The Orthodox Church was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ and
is the living manifestation of His presence in the history of
the mankind. The most conspicuous characteristics of Orthodoxy
are its rich liturgical life and its faithfulness to the apostolic
tradition. It is believed by Orthodox Christians that their Church
has preserved the tradition and continuity of the ancient Church
in its fullness compared to other Christian denominations which
have departed from the common tradition of the Church of the
first 10 centuries. Today Orthodox Church numbers approximately
300 million Christians who follow the faith and practices that
were defined by the first seven ecumenical councils. The word
orthodox ("right belief and right glory") has traditionally
been used, in the Greek-speaking Christian world, to designate
communities, or individuals, who preserved the true faith (as
defined by those councils), as opposed to those who were declared
heretical. The official designation of the church in its liturgical
and canonical texts is "the Orthodox Catholic Church"
(gr. catholicos = universal).
 The
Orthodox Church is a family of "autocephalous" (self
governing) churches, with the Ecumenical (= universal) Patriarch
of Constantinople holding titular or honorary primacy as primus
inter pares (the first among equals). The Orthodox Church
is not a centralised organization headed by a pontiff. The unity
of the Church is rather manifested in common faith and communion
in the sacraments and no one but Christ himself is the real head
of the Church. The number of autocephalous churches has varied
in history. Today there are many: the Church of Constantinople
(Istanbul), the Church of Alexandria (Egypt), the Church of Antioch
(with headquarters in Damascus, Syria), and the Churches of Jerusalem,
Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Cyprus,
Greece, Poland, Albania and America
There are also "autonomous" churches (retaining
a token canonical dependence upon a mother see) in Czech and
Slovak republic, Sinai, Crete, Finland, Japan, China and Ukraine.
In addition there is also a large Orthodox Diaspora scattered
all over the world and administratively divided among various
jurisdictions (dependencies of the above mentioned autocephalous
churches). The first nine autocephalous churches are headed by
patriarchs, the others by archbishops or metropolitans.
These titles are strictly honorary as all bishops are completely
equal in the power granted to them by the Holy Spirit.
 The order of precedence
in which the autocephalous churches are listed does not reflect
their actual influence or numerical importance. The patriarchates
of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, for example, present
only shadows of their past glory. Yet there remains a consensus
that Constantinople's primacy of honour, recognized by the ancient
canons because it was the capital of the ancient Byzantine empire,
should remain as a symbol and tool of church unity and cooperation.
Modern pan-Orthodox conferences were thus convoked by the ecumenical
patriarch of Constantinople. Several of the autocephalous churches
are de facto national churches, by far the largest being the
Russian Church; however, it is not the criterion of nationality
but rather the territorial principle that is the norm of organization
in the Orthodox Church.
In the wider theological sense "Orthodoxy is not merely
a type of purely earthly organization which is headed by patriarchs,
bishops and priests who hold the ministry in the Church which
officially is called "Orthodox." Orthodoxy is the mystical
"Body of Christ," the Head of which is Christ Himself
(see Eph. 1:22-23 and Col. 1:18, 24 et seq.), and its composition
includes not only priests but all who truly believe in Christ,
who have entered in a lawful way through Holy Baptism into the
Church He founded, those living upon the earth and those who
have died in the Faith and in piety." (read
an inspiring sermon "WHAT IS ORTHODOXY?" by
Arcbishop Averky of Jordanville)
 The
GREAT
SCHISM between the Eastern and theWestern Church (1054)
was the culmination of a gradual process of estrangement between
the east and west that began in the first centuries of the Christian
Era and continued through the Middle Ages. Linguistic and cultural
differences, as well as political events, contributed to the
estrangement. From the 4th to the 11th century, Constantinople,
the centre of Eastern Christianity, was also the capital of the
Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire, while Rome, after the barbarian
invasions, fell under the influence of the Holy Roman Empire
of the West, a political rival. In the West theology remained
under the influence of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and gradually
lost its immediate contact with the rich theological tradition
of the Christian East. In the same time the Roman See was almost
completely overtaken by Franks. Theological differences could
have probably been settled if there were not two different concepts
of church authority. The growth of Roman primacy, based on the
concept of the apostolic origin of the Church of Rome which claimed
not only titular but also jurisdictional authority above other
churches, was incompatible with the traditional Orthodox ecclesiology.
The Eastern Christians considered all churches as sister churches
and understood the primacy of the  Roman bishop only as primus
inter pares among his brother bishops. For the East, the
highest authority in settling doctrinal disputes could by no
means be the authority of a single Church or a single bishop
but an Ecumenical Council of all sister churches. In the course
of time the Church of Rome adopted various wrong teachings which
were not based in the Tradition and finally proclaimed the teaching
of the Pope's infallibility when teaching ex cathedra.
This widened the gap even more between the Christian East and
West. The protestant communities which split from Rome in the
course of centuries diverged even more from the teaching of the
Holy Fathers and the Holy Ecumenical Councils. Due to these serious
dogmatic differences the Orthodox Church is not in communion
with the Roman Catholic and Protestant communities. More traditional
Orthodox theologians do not recognise the ecclesial and salvific
character of these Western churches at all, while the more liberal
ones accept that the Holy Spirit acts to a certain degree within
these communities although they do not possess the fullness of
grace and spiritual gifts like the Orthodox Church. Many serious
Orthodox theologians are of the opinion that between Orthodoxy and heterodox confessions, expecially
in the sphere of spiritual experience, the understanding of God
and salvation, there exists an ontological difference which cannot
be simply ascribed to cultural and intellectual enstrangement
of the East and West but is a direct consequence of a gradual
abandonment of the sacred tradition by heterodox Christians.
At the time of the Schism of 1054 between Rome and Constantinople,
the membership of the Eastern Orthodox Church was spread throughout
the Middle East, the Balkans, and Russia, with its centre in
Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which was
also called New Rome. The vicissitudes of history have
greatly modified the internal structures of the Orthodox Church,
but, even today, the bulk of its members live in the same geographic
areas. Missionary expansion toward Asia and emigration toward
the West, however, have helped to maintain the importance of
Orthodoxy worldwide. Today, the Orthodox Church is present almost
everywhere in the world and is bearing wittness of true, apostolic
and patristic tradition to all peoples.
The Orthodox Church is well known for its developed MONASTICISM.
The uninterupted monastic tradition of Orthodox Christianity
can be traced from the Egyptian desert monasteries of the 3 and
4th centuries. Soon monasticism had spread all over the Mediterranean
basin and Europe: in Palestine, Syria, Cappadocia, Gaul, Ireland,
Italy, Greece and Slav countries. Monasticism has always been
a beacon of Orthodoxy and has made and continues to make a strong
and lasting impact on Orthodox spirituality.
 The Orthodox Church today is a
invaluable treasury of the rich liturgical tradition handed down
from the earliest centuries of Christianity. The sense of the
sacred, the beauty and grandeur of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy make the presence of heaven
on earth live and intensive. Orthodox Church art and music has
a very functional role in the liturgical life and helps even
the bodily senses to feel the spiritual grandeur of the Lord's
mysteries. Orthodox icons are not simply beautiful
works of art which have certain aesthetic and didactive functions.
They are primarily the means through which we experience the
reality of the Heavenly Kingdom on earth. The holy icons enshrine
the immeasurable depth of the mystery of Christ's incarnation
in defence of which thousands of martyrs sacrificed their lives.
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