Eastern Christianity

=== Eastern Orthodox Church ===
{{Further|History of the Eastern Orthodox Church}}

[[File:Christ Hagia Sofia.jpg|thumb|upright|Christ Pantocrator, detail of the Deesis mosaic in [[Hagia Sophia]] – [[Constantinople]] ([[Istanbul]]) 12th century]]

The Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian body whose adherents are largely based in Western Asia (particularly [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Jordan]], [[Israel]], and [[State of Palestine|Palestine]]) and [[Turkey]], [[Eastern Europe]], the [[Balkans]] and the [[Caucasus]] ([[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Abkhazia]], [[Ossetia]] etc.), with a growing presence in the [[Western world]]. Eastern Orthodox Christians accept the decisions of the [[First seven Ecumenical Councils|first seven ecumenical councils]].

Eastern Orthodox Christianity identifies itself as the original Christian church (see [[early centers of Christianity]]) founded by Christ and the Apostles, and traces its lineage back to the [[early church|early Church]] through the process of [[apostolic succession]] and unchanged theology and practice. Characteristics of the Eastern Orthodox Church include the [[Byzantine Rite]] (shared with some Eastern Catholic Churches) and an emphasis on the continuation of [[Sacred tradition|Holy Tradition]], which it holds to be apostolic in nature.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is organized into self-governing jurisdictions along geographical, national, ethnic or linguistic lines. Eastern Orthodoxy is thus made up of fourteen or sixteen [[autocephaly|autocephalous]] bodies. Smaller churches are autonomous and each have a mother church that is autocephalous.

All Eastern Orthodox are united in doctrinal agreement with each other, though a few are not in communion at present, for non-doctrinal reasons. This is in contrast to the Catholic Church and its various churches. Members of the latter are all in communion with each other, parts of a top-down [[hierarchy]] (see {{lang|la|[[primus inter pares]]}}). The Eastern Orthodox reject the [[Filioque|Filioque clause]] as contrast to Catholics. The Catholic Church was once in communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church, but the two split after the [[East–West Schism]] and are no longer in communion.

It is estimated that there are approximately 240&nbsp;million Eastern Orthodox Christians in the world.{{NoteTag|See details about [[major religious groups]].}} Today, many adherents shun the term "Eastern" as denying the church's universal character. They refer to Eastern Orthodoxy simply as the ''Orthodox Church''.<ref>{{citation |last=Ware |first=Bishop Kallistos (Timothy) |author-link=Kallistos Ware |title=The Orthodox Church |edition=new |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |year= 1993 |isbn=978-0-14-014656-1 |ref=none}}</ref>