Eastern Orthodox Church

=== Name ===

In keeping with the church's teaching on universality and with the Nicene Creed, Eastern Orthodox authorities such as [[Raphael of Brooklyn]] have insisted that the full name of the church has always included the term "[[Catholic (term)|Catholic]]", as in "Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church".<ref>{{cite web |title=About Orthodox |publisher=Saint Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church, Pawtucket, RI |quote=The official designation of the Orthodox Church is the 'Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church.' |url=http://stmarypawtucket.org/about-our-church/about-orthodox/ |access-date=4 May 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=To be an Orthodox Christian&nbsp;.... <!-- ellipsis in the original -->|publisher=Orthodox Christian Church in Thailand (Moscow Patriarchate) |url=http://www.orthodox.or.th/index.php?content=orthodoxy&lang=en |access-date=4 May 2014 }}</ref>

The official name of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the "Orthodox Catholic Church".<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica Online |url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177174/Eastern-Orthodoxy |title = Eastern Orthodoxy |date = 18 May 2023 |quote = Eastern Orthodoxy, official name, used in British English as well, is Orthodox Catholic Church, one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity.}}</ref><ref name="ellwood">{{cite book|title = Ellwood Encyclopedia of World Religions |date = 2007 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1pGbdI4L0qsC&pg=PA128 |page = 128 |quote = The Eastern Orthodox Churches are properly known as the "Orthodox Catholic Church |isbn=978-1-4381-1038-7|last1 = Ellwood |first1 = Robert S. |last2 = Alles |first2 = Gregory D. |publisher = Infobase }}</ref><ref name="tsichlis">{{cite web |last1= Tsichlis |first1= Fr. Steven |title= Frequently Asked Questions About the Orthodox Church |publisher= St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church, Irvine, CA |quote= The full title of our Church is 'The Orthodox Catholic Church.' |url=http://www.stpaulsirvine.org/FAQs.html |access-date= 4 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210021538/http://stpaulsirvine.org/FAQs.html |archive-date= 10 December 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Losch2002">{{cite book|author= Richard R. Losch|title= The Many Faces of Faith: A Guide to World Religions and Christian Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OdKCVjCschMC&pg=PA76|date= 1 May 2002|publisher= Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-0521-8|page= 76|quote= The official name of the body is the Orthodox Catholic Church.}}</ref> It is the name by which the church refers to itself<!--
This adaptation from ''The Orthodox Church'', Kallistos Ware, 1993, was first produced by the monks of Decani Monastery, Kosovo. It was placed on the Orthodox Christian Information Center website after the monastery website went defunct following the Kosovo conflict. It has been used among various Orthodox church websites to provide an introduction to the faith. – User Evensteven, 3 May 2014
--><ref>{{cite web|author=The monks of Decani Monastery, Kosovo|title=The Orthodox Church, An Introduction|url=http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/orthodoxy.aspx|access-date=3 May 2014|publisher=Orthodox Christian Information Center|quote=The official designation of the church in its liturgical and canonical texts is "the Orthodox Catholic Church"}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=What We Believe|url=http://doepa.org/about_orthodoxy.html|access-date=3 May 2014|work=The Orthodox Church|publisher=The Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania, Orthodox Church in America|quote=The official designation of the church in its liturgical and canonical texts is "the Orthodox Catholic Church" (gr. catholicos = universal).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=About Orthodoxy|url=http://www.orthodoxdelmarva.org/about_orthodoxy.html|access-date=3 May 2014|work=The Orthodox Church|publisher=Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church|location=Berlin, MD|quote=The official designation of the church in its liturgical and canonical texts is "the Orthodox Catholic Church" (gr. catholicos = universal).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Holy Orthodox Christian Church: Its Faith and Life|url=http://www.archangelsbooks.com/orthofaith.asp|access-date=4 May 2014|publisher=Archangels Books|quote=The official designation of the church in its liturgical and canonical texts is "the Orthodox Catholic Church" (gr. catholicos = universal).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Orthodox Christianity – Introduction|url=http://www.kosovo.net/orthodoxy.html|access-date=4 May 2014|publisher=Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Ras and Prizren|quote=The official designation of the church in its liturgical and canonical texts is "the Orthodox Catholic Church" (gr. catholicos = universal).|archive-date=15 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515181633/http://www.kosovo.net/orthodoxy.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=About Orthodoxy|url=http://www.haoca.org/|access-date=4 May 2014|publisher=Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Frackville, PA|quote=The official designation of the church in its liturgical and canonical texts is "the Orthodox Catholic Church" (greek catholicos = universal).}}</ref> and which is issued in its liturgical or [[Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church|canonical]] texts.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eastern Orthodoxy {{!}} Definition, Origin, History, & Facts {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eastern-Orthodoxy|access-date=11 November 2021|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica|quote=The official designation of the church in Eastern Orthodox liturgical or canonical texts is 'the Orthodox Catholic Church.' Because of the historical links of Eastern Orthodoxy with the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium (Constantinople), however, in English usage it is referred to as the 'Eastern' or 'Greek Orthodox' Church.}}</ref>{{sfn|Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of World Religions|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=309 309]: "The official designation of the church in Eastern Orthodox liturgical or canonical texts is 'the Orthodox Catholic Church.{{'"}}}}<!-- end of reference grouping for "The Orthodox Church" --> Eastern Orthodox theologians refer to the church as Catholic.{{sfn|Ware|1993|p=307}}{{sfn|Fitzgerald|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_F5yntZocGIC&pg=PA8 8]}} This name and longer variants containing "Catholic" are also recognised and referenced in other books and publications by secular or non-Eastern Orthodox writers.{{sfn|De Vie|1945}}{{sfn|Nielsen|Johnson|Ellis|2001|p=248 "In the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church, authority"}}{{sfn|Fortescue|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UPr1ZCxPW6QC/page/n290 255] "it is all gathered together and still lives in the Holy Apostolic Orthodox Catholic Church of the Seven Councils."}}{{sfn|Schadé Encyclopedia of World Religions|2006}}{{sfn|Losch|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OdKCVjCschMC&pg=PA76 76]}}{{sfn|Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of World Religions|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=309 309–310]}} The [[catechism]] of [[Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow]] published in the 19th century is titled: ''The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church''<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Longer Catechism of The Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church|url=http://www.pravoslavieto.com/docs/eng/Orthodox_Catechism_of_Philaret.htm|access-date=27 September 2021|website=Pravoslavieto}}</ref> ({{Lang-ru|Пространный христианский катехизис православныя, кафолическия восточныя Церкви}}).

From ancient times through the first millennium, Greek was the most prevalent shared language in the demographic regions where the [[Byzantine Empire]] flourished, and Greek, being the language in which the [[New Testament]] was written, was the primary liturgical language of the church. For this reason, the eastern churches were sometimes identified as "Greek" (in contrast to the [[Latin Church|"Roman" or "Latin" church]], which used a Latin translation of the Bible), even before the Great Schism of 1054. After 1054, "Greek Orthodox" or "Greek Catholic" marked a church as being in communion with Constantinople, much as "Catholic" did for communion with the [[Catholic Church]].<ref name=EBGreek>Encyclopædia Britannica Online | loc=[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177174/Eastern-Orthodoxy "Eastern Orthodoxy"] "Because of the use of the name 'Greek Catholics' by the Eastern churches of the Catholic Church and the historical links of the Orthodox Catholic church with the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium (Constantinople), however, the [[exonym]]s in American English usage referred to it as the 'Eastern' or 'Greek Orthodox' Church. These terms are sometimes misleading, especially when applied to Russian or Slavic churches and to the Orthodox communities in western Europe and America."</ref>

In Hungarian, the church is still commonly called "Eastern Greek" ({{Lang-hu|Görögkeleti}}). This identification with Greek, however, became increasingly confusing with time. Missionaries brought Eastern Orthodoxy to many regions without ethnic Greeks, where the Greek language was not spoken. In addition, struggles between Rome and Constantinople to control parts of [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]] resulted in the conversion of some churches to the Catholic Church, which then also used "Greek Catholic" to indicate their continued use of the Byzantine rites. Today, only a minority of Eastern Orthodox adherents use Greek as the language of worship.{{sfn|Encyclopædia Britannica Online | loc=[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177174/Eastern-Orthodoxy "Eastern Orthodoxy"] "Because of the use of the name 'Greek Catholics' by the Eastern churches of the Catholic Church and the historical links of the Orthodox Catholic church with the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium (Constantinople), however, the [[exonym]]s in American English usage referred to it as the 'Eastern' or 'Greek Orthodox' Church. These terms are sometimes misleading, especially when applied to Russian or Slavic churches and to the Orthodox communities in western Europe and America."}}

"Eastern", then, indicates the geographical element in the church's origin and development, while "Orthodox" indicates the faith, as well as communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.<ref name="Calivas1983" /> There are additional Christian churches in the east that are in communion with neither the Catholic Church nor the Eastern Orthodox Church, who tend to be distinguished by the category named "[[Oriental Orthodox]]". While the Eastern Orthodox Church continues officially to call itself "Catholic", for reasons of [[Catholicity|universality]], the common title of "Eastern Orthodox Church" avoids casual confusion with the Catholic Church.