Compare and Contrast Orthodoxy with other Religious Faiths (Essay Sample)

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Orthodoxy
It is interesting to note the Orthodoxy is the oldest church of all the major Christian traditions. Despite the challenges it has faced over time, the Orthodox have kept their faiths just like in the past, and nothing has really changed. Orthodoxy is the dominant church in Europe and North America and sparsely spread in other continents like Africa and Asia. It is surprising that the church has not managed to spread far and wide like Catholic which is virtually everywhere in the world. One possible reason for this precedent is the fact that the Orthodox Church has not been able to navigate the intertwined cultural beliefs and ethnic identities in some continents due to the conflict that arises between the Orthodox tradition and other traditions. However, in areas that the Orthodoxy is well-represented, the church has seamlessly integrated into the culture to become the most trusted Christian tradition. The Orthodoxy bears much resemblance to the Catholicism in the sense that both religions believe in liturgical teachings. In addition, the spirituality of the both churches is rather similar with the only exception that the Orthodoxy believes that a worship service in the church usually corresponds to another service in heaven at the same time. However, the Orthodoxy Church has managed to maintain its Old World identity even in worship. Thus, it is not surprising that the Orthodox Church has been the recipient of the part of a congregation that gets distressed or frustrated in the recent directions being taken by the Roman Catholic and Protestants. However, what raise question the true position of the Orthodoxy on the secularism. There seems to be an overlapping of the beliefs between the two because some of the doctrines of the Orthodoxy are the normal beliefs and actions found in the secular world as noted in the text, "The sacred and the secular interpenetrate, overlapping in time and space" (p. 14).
Other than Jesus and the Holy Trinity, the Orthodox also believes in Mary, who is venerated as Theotokos, a Greek word meaning ‘God-bearer.’ This means that the son that Mary bore was God but in the form of human being. This makes her get the first position amongst the saints and remains virgin forever. This view is similar to the Catholics who also believe that Mary is the ‘Mother of Godâ€...