With a membership currently estimated at over 85 million members worldwide, the Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Some Eastern Orthodox Churches have issued statements to the effect that Anglican orders could be accepted, yet have still reordained former Anglican clergy ; other Orthodox churches have rejected Anglican orders altogether.

In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, the Abbot is referred to as the Hegumen.

Arianism is defined as those teachings attributed to Arius which are in opposition to mainstream Trinitarian Christological doctrine, as determined by the first two Ecumenical Councils and currently maintained by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and most Reformation Protestant Churches.

Saint Alcuin ( Alcuin of York ) is considered as a saint by all the main branches of Christianity: Roman Catholic, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

*** Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos ( Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches )

** Leave-Taking of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos ( Eastern Catholic Churches )

He likewise supported the pope at Ferrara and Florence, and worked hard in the attempt to reconcile the Eastern and Western Churches.

Churches that claim some form of episcopal apostolic succession, dating back to the apostles or to leaders from the apostolic era, include the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Church of the East, the Anglican Communion, and some Lutheran Churches ( see below ).

The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Coptic and Old Catholic Churches consider this anointing to be a sacrament.

Present-day Christian religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment include some Presbyterian churches devoted to the regulative principle of worship, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, Churches of Christ, the Old German Baptist Brethren, the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church and the Amish, Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites.

Athanasius is venerated as a Christian saint, whose feast day is 2 May in Western Christianity, 15 May in the Coptic Orthodox Church, and 18 January in the other Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic Churches, and in the Assyrian Church of the East, bishops claim apostolic succession, a direct historical lineage dating back to the original Twelve Apostles.

Bishops form the leadership in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Church, the Independent Catholic Churches, the Independent Anglican Churches, and certain other, smaller, denominations.

While most patriarchs in the Eastern Catholic Churches have jurisdiction over a " ritual church " ( a group or diocese of a particular Eastern tradition ), all Latin Rite patriarchs, except for the Pope, have only honorary titles.

; Major archbishop: Major archbishops are the heads of some of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

The Arians appealed to many high level leaders and clergy in both the Western and Eastern empires.

Roman Catholics recognize the validity of the apostolic successions of the bishops, and therefore the rest of the clergy, of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, and the Old Catholic Church ( Union of Utrecht only ).

Eastern Orthodox bishops, along with all other members of the clergy, are canonically forbidden to hold political office.

Most Eastern Orthodox churches allow varying amounts of formalised laity and / or lower clergy influence on the choice of bishops.

The Catholic Church does recognise as valid ( though illicit ) ordinations done by breakaway Catholic, Old Catholic or Oriental bishops, and groups descended from them ; it also regards as both valid and licit those ordinations done by bishops of the Eastern churches, so long as those receiving the ordination conform to other canonical requirements ( for example, is an adult male ) and an orthodox rite of episcopal ordination, expressing the proper functions and sacramental status of a bishop, is used ; this has given rise to the phenomenon of episcopi vagantes ( for example, clergy of the Independent Catholic groups which claim apostolic succession, though this claim is rejected by both Orthodoxy and Catholicism ).

From the Eastern Orthodox perspective, a council is accepted as being ecumenical if it is accepted by the Eastern Orthodox church at large – clergy, monks and assembly of believers.

The Church experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Bloc.

The use of the word " cleric " is also appropriate for Eastern Orthodox minor clergy who are tonsured in order not to trivialise orders such as those of Reader in the Eastern Church, or for those who are tonsured yet have no minor or major orders.

" This is all in keeping with Eastern Orthodox concepts of clergy, which still include those who have not yet received, or do not plan to receive, the diaconate.

Eastern Orthodox clergy: bishop ( right, at altar ), priest ( left ), and two deacon s ( in gold )

Cornelius had the support of St. Cyprian, St. Dionysius, and most African and Eastern bishops while Novatian had the support of a minority of clergy and laymen in Rome who did not acknowledge Cornelius as pope.

The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches indicates that the norms of the Directory apply also to the clergy and laity of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

A special train was run by the South Eastern Railway that stopped at Canterbury to collect the cathedral clergy and choir.

While the Byzantine Eastern Roman Emperors retained full Roman imperium and made the episcopate subservient, in the feudal West a long rivalry would oppose the claims to supremacy within post-Roman Christianity between sacerdotium ( the ' priesthood ', i. e. the clergy ministering the word and will of God ) in the person of the Pope and the secular imperium of the revived Western Roman Emperor since Charlemagne.

Constantine IV doubtlessly trusted that the population and clergy of Rome had been sufficiently Easternized, and indeed the next ten pontiffs were of Eastern descent.

As is still done in papal Masses on occasions such as the inauguration of a pontificate, the Gospel and Epistle were sung not only in Latin by a Latin-Rite deacon and subdeacon, but also in Greek by Eastern clergy, wearing the vestments of their own rite and observing its customs, such as placing the deacon's stole on the Gospel Book and bowing rather than genuflecting.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, altar servers assist the higher clergy during services.

These innovations met with resistance from both the clergy and the people, who disputed the legitimacy and correctness of these reforms, referring to theological traditions and Eastern Orthodox ecclesiastic rules.

The mitre (; Greek: μίτρα, " headband " or " turban "), also spelled miter, is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial head-dress of bishops and certain abbots in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as in the Anglican Communion, some Lutheran churches, and also bishops and certain other clergy in the Eastern Orthodox churches, Eastern Catholic Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Most alphabetic scripts of India and Eastern Asia are descended from the Brahmi script, which is often believed to be a descendant of Aramaic.

Of the characters in her books, Christie has often showcased the archaeologist and experts in Middle Eastern cultures and artifacts.

It is especially important in the Catholic Church, but is also used in Orthodox and Eastern Catholic, as well as Anglican, and Lutheran churches, ( though less often in other Protestant churches ), and it emphasizes Jesus ' sacrifice — his death by crucifixion, which Christians believe brought about the redemption of mankind.

Pope John Paul II often spoke of his great desire that the Catholic Church " once again breathe with both lungs ", thus emphasizing that the Roman Catholic Church seeks to restore full communion with the separated Eastern churches.

For example, dentists graduated from Israeli dental schools may recommend more often for the removal of asymptomatic impacted third molar ( wisdom teeth ) than dentists graduated from Latin American or Eastern European dental schools.

This word has often been employed as an epithet in Eastern European legends ( Sabya Damaskinya or Sablja Dimiskija meaning " Damascene saber "), including the Serbian and Bulgarian legends of Prince Marko, a historical figure of the late 14th century in what is currently the Republic of Macedonia.

In the Middle East, Orthodox Christians have also been often referred as Roman ( or Rum ) Orthodox, because of their historical connection with the Eastern Roman ( Byzantine ) Empire as said in Chapter 30 ( Sura Rum ) of the Quran.

The latter is often called the Eastern order because Europeans are most familiar with the examples from East Asia, specifically China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

The former Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries often designed their underground mass-transit and subway tunnels to serve as bomb and fallout shelters in the event of an attack.

Ostzone ( Eastern Zone ) or Soviet Zone were two surrogate names for East Germany that were often used colloquially.

The name Sowjetische Besatzungszone ( Soviet Occupation Zone, often abbreviated to SBZ ) was used by those who wanted to indicate that East Germany lacked sovereignty, whereas others used Ostzone or der Osten ( Eastern Zone or the East ) to avoid the actual name of the state.

Most presidents in such countries are selected by democratic means ( popular direct or indirect election ); however, like all other systems, the presidential model also encompasses people who become head of state by other means, notably through military dictatorship or coup d ' état, as often seen in Latin American, Middle Eastern and other presidential regimes.

Eastern coats of arms are characterized by a pronounced, territorial, clan system – often, entire villages or military groups were granted the same coat of arms irrespective of family relationships.

This had marked the introduction of a third Abrahamic Middle Eastern religion, following Judaism and Christianity, often in puritanical form.

Eastern Orthodoxy, however, continues to give such strong importance to the use and veneration of icons that they are often seen as the chief symbol of Orthodoxy.

* Foxes and jackals are often depicted as clever sorcerers in Eastern myths.

In the first post war years Tito was widely considered a communist leader very loyal to Moscow, indeed, he was often viewed as second only to Stalin in the Eastern Bloc.

Lastly, the undue focus on the Marxist thought in the former Eastern Bloc, often forbidding social science arguments from outside the Marxist perspective, led to a backlash against Marxism after the revolutions of 1989.

Although Christians, both Western and Eastern, were by law prohibited from being sold into slavery, the native Christians were often indistinguishable from the Muslim population and the Italian merchants were sometimes accused of selling them along with Muslim slaves.

In the Eastern European countries of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldova, Croatia and Romania, Merlot is often produced as a full bodied wine that can be very similar to Cabernet Sauvignon.

It is also a transition between the Eastern and Western United States, as St. Louis is often called the " western-most Eastern city " and Kansas City the " eastern-most Western city ".

The remaining international trade was dominated by Middle Eastern merchants, often Jewish Radanites.

In Latin tradition, Mary of Bethany is often identified as Mary Magdalene ( of whom more is recorded in the gospels as well as in later traditions ), while in Eastern Orthodox and Protestant traditions they are considered separate persons.

In Eastern Christianity, where the title " Pope " is used also of the Bishop of Alexandria, the Bishop of Rome is often referred to as the " Pope of Rome ", regardless of whether the speaker or writer is in communion with Rome or not.