Eastern Christianity
Greek rite traditions
Eastern Christianity encompasses the Christian traditions that developed in the eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, and parts of Asia and Africa—distinct from the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches of the West.
The major branches include Eastern Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, Serbian), Oriental Orthodox churches (Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian), and Eastern Catholic churches that maintain Eastern liturgical practices while recognizing papal authority.
These traditions share characteristics like married clergy, icon veneration, and liturgies in vernacular or ancient languages.
The Byzantine influence on Eastern Christianity shaped its theology and worship for centuries.
- Church FathersAuthoritative early Christian theologians
- incense smokeVapors from burning aromatics
- hagiographyIdealized biographical writing
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
- Nicene CreedEarly church belief formula
monasticism · kiss of peace · Holy Trinity · Greek Orthodox Church · desert fathers · icons · liturgy · Russian · gold · candles · beards · Byzantine · domes · Constantinople · saints · Greek Orthodox · myrrh · Russian Orthodox
- Syriac scriptures
Eastern ChristianityRoman Catholicism
Papal Christian tradition
Protestantism · Catholicism · Anglicanism · Lutheranism · Calvinism
Eastern ChristianityWestern civilization
Euro-American cultural tradition
eastern, Easter, Christian, Christianity, Christians, eastwards, eastbound, easternmost, Eastern Orthodox