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“Remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.” Every Orthodox Church has at least one icon (religious painting) of her at the “Royal Doors” across from the icon of Jesus, at several times duign the liturgy the Icon of Jesus if first incensed, and then the Icon of the Virgin Mary, after which those of the other saints, and then the people.
As in the Catholic Church Jesus, (and the two other persons in the Holy Trinity) are worshiped, and Mary, and the Saints are venerated. As we here on earth and those in Purgatory are also members of the Church, are considered members of the same Church we too are incensed. If you do a web search for Theotokos, or Icon and Virgin Mary, you will find that the devotion and veneration to our Lady is sometimes even stronger among Othrodox than many Catholics. Both Churches, (which until the eleventh Century were one) have venerated Mary and the Saints since the time of the Apostles. It was only in the 16th Century after the deaths of Luther and Calvin that most Protestants stopped the ancient and accepted Christian practices that it became an issue with the new theologies that developed at that time among them.
Purgatory is not held as a dogmatic belief as in the Catholic Church, but it is held by most Orthodox.[/quote:1th4upbd]
then whats the difference between catholics and orthodox?