Is the Eastern Orthodox Church the same thing as Orthodox Christianity?

I need to know this for a project. I don't want to offend anyone by confusing two different beliefs.

Yes, although there are several branches of the Orthodox Church.

Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox are the biggest.

Yes and no.

Anyone can affix the name "Orthodox" to their church. In general, people mean "Eastern Orthodox Church" when they say "Orthodox." But occasionally they are actually talking about one of the other "Orthodox" groups like the Nestorians, Uniates, or Old Calendarists.

Gimmie a minute - I'll explain a little more...


Several organizations go by the name "Orthodox." First, you have the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is the largest body of Orthodox Christians. They are actually comprised of several independent Churches, but they all recognize each other.

Next, you have the Uniates. These are Churches that were formerly Eastern Orthodox, but who have since broke communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church and established communion with the Roman Catholic Church. These guys are also called Eastern Catholics, Byzantine Catholics, Coptic Catholics, or Chaldean Catholics (depending on the group).

Then you have Nestorians. These guys were in communion with the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches until the Council of Ephesus in the 5Th century. Now they are independent, and there are three or four major divisions, including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Malabarians, and the Ancient Church of the East.

Next you have the Monophysites. These guys were in communion until the Council of Constantinople in the late 4Th century. They usually call themselves "Orthodox," and include the Coptic Orthodox Church, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Orthodox Church. (Note that there is also and Eastern Orthodox group called the "Coptic Orthodox").

Then there are the Old Calendarists. These are a handful of groups who broke with the Eastern Orthodox Church at different periods. Some broke off after the reforms in Russia in the 17th century, some broke off after the official adoption of the Gregorian calendar in the early 20th century, and some broke off in response to the Communist take-over of the Church in Russia. These include the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, as well as any group with the word "genuine" in their name (i.e. Genuine Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Genuine Greek Orthodox Church, etc.).

Then, like the other guy said, the word "orthodox" (with a little "o") is also used to describe anything that is traditional or conservative in nature, or that represents the "right" way to do things. In that sense, every Christian denomination claims to be "orthodox."

Orthodox Christianity (with a capital "O") refers to the various Eastern Orthodox (capital "O") Churches. However, the general term "orthodox Christianity" (small "o") also refers to the Catholic Church.

Normally the Orthodox Christian Churches are known as Eastern Orthodox. For more see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_Church

The answer to your question is yes. But what someone said above is not correct. There are no "branches" of Orthodoxy, neither are there any "denominations". The Orthodox Church is one Church located in many different countries. Each national Church has its own name, such as Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Orthodox Church in America, etc. But they are the same Church without separation.

The word "orthodox" literally means "right teaching," so an Orthodox Christian is one who teaches true doctrine. The Churches generally known as Orthodox divided from the western churches over the addition of the phrase "foliage" (Latin for "and from the Son") to the Nicene creed. This happened in the ninth century. The eastern (Orthodox) church held to the older version of the creed while the western (Roman Catholic) church went for the newer version.

YES it is just another name, Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox.

Christianity is split between Catholic/Orthodox vs Protestant

And then between Catholic and Orthodox, we have the same believe and sacrament, but are split on authority of Pope. Other than that, they are basically the same.

Some Orthodox churches
-Greek
-Serbian
-Syriac
-Russian
-Armenian