During the Great Schism, Orthodox Christianity split with the Catholic Church over many doctrinal, cultural, and practical differences. On many of these positions, such as the primacy of the Pope in Rome over other patriarchs, or rights of priests to marry, the Reformers were closer to Orthodox Christianity than to Catholicism. On other positions such as pre-destination, faith alone, or the veneration of icons and saints, there remained a sharp disagreement.

Still, given the rich history and solid base of the Orthodox church, during the Reformation Era, were there any serious voices to adopt Orthodox rites, rather than come up with a radically new type of Church without established history and base of support? Both the Orthodox Church and the Protestant movement, after all, claimed to "return to the roots" of Christianity during their respective schisms.

Also, what was the position of major reformers such as Luther, Calvin, or Zwigli on the Orthodox church - both in isolation and in comparison to Catholicism - was it positive, neutral, or negative? Even if major doctrinal differences existed, did any Reformers give Orthodox Christianity credit for splitting away from Catholicism, a goal they both shared and eventually achieved?