so la Fidel(High Anglecans not included)so la Scripture.
Usually Liturgy.
Prots do not recognize Mary fully.
The Eucharist(transubstantiation-Catholic)
The Communion of Saints.
The need for a priesthood. Prots only believe in the priesthood of all believers.
The rapture, sensationalism, both manufactured in or around the 1800's is not usually recognized by Orthodoxy.
Prots usually do not recognize the whole of Sacred Scripture,ex.-the deuteron-canon.
Is a picture of the last supper Idolatry?
Are pictures of all your family decorated all in your house Idolatry?
Is manger scene idolatry?
Is having a statue of Mary and a statue of Joseph, my family, idolatry?
Orthodox has a belief mainly from the holy tradition and not the bible. Mixtures of idolatry (icons), and tradition have covered up the bibles simple truth, and many so called Saints have taken the glory of Jesus.
The Orthodox churches are those which split from Rome in the eleventh century AD. They have generally similar beliefs to the churches of the Catholic communion and Catholics recognize the Orthodox churches as possessing a valid priesthood and valid sacraments. A couple of the points of disagreement are the status of the Pope as head of the church and the so called 'foliage' clause in the Nicene Creed.
The Protestant churches are those which began to split away from Rome in the 16Th century and those which have since split again from the original Protestant churches. They have many points of disagreement with the Catholic and Orthodox churches. These include their denial of the authority of tradition, their emphasis on salvation by faith alone, their lack of emphasis on the sacraments and their objection to prayer to the saints. There are many different churches which describe themselves as Protestant and their exact stance on these and other issues can vary significantly from church to church.
Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16Th century Protestant Reformation. Protestant doctrine, also known in continental European traditions as Evangelical doctrine, is in opposition to that of Roman Catholicism. It typically holds that Scripture (rather than tradition or ecclesiastic interpretation of Scripture) is the source of revealed truth.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world. It is believed by its adherents to be the very same Church established by Christ and his Apostles. It is composed of numerous but theologically unified hydrocephalus occlusion bodies, each shepherded by a synod of independent bishops whose duty, among other things, is to preserve and teach the Apostolic and Patristic traditions and related Church practices. All Eastern Orthodox bishops claim to trace their lineage back to the twelve Apostles through the process of apostolic succession.
As a core belief, Eastern Orthodox Christians lay claim that the Eastern Orthodox Church is the authentic and original Christian Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles. As such, the Eastern Orthodox Church views itself as the preserver of the teachings and traditions given to the Early Christians by the Apostles nearly 2,000 years ago and the developer of conciliar interpretations which expand and illuminate the original teachings.
Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils ? the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They reject the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon. Hence, these Churches are also called Old Oriental Churches or Non-Chalcedonian Churches. These churches are in fellowship with Eastern Orthodox Churches with whom they are in dialogEUor a return to unity.
Despite the potentially confusing nomenclature, Oriental Orthodox churches are distinct from those that are collectively referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Oriental Orthodox communion comprises six groups: Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (India) and Armenian Apostolic churches. These six churches, while being in communion with each other are completely independent hierarchically and have no equivalent of the Bishop of Rome or Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
The Oriental Orthodox Church and the rest of the Church split over differences in Christological terminology. The First Council of Nicaea (321) declared that Jesus Christ is God, "consubstantial" with the Father; and the Council of Ephesus (431) that Jesus, though divine as well as human, is only one person. Twenty years after Ephesus, the Council of Chalcedon declared that Jesus has two complete natures, one human and one divine. Those who opposed Chalcedon likened its doctrine to the Nestorian heresy, condemned at Ephesus, that Christ was two distinct persons, one divine and one human. In 2001, the leaders of Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy concluded that they had always believed in the same Christology, but differed over how this was to be formulated. This conclusion became the basis for healing the schism between them, and the two groups jointly issued a "Middle Eastern Oriental Orthodox Common Declaration".
Eza L - You're wrong with what you said regarding Holy Tradition, the Bible and the Orthodox.
The Orthodox Church does believe in Holy Tradition. The big thing you're missing is that a huge part of Holy Tradition is the Bible. For your edification - here's an article from Bishop Kallistos Ware on the subject. http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/11/1/4.aspx
OK - back to the question:
To make it simple, both the Protestants and Orthodox would agree with the Nicene Creed (http://www.creeds.net/ancient/nicene.htm)
They have a lot of the same fundamental beliefs with conservative Protestant Churches. A major difference is the expression of faith (how we worship). We also believe that saints can be intercessors for us (just like I would ask my friend to pray for me). Mary is the Theotokos (the Mother of God - in other words, the mother of Jesus who is synonymous with God).
We do have icons (such as this icon of Jesus - http://www.placenetwork.org/images/2008orthodoxtrail-icon.jpg) We believe that:
"Icons are in colors what the Scripture
are in words: witnesses to the Incarnation,
the fact that God has come among us
as a person whom we can see, touch
and hear, to offer us the new life
and begin the new creation."
See this link for more about the Orthodox view on icons (http://www.thyra.com/Tsagalakis/about_icons.htm)
We have confession, priests, a lot of things that Protestants would see as external things. However, each one of these aspects of our faith has meaning and reason behind it.
Laura Kay provided a sound refutation of the nonsense that Eza was trying to put forth.
The Orthodox Church maintains apostolic succession and a male priesthood. This is very different from the protestant churches.
Most protestant churches, having broken from Rome post-schism, maintain the foliage in their creed, while the Orthodox retain the creed from the Council of Nicea.
Many Protestant churches maintain that all of the faith is found in the Bible (so la Scripture). The Orthodox church recognizes that the teachings of Christ as passed to the Apostles are as important as the teachings recorded in the Bible, since there was no canon of the Bible in the original church. Indeed the "Bible alone" protestants seem to neglect the role of Tradition in the Bible.
St. Paul mentions tradition several times in his epistles, reminding both Timothy and the Thessalonians to stand fast to the traditions he taught them. In his Second Letter to Timothy, Paul wrote: "Take as a model of sound teaching what you have heard me say, in faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the rich deposit of faith with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us" (1:13-14). Later, in the same letter, he further instructs Timothy, "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2:1-2). It seems clear that the apostolic Tradition, the oral teaching of the apostles, was to be preserved and transmitted from generation to generation. In the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul is just as explicit: "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2:15).
It should not be lost on anyone that Christ's church was intended to be one body, yet there are now literally thousands of "bible church" denominations, because each little church has a pastor who says the Bible means something a little different than the church down the road. If the Bible is inerrant, then how can 20 different people ascribe 20 different meanings to the same Bible? Because they stand outside of Holy Tradition and put their personal touch on the Bible rather than accepting the Holy Tradition of the Apostles.
Finally, the use of icons and asking the intercessions of saints is not idolatry and is not usurping the place of Christ. Do you ask your friends to pray for you? For the Orthodox, the saints are our friends in Christ who have gone before us and shown us the way of Christ. We ask these examples of Christ to pray for us. We do not pray to them. We ask their intercessions, just like we ask our other friends.
What is the difference between Orthodox and Protestantism?
