For centuries, the Christian faith has been attacked by adversaries. In addition, different people attempted to interpret Scripture in their own way at different times. Perhaps this was the reason that the Christian faith divided over time into Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox. They are all very similar, but there are differences between them. Who are Protestants and how do their teachings differ from Catholic and Orthodox? Let's try to figure it out. Let's start with the origins - with the formation of the first Church.
How did the Orthodox and Catholic churches appear?
Around the 1950s, the disciples of Jesus and their supporters created the Orthodox Christian Church, which exists to this day. At first there were five ancient Christian Churches. In the first eight centuries since the birth of Christ, the Orthodox Church, led by the Holy Spirit, built its doctrine, developed its own methods and traditions. For this, all Five Churches took part in Ecumenical Councils. This teaching has not changed today. The Orthodox Church includes Churches that are not connected to each other by anything other than faith - Syrian, Russian, Greek, Jerusalem, etc. But there is no other organization or any person uniting all these Churches under their foundation. The only leader in the Orthodox Church is Jesus Christ. Why is the Orthodox Church called the Catholic Church in the “Symbol of Faith” prayer? It's simple: if you need to make an important decision, all Churches take part in the Ecumenical Council. Later, after a thousand years, in 1054, the Roman Church, which is also Catholic, separated from the five ancient Christian churches.
This Church did not ask other members of the Ecumenical Council for advice, but made decisions and carried out reforms in church life. We will talk more about the teachings of the Roman Church a bit later.
How did Protestants come about?
Back to the main question: "Who are the Protestants?" After the separation of the Roman Church, many people did not like the changes it introduced. It did not seem in vain to the people that all the reforms were aimed only at making the Church richer and more influential.
After all, even in order to atone for sins, a person had to pay a certain amount of money to the Church. And in 1517, in Germany, the monk Martin Luther gave impetus to the Protestant faith. He denounced the Roman Catholic Church and its ministers in that they seek only their own profit, forgetting about God. Luther said the Bible should be preferred if there is a conflict between church traditions and scripture. Luther also translated the Bible from Latin into German, proclaiming the assertion that everyone can study the Holy Scripture and interpret it in their own way. So who are Catholics and Protestants? Protestants demanded a revision of their attitude to religion, getting rid of unnecessary traditions and rites. The feud began between two Christian denominations. Catholics and Protestants fought. The only difference is that Catholics fought for power and submission, and Protestants for freedom of choice and the right path in religion.
Persecution of Protestants
Of course, the Roman Church could not ignore the attacks of those who opposed unconditional submission. The Catholics did not want to accept and understand who these Protestants are. There were massacres of Catholics over Protestants, public executions of those who refused to become Catholics, oppression, ridicule, persecution. Adherents of Protestantism also did not always peacefully prove their innocence. Protests of opponents of the Catholic Church and its rule in many countries swept through mass pogroms of Catholic churches. For example, in the 16th century in the Netherlands there were more than 5,000 pogroms by rebels against Catholics. In response to the rebellions, the authorities repaired their court, they did not understand how Catholics differ from Protestants. In the same Netherlands, over 80 years of war between the authorities and the Protestants, 2,000 conspirators were convicted and executed. All in all, about 100,000 Protestants suffered for this faith in this country. And this is only in one country. Despite all this, the Protestants defended their right to a different point of view on the question of Church life. But, the uncertainty that was present in their teachings led to the fact that other groups began to separate from the Protestants. There are more than twenty thousand different Protestant churches all over the world, for example, Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, Pentecostal, and among Protestant currents there are Methodists, Presbyterians, Adventists, Congregationalists, Quakers, etc. Catholics and Protestants have changed the Church greatly. Who are Catholics and Protestants according to their teachings, let's try to figure it out. In fact, Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians are Christians. The difference between them is that the Orthodox Church has what can be called the fullness of Christ’s teachings - it’s a school and an example of goodness, it’s a sanatorium for human souls, and Protestants are simplifying all this more and more by creating something in which it is very difficult to learn the doctrine of virtue, and what cannot be called a complete doctrine of salvation.
The basic principles of the Protestants
The question of who the Protestants are can be answered by understanding the basic principles of their teachings. Protestants consider all the rich church experience, all spiritual art, collected for centuries, invalid. They only recognize the Bible, believing that it is the only true source of how and what to do in church life. For Protestants, the Christian communities of the time of Jesus and his apostles are the ideal of what a Christian's life should be like. But the adherents of Protestantism do not take into account the fact that then the church structure simply did not exist. Protestants simplified the whole Church, except the Bible, mainly because of the reforms of the Roman Church. Since Catholicism greatly changed the teaching and deviated from the Christian spirit. And the schisms among the Protestants began to occur because they threw everything away - even the teachings of the great saints, spiritual teachers, and leaders of the Church. And since the Protestants began to deny these teachings, or rather, did not perceive them, then they began to argue in the interpretation of the Bible. Hence the split in Protestantism and the waste of energy not on self-education, as in the Orthodox, but on a futile struggle. The difference between Catholics and Protestants is erased against the background of the fact that Orthodox Christians, who have been holding their faith for more than 2000 years in the form in which Jesus transferred it, are called the mutation of Christianity. Both Catholics and Protestants are sure that it is their faith that is true, as Christ intended it to be.
Differences between Orthodox and Protestants
Although Protestants and Orthodox Christians are Christians, the differences between them are significant. First, why do Protestants reject saints? Everything is simple - the scripture says that members of the ancient Christian communities were called "saints." Protestants, taking these communities as a basis, call themselves saints, which is unacceptable and even wild for an Orthodox person. Orthodox saints are heroes of the spirit and role models. They are the guiding light on the path to God. Believers relate to Orthodox saints with awe and respect. Christians of the Orthodox faith turn to their saints with prayers for help, for prayer support in difficult situations. People do not just decorate their houses and temples with icons depicting saints.
Looking at the faces of saints, a believer seeks to improve himself by studying the life of those depicted in icons, inspired by the exploits of his heroes. Having no example of the holiness of spiritual fathers, monks, elders, and other very respected and authoritative people among Orthodoxy, Protestants can give only one high rank and honor for a spiritual person - this is "he who has studied the Bible." A Protestant man deprives himself of such an instrument for self-education and self-improvement as fasting, confession and communion. These three components are the healing spirit of the human spirit, which makes us humble our flesh and work on our weaknesses, correcting ourselves and striving for a bright, good, Divine. Without a confession, a person cannot cleanse his soul, begin to correct his sins, because he does not think about his shortcomings and continues to live an ordinary life for and for the sake of the flesh, in addition, he is proud that he is a believer.
What else do the Protestants not have?
No wonder many do not understand who such Protestants are. After all, people of this faith, as mentioned above, do not have spiritual literature, such as Orthodox Christians. In the spiritual books of the Orthodox you can find almost everything - from sermons and interpretation of the Bible to the life of saints and advice on the fight against their passions. It becomes much easier for a person to understand the issues of good and evil. And without the interpretation of scripture in the Bible it is extremely difficult to understand. The Protestant spiritual literature began to appear, but it is still only in its infancy, and in Orthodoxy this literature has been improved for more than 2000 years. Self-education, self-improvement - the concepts inherent in every Orthodox Christian among Protestants are reduced to studying and memorizing the Bible. In Orthodoxy, everything - repentance, confession, and the sacrament, and prayers, and icons - everything calls for a person to strive at least one step closer to the ideal, which God is. But the Protestant directs all efforts to be virtuous outwardly, and does not care about his inner content. That's not all. Protestants and Orthodox differences in religion notice the arrangement of churches. The Orthodox believer has support in striving to be better both in reason (thanks to the sermon), and in heart (due to decoration in churches, icons), and will (due to fasting). But in Protestant temples it is empty and Protestants hear only sermons that affect the mind without affecting the hearts of people. Having abandoned the monasteries, the monasticism of the Protestants lost the opportunity to see for themselves examples of a humble, humble life for the sake of the Lord. After all, monasticism is a school of spiritual life. No wonder among the monks there are many elders, saints or almost holy Orthodox Christians. And the notion of Protestants that nothing but faith in Christ is needed for salvation (no good deeds, no repentance, no correction of oneself) is a false path leading only to the addition of another sin - pride (because of the feeling that once you are a believer, then you are the chosen one and will certainly be saved).
The difference between Catholics and Protest
Despite the fact that Protestants are natives of Catholicism, there are significant differences between the two religions. Thus, in Catholicism it is believed that the sacrifice of Christ atoned for all the sins of all people, and Protestants, however, like the Orthodox, believe that a person was originally sinful and that the blood shed by Jesus is not enough to atone for sins. Man must atone for his sins. Hence the difference in the arrangement of temples. For Catholics the altar is open, everyone can see the throne, for Protestants and Orthodox in the churches the altar is closed. Here's how the Catholics differ from Protestants - communication with God among Protestants takes place without an intermediary - a priest, and among Catholics priests are required for mediation between man and God.
Catholics on earth have a representative of Jesus himself, at least they think so - it's the Pope. He is an infallible personality for all Catholics. The Pope is located in the Vatican - the single central governing body of all Catholic churches in the world. Another difference between Catholics and Protestants is the rejection by the Protestants of Catholics about purgatory. As mentioned above, Protestants reject icons, saints, monasteries and monasticism. They believe that believers are holy in their own right. Therefore, Protestants have no distinction between a priest and a parishioner. A Protestant priest is accountable to the Protestant community and cannot confess or partake of believers. In fact, he is just a preacher, that is, he preaches to believers. But the main thing that makes Catholics different from Protestants is still a question of the connection between God and man. Protestants believe that personal faith in God is enough for salvation, and Grace a person receives from God without the participation of the Church.
Protestants and Huguenots
These names of religious movements are closely related. To answer the question of who the Huguenots and Protestants are, we need to recall the history of the 16th century France. The French began to call Huguenots protesters against the rule of Catholics, but the first Huguenots were called Lutherans. Although independent from Germany, an evangelical movement against the reforms of the Roman Church existed in France at the beginning of the 16th century. The struggle of Catholics against the Huguenots did not affect the increase in the number of adherents of this movement.
Even the famous
Bartholomew’s night, when the Catholics simply staged a massacre and killed many Protestants, did not break them. In the end, the Huguenots gained recognition by the authorities of their right to exist. In the history of the development of this Protestant movement there have been both oppression and the granting of privileges, then again oppression. And yet the Huguenots survived. By the end of the twentieth century in France, the Huguenots constituted, albeit a small number of the population, but were very influential. A distinctive feature in the religion of the Huguenots (followers of the teachings of Jean Calvin) is that some of them believed that God determines in advance which person will be saved, whether the person will be sinful or not, and the other part of the Huguenots believed that all people are equal before God , and the Lord grants salvation to everyone who accepts this salvation. Disputes between the Huguenots have not ceased for a long time.
Protestants and Lutherans
The history of Protestants began to take shape in the 16th century. And one of the initiators of this movement was M. Luther, who opposed the atrocities of the Roman Church. By the name of this person they began to call one of the areas of Protestantism. The name "Evangelical Lutheran Church" became widespread in the 17th century. The parishioners of this church were called Lutherans. It should be added that in some countries all Protestants were first called Lutherans. For example, in Russia, up to the revolution, all adherents of Protestantism were considered Lutherans. To understand who Lutherans and Protestants are, you need to turn to their teachings. Lutherans believe that during the Reformation, the Protestants did not create a new Church, but restored the ancient. Also, according to Lutherans, God accepts any sinner as his child, and the salvation of the sinner is only the initiative of the Lord. Salvation does not depend on the efforts of man, nor on the passage of church rites; it is God's grace for which one does not even need to prepare. Even faith, according to the teachings of the Lutherans, is given only by the will and action of the Holy Spirit and only to the people he chooses. A distinctive feature of Lutherans and Protestants is that Lutherans recognize baptism, and even baptism in infancy, which Protestants do not have.
Protestants today
Which religion is right, you should not judge. Only the Lord knows the answer to this question. One thing is clear: Protestants have proven their right to be. The history of Protestants, starting from the 16th century, is the history of the struggle for existence, the struggle for the right in one’s opinion, one’s opinion. Neither oppression, nor execution, nor ridicule could break the spirit of Protestantism. And today, Protestants occupy the second place in the number of believers among the three Christian religions. This religion has penetrated almost all countries. Protestants make up about 33% of the world's population, or 800 million people. Protestant churches exist in 92 countries of the world, and in 49 countries the majority of the population are Protestants. This religion prevails in countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, etc.
Three Christian religions, three areas - Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants. Photos from the lives of parishioners of churches of all three faiths help to understand that these areas are so similar, but with significant differences. It would, of course, be wonderful if all three forms of Christianity came to a common opinion on controversial issues of religion and church life. But while they differ in many ways and do not compromise. The Christian can only choose which of the Christian denominations is closer to his heart and live according to the laws of the chosen Church.