List of Orthodox Churches

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Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox

The division between these two families of Churches occurred in 451 over the definition by the Council of Chalcedon that Jesus exists "in two natures", one human and one divine, and that "both natures concur in one person and in one reality [hypostasis]. They are not divided or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only and only-begotten Word, God, the Lord Jesus Christ."[2] The Council thus declared that Christ is one person in two natures "of one substance with the Father according to his divinity, of one substance with us according to his humanity ... in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation."[3]

The Churches that accept the Council's definition are known as Chalcedonian Churches, and those that reject it as non-Chalcedonian or pre-Chalcedonian. The Chalcedonian Churches in the East are known collectively as the Eastern Orthodox Church. (The Roman Catholic Church in the West is also a Chalcedonian Church, since it accepts that Council's definition, which was largely based on a document of Pope Leo I.) Those that reject the Council form what is known as Oriental Orthodoxy.[3][4][5][6]

Dialogues aimed at achieving full communion between the Eastern and the Oriental Orthodox are in progress, with the hope of overcoming the schism that still divides them.[7][8][9] These dialogues have led to a large measure of agreement,[10][11] but not yet to full normal communion.[7][8][9]

Apart from the use by the few parishes of Western Rite Orthodoxy of adapted or specially composed liturgies based on Latin liturgical rites, all the Churches that form the Eastern Orthodox Church use the Byzantine Rite liturgy, celebrating it in different languages.[12] The Oriental Orthodox Churches, on the contrary, use a great variety of liturgies.[13]

Some Churches of the Eastern Orthodox tradition are not in communion with the general body, usually because of disputes about the use of the Julian calendar, but in some cases because of political problems. There is one such case also in Oriental Orthodoxy, namely that of the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, in India.

 

His All Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch- The highest rank in Christianity according to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Eastern Orthodoxy

• Eastern Orthodox Churches (in full communion)

  • Orthodox Church of Constantinople[1]

    • Finnish Orthodox Church[2]

    • Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church[3]

    • Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe[4]

    • Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada[5]

  • Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria[6]

  • Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch[7]

    • Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America[8]

  • Orthodox Church of Jerusalem[9]

    • Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai[10]

  • Russian Orthodox Church[11]

    • Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate[12]

    • Latvian Orthodox Church[13]

    • Moldovan Orthodox Church[14]

    • Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)[15]

    • Japanese Orthodox Church[16]

    • Chinese Orthodox Church

    • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia[17]

  • Serbian Orthodox Church[18]

    • Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric[19]

  • Romanian Orthodox Church[20]

    • Metropolis of Bessarabia[21]

  • Bulgarian Orthodox Church[22]

  • Georgian Orthodox Church[23]

  • Cypriot Orthodox Church[24]

  • Orthodox Church of Greece[25]

  • Polish Orthodox Church[26]

  • Albanian Orthodox Church[27]

  • Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church[28][29]

  • Orthodox Church in America[30]

  • Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church - Canonical[31]

• Eastern Orthodox Churches (not in communion)

  • Greek Old Calendarists Matthewites

  • Greek Old Calendarists Florinites

  • Orthodox Church of Greece (Holy Synod in Resistance)[32]

  • Old Calendar Romanian Orthodox Church[33]

  • Old Calendar Bulgarian Orthodox Church[34]

  • Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church[35]

  • Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church

  • Russian Old-Orthodox Church[36]

  • Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church

  • Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

  • Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Alternative synod

  • Holy Orthodox Church in North America

  • Macedonian Orthodox Church[37]

  • Montenegrin Orthodox Church[38]

  • Orthodox Church in Italy[39]

  • Russian Orthodox Church in America[40]

  • Russian True Orthodox Church[41]

  • Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate

  • Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate[42]

  • Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church[43]

Oriental Orthodoxy

• Oriental Orthodox Churches (in full communion)

  • Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria[44]

    • British Orthodox Church[45]

    • French Coptic Orthodox Church[46]

  • Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch[47]

    • Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church[48]

  • Armenian Orthodox Church[49]

    • Titular Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople

    • Titular Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem

    • Titular Catholicossate of the Great House of Cilicia[50]

  • Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church[51]

    • Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church

    • Syriac Orthodox Church of Germany

  • Ethiopian Orthodox Church[52]

  • Eritrean Orthodox Church

• Oriental Orthodox Church (not in communion)

  • Malabar Independent Syrian Church

Others

Some small churches in the West use the word "Orthodox" in their titles but are quite distinct from these two families of churches. Examples are the Celtic Orthodox Church and those mentioned in this account.

See also

• Chalcedonian

• Dyophysite

• Miaphysitism

• Monophysitism

• List of Christian denominations

• List of Christian denominations by number of members