イエスの死と復活の証人である使徒たちの信仰から始まった教会のあり方を忠実に受け継いでいると自認する東方正教会。1054年の東西両教会の相互破門、第4回十字軍によるコンスタンティノープルの陥落を契機にカトリック教会と分裂し、ギリシア・ロシア・西アジア・東欧に伝わりました。正教会を国教と定め総主教座を置いたビザンティン帝国の滅亡から、共産主義政権による弾圧まで、分離や迫害・抑圧が繰り返されたその歴史や教義、信仰上の慣習などを通し、正教会を解きほぐします。
　　

• Details the history, beliefs, and practices of Orthodox Christianity
• Dispels popular misconceptions and myths about Christianity's second-largest denomination
• Explores the diversity of Orthodox practice and culture, from Greek to Russian and American Orthodoxy

    
To many in the West, Orthodoxy remains shrouded in mystery, an exotic and foreign religion that survived in the East following the Great Schism of 1054 that split the Christian world into two camps—Catholic and Orthodox. However, as the second largest Christian denomination, Orthodox Christianity is anything but foreign to the nearly 300 million worshippers who practice it. For them, Orthodoxy is a living, breathing reality; a way of being Christian ultimately rooted in the person of Jesus and the experience of the early Church. Whether they are Greek, Russian, or American, Orthodox Christians are united by a common tradition and faith that binds them together despite differences in culture. True, the road has not always been smooth—Orthodox history is littered with tales of schisms and divisions, of persecutions and martyrdom, from the Sack of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire and seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch, to the experience of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Soviet Union. Still, today Orthodoxy remains a vibrant part of the religious landscape, not only in those lands where it has made its historic home (Greece, Russia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe), but also increasingly in the West. 
   
Orthodox Christianity: A Very Short Introduction explores the enduring role of this religion, and the history, beliefs, and practices that have shaped it.