At Andyr: Orthodox Christian is not Protestant. The Orthodox church views the Catholic church as one of the first major breakaway hearsays. They are unrelated to the later Protestant denominations that broke from the Catholic church.
Of course as a Catholic my views on the split are a bit different. I'll give the Orhodox believers that the Catholics added to the Nicean Creed unilaterally ... but, in spite of some reservations and historical black marks, I'll maintain that having a central 'head' bishop in Rome was the right way to go.
Yes, although Andyr may have a point here. There was a huge wave of "protestantism" n the Orthodox Church during the last century, which fortunately ended the
right way: The Orthodox Church realised what was happening fast enough to return to the old ways. In terms of Dogma, we are definitely closer to Catholics (Filioque and a few other dogmatic differences only), and also in terms of Church Organisation.
Anyways, the Pre-Schizm Church was ruled by two people: The Pope and the Patriach of Constantinople. The reason is pretty simple: The two capitals of the Roman (later, Byzantine) Empire. Ever since Rome fell, and the Emperor would not protect the Pope (well, the Patriarch was in Constantinople, no need for protection) against barbaric hordes, the Pope turned to the Franks for his own kingdom to rule politically (as the Patriarch of Constantinople did, although he was greatly shadowed by the Emperor). The
*real* reason behind the Schizm was not over who was the head of Christianity, but rather who would control the christian churches of South Italy and Sicily in the first phase, and who ruled over the other three patriarchates (yes,
the Patriarchate of Jerusalem) in the second and last phase.
The Schizm is a really long story, and if one sits down and thinks of it whole, they would realise the whole issue is about
politics, not religion.
It looks like we've reached the maximum number of poll options, so the only way we can add a new choice is to replace one of the current religions listed with 0 votes. If you have to vote "Other," please continue to identify what other religion you follow, because there's no way we're going to be able to add them all.
I voted "Other (please specify)" or something like that, although I would insist that some of the other choices with null votes could be removed... But anyways, it's not important. The Orthodox Christians around the world are estimated around 300 millions, however only a few of them live in developed countries, so basically you could be surprised to see one on the net. The fluctuation in the power of the Patriarchate is mainly due to the Turks not allowing it to function properly.