Library: Christian Studies by Credo Reference: Eastern Orthodoxy

Eastern Orthodox Terms

Apocrypha
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
The word apocrypha (literally, “things hidden away”) is used to designate a group of fifteen religious writings from antiquity that are included in the Greek Septua-gint and Latin Vulgate but are not in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Eucharist: Topic Page
Chief Christian sacrament, in which bread is eaten and wine drunk in memory of the death of Jesus.
Icon: Topic Page
Single image created as a focal point of religious veneration, especially a painted or carved portable object of the Orthodox Eastern faith.
Liturgy
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Form of public worship, particularly the form of rite or services prescribed by the various Christian churches. In the Western Church the principal service centered upon the Eucharistic sacrifice.
Nicene Creed: Topic Page
The creed recited as part of the Eucharistic liturgies of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, and many Protestant Churches.
Septuagint: Topic Page
Oldest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made by Hellenistic Jews, possibly from Alexandria, c.250 B.C. Legend, according to the fictional letter of Aristeas, records that it was done in 72 days by 72 translators for Ptolemy Philadelphus, which accounts for the name.
Trinity: Topic Page
In Christianity, the union of three persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost - in one Godhead. The precise meaning of the doctrine has been the cause of unending dispute, and was the chief cause of the split between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

Sects & Divisions

Armenian Church
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Autonomous Christian church, sometimes also called the Gregorian Church. Its head, a primate of honor only, is the catholicos of Yejmiadzin, Armenia.
Greek Orthodox Church
From The Macmillan Encyclopedia
Strictly, the Orthodox Church in Greece.
Jacobite Church
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Christian church of Syria, Iraq, and India, recognizing the Syrian Orthodox patriarch of Antioch as its spiritual head, regarded by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox as heretical.
Nestorian Church
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Christian community of Iraq, Iran, and Malabar, India. It represents the ancient church of Persia and is sometimes called the Assyrian (or East Syrian) Church.
Orthodox Church
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Federation of national and regional self-governing Christian churches, mainly found in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. The final schism between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church occurred in 1054.
Russian Orthodox Church
From Chambers Dictionary of World History
A Church originating in missionary activity on the part of the see of Constantinople and in political interest on the part of Kiev Rus in the 10c.