What is the Orthodox opinion of the Catholic Church?

[josephdaniel29]

Before I became a catholic I encountered the orthodox. I came across very virulent anti-Catholic propaganda and attitudes.

When I discoverd they accepted contraception and divorce/ re-marriage I knew it was not true. Whats the point in beautiful liturgy if you are sending souls to Hell.

One can see how God has punished the Orthodox churches with both Islam and Commuism.

What were you before you became Catholic?

Yours in Christ
Joe

 

[Peter_J]

Do they believe the Pope holds any kind of primacy or honor, and if not…why not?

This was part of the OP, but it hasn’t been addressed much here.

As I understand it, the Orthodox do believe that there’s a First Among Equals, but they don’t believe that Benedict XVI holds that position. (In order to do so, they would need to accept Branch Theory.) On the other hand, generally they would be willing to give this title to Benedict XVI if he became Orthodox. (Some Orthodox poster can probably state this more precisely that I.)

To understand this better, consider that Catholics would be willing to recognize Patriarch Bartholomew as ranking second, if he were to become Catholic. But at the present time we don’t recognize him as ranking second, because he isn’t Catholic and we don’t accept Branch Theory.