Orthodox Catholic Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian church in the world, with an estimated million adherents, primarily in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Middle East. It is the religious denomination of the majority of the populations of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine; significant minority populations exist in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. It teaches that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles almost 2,000 years ago.

Depictions of the Cross within the Orthodox Church are numerous and often highly ornamented, but its use does not extend to all Orthodox traditions. Some carry special significance. The Tri-Bar Cross, popular in Russia and Ukraine, but common throughout the Orthodox world, seen to the right, has three bars. Its origins are in the early Byzantine Church of the 4th century AD.

The services of the church are properly conducted each day following a rigid, but constantly changing annual schedule (i.e., parts of the service remain the same while others change depending on the day of the year). Services are conducted in the church and involve both the clergy and faithful. Services cannot properly be conducted by a single person, but must have at least one other person present (i.e. a Priest cannot celebrate alone, but must have at least a Chanter present and participating).

Orthodox tenets The goal of Orthodox Christians from baptism is to continually draw themselves nearer to God throughout their lives. This process is called theosis, or deification, and is a spiritual pilgrimage in which each person strives to both become more holy through the imitation of Christ and cultivation of the inner life through unceasing prayer (most famously, the Jesus Prayer) or hesychasm, until united at death with the fire of God's love

The Orthodox believe that the first icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary were painted by Luke the Evangelist. Icons are filled with symbolism designed to convey information about the person or event depicted. Icon painting, in general, is not an opportunity for artistic expression, though each iconographer brings a vision to the piece. Włodzimierska Mother of God icon

There is no single earthly head of all the Orthodox Churches comparable to the Pope of Rome. The highest-ranking bishop of the communion is the Patriarch of Constantinople, who is also primate of one of the autocephalous churches. These organizations are in full communion with each other, so any priest of any of those churches may lawfully minister to any member of any of them.

1.When was the Orthodox Church created? 2.What are the characteristics of the Orthodox Church? 3.What does the cross in Orthodox Church symbolize? 4.What is an icon? 5.What are the traditions of the Orthodox Church?

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