Christian denomination

A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and another are defined by doctrine and church authority. Issues such as the nature of Jesus, the authority of apostolic succession, and papal primacy separate one denomination from another.

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest denomination with over 1.1 billion members, over half of all Christians worldwide making it the largest denomination for any religion worldwide (although the Church itself does not view itself as a denomination, but as the original pre-denominational Church). Protestant denominations comprise roughly 38-39% of Christians worldwide, and together the Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans, and other closely related denominations comprise Western Christianity. Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East are considered Eastern Christian denominations. Western Christian denominations prevail in Western Europe and its former colonies. Eastern Christian denominations are represented mostly in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.