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{{about|the term|the Eastern Orthodox Church in Greece|Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece|the main independent Eastern Orthodox church in Greece|Church of Greece|other uses|Greek Orthodox Church (disambiguation)}}
{{about|the term|the Eastern Orthodox Church in Greece|Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece|the main independent Eastern Orthodox church in Greece|Church of Greece|other uses|Greek Orthodox Church (disambiguation)}}


'''''Greek Orthodox Church''''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', {{IPA-el|elinorˈθoðoksi ekliˈsia|IPA}}) is a Christian term that can refer to any one of three classes of church, each associated in some way with [[Christianity in Greece|Greek Christianity]] or the [[Eastern Roman Empire]].
The term '''''Greek Orthodox Church''''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', {{IPA-el|elinorˈθoðoksi ekliˈsia|IPA}}) may refer to:


The broader meaning refers to "the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity]], sometimes also called 'Eastern Orthodox,' 'Greek Catholic,' or generally 'the Greek Church{{' "}}.<ref name=":0" />
* The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], world's second largest Christian body.<ref name=":0" />


A second, narrower meaning refers to "any of several [[Autocephaly|independent]] churches within the worldwide communion of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|(Eastern) Orthodox Christianity]] that retain the use of the [[Greek language]] in formal [[Sacred language#Christianity|ecclesiastical settings]]".<ref name=":0">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Orthodox Churches, Eastern: Greek Orthodox Church and Its Theology |encyclopedia=The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url= |last=Demetrios [Trakatellis] |first= |date=2010 |editor-last=Patte |editor-first=Daniel |pages=895 |language=en |isbn=978-0-521-52785-9}}</ref>
* Any of the autocephalous churches within [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] that retain the use of the [[Greek language|Greek-language]] liturgy.<ref name=":0">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Orthodox Churches, Eastern: Greek Orthodox Church and Its Theology |encyclopedia=The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url= |last=Demetrios [Trakatellis] |first= |date=2010 |editor-last=Patte |editor-first=Daniel |pages=895 |language=en |isbn=978-0-521-52785-9}}</ref>


The third meaning refers to the [[Church of Greece]], an Eastern Orthodox Church operating within the modern borders of [[Greece]].
* The [[Church of Greece]], an Eastern Orthodox church operating within the nation of [[Greece]].

== Etymology ==
Historically, the term "Greek Orthodox" has been used to describe all Eastern Orthodox churches, since the term "Greek" can refer to the heritage of the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBqWbDmFsfEC&q=Yunastan&pg=PA159|title=Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing|first=Kelly|last=Boyd|date=August 8, 1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781884964336|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>[[Edwin Pears]], ''The Destruction of the Greek Empire and the Story of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks,'' Haskell House, 1968</ref><ref name="Millar 2006 279 pages">{{cite book
| last =Millar
| first =Fergus
| title =A Greek Roman Empire : Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408-450)
| publisher =University of California Press
| year =2006
| isbn =0-520-24703-5
| page =[https://archive.org/details/greekromanempire00ferg/page/279 279 pages]
| url =https://archive.org/details/greekromanempire00ferg/page/279
}}</ref> During the first eight centuries of Christian history, most major intellectual, cultural, and social developments in the [[Christian Church]] took place in the Byzantine Empire or its [[Byzantine commonwealth|sphere of influence]],<ref name="Millar 2006 279 pages" /><ref>Tanner, Norman P. ''The Councils of the Church,'' {{ISBN|0-8245-1904-3}}</ref><ref>''The Byzantine legacy in the Orthodox Church'' by John Meyendorff - 1982</ref> where the Greek language was widely spoken and used for most theological writings. The empire's capital, [[Constantinople]], was an early important center of Christianity, and its liturgical practices, traditions, and doctrines were gradually adopted throughout [[Eastern Orthodoxy]], still providing the basic patterns of contemporary Orthodoxy.<ref>Hugh Wybrew, ''The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite'' - 1990</ref><ref>''The Christian Churches of the East,'' Vol. II: ''Churches Not in Communion with Rome'', by [[Donald Attwater]] - 1962</ref><ref>J Meyendorff, ''Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes'' (1987)</ref> Thus, Eastern Orthodox came to be called "Greek" Orthodox in the same way that Western Christians came to be called [[Roman Catholic (term)|"Roman" Catholic]]. However, the appellation "Greek" was abandoned by the [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] and other Eastern Orthodox churches as part of their peoples' [[Romantic nationalism|national awakening]]s, beginning as early as the 10th century A.D.<ref name="ReferenceA">[[Joan M. Hussey|Joan Mervyn Hussey]], ''The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire,'' 1990</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs|last=Vlasto|first=A. P.|date=1970|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521074592|location=Cambridge|language=en|oclc=637411069}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kO6gAAAAMAAJ|title=Българска история в европейски контекст|last=Pantev|first=Andrey Lazarov|date=2000|publisher=IK "Khristo Botev"|isbn=9544456708|language=bg|oclc=45153811}}</ref> Thus, by the early 21st century, generally only those churches most closely tied to [[Culture of Greece|Greek]] or Byzantine culture and ethnicity were called "Greek Orthodox" in common parlance.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox - Questions & Answers |url=https://www.oca.org/questions/namerica/greek-orthodox-and-russian-orthodox |access-date=2022-10-23 |website=www.oca.org}}</ref>

Greek Orthodoxy has also been defined as a religious tradition rooted in preserving the Greek identity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saloutos |first1=Theodore |title="The Greek Orthodox Church in the United States and Assimilation." |journal=The International Migration Review |date=1973 |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=395–407 |doi=10.2307/3002553 |jstor=3002553 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/3002553}}</ref>

In 2022, U.S. government estimated that 81-90% of the population of Greece identified as Greek Orthodox.<ref name=US2022>[https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/greece US State Dept 2022 report]</ref>

== History ==
The Greek Orthodox churches are descendants of churches which the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] founded in the [[Balkans]] and the [[Middle East]] during the first century A.D.,<ref name="ChafetzEbaugh2000">{{cite book|author1=Janet Saltzman Chafetz|author2=Helen Rose Ebaugh|title=Religion and the New Immigrants: Continuities and Adaptations in Immigrant Congregations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT57AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|access-date=2 September 2013|date=18 October 2000|publisher=AltaMira Press|isbn=978-0-7591-1712-9|page=155|quote=The distinctive characteristics of the Greek Orthodox Church are its sense of continuity with the ancient Church of Christ and the Apostles and its changelessness. The Orthodox church traces its existence, through the ordination of Bishops, directly back to the Apostles and through them to Jesus.}}</ref><ref name="BruyneelPadgett2003">{{cite book|author1=Sally Bruyneel|author2=Alan G. Padgett|title=Introducing Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HhratxerbcwC&pg=PA7|access-date=2 September 2013|year=2003|publisher=Orbis Books|isbn=978-1-60833-134-5|page=7|quote=The Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches are the oldest with roots going back to the earliest Christian groups.}}</ref><ref name="HubbardHatfield2007">{{cite book|author1=Benjamin Jerome Hubbard|author2=John T. Hatfield|author3=James A. Santucci|title=An Educator's Classroom Guide to America's Religious Beliefs and Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UWBIuX7TPk8C&pg=PA63|access-date=2 September 2013|year=2007|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|isbn=978-1-59158-409-4|page=63|quote=The Orthodox Church traces its origins to the churches founded by the apostles in the Middle East and the Balkans in the first century.}}</ref><ref name="Plummer2012">{{cite book|author=Robert L. Plummer|title=Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Anglicanism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IMhir6agIEcC&pg=PT128|access-date=2 September 2013|date=6 March 2012|publisher=Zondervan|isbn=978-0-310-41671-5|page=128|quote=Catholicism holds that if a Church claims to be Christian, then it must be able to show that its leaders-its bishops and its presbyters (or priests)- are successors of the apostles. That is why the Catholic Church accepts Eastern Orthodox ordinations and sacraments as valid, even though Eastern Orthodoxy is not in full communion with Rome.}}</ref><ref name="DyrnessKärkkäinen2009">{{cite book|author1=William A. Dyrness|author2=Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen|title=Global Dictionary of Theology: A Resource for the Worldwide Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ncqkZnDSeo4C&pg=PA244|access-date=2 September 2013|date=25 September 2009|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-7811-6|page=244|quote=This connection is apparent through the historical succession of bishops of churches in a particular geographic locale and by fidelity to the teachings of the apostles (cf. Acts 2:42) and life as it developed in the patristic tradition and was articulated by the seven ecumenical councils.}}</ref><ref name="Campbell2010">{{cite book|author=Heidi Campbell|author-link=Heidi A Campbell|title=When Religion Meets New Media|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UqOKUVsazmkC&pg=PA13|access-date=2 September 2013|date=22 March 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-203-69537-1|page=13|quote=There are three branches within Christianity: Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. ... The Christian church draws its lineage and roots from the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles in CE 25–30 and the birth of the Church at Pentecost in ...}}</ref><ref name="Doniger1999">{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=PA309|access-date=2 September 2013|date=January 1999|publisher=Merriam-Webster|isbn=978-0-87779-044-0|page=309|quote= EASTERN ORTHODOXY, one of the major branches of CHRISTIANITY, characterized by its continuity with the apostolic church, its liturgy, and its territorial churches.}}</ref> as well as maintainers of many ancient church traditions.<ref name="Doniger1999" />

==Churches==
{{More citations needed|date=December 2021}}
*The four [[Pentarchy|ancient patriarchates]]:
** The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]], headed by the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]], who is also the "[[Primus inter pares|first among equals]]" of the Eastern Orthodox Church
*** The semi-autonomous [[Church of Crete|Archdiocese of Crete]]
*** The [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]
*** The [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia]]
*** The [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada]]
*** The [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy]]
*** The [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain]]
*** The [[Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America]]
** The [[Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria]]
** The [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]]
*** The [[Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines|Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines]]
*** The Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and All Argentina
*** The Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of France, Western and Southern Europe
*** The Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Germany and Central Europe
*** The [[Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Mexico, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean|Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Mexico, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean]]
*** The [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America|Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America]]
*** The [[Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Santiago and All Chile|Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Santiago and All Chile]]
*** The Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of São Paulo and All Brazil
*** The Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland
** The [[Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem]]
*** The autonomous [[Church of Sinai]]
* [[Autocephaly]] defended at the [[Council of Ephesus]]
**The [[Church of Cyprus]]
* Two modern autocephalous churches:
** The [[Church of Greece]]
** The [[Albanian Orthodox Church]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Roudometof|first=Victor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xoww453NVQMC|title=Collective memory, national identity, and ethnic conflict|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2002|page=179|isbn=9780275976484| quote = the only remaining issues between the two sides concern the extent to which minority members should have equal rights with the rest of the Albanian citizens as well as issues of property and ecclesiastical autonomy for the Greek Orthodox Church of Albania.}}</ref> also known as "Greek Orthodox Church of Albania" or "Church of Albania"<ref>{{cite book|last=Thornberry|first=Patrick|title=Minorities and human rights law|year=1987|publisher=Minority Rights Group|location=London|isbn=9780946690480|pages=36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fb0jAQAAIAAJ&q=%22greek+orthodox+church+of+albania%22|edition=1. publ.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Albanian church attack 'act of religious hatred'|url=http://wwrn.org/articles/14792/?&place=balkans|publisher=WorldWide Religious News|access-date=12 June 2012}}</ref>
*Exarchate under the jurisdiction of the [[Orthodox Church in America]] (itself not part of Greek Orthodoxy)
** The [[Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America]]

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Religion in Greece]]
* [[East-West Schism]]
* [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]]
* [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
* [[History of the Eastern Orthodox Church]]
* [[Russian Orthodoxy]]
* [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]
* [[Catholic Church in Greece]]
* [[Name days in Greece]]
* [[Pentarchy]]
* [[Ecumenism]]
* [[Greeks]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Aderny, Walter F. ''The Greek and Eastern Churches'' (1908) [https://books.google.com/books?id=YQ4QAAAAYAAJ online]
* Constantelos, Demetrios J. ''Understanding the Greek Orthodox church: its faith, history, and practice'' (Seabury Press, 1982)
* Fortesque, Adrian. ''The Orthodox Eastern Church'' (1929)
* Hussey, Joan Mervyn. ''The orthodox church in the Byzantine empire'' (Oxford University Press, 2010) [https://www.questia.com/library/93808782/the-orthodox-church-in-the-byzantine-empire online]
* Kephala, Euphrosyne. ''The Church of the Greek People Past and Present'' (1930)
* Latourette, Kenneth Scott. ''Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, II: The Nineteenth Century in Europe: The Protestant and Eastern Churches.'' (1959) 2: 479–484; ''Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, IV: The Twentieth Century in Europe: The Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Churches'' (1958)
* {{cite book |editor1-last=McGuckin |editor1-first=John Anthony |editor1-link=John Anthony McGuckin |title=The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity |volume=2 vols |publisher=(Wiley-Blackwell, 2011) }}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Greek Orthodox Church}}


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{{disambiguation}}
{{Greek Orthodox Christianity}}
{{Greek Orthodox Christianity}}
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{{Authority control}}

Revision as of 18:33, 4 May 2024

This page is about the term. For the Eastern Orthodox Church in Greece, see Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece. For the main independent Eastern Orthodox church in Greece, see Church of Greece. For other uses, see Greek Orthodox Church (disambiguation).

The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía, IPA: [elinorˈθoðoksi ekliˈsia]) may refer to:

  1. ^ a b Demetrios [Trakatellis] (2010). "Orthodox Churches, Eastern: Greek Orthodox Church and Its Theology". In Patte, Daniel (ed.). The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Cambridge University Press. p. 895. ISBN 978-0-521-52785-9.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greek_Orthodox_Church&oldid=1222232105"