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[[File:Gold Glistening In The Sunlight (88176949).jpeg|thumb|319x319px|Ecclesialist church buildings often have grand architecture, ornate decoration, and an emphasis on visual splendor]]
'''Ecclesialism''' is a major branch of [[Christianity]] that encompasses traditions such as [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] and [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern]], [[Assyrian Church of the East|Assyrian]] or [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodoxy]], as well as other denominations characterised by their emphasis on the [[Church (Local Body)|institutional Church]], [[Monasticism|sacramental life]], and [[apostolic succession]]. It evolved gradually over the centuries following the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the [[Roman Empire]] by Emperor [[Theodosius I]].

Ecclesialism distinguishes itself from other branches of Christianity, such as [[Protestantism]] and [[Restorationism]], by maintaining continuity with historic church structures and traditions through a theological reliance on [[Ecumenical council|Church councils]] and [[Church creeds|creeds]] as well as a sacramental understanding of grace as something objectively conferred through liturgical rites administered by ordained clergy within the apostolic succession.

Ecclesialism does not generally accept [[sola scriptura]] and holds that the Church, with its authority rooted in tradition and apostolic succession, holds greater interpretive authority than the writings of the [[Apostles]] themselves.

== Ecumenical councils ==

All Protestant denominations accept the first four [[Ecumenical council|Ecumenical councils]], up to the [[Council of Chalcedon]], and [[Anglicanism|Anglicans]] accept the first seven, which are also the only seven agreed upon by both the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox churches, who then went on to form many more councils and creeds following the [[Great Schism of 1054]]. The Assyrian Nestorian Church only accepts the first two councils as [[Nestorianism]] was condemned at the [[Council of Ephesus]]. The Oriental Orthodox churches only accept the first three as [[Miaphysitism]] was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon.

== Ecclesialist denominations ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!'''Denomination'''
!Rites
!Split
!Size
|-
|'''[[Roman Catholicism]]'''
|Alexandrian, Byzantine, Armenian
|[[Great Schism of 1054]]
|1.3 Billion followers
|-
|'''[[Eastern Orthodoxy]]'''
|N/A
|[[Great Schism of 1054]]
|230 Million followers
|-
|'''[[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodoxy]]'''
|Coptic, Ethiopian, Syriac, Armenian
|[[Council of Chalcedon]]
|50 Million followers
|-
|'''[[Assyrian Church of the East|Assyrian Orthodoxy]]'''
|N/A
|[[Council of Ephesus]]
|400,000 followers
|-
|'''[[Sedevacantism]]'''
|Various sects
|Various splits from Roman Catholicism in the 1800s, 1900s and 2000s
|300,000 followers
|-
|'''[[Anglicanism]]''' ('''<ref group="Notes">Sometimes considered Ecclesialist, though it developed out of the English Reformation which in turn came from the Protestant Reformation</ref>''')
|N/A
|[[English Reformation]]
|70 Million followers
|}

== Notes ==

Ecclesialism - Revision history