ABOUT THE ORTHODOX RELIGION
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
The Holy Orthodox Church traces its origin to the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to preach the gospel of Christ throughout the world. From that time to the present the Orthodox Church has remained faithful to the Biblical and Apostolic teaching, often defining those teachings by means of creeds and the Seven Ecumenical Councils.
The Orthodox Church believes that by the grace of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit it has kept, preserved and proclaimed the teaching of the gospel right up to the present. Moreover, the Church itself is the means of communion with God--a mystical, sacramental and spiritual reality in a sinful and fallen world. It is the means to salvation in Christ, and against the church “the gates of hell shall not prevail.” (Matthew 16: 18)
The Orthodox Church is often called the Eastern Orthodox Church because, after the schism of the Roman Catholic Church in the 11th century, the four leaders, or patriarchs, of the church in the eastern Mediterranean (located in Jerusalem,Alexandria,Antioch and Constantinople) formed the nucleus of this so-called “eastern” church. The Orthodox Church began to spread northward, converting the Slavs ( Serbs, Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Russians), the Romanians and Georgians. Because much of Eastern Europe is Orthodox, it is still commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church. Further, because the Orthodox Church always made an effort to translate Scripture and prayer books into local languages, many Orthodox people refer to themselves by their national origin: “Greek Orthodox“,” Russian Orthodox”,etc. But they are all one Orthodox Church, today comprising about 250 million members (six million in America), making it the second largest Christian body in the world.
Conclusion. Orthodoxy seems startlingly different at first, but as the weeks go by it gets to be less so. It will begin to feel more and more like home, and it will draw you into the Kingdom of God.
