 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ] Next Last |
The Orthodox jurisdictions with the largest number of adherents in modern times are the Russian and the Romanian Orthodox churches. Of the European Orthodox churches the most ancient is the Greek Orthodox Church.
Note: It is fairly common in the West to use the term "Greek Orthodox" to refer to any national group of Orthodox (Russian, Serbian, Romanian, Syrian, Etc.). The word “Greek” in this sense is being used to mean Cosmopolitan, not necessarily a nationality. However, in modern usage, rather than nominally divide the church on national boundaries (since the church is not really divided) the term "Eastern Orthodoxy" has a wider circumference.
The Roman Catholic Church shares many of the same characteristics as the Orthodox Church especially in reference to the early church because of their common origin. For nearly 1000 years the two churches were united, with the Roman Pope only being counted as one of the 5 major hierarchs along with the patriarchs of Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Constantinople. The division of the Church into separate churches is regarded as having occurred in 1054 in what is known as the Great Schism, though their divergence began as much as two centuries earlier. Both churches claim to be the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and reject the other's claim to this title. The term “Orthodox” was adopted by the Eastern Church to signify its adherence to, and preservation of, the original apostolic traditions, teachings, and style of worship. Both churches to signify the universality of the church retain the term “Catholic”. Both churches continue to claim apostolic succession though they see each other as having broken that line. The Orthodox Church retains the original structure of the hierarchy, with no single bishop in charge, but rather viewing all bishops as equal. The Patriarch of Constantinople currently enjoys the honorary title of “First Among Equals” which simply means that in council, he occupies the position of president in what is otherwise a democratic organization. The Roman Church, of course, elevated the Pope to the position of head of the Roman Catholic Church and ascribe to him all-encompassing authority on Christian matters.
To date, however, there has not been a final statement on behalf of the whole Orthodox Church with regard to the status of Rome. This is not surprising, since such general, authoritarian statements are simply unheard-of within Eastern Orthodoxy, even upon issues with little to no internal disagreement. Therefore, a lack of a definitive, authoritarian, "Church-wide" statement cannot be taken to mean that the Eastern Orthodox Church necessarily espouses or rejects a specific belief. This sort of centralized communication is neither typical of nor appropriate to Eastern Orthodoxy. Because of its democratic nature, in order to make such a pronouncement, the Orthodox Church would be required to convene another general council (Synod), the last of which was held in 787 AD. There has been talk in recent years of doing exactly that in order to clarify the churches position on certain modern issues though nothing definite has been set.
The primary causes of Orthodox differences with Rome include the addition to the Symbol of Faith (Nicean Creed) of the Filioque clause, papal claims to authority over all Christians ( papal primacy), and other doctrinal and liturgical developments approved by the See of RomeThe term Holy See ( Latin: Sancta Sedes lit. holy seat") refers in a geographic sense to the episcopal see of Rome, of which the Pope is the ordinary i. the diocesan bishop); in canon law, the terms Holy See and Apostolic See refer to the Pope ("Roman Pon. After the split, Roman Catholics defined other dogmas that the Eastern Orthodox also considers hereticalHeresy according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a "theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, among them papal infallibility, the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, and purgatoryIn Roman Catholic theology, Purgatory is a place of cleansing after the particular judgment. One of the first documents to mention purgatorium was a letter from the Benedictine Nicholas of Saint Albans to the Cistercian Peter of Celle in 1176 (Haggh, 1997. The See of Rome considers the Eastern Orthodox churches to be in schismThe word schism from the Greek σχισμα, schisma (from σχιζο, schizo "to split"), means a division or a split, usually in an organization. A schismatic is a person who creates or incites schism in an. The general Eastern Orthodox consensus is that Roman Catholics are both schismatics and heretics, although a minority of Orthodox Christians try to gloss over any differences.
The Great Schism was not the first division to occur in the church, though it was by far the most significant. The earlier conflict between the Church and what are now called the Oriental Orthodox churches was established many centuries before at the fourth and fifth ecumenical councils. And in some fundamental aspects the Oriental Orthodox churches are as dissimilar from the Eastern Orthodox churches as they are from the Roman Catholic Church. Oriental Orthodox churches include the (arguably) " monophysite" Coptic Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Church. The " Nestorian" Assyrian church is also often included among this group, although it does not belong to the Oriental Orthodox Communion. The main theological problem is usually traced back to the 5th century with Saint Cyril’s referring to the nature of Christ as being “One Theandric Nature”. The term “Theandric” was taken by the main body of the church to mean “God/Man” and therefore really two natures, God and Man unified, while the remainder thought of it as one single nature. At first glance this may seem a trivial disagreement, but ultimately the question took hundreds of years to solidify because of its extreme complexity and eventually lead to this early split.
The various churches of the Eastern Orthodox Communion are distinct in terms of administration and local culture, and for the most part, exist in full communion with one another. The term "full" can be misleading in this instance since there sometimes exist within the church legitimate groups that for one reason or another disagree with the others position. In a case where a group considers another jurisdiction to be in error, they refrain from con-celebration of the services and do not commune mysteriologically (sacramentally); they do not, however, consider the other groups to be outside the body of the church. Examples of this are the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, formed early in the 20th century due to a serious distrust of the Soviet controlled Patriarchal Church of Russia (Russian Orthodox), and the Holy Synod in Resistance (Moderate Greek Old Calendarists) who are greatly concerned over questions of "modernism" in other jurisdictions, especially with regards to the use of the non-traditional Gregorian Calendar. These groups should not be confused with schismatic groups that for the same reason took the unreasonable and fanatic step of breaking ties with the rest of the church, declaring it heretical. Such a step would require a General Council (Synod) and to date, none has been convened.
In Administrative power, all bishops of the Orthodox Church are equal. There is no Orthodox equivalent of the Roman Catholic papacy. Jurisdictions and positions of authority are administrative only. There is no single leader of the Orthodox Church. Therefore attachment to a single, specific hierarch, such as the Ecumenical Patriarch (of Constantinople) is not a litmus test for Orthodoxy, as there have been heretics and schismatics in even that venerable position. The measure of the legitimacy of a Bishop and his jurisdiction is in how closely and carefully he upholds the teachings of the Orthodox Church, and how well he maintains its traditions. Obedience to a bishop is required only if he, in fact, does his job properly. It is therefore, the responsibility of the individual to reject a bishop who begins to turn toward teachings other than the ones the church supports. This places a fairly heavy responsibility on the individual to educate himself on the teachings of the church.
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|