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What is Orthodoxy? Questions and Answers Joe Suaiden What is the Orthodox Church? The Orthodox (Greek: Orthos, doxa: Right-believing) Church is the assembly of believers in Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ who follow the teachings of the Holy Apostles and have for the past two millenia. Early in the Church's mission, the Apostles were asked: "Masters, what must I do, that I may be saved?" But they said: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. And he, taking them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes, and himself was baptized, and all his house immediately. (Acts 16: 30-33) Those who were baptized by the Apostles were added to the assembly of God, the elect (Ac 2:41,47;4:4;6:1 and other places) and became established by them in the Spirit as Churches maintaining the truth of what they had heard from the Apostles, (1 Jn 1-3), begininng in Judea and Galilee and extending throughout the known world, fulfilling Christ's commandment to go and preach the Gospel to all nations (Mt 28:19). Since then, over Her 2,000 year history, the Orthodox Church has gone through a number of outward structural changes, adapting to a changing society but never changing the essence of the eternal truths of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Those truths have been handed to us and explained through the inspired writings of the Church Fathers and the ancient services through which we pray. The clearest of these teachings, indeed the source from which all the other teachings follow, was codified as Nicene Creed, the exposition of faith defined at the Council of Nicea in 325 and completed in Constantinople in 381. The sublime teachings embodied in this short statement are the central basis from which we understand our Savior and interpret His Holy Word. What do Orthodox Christians believe? Orthodox Christians believe in one God. From the very beginning of human history, there was a division between those who believe in one Living God and those who believed in either a glorification of themselves or raising up creation to the level of Divinity. This was the first thing that set apart Noah, Abraham and the righteous of the Old Testament. Whether the tower of Babel or the statue of Baal, the first thing all True Orthodox Christians affirm is belief in one God and obedience to Him. We believe that through disobedience to Him, sin and death came into the world through Adam and held complete dominion over man until the establishment of the Old Testament Church in the giving of the Law, and then lost its hold on us altogether through grace and the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, who restored to us the way of union with our Father in heaven and from a life that ends in death to a life that never ends. But death reigned from Adam unto Moses, even over them also who have not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam, who is a figure of him who was to come. But not as the offence, so also the gift. For if by the offence of one, many died; much more the grace of God, and the gift, by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. (Rom 5:14-15) Orthodox Christians believe in the Holy Trinity. Orthodox Christians firmly believe in a Triune God. How this can be is a mystery to us. Little is known in this sense, but we know that One God exists in Three Divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When God created the world, he made man in His own image, saying: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth. (Gen 1:26) There are a number of names and signs that indicate this "multiple unity" in the Old and New Testaments, and when Christ declares to the Apostles to baptize, He says to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". We believe that God, the Father Almighty, created heaven and earth, and all things visible and invisible, and that through His Son everything came into being, the Holy Spirit giving life to all living things and present everywhere. Orthodox Christians believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is eternally begotten of the Father. As He is eternally begotten, we cannot say that He is a created being; for like the Father, he is also beginningless. He is our God. There is no time when the Son of God did not exist. We believe He is God, eternally from God. We believe He is in every way God as the Father, as "light from light". We believe that Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and became incarnate for our sakes through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Ever-Virgin Mary, whom we call the Theotokos (God-bearer). We believe that as Man, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, demonstrated perfect obedience to God Our Father, unto death, making Him a perfect sacrifice in that He had no sin. We believe that He was put to death on a cross, destroying the dominion of death and reversing the unintended state of mankind's sinfulness and mortality. We believe that He went to the righteous dead and brought them to union with the Father, "preaching to the spirits in prison" (1 Pt 3:19-20) and in three days, according to His promise, the Lord Jesus handed sin and death the ultimate defeat, returning from the dead and manifesting the true way of life through union with the Father. Orthodox Christians believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe that after the resurrection the Lord ascended into the Heavens, having promised another Comforter, who would complete the process of the establishment of the Truth making manifest the new and everlasting covenant between God and His creation: And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever. The spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth him: but you shall know him; because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:16-17) We believe that the Holy Spirit is God, and as the Son is eternally begotten from the Father, the Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father. (Jn 15:26) We believe that it was through the Holy Spirit that the Prophets of the Old Testament Assembly (or Church) were inspired (Heb 1:1), and that on the day of the Pentecost, that the Apostles and those with them, having been prepared through the teaching of Jesus Christ, were given that gift forever (Ac 2 2-4) as the New Testament assembly, the Church of Jesus Christ. Orthodox Christians believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We believe that the Church (Greek: Ekklesia, assembly) is the Body of Christ on earth and has existed visibly from the time of Christ to the present day. Though controversies and new teachings have separated some of her members from the Assembly, She has remained, continuing to stand fast to the teachings handed to Her by the Holy Apostles, whether by word or epistle (2 Thess 2:14). We believe that the Orthodox Church is One: though divided into many different (and sometimes bickering) Churches of Christ, that Her faith is one and the same, and can never change, as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We believe that through the teachings She hands down through Her unworthy membership, that She, as the Bride of Christ, is Holy, as Christ is Holy. We believe that the mission of the Church is Catholic in two ways (Greek: Katholikos, universal): first, the mission to preach the Gospel extends to the whole world, even if the world will not listen--we must teach and bring the faith to all peoples, leaving it up to them to accept the Truth of the Faith or not until the end of the age. Second, we believe that the teaching of the Church in all places, by all Orthodox Christians, at all times is the standard by which we must measure our fidelity to the Christian Faith. Finally, we believe our Church is Apostolic in every way: our Synods (assemblies) of Bishops are literally successors of the Apostles, and our teaching is the teaching the Apostles have given to us. From every age to this present one, our mission and our goal has been and remains forever the same: to be the Body of Christ offering the Gospel of salvation to all mankind. Orthodox Christians believe in One Baptism for the remission of sins. We believe that after Baptism into the Church in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that all the sins of the past are washed away. Within the Church, from that point on, our God gives us all the means of grace necessary, visible and invisible, to follow in His path of union with the Father. We believe that the Apostles gave us the proper form for baptism, and to deviate from it is a denial of the Baptism Christ gave us. We believe that after Baptism, Jesus Christ our God gives us His Body and Blood in the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist and that through the power of the Church can heal our illnesses, redeem later sins and transform our lives in ways that would take too long to list here. The world after Baptism into the Orthodox Church of Christ is nothing less than seeing the fallen world with resurrected eyes and having the power to change it insofar as is within His will. But the most important part is that through dying with Him in Baptism and every moment after, we are brought to life through, and in Him. (2 Tim 2:11) Orthodox Christians believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. We believe that Christ is coming again to judge mankind, and then the books of our hearts will be opened. In the future, sin and death will be no more. We have awaited the second coming for 2,000 years, every day being one step closer to the end of this present, fallen age; the next age will be the age of Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Where is the Orthodox Church? The Orthodox Church appears, at this point, to be divided, as has occurred many times in Her history whenever heresy strikes. The greatest heresy of our time, ecumenism (the belief that all Churches, and ultimately all religions are in some way united, regardless of what they believe) has created a division between the hierarchies of the Orthodox Church. Thus, in Greece, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Western Europe, and the Americas, True Orthodox Hierarchies have arisen to take the place of the compromised and heretical leadership who threaten to destroy the Church today through indifference and submission to heresy for the sake of worldly power. Thus, there is a division between the "canonical", money-laden and ecclesiologically compromised Synods and the True Orthodox Synods which maintain no communion with them. But how can a non-Orthodox tell the difference? In reality, a non-Orthodox doesn't have to if he is simply looking to see what an Orthodox Church looks like. Save for the installation of pews in North American "canonical Orthodox" churches, most Churches of either canonical or True Orthodoxy look almost the same. If one is looking for a show and not salvation, there are plenty of places to go. There are also very similar "Eastern Catholic" churches which also look like Orthodox Churches, but are actually Roman Catholic parishes. If you are looking to be saved, however....and you are looking for the True Orthodox Church during this time of controversy, it's easy to find one. Simply ask the priest (presbyter) if the Synod of Bishops he is obedient to (all priests are, by ancient custom, obedient to and actually deputies of their Bishops) recognizes Churches that are part of the heretical World Council of Churches. Assuming he isn't lying (and you can easily tell by the attitude) if he says yes, then they aren't True Orthodox. If he says no, they are. If he gives a strange and confusing answer, try him again when he's awake. However, if you don't want to waste your time going the phone book most of the True Orthodox Churches have official websites with directories on them, and a list of them can be found at http://www.trueorthodox.tk. In Closing.... Remember: "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." If you are looking for the True Faith given by Jesus Christ, go to the source-- the Church established by Him. Pray earnestly, study the facts, and ask Him where the truth is-- and search dilligently. If you search long enough for the truth, the source of all Truth will bring you to Him. "And if you be Christ's, then you are the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise." (Gal 3:29) The Church of Jesus Christ, the Orthodox Church, waits for your presence.
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