About Orthodox Christianity

The Orthodox Faith

Orthodox Christians in North America 1794 - 1994

Historical Relation to Western Christianity

The Orthodox Church shares a common history with Western Christianity for roughly the first 1,000 years of the Christian experience. However, during the Middle Ages, developments in the West led the Latin Church to drift away from the Church in the East. Some fundamental and previously shared understandings were lost. For example, the authority of local hierarchs was largely supplanted by the universal claims of the Roman papacy. Also, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed -- used since the early 4th Century throughout Christianity -- was unilaterally changed in the West to say that the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the son" (contrast John 15:26, "...I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness..."). These and other changes in the Roman Church led it to an increasing sense of alienation, culminating in its breaking away from the Eastern Church in 1054 AD, severing itself from communion with the rest of Christianity in East leading down the path of unique development even until today. As a result, the Orthodox Christian Church is commonly understood as the normative and historic "Church of the East"-- of Biblically significant places such as Jerusalem and Palestine, Antioch, Corinth, Thessalonika, in addition to most of the southern and eastern Slavic lands, etc. However, Orthodoxy is not bound intrinsically to any historical territory.

Missionary Tradition

The Orthodox Church has a strong tradition of missionary evangelism. Unlike certain missionary endeavors by western-minded Christians, the Orthodox missionary tradition does not include attempting to impose or promote the specific culture of the missionaries because "God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him" (Acts 10:34-35). Orthodoxy affirms and utilizes the local language in worship and prayer. Orthodoxy enters into the culture, embracing all those aspects of a culture that are compatible with the Gospel, thereby "baptizing" the culture with its citizens. In this way, Orthodoxy was first established in North America-- through the independent missionary activity of pioneering Russian fur traders in Imperial Alaska. Their early effort was rapidly followed by an official mission sponsored by the Russian Orthodox Church. That mission, through the activity of the humble lay-monk, St. Herman, led to the conversion of thousands of Aleuts, Eskimo, Tlingit, and other indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Another significant, and more recent, point in American Orthodox history was in 1987, when several former leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ, after each completed independent searches for the original Christian Church, joined together in choosing to enter the Orthodox Church, understanding it to be the original, Biblical Church. (See Becoming Orthodox below.)

Tradition of Worship

Orthodox doctrine and tradition are harmoniously held together as mutually supportive parts of the single whole of Christian Truth (see 2 Thess. 2:15). Orthodoxy, which has never undergone a Reformation, sees no conflict between Scripture and Tradition, between hierarchy and laity, between local custom and universal commonality. Orthodoxy also sees no conflict between personal piety and corporate worship. Our worship is liturgical and fasting is a fundamental part of Orthodox piety, both of which were prominent in the early Church. (See Acts 13:2 where they were fasting and where the Greek original -- leitourgountõn, from leitourgeõ -- literally says that they were engaging in liturgy. The same word is used frequently in Exodus, Numbers, and elsewhere in the Greek Old Testament "Septuagint" where priestly-Levitical ritual worship is discussed. See also the article on worship.)

One Church

The Orthodox Church is a single Body, with Christ as the head (Eph. 4:11-16, etc.). In the Church, various countries and peoples are united in their common faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. However, the administration of the Church is done locally, by self-governing Churches such as the Russian Orthodox Church or the Church of Antioch. All of these Orthodox Church jurisdictions share the same faith, doctrines, scriptures, canons (guidelines), sacraments, and mutual recognition of clergy and laity. No self-governing Church can exercise authority over any of its peers or unilaterally involve itself in the other's local activities (compare Rom. 15:29). There is, however, an order of honor accorded to the various churches, with the Bishop of Constantinople (Istanbul) being recognized as "first among equals" and having the right to convene and chair synods of his peers. In short, the Orthodox Church is the Body of Christ constituted by the Holy Spirit; it is the Church of the Apostles. It is their continuous lineage, not bound by any historic period, language or culture (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal 3:28; Col. 3:11; Heb. 13:8).

Communion

In this day and age of ecumenical dialog and interdenominational communion, we should point out two fundamental points about the Orthodox understanding of Communion.

1) Reality of the Sacrament: We believe that Christ spoke truthfully when He said, "Take eat, this is My body" (Matt. 26:26, etc.) We do not read it as mere symbolism, for if He were speaking only metaphorically, He would not have said, "Truly, truly (literally, Amen, amen) I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53). Nor would He have said, "For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (John 6:55). And again, the Gospel points out that this was not euphemistic symbolism, rather it is "a hard saying" which led many of His disciples to no longer follow Him (John 6:60-66). Furthermore, St. Paul could not have claimed that many have become weak, sick, and even died from profaning a mere symbolic representation (1 Cor. 11:23-30).

2) Fidelity with the Sacrament: Since we confess the consecrated bread and wine to be truly the sacramental Body and Blood of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, we treat the Sacrament as most-holy. We affirm the unity of His body, the Church, just as St. Paul takes it for granted that Christ -- and therefore His Church -- is undivided (1 Cor. 1:11-13). Similarly, there ought not be divisions within the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11:18-20).

In Ephesians 5:29-32, the Apostle Paul compares Christ's relationship to the Church with that of man and wife. From this, we can say that for the Orthodox Church to offer "open communion" to people who are not members of the Orthodox Church would be analogous to adultery. Indeed, the words adultery and harlotry are used in the Old Testament to describe Israel breaking fidelity with the Lord (e.g. Ezekiel 23:37; Deut. 31:16).

Also, our understanding of Jesus as the new and holy, mystical Passover (1 Cor. 5:7) leads us to share this Sacrificial Lamb only with fellow members of the Orthodox Church, just as the Lord commanded that only official members of the congregation of Israel were allowed to eat the Passover. Neither the sojourner, the hired servant, nor even the live-in servant could eat it, unless and until they were formally made to be members of the congregation of Israel through circumcision (Exo. 12:43-48).

So, from the Scriptural perspective, the Orthodox understanding is that we may not offer communion to those from whom we are divided: Those who confess any other creed, those who are not members of the Orthodox Church. Thus, the Church maintains its fidelity to Christ, in part, by sharing the Sacrament only with persons who are members of the undivided Orthodox Church.

Recognizing the reality of divisions among our fellow Christians, however, we pray for the day that we all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among us, but that we be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment (1 Cor. 1:10). Along this line, at almost every service, we pray "for the union of all" and in the ancient liturgy of St. Basil the Great, we explicitly ask the Lord to "reunite the separated."

For more detail on Orthodox beliefs, see the Informative Web Links below.

Note to the Reader

The Orthodox Church has no copyright on the terms "Orthodox" or "canonical" and many other groups which we do not recognize and which have no historical standing within the Orthodox Church as described above, use such terms for themselves. (I've even heard of a group of people -- calling themselves Orthodox -- who named their church after, and are devoted to the memory of, a deceased jazz musician!) To visit a list of the Church bodies that have historically recognized each other as canonical Orthodox Churches, click the Canonical Orthodox Church List.

"Oriental Orthodox"

To add just a bit of clarity -- or, perhaps, confusion -- there is another Church Body that goes by the term "Oriental Orthodox." The Oriental Orthodox Churches (e.g., the Egyptian/Coptic Orthodox and the Ethiopian Orthodox Churches) maintain great similarity with the Eastern Orthodox in their organizational structure, canons, sacraments, etc. The reason for the distinction between the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox is that in the year 451 there was a great Church Council regarding the nature of Jesus Christ. Those who are identified as Oriental Orthodox did not recognize the Council and since that time, there has been a schism between the Oriental Orthodox and the rest of Christendom.

This 4th Ecumenical Council refuted a new theology that said Jesus Christ was of one hybrid nature (monophysite) made from His divinity and from His humanity. The Council declared that Jesus Christ, though one Person, is of two natures: both perfectly human and perfectly divine. However, the fact that the Oriental Orthodox rejected this Council and left the communion of the rest of Christianity is not necessarily to say that they believe Jesus Christ to have been such a hybrid of the two natures. For more information on the Oriental Orthodox where they can more properly define themselves, visit Copts - an introduction.

(reproduced with permission, from the Website of Archangel Michael Orthodox Church Burbank, IL)

For FAQs see the Links page.

Recommended Bibliography

Introductory books such as those listed below, and many more, can be ordered through Conciliar Press, Light & Life, or St. Vladimir's Seminary Bookstore, among other sources.

Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith, Peter E. Gillquist, (Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1992).

The Faith We Hold, Archbishop Paul, (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1980).

The Orthodox Church, Timothy (Callistos) Ware, (Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1963).

The Orthodox Faith: Vols. 1-4, Thomas Hopko (New York: Department of Religious Education, The Orthodox Church in America, 1981). Read it online!

The Orthodox Study Bible: Vol. 1: New Testament and Psalms (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993).

(Contents of this page reproduced with permission of the Rector of Archangel Michael Church, Burbank, IL)