Eastern Orthodox Church - Typica

Typica

What unites the Orthodox is theology. All members of the Church profess the same beliefs regardless of race or nationality. In practice and traditions, though, there are variations in style depending on country of origin or local custom or both. These local customs are referred to as differences in typica (Style) and are accepted by the Church since such differences do not conflict with basic Orthodox Theology.

Thus many Orthodox Churches adopt a national title (e.g. Albanian Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Georgian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Macedonian Orthodox, Montenegrin Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox etc.) and this title serves to distinguish which language, which bishops, and which of the typica is followed by that particular congregation. In the Middle East, Orthodox Christians have also been often referred as Roman (or Rum) Orthodox, because of their historical connection with the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire as said in Chapter 30 (Sura Rum) of the Quran.

Members of the Church are fully united in faith and the Sacred Mysteries with all Orthodox congregations, regardless of nationality. Differences in praxis (practice) tend to be slight; they involve such things as the order in which a particular set of hymns are sung or what time a particular service is celebrated. In general, an Orthodox Christian could travel the globe and feel familiar with the services even if he or she did not know the language in which they were celebrated.