Is Orthodox a catholic church?

[Mortimer]

Obviously it is not roman-catholic but I read once that anglican church, orthodox church and roman catholic church and old catholic, greek catholic etc. are "catholic churches" is that true?

 

[gtopa1]

Obviously it is not roman-catholic but I read once that anglican church, orthodox church and roman catholic church and old catholic, greek catholic etc. are "catholic churches" is that true?

Dunno; Dad was Orthodox, mum RC. I recognise both but can't take full communion with the Orthodox.

Greg

 

[fncceo]

The definition of the the word "Catholic" means all encompassing or universal.

Since neither the Church of Rome nor the Church of Constantinople are that, then neither can be truly called Catholic.

 

[gtopa1]

The definition of the the word "Catholic" means all encompassing or universal.

Since neither the Church of Rome nor the Church of Constantinople are that, then neither can be truly called Catholic.

Hmmm...you mean we aren't on Mars yet??? Consigned to a single Planet and its moon!!!

Gre

 

[Picaro]

The main line Protestant churches are the Anglican, Lutheran, and Calvinists; the first two are essentially 'Catholic', with the exception of being independent from Rome, the third is a separate movement. Anglicans and their Episcopalian cohorts essentially Catholic rites and organizational structures, and theology, Lutherans are close but not exactly the same, but also essentially Catholic in theology. Calvinists are the only true 'radicals', and most of the rest, like Methodists, Baptists, etc. spring from dissenters from all three, but are technically not real 'Protestants', though they are lumped under the name anyway, for convenience. Greek Orthodox is entirely its own sect, and probably has rituals held over from the earliest churches, as it was the first great sect from the earliest beginnings of the sect.

For the theological differences, there are many , including which books belong in the bible. I don't use the word 'canon' re the Christian bible, since its a term that doesn't really apply to any other books but the four Gospels and Revelation in the NT, hence I don't bother with all the arguments over 'Apocrypha', Hebrews, etc. Outside of those, plus the 5 Mosaic 'books', the rest fall under 'Stuff We Like To Have Included', for intellectual and expository literature and historical references. There are a lot of 'non-canonical' writings that are just as important, valid, and informative, so they just picked the best for the rest; it does not mean that just because a writing was not included it has no value, it's just that some other piece of writing was chosen as being better, is all, and of course a lot was just really bad, incomplete, or merely passion literature.

 

[Picaro]

The definition of the the word "Catholic" means all encompassing or universal.

Since neither the Church of Rome nor the Church of Constantinople are that, then neither can be truly called Catholic.

Little 'c' catholic means 'universal'. Capital 'C' Catholic is the name of a denomination.

 

[Lysistrata]

The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church split from each other somwhere around 1,000 CE.

 

[Picaro]

The RC church started splitting away with Jerome and his Latin Vulgate translations, Augustine's writings, and several others, long before 1000 A.D. Don't listen to OldLady's sock. The Orthodox was never entirely contained within the Roman empire, thus Constantine's awarding of administration of the Empire's social services bureaucracy didn't apply to its growth and development as it did in what became the RCC. The RCC wasn't really that powerful in the West until 800-1,000 A.D., after a few hundred years of accumulating land and wealth, and hence poltical power; and never did have any 'absolute power' in the West, in any case. Rome's bishops never had control over the Orthodox churches, so no 'split' was ever possible.

 

[zaangalewa]

The definition of the the word "Catholic" means all encompassing or universal.

Since neither the Church of Rome nor the Church of Constantinople are that, then neither can be truly called Catholic.

The USA is the "land of the free" - but never in history of mankind anyone (except mother Mary) was truly totally free. Means this now the USA is not the or a land of the free?