Difference between Eastern Orthodox and Coptic/Ethiopian Orthodox

Please check out the articles here.

They will give you a good introduction to the differences between the Eastern Orthodox and the Non-Chalcedonians, among whom are the Copts and Ethiopians.

There is also a very thorough article here from the Catholic Encyclopedia, if you have time for a lengthy read.

I would add that for the Catholic Encyclopedia article, if you scroll down to the heading "Orthodoxy," you can read the conclusions of several experts as to whether or not the Non-Chalcedonians are to be considered heretical from the Catholic (and Eastern Orthodox) point of view.

Bulldog said:

As you can see I've been asking questions about Orthodoxy lately, because its not something I was brought up learning about.(I've only looked into Othodox theology and beliefs recently) Now my question is: What are the differences between Eastern Orthodox and Coptic/Ethiopian Orthodox?

Click to expand...

The only difference is that the OO believee in the first 3 Ecumenical councils and the EO believes in the first 7 Ecumenical councils
Everything else we all believe in it. I think it is a miracle that we both kept the true faith.
For example EO and OO are not in communion since 451 AD we both dont believe in puregatory nor in the petrine authority and we both believe in the what the RC calls deutrocanonical books or what protestants call Apocrypha of the Old Testament. this means that we kept our beliefs unchanged since 451 and they are what all the united church believed before first schism
for more info about the OO church check this link
http://www.geocities.com/mfignatius/oo.html#a01

We are very close, and in unofficial communion with each other.
Jeff the Finn

The only difference is that the OO believee in the first 3 Ecumenical councils and the EO believes in the first 7 Ecumenical councils
Everything else we all believe in it. I think it is a miracle that we both kept the true faith.

Click to expand...

Those are MAJOR differences.

We do not believe that the Non-Chalcedonians have "kept the true faith."

An essential part of the true faith is the acceptance of all seven of the ecumenical councils.

For example EO and OO are not in communion since 451 AD we both dont believe in puregatory nor in the petrine authority and we both believe in the what the RC calls deutrocanonical books or what protestants call Apocrypha of the Old Testament. this means that we kept our beliefs unchanged since 451 and they are what all the united church believed before first schism
for more info about the OO church check this link
http://www.geocities.com/mfignatius/oo.html#a01

Click to expand...

For one thing, we Orthodox do believe in a purgatorial process after death as evidenced in the Confession of Dositheus (1672):

Decree XVIII​

We believe that the souls that have fallen asleep are either at rest or in torment, according to what each hath wrought; - for when they are separated from their bodies, they depart immediately either to joy, or to sorrow and lamentation; though confessedly neither their enjoyment, nor condemnation is complete. For, after the common resurrection, when the soul shall be be united with the body, with which it had behaved itself well or ill, each shall receive the completion of either enjoyment or of condemnation forsooth.
And such as though involved in mortal sins have not departed in despair, but have, while still living in the body, repented, though without bringing forth any fruits of repentance - by pouring forth tears, forsooth, by kneeling while watching in prayers, by afflicting themselves, by relieving the poor, and in fine by showing forth by their works their love towards God and their neighbor, and which the Catholic Church hath from the beginning rightly called satisfaction - of these and such like souls depart into Hades, and there endure the punishment due to the sins they have committed. But they are aware of their future release from thence, and are delivered by the Supreme Goodness, through the prayers of the Priests, and the good works which the relatives of each do for their Departed; especially the unbloody Sacrifice availing in the highest degree; which each offers particularly for his relatives that have fallen asleep, and which the Catholic and Apostolic Church offers daily for all alike; it being, of course, understood that we know not the time of their release. For that there is deliverance for such from their direful condition, and that before the common resurrection and judgment we know and believe; but when we know not."

Click to expand...

For another, we do accept the Petrine Primacy, but not the universal jursidiction of the modern popes.

For a third, we absolutely do regard the Deuterocanonical Books as an indispensable part of the Canon of Sacred Scripture.

jeffthefinn said:

We are very close, and in unofficial communion with each other.
Jeff the Finn

Click to expand...

Not quite accurate.

Some have been fooled into thinking "we are very close."

The Antiochians have entered into unofficial communion with the Non-Chalcedonians, which brings the Antiochians dangerously close to being officially out of communion with the Orthodox Church.

Along with the Greeks, and for that matter the OCA. I saw with my own eyes Met ANTHONY of San Francisco commune an Ethiopian parish that met in a Greek Orthodox temple in Seattle. I also communed that day so as a fact I am in communion with the OO. It is just not the Antiochians.
Jeff the Finn

jeffthefinn said:

Along with the Greeks, and for that matter the OCA. I saw with my own eyes Met ANTHONY of San Francisco commune an Ethiopian parish that met in a Greek Orthodox temple in Seattle. I also communed that day so as a fact I am in communion with the OO. It is just not the Antiochians.
Jeff the Finn

Click to expand...

I do not know the circumstances of the event of which you speak or what that Ethiopian parish had confessed.

I do think you should read the articles at http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/ea_mono.htm to see the reaction of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the monks of Mt. Athos to the actions of the Antiochians, however.