Why do Protestants believe in the Bible (not a troll)

[TCO]

Originally posted by Elok


If the Orthodox church is schismatic, England rebelled against America. We were superior in numbers and landmass at the time of the break in 1054, as well as having the support of the majority of bishops. We also still resemble the ancient Church in both outlook and worship, which makes us the big brother here. So no dice.

The Pope was in Rome. And you had less christians in the east than in the west. And shortly after you had Saracens greeking you up the azz.

[Bereta_Eder]

If the Orthodox church is schismatic, England rebelled against America. We were superior in numbers and landmass at the time of the break in 1054, as well as having the support of the majority of bishops. We also still resemble the ancient Church in both outlook and worship, which makes us the big brother here. So no dice.

Take it priest's pleasure!

[Bereta_Eder]

Of course I couldn't care less but you have to know your place.

[Elok]

Originally posted by TCO
The Pope was in Rome. And you had less christians in the east than in the west. And shortly after you had Saracens greeking you up the azz.

The Pope's title was "first among equals." He was given more respect than others because he was the heir of Peter, but he had no more power than any other Patriarch. After he left in a snit his power was transferred to the Patriarch of Constantinople, whose only power then or today was to call an ecumenical council, which has not been done in over a milennium as far as we're concerned. Just FYI, there WAS no Pope in 1054. The latest Pope had just died. The guy who stomped into Hagia Sophia with a writ of excommunication on Pascha was acting on the orders of a Cardinal who assumed he would be the next Pope.
I'm pretty sure that, even with the Muslims doing their overtaxing thing, there were more Christians in the East at that time. While the Emperor had no control over Egypt or Israel, there were still plenty of practicing Christians there who fell under the jurisdiction of the four loyal patriarchates. We started converting the Slavs sometime around 800 too. If the Christian population in the east was lower, it wasn't by much. It's hard to say ultimately, because there aren't good records of how long it took for Christians under the Muslims to turn traitor...

[Heresson]

Again, not quite true; definite majority of Christians of Syria, Armenia and Egypt were monophysite, and of Mesopotamia and further east - nestorian. There were some 5 bishoprics (later even less) of greek rite in Egypt, compared to dozens of Coptic ones.

[Ben Kenobi]

In the end, divisions amongst Christians are just silly.

Well, then which church?

I sure did not know that there were so many Orthodox Christians at the time of the first schism, to be roughly comparable with the entire Western church.

We don't talk enough about that story, compared to everything said about the Protestants.

What are the main differences between Orthodox and Catholic christians?

[Alexander's Horse]

There's very little difference between orthodox and Western or catholic faiths. They are part of the same communion.

The Lutherans and Anglicans or Espicopalians aren't that far removed either. The Anglican communion service is strikingly similar to the catholic mass, even after 400 years of separation.

Christians should put aside their differences and concentrate on what they agree on.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
There's very little difference between orthodox and Western or catholic faiths. They are part of the same communion.
The Lutherans and Anglicans or Espicopalians aren't that far removed either. The Anglican communion service is strikingly similar to the catholic mass, even after 400 years of separation.
Christians should put aside their differences and concentrate on what they agree on.

Er, we aren't in the same communion. Not according to us. While the Pope apparently has no problem with Catholics taking ours or us taking theirs, we have a large problem with both. An Orthodox Christian who takes communion in the Catholic church excommunicates himself.
On the other hand, Copts ARE in our communion, as are the Ethiopians, I believe. Monophysites and Nestorians, while heretical, were still technically part of our faith. If they don't count, neither do the hordes of Westerners under the rule of corrupt clergy at the time.
There aren't many dogmatic differences between us and the Catholics, but the ones that do exist are significant:
-No original sin. We do not believe in inherited guilt, only in inherited tendencies towards evil.
-No purgatory.
-No filioque clause in the creed. We think it renders the Holy Spirit excessively subordinate to the other two persons of the Trinity.
-Perhaps most importantly, mysticism, not scholasticism. We do not talk about matters like transubstantiation vs. consubstantiation, we just say what we know from scripture and leave it at that. We accept the concept of divine mystery much more readily than our western brethren, which avoids the hair-splitting problems that the RCC is always fighting with.
There are also lots of non-dogmatic but still vital differences. Married men can be ordained to our priesthood(though priests can't marry, for various reasons), our services are written with entirely different goals in mind, we're less tolerant of change, and our whole outlook is generally different from that of the Catholics.
It'd be nice if we could all be one church again, but not at the price of accepting heresy IMO.
And, while I know this request is probably futile: Sava, *please* don't post about things you don't know about.

[Alexander's Horse]

stop nitpicking Elok

[Gangerolf]

all I know is that catholic churchers have lots of tacky ornaments to impress the peasants

[TCO]

Elok, typical Byzantine twisting. Oh...that's where the word comes from.

[Odin]

Catholics use Idols, such as the symbols of Mary. Orthodox doesn't. That is as much as I know.

[TCO]

I thought Something about Mary was vaguely Catholic.

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse

Christians should put aside their differences and concentrate on what they agree on.

Yep,
sadly enough John Paul II the current Pope seems to be the greatest Obstacle to Ecumenism.

Some months ago in his "Ecclesia De Eucharistia" he even forbade all Catholics, to visit non catholic Communions, just before the ecumenical Kirchentag in Berlin, where Catholics and Protestants in Germany celebrate together and where it is Traditon to hold a joint Communion where Protestants and Catholics aren´t separated.
(here is a description of the Encycla: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030417/ap/d7qf9vjo0.html )

Brnhard Kroll, a catholic preacher rebelled against this and together with other Catholis he visited te joint Communion and received te Comunion from a protestant pastor.

So to make an Example the Catholic Church suspended him, because he was found guilty of "holding a forbidden common Service".

Here is an article about it:

http://www.nccatholic.org/news.php?ArtID=1069

(But in this Article they make a small mistake. He didn´t give the Communion to Non Catholics, but received it from a Non-Catholic )

Also here:

The Catholic priest Bernhard Kroll has been temporarily suspended from duty after having participated in an ecumenical Communion at the Council of Churches last week in Berlin. Bishop Walter Mixa of Eichstaett described Kroll's offence as serious; the Pope had expressly forbidden participation in the joint Communion, before the Council began. Bishop Mixa issued the punishment because Kroll's action fit the offence defined by Church law as "forbidden worship community" ("verbotene Gottesdienstgemeinschaft").

http://www.mathematik.uni-ulm.de/de-news/2003/06/041800.html#6

I hope John Pauls sucessor will be somehow more open minded

[TCO]

Ok...I agree with Greek stuff. As long as you don't reply.