17

I've looked around but can't really find a proper answer. Would anyone mind clarifying this for me?

I'm a Western Orthodox Christian, and I attended the baptism of my young cousin on Sunday, and this question just popped into my head.

Improve this question
5
  • I think you need to further split "the Eastern Christianity" into Oriental and the Orthodox ones. "Western Christianity" must also be split into at least Catholicism and Protestantism. As for the differences between Western Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Christianity, just to mention a few, a huge difference in understanding of Eucharist, not believing (by EOC) that Mary was born of immaculate conception, not recognizing (by EOC) the authority of the Pope as the Head of the Church.
    – brilliant
    Commented Jul 16, 2013 at 14:11
  • 1
    In practice, the Western Church is hung up on the sermon and the theology, whereas the Eastern church is hung up on mysticism and spirituality. That's such a broad statement, however, as to be both controversial and requiring of more support than I can give right now.
    – Affable Geek
    Commented Jul 16, 2013 at 15:36
  • 1
    What do you mean by Western Orthodox? I thought at first you meant 'Western Rite Orthodox', but then I thought it strange that being such, you weren't well acquainted with the Eastern Rite, which is far more prevalent and under less skepticism by the rest of the Eastern Orthodox world. I'm assuming by Eastern Orthodox, you mean the Chalcedonian confession of Eastern Orthodox Churches.
    – Josiah
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 2:00
  • 2
    I'm voting to close because "Western Orthodox" is an unclear/imprecise appellation and the OP isn't around to clarify.
    – Mr. Bultitude
    Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 6:26
  • @user92 - An excellent article on Orthodoxy is found in Wikipedia entitled, "Eastern Orthodox Church" It deals withy the difference between the Roman Catholic Orthodoxy and the Eastern Orthodox Church (also officially known as Orthodox Catholic Church). The article then differentiates between the various branches of Orthodoxy such as the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church, the Syrian, the Russian, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. -- One of the major differences between West and East is the language: The West required mass in Latin, and the East in Greek OR the native tongue.
    – ray grant
    Commented Mar 6 at 0:50

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7

Big question! Here is my source:

  • The culture - The East is familiar to Greek, Russian and Arabic languages/cultures, and the West is more familiar to Americans and English languages/cultures
  • The Clergy Vestments
  • The Liturgy/Mass - The East primarily uses the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, and the West primarily uses the Liturgy of Saint Gregory the Great.
  • The East has an Iconostasis ("Icon Wall") separating the Sanctuary from the rest of the church, and the West either has a rail (like the old Roman Catholic style) or nothing at all separating the Sanctuary from the rest of the church
Improve this answer
4
  • Interesting...thanks for the answer! Though, could you elaborate on the differences between the cultures?
    – user92
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 23:21
  • Sorry to bother again. But could you possibly elaborate on the first point?
    – user92
    Commented Aug 26, 2011 at 22:27
  • @Purmou I personally don't have any experience with Eastern Orthodox. Here is an interesting article that discusses the culture of their worship (starting about half-way down at "Characteristics").
    – Richard
    Commented Aug 27, 2011 at 1:21
  • Thanks for the link, I got the clarification I was looking for. Thank you! :)
    – user92
    Commented Aug 27, 2011 at 9:41