The Eastern Orthodox Church is generally considered about 2,000 years old , tracing its roots to the early Christian church of the 1st century. Its distinct identity developed gradually over the first several centuries, and it became clearly separated from the Roman Catholic Church after the Great Schism of 1054.

Quick view

  • Roots: 1st century Christianity.
  • Separate tradition: took shape over the 1st–5th centuries.
  • Major split: 1054.

Simple answer

If someone asks “how old is it?”, the most accurate short answer is: roughly 2,000 years old as a Christian tradition, and about 970 years old as a clearly separated Eastern Orthodox communion.

Why this is a little tricky

The church did not appear on a single founding date. Instead, it grew out of the early Christian communities of the Roman Empire, especially in the Greek- speaking East, so historians usually describe its beginnings as gradual rather than exact.