What are the beliefs of the 'Orthodox' church?

[RonJohnSilver]

I'm a little confused about what is meant when folks say the 'orthodox' church. I know there is the Eastern Orthodox and the Russian Orthodox and certainly others, but in reading some online information, it's hard for me to pin down exactly what 'orthodox' is. Most seem to adhere to the traditional protestant doctrines but with some regional additions/subtractions so it gets a little blurry to see which groups are too far off the mark, if that makes any sense. Can, for example, the Eastern Orthodox churches be considered 'Christian'? The Russian Orthodox?

 

[Margery]

It depends, I'm not great at explaining those differences because even Orthodox christians have a hard time explaining them. George was born into a Russian Orthodox family as are most Russians. (yes there are Baptists and others, but most Russians are RO) and he and his parents had trouble explaining it. Like any fossilized church stuck in the dark ages of tradition over the Bible, there are still real believers in the church, but many who are cultural "christians" who rely on being born into, and christened to be saved.

That is NOT always the case. At my fil's funeral the priest in charge was busy trying to make sure he preached the gospel to me because he wasn't sure if I was saved and he relaxed as soon as I explained that yes, Jesus is the Lord of my life, I accepted His death on the Cross for my sins, and believed as did the priest in his Resurrection on the 3rd day. He and his wife love their congregation and work hard to try and get as many of them properly firmly saved as possible.

Closer to Catholic, than Protestant though. Lots of Icons or paintings of the various "saints". Eastern Orthodox view 3D statues as idols, and give a pass for their icons. It's another way they are different from Catholics. Burn a candle or 50 in front of the icon of a saint for extra oomph for your prayers which go to God but some to Mary unfortunately. Yet they look on the statues of various saints and The Lord as idols. A little bit of log in their own eye, before removing the beam out of the Catholics might be in order there but you asked about the differences and that is a biggy. They see Catholics as pretty heathen with the statues though.

The Eastern Orthodox is the overall designation for Orthodox- it includes Greek and Russian Orthodox and some other orthodox groups I think.

They split from western Christianity (then it was almost completely Catholic out here) in 1054 just a few short years before the Normans conquered England. So it's been a while. The Normans played a role because the Pope of Rome wanted help from a Norman invasion so he sent for help from Constantinople and was denied. Bad blood going back a few more centuries. The Patriarch shut down some Catholic outpost churches in his area and the fight was ON.

The Eastern side in Constantinople were cranky about the Pope. They didn't appreciate the power grab by Rome, calling itself the head of the church, and pointed out that they dated back far earlier to the pre Paul missionaries from Jerusalem. The Orthodox church ruled from Constantinople, which remained the centre of Roman civilization while western Rome was fighting off Vandals and Visigoths.

They figured that the upstart Pope aka bishop of Rome had no greater authority than any other arch bishop of a large centre which in Eastern Orthodox circles is called a Metropolitan (not a pope or a bishop). The equivalent to the Pope is called a Patriarch. But those are a bit fuzzy now depending on which country of Orthodoxy we are discussing.

The Pope of that time didn't like that at all so he excommunicated the head of the Eastern Orthodox church (the Patriarch) and The Patriarch returned the favour.

Since both claimed to be the head of the universal church, this got sticky pretty quick as you can imagine.

Then there was the business of celibacy and the priesthood. Priests in the West were required to be celibate with few exceptions and celibacy seems to have been a rather elastic concept considering how many of the Pope's illegitimate children succeeded to the Papacy.

The Eastern Orthodox were quite rightly horrified. And they have always had married priests. In fact you can't be a priest unless you are married, or advance in the church. There are monks who take vows of celibacy, but they are not able to advance in power and rank in the church of the East.

And there is something called the Filoque which simply means that the Easterners view the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Son of God Jesus, while the Western Catholic and daughter churches view the Holy Spirit as coming from the Father.

And that is the depths of my knowledge on the subject.

They are Christian, they are not heathen, just a branch that ended up suffering horribly when Constantinople fell to the Muslim hordes. The branches of the Orthodox church split into national lines, some going north into Russia others remaining in Greece.

`Edited to add- so I looked it up and there are a bunch, including the Assyrian Orthodox, Ethiopian, Coptic Christians and more. I am having real trouble pasting links in but a pew research article Nov 14, 2017 titled

Q&A: A closer look at Orthodox Christians​

has a really good run down on the different branches of Orthodox Christians.

 

[Margery]

Oh yeah, the Crusades after the Schism of 1054 didn't help matters when enthusiastic Catholic knights savaged Eastern Orthodox cities. By the time of 1453 when Constantinople fell (they asked for help from the West but it was denied) the fight had gone on too long to salvage any relationship. My late mother in law didn't mind Catholics but in her view, they just weren't Orthodox real Christians. As for Protestants, once she understood I really was a Christian albeit a weirdo version she settled down. Father in law waited till a week before he died before accepting Christ as his saviour. He didn't think highly of any church including the RO.


Finally the Russian news guy I follow on YouTube (Inside Russia) is a Russian Orthodox Christian who loves the Lord, usually follows his live streams with a prayer and doesn't have much love for his church.

 

[Margery]

I'm going to put that link in manually

Q&A: A closer look at Orthodox Christians

Read a Q&A with George Demacopolous, a professor of theology at Fordham University, to examine trends and issues in the Orthodox Christian world.

www.pewresearch.org

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

All of the autologous/national Orthodox Churches (Russian Orthodox Church, Greek, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Orthodox Church in America, etc.), which can simply lumped together as Eastern Orthodox, have the same doctrine. Aside from any cultural differences, the service is the same one written by John Chrystom, but each autologous/national church worshios in its own language. So, ROC, services are in Russian, Polish OC, services are in Polish, etc. The Russian Orthodox Church in America had services in Russian and English, depending on the parish. Since OC in America started, I don't know if all the ROC in America have reverted to Russian-language services, or of some may still have English-language services.

EO believe the core Christian beliefs as confessed in the Apostle's and Nicene Creeds, plus some doctrines, which are same or similar to Roman Catholic. EO are kind of like Catholic-lite. They don't believe the bread and wine turn into actual human blood and flesh like the Catholics do, but they do believe Jesus Christ is present in the consecrated elements until the Holy Communion part of the service is finished (real presence). EO and RCC both have close(d) Communion, but will commune each others' members. Although EO acknowledge the Primacy of Rome, they don't believe the Pope is infallible. As a whole, the EO is mightily displeased with Pope Francis.

Like RCC, the EO doesn't believe in the 5 Solas. Although they believe in Jesus Christ as Lord (God) and Savior, they believe some work(s) are needed. Both RCC and EO pray to and venerate Mary and the Saints. Both also believe Mary was conceived without sin and was a virgin her entire life. The EO believes in a system of stops or toll boths one passes through between Earth and Heaven, and angels and demons battle over souls the souls. RCC believes in Purgatory. Both of these doctrines are partly based on the believer's works.

The EO split from the Western Church (Roman Catholic Church) in 1054 over several doctrinal issues. The RCC adding the Filioque to the Nicene Creed was the straw that broke the camel's back, so-to-speak. The objection to the addition was because all the seats/Bishops of Christendom present at the Council of Nicea had agreed to the Creed and had agreed to never change it. In modern times, the EO have stated that the Filioque is doctrinally correct, but still confess the Nicene Creed without it. They also cross themselves "backwards" compared to the RCC, a tradition that started because many of the earliest churches were east of Jerusalem. Note: Just because one is crossing him or herself "backwards" does not automatically mean he or she is Orthodox. Some very conservative Lutherans also cross "backwards" in defiance and protest of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope

EO claim it can trace its roots to the Apostles. The Copt Church is likely the only older church. Copt and EO will generally Commune one another. There are other very old churches in Asia, which individually or as denominations may or may not be in communion with EO.

Filioque

What is the filioque clause / filioque controversy? | GotQuestions.org

What is the filioque clause / filioque controversy? Does the Holy Spirit proceed from God the Father only, or from God the Father and God the Son?

www.gotquestions.org

Orthodox as a term is ALSO used by conservative churches in some denominations to differentiate between themselves and their apostate/heterodox (liberal) denominational cousins. Heterodoxy is not as serious as apostasy and sometimes, although not always, is used as a label on something that is actually adiaphora, or it might refer to a practice, which is not in accordance with doctrine.