Religious Traditions Codexery

Eastern Christianity

Eastern Christianity encompasses diverse traditions originating in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Eastern Christianity

via Wikipedia: Christianity · see source

Eastern Christianity includes traditions that developed in the Eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, and the Malabar coast.[1] Major bodies include the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Church of the East, Eastern Catholic Churches, and Eastern Protestant churches.[2]

Quick Facts

Key liturgical rites
  • Alexandrian
  • Armenian
  • Byzantine
  • East Syriac
  • West Syriac

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Christianity divided in the East during its early centuries over Christology and fundamental theology, as well as through national divisions.[3] The Oriental Orthodox number 60 million, the Eastern Catholic Churches about 16–18 million, and the Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East have a combined membership of approximately 400,000.[4] The Saint Thomas Syrian Christians in Kerala trace their origins to Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.[5] The geographical divisions that gave rise to the labels "Eastern" and "Western" reflected a cultural split between the Hellenistic East and the Latin West, as well as the 395 AD political division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern halves.[6]

Following the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, the phrase "Eastern Church" started to refer more frequently to the Greek Church based in Constantinople.[6] Within Eastern Christianity, the Eastern Orthodox communion is the largest, with about 220 million adherents worldwide.[4] In Galicia around 1926, the Ukrainian Lutheran Church emerged, adopting rites derived from the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.[7][8] Except for the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East, most Eastern Christians do not call themselves "Eastern."[2]

In the United States, Eastern Orthodox Christians are among the wealthiest Christian groups and generally have higher educational attainment than most other religious communities.[9]

What the cited sources add

The Ukrainian Lutheran Church's creation as a separate Lutheran body took place in the 16th century, and many Lutheran congregations appeared in Ukraine in that century.[10] The Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church look forward to cooperation in social justice work and ministering to migrant populations despite differences over ordination of women and same-sex marriage.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Specific areas include Western Asia, Asia Minor, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and the Malabar coast (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hämmerli, "Orthodox Identities in Western Europe: Migration, Settlement and Innovation", Routledge, 23 May 2016, p. 13 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hindson, "The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History", Harvest House Publishers, 2013, p. 225 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fairchild, "Eastern Orthodox Denomination", ThoughtCo., 17 March 2017; "Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century", Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, 8 November 2017; "The beautiful witness of the Eastern Catholic Churches", Catholic Herald, 7 March 2019; "Ukrainian Lutheran Church", celc.info; "Overview – Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church"; Mammana, "Old Catholic, Mar Thoma Christians Celebrate Unity", The Living Church, 2024-02-13; Murre van den Berg, "The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization", Wiley-Blackwe en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: A. E. Medlycott, India and The Apostle Thomas, pp. 1-71, 213–297; M. R. James, Apocryphal New Testament, pp. 364–436; Eusebius, History, chapter 4:30; J. N. Far (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bulletin for the Study of Religion, Volumes 9–12", Council on the Study of Religion, 1978, p. 29 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bebis, "The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, used by the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, and its missing elements", Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, 30 March 2013; Webber, "Why is the Lutheran Church a Liturgical Church?", Bethany Lutheran College, 1992 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hämmerli, "Orthodox Identities in Western Europe: Migration, Settlement and Innovation", Routledge, 23 May 2016, p. 13; Bebis, "The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, used by the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, and its missing elements", Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, 30 March 2013; Webber, "Why is the Lutheran Church a Liturgical Church?", Bethany Lutheran College, 1992; Dushnyck, "The Ukrainian Heritage in America", Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, 1991, p. 94 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Eastern Christianity" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Leonhardt, "Faith, Education and Income", The New York Times, 13 May 2011; "US Religious Landscape Survey: Diverse and Dynamic", The Pew Forum, February 2008, p. 85 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "Ukrainian Lutheran Church", celc.info. facts only, no text reused. celc.info
  11. Mammana, "Old Catholic, Mar Thoma Christians Celebrate Unity", The Living Church, 2024-02-13. facts only, no text reused. livingchurch.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Eastern Christianity (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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