20 March 2017

Who Founded the Ancient Christian Pentarchy, the Later Patriarchates, the Autonomous Orthodox Churches, and Autocephalous Orthodox Churches?

The Short answer is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit through the Apostles founded the Orthodox Christian Church. But you may not know who founded each local Orthodox Church. Many were founded by the 12 Apostles, but some were founded by the 70 Apostles (Luke 10:1–24) or later Saints who were called Apostles to other lands because of their missionary work on founding many churches and translating the Bible and Service Books into the local languages. So here is a list which is now also in the right row of links as well:

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH PENTARCHY OF PATRIARCHATES
  • The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Orthodox Church of Rome) was founded by Saint Andrew the First-Called Apostle
  • The Patriarchate of Alexandria (Orthodox Church of Egypt) was founded by Saint Mark the Apostle & Evangelist
  • The Patriarchate of Antioch (Orthodox Church of Syria) was founded by Saint Peter the Chief Apostle
  • The Patriarchate of Jerusalem (Orthodox Church of Palestine) was founded by Saint Iakovos (James) the Apostle & Brother of the Lord
  • The Patriarchate of Moscow (Orthodox Church of Russia) was founded by Saints Cyril & Methodius the Apostles to the Slavs
NON-PENTARCHY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH PATRIARCHATES
  • The Orthodox Church of Bulgaria was founded by Saint Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles
  • The Orthodox Church of Georgia was founded by Saint Andrew the First-Called Apostle
  • The Orthodox Church of Romania was founded by Saint Andrew the First-Called Apostle
  • The Orthodox Church of Serbia was founded by Saints Cyril & Methodius the Apostles to the Slavs
APOSTOLIC ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
  • The Orthodox Church of Albania was founded by Saint Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles
  • The Orthodox Church of Cyprus was founded by Saint Barnabas the Apostle of the Seventy
  • The Orthodox Church of Greece was founded by Saint Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles
  • The Orthodox Church of Poland was founded by Saints Cyril & Methodius the Apostles to the Slavs
  • The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands & Slovakia was founded by Saints Cyril & Methodius the Apostles to the Slavs
AUTONOMOUS ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
  • The Orthodox Church of Belarus was founded by Saints Cyril & Methodius the Apostles to the Slavs
  • The Orthodox Church of Bessarabia was founded by Saint Andrew the First-Called Apostle
  • The Orthodox Church of China was founded by Saint Thomas the Apostle of the Twelve
  • The Orthodox Church of Crete was founded by Saint Titus the Apostle of the Seventy
  • The Orthodox Church of Estonia was founded by the Saint Yaroslav the Wise Prince
  • The Orthodox Church of Finland was founded​ by Saint Willibrord the Apostle to the Frisians
  • The Orthodox Church of Japan was founded by Saint Nicholas (Nikolai) the Apostle to the Japanese
  • The Orthodox Church of Latvia was founded by Saint Bruno (Boniface) of Querfurt the Apostle to the Prussians
  • The Orthodox Church of Moldova was founded by Saint Andrew the First-Called Apostle
  • The Orthodox Church of Ohrid was founded by Saint Justinian the Great Emperor
  • The Orthodox Church of Sinai was founded by Saint Helena (Helen) the Empress & Saint Constantine the Great Emperor
  • The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was founded by Saint Andrew the First-Called Apostle
Of note, the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) counts as its founder, Saint Herman the Wonderworker of Alaska, although when he helped establish the Orthodox Christianity in the Americas in the 1700s it was as an eparchy (diocese) of the Russian Orthodox Church since Alaska was still part of Russia.

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