The Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the body of Christians that claims origins extending directly back to Jesus Christ and his Apostles through unbroken Apostolic Succession. The doctrines of the eastern orthodox were created through a series of church councils. The most authoritative among them are being the Seven Ecumenical Councils held between the fourth and eight centuries. These councils were convened out of the necessity to resolve conflicts that had developed from the beliefs such as Aryanism, Nestorianism, and Monothelitism. Towards the end of its first thousand years of existence, differences developed between the Church in the Eastern and Western Roman Empire and this led to the Great Schism in 1054, dividing the Chalcedonian Christians into Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Eastern Orthodoxy is the second largest Christian communion in the world after the Roman Catholic Church and the third largest Christians overall after the Protestants.

Eastern Orthodoxy

Eastern Orthodox Churches (in full communion)

Orthodox Church of Constantinople

  • Finnish Orthodox Church
  • Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church
  • Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe
  • Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria

Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch

  • Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

Orthodox Church of Jerusalem

  • Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai

Russian Orthodox Church

  • Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate
  • Latvian Orthodox Church
  • Moldovan Orthodox Church
  • Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
  • Japanese Orthodox Church
  • Chinese Orthodox Church
  • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Serbian Orthodox Church

  • Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric

Romanian Orthodox Church

  • Metropolis of Bessarabia

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Georgian Orthodox Church

Cypriot Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church of Greece

Polish Orthodox Church

Albanian Orthodox Church

Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church of America


Eastern Orthodox Churches (not in communion)


Greek Old Calendarists Matthewites

Greek Old Calendarists Florinites

Orthodox Church of Greece (Holy Synod in Resistance)

Old Calendar Romanian Orthodox Church

Old Calendar Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church

Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church

Russian Old-Orthodox Church

Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church

Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Alternative synod

Holy Orthodox Church in North America

Macedonian Orthodox Church

Montenegrin Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church in Italy

Russian Orthodox Church in America

Russian True Orthodox Church

Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate

Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church – Canonical

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Diaspora, Archeparchy of America and South America (In Communion with the Ukrainian Metropolitanate of The Russian True Orthodox Church)