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             What Exactly Do Orthodox Christians Believe?

The Orthodox Church, founded by Christ and His apostles at the day of Pentecost in the year 33 AD, is the oldest and original Christian Church. It has maintained, without distorting or damaging, the fullness of the ancient Christian faith: its beauty, its rich liturgical life, and its apostolic tradition, meaning that its bishops can be traced back in unbroken succession to the apostles themselves, therefore ultimately receiving their consecrations from our Lord Jesus Christ. It is truly the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

The Church's structure consists of a family of fourteen autocephalous and five autonomous churches, sometimes referred to as jurisdictions, though fully united in doctrine and recognition of the seven ecumenical councils. Its main difference from Catholicism is that it claims no "Pope" figure; the bishops of the Church are all equal in their sacramental office, with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople being the "first among equals".

Orthodoxy spread throughout the Roman and later Byzantine Empires and beyond, playing a prominent role in a plethora of cultures. The majority of Orthodox Christians live in Greece, Eastern Europe, and Russia, with smaller communities in the former Byzantine regions of the Middle East and around the Eastern Mediterranean. Through immigration, conversion and missionary activity, Orthodoxy continues to grow; reliable estimates number adherents at over 300 million worldwide, making Eastern Orthodoxy the second largest Christian communion in the world after Catholicism.