Eastern Orthodoxy - Balkans, Eastern Europe, Faith

Eastern Orthodoxy

Table of Contents

Introduction
Nature and significance
- The cultural context
- The norm of church organization
History
- The church of imperial Byzantium
  - Byzantine Christianity about 1000 ce
    - Relations between church and state
    - Monastic and mission movements
    - Relations with the West
  - Invasions from east and west
    - The Crusades
    - The Mongol invasion
  - Attempts at ecclesiastical union and theological renaissance
    - Relations with the Western church
    - Theological and monastic renaissance
- Orthodoxy under the Ottomans (1453–1821)
  - The Christian ghetto
  - Relations with the West
- The church of Russia (1448–1800)
  - The “third Rome”
    - Origin of the Muscovite patriarchate
    - Relations between patriarch and tsar
  - The reforms of Peter the Great (reigned 1682–1725)
- Orthodox churches in the 19th century
  - Autocephalies in the Balkans
    - In Greece
    - In Serbia
    - In Romania
    - In Bulgaria
  - The church in imperial Russia
- The Eastern Orthodox Church since World War I
  - The Russian Revolution and the Soviet period
  - The Balkans and eastern Europe
  - The Eastern Orthodox Church in the Middle East
  - Orthodoxy in the United States
  - The Orthodox diaspora and missions
  - Ecumenical involvement
Doctrine
- Councils and confessions
- God and humankind
- Christ
- The Holy Spirit
- The Holy Trinity
- The transcendence of God
- Modern theological developments
The structure of the church
- The canons
- The episcopate
- Clergy and laity
- Monasticism
Worship and sacraments
- The role of the liturgy
- The eucharistic liturgies
- The liturgical cycles
- The sacraments
  - Baptism and chrismation
  - The Eucharist
  - Orders
  - Penance
  - Anointing of the sick
  - Marriage
- Architecture and iconography
The church and the world
- Missions: ancient and modern
- Orthodoxy and other Christians
- Church, state, and society

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In bringing about the fall of the Turkish, Austrian, and Russian empires, World War I provoked significant changes in the structures of the Eastern Orthodox Church. On the western borders of what was then the Soviet Union, in the newly born republics of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the Orthodox minorities established themselves as autonomous churches. The first three joined the jurisdiction of Constantinople, and the Lithuanian diocese remained nominally under Moscow. In Poland, which then included several million Belorussians and Ukrainians, the ecumenical patriarch established an autocephalous church (1924) over the protests of Patriarch Tikhon. After World War II ...(100 of 21255 words)

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