Eastern Orthodox Church

=== Orthodoxy ===

[[File:Byzantinischer Mosaizist um 1000 002.jpg|thumb|[[Constantine the Great|Emperor Constantine]] presents a representation of the city of [[Constantinople]] as tribute to an enthroned Mary and baby Jesus in this church mosaic ([[Hagia Sophia]], {{Circa|1000}}).]]

The first known use of the phrase "the catholic Church" (''he katholike ekklesia'') occurred in a letter written about AD 110 from one Greek church to another ([[Ignatius of Antioch]] to the [[Smyrna]]eans). The letter states: "Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal [katholike] Church."<ref name=CathEnc>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm|encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Catholic |last=Thurston |first=Herbert |author-link=Herbert Thurston |place=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |date=1908 |access-date=17 August 2012 |editor-first=Kevin |editor-last=Knight |editor-link=Knight |volume=3}}</ref> Thus, almost from the beginning, Christians referred to the Christian Church as the "one, holy, catholic (from the Greek καθολική, 'according to the whole, universal'{{sfn|Hardon|1981|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Ke37zpSv3gC&pg=PA217 217]}}) and apostolic Church".<ref name=OCA/> The Eastern Orthodox Church claims that it is today the continuation and preservation of that same early church.

A number of other Christian churches also make a similar claim: the Roman [[Catholic Church]], the [[Anglican Communion]], the [[Assyrian Church of the East|Assyrian Church]], and the [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox]]. In the Eastern Orthodox view, the Assyrians and Orientals left the Orthodox Church in the years following the Third Ecumenical [[Council of Ephesus]] (431) and the Fourth Ecumenical [[Council of Chalcedon]] (451), respectively, in their refusal to accept those councils' [[Christology|Christological]] definitions. Similarly, the churches in Rome and Constantinople separated in an event known as the [[East–West Schism]], traditionally dated to the year 1054, although it was more a gradual process than a sudden break.

To all these churches, the claim to [[catholicity]] (universality, oneness with the ancient Church) is important for multiple doctrinal reasons that have more bearing internally in each church than in their relation to the others, now separated in faith. The meaning of holding to a faith that is true is the primary reason why anyone's statement of which church split off from which other has any significance at all; the issues go as deep as the schisms. The depth of this meaning in the Eastern Orthodox Church is registered first in its use of the word "[[Orthodoxy|Orthodox]]" itself, a union of [[Greek language|Greek]] ''orthos'' ("straight", "correct", "true", "right") and ''[[doxa]]'' ("common belief", from the ancient verb δοκέω-δοκῶ which is translated "to believe", "to think", "to consider", "to imagine", "to assume").<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Ddoke%2Fw δοκέω] in Liddell and Scott.</ref>

The dual meanings of ''doxa'', with "glory" or "glorification" (of God by the church and of the church by God), especially in worship, yield the pair "correct belief" and "true worship". Together, these express the core of a fundamental teaching about the inseparability of belief and worship and their role in drawing the church together with Christ.{{sfn|Ware|1991|pp=16, 271}}{{sfn|Hierotheos|1998|pp=69–72}} All [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] churches use the title ''Pravoslavie'' ({{lang-cyrl|Православие}}), meaning "correctness of glorification", to denote what is in English ''Orthodoxy'', while the Georgians use the title ''Martlmadidebeli''.

The term "Eastern Church" (the geographic east in the East–West Schism) has been used to distinguish it from [[Western Christianity|western Christendom]] (the geographic West, which at first came to designate the Catholic communion, later also the various [[Protestantism|Protestant]] and Anglican branches). "Eastern" is used to indicate that the highest concentrations of the Eastern Orthodox Church presence remain in the eastern part of the Christian world, although it is growing worldwide. Orthodox Christians throughout the world use various ethnic or national jurisdictional titles, or more inclusively, the title "Eastern Orthodox", "Orthodox Catholic", or simply "Orthodox".<ref name=Calivas1983>{{cite web|url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7052/|title = The Orthodox Church: An Introduction|date = 9 January 1996|website = [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]|last1 = Fitzgerald|first1 = Thomas|access-date = 11 June 2016|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603103953/http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7052|archive-date = 3 June 2016}}</ref>

What unites Orthodox Christians is the catholic faith as carried through [[holy tradition]]. That faith is expressed most fundamentally in scripture and worship,{{sfn|Ware|1991|pp=212–213}} and the latter most essentially through baptism and in the [[Divine Liturgy]].{{sfn|Ware|1991|p=282}}

The lines of even this test can blur, however, when differences that arise are not due to doctrine, but to recognition of jurisdiction. As the Eastern Orthodox Church has spread into the west and over the world, the church as a whole has yet to sort out all the inter-jurisdictional issues that have arisen in the expansion, leaving some areas of doubt about what is proper church governance.{{sfn|Ware|1991|pp=180–199}} Moreover, as in the ancient church persecutions, the aftermath of [[Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union|persecutions of Christians in communist nations]] has complicated some issues of governance that have yet to be completely resolved.{{sfn|Ware|1991|pp=152–179}}

All members of the Eastern Orthodox Church profess the same faith, regardless of race or nationality, jurisdiction or local custom, or century of birth. Holy tradition encompasses the understandings and means by which that unity of faith is transmitted across boundaries of time, geography, and culture. It is a continuity that exists only inasmuch as it lives within Christians themselves.{{sfn|Ware|1991|pp=203–204}} It is not static, nor an observation of rules, but rather a sharing of observations that spring both from within and also in keeping with others, even others who lived lives long past. The church proclaims the Holy Spirit maintains the unity and consistency of holy tradition to preserve the integrity of the faith within the church, as given in the scriptural promises.<ref>Bible: {{Bibleverse|John|14:17|NKJV}}; {{Bibleverse|John|14:26|NKJV}}</ref>

Orthodoxy asserts that its shared beliefs, and its theology, exist within holy tradition and cannot be separated from it, and that their meaning is not expressed in mere words alone;{{sfn|Ware|1991|p=215}} that doctrine cannot be understood unless it is prayed;<ref>{{citation |last1=Evagrius the Solitary |author-link1=Evagrius Ponticus |chapter=On Prayer, 60 |orig-date=4th century |editor1-last=Migne |editor1-first=J.P. |title=Patrologia Graeca |page=1180B |volume=79 |location=Paris |publisher=Imprimerie Catholique |year=1857–1866 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4_YAAAAMAAJ |access-date=15 May 2014 |ref=none }}.</ref> and that it must also be lived in order to be prayed, that without action, the prayer is idle, empty, and in vain, and therefore the theology of demons.<ref>{{citation |last1=St. Maximus |author-link1=Maximus the Confessor |chapter=Letter 20 |orig-date=7th century |editor1-last=Migne |editor1-first=J.P. |title=Patrologia Graeca |page=601C |volume=91 |location=Paris |publisher=Imprimerie Catholique |year=1857–1866 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NsPUAAAAMAAJ |access-date=15 May 2014 |ref=none }}.</ref>