Eastern Protestant Christianity

{{Short description|Protestants of Eastern Christendom}} {{Protestantism}} {{Eastern Christianity sidebar}} The term '''Eastern Protestant Christianity''' (also called '''Eastern Reformed Christianity''' as well as '''Oriental Protestant Christianity''') encompasses a range of heterogeneous Protestant Christian denominations that developed outside of the Western world from the latter half of the nineteenth century and retain certain elements of Eastern Christianity. Some of these denominations came into existence when churches originating from Western Protestant missions adopted variants of Eastern liturgy and worship adapted to Protestant doctrine, while others originated from Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Church of the East groups who were inspired by the teachings of Western Protestant missionaries and adopted Protestant beliefs and practices while retaining Eastern liturgy.<ref name="Rodriguez1">{{cite journal |last1=Fernández Rodríguez |first1=José Manuel |title=Eastern Protestant and Reformed Churches "a historical and ecumenical look" |journal=Theologica Xaveriana |date=28 November 2016 |volume=66 |issue=182 |pages=345–366 |doi=10.11144/javeriana.tx66-182.ioproh |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311358039|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="OrthodoxRenewalEuropeOverview">{{cite book |last1=Milovanović |first1=Aleksandra Djurić |last2=Radić |first2=Radmila |title=Orthodox Christian Renewal Movements in Eastern Europe |date=2017-10-11 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-63354-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9Q5DwAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Parts I, II, III}}</ref><ref name="EasternProtestantArmeniaIndia">{{cite book |last1=Leustean |first1=Lucian N. |title=Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century |date=2014-05-30 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-81866-3 |pages=8,10,484–485,568,587–589 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zt2vAwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Werff1">{{cite book |last1=Werff |first1=Lyle L. Vander |title=Christian Mission to Muslims: The Record : Anglican and Reformed Approaches in India and the Near East, 1800-1938 |date=1977 |publisher=William Carey Library |isbn=978-0-87808-320-6 |pages=101–103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuStj-saoQkC&pg=PA102 |language=en}}</ref>

All Eastern Protestant churches are in communion with similar Western Protestant churches, and are members of pan-doctrinal communions such as the Anglican Communion, World Lutheran Federation and World Communion of Reformed Churches.<ref name="Rodriguez1" /><ref name="marthoma.in">{{cite web |title=Heritage – Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church |url=http://marthoma.in/the-church/heritage/}}</ref> Due to the diverse polities, practices, liturgies and orientations within Protestantism, there is no universal communion between the various Eastern Protestant churches.

== Major branches ==

=== Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church === [[File:Mar Thoma Bishop.jpg|thumb|Bishop of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church in liturgical vestments]] {{further|Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church}}

The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church has its origins in a reformation movement within the Malankara Church in South India, in the latter half of the 19th century. India was part of the British Empire at the time, while the Malankara Church is an Oriental Orthodox church, in communion with the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch. Concurrently, Anglican missionaries from England arrived in South India. They became teachers at the church's seminary and made the Bible available in the Malayalam language. Inspired by the teachings of the missionaries and imbibing the ideas of the Protestant Reformation from them, a few priests under the leadership of Abraham Malpan initiated a reformation. Abraham Malpan also managed to get his nephew Deacon Mathew, ordained as bishop Mathews Mar Athanasius, by the Patriarch of Antioch. But many opposed the reforms. The groups for and against reforms engaged in court litigations for the church and its properties. These ended in 1889, through a verdict favoring the Patriarchal faction. Subsequently, the reformed faction became an independent church, known as the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. To date, there are 11 bishops, 1149 priests and over a million laity.<ref name="Fortescue">{{cite book |last1=Fortescue |first1=Adrian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TKbuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA370 |title=The lesser eastern churches |date=1913 |publisher=Catholic Truth Society |isbn=978-1-177-70798-5 |location=London |pages=368–371, 374–375 |language=en |quote=A Malpan (teacher) in the Kottayam college, Abraham, who was a priest (Katanar), took up Protestant ideas warmly. Dr. Richards says of him with just pride that he was “the Wyclif of the Syrian Church in Malabar.”…The Reformers calls themselves the “Mar Thomas Christians”. They are considerably Protestantized. They have no images, denounce the idea of the Eucharistic sacrifice, pray neither to the saints nor for the dead, and use the vernacular (Malayalam) for their services…If only we knew what the views of the Church of England in matters of faith are, it would be easier to estimate those of the Mar Thomas Christians.}}</ref><ref name="Neill250">{{Cite book |last=Neill |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xi-tvrYbYxMC |title=A History of Christianity in India: 1707-1858 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=0521893321 |pages=236–254 |author-link=Stephen Neill |access-date=19 February 2016}}</ref> While retaining many of the Syriac high church practices, the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church is Reformed in its theology and doctrines.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kurian |first1=George Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AA_eDAAAQBAJ&q=Mar+Thoma+Syrian+Church+Protestant&pg=PT488 |title=The Essential Handbook of Denominations and Ministries |last2=Day |first2=Sarah Claudine |date=14 March 2017 |publisher=Baker Books |isbn=978-1-4934-0640-1}}</ref> The church employs a reformed variant of the Liturgy of Saint James, with many parts in the local vernacular. The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church is in full communion with the Anglican Communion and maintains friendly relations with many other churches.<ref name="JamesonP">{{cite book |last1=Pallikunnil |first1=Jameson K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6hSODgAAQBAJ&q=nature+and+identity+of+mar+thoma+church&pg=PT48 |title=The Eucharistic Liturgy: A Liturgical Foundation for Mission in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church |date=2017 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-5246-7652-0 |language=en |quote=Metropolitan Juhanon Mar Thoma called it "a Protestant Church in an oriental grab."...As a reformed Oriental Church, it agrees with the reformed doctrines of the Western Churches. Therefore, there is much in common in faith and doctrine between the MTC and the reformed Churches of the West. As the Church now sees it, just as the Anglican Church is a Western Reformed Church, the MTC is an Eastern Reformed Church. At the same time as it continues in the apostolic episcopal tradition and ancient oriental practices, it has much in common with the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Thus, it is regarded as a "bridging Church".}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Leustean |first1=Lucian N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zt2vAwAAQBAJ&q=Eastern+Christianity+and+Politics+in+the+Twenty-First+Century+mar+thoma+anglican |title=Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century |date=30 May 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-81866-3 |page=568 |language=en |quote=The Syrian Orthodox also became the target of Anglican missionary activity, as a result of which the Mar Thoma Church separated from the Orthodox in 1874, adopting the Anglican confession of faith and a reformed Syrian liturgy conforming to Protestant principles.}}</ref><ref name="marthoma.in"/>

=== Lutheran === {{further|Eastern Lutheranism}} Eastern Lutheranism refers to Lutheran churches, such as those of Ukraine and Slovenia, that use a form of the Byzantine Rite as their liturgy.<ref name="HämmerliMayer2016">{{cite book|last1=Hämmerli|first1=Maria|last2=Mayer|first2=Jean-François|title=Orthodox Identities in Western Europe: Migration, Settlement and Innovation|date=23 May 2016|publisher=Routledge|language=en|isbn=9781317084914|page=13}}</ref> It is unique in that it is based on the Eastern Christian rite used by the Eastern Orthodox Church, while incorporating theology from the Divine Service contained in the ''Formula Missae'', the base texts for Lutheran liturgies in the West.<ref name="Bebis1">{{cite web |last1=Bebis |first1=Fr. Vassilios |title=The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, used by the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, and its missing elements |date=30 March 2013 |url=https://www.omhksea.org/archives/4182}}</ref>

==== Laestadianism ==== {{further|Laestadianism}} In the far north of the Scandinavian peninsula are the Sámi people, some of whom practice a form of Lutheranism called Apostolic Lutheranism, or Laestadianism due to the efforts of Lars Levi Laestadius. However, others are Orthodox in religion. Some Apostolic Lutherans consider their movement as part of an unbroken line down from the Apostles. In Russia, Laestadians of Lutheran background cooperate with the Ingrian church, but since Laestadianism is an interdenominational movement, some are Eastern Orthodox. Eastern Orthodox Laestadians are known as Ushkovayzet.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140904222459/http://uralistica.com/profiles/blogs/karelskoe-religioznoe Karelian religious movement Uskhovayzet]}}</ref>

==== Ukrainian Lutheran Church ==== {{further|Ukrainian Lutheran Church}} The Ukrainian Lutheran Church, formerly called the Ukrainian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, is a Byzantine Rite Lutheran Church based in Ukraine.<ref name="HämmerliMayer2016" /><ref name="Bebis1" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blc.edu/comm/gargy/gargy1/liturgical_church.html|title=Why is the Lutheran Church a Liturgical Church?|last=Webber|first=David Jay|year=1992|publisher=Bethany Lutheran College|language=English|accessdate=18 September 2018|quote=In the Byzantine world, however, this pattern of worship would not be informed by the liturgical history of the Latin church, as with the Reformation-era church orders, but by the liturgical history of the Byzantine church. (This was in fact what occurred with the Ukrainian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, which published in its 1933 Ukrainian Evangelical Service Book the first ever Lutheran liturgical order derived from the historic Eastern Rite.)}}</ref> The Eastern Christian denomination consists of 25 congregations within Ukraine, serving over 2,500 members and runs Saint Sophia Ukrainian Lutheran Theological Seminary in Ternopil in Western Ukraine. The ULC is a member of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC), a worldwide organization of confessional Lutheran church bodies of the same beliefs.<ref name="CELC">{{cite web|title=Member Churches|url=http://celc.info/index.php/membership/member-churches/|publisher=Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference|access-date=January 12, 2018}}</ref>

=== Reformed and Presbyterian ===

==== Assyrian Evangelical Church ==== {{further|Assyrian Evangelical Church}}

The Assyrian Evangelical Church is a Middle Eastern Church which attained ecclesiastical independence from the Presbyterian mission in Iran, in 1870.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vander Werff |first=Lyle L. |url=https://archive.org/details/christianmission0000vand |title=Christian mission to Muslims: the record : Anglican and Reformed approaches in India and the Near East, 1800-1938 |publisher=William Carey Library |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-87808-320-6 |series=The William Carey Library series on Islamic studies |pages=[https://archive.org/details/christianmission0000vand/page/366 366] |url-access=registration}}</ref> Its membership is composed mostly of Eastern Aramaic speaking ethnic Assyrians who were originally part of the Assyrian Church of the East and its offshoots, or the Syriac Orthodox Church. They, like other Assyrian Christians, are sometimes targets of persecution by hostile governments and neighbors.<ref name="christianity.com">{{cite web |title=Who are the Assyrians? 10 Things to Know about their History & Faith |url=https://www.christianity.com/church/denominations/discover-the-assyrians-10-things-to-know-about-their-history-faith.html |website=Christianity.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=UNPO: Assyria: Church Raided by Iranian Authorities |url=https://unpo.org/article/21531 |website=unpo.org|date=2 November 2009 }}</ref>

==== Armenian Evangelical Church ==== {{further|Armenian Evangelical Church}}

The Armenian Evangelical Church is the product of a reform campaign from within the Armenian Apostolic Church.<ref name="Boynerian">{{cite journal |last1=Boynerian |first1=Avedis |date=January 2000 |title=The Importance of the Armenian Evangelical Churches for Christian Witness in the Middle East |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1758-6631.2000.tb00181.x |journal=International Review of Mission |volume=89 |issue=352 |pages=76–86 |doi=10.1111/j.1758-6631.2000.tb00181.x|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="MeltonBaumann">{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA2956 |title=Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition [6 volumes] |last2=Baumann |first2=Martin |date=21 September 2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-204-3 |page=2956 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Katchadourian |first1=Herant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y5vEy-H4xjEC&pg=PA38 |title=The Way It Turned Out: A Memoir |date=5 September 2012 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-981-4364-75-1 |pages=38–39 |language=en}}</ref> The reformers were influenced by the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, who arrived in Turkey in the early 19th century and published translated bibles for Turkish-speaking Armenians.<ref name="KurianLamport">{{cite book |last1=Kurian |first1=George Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e6YoCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |title=Encyclopedia of Christian Education |last2=Lamport |first2=Mark A. |date=7 May 2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-8493-9 |page=70 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="RahebLamport">{{cite book |last1=Raheb |first1=Mitri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1cBEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA284 |title=The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Christianity in the Middle East |last2=Lamport |first2=Mark A. |date=15 December 2020 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-2418-5 |pages=284–285 |language=en}}</ref>

The reformers were led by Krikor Peshdimaljian, one of the leading intellectuals of the time.<ref name="KurianLamport" /><ref name="RahebLamport" /> Peshdimaljian was the head of a training school for the Armenian Apostolic clergy.<ref name="KurianLamport" /> The school was under the auspices of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople.<ref name="KurianLamport" /> Out of this school, emerged a society called the Pietisical Union, whose members focused more directly on the Bible and organized Bible study meetings.<ref name="KurianLamport" /><ref name="RahebLamport" /> They began to raise questions about what they saw as conflicts between biblical truths and the traditional practices of the Armenian Apostolic Church.<ref name="KurianLamport" /> The Union also advocated Pietism, which they believed their church was devoid of.<ref name="RahebLamport" /><ref name="Winter">{{cite book |last1=Winter |first1=Jay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pnLSRXAXTfcC&pg=PA188 |title=America and the Armenian Genocide of 1915 |date=8 January 2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-45018-8 |pages=187–188 |language=en}}</ref>

The leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church under Patriarch Matteos Chouhajian was against any reform, and excommunicated the reformists from the church.<ref name="KurianLamport" /><ref name="RahebLamport" /><ref name="Winter" /> This separation led to the formation of the Armenian Evangelical Church, on July 1, 1846, in Constantinople.<ref name="Boynerian" /><ref name="RahebLamport2">{{cite book |last1=Raheb |first1=Mitri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AmhxEAAAQBAJ |title=Surviving Jewel: The Enduring Story of Christianity in the Middle East |last2=Lamport |first2=Mark A. |date=24 May 2022 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-7252-6319-2 |pages=113–114 |language=en}}</ref> By 1850, the new church received the official recognition of the Ottoman government.<ref name="Winter" /><ref name="RahebLamport2" /> Later, however, Armenians were forced out of Ottoman Turkey, due to the Armenian genocide.<ref name="MeltonBaumann" /><ref name="KurianLamport" /><ref name="RahebLamport2" /> The Armenian Evangelical congregations in the Middle East are currently organized as the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East.<ref name="MeltonBaumann" /><ref name="KurianLamport" /><ref name="RahebLamport" />

=== Evangelical === ====Indian Pentecostal Church of God==== {{further|Indian Pentecostal Church of God }} '''The Indian Pentecostal Church (IPC)''' is the largest indigenous Pentecostal denomination in India.<ref name="Anderson2004">{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Allan |title=An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780521532808 |page=87}}</ref> It was founded in 1924, and the first united convention of these congregations was held in Ranni, Kerala, in April 1925.<ref name="Bergunder2008">{{cite book |last=Bergunder |first=Michael |title=The South Indian Pentecostal Movement in the Twentieth Century |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=9780802831675 |pages=106–107}}</ref>

IPC was officially registered as a religious society on 9 December 1935 at Eluru, Andhra Pradesh.<ref name="Kurien2017">{{cite book |last=Kurien |first=Prema A. |title=Pentecostalism and Globalization in India |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780190635662 |page=42}}</ref> Its administrative headquarters is located at Hebron, Kumbanad, Kerala.<ref name="Bergunder2008" />

Today, IPC has over 12,000 congregations worldwide, with a strong presence across India and in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.<ref name="Kurien2017" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Pentecostal Church of God – About Us |url=https://www.ipcch.org/about-us |website=Indian Pentecostal Church of God |access-date=4 September 2025}}</ref>

==== St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India ==== {{further|St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India}}

The St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (STECI) is an Evangelical, Episcopal denomination based in Kerala, India. It derives from a schism in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church in 1961. STECI holds that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God. Adherents believe that all that is necessary for salvation and living in righteousness is given in the Bible. The church is engaged in active evangelism. The headquarters of this church is at Tiruvalla, a town in the state of Kerala.<ref>{{cite web |title=Church History |url=http://steci.org/church-history/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720140346/http://steci.org/church-history/ |archive-date=2019-07-20 |access-date=2019-07-20 |website=St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (steci) is an episcopal Church}}</ref>

==== Assyrian Pentecostal Church ==== {{further|Assyrian Pentecostal Church}}

The Assyrian Pentecostal Church is a Pentecostal Christian denomination which originated in the 1940s among the Assyrian people of Iran and spread among ethnic Assyrians in Iraq, Turkey and Syria.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CvYIAQAAIAAJ&q=editions:0AFLRE70uxvI3Eq5_IAterSXfyhkzuLEsjRjOskM7pstR6cPPu7U0tDI |title=Iran Almanac and Book of Facts |date=1970 |publisher=Echo of Iran. |edition=9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Religion and nation : Iranian local and transnational networks in Britain |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2004 |isbn=1571815767 |page=199}}</ref> They are native speakers of the Assyrian Neo-Aramaic language, and also use it as their liturgical language.<ref>{{cite web |date=14 February 2012 |url=http://item.slide.com/r/1/112/i/f7Qa4Gm_5D8zh6Ty1TAbQZAUbTLofgrx/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214135708/http://item.slide.com/r/1/112/i/f7Qa4Gm_5D8zh6Ty1TAbQZAUbTLofgrx/ |archive-date=14 February 2012}}</ref> They use the Syriac Aramaic Bible.<ref>{{cite web |date=31 May 2015 |title=Aramaic Bible Translation |url=http://www.aramaicbible.org/assyrian.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531164931/http://www.aramaicbible.org/assyrian.htm |archive-date=31 May 2015}}</ref> Most of the members of this denomination were originally part of the Assyrian Church of the East and its offshoots, or the Syriac Orthodox Church.<ref name="christianity.com"/> The Assyrian Pentecostal Church is affiliated with the Assemblies of God Church.<ref>{{cite web |title=Haik's Impact Upon Church History |url=http://www.baylor.edu/truett/journal/index.php?id=20626 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050102051155/http://www.baylor.edu/truett/journal/index.php?id=20626 |archive-date=2005-01-02}}</ref> There have been reported instances of persecution against them as well.<ref>{{cite web |date=31 January 2018 |title=Wife of Iranian Pentecostal Leader Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison After Praying With Christians |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/wife-of-iranian-pentecostal-leader-sentenced-to-5-years-in-prison-after-praying-with-christians.html |website=www.christianpost.com |language=en}}</ref>

==== Believers Eastern Church ==== {{further|Believers Eastern Church}}

The Believers Eastern Church (formerly ''Believers Church'') is a Christian denomination with roots in Pentecostalism, based in Kerala, India. It exists as a part of the Gospel for Asia.<ref>{{cite book |title=The South Indian Pentecostal movement in the twentieth century |date=2008-06-06 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co |isbn=9780802827340 |page=54}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Believers Eastern Church |url=https://www.gfaau.org/believers-eastern-church/ |website=www.gfaau.org |language=en |access-date=2019-09-06 |archive-date=2023-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321212559/https://www.gfaau.org/believers-eastern-church/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2003, this church acquired episcopacy, by getting Indian Anglican bishops to ordain its founder K. P. Yohannan as a bishop. Henceforth this denomination adopted several elements of Eastern Christian worship and practices like the use of holy oils for anointing, while keeping the principle of ''sola scriptura''.<ref>{{cite web |title=K.P. Yohannan Blesses and Consecrates Holy Oils for Believers Eastern Church |date=18 April 2018 |url=https://www.wthrockmorton.com/2018/04/18/k-p-yohannan-blesses-and-consecrates-holy-oils-for-believers-eastern-church/}}</ref> Its name was officially changed to Believers Eastern Church in 2017, so as to "better express its roots in the ancient and orthodox faith".<ref>{{cite web |title=Believers Eastern Church |url=https://www.bec.org/history/}}</ref>

==== Evangelical Church of Romania ==== {{further|Evangelical Church of Romania}}

The Evangelical Church of Romania (Romanian: Biserica Evanghelică Română) is one of Romania's eighteen officially recognised religious denominations.<ref name="RomanianReligion2019">{{cite web |date=2019 |title=State and Religion in Romania |url=http://culte.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/BookEN2.pdf |publisher=State Secretariat for Religious Affairs |pages=37, 149–150 |location=Bucharest |access-date=2021-05-31 |archive-date=2022-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031194527/http://culte.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/BookEN2.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Olivier Gillet |title=The religious situation in Romania |url=https://o-re-la.ulb.be/index.php/analyses/item/1357-the-religious-situation-in-romania |website=o-re-la.ulb.be |publisher=Centre Interdisciplinaire d’Etude des Religions et de la Laïcité (CIERL)}}</ref> The church originated between 1920 and 1924, through the work of the young Romanian Orthodox theologians Dumitru Cornilescu and Tudor Popescu.<ref name="AlanScarfe1975">{{cite journal |last1=Scarfe |first1=Alan |date=1975-11-01 |title=The evangelical wing of the orthodox church in Romania |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09637497508430738 |journal=Religion in Communist Lands |volume=3 |issue=6 |pages=15–19 |doi=10.1080/09637497508430738 |issn=0307-5974|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Deacon Cornilescu was motivated to translate the Bible into modern Romanian, by Princess Calimachi of Moldavia. While translating the Epistle to the Romans, Cornilescu became interested in the concept of personal salvation. By the time he completed the translation, he had become staunchly evangelical.<ref name="AlanScarfe1975" /> Afterwards, Cornilescu served as a deacon under Fr. Tudor Popescu, at the Cuibul cu barză Church in Bucharest. After some time, Popescu converted to evangelicalism, due to Cornilescu's influence. Both of them began to preach salvation by personal faith in Christ. Gradually, they gained a significant following, including priests from the Romanian Orthodox Church. Soon other evangelical traits, such as singing and congregational participation, began to manifest in this group.<ref name="AlanScarfe1975" /> They called into question many Orthodox practices, which they perceived to be unbiblical. Tudor Popescu has been called the Romanian Martin Luther, for his attempts to reform the Romanian Orthodox Church.<ref name="Ramet1992">{{cite book |last1=Ramet |first1=Sabrina P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4GGgAmzl3gC |title=Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia: The Communist and Postcommunist Eras |date=1992 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-1241-3 |page=187 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Milovanović |first1=Aleksandra Djurić |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9Q5DwAAQBAJ |title=Orthodox Christian Renewal Movements in Eastern Europe |last2=Radić |first2=Radmila |date=2017-10-11 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-63354-1 |pages=234–237 |language=en}}</ref>

Due to deviations from Eastern Orthodox doctrines, the Romanian Orthodox Church defrocked Fr. Tudor Popescu. Dumitru Cornilescu was forced to leave the country. But Popescu and his followers (originally called Tudorists), established their own Church; the Evangelical Church of Romania.<ref name="RolandClark2021">{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Roland |url=https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/sectarianism-and-renewal-in-1920s-romania-the-limits-of-orthodoxy-and-nation-building/ch9-the-stork-s-nest |title=Sectarianism and Renewal in 1920s Romania: The Limits of Orthodoxy and Nation-Building |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-3501-0095-4 |pages=169–193 |doi=10.5040/9781350100985 |s2cid=229431106}}</ref>

==== Evangelical Orthodox Church ==== {{further|Evangelical Orthodox Church}}

The Evangelical Orthodox Church is a Christian denomination which blends Evangelical Protestantism with features of Eastern Orthodoxy. It started off in 1973 as a network of house churches established by Campus Crusade for Christ missionaries in the United States. The founders Peter E. Gillquist, Jack Sparks, Jon Braun, and J.R. Ballew wanted to restore Christianity to its primitive form based on the writings of the early Church Fathers. So they stood in a circle and self-ordained each other, creating an entity called the New Covenant Apostolic Order (NCAO). Their own interpretations of Church history led to the adoption of a somewhat liturgical form of worship and induced a need for apostolic succession. In 1977 the first contact with the Eastern Orthodox Church was initiated through Orthodox seminarian Fr. John Bartke. In 1979 the Evangelical Orthodox Church (EOC) was organized. The EOC pursued various avenues to obtain episcopacy, including a visit to the Patriarch of Constantinople, but to no avail. At last they met Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch, during his historic visit to Los Angeles, which proved successful. This meeting was arranged by Fr. John Bartke, who later served as the primary intermediary between the EOC and the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, and also hosted the initial set of chrismations and ordinations for the EOC at St. Michael's Church in Van Nuys, California. Unable to completely reconcile Evangelicalism and Orthodoxy, many EOC members formally joined the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America in 1987. Some others joined the Orthodox Church in America. The rest remained independent and continue as the Evangelical Orthodox Church.<ref>Lloyd R. Thompson, “A Critical Analysis of the Evangelical Orthodox Church (New Covenant Apostolic Order)” (Ph.D. diss., Yale Divinity School, 1979), 20.</ref><ref>Ruth Stiling, “An Examination of the Evangelical Orthodox Church” (M.A. thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, May 1980), 17-18.</ref><ref>Steve Barth, “Development of Evangelical Church Traced: Twelve Years of Theology Change Moves Away from Anti-Authority,” ''Daily Nexus'' (November 13, 1979): 2.</ref><ref>D. Oliver Herbel, Turning to Tradition: Converts and the Making of an American Orthodox Church (Oxford University Press, 2014), 104-117.</ref>

==== P'ent'ay ==== {{further|P'ent'ay}}

P'ent'ay is an Amharic and Tigrinya language term for evangelical Christians in Ethiopia and Eritrea. This movement has been influenced by the mainstream Oriental Orthodox Christianity of these countries as well as Pentecostalism. As Protestantism is relatively new in Ethiopia, most P'ent'ay are ex-Orthodox Christians.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ethiopian Culture - Religion |url=https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/ethiopian-culture/religion-50997f95-a2c6-4cbe-95f5-9912223203dd |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906080815/https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/ethiopian-culture/religion-50997f95-a2c6-4cbe-95f5-9912223203dd |archive-date=2019-09-06 |access-date=2019-09-06 |website=Cultural Atlas |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Eshete |first1=Tibebe |title=The evangelical movement in Ethiopia : resistance and resilience |date=2009 |publisher=Baylor University Press |isbn=9781602580022}}</ref> Many of these groups describe their religious practices as culturally Orthodox, but Protestant by doctrine. They boast approximately 16,500,000 members.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in Ethiopia: A Historical Introduction to a Largely Unexplored Movement |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284028234 |journal=ResearchGate |language=en}}</ref> The P'ent'ay denominations may constitute as much as 19% of the population of Ethiopia,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Baker |first1=Stephanie |date=18 October 2012 |title=Religion In Ethiopia |url=https://www.ethiogrio.com/articles/3181-religion-in-ethiopia.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906080817/https://www.ethiogrio.com/articles/3181-religion-in-ethiopia.html |archive-date=6 September 2019 |access-date=6 September 2019 |website=ethiogrio.com}}</ref> while being a small minority in Eritrea.<ref>{{cite web |title=ERITREA |date=18 May 2004 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/92000/afr640032004en.pdf}}</ref>

==List of churches== {{Columns-list|colwidth=20em| * Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church * Armenian Evangelical Church * Assyrian Evangelical Church * Assyrian Pentecostal Church * Believers Eastern Church of India * Eastern Rite Community in Germany and the Czech Republic * Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia * Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) * Evangelical Church of Romania * Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia *St. Valentine's Lutheran Fellowship of the Grand Canyon Synod (ELCA). * Evangelical Orthodox Church *Kosovo Protestant Evangelical Church *Evangelical Brotherhood in Albania * P'ent'ay - Ethiopian and Eritrean Evangelical Churches * Russian Evangelical Church<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Alexy II |editor-link=Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow |article=Евангельские христиане |trans-article=Evangelical christians |title=Православная энциклопедия |trans-title=Orthodox Encyclopedia |article-url=http://www.pravenc.ru/text/186873.html |year=2008 |volume=17 |pages=40–44 |language=ru |place=Москва |publisher=Церковно-научный центр "Православная энциклопедия" |isbn=978-5-89572-030-1}}</ref> * Society for Eastern Rite Anglicanism * St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India * Ukrainian Lutheran Church }}

==See also== * Army of the Lord, an evangelical movement within the Romanian Orthodox Church * Zoë movement, sometimes regarded as a crypto-Protestant movement in the Greek church * Spiritual Christianity, a term referring to Russian "folk Protestants", a non-Orthodox indigenous religious movement that emerged in the Russian Empire from among the Orthodox, and from the Priestless Old Believers * Molokans, a Protestant and Spiritual Christianity church that broke away from the Doukhobors

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Eastern Christianity Category:Protestant denominations established in the 19th century