Category:Eastern Orthodox churches
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The Eastern Orthodox churches are a communion comprising the collective body of sixteen separate autocephalous hierarchical churches that recognize each other as "canonical" Orthodox Christian churches. The highest-ranking bishop of the communion is the Patriarch of Constantinople, who is also primate of one of the sixteen churches. The sixteen organizations are in full communion with each other, so any priest of any of those churches may lawfully minister to any member of any of them, and no member of any is excluded from any form of worship in any of the others. Like the Roman Catholic church, they practice closed communion; thus, with rare exceptions, non-members are prohibited from receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist.