What is the difference between the catholic church and the russian/greek orthodox church?

Answer 1

---is Catholic---

Jessica -- the marring of the priests is a minor difference. there are married Roman Catholic Priests, very few, but they exist. In all the Churches, there is never to be a married bishop. celibate Roman clergy is a specific charism for the Roman Rite, it does not bind any other Church unless that Church wishes to practice that charism.

Don E -- The Greek and Russian Orthodox do believe in the Chair of Peter (aka the Pope) but they either do not believe that Bishop of Rome doesn't exercise that authority any more and or that the Bishop of Rome exercises it incorrectly currently.

chimaker -- Not right. Constantine didn't move Peter's Church to Turkey. He moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople. Rome remained for several centuries the seat and heart of the Church. You can notice this by looking at the Ecumenical Councils and how they defer to Rome. It is only after about the 7-8th century when there starts to appear an argument that Peter's Chair was intended to reside in the capitol of the Empire. Later when Russia rose to power over the Greeks, they would use a fabricated story "The Tale of the White Cowl" to promote the idea that the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church now was the place of Peter's Chair and Russia as the 3rd Rome. The Roman celibacy position has nothing to do with the Church having land and it being passed to the sons of priests. If you read the literature on the matter, celibacy was always the norm for the Roman Rite and married priests were not the norm. There are multible moves to promote celebacy and keep priests celebate WAY before the middle ages when the Church had any real money and wealth. You should also know that in the Catholic Church, decrees tend to not be about new things. Rather they strengthen and enforce practices that are already occurring. Orthodox do not like Catholics receiving communion in their Churches. The Catholic position (Vatican II) on this matter is not that it is OK, but rather that the Orthodox have a valid Eucharist. The instruction is rather not to receive, but only receive if it is a dire necessity and or if the priest will personally allow it.

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ANSWER TO QUESTION

There is a book worth of differences between Roman Catholics and Orthodox. However, there are almost no differences between Greek (Byzantine Rite) Catholics and Greek Orthodox. The way you have to look at things is that there is a small separation between G.Orth being Catholic, and a large separation from them being Roman Catholic.

The differences break down into

Liturgical
--The structure of the Rites are different as are the prayers, but there is the same basic concepts occurring -- Penance, Thanksgiving, Scripture Readings, Homily, and most importantly the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Eucharist.

Clergy
Married priests in G.Orth.

Spiritual
--Vastly different. Some examples. Western mystics tend to get stigmata, Eastern tend to under go transfiguration (glowing). Spirituality of Icons, which is more in-depth and involved than how we use statues. Icons are windows into heaven and are very much revered. Spirituality can be very Oriental almost yogaish and Buddhist.

Theological
Orthodox understand things from a medicinal standpoint. Everything is about how God is healing the human race. Theology also relies upon "mystery", which doesn't mean hidden, but rather unable to approach exactly, when they talk theology (so things can be vague, prosy, and contradictory) whereas the West wants to go for the details. The West (after St. Aquinas) tends to see God as pure act (essence and act are the same). The Orthodox see a difference between God's essence and His energies (activities). The Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Son.

Miss. stuff.
The Sign of the cross is done backwards (or forwards depending on how you look at it) (and the positioning of the hand is different). Believe it or not this was a big deal way back when.

That is just general. There is more.


But you know at the end of the day, these differences are not that much. The difference between a Catholic/Orthodox and a Protestant is vast compared to the difference between Cath. and Orth. Catholics, and Orthodox have the same faith, it is just different in how it is expressed, theologically and its forms. There is also minor differences in how the Church is structured (such as the papacy....).

Answer 2

When Constantine moved the seat of Peter's church to Turkey (thus the cities name: Constantinople) it was solely because of doctrine. Specifically, I believe, the wording of the Creed and the authority of the Pope. To this day the Orthodox church remains virtually unaltered in dogma, design and is free of scandals. One can not say the same of the Catholic Church. The Orthodox priests can marry. The Catholic priests can not. Simply put, it's because of a Pope's decree. It's primary reason was because the Church held a considerable amount of land and they didn't want this property going any where but to the church after a priest died. Differences still remain in the Creed and other doctrine (because of changes made by the Catholics over the centuries) but, the Orthodox Church remains the closest thing there is to the Church of Christ which was founded by Peter.
One more thing, the Orthodox Church is one of the few that a Catholic is allowed to receive Communion.

Answer 3

I believe that many of the rites and beliefs are the same, but the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches don't believe in the pope.

Answer 4

I think one big difference might be if clergy can marry.

Answer 5

lots

Answer 6

the filioque