What is Orthodoxy?

Orthodoxy is the Church established by Jesus Christ and the Apostles.  Orthodoxy is not a denomination because it existed before all denominations.  It is unchanged since the date of Pentecost!

Is Orthodoxy a Christian Church?

Yes! Not only “a” Christian Church, but “The” Christian Church that was established by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and which continued its existence until today.  Orthodoxy is the original church and not a denomination – it is pre-denominational!

Do you have to be Greek to attend? Do you have to be Greek to be Orthodox? 

The Orthodox Church is the original church of Christ and is all over the world.  Today, most Orthodox are not Greek.  The word “Greek” refers to the East just as “Roman” in “Roman Catholicism” refers to the West.

Will the service be in English or Greek? Why do you use Greek? Do I have to learn Greek to fully understand the service?

In most Greek Orthodox Parishes, the primary language is English as we add so many of other backgrounds to the body.  Our communities use the amount of Greek that is necessary to minister to those who may not speak English. Although you do not need to learn Greek to fully participate, because the Divine Services and most of the New Testament were originally written in Greek, our clergy often reference it as they teach, and parts of the service are done in Greek to this day.

Will the community accept me even though I'm not Greek?

The Orthodox Community is one that is based on Christ’s teachings that we love one another.  All those who come to the faith in humility are emphatically embraced regardless of their race or ethnicity. In Christ “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all in all.” (Colossians 3:11)

What's the difference between Greek, Russian, etc.?

All Orthodox Churches share the same teachings, express the same liturgical life, and are in communion with one another. However, the Orthodox Church was brought to North America by people belonging to different ethnic groups who identified themselves by ethnicity and therefore labeled themselves as “Greek Orthodox,” “Russian Orthodox,” “Serbian Orthodox,” “Romanian Orthodox,” “Ukrainian Orthodox,” therefore establishing ethnic parishes. These parishes organized themselves as ethnically based Orthodox dioceses. However, this is an anomaly in the life of the Orthodox Church, which is traditionally organized for all Orthodox faithful in a specific territory regardless of ethnicity. Today, with most having assimilated, Orthodoxy has become paramount above ethnicity amongst the faithful. In fact, the hierarchs of the different ethnically organized Orthodox Churches in North America are making efforts to add administrative unity to the already existent liturgical and doctrinal unity of the Orthodox Church on this continent.

How is the Orthodox Church different from Catholicism?  How Orthodoxy compare/differ with other denominations?

During the first 1000 years of the Church, the Orthodox and Catholic Churches were united in one faith.  During the second 1000 years, Orthodoxy has maintained the Church of the first 1000 years, without additions or deletions.  One major difference is in orientation – Orthodoxy is more mystical and focuses on transformation and communion with God, whereas Catholicism concentrates more on legalism, atonement (paying a price for our sin) and obedience. Protestantism, generally, does not participate in a sacramental life.

What is the Orthodox belief on salvation?

For Orthodox faithful, salvation is union and communion with God, through Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit. We do not believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became human and died on the cross to pay a penalty to God the Father in our behalf, but we believe that “God became human to make us divine” (St. Athanasius the Great), to “dwell among us” (John 1:14), and to give us “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). This process of union and communion with God the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit is called deification, and it happens by our working together with the Grace of God to be purified of our spiritual illnesses, so that we could be enlightened, and become one with God.

What is the Orthodox belief on sin?

The Orthodox Church understands sin not as the trespassing of a law, but as an illness from which we are to be healed so that we may have life, and “may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). We are called to be “workers together” with the grace of God (2 Corinthians 6:1) for our union and communion with God, and for the sanctification and transformation of the entire creation in the Kingdom of God because “the creation eagerly waits for the reveling of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19) “because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

What are the key beliefs of Orthodoxy?

The Orthodox Church, as the original Church established by Christ, maintains the beliefs as taught by Christ and His apostles and continued through the fathers of the Church.  You will hear our Statement of Faith in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed today, which was articulated in the 4^th century. Our key beliefs are that God exists as a communion of three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, in one divine nature. We also believe that the Son of God, who was God from eternity, became incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth who is fully God and fully man, in one person: the divine person of the Son and Word of God.

What kind of service is the Sunday Morning Service?

The Divine Liturgy is the Eucharist Service of the Orthodox Church which, in this form, dates back to the 3^rd century.

What are the Sacraments of the Church?

A Sacrament, or as we say in Orthodoxy – Mystery, is any time the Lord encounters us.  Therefore, there is not a fixed number of Mysteries, but we know of at least seven: Baptism, Chrismation, Communion, Unction, Confession, Marriage, and Ordination.

Why do the Orthodox light candles? Can visitors light candles?  

The lighting of candles is a very ancient practice.  In fact, even prior to Christianity, it was the practice to make a sacrifice as one entered the Jewish Temple.  Today, we make a sacrifice of a candle – which is “consumed” after being lit.  One offers a prayer together with the sacrifice. The fire of the candle also reminds us that “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29), that He led the Israelites out of the Egyptian slavery by night in a pilar of fire, that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost in the form of “tongues as of fire”. The fire of the candles also reminds us of the “river of fire” that was coming out of the presence of God in the Prophecy of Daniel (7:10), and that we are called to love God with a fiery love, to make the connection with His fire of love and to be “the light of the world”. (Matthew 5:14)

Why do you have a wall of Icons in front of the church? 

The wall of icons in the front of the church is called the Iconostasis or icon screen.  Physically, it delineates the Altar area from the Nave. The Icons of Christ, the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), St. John the Baptist, the Icon representing the parish’s dedication and the archangels, reveals the reality of the ever-presence of the Lord, His saints and the angelic powers.  It is through the Lord that we become “saints” through deification and are therefore united in Christ without any distance or separation.

Why do you have icons?   Why do people kiss icons?

Icons are devotional items, just like the Bible.  In the early church, icons were the primary way that the faith was taught in writing.  Bibles were not available to the majority of the faithful for the first 1500 years of the Church.  Today, they are physical representations of a spiritual reality. Icons give the faithful something of which to show honor. They represent a non-physical reality.  Icons are reverenced, not worshipped. St. Paul calls Christ “the image (“ikon”-in the original Greek New Testament) of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Through His incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ revealed God the Father and His Kingdom to us. The icons are revealing the Kingdom of Heaven to us and helping us be transposed and united with the Kingdom of Heaven. For this reason, the common background of the icons is gold, the omnipresent, shining from within color of heaven in the Book of Revelation. Also, the “artistic” style of Orthodox icons is quite different than any other paintings because the aim of the icons is to reveal not this world, but the Kingdom of Heaven. Moreover, the icons depict in color, shape, and form the revelation of God contained in the Bible and the teachings of the church. 

Do Orthodox worship icons?  Aren’t icons idols?

We do not worship the wood, glass, paper, or whatever material the icon is made of. That would be idolatry. We kiss Christ or the saint depicted because we love and miss Christ and His saints. It is the same as looking at and kissing the picture of a loved one whom we deeply love and terribly miss.

Do you worship the Saints and Mary? 

We do not worship the saints or the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), the Mother of the Lord. We honor them because they are our “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) who, by their working together with the Grace of God achieved communion with God and they became examples for us that union and communion with God is possible for all of us. Specifically, we honor the Theotokos, because through her “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) The Theotokos and the saints are our examples whom we try to follow and emulate as St. Paul tells us: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

Why do you say “Lord have Mercy” so much?

According to the Gospels, many people, like the blind man of Jericho or the Canaanite woman, approached the Lord with these words and the Lord had mercy on them.  Ultimately, mercy is asked from one with power and dominion.  The Lord is the physician of our souls and bodies and we ask Him for mercy in all areas of our lives.

Why do you stand? Why are you standing for so long? 

We stand before the Lord because it is a stance that shows respect. Assemblies stand for honored dignitaries, gentlemen stand for ladies, students stand (or should) when a teacher enters a room – should we not stand for the Lord? We stand at the times of the services in which we are showing the greatest respect to the prayers and blessing of the Divine Services.  We sit during times that are related to petitions or readings, other than the Gospel. This is a pastoral embrace to allow people to sit – in fact, in the early church and in monasteries, one is standing the entire service.

Standing has been the traditional posture of worship since the time of the early church reflecting the fact that we are resurrected with Christ (Romans 6:5), and we are eagerly waiting for His second coming. Also, our body is called to salvation together with our soul. By standing and involving our whole being, body and soul, in worshiping God we are offering ourselves to the Lord to become one with Him. According to the Bible, this is how God is worshiped in heaven: “After these things, I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ And the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God” (Revelation 7:9-11).

Why is everyone so dressed up?

During the Divine Liturgy, we truly encounter the Holy Trinity.  It is the tradition of the Church to always wear our best, without becoming opulent, in preparation to encounter the Lord.

Why does everyone show up at a different time? Why do people come late?  Why are there so few present for Matins?

Everyone is at a different point in their journey towards understanding the importance of the faith and God’s presence in their lives. All of us should gather “with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1) at “the third hour of the day” (Acts 2:15) as the disciples of the Lord did on the day of Pentecost. However, because of the different points in one’s journey, some people arrive at the eleventh hour and, as we could see in the Parable of the Hired Workers, the “Landowner” was merciful to them too and rewarded the last the same as the first. There is a lot of freedom in the Orthodox Church because we put our trust in the mercy of God, not in our righteousness.

Can all receive communion? I was baptized, can I receive communion?

Baptism "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19) brings a person into Christianity.  Although we are all Christians, not all Christians believe identically. Holy Communion in the Orthodox Church is offered to all those who are in communion of life and belief with the Orthodox Church (believe identically). If you received baptism in a church that is not in communion with the Orthodox Church, then you would have to firstly enter in communion with the Orthodox Church through Orthodox Baptism and/or Anointing of the Holy Spirit and then receive Holy Communion. If you were baptized in the Orthodox Church, but you did not live your life in communion with Christ and His church, then you would have to renew your baptism and commitment to Christ in the Mystery of Repentance (Holy Confession), and then receive Holy Communion. 

Why do people touch the priest's robe?

Touching the priest’s robe is not an “official” practice of the Orthodox Church, it is more so a display of faith – just as the woman touched the hem of Christ’s robe immediately was cured of her flow of blood.

Can Orthodox priests be married?

Just as in the early church, dating back to the Apostles, Orthodox priests can be married.

Are LGBT peoples welcome in this church?

Everybody is welcome to worship in the church.  There are many issues that are extremely complex and challenging. Whether or not one may be in communion with the church depends more greatly on one’s desire to be healed of spiritual illness.

Is there any information I can read on your church?

There is a treasure of information available about Orthodoxy available on the internet and in print, but the best way to learn about Orthodoxy is to experience it and speak with your local priest.

Should I take the vigil candle up to the altar or will the usher do it?

Please ask the usher what is customary in that particular parish.

Where should I sit? May we sit anywhere?

Please ask the usher what is customary in that particular parish.

Do you have Liturgy books to follow along with the service?

Most Orthodox churches have Divine Liturgy books available in the pews so that the faithful may participate in the worship.