Surprising Aspects of Oriental Orthodoxy

You may never have learned about the "other Orthodoxy", so read on!

I am back after a rather long period of time, which resulted in my successfully defending my dissertation at the end of February! I will post more about this in the coming weeks as we explore THE IMPACT OF POST-1960S IMMIGRATION TO GERMANY ON THE SELF-PERCEPTION AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ARAMEAN FAMILIES OF SYRIAC ORTHODOX FAITH. I am sure you are excited! Well, maybe…

For now, let’s explore some things you may not know about the Orthodox world of the Middle East.

1)    Oriental Orthodoxy ≠ Eastern Orthodoxy

While Orthodoxy is generally not well-known in the Western world, few people realize there was a split long before the Great Schism of A.D 1051, when the East split from the West. At the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451, the Oriental Orthodox churches split from the Eastern Orthodox churches. Oriental Orthodox Churches are considered to adhere to a miaphysite Christology, whereas Eastern Orthodox Churches hold to a dyophysite Christology.

Miaphysitism affirms that Jesus Christ has a single nature, containing His divinity and humanity. It further states that these elements are united without any degree of separation or change. St. Cyril's expression "One Nature of God the Incarnate Logos" (Mia Physis Tou Theou Logou Sesarkwmene) was the discussion point at the Council of Chalcedon and ultimately gave name to the Christology held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The late Coptic Pope Shenouda III, wrote:

The Divine nature (God the Word) was united with the human nature which He took of the Virgin Mary by the action of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit purified and sanctified the Virgin's womb so that the Child to whom she gave birth would inherit nothing of the original sin; the flesh formed of her blood was united with the Only-Begotten Son. This unity took place from the first moment of the Holy Pregnancy in the Virgin's womb.As a result of the unity of both natures-the Divine and the human-inside the Virgin's womb, one nature was formed out of both: "The One Nature of God the Incarnate Logos" as St. Cyril called it. The Holy Church did not find an expression more reliable, deep and precise than that which was used by St. Cyril the Great, and which St. Athanasius the Apostolic used before him, . . .^[1]

On the other hand, Dyophysite churches hold to a Christology that affirms two natures, divine and human, that co-exist in the person of Jesus Christ.

Since the split at the Council of Chalcedon, the two Orthodox groups have not been in communion with each other, meaning that members of an Oriental Orthodox church cannot participate in the Eucharist as part of the Divine Liturgy of an Eastern Orthodoxy parish and vice versa. Many efforts have been made to reunite the two branches of Orthodoxy, with the finest theologians of both sides reaching agreements that the theological differences were not enough to keep the churches from reuniting. Alas, this is still a matter of prayer to come to fruition.

2)    Six churches, three rites, one faith

The Oriental Orthodox Church is made up of six churches:

1.     The Armenian Orthodox Church

2.     The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch

3.     Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

4.     The Coptic Orthodox Church

5.     The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

6.     The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Most of the above churches also form the Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches (SCOOCH). There is a complicated relationship between the Malankara Orthodox Church (MOSC or Indian Orthodox Church) and the Syriac Orthodox Church in India (sometimes called Malankara Jacobite Syrian). Understanding this better takes a lot of time and effort. This page gives a bit of insight.

Across the six churches, three rites are in use:

1.     The Armenian Rite (used by the Armenian church)

2.     The West Syriac Rite (used by the Syriac Orthodox and Malankara Orthodox churches)

3.     The Alexandrian Rite (used by the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean churches)

All of the differences in tradition do not change the fact that all confirm one faith, defined by the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.

3)    Diaspora communities and lost languages

One thing many of the Oriental churches have in common is that diaspora groups of their respective churches are found in Western parts of the world. Whether war, genocide, or other contributing factors brought them there, many of the Oriental believers now worship in the West.

With this geographical change also comes the question of preserving the ancient languages. Some find this more manageable, some harder. In particular, the Syriac Orthodox Church struggles to hang on to ancient Syriac (Kthobonoyo), a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. There is no home country to go back to after a genocide in 1915 (called Sayfo, or Sword) in the Tur Abdin region of southeast Turkey that killed hundreds of thousands of people and caused many more to flee their homes. The Syriac language survives because of its liturgical use. In Coptic Orthodoxy today, only a handful of Coptic Christian families in Egypt speak the Coptic language of the ancient Egyptian Christians. It also is present, of course, in the Coptic liturgy. The same applies to Geʽez, the ancient South Semitic language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches.

Some churches with longer immigration histories in their diaspora countries are addressing the problem of their younger generations having grown up with their mother tongue, which is now increasingly the receiving country’s language. These churches have begun to offer English language liturgies for the faithful. However, many efforts are undertaken to preserve the knowledge of the ancient languages of their faith.

4)    Varying liturgical traditions

Across the Oriental Orthodox world, liturgical traditions have developed as these churches often spent centuries without touchpoints due to the abovementioned conflicts.

Some examples:

• Armenian Christians use unleavened bread during the Eucharist. All other Oriental Orthodox Christians use leavened bread.

• Instrument use (or not) varies in the different traditions. Syriac Orthodox churches increasingly use keyboards in their liturgical music. Coptic Orthodox use triangles and cymbals.

• How the Eucharist is served to the faithful differs between the churches, e.g., in the Syriac Orthodox church, the body and blood of Christ are served together, as the priest drips the blood (the wine, which has been consecrated) on the body (the consecrated bread), which is then given to the faithful by hand to their mouths. In the Coptic Orthodox world, the body is administered as a separate step from the blood, so the faithful line up in two sequential lines.^[2]

• Different books may be an accepted part of the canon, e.g., the Book of Enoch is a part of the Ethiopian tradition.

5)    A difference in iconography

Iconography in the Oriental Orthodox churches is quite distinct for each church. The iconoclasm debate of the Eastern Orthodox world bypassed the Oriental Orthodox churches. Nevertheless, other factors influenced their respective use or lack of use of icons. For example, while the Coptic and Armenian churches are decorated with many icons, a Syriac Orthodox church may have some murals or stained-glassed windows depicting saints but has a general lack of icons in the sense one might be used to from an Eastern Orthodox church. Much of this is due to the persecution the church suffered throughout its history. On the run, you might not take icons with you. Nevertheless, even in the Syriac Orthodox Church, a rich history can be found primarily in ancient manuscript illustrations. Beautiful examples of this can be found here.

6)    A difference in vestments

Just as the liturgical traditions have developed, so have the clergy vestments. While many elements are similar, the look is quite distinct between the churches. A picture of several prelates from the Oriental Orthodox churches after a joint celebration of the Divine Liturgy speaks a thousand words:

Note: An early version of the information shared here was published in November 2023:

Six Things You Did Not Know About the Oriental Orthodox Churches

---

^[1] See more of the Christological considerations of the late Pope Shenouda III at https://st-takla.org/books/en/pope-shenouda-iii/nature-of-christ/orthodox-concept.html

^[2] More about some of the Eucharistic traditions is explained here: http://www.scooch.org/holy-communion-eucharist/