Quote History Originally Posted By H46Driver:
Are/were there Protestant denominations that sprung from Eastern Orthodoxy? I know that there are several branches of Orthodoxy, often country-based.
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Quote History Originally Posted By H46Driver:Originally Posted By FennRx:
Missing the orthodox schisms from 1054.
Hilariously, that chart needs a whole lot more lines to account for the sects of today.
Are/were there Protestant denominations that sprung from Eastern Orthodoxy? I know that there are several branches of Orthodoxy, often country-based.
My understanding is that while the Eastern Churches were not devoid of heresies, protestantism, as we know it, that exists in that part of the world metastasized from the West.
I have not studied nor put too much thought into the matter, but some central differences that stand out are:
1) The West had a mostly undisputed unity in leadership and liturgy, whereas the East still had original patriarchates.
2) National identity did not make a great difference in the West as it pertains to the Church, whereas in the East it was not necessarily so. Many of the disputes in the East, at least in the past couple of hundred years, seem to have revolved mostly around national identify and autocephaly.
3) Christians in the East were under constant threat from farther East and/or from Islam. With their numbers dwindling and constant pressure from outsiders, it stands to reason that pursuing theological differences would not rank high on their list of priorities, and maintaining Christianity was one of the few things they had left to their identity. Additionally, under the Ottoman Empire, the patriarchs of Constantinople enjoyed some sort of protection for practical reasons. I don't suspect anything of that sort would have been extended to heretics.
4) The West, for obvious reasons, enjoyed a greater freedom, patronage, and growth in science and art during the late middle ages and renaissance than the East did. This expanse in the marketplace of ideas would not necessarily guarantee the prevention of errors.
Again, I have not studied or put too much thought into this, but I'll stand by for any posts with better insight.