The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 200–260 million members. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, the Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Near East. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops, called a Holy Synod. The church has no central doctrinal or governance authority analogous to the Catholic pope, but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by all as primus inter pares of the bishops. Eastern Orthodox theology is based on the Nicene Creed, and the church teaches that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, and that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles. It maintains that it practices the original Christian faith, passed down by sacred tradition. Its patriarchates, reminiscent of the pentarchy, and autocephalous and autonomous churches reflect a variety of hierarchical organisation. Of its innumerable Sacred Mysteries, it recognises seven major sacraments, of which the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in synaxis. The church teaches that through consecration invoked by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Mother of God, honoured in devotions. The Eastern Orthodox Church shared communion with the Catholic Church until the East–West Schism in AD 1054, triggered by disputes over doctrine, especially the authority of the Pope. Before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, Oriental Orthodox churches also shared in this communion, separating primarily over differences in Christology. The majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians live in Eastern Europe, Greece, and the Caucasus, with smaller communities in the former Byzantine regions of the eastern Mediterranean, Africa, and to a decreasing degree also in the Middle East due to persecution. There are also many in other parts of the world, formed through diaspora, conversions, and missionary activity.
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