<u>EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH</u>
a.) Priests can marry.
b.) Patriarchs have equal status.
f.) The church centers on Constantinople.
h.) Secular rulers have power over church.
<u>ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH</u>
c.) Pope heads the church.
d.) Priests cannot marry.
e.) The church centers on Rome.
g.) Church leaders have authority over secular rulers.
Perhaps the item in the list above that would lead to the most questions is the relationship with secular rulers. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the church is seen as protected by the state in a state church relationship. Thus the Russian Orthodox Church, for instance, would see the tsar as having full authority in all matters, but the church benefited from this by having favored status within the realm, including tax exemptions and legal protections.
In Western Christianity, the Roman papacy saw itself as supreme over all secular rulers and would often get embroiled in power struggles with secular rulers who sought to exercise control over the church.
