A brief overview
BLESSED
BE THE GOD and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places. Grace and peace to you, in the name of the Father , and the Son, and
Holy Spirit.
Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, came to earth and founded the Church, through His Apostles and
disciples, for the salvation of man. In the years which followed, the Apostles
spread the Church and its teachings far; they founded many churches, all united
in faith, worship, and the partaking of the Mysteries, or Sacraments of the Holy
Church. Those founded in later years through the missionary activity of the
first churches were the Churches of Sinai, Russia, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria,
Romania, and many others.
Each of these churches
is independent in administration, but, with the
exception of the Church of
Rome, which finally separated from the others in the year 1054, all are united
in faith, doctrine, Apostolic tradition, sacraments, liturgies, and services.
Together they constitute and call themselves the Orthodox Church. They share
a catholic, i.e. universal faith.
The teachings of the
Church are derived from two sources: Holy Scripture, and Sacred Tradition, it is
within this context Holy Scripture came to be, and is interpreted. 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 enrcoachments
of false teaching and division multiplied in early Christian times, threatening
to obscure the identity and purity of the Church, the term Orthodox quite
logically came to be applied to it.
The
Orthodox Church carefully guards the truth against all error and schism, both to
protect its flock and to glorify Christ whose body the Church is. An astonishing
number of religious groups today claim to be the successors of the early Church.
A yardstick for truth is needed to compare what the Church originally believed
and practiced with what these groups proclaim.
Certainly we all have the right to believe whatever we choose.
But it is also just good sense to be acquainted with the options before we make
decisions.
It is our hope that this outline of our beliefs will help
introduce you to the Christianity espoused and instituted by the Apostles of
Jesus Christ.
This is the yardstick of truth by which choices in Christianity
should be measured.As written in the Gospel of St. John, "And there are also
many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every
one, I suppose that even the world could not contain the books that should be
written" (John 21:20).
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