The Orthodox Church is the Church founded by our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, described in the pages of the New Testament. It is the same Church continued through time to this day and to the age to come. Her history can be traced–with documents and facts, much as secular history–in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles.

For her two thousand years of existence, the Orthodox Church has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and life. Today, her apostolic doctrine, worship, structure, and practice remain intact. The Orthodox Church is the living Body of Jesus Christ, the Arc of salvation.

For the first 1,000 years of Christian history there was virtually one Church. In the eleventh century a disastrous schism occurred, resulting in the Western Church, under the pope of Rome, splitting itself from the Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches refused to be subject to papal absolutism, accepting no other head than Jesus Christ Himself.

The Orthodox Church is the second largest body in Christendom with about 225 million members worldwide and about six million in the U.S. and Canada.

Pentecost

One writer has compared Orthodoxy to the faith of Rome and Protestantism in this basic fashion: Orthodoxy has maintained the New Testament tradition, whereas Rome has often added to it, while Protestantism has subtracted from it.

For example, Rome added to the ancient Creed of the Church, while numerous Protestant denominations rarely study or recite it. Rome has layers of ecclesiastical authority; much of Protestantism is anti-hierarchical or even "independent" in polity. Rome introduced indulgences and purgatory; in reaction, Protestantism shies away from personal effort and discipline.

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 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 great judgment and eternal life, and continues to encourage her people to grow in Christ and union with Him. In a word, Orthodox Christianity has remained the same since its origins in the upper room!

"Until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (Eph. 4:13)

"Unity of the faith is not to disagree about the dogmatic teachings. Likewise, unity of the knowledge of the Son of God means that there are no differences in the understanding of Him." (St. Ecumenios, 11th century A.D., Comment. in Ephes. ad loc.; PG 118:1220C)

"Unity of the faith means that all of us have the same faith. For when all are one, that is the unity of the faith, when we all have the same understanding of that unity. Till then you must work, if you have received the gift, to build up others. And when all of us believe the same, this is the unity of the faith." (St. John Chrysostom, + 407 A.D., Comment. in Ephes., Homily XI, 3; PG 62:83)

"Unity of the faith means that all of us have the same faith, neither differing dogmatically, not having any discord among us in our lives. The unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God are real when we are dogmatically orthodox and when we live in love. For Christ is love." (Blessed Theophylact, ca. 1100 A.D., Expos. ad Ephes.; PG 1244, ad loc.; 1088A)

"Holy Father, protect them in Your name that You have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one." (John 17:11)

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the foundation of all Orthodox theology and spirituality. It is on this doctrine that the conciliar and hierarchical structure of the Orthodox Church rests. The mystery of the Trinity is revealed in the supreme act of love, the Incarnation of the divine "Word that became flesh", assuming and healing humanity and the entire creation.

Participation in the deified humanity of Jesus Christ is the ultimate goal of the Christian life, accomplished through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Through participation in the Holy Sacraments, practicing of the holy virtues and immersion in the life of the Church, each person is called to theosis or deification: for "God became human in order that humanity might be deified" (St. Athanasios the Great + 373 AD) (compare also: "partakers of the divine nature"- 2 Pet. 1:4).

When expressing these beliefs, Orthodoxy is in complete harmony with Scripture and Tradition, as manifested in the life of the Church and all the Church Fathers. The Orthodox Church is not yet another "Bible-based" Church: much more than that, she is the Church whose members produced the Biblical texts, whose members put the Biblical Canon together (Council of Carthage, 397 AD), and whose members maintain the "faith once delivered to the Saints" (Jude 1:3). The Orthodox Church is the "pillar and foundation of the Truth" (1 Tim. 3:15), and at no time did she cease to hold and live by the truth because there is no time that the words of the Lord can fail: "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her" (Mt. 16:18).

The vast majority of early colonists came to make their homes in the New World from the religious and political Western world. Here they lived 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.

Historically, most of the Orthodox peoples happened to be under Ottoman occupation by the time of Renaissance and for several centuries later, and this prevented them from having an active presence in the on-goings in the western world. 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. People distressed and frustrated by the directions being taken in both Roman Catholic and Protestant circles, and desiring a fuller 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 America, is now bringing America to Orthodoxy. 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. Many established churches have made the transition to all-English language services. Not surprisingly, there is also a breadth of interest in Orthodoxy expressed on college and university campuses in the U.S. Students are discovering Orthodoxy as a place where the search for genuine spirituality finds fulfillment.

A small group of Orthodox Christians in the St. Louis area began an ambitious and daring task: to make Orthodoxy known in the world around us. Orthodox Witness sprung up with the goal to proclaim the gospel of Christ, as taught and lived in the Orthodox Church. Its bent is that it purports to do it through the modern media of communication.

If you would like to know more about Orthodox Witness or if you would like to join this effort, please e-mail us at inquire@orthodoxwitness.org.