History of Eastern Orthodoxy

Eastern Orthodoxy traces its roots to the time of the Gospels.

Dawn of the Byzantine Period (4th Century)

The Roman Empire was split into the western and eastern empires.

The Eastern Roman Empire, by edit from the Emperor Constantin the Great, officially considers Christianity as a legally permitted religion in 313.

Orthodox was established as the State Religion with The First Council of Constantinople in 381.[1]

Chalcedonian Schism (5th Century)

Primarily due to differing viewpoints of the dogmatic definitions from the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Oriental Orthodox broke away from the Eastern Orthodox faith. The Oriental Orthodox Faiths are the following: [2]

• Coptic Orthodox Church

• Armenian Apostolic Church

• Indian Orthodox Church (Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church)

• Syriac Orthodox Church or Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East

• Armenian Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia

• Tewahedo Orthodox Church, which consists of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as the Eritrean Orthodox Church, both in the African continent.

Construction of the Hagia Sofia (6th Century)

The Church of the Holy Wisdom, or Hagia Sophia,[3] was constructed in Constantinople, what is now Istanbul.

The Hagia Sophia was to the Eastern Orthodox faithful as Saint Peter's Cathedral in Rome is to the Roman Catholic faithful.

The Spread of the Eastern Orthodox Faith to Eastern Europe (9th Century)

Monasticism as well missionary activities began to develop, primarily in Eastern Europe.

In the 9th century, Bulgaria became an Eastern Orthodox nation and neighboring nations began to follow Bulgaria's conversion.[2]

Schism with the Roman Catholic Faith (11th Century)

History tends to place 1054 as the date of the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

However, the two churches were developing differences in certain specific beliefs for ages.[2]

The Ottoman Empire's Rule over Constantinople (15th century)

With the Ottoman Empire's invasion of the Byzantium Empire, the Hagia Sofia was converted into a mosque in 1453.

With the exception of one Divine Liturgy in 1919 during the British, French, Italian, and Greek occupation of Istanbul after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the building has been a mosque or a museum to this day (2023).[4]

The Ottoman Period

Under the rule of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, Christians were considered essentially respected, but limited in traditional activities. In this setting, Christian leadership in Constantinople was allowed to carry on administration functions for Eastern Orthodox churches within the Ottoman Empire. The faith was allowed to continue. To make an analogy, it would if an Islamic empire took over Italy, but the pope and the Roman Catholic Church was still allowed to carry on general administration functions for churches within the empire.[4]

The Present Time

The Eastern Orthodox survived through adversity. In the process, it created 2000 years of religious heritage.

In 2019, UNESCO inscribed the Byzantine chant in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[6]

References

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Eastern_Orthodox_Church#Byzantine_period

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Oriental_Orthodoxy

[3]https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eastern-Orthodoxy/History

[4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia

[5]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_music#

[6]https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/byzantine-chant-01508