Compare
Catholic ChurchandEastern Orthodox Church
At a glance
- Common groundIn full: Common ground
- The faith, councils and sacramental life of the first Christian millennium, which both recall as a time of 'full communion'.
- Bishops in apostolic succession, seven sacraments and the veneration of Mary and the saints.
4 sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, ¶¶871–945 (the hierarchical constitution of the Church), ¶880Source verified
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, ¶1113 (the seven sacraments), ¶1113Source verified
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, ¶¶963–975 (Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church), ¶971Source verified
- The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern ChristianityIdentified, not independently read
Provisional: broadly supported, but awaiting fuller checking.
- Key differencesIn full: Key differences
- Papal authority: universal jurisdiction in Catholic teaching; at most a primacy of honour for the Orthodox.
2 sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, ¶¶871–945 (the hierarchical constitution of the Church), ¶882Source verified
- Orthodox Church leadership structure explainedSource verified
- The Filioque in the Creed, which a 2003 agreed statement judged need not divide them.
Source
- The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue? An Agreed Statement, IVSource verified
- Later Western doctrines and councils after 787, which the Orthodox do not receive.
2 sources
- East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church, from Apostolic Times until the Council of FlorenceIdentified, not independently read
- The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern ChristianityIdentified, not independently read
Provisional: broadly supported, but awaiting fuller checking.
- Papal authority: universal jurisdiction in Catholic teaching; at most a primacy of honour for the Orthodox.
- How their histories connectIn full: How their histories connect
- A gradual estrangement over centuries. 1054 is its conventional date, not the founding of either church.
2 sources
- Lines parted · 1054 (conventional) · A gradual process · Through the wider familyThe estrangement of East and West (schism)Read the account in Eastern Orthodox Church
- Later · Reconciliation · 1965Lifting the excommunications of 1054Read the account in Catholic Church
- A gradual estrangement over centuries. 1054 is its conventional date, not the founding of either church.
- Connected today?In full: their relationship today
Separate, in formal dialogueas of October 2026
Not in full communion. The 1054 excommunications were lifted in 1965 and theological dialogue continues.
Source
A summary of the researched comparison below; each point links to its evidence.
Researched comparison. Written for this pair from sourced research; each statement links to its evidence.
3 sources
- Joint Catholic–Orthodox Declaration of His Holiness Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I, ¶5Source verified
- The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue? An Agreed StatementSource verified
- East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church, from Apostolic Times until the Council of FlorenceIdentified, not independently read
Provisional: broadly supported, but awaiting fuller checking.
Where they differ
- The authority of the Bishop of Rome. Catholic teaching holds that the pope has universal jurisdiction and, under strict conditions, infallibility; the Orthodox churches recognise at most a primacy of honour and reject universal jurisdiction.
3 sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, ¶¶871–945 (the hierarchical constitution of the Church), ¶¶882, 891Source verified
- Orthodox Church leadership structure explainedSource verified
- The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern ChristianityIdentified, not independently read
- The Filioque. The Western Creed says the Spirit proceeds from the Father 'and the Son'. A 2003 North American consultation held that the question need not divide the churches, but it separated the theology from questions of papal authority, which remain.
Source
- The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue? An Agreed Statement, IVSource verified
- Later Western definitions, including purgatory and the Immaculate Conception, and the councils the Catholic Church counts as ecumenical after 787, are not received by the Orthodox.
2 sources
- East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church, from Apostolic Times until the Council of FlorenceIdentified, not independently read
- The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern ChristianityIdentified, not independently read
Provisional: broadly supported, but awaiting fuller checking.
- Clerical marriage. In the Latin Church priests are normally celibate; Orthodox parish priests may marry before ordination, while bishops are chosen from celibate clergy.
2 sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, ¶¶1577–1580 (who can receive Holy Orders), ¶¶1579–1580Source verified
- The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern ChristianityIdentified, not independently read
Scripture and authority
Sources of authority
- Catholic Church
- Scripture and Tradition, interpreted by the bishops in communion with the pope
- Eastern Orthodox Church
- Scripture read within Holy Tradition, the councils and the Fathers
Different emphases, not necessarily opposed (1)
Salvation and grace
Characteristic emphasis
- Catholic Church
- Justification by grace, which renews the believer and works through love
- Eastern Orthodox Church
- Salvation as theosis: union with God by grace
Not yet comparable (1)
No sourced position is recorded for one side, so the Atlas does not say whether they agree:
- Sacraments and ordinances (how christ's presence is explained): not recorded for Eastern Orthodox Church
How their histories relate
2 sources
2 sources
- East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church, from Apostolic Times until the Council of FlorenceIdentified, not independently read
- Address of John Paul II to His Beatitude Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All GreeceSource verified
Provisional: broadly supported, but awaiting fuller checking.
Source
- The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue? An Agreed Statement, IISource verified
Schism · 1054 (conventional)A gradual processWider family
The estrangement of East and West
A breach of communion between churches. The Atlas never treats a schism as the founding of either side, and many developed gradually.
Latin and Greek Christianity drifted apart over centuries. 1054 is the conventional date, but the excommunications of that year did not by themselves make a formal schism; the division deepened through later events.Read in Eastern Orthodox Church history2 sources
- The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue? An Agreed Statement, IISource verified
- East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church, from Apostolic Times until the Council of FlorenceIdentified, not independently read
Reconciliation · 1965
Lifting the excommunications of 1054
A formal act of reconciliation, such as lifting condemnations or asking forgiveness. It does not by itself restore communion.
On 7 December 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I removed the 1054 sentences of excommunication 'from memory and from the midst of the Church'.Read in Catholic Church history
Their relationship today
Separate, in formal dialogueas of October 2026
Source
Based on Lifting the excommunications of 1054
Developments towards reconciliation
7 December 1965
Joint Catholic–Orthodox Declaration
Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I, with his synod
Both sides regretted the offensive words, unfounded reproaches and reprehensible gestures that accompanied the events of 1054.Still open: The declaration itself says the gesture is 'not sufficient to end both old and more recent differences'. It lifted particular sentences against particular people; it did not restore full Eucharistic communion.
A joint act of the Church of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Other Orthodox churches were not parties to it.2003Wider family
The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue?
North American Orthodox–Catholic Theological Consultation
Recommended that each side stop calling the other's teaching on the procession of the Spirit heretical, and that Catholics use the original Greek text of the Creed of 381, without the Filioque, in catechesis and liturgy.Source
- The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue? An Agreed Statement, IVSource verified
Still open: The manner of the Spirit's origin is identified as a question still to be resolved, distinct from questions of primacy and authority.
Recommendations of a regional theological consultation, not a decision of either church.Source
- The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue? An Agreed StatementSource verified
Explore further
Catholic Church
All citations link to the Atlas’s single source register.