Orthodoxy and Catholicism

I was simply describing an historical development which brought the clergy into the political structure of the Roman Empire, and which has remained with us.

What in particular has remained with us? At the very least, a distinction should be made between the historical development of the Orthodox Church and that of the Roman Catholic Church. The genuine Roman Empire was situated in Constantinople for a thousand years, and its clergy was never as political and powerful as the Papacy of the West. In fact, the Orthodox clergy had suffered greatly during the spread of Communism, and it is a shame that whenever people think of the Catholic Church, they think of the Papacy, the Inquisition and the Crusades--all of them malevolent creatures of the West.