Eastern Christian Independent church

The churches of Eastern Christianity that separated from the patriarchal see of Constantinople over a period of several centuries, but primarily during the 5th and 6th centuries, developed bodies of canon law that reflected their isolated and—after the Arab conquests in the 7th…

The separated churches of the East (those not accepting the jurisdiction of Orthodox patriarchs or bishops) have calendars basically similar to the Byzantine. West Syrians (Jacobites) and East Syrians (Nestorians) begin the year with a series of Sundays devoted to themes of the Dedication of the Church…

Coptic Christianity also developed its own distinctive art, much of it pervaded by the long-familiar motifs of Greek mythology. These motifs coexisted with representations of the Virgin and Child and with Christian parables and were expressed in decorative styles that owed a great deal to…

Like all previous Muslim governments, the Ottomans continued to employ Copts in the financial offices of the bureaucracy. The Ottomans allowed the caliphate, so assiduously preserved in its nominal form by the Mamluks, to lapse. At first the caliph was installed in Constantinople…

The liturgical vestments of the Eastern Christian churches have a similar symbolism. The ritual headdress and the crown express the sacred dignity of the wearer. The vestments of the various religious orders (Oriental and Occidental) express the holiness of the members of the community, their nearness to the sacred or…