Well - as I say I'm not familiar enough with Eastern Orthodoxy to say much about it (and I edited my previous comment where I had attempted it) - so you may be right. I honestly don't know.

However to the point of the original OP: that lack of knowledge isn't unique to me - and was even more pronounced at the time of the big Protestant revolutions in Europe.

Change was needed - and the only existing option the people *knew* about was Catholicism... So I think they were justified/made the right call in attempting to reform the church - despite the mistakes they made along the way and the doors that were opened.

Obviously beyond that I need to look more deeply into Eastern Orthodoxy - this conversation has, if nothing else, exposed just how ignorant I am to ~one entire half of the original Church...

Thank you for the conversation!