page_title: Eastern Orthodox Church
section_title: Early Church
hierarchical_section_title: Eastern Orthodox Church / History / Early Church
caption_attribution_description: Early Christian inscription with the Greek letters "ΙΧΘΥΣ" carved into marble in the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus at Turkey
context_page_description: The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptised members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops in local synods. Roughly half of Eastern Orthodox Christians live in Russia. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the bishop of Rome, but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by all as primus inter pares of the bishops. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Near East.
  Eastern Orthodox theology is based on Sacred Tradition which incorporates the dogmatic decrees of the seven Ecumenical Councils, the Scriptures, and the teaching of the Church Fathers. The church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, and that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles.
context_section_description: Paul and the Apostles traveled extensively throughout the Roman Empire, including Asia Minor, establishing Churches in major communities, with the first churches appearing in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, then in Antioch, Ethiopia, Egypt, Rome, Alexandria, Athens, Thessalonica, Illyricum, and Byzantium, which centuries later would become prominent as the New Rome. Christianity in the Roman Empire met with considerable resistance, as its adherents would refuse to comply with the Roman state (even at the threat of death) in offering sacrifice to the pagan gods. Despite persecutions, the Christian Church spread. The persecution dissipated upon the conversion of Emperor Constantine I in 312 AD.
  By the 4th century Christianity had spread to numerous regions. A number of influential schools of thought had arisen, particularly the Alexandrian and Antiochian philosophical approaches. Other groups, such as the Arians, had also managed to gain influence. However, their positions caused theological conflicts within the Church, thus prompting the Emperor Constantine to call for a great ecumenical synod in order to define the Church's position against the growing, often widely diverging, philosophical and theological interpretations of Christianity. He made it possible for this council to meet not only by providing a location, but by offering to pay for the transportation of all the existing bishops of the Church. Most modern Christian Churches regard this synod, commonly called the First Council of Nicaea or more generally the First Ecumenical Council, as of major importance.
caption: An early Christian "Ichthys" (fish) inscription from ancient Ephesus
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