Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also known as the Orthodox Catholic Church, is one of the three main divisions of Christianity, with approximately 260 million followers worldwide. Primarily rooted in the eastern part of the Christian world, it encompasses numerous autonomous churches, including the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. The Great Schism of 1054 marked a significant division between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, influenced by cultural, political, and theological differences that had developed over centuries. While Eastern Orthodoxy shares core beliefs with Roman Catholicism and Protestantism—such as the Trinity and the resurrection of Jesus—there are notable distinctions in their theological perspectives and practices. For instance, Eastern Orthodox Christians view salvation as a reunion with God rather than solely as forgiveness of sins. The Eastern Orthodox liturgy is rich in symbolism and emphasizes the Holy Spirit’s role, reflecting different interpretations of the Nicene Creed compared to Western Christianity. Importantly, Eastern Orthodoxy allows for the ordination of married priests and does not have a central authority comparable to the pope, with each church governed by its own head bishop.
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Subject Terms
Eastern Orthodox Church
- Formation: First century CE
- Founder: Jesus Christ, through Saint Peter
Officially known as the Orthodox Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church is one of the three main Christian divisions (or four, if Anglicanism is considered to be a separate doctrine). Eastern Orthodoxy is doctrinally closer to Roman Catholicism than to the Protestant denominations. For example, it too asserts an unbroken chain in the apostolic succession of its bishops. However, there are profound differences between the two Christian groups.
In America, the Eastern Orthodox Church is often known as the Greek Orthodox Church, although this name is misleading. Eastern Orthodoxy began in the eastern part of the Christian world, and the greatest numbers of Orthodox Christians are still found in the lands that once included Russia and the Byzantine Empire—namely, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and the Balkan nations. However, the 260 million followers of the Orthodox Church (as estimated by the Pew Research Center in 2017) are spread throughout the world.
Although it has many doctrinal and jurisdictional differences with other branches of Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy shares its core beliefs with Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. All branches believe in the Trinity (that is, God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit), in humanity’s sinfulness, and in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. But beyond those commonly shared tenets, significant theological differences separate the denominations, mostly due to their separate histories.
History
It was the Great Schism of 1054 that produced distinct Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, one in Rome and the other in Constantinople (now Istanbul).
The division in Christendom was far from sudden. It had been developing for centuries, and it was based on long-simmering conflicts between the cultures of Rome and the East, the political disintegration of the Roman Empire, and significant disagreements about theology and liturgy.
The cultural differences arose as a result of the different worldviews of the Latin West and the Greek East. These differences are captured in the old saying that "the Greeks built metaphysical systems, and the Romans built roads" ("Eastern Orthodoxy," n. pag.). But the philosophical clash between the two cultures was real.
Politically, the rift originated in the 300s CE, when the Roman emperor, Constantine, relocated the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. When he died, his two sons inherited two seats of power, one in the east and the other in the west.
Seven centuries later, the religious differences between the two major arms of the Christian Church became irreconcilable. These differences included disagreements about the use of religious images (icons), the actual nature of the Holy Spirit, the date on which Easter should be celebrated, and also many lesser issues.
The result was a rift that split Christianity into two parts. Pope Leo IX excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople, who responded by anathematizing the pope (condemning him). On December 7, 1965, however, the mutual excommunications were officially removed by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras.
The Roman Catholic Church considers itself to be in communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church and recognizes the apostolic succession of its bishops. In the early twenty-first century, the dialogue between the Christian branches aimed at reconciliation. Pope Francis met with the head of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church in the first such meeting between the two leaders of the churches in around one thousand years in 2016. However, a 2017 study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that fewer than four out of ten Orthodox Christians wanted reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, when the Russian Orthodox Church announced in 2018 that it would break ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople over the blessing of a new Orthodox church in Ukraine independent of the Moscow Patriarchate, commentators warned of a possible fracture within Eastern Orthodoxy. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the church has become even more divided as the leaders of the Russian Orthodox church call the war a holy war while other Eastern Orthodox leaders condemn the violence.
Beliefs and Practices
Doctrine is as important in Eastern Orthodoxy as it is in any other branch of Christianity. Believers embrace the Bible as the basis of truth, and they believe in the conclusions of the seven ecumenical councils that established Christian dogma between 325 and 787 CE. In this way, they do not differ greatly from other Christian traditions.
However, Orthodox believers and Roman Catholics have somewhat different views regarding individual faith. In Eastern Orthodoxy, the truth is not narrowly defined. Rather, it is something that the individual must experience personally. Also, in contrast to the Western Christian traditions, followers of Eastern Orthodoxy do not see sin and salvation in legalistic terms. Whereas Roman Catholics and Protestants believe that humanity deserves punishment for original sin and that God’s grace results in forgiveness, the Eastern tradition argues that humans were made in God’s image and that God intended them to be full participants in a divine life.
Sin caused humanity to lose this communion with God. Salvation is a matter of reuniting in communion with God, not of being forgiven.
Both East and West believe Jesus was both human and divine, but they have different views of the Holy Spirit. For the Eastern Orthodox Church, Christ makes possible human reunion with God, and the Holy Spirit completes the reconciliation process. Thus, the Holy Spirit plays an important role in Eastern Orthodox worship, with the liturgy usually beginning with a prayer to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also invoked at the beginning of sacraments. In its prayers, Eastern Orthodoxy maintains that the Holy Spirit and Jesus both proceed from the Father, whereas the Western Church changed the Nicene Creed in the sixth century to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father and the Son" ("What We Believe," n. pag.). This difference was a significant factor in the Great Schism.
A more immediately visible difference is the cross. Eastern Orthodoxy has three bars on the cross rather than one. A short, extra bar at the top represents a sign that was nailed above the head of the crucified Jesus. This sign proclaimed, "This is the king of the Jews." The middle bar is the same as the one on other Christian crosses. At the bottom is a third, slanted bar, which is the footrest of a crucifix. The slant of the lower bar represents the final agony of Christ, in which at the moment of death, a spasm in his flesh displaced the footrest. This lower bar also has symbolic importance, with one side pointing toward Heaven on the right hand of Christ, and the other toward Hell. An Orthodox prayer explains the meaning.
Eastern Orthodox rituals, which are already rich in symbolism and variety, place a greater emphasis on liturgy than those in Western churches. The spiritual significance of the liturgy is central to the bond that holds together the followers of Eastern Orthodoxy. Yet Eastern Orthodoxy is composed of autonomous churches. The patriarch of Constantinople is given the honor of primacy, but each of the different Orthodox churches is governed by its own head bishop. These churches include the Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, and Romanian Orthodox churches; the churches of Alexandria and Jerusalem; and the Orthodox Church of America. Eastern Orthodoxy has nothing comparable to the pope. Additionally, Eastern Orthodoxy permits priests to be married when ordained.
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