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Marissa Vasquez
What is Catholicism?
Professor Andrei Antokhin
13 December 2016
Greek Orthodox Church: Is It Christianity?
Christianity is a monotheistic religion that focuses on teaching about the life of Jesus
Christ. Christianity is one of the largest religions around the world. Christianity can be broken
down into 4 different churches: Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Restorationist. Every
religion is different in their own ways. I am familiar with the traditions of Roman Catholicism
and I feel that the traditions of Greek Orthodox are similar. Although these four churches have
different names they all worship the same thing, Jesus Christ. Christians belief in the religion
relies on the belief of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Salvation, the Holy Trinity, the Scriptures,
and the Afterlife. The churches differ in how they interpret the Bible. The Roman Catholic
church and the Orthodox church were one until the Great Schism in 1054, which separated the
church into two. The Great Schism happened over disputes of papal authority. The pope felt he
had authority over the four eastern patriarchs and vice versa. The Roman Catholic church broke
away from the original church and has since then added new teachings.
The orthodox church was founded on the Day of Holy Pentecost in 33AD in Jerusalem.
The Day of Holy Pentecost was fifty days after the Holy Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The
apostles established churches throughout the Middle East as they were told to do so by the
Holy Spirit. St Paul founded churches in the west in countries like Asia Minor, Greece, and
Rome. In 323, Emperor Constantine I declared Christianity the official religion of Rome. The
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church was made up of five self-governing dioceses which were Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria,
Constantinople (formerly Byzantium), and Rome. These dioceses were all equal until the Great
Schism which separated Rome from the rest because they felt they had more power over the
others. The other four Dioceses became the Eastern Orthodox church. The first Greek Orthodox
Church arrived in 1768 forty miles south of St. Augustine, Florida. The first Greek Orthodox
church, Holy Trinity Church, was built in 1864 in New Orleans. Thirty years later, there were
more churches formed in New York and Chicago. Today there are over 400 Greek Orthodox
churches established throughout the United States and around two million members.
The Orthodox follows two Sources of authority: the Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition.
The new and Old Testament make up the writings of the Holy Scripture. According to
