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The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity, with approximately 200 to 220 million adherents. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central authority like the Pope of the Catholic Church. The Russian Orthodox Church, which is the largest of the Orthodox churches, is considered a part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. While there are some differences in customs and non-essential practices between the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, they are both considered to be a part of the same Orthodox Church.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of followers | The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Orthodox churches, with over 112 million adherents worldwide. The Eastern Orthodox Church has approximately 230 million baptised members. |
| Language | Greek was the predominant language of the Byzantine Empire, and the primary liturgical language of the church. However, the Russian Orthodox Church uses the native language of its followers. Some Greek Orthodox churches also use English, Arabic, and Greek in their services. |
| Location | The Russian Orthodox Church is present in other countries, including the United States, where it is known as the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). The Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. |
| Leadership | The Russian Orthodox Church is led by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, who has extensive administrative powers but no direct canonical jurisdiction outside the Urban Diocese of Moscow. The Eastern Orthodox Church has no central authority figure like the Pope in the Catholic Church, but recognises the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as "first among equals". |
| Relationship with Catholicism | Both the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches have a complex relationship with Catholicism, with some similarities and differences in doctrine and worship. The Russian Orthodox Church has had conflicts with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the Eastern Orthodox Church considers itself "pre-Roman Catholic". |
| Customs and practices | There may be some differences in customs and liturgical practices between the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches, but these are largely minor and non-essential. |
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What You'll Learn
- The Eastern Orthodox Church is also called the Greek Orthodox Church
- The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Orthodox churches
- The Eastern Orthodox Church is one of the three major doctrinal groups of Christianity
- The Eastern Orthodox Church has no central authority like the Pope of the Catholic Church
- The Russian Orthodox Church has the most followers of any Christian church except the Catholic Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church is also called the Greek Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, is also called the Greek Orthodox Church. It is one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity, with approximately 230 million baptised members. The Eastern Orthodox Church operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods.
The term "Greek" in the Greek Orthodox Church refers to its historical ties with the Greek-speaking culture of the Byzantine Empire. During the first eight centuries of Christian history, most major intellectual, cultural, and social developments in the Christian Church took place in the Byzantine Empire, where the Greek language was widely spoken and used for most theological writings. The empire's capital, Constantinople, was an early important centre of Christianity, and its liturgical practices, traditions, and doctrines were gradually adopted throughout Eastern Orthodoxy, providing the basic patterns of contemporary Orthodoxy. Thus, Eastern Orthodox came to be called "Greek" Orthodox in the same way that Western Christians came to be called "Roman" Catholic.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is distinct from the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the Pope of the Catholic Church. While the Eastern Orthodox Church continues officially to call itself "Catholic", for reasons of universality, the common title of "Eastern Orthodox Church" avoids casual confusion with the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church considers itself Catholic in the sense that it is proclaiming and practicing “the Whole Faith”.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is also distinct from the Protestant Church. Orthodox worship is very scriptural and is a kaleidoscope of scriptural quotations, paraphrases, references, and allusions. Orthodox worship is basically identical to that of the early Christian Church, and so it sometimes seems a bit “strange” to Protestant visitors.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is also called the Russian Orthodox Church, which is the largest of the Orthodox churches. Many Orthodox churches adopt a national title, such as Russian Orthodox, and this title can identify which language is used in services.
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The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Orthodox churches
The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches, with adherents numbering more than 112 million worldwide. It is also one of the largest autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, Eastern Orthodox churches. The Russian Orthodox Church has its origins in the Christianization of Kievan Rus', which began in 988 with the baptism of Vladimir the Great and his subjects by the clergy of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
The Russian Orthodox Church is officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate, and its primate is the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia and ecclesiastical missions in Jerusalem and several other countries. The history of the Russian Orthodox Church is closely tied to the Byzantine Empire, with Greek missionaries from Byzantium introducing Christianity to the East Slavic state of Kievan Rus in the 9th century. An organized Christian community is known to have existed in Kiev as early as the first half of the 10th century, and in 957, St. Olga, the regent of Kiev, was baptized in Constantinople.
The Russian Orthodox Church became autocephalous in 1448 when the Russian bishops elected their own metropolitan without recourse to Constantinople. In 1589, the metropolitan was elevated to the position of patriarch with the consent of Constantinople. The Russian Orthodox Church has played a significant role in the history and culture of Russia, with Ivan III styling himself as "Tsar" or "imperator" and his grandson Ivan IV, a devout Orthodox Christian, cementing the title as "Tsar of All Rus".
The Russian Orthodox Church has gone through periods of reform and schism, with Patriarch Nikon attempting to establish the primacy of the church over the state in the 17th century and the church being persecuted and weakened following the collapse of the tsarist government in 1917. Despite these challenges, the Russian Orthodox Church remains a significant religious institution, with a large number of adherents and a rich history.
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The Eastern Orthodox Church is one of the three major doctrinal groups of Christianity
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also known as the Greek Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Catholic Church, is one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity. It is characterised by its continuity with the apostolic church, its liturgy, and its territorial churches. The Eastern Orthodox Church has approximately 230 million baptised members worldwide, mainly in the Balkans, the Middle East, and former Soviet countries.
The Eastern Orthodox Church operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. There is no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the Pope of the Catholic Church. Instead, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised as the 'primus inter pares' or 'first among equals'. The church is one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world and has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is distinct from the Catholic Church and Protestant churches in several ways. Firstly, it venerates the Virgin Mary as "more honourable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim" because she gave birth to Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Secondly, its worship is very scriptural, drawing from a kaleidoscope of Scriptural quotations, paraphrases, references, and allusions. Services are conducted in various languages, including English, Greek, Russian, and Serbian, depending on the jurisdiction and parish. Thirdly, the Eastern Orthodox Church does not recognise the Filioque clause, which was a point of contention with the Catholic Church. Finally, there are differences in their beliefs regarding the nature of the Church, the approach to salvation, and other consequent issues.
The Eastern Orthodox Church includes various national churches, such as the Greek Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Romanian Orthodox Church, and more. These national titles indicate the language used in services, the presiding bishops, and the specific congregations that follow a particular typica. Despite these differences, all members of the Eastern Orthodox Church profess the same faith, regardless of race, nationality, jurisdiction, local custom, or century of birth.
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The Eastern Orthodox Church has no central authority like the Pope of the Catholic Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, is one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity, with approximately 230 million baptised members. It is also referred to as the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods.
The Eastern Orthodox Church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the Pope of the Catholic Church. Instead, it is decentralised and has no earthly head or a single bishop in a leadership role. Each constituent church is self-governing, with its highest-ranking bishop, called the primate (a patriarch, a metropolitan or an archbishop), reporting to no higher authority. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by them as primus inter pares ('first among equals'), a title held by the patriarch of Rome prior to 1054.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is defined as the Eastern Christians which recognise the seven ecumenical councils and are usually in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Patriarchate of Antioch, and the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. They are defined by their adherence to the dogmatic definitions of the seven ecumenical councils, their belief that they are not a sect or denomination, but rather a continuation of the Christian church, and their adherence to the Byzantine rite.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is historically both "pre-Protestant" and "pre-Roman Catholic", as many modern Roman Catholic teachings were developed later in Christian history. The word “catholic” is a Greek word meaning "having the fulness", and Eastern Orthodox theologians refer to their church as Catholic in this sense. The official name of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the "Orthodox Catholic Church", and it is the name by which the church refers to itself in its liturgical or canonical texts.
The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church separated in the 11th century during the Great Schism, which was caused by doctrinal issues like the filioque clause and the authority of the Roman Pope, as well as political and cultural differences between Latins and Greeks. The Eastern half of the church grew disillusioned with the Pope's centralisation of power and his attempts to exclude them.
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The Russian Orthodox Church has the most followers of any Christian church except the Catholic Church
The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Orthodox churches, with adherents numbering more than 112 million worldwide. It is the second-largest Christian church in the world, after the Catholic Church.
The Russian Orthodox Church has a long and complex history. It is the successor to the pre-revolutionary Orthodox Russian Church, which dates back to the early 11th century when Christianity was established as the state religion. Over time, the Russian Orthodox Church gained influence and became the privileged religion of the state, with only this church allowed to engage in missionary activity to convert non-Orthodox people until 1905. The church's dominance was challenged by religious movements such as the Old Believers and Spiritual Christianity, as well as the increasing influence of Catholicism in certain regions.
The Russian Orthodox Church played a significant role in the history and culture of Russia and Eastern Europe. It has a unique structure, with the Patriarch of Moscow enjoying extensive administrative powers but lacking direct canonical jurisdiction outside the Urban Diocese of Moscow. The church also claims sixteen countries as its canonical territory, although these claims are not universally recognized.
The theology and worship practices of the Russian Orthodox Church share similarities with both Protestant and Catholic beliefs. Orthodox Christians believe that when a person dies, their soul is temporarily separated from their body and escorted to paradise or Hades until the Final Judgment. They do not accept the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. Orthodox worship is very scriptural, with services that include a kaleidoscope of Scriptural quotations, paraphrases, references, and allusions. It is often described as "praying the Bible." The music and rituals of Orthodox worship can seem strange to Protestant and Catholic visitors, who nonetheless recognize its beauty.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, of which the Russian Orthodox Church is a part, is one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity, with approximately 230 million baptised members worldwide. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops. The church has no central authority figure like the Pope in the Catholic Church but recognizes the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as "first among equals".
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Frequently asked questions
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity. It has approximately 200 to 220 million baptised members. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, has the Pope as its central doctrinal and governmental authority, and is the largest Christian church in terms of followers.
The Greek Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church are both part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. There are no theological differences between the two, and members of either church can move freely between the two. However, there are some liturgical variations between the two major Typikons (a book that explains how to perform services).
No, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are not the same. The two churches separated in the 11th century during the Great Schism, which was caused by doctrinal issues and exacerbated by political factors, cultural differences, and linguistic differences.
Yes, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church do share similarities. After all, they shared more or less a thousand years of history before the Great Schism. The Eastern Orthodox Church considers itself "Catholic" in the sense of the word meaning "having the fulness", and proclaims itself to be "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic".
The Greek Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church are not the same, but they are both part of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
