Orthodox Church Introduction to Eastern Christianity
What is meant by the term "Orthodox Church"? The divisions that constitute the current fragmentation of Christianity occurred in three main stages, roughly five centuries apart. The first stage in the schism occurred in the fifth and sixth centuries, when groups now known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches broke away from the mainline of Christianity. These Churches are divided into two groups: the Church of the East (found primarily in present-day Iraq and Iran, whose adherents are known as the "Assyrian," "Nestorian," "Chaldean," or "East Syriac" Church); the other group consists of the five Anti-Chalcedon Churches, often called "Monophysites"; these are the Syriac Church of Antioch (also called the "Jacobite" Church); the Syriac Church of India; the Coptic Church of Egypt; the Armenian Church; and the Church of Ethiopia. The Church of the East was once larger, but today it has no more than 550,000 members; the total number of Anti-Chalcedon Churches is approximately 27 million. These two groups are often considered together. They are also called “lesser Eastern Churches” or “separated Eastern Churches,” but such designations are best avoided because they imply a value judgment.
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