Because they disagreed with both in areas of theology (justification; Scripture/Tradition; sacraments, etc.), ecclesiology (which has implications for how the church is to be organized and governed)—though you could say they were arguably closer to the Orthodox ecclesiology than they were to the Catholic ecclesiology with various national churches being formed???—, and “aesthetics” (they favored simpler worship and were iconoclastic at times). These were the problems.
From an Eastern Orthodox perspective, Protestantism looks exactly like Catholicism.
I cannot take such a statement seriously.
You are joking, right?
But it is true. Protestantism came out of Catholicism and thus its theology is very Western. Even the heretical doctrines of the Protestants aren’t even close to Eastern theology.
In a way, I very much agree with this, coming from the interesting perspective of a former Baptist who came into full communion with the Catholic Church myself. To an Orthodox, Protestantism might seem a logical consequence of Catholicism, since the Orthodox essentially reached a point, more or less, on doctrinal development and theological progress (not in the sense of “improvement” necessarily, but just the sense of the word of being development or further movement in time) where they said “That’s it, we move no farther” and stayed there ever since, overall. Catholicism has continued to embrace the idea of continued theological refinement and progression through time…Protestantism represented certainly a MAJOR “development” in terms of theological progress/movement, albeit in a, to a Catholic, very unfortunate direction in throwing out Tradition and the previous 1500 years. So to the Orthodox that would seem somewhat similar…am I correct?
It hardly resembles Catholicism. It is an undercooked underdone half-baked malformed version of Catholicism - at best. (And that’s Anglicanism!)
I don’t mean similar in external appearance. But similar in theology, similar in scholasticism. Even if you do not agree on many things, you understand those things similarly. With the Orthodox and Catholics, we do not even have the same understanding for the same words.
I grew up protestant and it isn’t anything like Catholicism.
I guess you have never been to a Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God, Non-denominational, or Churches of Christ.
Again, I’m not talking about Sunday Worship. I’m talking about how the faith is understood. Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox resemble each other in belief and understanding which is completely different from Western Christianity.
And I should hope not! Nor should I expect that these heretical doctrines of protestants are even close to Western theology.
True, but see my post. If I am getting it right about the Orthodox perspective, what he said makes some sense. If you start at the premise that, basically, you must hold to the Tradition and doctrinal development as you now understand it, and no changes or developments are acceptable, then it makes sense that Catholicism and Protestantism have a basic, fundamental thing in common: development/progression. The question is: progression to where, and guided by whom? Guided by the Holy Spirit through the Church, or guided by no one but each individual’s own fallible understanding and ideas? On some level, it’s either progression on the basis of submission to authority, or on the basis of subjectivism.
Not to sidetrack things, but this is interesting. Are you saying the Orthodox Church does not teach the theological principle of the need for Justification, the necessity of the Atonement?
Yes and know. A good look at where the Protestantism first spread through Europe would show that it spread mainly in areas where the languages where Germanic.
It’s just a shame what “they” disagree with is the foundation of the teachings that come directly from Jesus Christ Himself and His Apostles (Bishops) whom took charge of His Church after He ascended to Heaven. Protestantism is not a “reformed” Church. It is a brand new one. Herein lies the problem. From where did these heretics receive the authority to build their own Church? It certainly did not come from God. He had already made His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (a physical and literal Church) and it would be nonsensical for Him to create two separate Churches and pit them against one another (let alone the tens of thousands of protestant religions there are today). The answer is simple. They did not have the authority to start their own religions/churches. That is why everything they believe is fallible and nonsensical. That is why there is little disagreement among protestants (even among those of the same professed faith background).
