page_title: Eastern Orthodox Church
section_title: Church today
hierarchical_section_title: Eastern Orthodox Church / Church today
caption_attribution_description: English: World Eastern Orthodox population (%)
context_page_description: The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Church, is a Christian church. Their type of Christianity is also called Orthodox Christianity or Orthodoxy. Their members are called Orthodox Christians, although there is another group of Churches called Oriental Orthodox that is not in communion with the Orthodox Church. There are about 300 million Orthodox Christians in the world. Most Orthodox Christians are found in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but there are Orthodox Christians everywhere around the world.
  The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that it is the Church started by Jesus Christ in his instructions to the Apostles. It practices what it understands to be the original Christian faith and maintains the sacred tradition passed down from the apostles.
  The worship service is known as the Divine Liturgy. The beliefs and rituals of the service are similar to the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church.
context_section_description: The many churches of the Orthodox Church are distinct in terms of administration and local culture, but for the most part exist in full communion with one another. Most of these churches are led by patriarchs. Most patriarchs recognise the Patriarch of Constantinople as their spiritual leader.
  The following listing contains a selection of Eastern Orthodox Churches. Unless otherwise stated, they are in communion:
  Mount Athos (a community of monasteries)
  Albanian Orthodox Church
  Antiochian Orthodox Church
  Bulgarian Orthodox Church
  Greek Orthodox Church
  Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria
  Church of Mount Sinai (one monastery)
  Russian Orthodox Church
  Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
  Romanian Orthodox Church
  In the 17th century a group of people split from the Eastern Orthodox Church because they did not agree with some changes that were introduced. These people are known as Old Believers today. There are two big groups of Old Believers and a few smaller ones. Old Believers are not in communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches.
caption: Distribution of Eastern Orthodoxy in the world by country
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