Eastern and Oriental Orthodox: What’s the Difference?

Part 3 – What Each Church Believes About Christ

Even though Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches use different language to describe Christ, both hold firmly to the mystery of the Incarnation—that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.

Let’s look at how each Church expresses this belief.

Oriental Orthodox Christology

We believe, following St. Cyril of Alexandria, that Jesus Christ is one person with one united nature—divine and human—after the Incarnation. This is called Miaphysitism.

• Mia = one

• Physis = nature

This “one incarnate nature of God the Word” is not a mixture or confusion. Christ is fully divine and fully human, united perfectly in one nature and one person. His divinity did not erase His humanity, and His humanity did not limit His divinity.

We reject Monophysitism, which falsely claims that Christ has only a divine nature and that His humanity was lost. That is not our belief.

Eastern Orthodox Christology

The Eastern Orthodox Church follows the definition of the Council of Chalcedon, which says that Christ is one person in two natures—divine and human—“without confusion, change, division, or separation.”

They also affirm that Christ is fully divine and fully human, and that these two natures remain distinct but united in one person.

Their concern was to protect both the full reality of Christ’s humanity and divinity, while making sure that neither nature is lost or diminished.

Is There a Difference?

At first, the two teachings sound different—but over the years, both sides have come to see that the faith behind the language is much the same. We both:

• Confess the full divinity and full humanity of Christ.

• Believe in one Person, not two.

• Worship the same Lord Jesus Christ.

Much of the division may have been due to different languages, cultural expressions, and historical misunderstandings—not actual disagreement in faith.

Why This Matters

For us as young Oriental Orthodox Christians, it’s important to know what we believe—and also to understand and respect our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters. The more we learn, the more we can appreciate our shared love for Christ and our longing for unity.