Part of the series on
Eastern Christianity
00058 christ pantocrator mosaic hagia sophia 656x800
Eastern Christianity Portal

Byzantine Empire
Ecumenical council
Christianization of Bulgaria
Christianization of Kievan Rus'
East-West Schism
By region
Asian - Copts
Eastern Orthodox - Georgian - Ukrainian

Eastern Catholic Churches
Eastern Orthodox Church
Oriental Orthodoxy
Syriac Christianity

Liturgy and Worship
Sign of the cross
Divine Liturgy

Hesychasm - Icon
Apophaticism - Filioque clause
Miaphysitism - Monophysitism
Nestorianism - Theosis - Theoria
Phronema - Philokalia
Praxis - Theotokos
Hypostasis - Ousia
Essence-Energies distinction

Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon (451). Hence, these Oriental Orthodox Churches are also called Old Oriental Churches or Non-Chalcedonian Churches. These churches are generally not in communion with Eastern Orthodox Churches with whom they are in dialogue for a return to unity.[1]

Despite the potentially confusing nomenclature (Oriental meaning eastern), Oriental Orthodox churches are distinct from those that are collectively referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Oriental Orthodox communion comprises six groups: Syriac Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (India) and Armenian Apostolic churches.[2] These six churches, while being in communion with each other, are hierarchically independent.[3]

The Oriental Orthodox Church and the rest of the Church split over differences in Christological terminology. The First Council of Nicaea (325) declared that Jesus Christ is God, "consubstantial" with the Father; and the First Council of Ephesus (431) that Jesus, though divine as well as human, is only one being. Twenty years after Ephesus, the Council of Chalcedon declared that Jesus is in two complete natures, one human and one divine. Those who opposed Chalcedon likened its doctrine to the Nestorian heresy, condemned at Ephesus, that Christ was two distinct beings, one divine and one human.

In 2001, certain theologians of the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox traditions concluded that they had always believed in the same Christology, but differed over how this was to be formulated. This conclusion became the basis for healing the schism between them, and the two groups jointly issued a "Middle Eastern Oriental Orthodox Common Declaration."[1]



The Oriental Orthodox churches were therefore often called Monophysite, although they reject this label, as it is associated with Eutychian Monophysitism; they prefer the term "non-Chalcedonian" or "Miaphysite" churches. Oriental Orthodox Churches reject what they consider to be the heretical Monophysite teachings of Apollinaris of Laodicea and Eutyches, the Dyophysite definition of the Council of Chalcedon, and the Antiochene Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Nestorius of Constantinople, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Ibas of Edessa.





Coptic icon of St. Anthony the Great



Geographical distribution

Oriental Orthodoxy is a dominant religion in Armenia (94%), the ethnically Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (95%), and in Ethiopia (51%, the total Christian population being 62%), especially in two regions in Ethiopia: Amhara (82%) and Tigray (96%), as well as the chartered city of Addis Ababa (82%), and is also important in Oromia Region (41%). It is also one of two dominant religions in Eritrea (50%). It is a minority in Egypt (15%), Sudan (3-5% out of the 15% of total Christians), Syria (2-3% out of the 10% of total Christians), Lebanon (10% of the 40% of Christians in Lebanon) and Kerala, India (8%[1] out of all the 2.3% of total Christians in India). In terms of total number of members, the Ethiopian Church is the largest of all Oriental Orthodox Churches, and is second among all Orthodox Churches among Eastern and Oriental Churches (exceeded in number only by the Russian Orthodox Church).

Oriental Orthodox Communion

The Oriental Orthodox Communion is a group of churches within Oriental Orthodoxy which are all in full communion with each other. The communion includes:

Other Oriental Orthodox Churches in history

Two ancient Oriental Orthodox autocephelous Churches are not existing at present as it was before. They are

While the Orthodox Church of Caucasian Albania was merged to Armenian Orthodox Church fully (except some in Hereti which joined the Georgian Orthodox Church), the Indian diocese of Orthodox Church of the East was raised to a separate autocephelous church in 1912 AD. The remaining dioceses of Orthodox Church of the East was taken over by the mother Syriac Orthodox Church in 1860 AD.

Internal dispute


The least divisive of these disputes is within the Armenian Apostolic Church, between the Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin and the Catholicosate of Cilicia. The Church of Cilicia claims that it is independent of Etchmiadzin and in no way answers to their Catholicos. The Church of Etchmiadzin, on the other hand, claims that it is the Supreme See of Armenians, and thus that, to a certain degree, Cilicia is bound to answer to it. The dispute however has not at all caused a breach in communion between the two churches.

The next least divisive dispute is among Indians who are Oriental Orthodox. This dispute is between two jurisdictional bodies among Oriental Orthodox Indians: the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. The former is an archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church. It experiences a certain degree of autonomy, but is ultimately responsible to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. The latter, on the other hand, claims to be entirely independent of the Syriac Orthodox Church, rejecting any form of jurisdictional submission to the Syriac Patriarch. The Syriac Patriarch never agreed to this arrangement. In 1972, then Patriarch Ignatius Ya`qub III excommunicated the Indian Catholicos Baselios Augen I. The current Syriac Patriarch, Ignatius Zakka I Iwas maintains this excommunication. Practically, however, there is a fair amount of intercommunion in various parts of the world between the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.

Occasional confusions

The Assyrian Church of the East is sometimes incorrectly considered as Oriental Orthodox. Being largely centered in what was then the Persian Empire, it was separated administratively from the Church of the Roman Empire around 400, and then broke communion with the latter in reaction to the Council of Ephesus (431). Additionally, it accepts a Nestorian dyophysite Christology that is categorically rejected by the Oriental Orthodox Communion, and venerates as saints people anathematized as heretics by the latter.

There are many overlapping ecclesiastical jurisdictions in India, mostly with a Syriac liturgical heritage centered in the state of Kerala. Two of these, the autonomous Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church, which comes under the Syriac orthodox church, and the autocephalous Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, are Oriental Orthodox; the others include two Eastern Catholic Churches, and various independent churches, one of which, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church is in communion with the Anglican Communion & Malabar Independent Syrian Church.

See also



External links

Autocephalous and Autonomous Churches of Oriental Orthodoxy
Autocephalous Churches
Alexandria | Antioch | Armenia | Eritrea | Ethiopia | India
Autonomous Churches
Alexandria: British Orthodox Church | French Orthodox Church

Antioch: Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church

Armenia: Catholicos of All Armenians | Cilicia | Constantinople | Jerusalem