Comparing Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, & Protestant Unity

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When I was trying to find my way as a new follower of Jesus but not committed to a particular Church, one of the passages of scripture that convinced me to make unity an essential criterion in my search was chapter 17 of John’s gospel when Jesus prays this beautifully intimate prayer to the Father right before he is arrested.

He prays that his followers, that is his Church, will enjoy the same kind of unity that he enjoys with his Father and that by this unity he will be glorified because it will be a witness to the world that he is truly the son of God.

And there’s a lot of wisdom in that. Imagine a Christianity in which there was one, unified Church with every member working together rather than against each other. As Jesus said, a kingdom divided cannot stand and no matter how much Christians want to believe we have a certain kind of unity, it’s obvious to anyone who isn’t shoehorning that idea into their theology that we do not.
And as a newcomer to Christianity, when I was initially taking that step, it was obvious to me that the broad definition of Christianity was one in a disorienting state of fracture and that if the claims of Christianity were true, there must be some substantial expression of unity found within it.

Now, if you have a conversation with your average believer from any of the main branches of Christianity, being Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, you’ll hear that unity is important to them too, but you’ll get variations of how that unity is defined and expressed, so I thought we’d take a look at those and then I’ll share which one made the most sense to me and why.

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Catholics and Orthodox will argue like hell but as soon as a Protestant opens their mouth we are brothers lol

sulphuric_glue

As a Catholic, I agree we're all one in even you Protestants

uncle

As more of a Protestant, Catholics and Orthodox are my brothers and sisters in Christ 💜

BiglariProductions

God bless you Mr.Holdsworth. Your channel has been a fountain of water to a pilgrim in the desert. JA

SteveAubrey

I love both Catholics and Orthodox. We are the same. Grettings a protestant from Denmark. Wish you all the best

nielsenn

Protests are very hostile it seems.. The abundance of the heart is what the mouth speaks..

joehouston

Protestant here, but I love your point that Christianity is supposed to be lived out in a family context! I've actually been able to be a part of a community of believers that are genuinely committed to loving one another in a way I've never seen in a regular "church". I am hesitant though to believe that it is the responsibility of a single person to be the spiritual patriarch. In practicality, I think the key to achieve that is personal mentorship like we saw with the early church.
Also, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on papal infallibility, seeing as you mentioned that bad popes have existed, just as we deal with bad fathers.

elliotnemeth

Although I am not Catholic I found this helpful in understanding the Catholic position.

jotink

Your description of the unity amongst Eastern Orthodox is rather superficial. Our unity is far deeper than just an agreement over the set of doctrines. I would propose to you to examine the matter properly before putting it out to the public... unless you wanted it to be false. ;o)

johnnyd

Well said, and it's the reason I keep returning to the Catholic church, despite recurring disappointments and inadequacies. "Lord, to whom shall I go?"

jeandoten

Interestingly enough, the claim to the bishop of Rome as head over every see was rejected within a generation by the Oriental Orthodox. The claim has also been key to the split with Eastern Orthodoxy and becomes foundational to the split within the Western Orthodox Church with the refusal to enact reforms. It really is central to the disunity of the broader institutional church than something enabling unity.

timvictor

As a convert from Protestantism to Catholicism, I think the claim of Catholic “unity” is rather overstated. Let’s be honest, from Antinomian Rainbow clergy to Traditionalists to Sedevacantists to Uniates, the claim of Catholic unity under a single Pontiff in modernity is an illusion. Moreover, the unity confessed by Christ, the Apostles, and codified via Ecumenical Councils was centered around confessional, propositional truths.

Four months ago, I watched my Pope and other complicit bishops participate in an idolatrous, pagan ceremony, to the goddess Pachamama. Is this the type unity that Catholics should celebrate? Personally, I was scandalized.

erikmiller

I'm a convert to Catholic and thankyou for making the faith more clear.

englishrose

Wouldn't the idea of a family favor Eastern Orthodoxy who make distinct local governing units instead of one prime head for most thousands of miles away? The papal system sounds less familial to me.

peterhoilman

In Orthodoxy the word "catholic" means "according to the whole, " that is, it concerns that which is complete, or - to put it another way - the Church, like the Eucharist, is lacking in nothing, and so each individual Church is the whole "catholic" Church in a given location. That said, an Orthodox ecclesiology of communion, which sees each local Church as the full realization of the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church through the celebration of the liturgy and the profession of the Orthodox faith under the guidance of a bishop in Apostolic Succession, is incompatible with the late medieval Roman universalist ecclesiology promoted by the Scholastics, which divides the Church into pieces that are only later juridically united through a concept of hierarchical subservience to the bishop of Rome.

theomimesis