Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox

[nametaken]

Am I right in thinking these are the same as Catholics?

[Quattrocento]

You would be entirely wrong

[nametaken]

Oh I really am confused then. Do we have any mumsnetters from these religions that could enlighten me?

[castlesintheair]

No, but like Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy is a form of Christianity.

[Quattrocento]

Sorry, I wasn't being very helpful, was I?

The way I think of things is that there are lots and lots of different forms of christianity, roughly divided into three broad camps

Protestant
Catholic
Orthodox

Orthodox churches tend to be very ornate, but their priests are allowed to marry. From the outside looking in it seems a smidgeon more liberal than catholicism.

[SqueakyPop]

The schism (Th Great Schism) between the Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic church happened in 1054.

The theology of Orthodoxy is often very different from that of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, particularly around Theosis.

[Weegiemum]

the schism between the RC and Orthodox church is to do with the 'filioque' controversy, part of the creed.

Basically, the Church had agreed that the creed should say 'I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who spoke by the prophets'

Then there was another Church council (Nicea?) without representation from the Eastern Orthodox Churches that added in 'who proceeds from the Father and the Son ' (in Latin 'and the Son' is 'filioque') and that caused the split as (1) they hasn't been consulted and (2) they didn't agree.

So the difference is a disagreement about the nature of the Trinity. Orthodoxy (like all branches of CHristianity!! ;) ) thinks it the only true faith.

Am a baptist, not orthodox, but just graduated from bible college, so still able to remember the historical stuff!

[AngelikiGR]

Hello, nametaken.

It depends what sort of level you want to know about the differences of Orthodoxy and Catholicism, I suppose.

Yes, the disagreement over the 'filioque' issue is a main one, but there other differences - not of essence, but rather of formalities and distribution of power, I suppose. For instance, according to the Catholic belief, the Pope is infallible and he's got primacy of honour, as it is believed that he is the successor to Peter. There are also differences in terms of religious objects (statues v. icons), rules about sactification and many many more.

But, I think, in essence the two "branches" of Christianity are the same as they both recognise Jesus Christ as the Head of Church and they have more or less the same rules about what is right and wrong .