Eastern Orthodox vs Oriental Orthodox: What Is the Difference?

Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches both confess the Trinity and that Jesus is God and man. They split over the Council of Chalcedon in 451: Chalcedon’s definition says one Christ in two natures, and the Coptic Church, which is Oriental Orthodox, keeps “the one nature of God the incarnate Logos.” A joint commission in 1990 said each side may keep its formula. That statement did not restore communion. This page quotes the texts. It does not decide. The Coptic church’s own account is What Is the Coptic Orthodox Church?.

Key Points

• The Coptic Orthodox Church (2) says the Lord Jesus Christ “is perfect in His Divinity and perfect in His Humanity,” and that it accepts Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus, not a longer list.
• Their page on the councils says the Coptic Church believes in three councils only, and that the Greek Orthodox add Chalcedon (451) and three later councils. (5)
• Their page on Dioscorus says he “denied any terminology that refer to two wills or two natures” and held to “The one nature of God the incarnate Logos.” “That refer” is the verb on the page. (3)
• Chalcedon’s definition, in Tanner’s English on a third-party site, says the one Christ is “acknowledged in two natures which undergo no confusion, no change, no division, no separation.” (1)
• The Second Agreed Statement (4), Chambésy, 23–28 September 1990, says the Oriental Orthodox will continue “one nature of the incarnate Logos,” and that the Orthodox are justified in the two-natures formula because the distinction is “in thought alone.” Both condemn Eutyches and Nestorius. Both confess the Logos incarnate of Mary Theotokos, consubstantial with the Father and with us.
• The statement is a joint commission’s text. It says the Oriental Orthodox respond positively to the Orthodox reading of the later councils. It does not say the churches are now one communion.

Why the Churches Are Distinguished

The Coptic councils page says the family it names with itself believes in three councils only: Nicaea in 325, Constantinople in 381, and Ephesus in 431. It says the Greek Orthodox, in addition, believe in Chalcedon in 451, Constantinople in 553, Constantinople in 680–681, and Nicaea in 787. (5) What Does the Eastern Orthodox Church Believe? is the Eastern Orthodox reception of the seven councils. What Happened at the Council of Nicaea? quotes the 325 creed, which both sides accept.

The split this page is about is Chalcedon, not the creed of Nicaea. Both families confess one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity

What Chalcedon Says

The definition promulgated at Chalcedon, in Norman P. Tanner’s English on papalencyclicals.net, a third-party host, teaches one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, truly God and truly man, consubstantial with the Father as regards his divinity and consubstantial with us as regards his humanity. It says: (1)

acknowledged in two natures which undergo no confusion, no change, no division, no separation

The property of both natures is preserved and comes together into a single person and a single subsistent being. He is not parted or divided into two persons. The same text anathematizes those who concoct two natures of the Lord before the union but imagine a single one after the union. What Is the Coptic Orthodox Church? quotes that definition at more length. What Is the Incarnation? is the Christian claim that the Son took a human nature and remained God.

What the Oriental Orthodox Say

The Coptic church’s own page says: (2)

We believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is perfect in His Divinity and perfect in His Humanity.

They say they believe in one God and the Holy Trinity. Their page on Pope Dioscorus I says that in 451 the Council of Chalcedon was convened, and that Pope Leo I of Rome declared the doctrine of the two natures. It says Dioscorus denied any terminology that refer to two wills or two natures of Jesus Christ and held onto “The one nature of God the incarnate Logos.” (3)

“That refer” is the spelling on their page. The one-nature sentence is their formula for the incarnate Logos. The Chalcedonian sentence is two natures in one person. The two accounts agree that Christ is perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity. They do not agree on the phrase “two natures” after the union. The Coptic article quotes Dioscorus and the three-council page in full. This page does not repeat that history of his exile.

The 1990 Chambésy Agreed Statement

The Second Agreed Statement of the Joint Commission of the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches was issued at Chambésy, 23–28 September 1990. The text quoted here is on the site of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s permanent delegation to the World Council of Churches. (4)

Both families agree in condemning the Eutychian heresy. Both confess that the Logos, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, “was incarnate and was born from the Virgin Mary Theotokos; fully consubstantial with us, perfect man with soul, body and mind,” and that he was crucified, died, was buried, and rose on the third day. Both condemn the Nestorian heresy. They agree that it is not enough to say Christ is consubstantial with the Father and with us; “it is necessary to affirm also that the Logos, Who is by nature God, became by nature Man.”

On the formulas, the statement says the natures “are distinguished in thought alone,” and:

The Orthodox agree that the Oriental Orthodox will continue to maintain their traditional Cyrillian terminology of “one nature of the incarnate Logos,” since they acknowledge the double consubstantiality of the Logos which Eutyches denied. The Oriental Orthodox agree that the Orthodox are justified in their use of the two-natures formula, since they acknowledge that the distinction is “in thought alone.”

The page prints the Greek in Latin letters: “mia fusij tou qeou Logou sesarkwmenh” and “th qewria monh.” Eutyches is the heresy both sides say they reject: a denial of the double consubstantiality. The statement’s point is that “one nature of the incarnate Logos,” as they define it, is not that denial, and that “two natures,” as they define it, is a distinction in thought alone.

Both families accept the first three ecumenical councils. The Orthodox state that points 1–7 of the statement “are the teachings also of the four later Councils of the Orthodox Church.” The Oriental Orthodox “consider this statement of the Orthodox as their interpretation.” “With this understanding, the Oriental Orthodox respond to it positively.”

That is an agreed statement of a joint commission. It is not a sentence that communion has been restored. The Coptic church’s councils page still says three councils only, and the Eastern Orthodox still count seven. The Oriental Orthodox shelf and the Eastern Orthodox shelf list each body’s own pages.

Do Oriental Orthodox Christians Believe Jesus Is God?

Yes, in the texts quoted here. The Coptic page says Christ is perfect in his divinity and perfect in his humanity, and that they believe in the Holy Trinity. The 1990 statement says both families confess the Logos, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial with the Father, incarnate of Mary Theotokos, and consubstantial with us. The disagreement quoted on this page is the formula after the union, two natures or one nature of the incarnate Logos, not a denial that Jesus is God. What Is the Deity of Christ?

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Difference Between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox?

The Eastern Orthodox receive Chalcedon and the later councils. The Coptic Church, an Oriental Orthodox church, accepts three councils and keeps one nature of God the incarnate Logos. Both say Christ is perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity. The 1990 statement says each formula can be read as the commission defined it. The churches did not become one communion in that text.

Why Did the Oriental Orthodox Reject Chalcedon?

Their Dioscorus page says he denied terminology of two natures and held to one nature of God the incarnate Logos. Their councils page stops at Ephesus in 431. Chalcedon’s definition says two natures without confusion, change, division, or separation. What Is the Coptic Orthodox Church?

What Does Miaphysite Mean?

The 1990 statement’s phrase is “one nature of the incarnate Logos.” The page prints that in Latin letters as “mia fusij.” Miaphysite is the English name readers use for that “one nature” formula. Dyophysite is the name readers use for the two-natures formula. The statement itself uses “one nature of the incarnate Logos” and “the two-natures formula,” and it says the distinction of natures is “in thought alone.”

Did the 1990 Agreement End the Split?

The statement says the Oriental Orthodox respond positively to the Orthodox interpretation of the later councils, and that each side is justified in its formula. It does not say the churches now share one communion. The Coptic councils page still counts three councils. The Eastern Orthodox still count the seven.

The Churches on This Site

• Eastern Orthodox
• Oriental Orthodox
• Christianity
• What Is the Coptic Orthodox Church?
• What Does the Eastern Orthodox Church Believe?
• What Happened at the Council of Nicaea?
• What Is the Incarnation?
• Common Arguments