Eastern Orthodox Church

Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure:

Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople together with 3 other autocephalous Churches:

The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called a Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with about 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous congregations, regarded and listed separately. governed by its bishops and adherents in local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental leadership analogous to the head of the Roman Catholic Church—the Pope—but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognized by them as primus inter pares "first among equals" and regarded as the spiritual leader of numerous of the eastern Christian parishes. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Near East. The Eastern Orthodox Church officially calls itself the Orthodox Catholic Church.

consecration invoked by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the God-bearer, honored in devotions.

The churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch—except for some breaks of communion such(a) as the shared communion with the Church of Rome until the East–West Schism in 1054. The 1054 schism was the culmination of mounting theological, political, and cultural disputes, especially over the authority of the pope, between those churches. before the Council of Ephesus in ad 431, the Church of the East also dual-lane in this communion, as did the various Oriental Orthodox Churches previously the Council of Chalcedon in advertisement 451, any separating primarily over differences in Christology.

The majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians live mainly in Southeast and Eastern Europe, Cyprus, Georgia, and parts of the Caucasus region, Siberia, and the Russian Far East. Roughly half of Eastern Orthodox Christians make up in the post-Soviet states, mostly Russia. There are also communities in the former Byzantine regions of Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and in the Middle East, which are decreasing due to forced migration driven by increased religious persecution. Eastern Orthodox communities are also introduced in numerous other parts of the world, particularly North America, Western Europe, and Australia, formed through diaspora, conversions, and missionary activity.

History

Paul and the Apostles traveled extensively throughout the Roman Empire, including Asia Minor, establishing churches in major communities, with the first churches appearing in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, then in Antioch, Ethiopia, Egypt, Rome, Alexandria, Athens, Thessalonica, Illyricum, and Byzantium, which centuries later would become prominent as the New Rome. Christianity encountered considerable resistance in the Roman Empire, mostly because its adherents refused to comply with the demands of the Roman state—often even when their lives were threatened—by offering sacrifices to the pagan gods. Despite persecution, skepticism, and initial social stigma, the Christian Church spread, particularly following the conversion of Emperor Constantine I in 312 AD.

By the fourth century, Christianity was offered in numerous regions alive beyond the Levant. A number of influential schools of thought had arisen, particularly the Alexandrian and Antiochian philosophical approaches. Other groups, such(a) as the Arians, had also managed to draw influence. However, their positions caused theological conflicts within the Church, thus prompting the Emperor Constantine to call for a great ecumenical synod in structure to define the Church's position against the growing, often widely diverging, philosophical and theological interpretations of Christianity. He made it possible for this council to meet not only by providing a location, but by offering to pay for the transportation of all the existing bishops of the church. near contemporary Christian churches regard this synod, commonly called the First Council of Nicaea or more generally the First Ecumenical Council, as of major importance.

Several doctrinal disputes from the fourth century onwards led to the calling of ecumenical councils. In the Orthodox Church, an ecumenical council is the supreme leadership that can be invoked to decide contested issues of the faith. As such, these councils work been held to settle the nearly important theological things that came to e disputed within the Christian Church. Many lesser disagreements were resolved through local councils in the areas where they arose, before they grew significant enough to require an ecumenical council.