Greek

or Eastern Church , that section of the Church which formerly separated from the Roman or Western in 1054, which a umed an independent existence on account of the arrogant claims of the latter, and which acknowledges the authority of only the first seven general councils; they di ent from the filioque doctrine ( q. v .), administer the Eucharist in both kinds to the laity, and are zealously conservative of the orthodoxy of the Church.