Both the Orthodox and the Catholic church are establishments of Jesus Christ from the early Christian community. According to their teachings, bishops succeeded apostles while the Pope took roles of Peter as appointed by Jesus. The Roman Empire provisions helped the spread of this religion; it had defined road networks as well as waterways that allowed natural movements from one region to the other. Moreover, the rulers had encouraged dwellers to learn the Greek language and thus, communication barriers reduced. The apostles had acquired converts in different regions including the Jewish Mediterranean Sea, Iran and Armenia among others (Oakley et al., 2018). The religion succeeded more in urban areas. First, it spread to people of low social class such as slaves. For long, there existed single monolithic church until 1054 A.D when the Constantinople patriarch and the pope excommunicated. What resulted is the formation of the Great Schism, but the original church separated into the Orthodox in the east and the Roman Catholic in the west. Though there exist several similarities between the two sects, they also have differences.
Beliefs: The Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic share some critical beliefs concerning Christ including his human and divine nature and also that He was born of a virgin. Both churches believe in his death, resurrection and return to the earth to take his church and condemn the non-believers. Both sects also acknowledge the teachings provided in the seven ecumenical councils. During the Great Schism, the idea of the Trinity was expressed, the orthodox stressed on the separate personhood of each participant while the Roman church wanted the unity of the Trinity (Allen, 2017). These differences resulted in the controversy which was among the primary causes of Schism.
Roles and status of women
The official Catholic church considers men and women as equal, though different and "complementary." this denomination offers a special role to Mary the mother of Christ as the “nurturing mother” of both her son and the church. The devotion of Mariam is among the leading themes in the Catholic arts, as it also gives family and motherhood special status. Moreover, the character of Eve in the Garden of Eden also influenced the growth of western notion concerning women as “temptress.” Unusually, Christ used to preach to both men and women. However, Paul taught the equality of both sexes but seems to have limits for roles of women in the church. Due to the Gospel that Christ chose male apostles, the church also does not take women into the priesthood. However, women have acquired significant mileage in managing the church institutions like schools and hospitals via the religious orders of sisters such as Dominican, sister of mercy and Benedictines among others.
Unlike the Catholic church, Orthodox do not worship Mary, and Christ is the right head of the church, but his mother Mary is right by his side. A large part of the order came from patriarchal communities. Though eastern Orthodox recognize Mary as the mother of Jesus, they do not allow women to access the altar. The denomination also acknowledges the Easter morning woman who took the information to the apostles about the resurrection of Christ; referred as the “apostle to the apostles,” but the same sect reserves the gospel reading during worships to males. Orthodox also believe that men have unique purposes of teaching and assuming priesthood while women should keep quite as men talk (Longren, 2017). In simpler terms, the Catholic church has more acknowledgment to women as compared to the eastern orthodox.
References
Longren, T. 2017. Gender Roles in the Greek Orthodox Church. Available at: https://classroom.synonym.com/gender-roles-in-the-greek-orthodox-church- 12087545.html
Allen, R. 2017. Comparing " Contrasting Eastern Orthodox " Roman Catholics. Available at:https://classroom.synonym.com/comparing-contrasting-eastern-orthodox-roman- catholics-12086426.html
Oakley, F.C., Marty M.E., McKenzie
J.L., Frassetto, M., Pelikan
J.J., Knowles M.D. 2018. Roman Catholicism. Available at:https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism
