“That they may all be one, even as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, That they also be in us, so that the world may believe that thou has sent me.” (John 17:21)
Apart from the Malankara Orthodox Church based in India, there are many other types of Orthodox Churches. It was at the Council of Chalcedon whereby the Orthodox Church split into two large factions; the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church.
In AD 451, during the Council of Chalcedon, there was a disagreement surrounding the status of how God nature and human nature operated in our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who believed that he had two separate natures eventually won the day at the Council of Chalcedon (the Eastern Orthodox Churches). However, the remaining churches (including the Malankara Orthodox Church) remained firm in the belief that Christ was God and man at the same time. This led to these Oriental Orthodox Churches (as they would later be called) to reject the council. Therefore, the Eastern Orthodox Church emphasises the difference in the Divine and Human Nature of Jesus while the Oriental Orthodox Churches emphasises the oneness of Jesus’ nature. This has led the Oriental Orthodox Church to only accept the first three Councils (Nicea, Constantinople and Ephesus) while the Eastern Orthodox Church accepts seven.
However, despite these differences, the Malankara Orthodox Church maintains strong relationships with our Orthodox brothers and sisters. Especially in Malaysia, as our Church is the only Orthodox Church in Malaysia, we openly welcome all Orthodox believers to glorify God as one united Church.
Oriental Orthodox Church
- Coptic Orthodox Church based in Egypt.
- Syrian Orthodox Church based in Damascus.
- Ethiopian Orthodox Church based in Addis Ababa.
- Armenian Orthodox Church based in Echmiadsin.
- Eritrean Orthodox Church.
- Malankara Orthodox Church based in Devalokam, Kerala.
Eastern (Byzantine) Orthodox Church
- Orthodox Church of Constantinople based in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Byzantian Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Egypt.
- Byzantian Orthodox Church of Antioch, Syria.
- Byzantian Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, Israel.
- Russian Orthodox Church based in Moscow.
- Serbian Orthodox Church based in Belgrade.
- Romanian Orthodox Church based in Bucharest.
- Cypriot Orthodox Church based in Nicosia.
- Greek Orthodox Church based in Athens.
- Bulgarian Orthodox Church based in Sofia.
- Polish Orthodox Church based in Poland.
- Georgian Orthodox Church based in Tbilisi.
- Czech Orthodox Church based in Prague.
- Orthodox Church of Finland based in Kuopia.
- American Orthodox Church based in New York.
- Japanese Orthodox Church based in Tokyo.
-JGV