Eastern Christianity

Eastern Christianity consists of four main church families: the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East, as well as the Eastern Catholic Churches (that are in communion with Rome but still maintain an Eastern liturgy). The term is used in contrast with Western Christianity (namely the Latin Church and Protestanism). Eastern Christianity consists of the Christian traditions and churches that developed in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Balkans, Southern India and parts of the Far East over several centuries. The term does not describe a single communion or religious denomination. Some Eastern churches have more in common historically and theologically with Western Christianity than with one another. The various Eastern churches do not normally refer to themselves as "Eastern", with the exception of the Assyrian Church of the East and its offshoots.

The terms "Eastern" and "Western" in this regard originated with geographical divisions in the Christian Church mirroring the cultural divide between the Hellenistic east and Latinate west and the political divide between the Western and Eastern Roman empires. Because the largest church in the East is the body currently known as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the term "Orthodox" is often used in a similarly loose fashion as "Eastern", to refer to specific historical Christian communions. However, strictly speaking, most Christian churches, whether Eastern or Western, consider themselves to be "orthodox" (following correct beliefs) as well as "catholic" (universal), even when they do not include those words in their official names.

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