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The Orthodox Church
What We Believe
The Orthodox Church is the first Christian Church.
The Church was founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and described in the
pages of the New Testament. Her history can be traced in unbroken
continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles.
Incredible as it seems, for nineteen and a half
centuries she has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and
practice. Today, her apostolic doctrine, worship, and structure remain
intact. The Orthodox Church maintains that the Church is the living Body
of Jesus Christ.
Many of us are surprised to learn that for the first
1000 years of Christian history there was just one Church. It was in the
eleventh Century that a disastrous split occurred, resulting in the
Western Church, under the pope, separating itself from the Orthodox
Church. The papacy sought to establish itself over all of Christendom
and finally succeeded in the West. But the rest of the Church rejected
this innovation, knowing no so-called “universal head” apart from Jesus
Christ himself.
Quick Facts about the Orthodox
Church
The Orthodox Church is . . .
- The oldest Church in Christendom, although it is
not familiar to many Americans.
- The second largest body in Christendom with over
225 million people worldwide, less than 2 million of which are in
North America.
- One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, having an
unbroken tradition from Jesus Christ and the Apostles to today.
- Often referred to as "the Church of the Martyrs".
In the twentieth century alone, more than 20 million Orthodox
Christians have given their life for their faith, primarily under
communism.
- The Church of some of history's greatest
theologians, scholars and writers including John Chrysostom, Jerome,
Basil the Great, John of Damascus, Dostoyesvky and Alexander
Solzhenitsyn.
- Often referred to by any number of its "ethnic"
titles such as Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Serbian, Syrian,
Romanian, Bulgarian, etc. Orthodox literally means "true worship" or
"true belief" and is a name that describes nearly all of
Christianity in the first ten centuries of Church history.
- We are Orthodox because we ascribe to the
Orthodox teachings defined in the Bible, the Seven Ecumenical
Councils, and the writings of the church fathers. The Nicene Creed
and the Bible play a prominent role in our worship, beliefs, and
piety.
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What We Believe
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker
of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the
Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of
Light, True God of True God, Begotten, not made, of one essence with
the Father, by Whom all things were made:
Who for us men and for our salvation came down
from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin
Mary, and was made man;
And was crucified also for us under Pontius
Pilate, and suffered and was buried;
And the third day He rose again, according to the
Scriptures;
And ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right
hand of the Father;
And He shall come again with glory to judge the
living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and
Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father
and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the
Prophets;
And we believe in One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of
sins.
We look for the Resurrection of the dead,
And the Life of the age to come. Amen. |
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