Sharing an article from the “Dear Padre” column.
Dear Padre,
The Greek Orthodox religion seems a lot like the Roman Catholic. Why did they break away from our Church? ~ Dar C.
Dear Dar C.,
Not only does the Greek Orthodox Church seem similar to the Roman Catholic Church, they are also alike in practice. Jesus founded only one Church, and when it began, it was fully united. Peter, as Christ’s successorand the first pope, established the Church in Rome, which was the political centre of the ancient world. This base helped the Church to grow, develop and maintain unity.
The Church spread even further when the Roman Emperor Constantine legalised Christianity in AD 313. When the empire fell in 476, the city of Rome was no longer the focal point of civilisation. Language began to separate people, and differences arose between the Greek-speaking East and the Latin-speaking West.
The Great Schism, or divide between the East and West happened in 1054, when Pope Leo IX and Eastern Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other. The primary cause was a dispute over papal authority. The Eastern churches denied that the pope had any unique authority over them. There was also a dispute over the Nicene Creed known as the filioque. While the Western Church stated that the Holy Spirit came from the Father and the Son, the Eastern Church believed the Holy Spirit to be only of the Father.
Although there is still a division, we do have much in common with the Orthodox. In May of 2001, Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Christodoulos Paraskevaides of Greece met to begin a reconciliation. Each forgave the other’s church for past wrong-doings. We continue to pray for more unity among Christians worldwide.
Fr Patrick Keyes C.Ss.R
From many days being a Christian I have a doubt in this why the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches split, by reading this article I got very good answer for this, I thank author for sharing this.
In the above brief article, Fr. Patrick Keyes correctly pointed out the political events and differences in language which later arose between the greek speaking and latin speaking churches. However, the theological differences are not minor nor negligible issues. It wasn’t papal authority which the Eastern Churches had a problem with. it was a new version of papal authority which claims supremacy and alien to the patristic writings and Traditions of the One Church which were the points of contention. For a better understanding on what unites and separates the East and the West, may i suggest this website:
http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html
Dear Sinnersymeon,
Thanks for your reference for further reading relating to the differences between the Eastern Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. What I hope readers can also reflect on, besides understanding the differences in each of our faiths, be it Eastern Churches and Roman Catholic Churches, and those of other faiths like Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism etc is –
What can we do to bridge these differences between people of different faiths so that we can come to understand and respect each human person for his/her beliefs to promote peace regardless of religious background.
Dear Author,
I thank you for this submittal.
It is the most concise and condensed general cause to be found during my research yet.
Truly, this piece of text is an elegant work of art.
Much appreciated.
Hi English…
Thanks and do drop by again.
Ordinary Guy
I am glad the author wrote this, i was very confused on the seperation of the churches and this was very helpful when writing my research paper.
thank u very much u helped us pass our world history debate:))