Abanto 1
Pons Abanto
Professor Clemens Reinke
PHR-121
21 April 2017 Research Paper
Distinction between Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christianity With over 2 billion followers around the globe, Christianity is the world’s largest religion and encompasses nearly a third of the earth’s total population. However, Christianity is further broken down into numerous denominations that maintain their own distinct ways of practicing their Christian faith. The main branches of Christianity can be organized as Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Roman Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity with more than 1 billion adherents, which is roughly half of the world’s Christians. What …show more content…
The event know as the “Great Schism” in 1054 AD marked the division between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Roman Catholic Church. The official reason for their separation was the filioque question that asked whether the Holy Spirit was a product of the God the Father alone (Eastern Orthodox belief) or from both the God the Father and God the Son (according to the Western Roman Catholics) along with a few other ecclesiastical and theological differences. It was the pope’s growing power, however, that was the true reason behind the split as well as the significant cultural differences between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. It should also be mentioned that Pope Leo IX had excommunicated the Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople who in turn condemned Pope Leo, from that point on the Christian Church would be split between the Orthodox Church in the East and the Roman Catholic Church in the West. The Eastern Orthodox of course has its own features that make it distinct from Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christianity. Firstly, the Orthodoxy maintains that it is in fact the oldest Christian church and that it is a continuation of the works of Paul and the other apostles. To Orthodox followers, they believe that their church is the sole preserver of Christian teachings in its correct and original form. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the head of the Eastern Orthodoxy is the Patriarch of Constantinople(Istanbul). …show more content…
While is hard to define all the distinctions of the various Protestant denominations, the general theme amongst Protestants is the attainment of God’s grace through faith. There is also the sufficiency of scriptures as the sole reference in the matters of faith and practices. Protestant churches can also be differentiated by the degree of which they reject Catholic practices and beliefs, it could be said that Anglican and Lutheran churches tend to share similarities to the Catholic Church in their liturgy whereas Baptists and Presbyterians are farther removed from Catholic traditions and liturgy. Most Protestants also only acknowledge the two sacraments of baptism and communion as being commanded directly by God, instead of the seven sacraments practiced by Roman Catholics. Also of note, most Protestant churches do not require celibacy from their clergy and allow them to
Pons Abanto
Professor Clemens Reinke
PHR-121
21 April 2017 Research Paper
Distinction between Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christianity With over 2 billion followers around the globe, Christianity is the world’s largest religion and encompasses nearly a third of the earth’s total population. However, Christianity is further broken down into numerous denominations that maintain their own distinct ways of practicing their Christian faith. The main branches of Christianity can be organized as Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Roman Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity with more than 1 billion adherents, which is roughly half of the world’s Christians. What …show more content…
The event know as the “Great Schism” in 1054 AD marked the division between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Roman Catholic Church. The official reason for their separation was the filioque question that asked whether the Holy Spirit was a product of the God the Father alone (Eastern Orthodox belief) or from both the God the Father and God the Son (according to the Western Roman Catholics) along with a few other ecclesiastical and theological differences. It was the pope’s growing power, however, that was the true reason behind the split as well as the significant cultural differences between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. It should also be mentioned that Pope Leo IX had excommunicated the Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople who in turn condemned Pope Leo, from that point on the Christian Church would be split between the Orthodox Church in the East and the Roman Catholic Church in the West. The Eastern Orthodox of course has its own features that make it distinct from Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christianity. Firstly, the Orthodoxy maintains that it is in fact the oldest Christian church and that it is a continuation of the works of Paul and the other apostles. To Orthodox followers, they believe that their church is the sole preserver of Christian teachings in its correct and original form. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the head of the Eastern Orthodoxy is the Patriarch of Constantinople(Istanbul). …show more content…
While is hard to define all the distinctions of the various Protestant denominations, the general theme amongst Protestants is the attainment of God’s grace through faith. There is also the sufficiency of scriptures as the sole reference in the matters of faith and practices. Protestant churches can also be differentiated by the degree of which they reject Catholic practices and beliefs, it could be said that Anglican and Lutheran churches tend to share similarities to the Catholic Church in their liturgy whereas Baptists and Presbyterians are farther removed from Catholic traditions and liturgy. Most Protestants also only acknowledge the two sacraments of baptism and communion as being commanded directly by God, instead of the seven sacraments practiced by Roman Catholics. Also of note, most Protestant churches do not require celibacy from their clergy and allow them to