The Eastern Cross/Guides/Eastern vs Oriental Orthodox
A fair comparison
Two families of ancient Churches, both called Orthodox. How they came apart in 451, what still divides them, and why many now say they share one faith.
The short answer
The Oriental Orthodox are six ancient Churches: the Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Armenian, Syriac and Indian (Malankara). They separated from the rest of the Church after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, six centuries before East and West parted in 1054. The dispute was over how to describe Christ: Chalcedon confessed Him "in two natures", while the Oriental Orthodox hold to St. Cyril's "one incarnate nature of God the Word". Both families condemn the same heresies, and since 1989 the official dialogue between them has said they hold the same faith in different words. They are still not in communion, mainly over the later councils and the saints each side honours.
Eastern Orthodox
The Orthodox Church
Constantinople, Alexandria (Greek), Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Cyprus and more. Accepts seven Ecumenical Councils. Also called Chalcedonian or Byzantine Orthodox.
Oriental Orthodox
The Oriental Orthodox Churches
Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Armenian, Syriac and Malankara (Indian). Accepts three Ecumenical Councils. Also called non-Chalcedonian or Miaphysite. "Oriental" here simply means "eastern".
II · History
The great division of the fifth century came in the middle of a fierce debate about how God and man are united in Christ. Watch one Church become three. (The Church of the East, in the Persian Empire, had already gone its own way after Ephesus in 431; its story is for another guide.)
SourcesEphesus (431); Second Ephesus (449); Chalcedon (451); the Henotikon; Constantinople II, anathema 8; Constantinople III; Aarhus (1964); First Agreed Statement (1989); Basilica.ro (2024)
III · The heart of it
Everyone agreed that Christ is fully God and fully man, one Lord. The fight was over the words. Two teachings were rejected on either side, and the two families ended up standing in the same place between them, using different language.
Eastern Orthodox · Chalcedon, 451
"One and the same Christ … to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably."
One person, the eternal Son, who is both fully divine and fully human. Each nature keeps what is proper to it.
Oriental Orthodox · St. Cyril
"One incarnate nature of God the Word."
One united divine-human nature, as a human being is one nature of soul and body. Without mixture, without confusion, without change.
Part of the problem was vocabulary. Many scholars argue that when St. Cyril spoke of "one nature", his word physis came close to what Chalcedon would call "person" (hypostasis); Oriental Orthodox theologians stress that it means one concrete, united reality. Either way, one side heard "two natures" as dividing Christ, and the other heard "one nature" as blurring Him. Dioscorus would accept that Christ is from two natures, but not in two. Cyril received the "one nature" formula as a saying of St. Athanasius; most modern scholars trace the text to followers of Apollinaris, and the Second Council of Constantinople accepted it in Cyril's Orthodox sense.
“Those among us who speak of two natures in Christ do not thereby deny their inseparable, indivisible union; those among us who speak of one united divine-human nature in Christ do not thereby deny the continuing dynamic presence in Christ of the divine and the human, without change, without confusion.”First Agreed Statement of the Joint Commission, 1989
SourcesDefinition of Chalcedon; Pope Shenouda III, The Nature of Christ; Coptic Diocese of the Southern US; McGuckin, Studia Patristica 33; First Agreed Statement (1989)
IV · The family
Six self-governing Churches, from the Nile to Kerala, sharing one faith. The Syriac Patriarchate and the Malankara Church have been divided since the 1970s over the Indian Church's independence. Membership figures are estimates and vary between sources.
Coptic Orthodox Church
Pope of Alexandria · Cairo
Its calendar counts the years from AD 284, the start of Emperor Diocletian's reign, as the Era of the Martyrs. Hymns are accompanied by cymbals and a triangle.
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Patriarch · Addis Ababa
Every church holds a tabot, a consecrated tablet representing the Ark of the Covenant. At Timkat, the feast of Theophany, the tabots are carried in procession to the water. Tewahedo means "made one".
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Patriarch · Asmara
The youngest Church of the family. It became self-governing between 1993 and 1998, after Eritrea's independence, with the blessing of the Coptic Church.
Armenian Apostolic Church
Catholicos of All Armenians · Holy Etchmiadzin
By tradition, in 301 Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity. Christmas and Theophany are kept together on January 6. A second Catholicos, of Cilicia, sits at Antelias in Lebanon.
Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East · Damascus
Its main liturgy is the ancient Liturgy of St. James. In India, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church belongs to it as a self-governing part.
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
Catholicos of the East · Kottayam, Kerala
One of the Churches of the St. Thomas Christians of Kerala. In 1912 the Catholicate of the East was established in India; the Malankara Church sees it as the seat of an independent Church, while the Jacobite Church remains under Antioch. The dispute, including over parishes, has passed through the Indian courts for decades.
SourcesWorld Council of Churches member profiles: Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Armenian, Syriac, Malankara; Pew Research (2017); Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church; Coptic Holy Synod; Coptic calendar; Timkat; Jacobite Syrian Christian Church; Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church; Malankara Church
V · Where they differ
Each difference below gives the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox positions side by side. This is an Eastern Orthodox website, and we've tried to describe the Oriental Orthodox as they describe themselves.
The clearest dividing line.
Eastern Orthodox
Accepts seven Ecumenical Councils, from Nicaea (325) to Nicaea II (787), including Chalcedon (451) and the councils that followed it on Christ's wills and the holy icons.
Oriental Orthodox
Accepts three: Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus. They rejected Chalcedon as a departure from St. Cyril's teaching; the Armenian Church formally rejected it at Dvin in 554. In 1990 they responded "positively" to the Eastern Orthodox interpretation of the later councils, without counting them as ecumenical.
SourcesSecond Agreed Statement (1990); Armenian Church, Pontifical Delegation of Western Europe; Pew Research (2017)
The same Lord, described in two vocabularies.
Eastern Orthodox
Christ is one person in two natures, divine and human, united without confusion, change, division or separation. Later councils add that He has two natural wills, divine and human, in perfect harmony.
Oriental Orthodox
Christ has one united divine-human nature, "one nature of the incarnate Word", formed from two without mixture or change. They are called Miaphysite ("one united nature") and reject the label "Monophysite", which they regard as describing the error of Eutyches.
SourcesDefinition of Chalcedon; Constantinople III; Pope Shenouda III, The Nature of Christ; Armenian Church; OrthodoxWiki
Some of the hardest questions are about people.
Eastern Orthodox
Honours St. Leo the Great and the Fathers of Chalcedon. Dioscorus was deposed at Chalcedon, and Severus of Antioch was condemned by a synod in Constantinople in 536.
Oriental Orthodox
Honours St. Dioscorus and St. Severus, whom the Syriac Church calls the "Crown of the Syriac People", and rejects Leo's Tome. Both families honour the saints from before the split.
Why was Dioscorus deposed? Chalcedon's sentence cites his disregard of the canons, his disobedience to the council, "other crimes", and his refusal of three summonses; it does not name a heresy. Whether it also implied doctrinal error is still argued, and historians differ.
SourcesChalcedon, sentence against Dioscorus; Brock, “Severus of Antioch”, e-GEDSH; Syriac Patriarchate (2018); Frend, Coptic Encyclopedia
Mostly in step, with some ancient calendars of their own.
Eastern Orthodox
Christmas on December 25, which falls on January 7 for Churches on the Old Calendar. Pascha by the Julian reckoning.
Oriental Orthodox
Copts and Ethiopians keep their own ancient thirteen-month calendars and celebrate Christmas on January 7, with Pascha on the same day as the Eastern Orthodox. The Syriac Church keeps Christmas on December 25 and Pascha on the Julian date. The Armenian Church (outside Jerusalem) and the Churches in India use the Gregorian calendar and the Western date of Easter.
SourcesCoptic calendar; Ethiopian calendar; Fasika; Armenian Diocese of Australia; Syriac Orthodox Resources
If anything, the Oriental Orthodox fast even more.
Eastern Orthodox
Four fasting seasons plus most Wednesdays and Fridays, about half the year in all. Great Lent lasts forty days before Holy Week.
Oriental Orthodox
Copts fast 210 days or more a year, with a 55-day Great Lent and a 43-day Nativity fast. Ethiopian laity keep about 180 days, often eating nothing before 3 pm. All the Oriental Orthodox keep the Fast of Nineveh, for Jonah's preaching: three days, or five for Armenians.
SourcesCoptic fasting; Coptic Diocese of London; Ethiopian fasting; Fast of Nineveh; Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
Different rites, each with its own ancient beauty.
Eastern Orthodox
The Byzantine rite: the Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil, sung without instruments, with leavened bread.
Oriental Orthodox
Copts pray the Liturgies of St. Basil, St. Gregory and St. Cyril; Ethiopians have fourteen anaphoras, with drums and the sistrum. The Syriac Liturgy of St. James is among the most ancient. Armenians use unleavened bread and wine without water. Ethiopians take off their shoes to enter church.
SourcesWCC, Coptic and Ethiopian profiles; Debtera; New Catholic Encyclopedia, “Armenian Liturgy”; Sign of the cross; Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
VI · Today
For fifteen centuries each family thought the other had fallen into heresy. In the twentieth century, theologians from both sat down together to find out.
The case for agreement
The Agreed Statements say both families hold the same faith about Christ, and that their differences lie mainly in terminology. Many theologians and bishops on both sides call for the statements to be received in every local Church and the anathemas lifted.
The case for caution
Others have serious reservations. In the mid-1990s the Holy Community of Mount Athos objected that the dialogue would treat Dioscorus and Severus as Orthodox without the Oriental Orthodox accepting Chalcedon and the later councils, and that some phrases were open to a Monophysite reading. In 1997 the Russian Church's Bishops' Council said the 1990 statement should not be regarded as "a final document sufficient for the restoration of full communion". Many Oriental Orthodox, for their part, are clear that unity cannot mean condemning their own saints or receiving the later councils as ecumenical.
Reunion would need agreement on the status of the later councils, and on how to lift anathemas against men honoured as saints by one family and condemned by the other. Until then, the two families are not in communion.
SourcesAarhus (1964); First Agreed Statement (1989); Second Agreed Statement (1990); Synodal and Patriarchal Letter, Damascus (1991); Alexandria agreement (2001); Mount Athos memorandum; Russian Bishops' Council (1997); Holy Cross conference report (2025)
VII · Summary
| Topic | Eastern Orthodox | Oriental Orthodox |
|---|---|---|
| Ecumenical councils | Seven | Three |
| Council of Chalcedon | Ecumenical council | Rejected |
| Christ | One person in two natures | One united nature of the incarnate Word |
| Nestorius and Eutyches | Condemned | Condemned |
| Leo the Great | Saint | Rejected, with his Tome |
| Dioscorus and Severus | Condemned | Saints |
| The Creed | Nicene, no filioque | Nicene, no filioque |
| Christmas | Dec 25, or Jan 7 on the Old Calendar | Jan 7 (Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean); Jan 6 (Armenian); Dec 25 (Syriac, Indian) |
| Communion bread | Leavened | Leavened, except the Armenians |
| Fasting | About half the year | Often more; over 210 days for Copts |
| With each other | Not in communion, with limited pastoral agreements in Antioch and Alexandria | |
VIII · Questions
No, not in the sense the word usually carries. "Monophysite" refers to the teaching of Eutyches, that Christ's humanity was absorbed into His divinity, and the Oriental Orthodox condemn Eutyches themselves. They describe their faith as Miaphysite: one united nature of the incarnate Word, fully divine and fully human. Many older books use "Monophysite" for them, but they consider it inaccurate.
SourcesCoptic Diocese of the Southern US; Armenian Church; Brock, e-GEDSH
Generally no. The two families are not in communion. There are limited local exceptions: since 1991 the Antiochian and Syriac Patriarchates allow one priest to serve the faithful of both where only one is available, and since 2001 the Coptic and Greek Patriarchates of Alexandria recognise each other's baptism. Ask your priest what applies where you live.
SourcesDamascus letter (1991); Alexandria agreement (2001); Orthodox Times (2019)
No. The Coptic Orthodox Church is not in communion with Rome. There is a much smaller Coptic Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church that uses the Coptic rite and is in communion with the pope, and there are Syriac, Armenian and Ethiopian Catholic Churches too. They are separate Churches from the Oriental Orthodox.
SourcesCoptic Catholic Church
Simply "eastern". Both words once meant the same thing in English, and the names are a modern convention for telling the two families apart. "Oriental Orthodox" has nothing to do with East Asia: these Churches are rooted in Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, Syria and India.
They are sister Churches with a long shared history. The Ethiopian Church's first bishop, St. Frumentius, was consecrated by St. Athanasius of Alexandria, and for centuries Ethiopia was a daughter Church of Alexandria. It received its first Ethiopian archbishop in 1951 and its own Patriarch in 1959. The Eritrean Church followed in the 1990s.
SourcesEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church; WCC, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church; Coptic Holy Synod
They keep the very ancient custom of celebrating Christ's Birth and His Baptism together, on the feast of Theophany. Most Armenians keep it on January 6 of the civil calendar; the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem keeps the Julian calendar, so its January 6 falls on January 19.
SourcesNew Catholic Encyclopedia; Armenian Church, Western Europe
The Council in Trullo (692), canon 95, received them without baptism, by a written renunciation of error that anathematised Nestorius, Eutyches, Dioscorus and Severus. Practice today varies, from a confession of faith to Chrismation, so the priest and bishop decide. Each Oriental Orthodox Church likewise has its own practice for receiving Eastern Orthodox Christians.
SourcesCouncil in Trullo, canon 95; Erickson, SVTQ 41 (1997)
No one can say. The theological dialogue has made remarkable progress, and it resumed in 2024. The open questions are about the later councils and the saints and anathemas, and many on both sides pray for unity.
IX · Sources
Every claim on this page can be checked. Oriental Orthodox teaching is cited from their own Churches and theologians wherever possible, and the history from the councils' own acts and modern scholarship.
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