Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the Orthodox Church?
A: Orthodoxy is the form of Christianity that gives "right worship" to God the Holy Trinity. Orthodoxy is the Christian Church, in succession to the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Priests of the Old Testament, that was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ when He ordained His Apostles and sent the Holy Spirit upon the faithful gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost. The followers of the Way were first called Christians at Antioch; and the Christians were first called Catholics in a letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch in about the year AD 98. The Orthodox are the original Christians, the first Catholics, the Church of the Apostles, and the Community of the New Testament, and the Church of the Ages.
The Orthodox Church is people - God’s people - who gather together in His Name, who share a common faith and hope based on the love of God, and who affirm the truth (or orthodoxy) of their faith, belief, and experience and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to all.
The Western Churches, including that of Rome, were in unity with the Orthodox through the whole of the first 1000 years. Rome divided that unity of the church by making extraordinary claims for the earthly powers of her Patriarch (Pope). Rome had completed the break with the Orthodox by the 13th century. The usual date of the "great schism" is given as AD 1054. The ancient churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople are all Orthodox. Currently about 300 million people worldwide are Orthodox Christians, including about 7 million in the USA.
The Orthodox Church is universal (Catholic), has Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Subdeacons, Tonsured Readers, Laity, and a rich monastic life with communities of Monks and Nuns in nearly every country. Most of the Priests and Deacons are married. The Bishops are not married because they are elevated from celibate monastic life for the most part.
Q: What do Orthodox Christians believe?
A: During the first thousand years following the birth of Christ, numerous variant teachings arose. Each one attempted to replace Christianity with some religiosity of human invention or convenience. All these variant teachings (heresies) were answered by the Church with the Seven Great Ecumenical Councils. At the first of these Councils in AD 325 at Nicea, the assembled Fathers proclaimed the Creed (from Credo "I believe") which summarizes the True Christian Doctrine. This Nicene Creed as originally formulated is faithfully recited at the Divine Liturgy in all Orthodox Christian churches:
I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; Begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made; Being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our Salvation came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father; Who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spake by the Prophets; and I believe one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church: I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the Resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Orthodox Christian worship is focused on God, not on our own enjoyment, fulfillment, or fellowship. We come into the presence of God with awe, aware of our sinfulness and His great mercy. We seek forgiveness and rejoice in the gift of salvation. Orthodox worship is formed by repentance, thanksgiving, and unending praise. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.
Q: Why should I become an Orthodox Christian?
A: One should become an Orthodox Christian because, on the basis of Holy Scripture and the continuous history of two thousand years of Christianity, the Orthodox Church represents the fullest and most correct expression of the original Faith taught by our Lord Jesus Christ and inaugurated by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Until recent times, especially in North America, traditional Christians who were looking for the fullness of the Faith either knew nothing about the Orthodox Faith, or believed that its cultural associations were too foreign for them. While it is true that some Orthodox Christians continue to identify with their past cultural heritage, it is also true that Orthodoxy has, increasingly, become a part of American cultural life. Culture, however, in whatever form, is not the substance of the Church that was founded on the day of Pentecost. The substance of the Church is the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Jesus Christ. We need to start with Jesus, if we twentieth-century seekers for truth are to discover the Church He founded.
Jesus' active public ministry lasted fewer than three years. During that time, He established the beginnings of the Church, giving the apostles authority to represent Him. After His Ascension into Heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost, the apostles strove to build up the Church, extending the authority of Jesus to others who succeeded them in teaching, worship, and leadership. In the Acts of the Apostles (2:42) we read that the early Church, "devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and the prayers."
As time went on, these four qualities of the Christian community life took the forms of: (1) the New Testament and the Nicene Creed, (2) the apostolic ministry of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, (3) celebrating the Eucharist, and (4) other sacramental actions which strengthened their union with God.
For centuries, wherever in the world the Christian Faith spread, there existed a basic continuity and consistency in the life and teachings of the unified Church. After the first thousand years three major disruptions, originating in the West, shattered the unity of Christendom. The first of these was the addition to the Creed called the filioque, which said that the Holy Spirit proceeds from "the Father and the Son." The second disruption was caused by the insistence of the Roman Papacy that it had universal jurisdiction over the entire Church, a claim which violated the concept of collegial leadership which characterized early Christianity. The resultant separation of the Papacy from the traditional Church led later, in subsequent centuries, to its unilateral promulgation of new and previously unknown doctrines. This, in turn, resulted in the third disruption to Christian unity, known as the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Church's excesses and unscriptural claims caused an overreaction on the part of the Protestant Reformers resulting in doctrinal distortion and subtraction from the original and traditional body of Christian beliefs and practices, and the multiplication of heterodox groups.
Only the Orthodox Church was able, through the grace of God, to retain the fullness of Christian Faith, worship and life through the centuries without addition, subtraction, or distortion.
Today, in America, the Orthodox Church is represented by various jurisdictions. In recent years, one of these jurisdictions, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, has become the home for many traditional Christians. This Archdiocese, under the Patriarchate of Antioch, is a part of one of the four great and ancient Patriarchal Churches of world Orthodoxy. We read about its origins in the Acts of the Apostles (11:26) where the followers of Jesus living in Antioch were the first to be called Christians.
The Archdiocese, recalling that historical Orthodoxy has had many liturgical expressions and that most Western Christians are unfamiliar with Eastern forms of worship, has, in recent years, authorized the use of a Western Rite Liturgy. For many people, who are seeking to return to the historical Church and yet wish to retain a Western manner of worship, this authorization has great appeal. Consequently, in various American cities, there are today a number of Orthodox congregations under the Antiochian Archdiocese, whose approved Liturgy is that of the Western Rite.
At a time when so many traditional Christians are unhappy and confused by the moral and doctrinal changes taking place within their churches, when so many denominations seems to be rewriting and adjusting their theology in order to comply with contemporary social attitudes and trends, Orthodox Christianity offers an alternative.
As Father Thomas Hopko, an Orthodox Professor of Theology, has said: "The Church can only be the Church if it is in real, literal, historical continuity with the Apostles. There is a 'body' in history that has one faith, one worship, a traceable development and continuity which began historically with the Apostles. If there is no Church which has the fullness of grace and truth, the fullness of Christ's presence, then Jesus failed and the world hasn't been saved. We believe and proclaim to this day that there is a Church in which the fullness of grace and truth, which resides in Christ, is made accessible to human beings. The Church is salvation; the Church is eternal life in its deepest and fullest sense. This salvation is in the Orthodox Church."*
As you read this, you are being invited to consider the saving life offered by God within the Orthodox Church. Twentieth-century Christianity, to be fully valid, must have unbroken links with first-century Christianity. Only in the Orthodox Faith can be found the continuity and consistency which preserve these links.
You are encouraged to join others as they begin their pilgrimage into God's Kingdom by becoming one with His Church. "There is one Body and one Spirit. . . . one Lord, one Faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:4-6)
*AGAIN Magazine, June 1988, pp. 11-12
Q: What is the Western Rite?
A: The majority of Orthodox Churches use the Byzantine Rite, often with part of the service in another language such as Greek or Slavonic. Some Orthodox jurisdictions, such as the Antiochian Archdiocese in North America, also include parishes that follow an approved Western style of worship called the Western Rite. The service is in English, and the format of the Divine Liturgy resembles traditional Liturgical forms used in the Roman Catholic or Episcopal churches. For more on the Western Rite, please read this essay by Bishop Basil: http://www.westernorthodox.com/basil.htm
St. Vincent of Lerins Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church
2502 N. 51st Street (51st & Lake), Omaha, NE 68104
(402) 551-9721