An Introduction to the Oriental Orthodox Churches

The Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syriac, and Indian Orthodox Churches--collectively referred to as the Oriental Orthodox Churches--are heirs to some of the richest and most ancient traditions in the Christian world. Today they are estimated to have as many as 50 million members worldwide, including significant diaspora populations (Roberson). Nonetheless, they remain relatively unknown in the West, where the study of church history has traditionally focused on Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, and to a lesser degree Eastern Orthodoxy.

Each of the six churches traces its origins to apostolic missions of the first century. Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew are believed to have been martyred in Armenia; St. Mark is referred to as the first bishop of Alexandria; St. Philip is said to have baptized an Ethiopian pilgrim, who returned home to spread the faith in African lands south of Egypt; Antioch is mentioned in the book of Acts as the place where the term “Christian” was first used; and St. Thomas is believed to have been martyred in South India. While some of these claims are debated by scholars, the establishment of Christianity in these lands certainly dates to the earliest centuries of the Christian era.

The Oriental Orthodox Churches were united with Rome and Byzantium in a common profession of faith until the fifth century, when the Council of Chalcedon (451) proclaimed Christ to have two distinct natures--human and divine--united in one person. While the Roman and Byzantine Churches came to accept Chalcedon as the Fourth Ecumenical Council, the Oriental Orthodox Churches acknowledge only the first three. Their theology, which closely follows the teaching of St. Cyril of Alexandria, holds that Christ has only one nature, at once human and divine.

These churches have been variously referred to as “non-Chalcedonian,” “pre-Chalcedonian,” and “lesser Eastern” churches. Today the standard designation is Oriental Orthodox; while the use of the term “Oriental” is not ideal, it is officially accepted by the churches themselves. Geographically, the Christian “Orient” comprises those regions of Africa and Asia that fell outside the boundaries of the Byzantine-Roman Empire. Some of these lands were never part of Byzantium, while others were cut off as a result of the spread of Islam in the seventh century (Guillaumont 9). Although the six churches are closely linked in matters of faith and are today in full communion with one another, they are hierarchically independent; moreover, since their earliest days they have developed their own forms of liturgy, art, and literature.

The pages that follow are intended as an introduction to the history and heritage of these ancient but neglected churches. For each of the churches, an overview of distinctive traditions has been provided, including sections on language and culture, iconography, and music. Special attention has been given to the history of the churches in the United States, where they have grown remarkably since the second half of the twentieth century. As an instance of this growth, profiles of five Oriental Orthodox communities in Atlanta, Georgia, have been included, based on fieldwork I conducted during the summer of 2004. In the early 1970s there were no Oriental Orthodox churches in Atlanta; today the five communities I profiled have more than two thousand members. The churches continue to grow every year, both in Atlanta and in the United States at large, marking a new and unprecedented stage in the diasporic life of the Oriental Orthodox Churches.