The Eastern Churches
Christianity was born in the Holy Land. From the first centuries of Christianity on, the churches developed in distinctive Eastern and Western forms. In the Eastern half of the Roman Empire and beyond its Eastern borders, there appeared successively: 1) the Assyrian Church of the East, 2) the Oriental Orthodox (Pre-Chalcedonian) Churches, and 3) the Eastern (Byzantine) Orthodox Churches, and finally 4) the Eastern Catholic Churches. All these churches grew - and are still present in - the Near East, Eastern Europe, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea and southern India. From those historic homelands, Eastern churches have spread throughout the world. The Pontifical Oriental Institute studies all these churches
At the Service of the Eastern Churches
In its history over 6,000 students have studied at the Oriental Institute and over 500 have completed doctorates.Students come from all the Eastern churches, but also include Roman Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christians. Scholars representing the many churches studied and of other backgrounds come to the Oriental Institute to do research. Many former students go on to teach in seminaries and universities in their home countries. A number of Oriental Institute alumni serve as bishops both in Orthodox and Catholic churches. The Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, is one of the Institute's best known alumni. The Oriental Institute is a papal foundation under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See. It is administered by the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus) and belongs to the consortium of Jesuit academic institutions in Rome: the Pontifical Oriental Institute, the pontifical Gregorian University, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute.
Go and visit the POI site (here)
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