The difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism: faith and reason

Many are interested in what is the difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Trying to answer the question posed, most Orthodox Christians mention the Pope of Rome, Purgatory, Filioque, but in fact there are many more differences, and they can be quite principled. In this article we will touch upon such an important aspect as the relationship between Christian faith and reason in religion, which in many respects causes the difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The approach to this issue has been different since the separation of the Orthodox and Catholic churches in the middle of the 11th century , and in the course of history the difference in relation to this subject only increased.

Reason and Christian faith in Orthodoxy and Catholicism

It is worth noting that the Catholic and Orthodox churches do not neglect philosophy and science in order to justify and give an explanation to their faith. Unlike Catholicism, Orthodoxy is not based on scientific and philosophical conclusions. It does not seek to justify the words of Christ addressed to believers in a scientific or logical way, does not try to reconcile faith and reason. If physics, chemistry, biology or philosophy support the Orthodox Church, it will not abandon it, yet Orthodoxy does not bow to the intellectual achievements of mankind. The Church does not bring its teaching to consistency with scientific discoveries.

In this sense, the differences between Catholicism and Orthodoxy can be demonstrated by the example of the position of Basil the Great, who instructed young monks to use Greek philosophy, just as a bee uses a flower. It is necessary to extract only "honey" - the truth - which God placed in the earth, to prepare mankind for the coming of the Lord.

For example, the Greeks had the concept of the Logos. The Gospel of John begins with a famous line: "In the beginning was the Word" ("logos" in Greek). For the Gentiles, the Logos was not God in the sense that Christians understood it, but it was the principle or force by which "God shaped and controlled the world." The priests pointed to the similarity between the Logos and the biblical Word, saw in him God's providence.

The difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism is that the former refers to the sinfulness of man and the weakness of his intellect. It refers to the words of the Apostle Paul, sounded in the Epistle to the Collosians: "Look, brethren, lest anyone take you by philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of man, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ" (2: 8).

Catholicism, on the contrary, attaches great importance to human reason, and its history demonstrates the reason for such trust in the intellectual abilities of man. In the Middle Ages, the philosopher Thomas Aquinas created a synthesis of Christianity with the philosophy of Aristotle - since those times Catholics have never deviated from their respect for human wisdom. This was one of the reasons for the radical changes and strengthened the difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism.