three differences between the religions in Western Europe and Eastern Europe During the Middle Ages.
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The main divide between Western and Eastern Europe occurred after 1054 when the Roman Papacy split from Orthodox Christianity, hence called “Oriental” in the West. Russia and the Balkans continued to develop according to the Byzantine model, using different alphabets (Greek, Cyrillic). The hostility between East and West was best illustrated by the Fourth Crusade (1204), directly targeting the Byzantine Empire. Each part viewed the other as “heretic”. A sign was that royal families of Orthodox lands would never intermarry with those of the West.
On the other hand, Poland, Hungary, Czech-Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Transylvania and the Baltic States adopted the latin alphabet, together with institutions modelled on the Frankish Empire. The Romanesque and Gothic styles in architecture, similar religious orders, heraldry, universities and organization of cities were found in all of these lands. They could not be considered as essentially different, and the subsequent Habsburg rule in most of them kept them firmly tied to the West until WW1 and beyond. If you are not convinced, just compare the architecture of Cracow (Poland) and Moscow (Russia).
The Mongol invasion of 1240 affected Hungary and Poland but only briefly. On the other hand, the empire of Kievan Rus collapsed because of it. A large Russian state reformed around Moscow in the late Middle Ages, but remained estranged from the rest of Europe until the rule of Peter the Great around 1700. As for the Balkans, they started falling into the hands of the Ottoman Empire by the late medieval period, remaining apart until the 19th century.