ORTHODOX FAITH

The Church is more than a building, it is people; believing people, baptized people, surrendered people, people in whom Christ dwells, people who listen to and obey the voice of God.

The Orthodox Church began with Christ and His Apostles at the very beginning of the Christian era. The origin of the Orthodox Faith in Jesus Christ and His Apostles, and its expansion through the centuries should be studied and understood as the unchangeable belief which has been preserved by the Orthodox Church. The word Orthodox comes from the combination of two words. “Orthos” is the first word; it is an adjective, meaning correct. The second word is “doxa” which is a noun, meaning belief, but also glory, praise or worship. The Orthodox Church is the one, holy, catholic and Apostolic Church in which resides the fullness of Christian truth.

The Orthodox Church consists of many autonomous Churches, that is, self-governing churches according to canon law which is common to all of them. These churches, mostly “Ethnical” churches are fully in communion with one another. These Churches constitute a membership of approximately 250 million communicants today. In the Orthodox Faith there are seven sacraments, which by the divine Grace of God are granted directly to the members of the Church. These sacred ceremonies have been instituted either by Christ or by His Apostles. The number seven was determined in the 13th century.

The Orthodox Church in every service and especially at every Divine Liturgy calls upon the people to pray to God for the union of all Christians. True Orthodoxy is foreign to any dead formalism. Pseudo-pietism has no place in it. Orthodoxy is spirit and life. It is where you experience the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and where the Love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Spirit is with us all.