Editing Christianity (section)

=== Oriental Orthodoxy ===
{{Main|Oriental Orthodoxy}}
[[File:Addis abeba, chiesa della trinità, esterno 02.jpg|thumb|[[Holy Trinity Cathedral (Addis Ababa)|Holy Trinity Cathedral]] in [[Addis Ababa]], the seat of the Ethiopian Orthodox; the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches]]
The [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox Churches]] (also called "Old Oriental" churches) are those eastern churches that recognize the first three ecumenical councils—[[First Council of Nicaea|Nicaea]], [[First Council of Constantinople|Constantinople]], and [[First Council of Ephesus|Ephesus]]—but reject the dogmatic definitions of the [[Council of Chalcedon]] and instead espouse a [[Miaphysite christology]].

The Oriental Orthodox communion consists of six groups: [[Syriac Orthodox]], [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic Orthodox]], [[Ethiopian Orthodox]], [[Eritrean Orthodox]], [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] (India), and [[Armenian Apostolic]] churches.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/ecumenical/ooc-e.html |title=Oriental Orthodox Churches |publisher=Wcc-coe.org|access-date=19 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100406014259/https://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/ecumenical/ooc-e.html |archive-date=6 April 2010}}</ref> These six churches, while being in communion with each other, are completely independent hierarchically.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pluralism.org/affiliates/student/allen/Oriental-Orthodox/Home.html |title=An Introduction to the Oriental Orthodox Churches |publisher=Pluralism.org |date=15 March 2005 |access-date=19 November 2010 |archive-date=8 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708191023/http://www.pluralism.org/affiliates/student/allen/Oriental-Orthodox/Home.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> These churches are generally not in communion with the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], with whom they are in dialogue for erecting a communion.<ref name="sor.cua.edu">{{cite web |author=OONS |url=https://sor.cua.edu/Ecumenism/20010317oomtg4.html |title=Syrian Orthodox Resources – Middle Eastern Oriental Orthodox Common Declaration |publisher=Sor.cua.edu |access-date=19 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626020037/https://sor.cua.edu/Ecumenism/20010317oomtg4.html |archive-date=26 June 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Together, they have about 62 million members worldwide.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lamport |first1=Mark A. |title=Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South |year=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-7157-9 |page=601 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B6xVDwAAQBAJ&q=oriental+orthodox+50+million&pg=PA601 |quote=Today these churches are also referred to as the Oriental Orthodox Churches and are made up of 50 million Christians.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century |journal=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |date=8 November 2017 |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/ |quote=Oriental Orthodoxy has separate self-governing jurisdictions in Ethiopia, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Armenia and Syria, and it accounts for roughly 20% of the worldwide Orthodox population.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/church-families/orthodox-churches-oriental |title=Orthodox churches (Oriental) — World Council of Churches |website=www.oikoumene.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=19 December 2011 |title=Christian Traditions |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-traditions/ |journal=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |quote=About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic (50%), while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world's Christians.}}</ref><ref name="CSGC2019" />

As some of the oldest religious institutions in the world, the Oriental Orthodox Churches have played a prominent role in the history and culture of [[Armenia]], [[Egypt]], [[Turkey]], [[Eritrea]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Christian Nubia|Sudan]], [[Iran]], [[Azerbaijan]] and parts of the [[Middle East]] and [[India]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gHstAQAAIAAJ |title=Christians in the Arab East: A Political Study |last=Betts |first=Robert B. |publisher=Lycabettus |year=1978 |edition=2nd |location=Athens |isbn=978-0-8042-0796-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J_YAAAAMAAJ |title=Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D. |last=Meyendorff |first=John |publisher=St Vladimir's Seminary Press |year=1989 |series=The Church in history |volume=2 |location=Crestwood, NY |author-link=John Meyendorff |isbn=978-0-88141-055-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barry |first1=James |title=Armenian Christians in Iran |year=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108429047 |pages=241–242}}</ref> An Eastern Christian body of [[Autocephaly|autocephalous]] [[Christian denomination|churches]], its [[bishop]]s are equal by virtue of [[episcopal ordination]], and its doctrines can be summarized in that the churches recognize the validity of only the first three [[ecumenical council]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hindson |first1=Ed |last2=Mitchell |first2=Dan |title=The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eE2LdSKiQwC |year=2013 |publisher=Harvest House |isbn=978-0-7369-4806-7}}</ref>

Some Oriental Orthodox Churches such as the [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic Orthodox]], [[Ethiopian Orthodox]], [[Eritrean Orthodox]], places a heavier emphasis on Old Testament teachings than one might find in other Christian denominations, and its followers adhere to certain practices: following [[Christian dietary laws|dietary rules]] that are similar to Jewish [[Kashrut]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Appiah |first1=Anthony |last2=Gates |first2=Henry Louis |title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517055-9 |page=566}}</ref> require that their male members undergo [[circumcision]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=N. Stearns |first=Peter |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-517632-2 |page=179 |quote=Uniformly practiced by Jews, Muslims, and the members of Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, male circumcision remains prevalent in many regions of the world, particularly Africa, South and East Asia, Oceania, and Anglosphere countries.}}</ref> and observes [[ritual purification]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Bradley |title=Water: A Spiritual History |year=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-4411-6767-5 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=H. Bulzacchelli |first=Richard |title=Judged by the Law of Freedom: A History of the Faith-works Controversy, and a Resolution in the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7618-3501-1 |page=19 |quote=The Ethiopian and Coptic Churches distinguishes between clean and unclean meats, observes days of ritual purification, and keeps a kind of dual Sabbath on both Saturday and Sunday.}}</ref>