In acquainting ourselves with the history of Christianity, we become convinced that the origin of the Orthodox Church goes back uninterruptedly to apostolic times. The Church, being initially small like a mustard seed, according to the Saviour’s colorful simile, gradually grew into a mighty tree whose branches spread over the entire world. Already at the end of the first century we find Christian communities in almost all the cities of the Roman Empire: in the Holy Land, Syria and Armenia, in Asia Minor, Hellas and Macedonia, in Italy and Gaul, in Egypt and North Africa, in Spain and Britain, and even beyond the boundaries of the Empire – in far-away Arabia, India and Scythia. Towards the end of the first century the Christian communities of all the fairly important cities were headed by bishops, who were the bearers of the fullness of apostolic grace. The bishops also ruled over the communities in less important neighboring cities. In the second century the bishops of major cities in the Roman Empire began to be called metro-politans, who united within their domains the sees of all the nearest bishops. The metropolitans had the responsibility of regularly calling together bishops’ councils, in order to resolve current religious and administrative matters.

Aside from provincial cities, the Roman Empire also comprised so-called imperial dioceses. In conjunction with these principal centers of government administration, larger centers of church rule began to be formed, later to be called patriarchates. At the Ecumenical Council that gathered at Chalcedon in 451, the boundaries of the following five patriarchates became clearly defined: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem (whose realm was insignificant in administrative terms, but important in its religious significance).

Over the course of time, and due to various historic events, the realms of these patriarchates either decreased or increased in size. Great changes in the Church occurred as a result of the invasion of Europe by Germanic tribes (late 4th century), and oppression from the Persians and invasion by Arabs of the northern provinces of the Byzantine Empire (mid-7th century). In mid-9th century there was a movement of conversion to Christianity on the part of the Slavic nations. The Thessalonian brothers, saints Cyril and Methodius, were especially active in enlightening the Bulgarians and the Moravians. From Bulgaria the Christian faith spread to Serbia. Saints Cyril and Methodius’ outstanding service was the creation of a Slavonic alphabet and the translation of church service books and the Holy Scriptures from Greek into Slavonic.

Although Christian communities existed on the northern shore of the Black Sea already at the end of the first century, a mass conversion to Christianity of the Slavic tribes living in Russia began from the time of the Baptism of Russia, when the Kievans were baptized on the shores of the Dniepr River in 988, in the reign of holy Prince Vladimir. From Kiev the Orthodox faith spread to other parts of Russia. The greatness of the Russian Orthodox Church before the revolution can be judged from the following figures: at that time there were 1098 monasteries in Russia, numbering over 90,000 monastics. Besides the Moscow Patriarch, there were 6 metropolitans, 136 bishops, 48,000 priests and deacons serving in 60,000 churches and chapels. Unfortunately, we did not sufficiently appreciate our immense spiritual wealth and became attracted to Germans in Western Europe. The persecution of the Church, begun in 1918 by the godless, and the merciless extermination of the clergy, the faithful and the churches can be explained only in the light of the Apocalypse, which foretells of a great persecution of the Christian faith before the end of the world.

Beginning with mid-18th century, through the efforts of St. Herman of Alaska and other Russian missionaries, Orthodoxy was transmitted to Alaska, where many Aleuts became baptized and the foundation for the spread of Orthodoxy throughout North America was laid.

At present, the Orthodox Church is comprised of the following autocephalic churches: Constantinople (with numerous parishes in Europe, North and South America, and with the patriarchal see in Istanbul, Turkey), Alexandrian (Egypt), Antiochian (with its see in Damask, Syria), Jerusalem, Russian, Georgian, Albanian, Polish, Czech, Lithuanian and American. There are also the Chinese, Finnish and Japanese autonomous churches. After the first and second world wars, a great many Orthodox Greek and Orthodox Russian (belonging to the Russian Church Outside of Russia) parishes were formed in almost all parts of the world. The total number of Orthodox Christians in the world is approximately 130 million.

The appellation Orthodox Church came into use in the era of religious disputes in the 4th-6th centuries, when it became necessary to distinguish the true Church from heretic groups (Arians, Nestorians, etc.) who also called themselves Christians. The word Orthodoxy is a translation of the Greek word ortho-dokeo, which means to think rightly. Another appellation of the Church is catholic, which in Greek means “all-encompassing.” The meaning of this appellation is that the Church calls all people to salvation, irrespective of their nationality or social position. When the Creed was translated from Greek into Slavonic, the word “catholic” was rendered as “conciliar.”

All matters pertaining to the Orthodox Church, as, for example, questions of faith (dogma) and canons (church rules), are discussed at Ecumenical Councils. The Ecumenical Councils are attended by bishops from all autocephalic and autonomous Orthodox churches. Representatives from the clergy and the laity are also called in to participate at the councils as needed. Thus, the form of administration in Orthodoxy is neither personal, nor democratic, but conciliar.