The Eastern Orthodox Church was founded by Jesus and accepts His true teachings

I will argue that the Orthodox Church was founded by Jesus and is based on the true teachings of Jesus. Also, the Catholic Church doesn't teach the right path and should be considered a heresy.

For this debate, the Bible should be considered the true word of God.
Comment if you want to accept this.

Accepted

The Christian Church was founded by Jesus. After the Great Schism, the church separated into two different churches. To this day, both churches claim they were founded by Jesus. There might not be huge theological differences between the two, but as long as there are some, it is safe to say that one of them is not based on the true teachings of Jesus. I believe there is enough evidence to prove that the Orthodox Church is the one who respects His true teachings.

While the Orthodox Church hasn't changed its practices since its beginning, anyone knows that the Catholic Church went through major changes since the 11th century.

The Catholic Church had a different set of beliefs and practices in every historical era. The beliefs and practices of the church were different throughout history, from believing in witchcraft during the Middle Ages, to trying to include evolution into their theology in the present day. For centuries, both Catholic and Orthodox churches were full of icons depicting saints. However, since 1962, the Catholic Church decided that the use of icons and statues should be moderate, resulting in many icons and statues being removed from Catholic Churches. Even today, all Orthodox churches keep the old practice of decorating churches with lots of icons.

The Catholic Church always tried to change and adapt to new discoveries or ideologies in order to keep its influence over believers, while the Orthodox Church never change its practices or beliefs.

First of all, because of the changes the Catholic Church went through, it became very flexible. This is the reason why almost every Christian has a slightly different view of the world. In an effort to keeps its credibility in a century where there secular movement is growing rapidly, the Catholic Church chooses not to take an official position on important subjects. The most popular examples are:
-Creation
The Bible teaches that everything was created in six days. If the Catholic Church was indeed based on the teaching of Jesus, it should teach its followers that this is what happened. Instead, it provides other hypothesis, claiming that the Bible shouldn't be taken literally, or that days actually mean thousands of years. Furthermore, the Catholic Church also accepts the Big Bang Theory and says it doesn't contradict their teachings. Instead of preaching the word of God, the Catholic Church chooses to change God's teachings in order to best suit their interests.

-Evolution
According to the Bible, evolution does not occur. The Catholic Church doesn't take an official position on this topic, even though it should. Instead of denying evolution, it tries to explain how evolution and their teachings can coexist, even though this means partly changing their beliefs. The teachings of Jesus didn't involve evolution or the Big Bang. If the Catholic Church accepted his true teachings, it would have no problem denying evolution, but instead it tries to incorporate this theory into their old beliefs, resulting in new, heretic beliefs like Old Earth Creationism.

In contrast, the Orthodox Church prefers to stick to its beliefs and practices instead of changing them.

As I said in the beginning, the theological differences between the two churches are not too big, but some of the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church are not based on the Bible or the teachings of Jesus, making them nothing more than heretic rituals.

-Purgatory
One of the main differences between these two churches is the belief in the purgatory, belief that isn't shared by Orthodox Christians, because such a place is never mentioned in the Bible. The Purgatory, unlike heaven and hell, is never mentioned in the Bible, yet is accepted by the Catholic Church.

-Sainthood
The Catholic Church practices beatification and canonization. They claim that through this acts priests "convince" God to make someone a saint. This practices not only contradict the Bible, which states that any believer that was saved by Jesus Christ and is now in heaven is a saint*quote*, but also show the heretic character of the Catholic Church, which claims it has the power to influence God's decisions.
I think it's important to note that the Orthodox Church also practices canonization, but only as a way to officially recognize a certain saint on Earth. Also, its followers can request certain people to be canonized, while the Catholic Church requires at least three verifiable miracles in order to canonize someone.

-The Pope
Probably the best proof that the Catholic Church is a heresy, the Pope is considered infallible and is regarded as the head of the church, position that is normally filled by Jesus Christ. A Patriarch is nothing more than an earthly leader of the Orthodox Church. The Catholic Church regards the Pope as infallible and the head, not the leader of the Church, making him Jesus Christ's equal.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org...
http://en.wikipedia.org...
http://en.wikipedia.org...
http://theorthodoxchurch.info...
http://oca.org...
http://www.gotquestions.org...

Like the Catholic church, the Orthodox church does not follow the Bible.

Interpretation:

The Bible is interpreted by 7 councils with a hierarchy of bishops. The Bible interprets itself by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Orthodox Christians also practice Sainthood as they practice veneration towards an icon or human being. The same argument can be applied to the Orthodox church. Furthermore, Orthodox Christians have someone almost equivalent to the pope known as a "Metropolitan bishop."

It is clear that the Orthodox church is not of Jesus.

Links:

http://christianity.about.com...

http://christianity.about.com...

http://en.wikipedia.org...

A Metropolitan bishop is not nearly as important as the Pope. They only have influence over churches in a certain area. They are not even the leaders of the church. The Orthodox Church is ran by a Patriarch. The difference between a Patriarch and a Pope is that every country has a Patriarch and there is no Patriarch that has influence over more countries, while the Pope is the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Pope is also considered infallible, a Patriarch isn't.
"Orthodox Christians also practice Sainthood as they practice veneration towards an icon or human being."
They do, but the Orthodox Church teaches that God is the one who decides who is a saint and who isn't, while the Catholic Church claims it can decide on God's behalf who becomes a saint.

The Bible says that anyone who has a relationship with God through Jesus is a saint by default (Rom. 16:2). The Orthodox church thus does not base it's teachings on Jesus.

"The Bible says that anyone who has a relationship with God through Jesus is a saint by default"
People who have a relationship with God through Jesus are the people who are in heaven. According to the Orthodox Church, "a saint is defined as anyone who is in Heaven, whether recognized here on earth, or not".

http://en.wikipedia.org...