Christianity - What are the three main branches?

Question

A recent question reminded me that a lot of people are confused about the differences in Christianty.
There are three branches of Christianity:
1 Catholic
2 Protestant
3 Eastern Orthodox

If you are a Christian, you are one of those. People who think otherwise are mistaken (and they are probably protestants).

Those are the facts. Every Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.)

Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. (here is a list: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm )

This is unequaled by any institution in history: Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy. The Catholic Church has existed for nearly 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church’s divine origin: Any merely human organization would have collapsed long ago. The Catholic Church is today the most vigorous church in the world (and the largest, with a billion members: one sixth of the human race), and that is testimony not to the cleverness of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.

Any comments? Any thoughts?

Peace be with you all !!!

Answer 1

Yep, you are right about the three categories of Christian Churches, and as a Protestant I think it is a shame that so many Protestants don't know about their Catholic roots. I think this is shameful and just a real bummer that we ignore our history and ignore such awesome saints who've really lived the life and written about it. As a family of Christians we need to be more open. Otherwise, we just keep spinning our wheels and writing books thinking that we have been enlightened with something new when in fact early church fathers worked through the same issues.

Lastly, we must remember that no institution is a substitution for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Any institution can be a "White washed tomb" (Nietze). What God desires is a relationship and that is the choice we must make.

Answer 2

An interesting rewrite of history. Kind of ignores the many other groups which can trace their origin back to the the first century also, such as the Copitc Christians - a church founded by Jewish Christian driven from Israel in the 60's AD. They had an established church structure and the first actual church building prior to the death of Peter (or Paul). They are also the ones who have preserved the oldest known complete Bible.

Or the Armenian Christians who can trace their church back to the first century also.

When the split happened between the Eastern and the Western branches of the Catholic church, who decided that the Western branch was the correct one? Perhaps it was the Eastern (Orthodox) branch that was the true church. They share the same papel line of succession up to that time when the Roman Bishop (who had no more or no less right to claim to be the Pope then did the Bishop of the Eastern church) pulled the Western Christians out of the church.

The Catholic church does not represent an unbroken or continues chain of apostalic authority from the first century. Rather it is only one of dozens of churches that can trace their origin to the original Apostles. Granted, they are the largest such group. But by no means the only.

Answer 3

It cannot be said that the the Orthodox churches "broke away" from "unity with the pope." They rejected papal claims of authority over them. The resulting schism was equal on both sides. One could equally say that the pope broke away from the Orthodox. Of the two churches, the Orthodox Church is by far closer to the Church of the 10th Century. Since the schism, the Roman Catholics altered doctrine so many times, it begat the Protestant reformation. In the Orthodox world, no such reformation was necessary, and today, they are almost identical to that 10th Century church. I understand the Asker is probably a faithful Roman Catholic, and so accepts this revisionist point of view, but historically speaking, one would have to say that the doctrines of the Orthodox Church resemble most the beliefs of the earliest Christians.

Answer 4

In 1054 there was a "Great Schism" which split the "East" from Rome, and Roman Catholicism and Orthodox seperated, the main difference being that RCs take their authority from the Pope while Orthodox don't. Then in the 16th Century there was the Protestant Reformation when certain thinkers in Europe began to become disgruntled with certain aspects of Catholicism and so also broke away from Rome. However, within each branch many different subdivisions have sprung up at various times, so there are so many variations even within these three that it would take pages to discuss! My advice would be to have a glance at the pages I've referenced below (since this is a very simplified answer) and if you want to know more then just keep searching on Wikipedia since there are literally hundreds of pages on the different branches of Christianity! Hope that helps a bit!

Answer 5

Catholicism should refute Evolution, then, as it and others did vigorously in the 19th century.

Eastern Orthodox and Protestant movements opposed various problems they saw.

From what I understand, as a Protestant, the Protestants desired to restore the church from within.

Unity is a great and noble goal, but it always costs something. Unless all 3 branches, including the Catholic Church, are willing to return to the common faith, unity will be difficult. There are some doctrinal differences, which many would call slight.

Answer 6

Yes, you are right.

I think it's so interesting that so many responses say things like "Jews were the first Christians" or Catholic is not in the Bible etc. etc.

When the Catholic Church says that it is the first Church it means that what we have today came directly from the Apostles. No, they were not called Catholic then, and yes they were born and raised Jews...so what? That doesn't change the FACT that they were the first Christians and can be traced directly to the Roman Catholic Church of today.

Answer 7

The Short answer is;
Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant.

But I must add; Please don't fall into the Roman trap that IT IS "THE Catholic" Church. The truth is that the Rome stepped away form the Catholic Church once it asserted Primacy over the Church Catholic and has veered further off ever since. The Closest thing your will find today to THE Historic Catholic Church among the "mainline churches" is the Anglican Communion.
However you may want to check out a Church called "The Ante-Nicene Christian Church" If there's a Church in America today that is "the historic Catholic Church" it is the ANCC.

Answer 8

Lineage in itself does not necessarily mean that the modern Catholic church is following God's will. Israel was God's chosen people and Judaism was His chosen religion and yet look what Jesus called their leaders at the time of His ministry on earth. A den of vipers and son's of their father, the devil.

Answer 9

Does your unbroken line of popes include the ones who were removed because they did not exist? How about the one who was declared a heretic after his death? How about the fact that the term pope was not used by someone who was a pope until the mid 4th century? The Catholic church does not have an unbroken line of popes. What it did was went back in history and said these men were popes. They never claimed to be but they are none the less. If you told Peter he was the first pope he would have no idea what you were talking about.

Answer 10

I don't often agree with you, but in this case, you are definitely right. The Catholic Church was the first major mass organization of Christian churches, and the other main branches (and all their sub-branches) are offshoots of the Catholic church.

Do bear in mind thought that the Catholic Church was not the first Christian church in history, though. ;) [I'm not trying to be offensive, just historically correct.]