Eastern Orthodox Church?

I am a Roman Catholic. The other day while watching TV, a Roman Catholic priest was interviewing the oldest priest in the US. The oldest priest was not Roman Catholic, but part of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The two priests began to speak of the Orthodox Church and it got me interested. I have a few questions:

Does the Roman Catholic Church acknowledge the Eucharist of the Easter Orthodox Church?
What are the major differences between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church?
How do they view the Virgin Mary?
Are the priests allowed to marry?
Are there different religious orders for priests and religious?

Thank you for your time. I was very interested in learning more about the Eastern Orthodox Church after watching this show.

For the answers to all the questions you pose in your question, try the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America's website at http://www.goarch.org where there is an extensive section on that religion.

Hi I have starred this for you some of my Contacts are our Orthodox Brethren!


I know the Greek Orthodox priests can marry, not sure about the rest tho!



Edit;Thank you Father Daniel

Yes, the Roman Catholic Church does recognize the Eastern Orthodox Churches as having valid Sacraments (see the document "Dominus Iesus" (link below), approved by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI).

The Orthodox (Eastern) Church and the Roman (Western) Church split in 1054 AD over various disputes of doctrine and authority between the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope of Rome.

The Orthodox view of the Blessed Virgin Mary is much the same as that of the Roman Church. In the Eastern Rites, she is called the THEOTOKOS ("God-bearer").

Orthodox Priests are allowed to marry, but bishops are always chosen from among the celeb ate clergy (monks).

Religious orders are not formalized as they are among Roman Catholics, but there are various monasteries with variations of Rule, etc.

Father Daniel
St. Andrew the First-Called Orthodox Church of Baltimore, MD

first Orthodox do ordain married men to the priesthood- however a priest can not marry after ordination. If your not married when your ordained you become a monk.
Next there are no orders in the Orthodox monk Nuns or priesthood. The closest we came was during the period before the schism when the Benedictine monks of the west were in communion with us. Even then I don't believe this would count as the differences were simply liturgical. As to our view of the most pure and Holy Theotokos and ever virgin Mary- the biggest difference in our views is one relating to the original sin. The western Church holds a Augustinian view of sin which in the ext reams says man is born automatically damned- and views sin as a stain. We view sin as separation from God marking us with death.
So Mary still had original sin as she was not divine- only human. It was though by God's grace she did not voluntarily sin. We have the concept of voluntary and involuntary sins- involuntary sin is the fallen nature and voluntary is what we are held accountable as it is our actions. There is no difference between mortal and venial as all sin is the same is it separates us from God. Also we don't have purgatory- we pray for the dead as the judgment has not come. Then there is obviously our ecological difference- the Roman Catholics view the Pope of Rome as the supreme Pontiff of the church- and the final say. We view all Bishops as equal so each synod may have it's own patriarch or metropolitan but at the end they only have one vote. We also tend to be more traditional as well, for example we have not had any modernist movement a kin to Vatican II. we say the creed in its original form and only acknowledge 7 ecumenical councils. the Roman church often talks about the twin lungs of grace which is to say- they recognize our rites as valid. However you can not receive the Eucharist in an Orthodox church as you are not Orthodox and I can not receive in a Catholic church as we feel you are in error in terms of practice and doctrine. I would recommend going to an Orthodox church I would recommend the OCA WNW.oca.org and reading a book called "The Orthodox church" by Kalistos ware

+ Echristos Anesti! + Christ is Risen! +

Peace mate,

In reply to your questions:
Yes the Latin Church acknowledges the Eucharist of all Orthodox Churches (Eastern and Oriental).
A fine summary of the differences by an Orthodox priest may be found here:
http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html
That sites also speaks about the ever-virgin Mother of God St. Mary.
Orthodox priests may only marry after they are ordained if they are willing to remain from celebrating the Holy Mysteries any longer. (If anyone wishes to question that I have it directly from a priest who quoted ancient cannons but I would have to check which ones.) However many Orthodox priests marry before they are ordained and remained married whilst priests.
How exactly do you mean regarding orders? We have bishops, priests and deacons but then we also have archbishops and arch priests. We speak of the seven orders of the Church of God in the Holy Liturgy of St. Basil (Coptic).

Pray for me please.