Eastern Orthodox
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
Catholics and Eastern Orthodox share nearly a millennium of common history, valid sacraments, and apostolic succession, but remain divided chiefly over the scope of papal authority and the Filioque clause added to the Nicene Creed.
Catholic view
The Catholic Church recognizes Orthodox sacraments and apostolic succession as fully valid, calling Orthodoxy a sister Church, while teaching that the pope, as successor of Peter, holds a real universal primacy of jurisdiction, not merely of honor, over the whole Church, defined especially at Vatican I in 1870.
Their view
Eastern Orthodoxy, holding to the decisions of the seven Ecumenical Councils, honors the Bishop of Rome as first among equals in honor but rejects universal papal jurisdiction and the 1870 dogma of papal infallibility, understanding the Church's unity to be expressed through conciliarity among the patriarchates rather than a single supreme head.
Key differences
Papal primacy
- Catholic view
- The pope possesses supreme, immediate, and universal jurisdiction over the whole Church.
- Their view
- The Bishop of Rome holds a primacy of honor only, first among equals among the patriarchs.
The Filioque
- Catholic view
- The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, as clarified in the Latin creed.
- Their view
- The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, per the original Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
Purgatory
- Catholic view
- Defines purgatory as a state of purification for souls dying in grace but not yet perfectly purified.
- Their view
- Prays for the dead and believes in ongoing purification but does not dogmatize a defined doctrine of purgatory as Catholics do.
Immaculate Conception
- Catholic view
- Dogmatically defines Mary as conceived without original sin in 1854.
- Their view
- Honors Mary's sinlessness in practice but rejects this as a formally binding Western dogma.
Common ground
Both share the same seven sacraments, apostolic succession, the veneration of Mary and the saints, monasticism, and the first seven Ecumenical Councils as authoritative expressions of the faith.
Biblical foundation
Both traditions honor Matthew 16:18-19 concerning Peter's role, differing on its implications for a perpetual juridical office, and John 15:26 concerning the Spirit's procession, central to the Filioque dispute.
Historical evidence
The formal break, traditionally dated to the mutual excommunications of 1054 between Cardinal Humbert and Patriarch Michael Cerularius, followed centuries of growing estrangement over liturgical, theological, and jurisdictional differences, deepened further by the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
The Church Fathers
“All the ends of the earth... look directly towards the Church of Rome and its confession and faith.”