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50 free Eastern Orthodox Christianity trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second-largest Christian body on earth, about 220 million people, and it runs on a model most Western readers find unfamiliar: no pope, fifteen self-governing churches, and a patriarch in Istanbul who is first among equals but commands none of them. Its story runs from the seven ecumenical councils through the excommunications of 1054, the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the fall of the city in 1453 and Moscow's claim to be the Third Rome. These 50 questions cover the doctrine and the texture: why the Virgin Mary is called Theotokos, what an iconostasis separates, why the Russian cross has a slanted bar, which council ended iconoclasm, who translated the liturgy for the Slavs, and why Mount Athos admits no women. There are modern questions too, on the 1965 lifting of the anathemas, the 2018 Moscow–Constantinople break, the Old Believers and the Old Calendarists, and the Green Patriarch who has to be a Turkish citizen. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and each explanation adds one more detail. Play it solo or print it for a study group.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What official name does the communion use for itself in its liturgical texts?
Orthodox Catholic Church
Its theologians still call the church 'Catholic'; 'Eastern Orthodox' simply avoids confusion with Rome.
Q 02Roughly how many adherents does the Eastern Orthodox Church have?
220 million
That makes it the second-largest Christian communion after the Catholic Church.
Q 03Who is recognised by Orthodox churches as primus inter pares, 'first among equals'?
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
The title belonged to the patriarch of Rome before the East–West Schism.
Q 04How many ecumenical councils does the Eastern Orthodox Church recognise?
Seven
Some expect the 879 council that vindicated Patriarch Photius to be counted as an eighth one day.
Q 05In which year did the East–West Schism conventionally take place?
1054
Scholars have also proposed 1009, 1204, 1277 and 1484 as the 'real' date.
Q 06Which cardinal laid a bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia in 1054?
Humbert of Silva Candida
Pope Leo IX had already died three months earlier, so the bull's validity was questionable.
Q 07Which Patriarch of Constantinople was excommunicated by the papal legates in 1054?
Michael I Cerularius
He had ordered the closure of all Latin churches in Constantinople the year before.
Q 08Which type of bread did Constantinople attack the Latins for using in the Eucharist?
Unleavened
Leo of Ohrid's letter also criticised fasting on Saturdays and other Western customs.
Q 09The dispute over which clause added to the Nicene Creed helped drive the schism?
Filioque
The Latin word means 'and the Son', describing the procession of the Holy Spirit.
Q 10Pope Paul VI and which Ecumenical Patriarch nullified the anathemas of 1054 in 1965?
Athenagoras I
The joint declaration was a goodwill gesture and did not reunite the churches.
Q 11In 2004 Pope John Paul II apologised for the sack of Constantinople during which event?
The Fourth Crusade
The 1204 sack had been condemned at the time by Pope Innocent III; Patriarch Bartholomew accepted the apology.
Q 12What does the Greek title Theotokos, given to the Virgin Mary, mean?
God-bearer
The Council of Ephesus in 431 affirmed the title against Nestorius.
Q 13Which 431 council affirmed Mary as Theotokos against the teachings of Nestorius?
Ephesus
It was presided over by the Patriarch of Alexandria with 250 bishops.
Q 21Which Orthodox mystery grants the gift of the Holy Spirit through anointing with chrism?
Chrismation
It is usually given immediately after baptism, even to infants, and is sometimes called confirmation.
Q 22What is the Orthodox term for humanity's calling to become like God?
Theosis
The church teaches that everyone, born in God's image, is called to fulfil that image in likeness.
Q 23From which ranks are Orthodox bishops almost always chosen?
The monastics
Bishops must remain unmarried, while parish priests may be married men.
Q 14Which Roman emperor convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325?
Constantine
More than 300 bishops condemned Arius's view that the Son was a created being.
Q 15Which empress regent called the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the second of Nicaea, in 787?
Irene of Athens
The council restored the veneration of icons after the first wave of iconoclasm.
Q 16What is the wall of icons separating the nave from the sanctuary called?
Iconostasis
It evolved from the Byzantine templon in the 11th century.
Q 17Who designed the first ceiling-high, five-level Russian icon screen in 1408?
Andrey Rublyov
It stood in the cathedral of the Dormition in Vladimir.
Q 18On the Russian Orthodox cross, what does the small top crossbar represent?
Pilate's sign above Christ's head
The slanted foot-rest points up to Heaven on Christ's right and down to Hades on his left.
Q 19On the Russian cross, the slanted foot-rest points up on Christ's right toward what?
Heaven
Its other end points down to Hades, on Christ's left.
Q 20What are the sacraments called in Eastern Orthodoxy?
Holy mysteries
Seven are counted as major, with the Eucharist as the principal one.
Q 24The Octoechos used in Orthodox chant is a system of how many tones?
Eight
It is analogous to the Gregorian modes of the West; chant is treated as prayer, not 'music'.
Q 25Which weekday does Orthodox tradition dedicate to the apostles and Nicholas of Myra?
Thursday
Tuesday goes to the prophets, especially John the Baptist; Saturday to All Saints and the departed.
Q 26Which Byzantine emperor sent Cyril and Methodius at Rastislav of Moravia's request?
Michael III
Their translations grew into Church Slavonic; their disciples were driven to Bulgaria in 886.
Q 27The Cyrillic script was developed at which Bulgarian literary school?
Preslav
Old Church Slavonic was declared official in Bulgaria in 893.
Q 28Kievan Rus' accepted Christianity in which year?
988
Bulgaria had converted earlier, in 864.
Q 29In 1589 Constantinople granted autocephaly to which city, later styled the Third Rome?
Moscow
It was by then the capital of the largest Orthodox polity.
Q 30Ivan III of Russia married Sophia Palaiologina, a niece of which last Byzantine emperor?
Constantine XI
Ivan then styled himself Tsar, from 'Caesar'.