How do the Oriental Orthodox define the Church?

[Ahlman]

Since the Great Schism, simply put, both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (in some way or another) see itself as the one, true Church that everyone ought to belong to.

But what about the Oriental Orthodox communion (the Churches that did not accept the council of Chalcedon in 451, namely the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syriac, and Indian Orthodox Churches)? Do they also believe that their communion is the one, true Church and that Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches broke off from it after the Council of Chalcedon? Or do they just see themselves as part of the one, true Church, without defining its limits any more specifically?

 

[Leo_The_Great]

They have a view basically similar to the EO, That their communion is the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church, and that There is an Order of Precedence, The Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria having the Primacy of honor, then of Antioch, and I lose it after there, but probably then the Armenian, then the Ethiopian/Eritrean, and then those Indian Orthodox in communion with the Patriarch of Antioch, etc…Oh, then there are also the Autonomous Churches like the British Orthodox church which is a missionary expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church, etc…there are even mono/mia-physite parallels in constantinople and Jerusalem, but I do not recall if they are autonomous or autocephalous or even currently exist…I believe they are armenian…

 

[Vico]

Ahlman,

Do you mean these Churches?

The Church of Armenia (Armenian Apostolic Church)
The Church of Antioch (Syriac Orthodox)
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
The Church of India (Malankara, Indian Orthodox, Orthodox Syrian Church of the East)

Do you mean to include?

Assyrian Church of the East

 

[scottm]

The Coptic Church in actuality accepts the Council of 451, and is equivalent in doctrine and practice to the various Eastern Orthodox Churches. I looked into this a couple years back. There was a linguistical confusion – different languages, and nobody on either side could translate properly. Research it yourself and I know you’ll reach the same conclusion. The Copts and the Orthodox have met several times over the years to discuss a unification, but every time politics killed the efforts. (That’s a familiar tune in so many contexts. What a shame.)