When Luther broke away from Rome,why did he not seek recognition from the Eastern Ort

He could have incorporated his new church as the German Orthodox Church. He would have strengthened Orthodoxy,obtained immediate legitimacy in terms of discipline succession via the Pauline line,and worked toward unity instead of precipitating vulcanization. Come to think of it,this would have seemed the obvious move for the Church of England,too. They could have become the English Orthodox Church. In fact,they both still could,couldn't they? Any ideas or opinions as to why this never happened?

He was a rebel, he was...

He didn't want a "new church."

He wanted to FIX the BROKEN catholic system. The so-called "orthodox" churches weren't any better since BOTH systems had stopped representing the pattern established in the New Testament centuries earlier.

Luther DID NOT create the "Lutheran church." He asked that those who followed his teaching be SIMPLY CHRISTIANS -- in line with the teachings of the scriptures.

Yes because religion is about individualism and if they took those roads they have there name in whatever book they pray to.

I hate America.
So I can either leave, or try to change the things about America I hate.

Why do you assume Luther wanted to jump ship so easily? He wanted to change things, not just jump to another church.

They needed to have roots going back to the early disciples.........

Without it they would be seen (as they are now) as nothing more than a reformation movement with no real basis from the message of Jesus.

They became a sect of just following the easy path of the desires.


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He really felt that the Catholic Church and Easter Orthodox were taking the word of God wrong. He felt that neither one had kept to the Bible in their teachings and had added to their religion.

As far as the Church of England their issue was that King Henry wanted a Divorce and neither Catholic or Easter Orthodox would have allowed this. So the Church of England for a long time was very similar to the Catholic Church but had a few differences including allowing the clergy to marry and allowing divorce/

God Bless you...

This is all conjecture, but it would seem to me that the last thing Luther wanted was a tie to the old ways of doing anything...

He initially wanted to reform the Catholic Church, not form a new church. But the Catholic Church resisted, and he was left no option. He wanted a church where people were free to read the Scriptures as they were intended to be read, not as the "Church" interpreted them.

So his aim was not to tie to any old way, but to reform the Catholic Church. When that failed, then he decided to go the way the Lord led him, which was a new church, more based on scripture than ritual. He succeeded in some ways, failed in others.

Perhaps because the Eastern Orthodox church was largely under the Turkish yoke at that time. They may have been still working out how to maintain the faith of people under those new terms of life. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Eastern orthodox had some prejudice and held Western Christians in some disdain. The crazy 4Th crusade in the 13C had been responsible for some weakening of the Byzantine empire so that it was overthrown about 75 years before Luther by the Mosley Turks.

Actually the Orthodox model does seem more loose than the Catholic one, so affiliation with it could have been a good thing. But we were almost like two worlds in one continent. The orthodox were largely in Islamic countries and having to deal with the challenges that gave, we were part of the West, with an exciting information, technology, scientific and creativity expansion underway.

As others have stated Luther wanted to reform and repair the existing Church. The Book of Concord, as the name implies was intended to bring unity to not only the Lutherans but the whole western Church.

As a point of fact, Luther repeatedly tried to open dialog with the Orthodox Communion, but was ignored. The Orthodox looked upon Luther and his followers as part of the western (Roman) Church, and therefore as heretics. As a point of interest, our Pastor was Pastor in a Lutheran Church Canada Parish in a remote Northern Ontario town without an Orthodox congregation. An Orthodox family lived and worked in that town. Our Pastor was approached by the family's Priest and his Bishop requesting that the family be allowed to receive Holy Communion in the Lutheran Church. After discussion and consultation with the powers that be they were admitted. I do not know why they did not approach the Catholic Church? It may have something to do not being able to receive the Sacrament in both kinds.

Also there is a branch of Anglicans called The Primitive Anglican Church that are very Orthodox, although I'm not sure if they are part of the Orthodox Communion. I don't believe that they are part of the Anglican Communion.

Mark