What are some similarities between the Eastern Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic Church?

Answer 1

Basically, all of the Christian churches worship God in some form.

Answer 2

Both believe in Apostolic Succession.

Both believe in devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary & all the Saints.

Answer 3

They were once one church, they split east-west but they are still similar to each other!

Orthodox Churches are among the oldest Christian groups in existence. Originating in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, they have held tenaciously to the classical theological definitions of the first seven ecumenical councils, held between A.D. 325 and 787. The major work of these councils consisted of defining the doctrines of the Trinity and the two natures in Christ, and in determining the possibility of representing Christ in an image or icon. Eastern Orthodox churches see their bishops as symbols of the unity of the church but do not recognize any single bishop as having authority over all the churches.

East and West began to separate shortly after the fall of Rome in the fifth century. While early Western theology developed along eschatological (doctrines dealing with death, resurrection, and judgment) and moral lines, reflecting the influence of Aristotle and Augustine, the theology of the East moved in a mystical direction. The schism came during a ninth-century dispute between Pope Nicholas I and Photius, archbishop of Constantinople. Nicholas refused to recognize the election of Photius and excommunicated him (A.D. 863). It is important to note that even the West laster validated Photius as proper Patriarch and still acknowledges Photius as a saint. After further disagreements over the interpretation of the Nicene-creed, in 1054, a Cardinal, representing the Pope, brought an anathema to Constantinople since Patriarch Michael refused to embrace the universal supremacy and authority of the Pope. Constantinople responded in kind and sent an anathema to Rome. These anathemas were rescinded (abolished) in 1965 by Pope Paul IV and Patriarch Athenagoras.

The tenth century was the great age of the expansion of Orthodoxy into Eastern Europe-for which saints Cyril prepared the way by translating both the Orthodox scriptures and liturgical books into the Slavic language in the previous century. In 988, after Prince Vladimir of Russia sent out legates to research the world religions, looking for the one true faith and returned saying they had not known whether they were in heaven or on earth when they were in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Russians entered the Byzantine ecclesiastical fold. After the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, Moscow became the chief protector of the Orthodox faith. As the nations of Eastern Europe became independent in the nineteenth century, their churches also became independent national churches with full rights of self-government.

Although the first American Orthodox churches were the nineteenth-century Russian missions in Alaska, Orthodoxy in the United States grew most rapidly during the heavy Immigration from Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. The American history of these churches has been a story of division and controversy, as Old World issues have been perpetuated. Since the mid-twentieth century, there have been signs that this period of controversy is drawing to a close. The patriarch of Moscow healed some of the schisms among the American Russian Orthodox church in 1970 and declared the American church to be autocephalous (self-governing); since then, the various Greek churches, now organized as the Orthodox Church in America, have moved toward a greater degree of unity and centralization. Many of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the United States have been active in the ecumenical movement and have joined both the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. During the early 1980s and 1990s, the American church refocused its efforts on coping with the growth of its membership and, by the year 2000, numbered more than one million. Meanwhile, as church leaders in Constantinople, Moscow, and Serbia established new ties with the Orthodox Church in America, the concept of a global mission emerged as a central unifying theme. In the late 1990s, the church organized a number of humanitarian efforts in the war-ravaged former Yugoslavia and the Caucasus region of Russia.

From Answer the Uknown hahahahahahaa

Answer 4

The main differences are that the Orthodox Church was founded by Jesus Christ in the year 33 AD and has continued unchanged for more than 2,000 years, whereas the Roman Catholics were formed in 1054 AD and the Protestants were founded as late as 1517 by Martin Luther, and have split into literally thousands of groups since then. This does not mean that all Orthodox are going to heaven and all Protestants are going to hell. But it does show that they have a completey different history from their very foundation. Another major difference is that the Orthodox and Catholics honour the Blessed Virgin Mary and venerate holy icon, but the Protestants do not. Icons are venerated and honoured (in the same way that we would honour a picture of our mother or father) but icons are not worshipped. Worship is reserved for God alone. The Protestants also place all their faith on the Holy Bible, whereas the Orthodox place equal emphasis on the Holy Bible and the Holy Tradition. The reason for this is because the Early Church for many centuries did not even have a Bible, let alone a printing press or a population that could read or write. So the oral traditions of the Apostles which they handed down to us became the Holy Tradition. After all, it was this same Holy Tradition of the Church that gave us the Holy Bible we have today, and this was many centuries before the Protestant groups had even emerged. The Roman Catholics place great emphasis on the Pope, whereas the Orthodox do not accept the supremacy of one man over the whole church, as this has never previously existed in the history of the church. The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholics whereas Jesus Christ is the head of the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church has a collegial hierarchy of equal Patriarchs and other bishops who preside over church synods and councils, which is similar to what the Protestants have, who also do not have a Pope. ?
Catholics pray to Mary, as well as celebrate the Eucharist every sunday. Catholics believe one must eat the Eucharist and believe in what it is to make it to heaven while protestants believe that if one believes that Christ rose from the dead he will be saved and go to heaven.

Roman Catholic AnswerThe Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the first century to bring God to the people and the people to God. The Protestant "churches" were founded by individuals sixteenth centuries after Christ according to their own personal beliefs.

Catholics believe that God the Son became incarnate in a human body through the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary to save mankind from their sins. He established His Church and appointed Apostles (Bishops) and Peter (Pope) to guide that Church on earth and He guaranteed to be with It until the end of time. Catholics believe that you only have one choice in life: to love and serve the Lord, or to reject Him and be separated from Him forever in Hell. Every other choice you have in life comes down to that, is this following Jesus or rejecting Him.

Protestants reject Christ because they reject His Body: the Church. They believe that they are their own little Pope and that they can decide how to follow Jesus themselves. Thus they fragment into many "denominations" as they decide how they want to follow God, ignoring what He, Himself has said, and interpreting for themselves what is right or wrong. Thus they believe that they have more choices than following God or not, they believe that they have the choice to decide HOW they are going to follow God.

Answer 5

Roman Catholic AnswerIn Catholic terminology there is no such thing as a protestant Church. A "Church", to be a Church, must have a valid priesthood and valid Sacraments. There is only one Church, established by Our Blessed Lord during His Passion. Protestants are termed "ecclesial communities" because they have lost a valid priesthood and sacraments. Thus, there is no similarity at all, you are talking of two different things.

Answer 6

The Catholic Church is one and the same as the Christian Church and is the original Church founded by Christ and the apostles 2000 years ago.