Chalcedon
Chalcedon ( or ;
, sometimes transliterated as "Chalkedon") was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy. The name "Chalcedon" is a variant of Calchedon, found on all the coins of the town as well as in manuscripts of Herodotus's "Histories", Xenophon's "Hellenica", Arrian's "Anabasis", and other works. Except for a tower, almost no above-ground vestiges of the ancient city survive in Kadıköy today; artifacts uncovered at Altıyol and other excavation sites are on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
Canonical territory
In the middle of the 5th century, a number of Eastern Churches rejected the Council of Chalcedon of 451 thus creating a schism which led to the rise of "parallel hierarchies". Those who accepted the 451 Council of Chalcedon similarly classified those who rejected it as Monophysite heretics. The Churches that refused to accept the Council considered instead that it was they who were orthodox. The six present-day Churches that continue their tradition reject the description "Monophysite", preferring instead "Miaphysite". They are often called, in English, "Oriental Orthodox Churches", to distinguish them from the Eastern Orthodox Churches. These churches are also referred to as "pre-Chalcedonian" or, now more rarely, as "non-Chalcedonian" or "anti-Chalcedonian".