Who else agrees with me that Catholics are closer (in their beliefs) to Orthodox than to Protestants?
I pretty much agree. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church share a common origin in many respects and are both ancient institutions with opulent rituals and iconography. They both believe in original sin (though to different extents) and agree on free will broadly speaking. I would place the Oriental Orthodox Church under this banner too. Protestantism only dates back to early modern times with a relatively ascetic attitude, a belief in salvation through grace alone (my least favourite aspect of protestantism) and predestination over free will. There is also the matter of Creationism, essentially protestant dogma which Catholics and Orthodox Christians (wisely) don’t concern themselves with.
