an antique Russian Orthodox icon How do the Eastern Churches relate to the Orthodox Church? There are two ways to approach this question, and we'll address both of them.  With two notable exceptions - Italo-Albanian Church and the Maronites - the Eastern Catholic Churches are "children" of the [...]

an antique Russian Orthodox icon In the previous post, it was said the year 1054 was "the year nothing happened."  Why, then, are the events of that year recognized as pivotal for the Great Schism? As we noted, the actions of 1054 did not break communion between the [...]

an antique Russian Orthodox icon So there are twenty-two churches.  Does that include the Orthodox Churches? The short answer is no, it does not.  We should also clarify a point that the Orthodox make: The term Orthodox Church is singular.  Like the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church is [...]

an antique Russian Orthodox icon I was taught that Jesus established one church, but it doesn't seem that you agree.  How many churches did Jesus establish? Jesus established one church.  There are, however, many expressions of that church.  those of us who grew up with the Baltimore Catechism [...]

photo of the symbolic mosac of Lamb of God by Renáta Sedmáková My sister-in-law's family is Eastern Catholic, but they're from Italy.  How is that possible? The Italo-Albanian Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in an area of Italy that was settled by Albanians.  Because they brought their [...]

photo of the symbolic mosac of Lamb of God by Renáta Sedmáková When you say that the Maronites were never "out of communion" with Rome, what does that mean? As we've already seen, following the Schism of 1054, the Orthodox Churches slowly broke communion with the Church of [...]