Oriental Churches
| Oriental Orthodoxy | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Eastern Christian |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Structure | Communion |
|
churches |
Coptic Orthodox Church Armenian Apostolic Church Syriac Orthodox Church Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church |
| Members | 84 million |
Oriental Orthodoxy is a communion of Eastern Christian churches that recognize only the first three ecumenical councils – the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and the Council of Ephesus in 431. The Oriental Orthodox churches maintain their own ancient apostolic succession with miaphysite Christology, rejecting the definition of the two natures of Christ (human and divine), known as the Chalcedonian Definition, issued by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Over the following two centuries, one by one, they discontinued their communion with the adherents of Chalcedonian Christianity, and developed separate institutions that together did not participate in any of the later ecumenical councils.
The Oriental Orthodox communion is composed of six churches: the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. In total, the Oriental Orthodox churches have more than 80 million adherents worldwide.
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Wikipedia