Eastern Orthodox Churches

The Eastern Orthodox Church (i.e. Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc.) is the modern name commonly applied to the ancient, theologically unified, multinational Christian communion that views itself as: The historical, unbroken continuation of the original Christian community established by Jesus Christ, the Twelve Apostles, and St. Paul, having preserved the apostolic traditions handed down to them, and having maintained unbroken the link between its clergy and the Apostles by means of Apostolic Succession.The ecclesial communion which has never fallen into error nor deviated from the beliefs and traditions of the original Christian body, but rather has gone to great lengths to preserve them for future generations. All theological concepts, all explanations and expansions are compared to and validated by the original core beliefs; no deviation is allowed. The Christian body which most closely adheres to the canons of the first seven ecumenical councils held between the 4th and the 8th centuries.
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The Eastern Orthodox Church is one of two churches that were created by the east/west split of Christianity in 1054. (The other was the Catholic Church .) It includes the Orthodox Churches of Russia, Greece, Romania, and other "eastern" countries. The Orthodox Churches have similar beliefs to the Catholic Church: it is hierarchical (at least within each of the national churches), believes in the seven sacraments, holds to the decisions of the early Church Councils (such as Nicea ) and the importance of the Church as a teaching authority , and emphasizes the importance of priests and liturgy. They also make extensive use of icons in personal devotion.