WHAT IS ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY?
The Orthodox Church is the living experience of one New Testament Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit in the year A.D. 33. The Orthodox Church is the pillar and ground of the truth that brought the Gospel and the Apostolic teachings from East to West, from north to south, where the message of God's great love, mercy, and the gift of eternal have won millions to the one, holy, catholic, Apostolic church. Nothing is added to or subtracted from that deposit of faith which was "handed once for all to the saints" (Jude 3). Throughout history, various heresies have assailed the Church, and these heresies were met by ecumenical councils, seven in all, where faithful bishops clarified in new language what the church has always been believed. Its primary statement of faith is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
Orthodox Christianity is not kept alive by personal, individualistic studies of Scripture or the Church Fathers, but by the Holy Spirit who moves in and through the church--through its bishops, priests, and deacons, keeping Jesus' guarantee that against the church, the gates of hell would never prevail! It is providential and also miraculous that Orthodox Bishops trace their ordinations to an unbroken succession; to the very apostles themselves! This ultimately means that their holy orders are from our Lord Jesus Christ!
Orthodox Christianity is not kept alive by personal, individualistic studies of Scripture or the Church Fathers, but by the Holy Spirit who moves in and through the church--through its bishops, priests, and deacons, keeping Jesus' guarantee that against the church, the gates of hell would never prevail! It is providential and also miraculous that Orthodox Bishops trace their ordinations to an unbroken succession; to the very apostles themselves! This ultimately means that their holy orders are from our Lord Jesus Christ!
