What is Orthodoxy?

 

The Orthodox Church was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ and is the living manifestation of His presence in the history of the mankind. The Orthodox Church is evangelical, but not Protestant. It is Orthodox, but not Jewish. It is Catholic, but not Roman. It isn't non-denominational - it is pre-denominational. It has believed, taught, preserved, defended and died for the Faith of the Apostles since the Day of Pentecost over 2000 years ago. The Church exists to worship the Holy Trinity, to preach the Gospel to our community, and to transfigure the lives of her children into the likeness of Jesus Christ. 

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The Orthodox Christian Church has maintained the Faith of the Apostles, the Faith of the undivided Church, without distorting additions or damaging detractions. It rejoices in this Faith and its Sacraments and Traditions. Orthodoxy has many converts and is not just for Greeks, Russians, Serbians, Arabs or Romanians. 

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The word Orthodox literally means right teaching or right worship, being derived from two Greek words: orthos (right) and doxa (teaching or worship). As the encroachments of false teachings and division in early Christian times threatened to obscure the identity and purity of the Church, the term Orthodox logically came to be applied to it. The Orthodox Church carefully guards the truth against all error and schism to protect its flock and to glorify Jesus Christ, the Head of our Church.

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The teachings of the Church are derived from two sources: Holy Scripture, and Sacred Tradition.  Sacred Tradition is how the Scriptures came to be, and by which they are interpreted. As written in the Gospel of St. John, "But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25). Many of the teachings transmitted orally by the Apostles have come down to us through Sacred Tradition.

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It is impossible to express the deep riches of Orthodoxy by words alone, one cannot discover the true richness of Orthodoxy merely by reading about it. Orthodoxy must be experienced and lived before it can become genuinely real.  "Come, taste and see" (Psalm 34:8) what Orthodoxy is about by attending Divine Liturgy, services or one of our adult study classes.

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Nevertheless, there are many books and pamphlets that can help you learn more about our ancient and true Faith, which can be found in our Church Bookstore.