Orthodoxy differs from Catholicism, however, not everyone will answer the question of what exactly these differences are. There are differences between the churches in symbolism, in the ritual, and in the dogmatic part.
Various crosses
The first external difference between Catholic and Orthodox symbolism concerns the image of the cross and crucifixion. If in the early Christian tradition there were 16 types of forms of the cross, today traditionally the four-sided cross is associated with Catholicism, and the eight-pointed or six-pointed cross with Orthodoxy.
The words on the tablet on the crosses are the same, only the languages in which the inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. In Catholicism, it is Latin: INRI. Some Eastern churches use the Greek abbreviation INBI from the Greek text Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ Bασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων.
The Romanian Orthodox Church uses the Latin version, and in the Russian and Church Slavonic versions the abbreviation looks like I. N. TS. I.
It is interesting that this spelling was approved in Russia only after Nikon's reform; before that, “Tsar of Glory” was often written on the tablet. This spelling was preserved among the Old Believers.
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The number of nails often differs between Orthodox and Catholic crucifixes. Catholics have three, Orthodox have four.
The most fundamental difference in the symbolism of the cross in the two churches is that on the Catholic cross Christ is depicted in an extremely naturalistic way, with wounds and blood, in a crown of thorns, with his hands sagging under the weight of the body, while on the Orthodox crucifix there are no naturalistic traces of Christ's suffering, the image of the Savior shows the victory of life over death, the Spirit over the body.
Why are they baptized differently?
Catholics and Orthodox have many differences in the ritual part. Thus, the differences in the performance of the sign of the cross are obvious. Orthodox Christians cross from right to left, Catholics from left to right.
The norm of the Catholic blessing of the cross was approved in 1570 by Pope Pius V "Blessing himself … makes a cross from forehead to chest and from left shoulder to right."
In the Orthodox tradition, the norm for the execution of the sign of the cross changed in terms of two fingers and three fingers, but church leaders wrote about the need to be baptized from right to left before and after Nikon's reform.
Catholics usually cross with all five fingers as a sign of "ulcers on the body of the Lord Jesus Christ" - two on the hands, two on the legs, one from the spear. In Orthodoxy, after Nikon's reform, three fingers were adopted: three fingers are folded together (symbolism of the Trinity), two fingers are pressed to the palm (two natures of Christ - divine and human. In the Romanian Church, these two fingers are interpreted as a symbol of Adam and Eve, falling to the Trinity).
Overarching Merits of the Saints
In addition to the obvious differences in the ritual part, in the system of monasticism of the two churches, in the traditions of iconography, the Orthodox and Catholics have a lot of differences on the dogmatic side.
Thus, the Orthodox Church does not recognize the Catholic teaching about the super-due merits of saints according to which the great Catholic saints, the Teachers of the Church left an inexhaustible treasury of "super-due good deeds" so that then sinners could use the riches from it for their salvation.
The administrator of the wealth from this treasury is the Catholic Church and personally the Pontiff.
Depending on the zeal of the sinner, the Pontiff can take riches from the treasury and provide them to a sinful person, since a person does not have enough of his own good deeds for salvation.
The concept of "indulgence" is directly related to the concept of "super-proper merits", when a person for the amount contributed is released from punishment for his sins.
Pope's infallibility
At the end of the 19th century, the Roman Catholic Church proclaimed the dogma of the Pope's infallibility. According to him, when the pope (as the head of the Church) defines her doctrine concerning faith or morality, he has infallibility (infallibility) and is protected from the very possibility of error.
This doctrinal inerrancy is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to the Pope as the successor of the Apostle Peter by virtue of apostolic succession, and is not based on his personal sinlessness.
The dogma was officially proclaimed in the dogmatic constitution of Pastor Aeternus on July 18, 1870, along with the affirmation of the "ordinary and immediate" authority of the pontiff's jurisdiction in the universal Church.
The Pope only once exercised his right to proclaim the new doctrine ex cathedra: in 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The dogma of infallibility was confirmed at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) in the dogmatic constitution on the Lumen Gentium Church.
The Orthodox Church did not accept either the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope or the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Also, the Orthodox Church does not recognize the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
Purgatory and ordeal
The understanding of what a person's soul goes through after death also differs in Orthodoxy and Catholicism. In Catholicism there is a dogma about purgatory - a special state in which the soul of the deceased is. Orthodoxy denies the existence of purgatory, although it recognizes the need for prayer for the dead.
In Orthodoxy, in contrast to Catholicism, there is a teaching about aerial ordeals, obstacles through which the soul of every Christian must go on the way to the throne of God for a private judgment.
Two angels lead the soul along this path. Each of the ordeals, the number of which is 20, is ruled by demons - unclean spirits trying to take the soul passing through the ordeal to hell. According to the expression of St. Theophan the Recluse: "No matter how wild the thought of ordeals seems to clever people, they cannot be avoided." The Catholic Church does not recognize the doctrine of ordeals.
Filioque
The key dogmatic divergence of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches is the "filioque" (Latin filioque - "and the Son") - an addition to the Latin translation of the Creed adopted by the Western (Roman) Church in the 11th century in the doctrine of the Trinity: about the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from God the Father, but "from the Father and the Son."
Pope Benedict VIII in 1014 included the term "filioque" in the Symbol of Faith, which caused a storm of indignation from Orthodox theologians.
It was the "filioque" that became the "stumbling block" and caused the final division of the churches in 1054.
It was finally established at the so-called "unification" councils - Lyons (1274) and Ferraro-Florentine (1431-1439).
In modern Catholic theology, the attitude towards the filioque, oddly enough, has changed a lot. Thus, on August 6, 2000, the Catholic Church published the declaration “Dominus Iesus” (“Lord Jesus”). The author of this declaration was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).
In this document, in the second paragraph of the first part, the text of the Symbol of Faith is given in the wording without the "filioque": "Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre proceit, qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur, qui locutus est per prophetas" … (“And into the Holy Spirit, the Lord giving life, from the Father who proceeds, who, together with the Father and the Son, deserves worship and glory, who spoke through the prophets”).
No official, conciliar decisions followed this declaration, so the situation with the "filioque" remains the same.
The main difference between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church is that the head of the Orthodox Church is Jesus Christ; in Catholicism, the Church is headed by the viceroy of Jesus Christ, its visible head (Vicarius Christi), the Pope.