Oriental Orthodox Churches
Oriental Orthodoxy refers to the churches of Eastern Christian tradition that keep the faith of the first three Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church: the First Council of Nicaea (AD 325), the First Council of Constantinople (381) and the Council of Ephesus (431), and rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon (451). Hence, these churches are also called Old Oriental Churches.
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 Orthodox Patriarchs, but the rivalry between the two has largely vanished in the centuries since schism.
The following Oriental Orthodox churches are autocephalous and in full communion:
- Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church
- Syriac Orthodox Church
- Jacobite Syrian Church
- Indian Orthodox Church
- Coptic Orthodox Church
- British Orthodox Church
- French Coptic Orthodox Church
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
- Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Read more about this topic: Eastern Christianity
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