MachineGhost wrote:
Ad, what are the differences between Orthodox Christianity and Catholic/Protestant? All I know so far is it seems to be a Russian/Slavic/EE thing.
That's a topic aout which volumes have been written. Briefly I would suggest reading
this very short and irenic post by a Catholic who mostly seems to get what we are about. There are tons of comments on the post which also amplify things. I do take issue with his #6 but I think that is addressed well in the comments.
In a more itemized manner I would note, in no particular order of importance...
* The Orthodox Church (hereafter OC) rejects the words "and from the son" (Filioque in Latin) that were unilaterally added to the Nicene - Constantinopolitan Creed by the Roman Catholic Church (hereafter RCC). From the Orthodox perspective this implies a double procession and undermines the monarchy of the Father. We also reject that any alterations can be made to the Creed without the consent of the whole Church.
* The OC and the RCC separated gradually over a period of centuries as a consequence of doctrinal differences and growing claims of primacy on the part of the Pope. This probably reached its nadir in the 1870's when the RCC dogmatically proclaimed the Pope to be infallible when defining matters of faith and morals. At the same church council (First Vatican Council) they also dogmatically declared that the Pope has a universal jurisdiction over the entire Church. The OC rejects both of these as doctrinal innovations and most of us consider them to be heretical.
* Marriage and divorce are treated differently. Both the RCC and the OC consider divorce to be a sin or at least a manifestation of sin. But whereas the RCC firmly rejects any possibility of remarriage, the OC, while discouraging second marriages even in the case of widowhood, nonetheless allows by oikonomia persons for whom being single and celibate would be a great burden to remarry. A person may, subject to some rules, remarry up to two times. Fourth marriages however are not permitted. The allowance of remarriage on the part of the divorced is a pastoral concession to human weakness. It is also worth noting that the wedding ceremony for second marriages is quite different from that of a first marriage. It is subdued and very penitential in its tone and language. When third marriages are permitted, the service is positively funereal.
* The OC and RCC also differ on the discipline (neither church consider it to be dogma) of clerical celibacy. Starting in the Middle Ages the RCC mandated that all ranks of clergy must be celibate. In the OC by contrast, celibacy is considered a great gift from God, but not one that everyone is called to. Married men may be ordained as priests. But once ordained a man may not marry again. And if one is single at the time of ordination then he is expected to remain so thereafter. Following disciplinary decrees owing to some scandals in the early church over property, bishops have been required to be celibate since the sixth century. Almost all of our bishops are chosen from the monastic clergy though on rare occasions a widower priest might be raised to the episcopacy.
* The external forms of worship are quite different, often shockingly so for western Christians who have become over the centuries decidedly "low church" in their worship. The Christian West has always been a bit more subdued in its liturgy but we had nearly identical doctrinal approaches that were expressed differently though with the same end in both liturgical traditions. And until the 1960's the RCC Mass was recognizable to us. Since the changes brought about in the wake of Vatican II however the liturgical chasm has widened considerably. Orthodox worship has changed very little in the last 1600 years or so. We tend to be deeply conservative right down to our religious DNA and highly suspicious of any innovation. A few points of difference... our services are almost always longer, sometimes MUCH, than RCC or Protestant services. We generally stand during services. Kneeling and prostrations are penitential acts. Also almost all of our services are sung or chanted. Musical instruments are not a part of our liturgical tradition, though there are a handful of Greek parishes in America that allowed organs in. Orthodox liturgy is deeply and profoundly theological. Virtually every word and gesture is packed with meaning. See
here and
here for some short clips of the service for Great and Holy Friday. Also if you want to see our Easter services go
here (part I) and
here (part II). The Easter service has been uploaded in its entirety so its really long. BTW the church in those clips is the same one that those p^$$* riot jerks desecrated in Moscow.
* Our differences with most Protestants are much more profound since doctrinally they have to varying degrees drifted farther from the Church of the First Millennium.
Anyways that's some rather brief highlights which I am sure I did not cover in adequate detail. But I don't have the time, or theological training, to write a book. If you want more information I can post some links to fairly detailed websites.
On the subject of parishes being highly ethnic, your mileage will vary on that score. A few decades ago that was a serious problem here in the US. But times have happily changed. Most (though not all) Orthodox parishes here now do their services mainly or entirely in English. Most are also very welcoming of visitors, though like the RCC we don't practice open communion. But yeah there are still the odd exceptions where it' s all in Greek or Slavonic or Arabic and if you aren't one of the club they look at you kinda funny and wonder what you are doing there. And in fairness there are some parishes set up specifically to cater to immigrants who won't understand English. On the other hand there are a lot of parishes heavily populated by converts.
Our ecclesiology is rather sloppy and confusing, especially to Roman Catholics who are used to a nice neat and organized church where the marching orders come from Rome and everyone salutes and carries on. The OC is One Church composed of many local churches usually centered around culturally Orthodox countries. Each local church has its own bishops and synod but they are all (mostly) in communion with each other and we are united by The Orthodox Faith. Thus a Russian can commune in a Greek parish church and vice versa. Because the US is an immigrant country that doesn't have its own universally recognized national Orthodox Church it gets confusing. There are meetings going on to try and sort out the jurisdictional chaos here and hopefully it will be resolved in the next two or three hundred years. But for now its sufficient to note that the words that precede the word "Orthodox" in a church's name only refer to its parent jurisdiction. Thus Greek Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox and Serbian Orthodox are all one Church with one faith and in full communion with each other. It's insanely confusing when sorting out who is the bishop of where, but the ethnic food festivals are an awesome upside.
