The word ‘Orthodox’ come from a combination of the two words: Ortho- right/ correct/ true and Doxa- glorification. The meaning of which is the proper worship or the correct belief, while A Protestant is a Christian who belongs to the branch of the Christian church that separated from the Catholic church in the sixteenth century. adjective. Protestant means relating to Protestants or their churches. Most Protestant churches now have some women ministers.
The Orthodox Church differs substantially from the other Churches in the way of life and worship, and in certain aspects of theology. The Holy Spirit is seen as present in and as the guide to the Church working through the whole body of the Church, as well as through priests and bishops.
A Protestant is an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them. During the Reformation, the term protestant was hardly used outside of German politics.
Orthodox Accept the 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books, but also a collection of books not found in the original Hebrew Bible. These are known as Deuterocanonicals i.e. a second canon of scripture while Protestants reject the deuterocanonicals as not being inspired scripture and term them Apocrypha (Greek: ‘Hidden Things’).
Orthodox Priests and Bishops must be male, but deaconesses are permitted, though the order is dormant.Priests and deacons may marry before ordination but not after. Bishops, on the other hand, must be celibate, while the majority of Protestants do not require celibacy as a condition of election to the clergy. Many churches practice female ordination, including those within the Anglican communion, where the issue of female episcopacy is currently being discussed.
In the Orthodox Commonly termed the ‘Mystic Supper’ or ‘Divine Liturgy’ – This makes present Christ’s sacrifice and therefore forgiveness of sins is obtained through it. It is also an encounter with the Risen Christ, but The Eucharist, like Baptism is only a symbol of grace. The sacrificial nature of the Eucharist is also rejected.
- Orthodox Christians consider Apocrypha as divinely inspired and important- Protestants don’t.
- The Orthodox consider the ‘Holy tradition’ of the church to be divinely inspired along with the Bible but the Protestants only consider Bible as divinely inspired.
- The Orthodox Christians consider Mary to be the bearer of god and a virgin. While the Protestants disagree.
- The belief of salivation differs significantly. Orthodox Christians have the concept of deification and purgatory while the Protestants reject both.
- The Orthodox Christians venerate saints and Icons play an important part in their religious belief framework while the Protestants reject both ideas.
- Protestants follow the bible as their divine inspiration and the Orthodox Church holy inspiration of the church along with the bible.
- Orthodox Christians believe in the Virgin Mary as the bearer of God, but the Protestants reject this belief.
- There is no such thing as a hierarchy in Protestantism, but the Orthodox Church follows hierarchy among the clergy.
- Celibacy is compulsory only for the bishops in Orthodox Church but not in the protestant.
- The scripture- the Old Testament books in Orthodox Christianity are based upon Septuagint. On the contrary, the Old Testament books in Orthodox Christianity are based upon Judaism rather than Septuagint.
Sources: askanydifference, christianityinview, differencebetween, christianity