ORTHODOX AND ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES

With more than two hundred million members around the world, the Orthodox Church represents one of the three major branches of Christianity (the others being Roman Catholic and Protestant). Though there are over four million Orthodox in the United States, their churches remain mysterious to most Americans.

Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church (also known as the Eastern Orthodox Church) does not have a single hierarchical institution. Instead there are dozens of national bodies, each of which worships in its native language with its own independent (autocephalous) hierarchy. Each Orthodox church thus reflects its own national heritage and ethnic customs in its liturgy. Unlike the Protestant churches, which also demonstrate a wide variety of institutions and forms, most of the Orthodox churches are in communion with one another and hold to the same basic theology based on the ancient creeds of Christianity. A few Orthodox bodies are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church and are known as Uniate churches.

A few of the main Eastern bodies, however, reject the statements of the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE), in particular the phrase relating to Jesus Christ being one person in two natures, divine and human. These are known as non-Chalcedonian or Oriental Orthodox churches. Included among these bodies are the Armenian Church, the Coptic Church, the Ethiopian Church, the Eritrean Church, the Syrian Church of Antioch, and the Syrian Indian Church of South India.

Orthodox church services are elaborate, ritualistic, and beautiful. Virtually every architectural feature of the sanctuary, every movement of the priest's body, and every word spoken by the worshippers has symbolic value. The liturgy is an ancient drama that celebrates Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Lighting, clerical vestments and altar adornments, icons, music, and consecrated bread and wine bring the kingdom of God into the present.

The word orthodox means true glory as well as straight teaching. "Giving glory to God is the purpose of life" is the keynote of this tradition. Praising God, giving God thanks, and receiving God's presence in the sanctified gifts capture the heart of worship. Through worship, and in God-informed relationships and responsibilities, these Christians mean to move toward sanctification. The Christian goal is theosis, "perfection" or "deification," living in genuine unity with God in the here and now and for eternity.

Extremely important to the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches is the idea of "apostolic succession." This is not unique to them, but they place a special value and emphasis on it as the basis of their claims to be the contemporary expressions of the ancient church of the apostles. All of these churches are led by bishops; leading bishops are called "patriarchs." Each bishop claims to be able to trace his ordination "pedigree" back to one of the first century apostles. Priests must be ordained by a bishop in order to perform the sacraments and lead congregations. Also extremely important to these churches is tradition — a continuity of teaching, belief, and practice going back to the ancient churches. Each of them claims not to be a mere "restoring" of the ancient Christian church but its contemporary embodiment in unbroken succession.

History. What follows immediately here (in this introduction to the category) refers especially to a particular "family" of Eastern churches known especially in the West as the Eastern Orthodox Church; it is defined (in its various expressions) by the fact that it considers the patriarch of Constantinople (contemporary Istanbul, Turkey) "first among equals" and embraces as authoritative the first seven "ecumenical" or universal church councils (First Council of Nicea through Second Council of Nicea). It is sometimes called "the Church of the Seven Councils." It does not embrace as authoritative later councils called by popes of the Roman Catholic Church and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. It stands out from other Eastern and Oriental ancient churches in embracing the doctrine of Christ promulgated at the fourth ecumenical council, the Council of Chalcedon in 451. That doctrine is known as the "hypostatic union" and proclaims that Jesus Christ was one person — the eternal Son of God, second person of the Trinity — possessing two distinct (not separate) natures divine and human. The other Eastern and Oriental ancient churches tend to reject that doctrine and the council that promulgated it.

Western history books will often state that the Eastern Orthodox Church separated from the Roman Catholic Church of the West, but that is not an accurate presentation. The Eastern Orthodox tradition claims direct descent from Christ and the apostles. For centuries, Christianity was primarily Eastern in orientation, with most of the episcopal sees of the early church being in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Syria. Greek, not Latin, was the language of the New Testament, early Christian liturgy, and early theology. The ecumenical councils that continue to define the beliefs of most of the world's Christians were held in the East and were attended primarily by Eastern bishops and theologians.

Of the five ancient patriarchal sees, or major jurisdictions (Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem), only Rome was in the West. For centuries these five patriarchs, guided by councils of bishops, governed the worldwide Christian church. It is still the practice in the Orthodox Church that no one patriarch is responsible to any other patriarch. The bishops of the two capitals of the Roman Empire after 330, Constantinople and Rome, had the greatest authority, but in 1054, the bishops of Constantinople and Rome mutually excommunicated each other along with their followers, creating a formal breach in Christianity that has only recently begun to heal.

Long before the official schism between East and West, the two churches had already developed certain basic differences. The East was primarily Greek in speech and attitude, while the West was Latin and Roman. The transference of the imperial capital from Rome to Constantinople in the East meant a shifting of the center of political, social, and intellectual influences. As the Roman Empire decayed in the West and the Germanic tribes began pouring into Italy and Gaul, the bishop of Rome became a symbol of unity and stability for Westerners. When the pope crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800, it marked a clear break with the Roman Empire in the East (commonly called the Byzantine Empire). Conflict deepened between the pope at Rome and the patriarch at Constantinople. One major point of controversy was the addition of the words "and the son" (filioque) to the Nicene Creed in referring to the procession of the Holy Spirit.

The church in the East was integrally related to the Byzantine Empire, and the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") in Constantinople was the center of both the church and the empire until it fell to the Turks in 1453. A number of the schisms in the East were both political and theological in nature, the most important of which involved the understanding of the person of Christ. In Syria, some churches embraced the views of Nestorius (ca. 351–451), who held that there were two separate persons in the incarnate Christ, one divine and one human. In Egypt and Armenia other churches accepted the teaching of Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444), as expressed in the phrase "one Incarnate nature of the Word." Most of the Eastern churches, though, remained in communion with the patriarch of Constantinople.

As the Byzantine Empire expanded to the west and north, Orthodox missionaries, such as the celebrated brothers Cyril (826–69) and Methodius (ca. 815–85), converted the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Russia to Christianity. The Divine Liturgy and holy books were translated into Slavic tongues, and monasteries and schools were established throughout Eastern Europe. As these peoples gained political independence, national Orthodox churches were gradually established, the first being the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Eastern Orthodox churches were profoundly affected by the dramatic rise and spread of Islam in the seventh century. Three of the ancient patriarchal sees (Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem) quickly came under Muslim control and were effectively separated from Constantinople. Christianity in Muslim countries continued to exist as a minority faith living under severe restrictions. As a result, those churches were unable to grow numerically or exert influence on the surrounding culture. Relations with the Catholic Church in the West were nearly destroyed by the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Latin crusaders in the Fourth Crusade.

The harshest blow to Eastern Orthodoxy came when the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453 and put an end to the Byzantine Empire. Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque, and the ecumenical patriarch was forced to give allegiance to the Muslim rulers. For centuries the Orthodox churches in the Balkans struggled for existence under Turkish rule. During this time, the Russian Orthodox Church rose in power and prestige. Some considered Moscow to be "the third Rome." As the Ottoman Empire declined in the nineteenth century, other Slavic churches asserted their independence from Greek and Russian rule while still remaining in communion with the ecumenical patriarch.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the spread of communism to Eastern Europe following the Second World War led the Eastern Orthodox churches in Poland, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia to assert their independence. The Orthodox Church managed to survive communist rule despite persecution. After World War II, Estonia and Latvia were reintegrated into the Russian Orthodox Church.

Nearly all European and Asiatic bodies of this ancient church have established dioceses in the United States; some are governed by one of the five patriarchates, while others have declared themselves independent and self-governing (autocephalous). In the United States today, Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Carpatho-Russian, and Syrian churches are under the supervision of bishops of their respective nationalities and usually are related to their respective mother churches in tradition and spirit, if not in administration. The patriarch of Moscow and of Alexandria each has jurisdiction over a few parishes. In recent years a number of churches of Protestant origin moved into the Orthodox orbit.

Beliefs and Practices. The Nicene Creed in its original form is central to the Orthodox faith in all its branches. It is recited whenever the Divine Liturgy is celebrated and is the heart of Orthodox theology and mysticism. For the Eastern churches a creed is "an adoring confession of the church engaged in worship"; faith is expressed more fully in liturgy than in a doctrinal statement.

It is the long tradition of the church, not the pronouncements of individual theologians or canon law, that defines orthodoxy. This tradition includes the decisions of the seven ecumenical councils as well as the tradition of the Divine Liturgy itself. Many of the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches are rejected as inappropriate innovations. For instance, the dogma of the pope as the sole "vicar of Christ on earth" is rejected, together with that of papal infallibility. Members of Orthodox churches honor the Virgin Mary as theotokos ("the bearer of God") but do not subscribe to the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. They show reverence to the cross, the saints, and nine orders of angels but reject the teaching of the treasury of merits of the saints and the doctrine of indulgences. Purgatory is denied, but prayers are offered for the dead. It is believed that the dead can and do pray for those on earth. Both faith and works are considered necessary for salvation.

Icons (consecrated pictures) of revered persons and events are central to Orthodox devotion. Orthodox Christians hold that since God became incarnate in Christ, God's human nature may be depicted in a sacred image. Refusal to venerate an icon is seen as denying the concrete reality of the incarnation; however, the Orthodox reject three-dimensional statues as being too close to "graven images" forbidden in scripture.

The mysteries, which are called sacraments in the Western church, are central in Orthodox life. These are physical items or actions that communicate spiritual reality. The seven that are definitive in the Roman Catholic Church (baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, holy orders, and matrimony) are important in the Orthodox tradition as well, but there is little disposition to restrict the number of mysteries formally to seven. Other rites have a sacramental character. In fact, for the Orthodox, worship itself is a mystery or sacrament. For some Orthodox theologians and mystics, even creation is a sacrament since creation communicates the presence of God to all people.

The Holy Eucharist, or Communion, is the "mystery of mysteries." It is the chief service on all Sundays and holy days, and it is treated with great reverence. All Orthodox churches teach that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ, but this is not described as transubstantiation (the doctrine that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ). Mysteries cannot be defined by human intellect.

Polity. The government of all Orthodox churches is episcopal and hierarchical to a degree. There is usually a synod of bishops over which an elected archbishop, metropolitan, or patriarch presides. In America each jurisdiction is incorporated, with a church assembly of bishops, clergy, and laity. The three orders of ministry are deacons (who assist in parish work and in administering the sacraments), priests, and bishops. Deacons and priests may be either secular or monastic. Candidates for the diaconate and priesthood may marry before ordination but are forbidden to marry thereafter. Bishops are chosen from members of the monastic communities and, therefore, are under lifelong vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

The history of the Orthodox in North America is primarily the story of immigration and ethnic identity. The church has been a way for immigrants to keep a connection with their homeland, their language, and their customs. Membership statistics are confusing and often unreliable, since membership is based on baptismal records rather than communicant status, but there are at least three and a half million Orthodox in the United States, and the number is probably growing.

After a century or so of "creeping disunity" within Orthodoxy, during the period of heavy immigration and the formation of various Orthodox communities of faith, there have been movements toward closer cooperation. One such movement was the organization in 1960 of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, which has been composed of nine jurisdictions that represent the majority of the Orthodox in North America. Another was the formation of two pan-Orthodox seminaries. (As of 2014 this conference is called the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America and includes thirteen bishops of Orthodox bodies in the United States who are in fellowship with the patriarch of Constantinople.)

There are a number of Orthodox churches in the United States that are not recognized as "canonically" Orthodox by members of the Assembly mentioned above. These "irregular" Eastern churches might be called autogenic, or self-starting, but they are not in canonical relationship with the patriarch of Constantinople and with one another. These autogenic churches are to be distinguished from the ancient non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches, such as the Coptic Church.

Which Orthodox groups should be considered "canonical" is a judgment call not rightly made by editors of handbooks such as this. The same can be said about the word orthodox with a small o, which simply means — in common language — theologically correct. In some senses of the words, every denomination thinks of itself as "canonical" and "orthodox." Therefore, the Orthodox denominations described here may be designated as in relationship with the Patriarch of Constantinople, the "pope," as it were, of Eastern Orthodoxy, or not in relationship with him. No evaluation of the "rightness" of their status is implied by that.