History of Eastern Christianity
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Christianity has been, historically, a
Overview
Christianity as a religion was founded by
That
Ethnic groups
The Pentarchy
The churches that were the original churches founded by the Apostles were later established as authority centers under the Pentarchy of Patriarchs.
- Rome (Sts. Peter and Paul), i.e. the Pope, the only Pentarch in the Western Roman Empire.
- Alexandria (St. Mark), currently in Egypt
- Antioch (St. Peter), currently in Turkey
- Andrew), currently in Turkey
Common characteristics of Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity
The church as established in the Middle East was done so under the concept of unity i.e.
This right believing and right teaching was to first establish in each individual a personal relationship with Christ, the God. This original teaching established by a community of persons that through these traditions created and then maintained a relationship with God. As various teachings appeared the Church as a united community addressed and confirmed or denied the teaching or teachings. Tradition was the cornerstone to how teachings were to be deemed valid since tradition itself cultivated a living relationship with the living God. The councils which were conducted after the legalization of Christianity were done so to define what Christianity and a Christian was. This in contrast to Paganism and Judaism and the various non-traditional Christian beliefs of the time. The Christian communities not within the regions of the Empire of Rome still communicated with one another and it was the break out of the sectarian and deemed new to tradition, teachings of Arius that caused the communities to gather to define what a Christian was and to use this definition to counter the teachings of Arianism.
Eastern Christian ecclesiastics
Ecclesiastical structure of the Eastern churches
The
Ecclesiastic services or liturgy
Liturgical services and in specific the Eucharist service, are based on repeating the actions of Jesus ("do this in remembrance of me"), using the bread and wine, and saying his words (known as the words of the institution). The church has the rest of the liturgical ritual being rooted in the Jewish Passover, Siddur, Seder, and synagogue services, including the singing of hymns (especially the Psalms) and reading from the Scriptures (Old and New Testament). The final uniformity of liturgical services became solidified after the church established a Biblical canon, being based on the Apostolic Constitutions and Clementine literature. As a common characteristic of Eastern Christianity each shares the standard liturgy structure which came from the Liturgy of Saint James.
Clergy
The
Ascetic or Charismatic orders
Pre-Ecumenical Christian heresies
Meetings between Christian communities or churches were held before the Ecumenical councils. These meetings however were not as large because the Christian Church was still an illegal community. These early meetings and correspondence lead to the clarification of early heresies.
Post Legalized Christianity and the Ecumenical Councils
- Arianism
- Apollinarism
- Audianism
- Anomoeanism
- Iconoclasm
- Messalians
- Macedonians (religious group)
- Paulicianism/Euchites
- Semipelagianism
- Priscillianism
- Psilanthropism
- Socinianism
Orthodox Christianity
Roman Empire and Byzantine Orthodoxy
The creation of the Universal Christian church is a complicated and long history. Hebrew (Semitic), Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Arab Christian communities of the Mediterranean faced various opposition from governments, opposing religions, and splinter groups from within their own faith. This catholic movement within the cradle of Christianity was to unite all Christians into a Universal church based on Christ through tradition, faith and community. The communities sought to balance unity with truth. The truth of these early groups was a shared truth that was communicated to each successive group based on early tradition. Once documented it was the understanding of tradition that caused the various schisms and internal conflicts. Christianity as first established was united Christians from within the Imperium Romanum. The Roman Empire ruled the Middle Eastern coastal communities and the Mediterranean during the time of Christ. As Christians within the Roman Empire many different nationalities and ethnic peoples where subject to Roman rule.
Though the power of the Empire was seated in Rome the greatest unifying force of the Empire was its foundations, which were built on the conquests of
A marked change in the life of the church occurred in 313 when Emperor
Saint Thomas Christians
St. Thomas Christians are natives of the southern Indian state of Kerala. These Christians of Malabar trace their roots back to
St Thomas Christians had a unique identity till the arrival of Portuguese in India, who tried to convert St. Thomas Christians in their area of control to the Latin Church through the Synod of Diamper of 1599. As a result of this foreign intervention into their culture there are several present day St. Thomas denominations, primarily in the Catholic and Oriental Orthodox traditions.
Among the St. Thomas Christians, now the largest church in terms of membership is the
Byzantine Rite Lutheranism
Ecumenical Councils
Eastern Orthodoxy
The heresy of Arius was rejected in the community of Christians in the regions of the Pentarchy. This also included the communities of Christians of the far East (the Assyrian Churches) and the churches of Africa (Ethiopians). Churches that were not under the control of Rome. Several doctrinal disputes from the 4th century onwards led to the calling of
Church of the East
It was not until the third ecumenical council (see
Oriental Orthodox Church
Later councils to define the tenets of the community of Christianity, caused the
Nationalistic ecclesiastical characteristics
There was a degree of nationalistic animosity between the different communities that were united in Christ. Past historical conflicts between these different groups also feed the sentiments of division. As an understanding of the sensitivities of ethnic and or nationalistic characteristics, the early churches did implement nationalistic identities. Hence the establishment of the Greek, Coptic, Armenian, Russian churches. This was balanced with the tradition of churches also being named more for location rather than Nationalistic identity i.e. the church of Antioch or the church of Jerusalem.
- Alexandria (St. Mark), currently in Egypt note: After the Council of Chalcedon the Coptic churches and Byzantine churches went into schism.
- Antioch (St. Peter), currently in Turkey
- Andrew), currently in Turkey
- Serbian Patriarch
- Patriarch of Moscow
- Patriarch of Romania
Syriac Christianity
The Church of the East (most of whose members are ethnic
The Church of the East spread widely through Asia, establishing churches and dioceses in India (the
Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy refers to the communion of
The
Oriental Orthodoxy developed in reaction to Chalcedon on the eastern limit of the Byzantine Empire and in Egypt and Syria. In those locations, there are now also Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs, but the rivalry between the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox has largely vanished in the centuries since schism. In recent times, both Chalcedonian and anti-Chalcedonian churches have developed a deeper understanding for each other's positions, recognizing the substantial agreement while maintaining their respective theological language. Hence, the Monophysite label is avoided when describing the Armenians' or Copts' belief regarding the Nature of Christ.
Ecumenism between Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy
Both the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches formally believe themselves to be the continuation of the true church and the other to have fallen into schism, although in the past 20 years much work had been done toward ecumenism or reconciliation between the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches. There has been an attempt to achieve
The following Oriental Orthodox churches are
- Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church
- Armenian Apostolic Church
- Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
- Indian Orthodox Church
- Syriac Orthodox Church
See also
- History of Christianity
- History of the Eastern Orthodox Church
- History of the Russian Orthodox Church
- Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece
- Timeline of Eastern Orthodoxy in America
References
- ISBN 0-87907-879-0
- ISBN 978-0-913836-58-3
- ^ "NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils – Christian Classics Ethereal Library". Ccel.org. 1 June 2005. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
- ^ A. E. Medlycott, India and The Apostle Thomas, pp.1-71, 213-97; M. R. James, Apocryphal New Testament, pp.364-436; J. N. Farquhar, The Apostle Thomas in North India, chapter 4:30; V. A. Smith, Early History of India, p.235; L. W. Brown, The Indian Christians of St. Thomas, p.49-59.
- ISBN 9781317084914.
- Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
A revised Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is also celebrated in Ukraine by members of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church. This Church was organized originally in 1926 in the "Galicia" region of Ukraine, which was at that time under the government of Poland. The liturgical rites used by the Ukrainian Lutherans reflected their Byzantine tradition. They did not use a Lutheran revision of the Latin Mass in their services, but instead they used a Lutheran revision of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
- ^ Webber, David Jay (1992). "Why is the Lutheran Church a Liturgical Church?". Bethany Lutheran College. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
In the Byzantine world, however, this pattern of worship would not be informed by the liturgical history of the Latin church, as with the Reformation-era church orders, but by the liturgical history of the Byzantine church. (This was in fact what occurred with the Ukrainian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, which published in its 1933 Ukrainian Evangelical Service Book the first ever Lutheran liturgical order derived from the historic Eastern Rite.)
- ISBN 9781879001008.
- ^ "Iraq's Church Bombers vs. Muhammad | Christianity Today |A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction". Archived from the original on 2006-09-15. Retrieved 2007-06-27.
- ^ "Orthodox Church Relations". Archived from the original on 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
- ^ "Antiochian Orthodox Archidioces of Australia & New Zealand".
Bibliography
- The Spirituality of the Christian East: A systematic handbook by Tomas Spidlik, Cistercian Publications Inc Kalamazoo Michigan 1986 ISBN 0-87907-879-0