Oriental

Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They reject the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon. more...

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Hence, these Churches are also called Old Oriental Churches. Despite the potentially confusing nomenclature, Oriental Orthodox churches are distinct from those that are collectively referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The Oriental Orthodox and the rest of the Church split over differences in Christology. The First Council of Nicaea (321) declared that Jesus Christ was God, "consubstantial" with the Father; and the Council of Ephesus (431) that Jesus, though divine as well as human, was only one person. Twenty years after Ephesus, the Council of Chalcedon declared that Jesus had two complete natures, one human and one divine. Those who opposed Chalcedon likened its doctrine to the Nestorian heresy, condemned at Ephesus, that Christ was two persons, one divine and one human.

The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is considered the spiritual leader of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. This leadership accorded to the Apostolic Throne of Alexandria is one of respect and honor, and does not give any prerogatives, jurisdiction or rights to the Church of Alexandria, as in the Eastern Orthodox Church where the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is considered solely first among equals.

History

The schism between Oriental Orthodoxy and the rest of the Church occurred in the 5th century. The separation resulted in part from the refusal of Pope Dioscorus, the Patriarch of Alexandria, to accept the Christological dogmas promulgated by the Council of Chalcedon, which held that Jesus has two natures: one divine and one human. This was not because Chalcedon stated that Christ has two natures, but because the council's declaration did not confess the two natures as inseparable and united. Pope Dioscorus would accept only "of or from two natures" but not "in two natures."

To the hierarchs who would lead the Oriental Orthodox, this was tantamount to accepting Nestorian, favoring a terminology incompatible with their understanding of Christology, which was founded in the Alexandrine School of Theology that advocated a formula that stressed the unity of the Incarnation over all other considerations.

The Oriental Orthodox churches were therefore often called Monophysite, although they reject this label, as it is associated with Eutychian Monophysitism; they prefer the term "non-Chalcedonian" or "Miaphysite" churches. Oriental Orthodox Churches reject the heretical Monophysite teachings of Eutyches and of Nestorius as well as the Dyophysite definition of the Council of Chalcedon.

Christology, although important, was not the only reason for the Alexandrian Church' refusal of the Council of Chalcedon; political, ecclesiastical and imperial issues were hotly debated.

Read more at Wikipedia.org