Why are Orthodox one true Church?

[HabemusFrancis]

I am curious, how do we know that the Orthodox are not the one true faith?

Where Orthodoxy is practiced (Egypt,Greece, Syria etc.) Christianity has been around longest.

They seem as old as the Roman Catholic Church. So why aren’t the Orthodox the one true Faith that Christ established on earth? How can we know?

 

[phil19034]

The Orthodox (Oriental and Eastern), plus the Church of the East all split from the Catholic Church.

None of them rejected the Deposit of Faith, but schisms occurred for mostly secular political issues and misunderstandings between the Rites.

So from the Catholic perspective they all share the same Faith, except they deny the Pope.

We pray for reunification.

I hope this helps. God Bless!

 

[PaulfromIowa]

The Eastern Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox Churches are part of Christ’s Church, although in imperfect communion. They have all seven valid sacraments. The only thing that they lack is full communion with the rest of Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We should all pray for the restoration of communion between the Christian Churches.

CCC: The Church Is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic

838 "The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter."322 Those "who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church."323 With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound "that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord’s Eucharist."324

 

[PluniaZ]

Which “Orthodox”? The East split apart into 3 different sects in the 5th Century:

The Church of the East (extending from eastern Syria all the way to China at one point)
The Oriental Orthodox Church (Egypt, Syria and Armenia)
The Eastern Orthodox Church (then the Byzantine Empire, today Eastern Europe and Russia)

If any of these have a claim based on geography, it’s the Oriental Orthodox, since they are the ones in the original Biblical lands and have the 2 primal sees of the East - Alexandria and Antioch.

Note that centuries after the initial schism, all of these churches realized it was silly not to be in communion with Rome - and all of them rejoined the Catholic Church. But as is always the case, somebody objected, with the result that these churches split again, into the “pro-reunion with Rome” crowd and the “anti-reunion with Rome” crowd. The main ones who have rejoined are:

The Chaldean Catholic Church (from the Church of the East)
The Syriac Catholic Church (from the Oriental Orthodox)
The Melkite Catholic and Byzantine Catholic Churches (from the Eastern Orthodox)

There are also the Maronites from Lebanon, who never left the Catholic Church.

I recommend Father Adrian Fortescue’s two books on this:

babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000033928500;view=1up;seq=2
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004728740;view=1up;seq=7

 

[Peter_J]

I am curious, how do we know that the Orthodox are not the one true faith?

Where Orthodoxy is practiced (Egypt,Greece, Syria etc.) Christianity has been around longest.

They seem as old as the Roman Catholic Church. So why aren’t the Orthodox the one true Faith that Christ established on earth? How can we know?

No easy answer to that.

We can’t convince them that we’re the one true Church, they can’t convince us that they’re the one true Church.

 

[esieffe]

They seem much more bothered about us, than we do of them. We accept them much more readily then they accept us. That has been my experience anyway.

I have read many orthodox books about their monasteries. I have gotten a great deal out of that. I have no intention of ever converting, but they do have much to offer. Their theology differs on a few key points, but I overlook that. Many of their Churches are absolutely beautiful.

 

[tomarin]

If they have valid sacraments, then obviously they are one part of the one true faith.