Eastern Orthodox ChurchBehind the elaborate frescoes and splendid architecture, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a significant role in preserving the Christian tradition throughout history. After the move of the imperial capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople, Eastern Orthodox Christianity evolved into a distinct branch of Christianity (Steeves). As Timothy Ware, author of The Orthodox Church, suggests, the major intellectual, cultural, and social developments that were occurring in a different region of the Roman Empire were not entirely consistent with the evolution of Western Christianity (Ware 8). These traditions and practices of the Church of Constantinople were adopted by many and still provide the basic patterns and ethics of contemporary Orthodoxy. The Eastern Orthodox Church has adopted unique organizational characteristics, beliefs, and traditions, establishing itself as a unique branch of Christianity. Because developments in Eastern Christianity were occurring independently of Western Christianity, differences in approaches grew to a serious drift between the two (Ware 23-24). As Ware suggests, some of the most obvious differences between Eastern and Western Christianity lie in the approach to religious truth, the perception of sin and salvation, and the view of the Holy Spirit. For Orthodox Christians, truth must be personally experienced (Ware 132). There is therefore less attention to the exact definition of religious truth and more to the practical and personal experience of truth in the life of the individual and of the Church. This emphasis on the personal experience of truth results in the very definition of the word orthodox, which essentially means the correct theological observance of religion (“orthodox”). In Western churches, sin and salvation are seen primarily in legal terms. God has given human beings freedom, and if they abuse it and break God's commandments, they deserve punishment. God's grace results in forgiveness of transgression and freedom from bondage and punishment. The Eastern Churches see the issue differently. For Orthodox theologians, human beings were created in the image of God and made full participants in divine life. The full communion with God that Adam and Eve enjoyed meant complete freedom and true humanity, because humans are most human when they are fully united with God. The result of sin, then, would be considered a tarnishing of God's image and a barrier between God and man. Furthermore, salvation is a process not of justification, but of re-establishing man's communion with God (Ware 155-161).