What are the ideological diffences between the Orthodox and Catholic sects of Christianity?

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Ok obviously there are diffeneces between the two, but what are they? I know that in 1054 the Pope excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantople but that’s about the limit to my knowledge on this subject.
 
RedSoxFan said:
Ok obviously there are diffeneces between the two, but what are they? I know that in 1054 the Pope excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantople but that’s about the limit to my knowledge on this subject.
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There are no ideological differences. There are a couple of theological differences. The big one is who is the visible head of the Church. The Catholics say the bishop of Rome has supreme authority to lead the Church. They base this claim on the words of Jesus to Peter and Peter was the head of the Church in Rome. The Orthodox say all the bishops are equal in authority, but that one of their bishops or patriarchs is “first among equals”. I think their reasoning is that the capital of the Roman Empire moved.

The idea that there can be primacy and equality at the same time seems illogical, but the Orthodox do not have a problem with this.
I think the title of primacy is just a figurehead title, as England still has a king or queen. The king has no real authority to govern the country, but everyone calls him king out of respect. He still has a ceremonial crown, but the government is not his.

Catholics and Orthodox claim their bishops are successors of the apostles. Catholics also give authority to teach and govern to bishops, but the pope is over them in authority.
 
That’s amazing that there is so little diffence. Do they share similar views of purgatory? I also hear thier bible is bigger than ours, but I’m not sure if it’s actually the same size and numbered differently or what. If anyone knows this I would be grateful!
 
RedSoxFan said:
That’s amazing that there is so little diffence. Do they share similar views of purgatory? I also hear thier bible is bigger than ours, but I’m not sure if it’s actually the same size and numbered differently or what. If anyone knows this I would be grateful!
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The Orthodox pray for the dead as do Catholics. I don’t know if they use the word purgatory. I do not believe the Bible they use is any different. Maybe, but that is something I have not heard about.
 
RedSoxFan said:
Ok obviously there are diffeneces between the two, but what are they? I know that in 1054 the Pope excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantople but that’s about the limit to my knowledge on this subject.
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Actually, the Pope didn’t excommunicate the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1054. It was done by one Cardinal Humbert who was sent there by the Pope to talk over differences pertaining to the practice of the Latin (western) rite in the east and the Byzantine (eastern) rite in the west. Of course, the Cardinal had no authority to do this, and people at the time were generally unaware that there had been any rift. The funny thing is that there was never a general excommunication of one side by the other.

The coup-de-grace as far as east-west relations are concerned took place during one of the Crusades. The crusaders were supposed to the go to the holy land, but mission creep set in because of financial reasons, and they got themselves embroiled in Byzantine politics. They wound up sacking Constantinople and engaging in concomitant atrocities. As I understand it, and if I am not mistaken, the crusaders got themselves excommunicated for this–by the Pope. Nevertheless, the Catholics have never been forgiven for this. That’s why there were people wanting to boo Pope John Paul II when he went to Greece.

More recently, during World War II, the ostensibly Catholic Croatian regime allied themselves with the Nazis, and treated the Orthodox Serbs pretty poorly. There’s no excuse for that sort of thing, clearly, and it didn’t help at all as far as Catholic-Orthodox relations go.

There are minor doctrinal differences, and a major one regarding the authority of the Pope. But the real division arises from old nationalist and ethnic hatreds. Of course, that is the sort of thing that Jesus expects us to overcome if we are going to be one in the kingdom of God.
 
There is an Eastern Orthodox forum here at Caf.

I would lurk around over there for a while.😉
 
you will find them discussed in great detail on the Eastern forum (also with a great deal of acrimony so bring your pepcid you will need it). some of the best are archived I hope they scrapped the nastier threads

here are the forum rules and description of Eastern Catholicism, scroll down to the end for explanation of the change, but please read the forum rules before you participate
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=196577
 
grandfather said:
There are no ideological differences. There are a couple of theological differences. The big one is who is the visible head of the Church. The Catholics say the bishop of Rome has supreme authority to lead the Church. They base this claim on the words of Jesus to Peter and Peter was the head of the Church in Rome. The Orthodox say all the bishops are equal in authority, but that one of their bishops or patriarchs is “first among equals”. I think their reasoning is that the capital of the Roman Empire moved.

The idea that there can be primacy and equality at the same time seems illogical, but the Orthodox do not have a problem with this.
I think the title of primacy is just a figurehead title, as England still has a king or queen. The king has no real authority to govern the country, but everyone calls him king out of respect. He still has a ceremonial crown, but the government is not his.

Catholics and Orthodox claim their bishops are successors of the apostles. Catholics also give authority to teach and govern to bishops, but the pope is over them in authority.
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A few things. For us Primacy would be almost like in Epesians when the man is the head but woman and man is equal in the site of God. We submitt our selves one to another and Christ is the Authority over the Church. A husband is given that first due by the wife due to her obedience to Christ. Christ is the authority over them. She equally answers to the Lord and his commandments. As the faithful they are held in truth by the Holy spirit. Our Patriache is conferred with and can speak on faith but its because of the equality in the Bishops and through the Holy Spirit which binds the faithful through the sacraments from Christ.. Well something like that. We just don't see were St. Peter at anytime decided in a sola manner as though he had the supreme finale say over the others.
 
Vintagecoils said:
A few things. For us Primacy would be almost like in Epesians when the man is the head but woman and man is equal in the site of God.
Yes this is true. The Church is the woman, the bride of Christ. How many heads does she have? How many patriarchs does Orthodoxy have? There is one designated party as first (having primacy) among equals, but there are also a number of autocephelus (spell?), self heading Orthodox churches. We most recently saw a theological conference drawing representatives of Orthodoxy together with Catholics to discuss the very issue of primacy. A dispute arose and the Russian delegation stormed out, because another Orthodox group was invited they did not want to be there. The reason was the Russians claimed jurisdiction of this small church and another patriarch did also. Who is right in a case like this when two patriarchs (heads) have a dispute? The term self heading seems self explanatory to the Orthodox. To an outsider is seems self contradictory. How can a body be self heading? A body needs a head. If the Church is one, if there is one Church established by Christ, it is one body and can have only one head. There can not be a five headed body. In hisotry how did these separate churches in Orthodoxy become self heading, and why? Did they assert their independence and demand the right to run their own affairs? Today I believe there are three separate parties claiming to be the head of the Orthodox in Ukraine. One has allegiance to Russia, the other to Greece, I think, and another has claimed self heading rights. To an outsider looking in this seems like disorder, very confusing. The original question was what are the difference between Cs and Os. This is the big one.<<<<<<<<
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