The Oriental Orthodox Churches

Those churches that did not accept the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon (451) are called Oriental Orthodox Churches. Their reasons for this rejection were quite different: while strong opposition to the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon formed in the Patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch, the Armenians and Ethiopians were hardly involved in the disputes about Chalcedonian Christology, and only later took over the position of the Copts and Syrians. Because of the strong emphasis on the divine nature of Jesus Christ in the Christological doctrine of these churches, their faithful have long been referred to as "Monophysites." However, as recent research has shown, the insinuated accusation of heresy is not applicable. Therefore, nowadays, the term in use is "pre-Chalcedonian Orthodoxy".

The Oriental Orthodox Churches belong to various rites. Hence, each one of them should be regarded as an independent church. On the other hand, because of their agreement in faith, they are in communion with each other and see themselves as one church family.

The family of Oriental Orthodox Churches includes: