What
on Earth is the Orthodox Church?
What
on Earth is the Orthodox Church?
Consider:
On
the one hand, it is the oldest Church in Christendom (i.e. of the
Christian Faith throughout the world). On the other hand, it's new to
most North Americans.
In the
20th century alone, more than 20 million Orthodox Christians have
given their lives for their faith, primarily under communism. So high
is the commitment of many Orthodox Christians to Christ and His
Church, that she has often been called "the Church of the
Martyrs."
She is
the Church of history's greatest theologians, scholars, and writers -
people like John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Dostoyevsky, and
Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
But what exactly is this
Orthodox Church? What are her roots? Her beliefs? And why are there
so many people who have never heard of her?
A Brief History
The Orthodox Church is the
first Christian Church, the Church 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 the 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 Christian 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.
But What is the Real
Difference?
One writer has compared
Orthodoxy to the faith of Rome and Protestantism in this fashion:
Orthodoxy has maintained the New Testament tradition, whereas Rome
has often added to it and Protestantism subtracted from it.
For example, Rome added to the ancient Creed of the Church, while
Protestant Churches rarely study or recite it. Rome has layers of
ecclesiastical authority while most of Protestantism is
anti-hierarchical, or even "independent" in polity. Rome introduced
indulgences and purgatory; in reaction, Protestantism shies away from
good works and ritualistic discipline (that is in the sense of
mandated elements of salvation).
In these and other matters, the Orthodox Church has steadfastly
maintained the Apostolic faith. She has avoided the excesses of papal
rule and of congregational independence. She has maintained the faith
"once for all delivered to the saints." She understands the clergy as
servants of Christ and His people and not as a special privileged
class. She preserved the Apostles' doctrine of the return of Christ
at the end of the age, of the last judgment and eternal life, and
continues to encourage her people to grow in Christ through union
with Him. In a word, Orthodox Christianity simply does not change!
The Orthodox Church in
North America
It was from the religious
and political Western world that the vast majority of early colonists
came to make their homes in the New World. Here they could be free to
live without fear or threat of recrimination from either Roman
Catholic or Protestant dictums. But with them also came the religious
environment and convictions of the Western Europe they left.
When the Orthodox "latecomers" finally arrived in North America, they
were often ignored as a "foreign" minority. The religious and
cultural climate of the New World was already deeply entrenched.
Thus, rather than mingle with the culture religiously, Orthodox
Christians tended to maintain their Old World ethnic identity, even
to the point of retaining their native languages in their worship.
People who visited their Churches were often unable to understand
what was said or done.
But times are changing. The Orthodox Church today is being taken
seriously in this hemisphere. People devoted to Christ, but
distressed and frustrated by the directions being taken in both Roman
Catholic and Protestant circles, and desiring a more full worship and
spiritual life, are turning to the changeless Orthodox Church. It
only makes sense that the Church from which the Bible came would be
the Church where the faith described in the Bible could be lived out
and preserved.
The Church which brought Orthodoxy to North America is now bringing
North America to Orthodoxy. Constantly, people are being introduced
to the faith and worship of the Orthodox Church. New Churches are
beginning in cities and towns from coast to coast. With renewed
vision, many established Churches have made the transition to English
language services. Not surprisingly, there is also a breadth of
interest being expressed in Orthodoxy on college and university
campuses in the U. S. and Canada. Students are discovering Orthodoxy
as a place where the search for spiritual reality finds
fulfillment.
For more information, check out these official links:
Orthodox
Church in America
(OCA)
These are the jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church. They are in full communion with each other. These include the Greek, the Antiochian (or Lebanese) Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Ukranian Orthodox Church, and the Orthodox Church in America (Russian).
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