The Encyclopedia of World Religions

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Orthodox churches, it means adhering to the decrees of the seven ancient, ecumenical councils. (The Roman Catholic Church and some Protestant churches accept these decrees, too.) The councils were meetings of bishops to determine Christian teaching, especially with regard to Jesus. Some Eastern churches, such as the A RMENIAN C HURCH and C OPTIC C HURCH , refused to accept the councils’ decrees. The Orthodox churches see themselves as continuing the traditions of the APOSTLES . Indeed, important centers of Orthodoxy were founded by apostles. Orthodox bishops also preserve “apos tolic succession,” as do the bishops in the Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches. They go back in an unbroken line of succession to Jesus’s immediate followers. The Orthodox churches arose in the Eastern, Greek-speaking Roman Empire. R OMAN C ATHOLI CISM arose in the Western, Latin-speaking Roman Empire. Political and cultural tensions between the two led to theological disputes in the 800s. In 1054 the Pope and the head of the Orthodox churches, the Patriarch of Constantinople, excom municated one another. In 1204 the Fourth C RU SADE viciously attacked Constantinople. Not until 1965 did the Pope and the Patriarch reestablish friendly relations. Orthodoxy comprises 15 independent territo rial churches—for example, the churches of Con stantinople, Russia, and Greece—and three other churches that are semi-independent in Crete, Fin land, and Japan. The independent churches call their chief officials either patriarchs, archbishops, or metropolitans. The Patriarch of Constantinople

Easter The most important Christian festival, a time when Christians celebrate the RESURRECTION of J ESUS from the dead. According to the N EW T ESTA MENT , Jesus was crucified on a Friday. The follow ing Sunday he rose from the dead. These events took place around the time of the Jewish festival of P ASSOVER . As a result, Christians do not observe Easter on a set date. They observe it on a Sunday in spring around the time of Passover. That Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (roughly March 21). For Catholic, Orthodox, and some Protestant Christians, the most “liturgically correct” way to observe Easter is with a vigil. This is a lengthy ser vice late Saturday evening, which looks forward to the resurrection Sunday morning. Another common practice is to hold “sunrise services” early Easter morning. In North America and Europe, Christians also celebrate Easter with colored eggs. The eggs are said to symbolize the new life that the resur rection of Jesus made possible. They probably also preserve ways of celebrating the coming of spring that were common in Europe before C HRISTIANITY . Not all Christians observe Easter. Some Protes tants reject it as a human invention. Among those who do not observe Easter are the “plain people,” such as the A MISH . Eastern Orthodox Christianity One of the three major branches of C HRISTIANITY . The Eastern Orthodox churches are properly known as “the Orthodox Catholic Church.” The word “orthodox” means “having the proper opinions or beliefs.” In the case of the

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