than a faint memory of a test.
 
The Orthodox Church is the whole of the True Church, not just a part. 😉
 
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