Ive never heard of the Orthodox Church. What is it?
The Orthodox Church is the ancient Christian Church, unchanged in its dogmatic statements and its core liturgical practices since the time of the New Testment. Until the 11th century the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches were one body, but since that time there have been developments within the Roman Catholic Church which are not accepted by the Orthodox. Most of the historically Orthodox lands are in the eastern hemisphere, hence the designation “Eastern Orthodox”: The Balkans, Russia, Finland, Romania, Ukraine, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Israel, Syria, etc. There are, however, robust and growing Orthodox populations in the Americas, Western Europe, Asia and Australia. There are also pockets of Orthodoxy in places such as Alaska, Japan and Shanghai, due to the activity there of Russian missions in the 19th century, and in South India, attributed to the mission of St Thomas. It is estimated that there are 250 million Orthodox Christians in the world, making
