Protestant vs Orthodox - who's closer?

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BlueKumul

BlueKumul

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Hello!

Who is closer to Catholicism?

I always thought Orthodoxy is closer. They also worship saints and Mary the Mother of God. They can receive communion in our churches. But now on another board some guy keeps telling me Protestants are closer to Catholics because their views on civilization are more similar.
 
Political views don’t matter, even in schism/heresy, the Orthodox will always be the closest to us in theology and practice. In fact, all of the predenominational Churches are (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Assyrian Church of the East). They have what we consider valid apostolic succession. Anglicans, if you consider them separate from Protestants, are also closer than Protestants.
 
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Orthodoxy is far and away much closer to Catholicism than any form of Protestantism, even including the more Catholic-like sects such as Anglicanism. We agree on almost all points of doctrine, they are the only Churches I’m aware of outside the Catholic Church that have apostolic succession, and we consider them only schismatics and not heretics (whereas Protestants are heretics, whether material or formal). The reason we split in the first place was more political than doctrinal anyway. I have no idea why the other person thought Protestants are closer because they’re definitely not.
 
He was into certain theories of civilization I don’t claim to understand. Basically he believes that the Cold War was a clash of civilizations, Protestant America against Orthodox Russia, and because Catholic Poland sided with America, it’s a proof that Catholics have more in common with Protestants.

But weren’t the leaders of Russia atheists or Jews back in the Cold War era?
 
BlueKumul said:
Hello!

Who is closer to Catholicism?

I always thought Orthodoxy is closer. They also worship saints and Mary the Mother of God. They can receive communion in our churches. But now on another board some guy keeps telling me Protestants are closer to Catholics because their views on civilization are more similar.
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You’ll have to be more specific to get an answer. “Protestant” is not a specific group.

No Catholic I know of “worships” the saints or the Blessed Virgin Mary, but they do ask the saints to pray for them.

How close they are depends on the topic. For example, speaking as a Lutheran, the view of original sin is far more similar than that of Orthodoxy.
 
I agree with this…
I have been studying both the RCC and Orthodoxy and I agree with a lot more in Orthodoxy
but I agree much more with the Roman Catholic view of original sin.
I have trouble understanding the Orthodox view of “ancestral sin.”
 
JonNC said:
How close they are depends on the topic. For example, speaking as a Lutheran, the view of original sin is far more similar than that of Orthodoxy.
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Many Lutheran beliefs are not too far from Catholicism.
 
i don’t think that " Eastern Catholicism is identical to Eastern Orthodoxy same theology, same liturgical practices". There are many differences:
Fasting in Eastern Orthodoxy is much stricter than in Eastern Catholicism.
Divorce and remarriage is allowed under certain conditions in Eastern Orthodoxy.
Artificial birth control is never allowed in Eastern Catholicism.
 
Of course they vary. That’s because they are not the same tradition/ communion / denomination. Just like Catholicism disagrees with each of them, they disagree with each other.
That shouldn’t be a surprise.
 
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That’s an interesting caricature, but you have to show that this is what “Protestants” believe. I certainly don’t. It may even be true of certain groups, but,
Regarding practice and doctrine, use of the term Protestant is folly.

Actually, what you described above is the opposite of relativism. Under relativism, there would be no need to move on or create their own.

Would you like me to share with you the Lutheran confessions.
 
JonNC said:
Would you like me to share with you the Lutheran confessions.
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Which Lutherans would those apply to? Or maybe a better question would be which Lutheran denominations (~40 in North America alone) follow them fully? Can you really say with a straight face that ELCA, LCMS, and WELS (for example) are the same in doctrine and practice?
 
I agree with that, but i would not say that the EC and EO are 100% identical although they are pretty close indeed. Similarly, western rite Orthodox and Roman Catholic are pretty close also, but not exactly identical.
There is also a problem in Ukraine between Eastern Catholic and Russian Orthodox being not overly friendly to one another.
 
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whatistrue said:
Which Lutherans would those apply to? Or maybe a better question would be which Lutheran denominations (~40 in North America alone) follow them fully? Can you really say with a straight face that ELCA, LCMS, and WELS (for example) are the same in doctrine and practice?
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And there are 240 some odd Catholic denominations worldwide.
There are also these Catholics: https://arcwp.org/

The fact that Lutheran polity is not the same as that of the Catholic Church doesn’t change the fact that most Lutherans worldwide confess the Augsburg Confession. And not unlike the Catholic Catechism and Catholics, there are Lutherans who stray from some of its tenants.

On the other hand, it is inaccurate to assume that all Protestants were once one communion that splintered. And most of the current communions/traditions/ denominations that are referred to as Protestant are not connected to the Lutheran Reformation.
 
AlNg said:
I agree with that, but i would not say that the EC and EO are 100% identical although they are pretty close indeed. Similarly, western rite Orthodox and Roman Catholic are pretty close also, but not exactly identical.
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One huge thousand year old difference.
 
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