The formation of religious organizations is closely related to the social and political life of society. Christianity is no exception, and this is especially evident in the differences between its main branches, Catholicism and Orthodoxy. At the beginning of the 5th century, the Roman Empire split into Eastern and Western Empires. The East was a single state, while the West was a fragmented conglomerate of principalities. With the strong centralization of power in Byzantium, the Church immediately became an appendage of the state, and the Emperor actually became its head. The stagnation of Byzantine social life and the control of the church by a despotic state conditioned the conservatism of the Orthodox Church in dogma and ritualism, as well as the tendency toward mysticism and irrationalism in its ideology. In the West, the church gradually took a central place in society and evolved into an organization that sought dominance in all spheres of society, including politics.
The difference between Eastern and Western Christianity was also due to the peculiarities of the development of spiritual culture. Greek Christianity focused on ontological and philosophical issues, whereas Western Christianity focused on political and legal issues.
Because the Orthodox Church was under the patronage of the state, its history is related not so much to external events as to the formation of its doctrine. Orthodox doctrine is based on Sacred Scripture (the Bible-the Old and New Testaments) and Sacred Tradition (the decrees of the first seven Ecumenical and local councils, the works of the church fathers and canonical theologians). At the first two Ecumenical Councils, Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), the so-called Creed, which briefly set forth the essence of Christian doctrine, was adopted. It recognizes the triunity of God – the creator and ruler of the universe, the existence of an afterlife, posthumous retribution, the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ, who opened the possibility of salvation for mankind, on which lies the stamp of original sin.
Fundamentals of Orthodoxy doctrine
The Orthodox Church declares the basic tenets of faith to be absolutely true, eternal and unchangeable, communicated to man by God himself and incomprehensible to the mind. Keeping them intact is the first duty of the Church. No addition or deletion is possible, so the later dogmas established by the Catholic Church, about the descent of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but also from the Son (filioque), about the Immaculate Conception not only of Christ, but also of the Virgin Mary, about the infallibility of the Pope, about purgatory, are considered heresies by orthodoxy.
The personal salvation of believers is made dependent on the zealous observance of the rites and prescriptions of the Church, thanks to which there is accession to Divine grace, transmitted to man through the sacraments: infant baptism, anointing, communion, penance (confession), marriage, priesthood, unction (consecration). The sacraments are accompanied by rituals, which, together with divine services, prayers, and religious festivals, form the religious cult of Christianity. Orthodoxy attaches great importance to feasts and fasts.
Orthodoxy teaches the observance of the moral commandments given to man by God through the prophet Moses, as well as the fulfillment of the commandments and sermons of Jesus Christ set forth in the Gospels. Their main content is the observance of universal norms of life and love for one’s neighbor, manifestations of mercy and compassion, as well as the refusal to resist evil with violence. Orthodoxy emphasizes the uncomplaining endurance of sufferings sent by God to test the strength of faith and the purification of sin, and the special veneration of the sufferers: the blessed, the poor, the foolish, the hermits and the hermits. In Orthodoxy, only monks and the highest ranks of the clergy take a vow of celibacy.