Why Orthodoxy Instead of Catholicism?

On the surface, Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism can seem similar: both celebrate the sacraments, believe in the authority of the Church, have a common liturgical tradition to draw on, and seek to follow Jesus Christ. We are, one could say, spiritual cousins to each other, sharing a family history that stretches back through the first millennium of Christianity. Yet despite these similarities and common history, Orthodoxy and Catholicism are actually quite different, having grown apart over nearly a millennium since the East-West Schism of 1054 AD. While by no means exhaustive or comprehensive, I here offer three reasons why I personally am an Orthodox Christian instead of a Catholic one:

Orthodoxy has kept the liturgical tradition of the Church in ways that Catholicism hasn’t.

Orthodox Christians generally celebrate the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which has its origins in the tradition of the Cappadocian Church Fathers in the fourth and fifth centuries. It is generally celebrated with either Byzantine chant or Slavic choral music. Although the Divine Liturgy has certainly developed over time, this development is nowhere near the changes that have been implemented in the modern Roman Catholic Mass, which was massively changed with the promulgation of the Mass of Pope Paul VI in 1969 after the Second Vatican Council. This new Mass is often celebrated in America with guitars, modern Catholic hymns dating to the twentieth century, and in some rare cases, even Protestant rock music such as Hillsong. While there is nothing inherently bad or wrong about the modern Roman Catholic Mass, its celebration often falls short of early Christianity, which used hymns over a millennium old written by saints, chanting, and incense. When comparing modern Orthodoxy and Catholicism, Orthodoxy has a much better claim to keeping the liturgical tradition of the early Church.

Catholicism has invented new dogmas that are foreign to the early Church.

Orthodox Christians seek to meticulously keep the faith of the early Church, namely that faith which has been believed “everywhere, always, and by all” according to St. Vincent of Lerins (a fifth century Irish monk). Orthodoxy’s most recent doctrinal codification dates back to the fourteenth century, when St. Gregory Palamas solidified the essence-energy distinction in order to combat heresy. When examining Catholicism, we see that the Catholic church has created dogmas such as papal infallibility and the immediate and universal authority of the Pope in the First Vatican Council as late as 1870. While the origins essence-energy distinction can be traced back to St. John of Damascus in the eighth century, doctrines such as papal infallibility and the immediate and universal authority of the Pope have little to no support in the Scriptures and early Church Fathers. From this it can again be seen that Orthodoxy has a better claim to keeping the faith of the early Church than Catholicism does.

The Orthodox mindset leads me closer to Christ than Catholicism’s mindset.

Though perhaps the least academically rigorous reason, the most important reason why I am Orthodox instead of Catholic is that Orthodoxy leads me closer to Christ in a way that Catholicism does not. My experiences attending Catholic Mass with friends versus going to Divine Liturgy at Orthodox parishes has led me to believe that there is something special about the mindset of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which focuses on the holistic healing of the human person, as opposed to Western Catholic Christianity, which often has scholastic tendencies and focuses on theological minutiae. The focus on Christ’s glorious resurrection and destruction of death by death in Orthodoxy bears more fruit in my soul than the focus on Christ paying our penalty for sin in Catholicism. I am convinced God has led me to the Orthodox Church for the healing of my soul, and that he did so because he knows this is where I need to be for my salvation.