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 | "The Orthodox Church is evangelical, but not Protestant. It is orthodox, but not Jewish. It is catholic, but not Roman. It isn't non-denominational - it is pre-denominational. It has believed, taught, preserved, defended and died for the Faith of the Apostles since the Day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago." Steven Robinson |
The Eastern Orthodox Church consists of a communion of autocephalous, (ecclesiastically independent) Christian faith groups which:
| Recognize the four Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. |
| Recognize the the Patriarch of Constantinople as first among four equals. |
| Accept the validity of the first seven Ecumenical Councils. |
| Regard Orthodoxy as the true Church of Christ on Earth. |
It consists of churches in:
| Nine countries where Eastern Orthodoxy is the dominant religious body: Bulgaria, Belarus, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine. |
| Eleven countries where Orthodoxy plays a smaller role: Albania, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Lihuania, Poland and the U.S. |
| Scattered presence in other countries. |
Various estimates of the total number of adherents in Orthodox churches run from 214 million 1 to as high as 300 million. 2
In the U.S., membership estimates range from 1.2 million 3 to over 3 million. 4 Within the U.S. and Canada, there are three administrative structures for Orthodox jurisdictions:
| Several North American Orthodox dioceses which report directly to the headquarters of an Orthodox faith group in another country. |
| Several North American Orthodox dioceses which respond to a North American headquarters which reports directly to the headquarters of an Orthodox faith group in another country. |
| Several individual parishes coordinated by a diocesan center in another country. 5 |
The Orthodox Church has an episcopal organizational structure. Consecrated bishops are the chief ecclesiastical officers in each diocese. They, in turn, ordain priests. The church believes in the Apostolic Succession -- that the consecration of its bishops can be traced continuously back to Jesus' apostles.
We do not yet have significant coverage of Orthodox beliefs and practices in this web site. For Orthodox liturgy, prayers, icons, beliefs, news, etc., we refer you to The Orthodox Page in America, 6 the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 7 and other web sites.
The term "Orthodox," when capitalized, usually refers to the group of Orthodox Christian faith groups mentioned above. Other times, particularly when not capitalized, the word "orthodox" can mean normal, authoritative, mainline, or correct. For example, religious essays often refer to "orthodox Christian beliefs" to refer to beliefs held in common by a broad range of Christian faith groups in past centuries.
Orthodox Church is often referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church. This is not strictly true, because not all Orthodox churches are eastern. They refer to their organization as the "Holy Orthodox Church", or the "Orthodox Church of the East", of by the name of the specific church, such as "Greek Orthodox", or "Russian Orthodox."
Topics covered in this section:
References:
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year, 1990.
- "Who are the Eastern Christians," Arimathea, at: http://www.arimathea.co.uk/whoare.htm
- Alexei D. Krindatch, "Research on Orthodox Religious Groups in the United States," at: http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/
- "Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches," National Council of Churches, (2000).
- Alexei Krindatch, "Orthodox Churches in the USA at a glance," Hartford Institute for Religion Research, at: http://hirr.hartsem.edu/
- Michael Vezie, "The Orthodox Page in America," at: http://www.ocf.org/
- "Our Faith," Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, at: http://www.goarch.org/
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Copyright © 2000 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-AUG-30
Latest update: 2006-FEB-06
Author: B.A. Robinson
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