Eastern Christianity

Eastern Christianity is a large group of many different church families.

These traditions began a long time ago during classical and late antiquity. Most of them started in the Eastern Mediterranean region. They also grew in places like Western Asia, Africa, and the Caucasus. Some parts of these faiths even reached the Malabar coast in South Asia. This group is not just one single church or denomination. Instead, it is a category that includes many different ways of being Christian.

These churches use many different ways to lead worship, which are called rites. Some followers use the Byzantine Rite, while others use the Alexandrian Rite. There are also the Armenian, East Syriac, and West Syriac Rites. These rites help guide how people pray and celebrate. In many of these churches, priests are allowed to marry before they are ordained. They also perform a special thing called chrismation for infants after they are baptized. These traditions help keep their unique history alive through their daily lives.

History shows how these groups grew and sometimes split apart. Long ago, the Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern parts in 395 AD. This political split mirrored a cultural divide between the Latin West and the Greek East. In the 7th century, the Muslim conquest of the Levant changed things too. After that, the term "Eastern Church" often referred to the Greek Church in Constantinople. Later, the Great Schism or East-West Schism happened between the Roman and Orthodox churches. While some people date this to 1054, the reality was much more complex.

There are many different sized groups within Eastern Christianity today. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the largest, with about 220 million people. The Oriental Orthodox group is next, with about 60 million followers.

The Eastern Catholic Churches have about 16 to 18 million members. These members follow Eastern traditions but are also part of the Catholic Church in Rome. The Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East have about 400,000 members combined. Some smaller groups, like the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, have under a million members.

Many of these traditions are linked to very old stories and places. For example, the Church of the East once spread from Assyria all the way to China.

Today, many people in the Assyrian Church of the East are ethnic Assyrians. Some churches, like the Oriental Orthodox, follow the decisions of the first three ecumenical councils. These councils were big meetings held to discuss important beliefs. Even though these groups have many differences, they all share a very long and deep history. They remind us how many different ways people can express their faith.