• “Transubstantiation ” – an explanation adopted by the Roman Church for how the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ is seen by the Orthodox as an inadequate attempt to understand a Mystery which cannot be limited to such intellectual categories. This philosophical (i.e. Aristotelian) term, adopted by “scholastic” theologians in the 12th century, includes underlying assumptions the Orthodox consider incompatible with Christian theology. • The calculation of the date of Easter , agreed upon at the First Ecumenical Council in 325AD by the universal Church, is still used in the Orthodox Church. Among other differences with the Roman calculation, it must fall after the Jewish Passover. • Low mass is not practiced by the Orthodox, nor can an Orthodox priest celebrate the Liturgy privately. With the emphasis on the communal nature of the Church, Orthodox priests are allowed to celebrate only one Liturgy on only one altar daily to ensure that the Eucharist is a gathering of the whole local church as one body. • Divorce is viewed by the Orthodox to be a result of sin and a failure to love. However, with contrition and repentance, Orthodox Christians may be reunited to their Church in full Communion after a divorce. The Roman practice of requiring an annulment – the idea that a marriage never truly existed – is more akin to a technical loophole rather than dealing with the tragedy of divorce and the need for repentance and healing. • Participation in the spiritual life is not typically expressed in legalistic terms such as “obligatory” and “non- obligatory,” but rather medicinal or therapeutic terms. Life in Christ is a process of spiritual healing and growth into the likeness of God. The Church is not a “courtroom” but a spiritual hospital where sinners receive the medicine of immortal life and seek to actually become holy. • Theology is understood in Orthodoxy as the fruit of true prayer and experience of God’s grace. (The Orthodox hold that “grace” is not a ‘substitute’ for God – created grace in the West’s vocabulary – but the very energies of God Himself, the Holy Spirit, or the Uncreated Grace of God.) Theology is not the product of man’s fallen reason. Therefore it is not mere philosophical speculation, but words that adequately express the experience of God. Theology is the faithful expression of true experience of God as He reveals Himself to a pure heart. This experience is always measured by the biblical revelation. Often Orthodox theology speaks about what God is not, rather than rushing to speculate or over-define the indefinable.