Non-Chalcedonianism is the view(s) of those churches that accepted the First Council of Ephesus of 431, but, for varying reasons, did not accept allegiance to the
Council of ChalcedonThe Council of Chalcedon is considered by the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Old Catholics, and various other Western Christian groups to have been the Fourth Ecumenical Council . It was held from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon...
following it in 451. The most substantial Non-Chalcedonian tradition is known as
Oriental OrthodoxyOriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon...
. Within this tradition are a number of ancient Christian groups including the Coptic Orthodox, the Syriac Orthodox (sometimes referred to as "Jacobite"), the Armenian Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox, the Eritrean Orthodox, and the Malankara (Indian) Orthodox.
While the
Assyrian Church of the Eaststyle="float: right;"|- |The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری...
also did not accept the Council of Chalcedon, on top of this it rejected even the Council of Ephesus and has an opposite Christology to the Oriental Orthodox.
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Non-Chalcedonianism is the view(s) of those churches that accepted the First Council of Ephesus of 431, but, for varying reasons, did not accept allegiance to the
Council of ChalcedonThe Council of Chalcedon is considered by the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Old Catholics, and various other Western Christian groups to have been the Fourth Ecumenical Council . It was held from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon...
following it in 451. The most substantial Non-Chalcedonian tradition is known as
Oriental OrthodoxyOriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon...
. Within this tradition are a number of ancient Christian groups including the Coptic Orthodox, the Syriac Orthodox (sometimes referred to as "Jacobite"), the Armenian Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox, the Eritrean Orthodox, and the Malankara (Indian) Orthodox.
While the
Assyrian Church of the Eaststyle="float: right;"|- |The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری...
also did not accept the Council of Chalcedon, on top of this it rejected even the Council of Ephesus and has an opposite Christology to the Oriental Orthodox. It is thus more properly called "Non-Ephesine".
Within the Patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch, the rejection of Chalcedon became a cause of schism. While the common population of Egyptian and Syrian people mostly objected to the Council, the Byzantine-Greek minority that formed the ruling class mostly accepted the Council. These two parties vied and battled for possession of the ancient sees of Alexandria and Antioch that formed, at the time, the third and fourth most prestigious sees in "Christendom", respectively. Ultimately neither group absolutely dominated either church and the end result was the existence of two distinct patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch for almost 1500 years and continuing in the present time. What is now known as the Coptic Orthodox Church is the native Egyptian patriarchal faction of Alexandria that rejected Chalcedon, whereas the
Greek Orthodox Church of AlexandriaThe Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, also known as the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches....
is composed of those who accepted Chalcedon. For Antioch, the Syriac Orthodox Church forms the patriarchal faction of the native Syrian-Semitic population for the church of Antioch, whereas the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch is composed of those who accepted Chalcedon.
On the other hand, in India, and somewhat in Persia, schism occurred rather between the Oriental Orthodox and the Assyrian Church of the East. Even in
KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
today, there is a continuing presence of both the Assyrian Church of the East and the Syriac/Malankara Orthodox Church.