Oriental Orthodoxy

The ancient churches that parted ways over the nature of Christ in 451.

from 451 CE → · Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, Syria, India · Abrahamic

Oriental Orthodoxy comprises the ancient Christian churches — Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian, Syriac, and Indian — that separated from the rest of Christendom after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 over how to describe the union of the divine and human in Christ. They preserve some of the oldest continuous liturgical and monastic traditions in Christianity. Egypt’s Coptic Church in particular is a cradle of Christian monasticism.

Key figures

• St. Mark (traditional founder in Egypt)

Texts

• The Bible
• The early church fathers

Beliefs

• One united nature of Christ (miaphysite)
• Ancient apostolic tradition
• A rich liturgical and monastic life

Rituals

• The Divine Liturgy
• Long fasts and monasticism
• Veneration of icons and saints

Grew from

• Christianity

Connections in the atlas

• Lalibela
• Anthony the Great
• Ankh
• The Nag Hammadi codices
• Prayer postures and fixed prayer times (ritual)
• ▶ When the Virgin appeared
• The Arabs
• Aksum and the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion
• Cross
• Retreat and monastic withdrawal (ritual)
• ▶ How Christianity spread
• Church of the Holy Sepulchre