What do Protestants think of the ancient Church's?

[Newtheran]

From my study of history (I could be wrong, this was a brief study), there were many Churches. The big 3 being Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox.

From the claim that Orthodox broke off of Catholicism seems far off, since Eastern Orthodox never seemed to adhered to a Pope as authoritative. It doesn't seem like Orthodox adhered to the Pope all this time then finally decided to reject him as authoritative in 1054, I don't know where they get this idea from. Eastern Orthodox never seemed to submit themselves to a Pope as authority like Catholicism. (If I am wrong I am open to correction).

Do Protestants believe for roughly 1500 years the church's completely diluted Jesus teachings? And that they had to hide as monks in caves or secret areas until the reformation happened?

I really like the Russian and Antiochian Orthodox Churches and suspect that they have done the best job of preserving the New Testament church into the modern era. I just wish they were more accessible to us in the west.

I see Roman Catholicism as the first Protestant church, leaving the body of Christ for all the wrong reasons and engaging in hundreds of years of doctrinal changes until it has reached its present sad end.

 

[DamianWarS]

From my study of history (I could be wrong, this was a brief study), there were many Churches. The big 3 being Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox.

From the claim that Orthodox broke off of Catholicism seems far off, since Eastern Orthodox never seemed to adhered to a Pope as authoritative. It doesn't seem like Orthodox adhered to the Pope all this time then finally decided to reject him as authoritative in 1054, I don't know where they get this idea from. Eastern Orthodox never seemed to submit themselves to a Pope as authority like Catholicism. (If I am wrong I am open to correction).

Do Protestants believe for roughly 1500 years the church's completely diluted Jesus teachings? And that they had to hide as monks in caves or secret areas until the reformation happened?

protestants believed the church was increasingly corrupted and needed to be reformed from the outside. why 1500? because the printing press was just invented and without it the reformation could not have happened.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I really like the Russian and Antiochian Orthodox Churches and suspect that they have done the best job of preserving the New Testament church into the modern era. I just wish they were more accessible to us in the west.

I see Roman Catholicism as the first Protestant church, leaving the body of Christ for all the wrong reasons and engaging in hundreds of years of doctrinal changes until it has reached its present sad end.

The Antiochian Orthodox tends to be especially accessible to western Christians, along with often other jurisdictions. It just depends who established the local parish and whose needs they currently serve. If it's stilll mostly immigrants there will usually be a heavy emphasis on their language and culture, while the more converts or others from the US are part of the parish, the more accessible it will be.

Russian and Antiochian Orthodox are the same Church, btw, along with Greek, Serbian, Ukrainian, and many others. Just for anyone who might not know.

Funny you mention Catholicism as the original Protestantism. That's how the first Orthodox priest I met explained it to me.

 

[Newtheran]

The Antiochian Orthodox tends to be especially accessible to western Christians, along with often other jurisdictions. It just depends who established the local parish and whose needs they currently serve. If it's stilll mostly immigrants there will usually be a heavy emphasis on their language and culture, while the more converts or others from the US are part of the parish, the more accessible it will be.

Russian and Antiochian Orthodox are the same Church, btw, along with Greek, Serbian, Ukrainian, and many others. Just for anyone who might not know.

Funny you mention Catholicism as the original Protestantism. That's how the first Orthodox priest I met explained it to me.

The Antiochians have done a remarkable job of outreach in the United States. Agreed that among all Orthodox, they are probably the most approachable in terms of openness and language barriers.

But still, this is the reality...

 

[Tigger45]

Our local Antiochian parish is made up of primarily converts including both priests.

 

[~Anastasia~]

The Antiochians have done a remarkable job of outreach in the United States. Agreed that among all Orthodox, they are probably the most approachable in terms of openness and language barriers.

But still, this is the reality...

For what it's worth, that seems to be inaccurate for our area. It's a little fuzzy but - there are three parishes just about equidistant from me, and another 4-5 that are a bit further (the 4-5 are too far to attend regularly). But there's only a couple of counties showing 1 if I'm seeing the map correctly. The SCOBA site is the best one to search.

 

[ml5363]

From my study of history (I could be wrong, this was a brief study), there were many Churches. The big 3 being Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox.



From the claim that Orthodox broke off of Catholicism seems far off, since Eastern Orthodox never seemed to adhered to a Pope as authoritative. It doesn't seem like Orthodox adhered to the Pope all this time then finally decided to reject him as authoritative in 1054, I don't know where they get this idea from. Eastern Orthodox never seemed to submit themselves to a Pope as authority like Catholicism. (If I am wrong I am open to correction).

Do Protestants believe for roughly 1500 years the church's completely diluted Jesus teachings? And that they had to hide as monks in caves or secret areas until the reformation happened?

I believe there was small groups of believers that stayed Tru to the teachings of the apostles...I also believe that some of these could have been in "heretical" groups as well...personally I think that was a term thrown on folks that didn't adhere to the Catholic Church... Just like Christian, anabaptisy and such were considered derogatory terms...I hate yhere is so much confusion in Christian...and we have overcomplicated the gospel...I think it hurts us spreading the gospel and getting folks in church...too much confusion...to much man made junk...so no not everything was cathoicsm..

So I am not Protestant nor am I Catholic..I am a Christian...believer and follower in Christ...that is what matters

 

[CaspianSails]

No.

Protestants believe that errors crept in gradually, and that by about 1500 a Reformation had become essential.

Protestants take early and medieval Christian writers seriously. In almost all cases, up to Augustine, and in many cases, up to Aquinas.

Protestants take the Creeds seriously, especially the Nicene Creed (which is the SoF for CF).

A key part of the Reformation was going to the Greek Orthodox church for the Greek text of the New Testament (and going to the Jews for the Hebrew text of the Old).

The idea that the church has been wrong for almost 2000 years was an Anabaptist idea, not a Reformed one. It has found its way into a few Baptist denominations.

I would agree with this post after reading a good book on church history a few decades ago and with the ascertain that certain groups do take the stand that the early church was wrong. It would be hard to argue with the writers of the New Testament and those who came after, taught by them.

 

[ViaCrucis]

The problem with asking what "Protestants" think or believe is that there is no such thing as "Protestantism" as anything more than a large umbrella term.

The historic, magisterial "Protestants", i.e. Lutherans and Reformed (e.g. Calvinists) never saw themselves as a brand new something apart from the historic Church--i.e. the Church of antiquity, the middle ages, etc. They saw their work as reform of the established Catholic Church. But "Protestant" covers a lot more territory, especially today, it includes the many different Radical Reformation groups, as well as all the post-Reformation, Neo-Protestant groups that have arisen since.

When someone says "Protestant" they need to clarify what they mean by "Protestant".

-CryptoLutheran