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1. THE HOLY TRINITY. We believe, confess and worship the Holy Trinity.
We worship the One, Holy, Indivisible, Consubstantial, Life-Creating and Most
Holy Trinity. In the Trinity we worship three persons -- three hypostases -- that of
the Father, that of the Son and that of the Holy Spirit. We do not confuse the persons
of the Most Holy Trinity.

We do not believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are, as it were, three
masks of a single person. None of the persons is alienated from the others, but each
has the fullness of the Three together.

2. GOD THE FATHER is the fountainhead of the Holy Trinity. Who is without
beginning, indescribable, incomprehensible, Who is beyond every created essence,
Whose essence is known only to Himself, to His Son and the Holy Spirit; as it says
in the Holy Scriptures, upon Him even the Seraphim dare not gaze.

We believe and confess that God the Father never became the likeness of any
material form nor was He ever incarnate. In the Theophanies (appearances of God)
of the Old Testament, as our Holy Fathers bear witness, it was not God the Father
Who appeared, but rather it was always our Savior, the Second Person of the Holy
Trinity (i.e., the Word or Logos, the Angel of the Lord, the Lord God of Sabbath, the
Angel of Great Counsel, the Ancient of Days) Who revealed Himself to the prophets
and seers of the Old Testament. Likewise, in the New Testament, God the Father
never appeared but bore witness to His Son on several occasions solely by a voice
that was heard from Heaven. It is for this reason that our Savior said, "No man hath
seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him," (John 1:18) and "Not that any man hath seen the Father,
save He Who is of God, He hath seen the Father" (John 6:46). In addition, Acts Four,
Five and Six of the Seventh Ecumenical Council state that the Holy Trinity cannot be
portrayed iconographically since He is without form and invisible. Therefore, God
the Father is not depicted in the holy icons.

We believe that He is the cause of all things as well as the end purpose of all things.
From Him all visible and invisible creatures have their beginning and there was a
time when they did not exist. He created the universe out of absolutely nothing. The
earth too had a beginning and man was created by God's love. The creation of man
and of the universe was not out of necessity. Creation is the work of the free and
unconditional will of the Creator. If He had so wished, He need not have created us;
the absence of creation would not have been a privation for Him. The creature's
love is not one which gives Him satisfaction. God has no need to be satisfied. He
needs nothing. God's love cannot be compared to human love, even as His other
attributes such as paternity, justice, goodness cannot be compared to their human
counterparts. God's love is a love which constitutes a mystery unfathomable to man's
reason or intellect. God has no "emotions" which might create passion, suffering,
need or necessity in Him. Nevertheless, although the nature of divine love remains
incomprehensible and inexplicable to human reason, this love is real and genuine
and I confess, in agreement with Scripture, that God is love.

3. JESUS CHRIST is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, eternally born of
the Father. He became man, and thus He is at once fully God and fully man. His
coming to earth was foretold in the Old Testament by the prophets. Because Jesus
Christ is at the heart of Christianity, the Orthodox Church has given more attention to
knowing Him than to anything or anyone else.

In reciting the Nicene Creed, Orthodox Christians regularly affirm the historic faith
concerning Jesus as they say, "I believe... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the only begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, true God
of true God; begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father; by Whom all
things were made; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven,
and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;
and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; and ascended into
heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with
glory to judge the living and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end."

4. THE HOLY SPIRIT is one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity and is one in
essence with the Father. Orthodox Christians repeatedly confess, "And I believe in
the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who
together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified..." He is called the
"promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4), given by Christ as a gift to the Church, to
empower the Church for service to God (Acts 1:8), to place God's love in our hearts
(Romans 5:5), and to impart spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:7-13) and virtues
(Galatians 5:22, 23) for Christian life and witness. Orthodox Christians believe the
biblical promise that the Holy Spirit is given through Chrismation (anointing) at
baptism (Acts 2:38). We are to grow in our experience of the Holy Spirit for the rest
of our lives.

5.   INCARNATION. We believe that from the moment of His conception in the
virginal womb, Jesus Christ was one person, yet having two natures. From His
conception, He was God and Man before birth, during birth and after birth.

We believe and confess that the Most Holy Virgin Mary, after the image of the bush
which burned and was not consumed, truly received the fire of the Godhead in
Herself without being consumed thereby. I believe and confess that She truly gave of
Her own blood and of Her own flesh to the Incarnate Word and that She fed Him
with Her own milk.

We confess that Jesus Christ was, in His Godhead, begotten of the Father outside of
time without assistance of a father. He is without mother in His divinity and without
father in His manhood.

We believe that through the Incarnation, the Most Holy Virgin Mary became truly the
Theotokos (the Mother of God) in time. She was a Virgin before, during and after
birth. Even as Jesus Christ arose from the dead despite the fact that the Jews had
sealed His tomb with a stone, and even as He entered into the midst of His disciples
while the doors were shut, so also did He pass through the virginal womb without
destroying the virginity of Mary or causing Her the travail of birth. Even as the Red
Sea remained un-trodden after the passage of Israel, so also did the Virgin remain
undefiled after giving birth to Emmanuel. She is the gate proclaimed by the Prophet
Ezekiel through which God entered into the world "while remaining shut"
(Ezekiel 44:2).

6. SIN literally means to "miss the mark." As St. Paul writes, "All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We sin when we pervert what
God has given us as good, falling short of His purposes for us. Our sins separate us
from God (Isaiah 59:1, 2), leaving us spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). To save us,
the Son of God assumed our humanity, and being without sin "He condemned sin in
the flesh" (Romans 8:3). In His mercy, God forgives our sins when we confess them
and turn from them, giving us strength to overcome sin in our lives. "If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness"(I John 1:9).

7. SALVATION is the divine gift through which men and women are delivered
from sin and death, united to Christ, and brought into His eternal kingdom. Those
who heard St. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost asked what they must do to be
saved. He answered, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Salvation begins with these three steps: (1) repent, (2) be
baptized, and (3) receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. To repent means to change our
mind about how we have been, to turn from our sin and to commit ourselves to
Christ. To be baptized means to be born again by being joined into union with
Christ. And to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit means to receive the Spirit Who
empowers us to enter a new life in Christ, to be nurtured in the Church, and to be
conformed to God's image.

Salvation demands faith in Jesus Christ. People cannot save themselves by their
own good works. Salvation is "faith working through love". It is an ongoing, life-
long process. Salvation is past tense in that, through the death and Resurrection of
Christ, we have been saved. It is present tense, for we are "being saved" by our
active participation through faith in our union with Christ by the power of the Holy
Spirit. Salvation is also future, for we must yet be saved at His glorious Second
Coming.

8. BAPTISM is the way in which a person is actually united to Christ. The
institution of the sacrament just before Our Lords Ascension to heaven, with these
words: “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep
all things I have commanded you..” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Baptism is the gateway into the Christian Church; the saving action of God who
through water and the Spirit recreates his creation; the initial sacrament through
which he who is immersed in water three times in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit is cleansed from all sin and regenerated spiritually. As
our Lord Himself stated: “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born
of water and the Spirit.” (John 3: 5).

9.   NEW BIRTH is receipt of new life. It is how we gain entrance into God's
kingdom and His Church. Jesus said, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). From its beginning, the Church
has taught that the "water" is the baptismal water and the "Spirit" is the Holy Spirit.
The new birth occurs in baptism where we die with Christ, are buried with Him,
and are raised with Him in the newness of His resurrection, being joined into union
with Him in His glorified humanity (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3, 4). The idea that being
"born again" is a religious experience disassociated from baptism is a recent one
and has no biblical basis whatsoever.

10. JUSTIFICATION is a word used in the Scriptures to mean that in Christ
we are forgiven and actually made righteous in our living. Justification is not a
once-for-all, instantaneous pronouncement guaranteeing eternal salvation, regardless
of how wickedly a person might live from that point on. Neither is it merely a legal
declaration that an unrighteous person is righteous. Rather, justification is a living,
dynamic, day-to-day reality for the one who follows Christ. The Christian actively
pursues a righteous life in the grace and power of God granted to all who continue
to believe in Him.

11.   SANCTIFICATION is being set apart for God. It involves us in the
process of being cleansed and made holy by Christ in the Holy Spirit. We are called
to be saints and to grow into the likeness of God. Having been given the gift of the
Holy Spirit, we actively participate in sanctification. We cooperate with God, we
work together with Him, that we may know Him, becoming by grace what He is by
nature.

12.    THE BIBLE is the divinely inspired Word of God (II Timothy 3:16). We
believe that all the Scriptures are inspired by God and that, as St. John Chrysostom
says, "It is impossible for a man to be saved if he does not read the Scriptures."
However, the Holy Scriptures cannot be dissociated from the Church, for She wrote
them. The Scriptures were written in the Church, by the Church and for the Church.
Outside the Church, the Scriptures cannot be understood. One trying to comprehend
the Scriptures though outside the Church is like a stranger trying to comprehend the
correspondence between two members of the same family. The Holy Scriptures lose
their meaning, the sense of their expression and their content for the man who is a
stranger to the Church, to Her life, to Her Mysteries and to Her Traditions, since
they were not written for him.

We believe and confess that there is no contradiction whatsoever between the
Sacred Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church. By the word "Tradition," I
do not mean an accumulation of human customs and practices which have been
added to the Church. According to the holy Apostle Paul, the written and oral
Traditions are of equal value; for it is not the means of transmission that saves
us, but the authenticity of the content of what has been transmitted to us.
Furthermore, the teaching of the Old Testament as well as that of the New
Testament was transmitted orally to God's people before they were written
down. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures themselves are a part of Holy Tradition
which is a unified whole and we must accept it as a whole, and not choose bits
and parts according to our private opinions or interpretations. The official
versions and texts of the Orthodox Church are the Septuagint version of the
Old Testament (which was used by the Apostles when they recorded the New
Testament) and the Greek text of the New Testament. Translations into the
various languages have also been approved by the Church and are extensively
used. I acknowledge that there is a plurality of meanings for each verse of the
Bible, provided that each interpretation is justified by the teachings of the Holy
Fathers who are glorified by God. I reject all human systems of interpretation
of the Holy Scriptures, whether they are allegorical, literalistic, or otherwise. I
confess that the Holy Scripture was written through the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, and that it is solely through the Holy Spirit that we can read and
understand it. I acknowledge that I cannot read or understand the Scriptures
without the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the illumination of the Tradition of
the Church, even as the eunuch of Candice could not understand the prophets
without the aid of St. Philip, who was sent to him by the Holy Spirit (Acts 8). I
denounce as blasphemous every attempt to correct, re-adapt or
"de-mythologize" the sacred texts of the Bible. I confess that Tradition alone is
competent to establish the Canon of the Holy Scriptures since only Tradition
can declare what belongs to it and what is foreign to it. Move over, I confess
that the "foolishness of preaching" (I Cor. 1:21) is superior to the wisdom of
man or his rationalistic systems.

13. WORSHIP is to render praise, glory, and thanksgiving to God: the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All humanity is called to worship God. Worship is
more than being in the "great-out-of-doors", or listening to a sermon, or singing a
hymn. God can be known in His creation, but that doesn't constitute worship. And as
helpful as sermons may be, they can never offer a proper substitute for worship.
Most prominent in Orthodox worship is the corporate praise, thanksgiving, and
glory given to God by the Church. This worship is consummated in intimate
communion with God at His Holy Table. As is said in the Liturgy, "To Thee is due
all glory, honor, and worship, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen." In that worship we touch and
experience His eternal kingdom, the age to come, and we join in adoration with the
heavenly hosts. We experience the glory of fulfillment of all things in Christ, as truly
all in all.

14. EUCHARIST means "thanksgiving" and early became a synonym for Holy
Communion. The Eucharist is the center of worship in the Orthodox Church.
Because Jesus said of the bread and fruit of the vine at the Last Supper, "This is my
body", "This is my blood", and "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22: 19,20),
His followers believe -- and do -- nothing less. In the Eucharist, we partake
mystically of Christ's Body and Blood, which impart His life and strength to us. The
celebration of the Eucharist was a regular part of the Church's life from its beginning.

15.   LITURGY is a term used to describe the shape or form of the Church's
corporate worship of God. The word liturgy derives from a Greek word which
means "the common work". All the biblical references to worship in heaven
involve liturgy.

In the Old Testament, God ordered a liturgy, or specific pattern of worship.
We find it described in detail in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. In the New
Testament we find the Church carrying over the worship of the Old Testament Israel
as expressed in both the synagogue and the temple, adjusting them in keeping with
their fulfillment in Christ. The Orthodox Liturgy, which developed over many
centuries, still maintains that ancient shape of worship. The main elements in the
Liturgy include hymns, the reading and proclamation of the Gospel, prayers, and the
Eucharist itself. For Orthodox Christians, the expressions "The Liturgy" or "Divine
Liturgy" refer to the Eucharistic Rite instituted by Christ Himself at the Last
(Mystical) Supper.

16. COMMUNION OF SAINTS: When Christians depart this life, they
remain a vital part of the Church, the body of Christ. They are alive in the Lord and
"registered in heaven" (Hebrews 12:23). They worship God (Revelation 4:10) and
inhabit His heavenly dwelling places (John 14:2). In the Eucharist we come "to the
city of the living God" and join in communion with the saints in our worship of God
(Hebrews 12:22). They are that "great cloud of witnesses" which surrounds us, and
we seek to imitate them in running    "the race set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).
Rejecting or ignoring the communion of saints is a denial of the fact that those who
have died in Christ are still part of his holy Church.

17.   CONFESSION : Is the open admission of known sins before God and
man. It means literally "to agree with" God concerning our sins. St. James the
Apostle admonishes us to confess our sins to God before the elders, or priests,
as they are called today (James 5:16).
We are also exhorted to confess our sins directly to God (I John 1:9). The
Orthodox Church has always followed the New Testament practices of
confession before a priest as well as private confession to the Lord. Confession
is one of the most significant means of repenting, and receiving assurance that
even our worst sins are truly forgiven. It is also one of our most powerful aids
to forsaking and overcoming those sins.

18.   DISCIPLINE: It may become necessary to maintain purity and holiness
in the Church and to encourage repentance in those who have not responded to
the admonition of brothers and sisters in Christ, and of the Church, to forsake
their sins. Church discipline often centers around exclusion from receiving
communion (excommunication). The New Testament records how St. Paul
ordered the discipline of excommunication for an unrepentant man involved in
sexual relations with his father's wife (I Corinthians 5:1-5). The Apostle John
warned that we are not to receive into our homes those who willfully reject the
truth of Christ (II John 9,10). Throughout her history, the Orthodox Church has
exercised discipline with compassion when it is needed, always to help bring a
needed change of heart and to aid God's people to live pure and holy lives,
never as a punishment.

19.    BLESSED MARY: Called Theotokos, meaning "God-bearer" or "the
Mother of God", because she bore the Son of God in her womb and from her
He took His humanity. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, recognized
this reality when she called Mary, "the Mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43). Mary
said of herself, "All generations shall call me blessed" (Luke 1:48). So we,
Orthodox, in our generation, call her blessed. Mary lived a chaste and holy life,
and we honor her highly as the model of holiness, the first of the redeemed, the
Mother of the new humanity in her Son.
We believe that the nature of the Most Holy Virgin Mary is identical to our
own. After her free and conscious acceptance of the plan of salvation offered to
man by God, the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and the power of the Most High
covered her, and "at the voice of the Archangel, the Master of all became
incarnate in her." Thus our Lord Jesus Christ, the New Adam, partook of our
nature in all things save sin, through the Theotokos, the New Eve. The nature
of fallen man, the nature of Adam, which bore the wounds of sin, of
degeneration, and of corruption, was restored to its former beauty, and now it
partakes of the Divine nature. Man's nature, restored and regenerated by
grace, surpasses Adam's state of innocence previous to the fall, since as the
Fathers say, "God became man so that man could become God." Thus St.
Gregory the Theologian writes: "O marvelous fall that brought about such a
salvation for us!" man, created "a little lower than the angels" (Ps. 8:5), can,
by God's grace, surpass even the angelic state, and so we praise the Most Holy
Virgin Mary, as: "More honorable than the Cherubim and beyond compare
more glorious than the Seraphim."
We reject all the doctrines, which are alien to the teachings of the Fathers,
concerning original sin and the immaculate conception of Mary.
We reject every doctrine which endeavors to distort the position of the
Theotokos, who, with a nature identical to ours, represented all humanity when
she accepted the salvation offered her by God. Thus, God is the Savior of the
Most Holy Virgin as well and she is saved by the same grace whereby all those
who are redeemed are saved. She is not the "Mother of the Church," as though
she where dissociated from the Church or superior to It., but rather she is the
“Mother of all the faithful of the Church,” of which she also is a part.

20.    PRAYER TO THE SAINTS: We believe that God "glorified those
who glorify Him" (I Kings 2:30), that He is "wondrous in His saints" (Ps. 67:
35), and that He is the "Savior of the body" of the Church (Eph. 5:23).
We believe that we are saved insofar as we are members of the Body, but that
we cannot be saved by any individual relation with God outside of the Church.
For the Lord said, "I am the true vine... As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. If a
man abides not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men
gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." (John 15:1, 4,
6). The saints are those members of the Church, the Body of Christ, who have
achieved great sanctity.
We believe that our God is the "God of our Fathers" and that He has mercy
upon us because we are the children of our Fathers, who were and are His
saints and His servants, as the Holy Scripture attests in many places.
We believe that, even as St. James the Apostle says, "the prayer of a righteous
man availeth much" (James 5:16), even as the Three Youths who prayed in the
fiery furnace attest: "Cause not Thy mercy to depart from us for Abraham's
sake, Thy beloved, for Isaac's sake, Thy servant, and for Israel's, Thy holy
one" (Dan 3:34). Those whom God has glorified, I also glorify. Because of Him
Who glorifies them, I entrust myself to their prayers and intercessions, even as
the Scriptures require, for the angel of the Lord appeared to Abimelich and
counseled him to seek Abraham’s prayers, saying: "He shall pray for thee and
thou shalt live" (Gen. 20:7).
We believe that our honoring of the saints is a well-pleasing to God since it is
because of Him and for His sake that we honor them.
We give adoration to no created thing, no other being, be it visible or invisible
and do not kneel or prostrate to any icons or images of the saints for this is only
and act devoted to God alone. We bow in respect to or beloved Blessed Mother
Mary and saints.
We do not venerate or adore no man, but we honor those that have lived a holy
life and "for the grace of God which is given" (I Cor.1:4). In celebrating the
feast of a saint, it is God Who is always worshipped, the saint's contest and
victory being the occasion for God to be worshipped. Our Lord said,"I will
dwell in them" (II Cor. 6:16) and, by grace and adoption, they shall be called
gods (John 10:34-35).
God Himself has granted His saints their ministry of interceding on our behalf.
We supplicate them and we are in communion with them, even after their death
in the flesh, since this death, according to the Apostle, cannot separate us from
the love of Christ which unites us. According to the Lord's promise, they who
believe in Him "shall never die... but are passed from death into life"(John 11:
26, 5:24).

21.   APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION: Has been a watershed issue since the
second century, not as a mere dogma, but as crucial to the preservation of the
faith. Certain false teachers came on the scene insisting they were
authoritative representatives of the Christian Church. Claiming authority from
God by appealing to special revelations, some were even inventing lineages of
teachers supposedly going back to Christ or the Apostles. In response, the early
Church insisted there was an authoritative apostolic succession passed down
from generation to generation. They recorded that actual lineage, showing how
its clergy were ordained by those chosen by the successors of the Apostles
chosen by Christ Himself. Apostolic succession is an indispensable factor in
preserving Church unity. Those in the succession are accountable to it, and are
responsible to ensure all teaching and practice in the Church is in keeping with
Her apostolic foundations. Mere personal conviction that one's teaching is
correct can never be considered adequate proof of accuracy. Today, critics of
apostolic succession are those who stand outside that historic succession and
seek a self-identity with the early Church only.

22.    COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH: A monumental conflict recorded in
(Acts 15) arose in the early Church over legalism, the keeping of Jewish laws
by the Christians, as means of salvation. "So the apostles and elders came
together [in council] to consider the matter" (Acts 15:6). This council, held in
Jerusalem, set the pattern for the subsequent calling of councils to settle
problems. There have been hundreds of such councils -- local and regional --
over the centuries of the history of the Church, and seven councils specifically
designated "Ecumenical", that is, considered to apply to the whole Church.
Aware that God has spoken through the Ecumenical Councils, the Orthodox
Church looks particularly to them for authoritative teaching in regard to the
faith and practice of the Church.

23.   CREED: It comes from the Latin credo, "I believe". From the earliest
days of the Church, creeds have been living confessions of what Christians
believe and not simply formal, academic, Church pronouncements. Such
confessions of faith appear as early as the New Testament, where, for example,
St. Paul quotes a creed to remind Timothy, "God...was revealed in the flesh..."
(I Timothy 3:16). The creeds were approved by Church councils, usually to give
a concise statement of the truth in the face of the invasion of heresy. The most
important creed in Christendom is the Nicene Creed, the product of two
Ecumenical Councils in the fourth century. Delineated in the midst of a life-and-
death controversy, it contains the essence of New Testament teaching about
the Holy Trinity, guarding that life-giving truth against those who would change
the very nature of God and reduce Jesus Christ to a created being, rather than
God in the flesh. The creeds give us a sure interpretation of the Scriptures
against those who would distort them to support their own religious schemes.
Called the "symbol of faith" and confessed in many of the services of the
Church, the Nicene Creed constantly reminds the Orthodox Christian of what
he personally believes, keeping his faith on track.
Our symbol of faith:
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all
things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the
Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came
down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin
Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he
suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the
Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the
Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His
kingdom will never end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver
of life. He proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together
is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets. We believe in one
holy catholic and apostolic church. We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of
sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to
come. Amen.

24. SPIRITUAL GIFTS: When the young Church was getting under way,
God poured out His Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and their followers, giving
them spiritual gifts to build up the Church and to serve each other. Among the
specific gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the New Testament are: apostleship,
prophecy, evangelism, pastoring, teaching, healing, helps, administrations,
knowledge, wisdom, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. These and other
spiritual gifts are recognized in the Orthodox Church. The need for them varies
with the times. The gifts of the Spirit are most in evidence in the liturgical and
sacramental life of the Church.

25.   SECOND COMING: Amid the current speculation in some corners of
Christendom surrounding the Second Coming of Christ and how it may come to
pass, it is comforting to know that the beliefs of the Orthodox Church are basic.
Orthodox Christians confess with conviction that Jesus Christ "will come again
to judge the living and the dead", and that His "kingdom will have no end".
Orthodox preaching does not attempt to predict God's prophetic schedule, but
to encourage Christian people to have their lives in order so that they might be
confident before Him when He comes   (I John 2:28).

26.   HEAVEN: Is the place of God's throne, beyond time and space. It is the
abode of God's angels, as well as of the saints who have passed from this life.
We pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven..." Though Christians live in this
world, they belong to the kingdom of heaven, and that kingdom is their true
home. But heaven is not only for the future. Neither is it some distant place
billions of light years away in a nebulous "great beyond". For the Orthodox,
heaven is part of Christian life and worship. The very architecture of an
Orthodox Church building is designed so that the building itself participates in
the reality of heaven. The Eucharist is heavenly worship, heaven on earth. St.
Paul teaches that we are raised up with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:
6), "fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God"
(Ephesians 2:19). At the end of the age, a new heaven and a new earth will be
revealed (Revelation 21:1).

27.   HELL: Unpopular as it is to modern people, is real. The Orthodox
Church understands hell as a place of eternal torment for those who willfully
reject the grace of God. Our Lord once said, "If your hand makes you sin, cut
it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go
to hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched -- where their worm does not
die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:44-45). By the rejecting Gods grace
there will be no hope and the absence of hope which is God is if it were a fire
that never shall be quenched bringing eternal torment. Saint Mark challenged
the religious hypocrites with the question: "How can you escape the
condemnation of hell?" (Matthew 23:33). His answer is, "God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might
be saved" (John 3:17). There is a day of judgment coming, and there is a place
of punishment for those who have hardened their hearts against God. It does
make a difference how we will live this life. Those who of their own free will
reject the grace and mercy of God must forever bear the consequences of that
choice.

28.    CREATION: Orthodox Christians confess God as Creator of heaven
and earth (Genesis 1:1, the Nicene Creed). Creation did not just come into
existence by itself. God made it all. "By faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God..." (Heb.11:3). Orthodox Christians do not
believe the Bible to be a science textbook on creation, as some mistakenly
maintain, but rather to be God's revelation of Himself and His salvation. Also,
we do not view science textbooks, helpful though they may be, as God's
revelation. They may contain both known facts and speculative theory, but they
are not infallible. Orthodox Christians refuse to build an unnecessary and
artificial wall between science and the Christian faith. Rather, they understand
honest scientific investigation as a potential encouragement to faith, for all
truth is from God.

29.   ECUMENISM: We welcome the rejection of the age-old separation of
Christianity. This is an opportunity to disclose the treasures of Orthodoxy, to
bring those who have fallen away from the Church back to unity in Orthodoxy.
We also welcomes all attempts by the heterodox to study the teaching of Christ
about the Church, in the hope that through such investigation, especially with
the participation of representatives of the Holy Orthodox Church, they will
eventually arrive at the conviction that we are all members of the One, Holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church. It is by dialogue that will lead others to the see
and witness the One Truth and the One Church in Christ. By putting aside ego
driven believes of being the only truth and only church we will discover that
true orthodoxy is the belief in the son of God Jesus the Christ Savior of all
those that profess his name. One of the ways of attaining this unity is by the
holding of joint prayers and religious services, and that communion from a
common chalice (intercommunion) may be achieved with those that hold the
catholic faith. "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22: 19-20).
Please Note: No clergy will participate in any ecumenical Eucharistic
Celebration with Female priest or Practicing Homosexuals.

30.    ABORTION: Is the termination of a pregnancy by taking the life of the
baby before it comes to full term. The Scriptures teach, "For You have formed
my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother's womb" (Jeremiah 1:5).
When a child is aborted, a human being is killed. For the Christian, all children,
born or unborn, are precious in God's sight, and are a gift from Him. Even in
the rare case in which a choice must be made between the life of the child and
the life of the mother, decision-making must be based upon the recognition that
the lives of two human persons are at stake.

31.    MARRIAGE: It is God who joins a man and a woman in a relationship
of mutual love. The Sacrament of Marriage bears witness to His action.
Through this Sacrament, a man and a woman are publicly joined as husband and
wife. They enter into a new relationship with each other, God, and the Church.
According to Orthodox teachings, Marriage is not simply a social institution; it
is an eternal vocation of the kingdom. A husband and a wife are called by the
Holy Spirit not only to live together but also to share their Christian life
together so that each, with the aid of the other, may grow closer to God and
become the persons they are meant to be. In the Orthodox Marriage Service,
after the couple have been betrothed and exchanged rings, they are crowned
with "crowns of glory and honor" signifying the establishment of a new family
under God. Near the conclusion of the Service, the husband and wife drink from
a common cup which is reminiscent of the wedding of Cana and which
symbolized the sharing of the burdens and joys of their new life together.

32.   DIVORCE: While extending love and mercy to divorcees, the Orthodox
Church is grieved by the tragedy and pain divorce causes. Though marriage is
understood as a sacrament, and thus accomplished by the grace of God, and
permanent, the Church does not deal with divorce legalistically, but with
compassion. After appropriate pastoral counsel, divorce may be allowed when
avenues for reconciliation have been exhausted. If there is a remarriage, the
service for a second marriage includes prayers offering repentance for the
earlier marriage, asking God's forgiveness, and protection for the new
union.

33.    PRE-MARITAL SEX: The Orthodox Christian faith holds to the
biblical teaching that sexual intercourse is reserved for marriage. Sex is a gift
of God to be fully enjoyed and experiences only within marriage. The marriage
bed is to be kept "pure and undefiled" (Hebrew 13:4), and men and women are
called to remain celibate outside of marriage. Our sexuality, like many other
things about us human beings, affects our relationship with God, ourselves, and
others. It may be employed as a means of glorifying God and fulfilling His
image in us, or it may be perverted and abused as an instrument of sin, causing
great damage to us and others.   St. Paul writes, "Do you know that your body
is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and
you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in
your body..." (I Corinthians 6:19, 20).

34.    HOLY ICONS: We venerate holy icons of our Lord and the Theopokos
in perfect accord with the second commandment of the Decalogue     [Ten
Commandments] and not in contradiction to it. For, before the Incarnation of
God, before the Nativity of Jesus Christ, any representation of Him would have
been the fruit of man's imagination, a conception of man's reasoning concerning
God Who is by nature and in His essence incomprehensible, indescribable,
immaterial, inexpressible and unfathomable. Every conception or imagination
concerning God will, by necessity, be alien to His nature; it will be false, unreal,
an idol. But when the time was fulfilled, the un-depicted One became depicted
for my salvation. As the Apostle says; "we have heard Him, we have seen Him
with our eyes, we have looked upon Him and have handled Him with our hands”
(I John 1:1). We honor the holy icons we do not worship matter, but we confess
that God Who is immaterial by nature has become material for our sakes so
that He might dwell among us, die for us, be raised from the dead in His flesh
and cause our human nature, which He took upon Himself, to sit at the right
hand of the Father in the Heavens. When we kiss His venerable icons, We
confess the relatively describable and absolutely historical reality of His
Incarnation, His Death, His Resurrection, His Ascension into the Heavens, and
His Second and Glorious Coming. We honor he holy icons by bowing but not
prostrating before them, by kissing them, by showing them respect and honor.
We do not adore them for is only reserve for the Most Holy Trinity, they are
held in a very special place in the church as a remainder of those that are dear
to God and by there life show us the great love of man towards the Most Holy
One Bless it be His name. We do not adore but honor the saints, their holy
relics and their icons. They are honor because of their relation to Him and on
account of Him. This has always been the teaching of Our Church: Not to honor
the saints is to deny the reality of their communion with God, the effects of
Divine sanctification and the grace which works in them; it is to deny the words
of the Apostle who said, "I no longer live, but Christ liveth in me." (Gal. 2:20).
We believe that icons of our Lord are a consequence of and a witness to His
Incarnation and an integral part of Christianity. We believe and confess that
the holy icons are not only decorative and didactic objects which are found in
Church, but also holy and sanctifying, being the shadows of heavenly realities;
and even as the shadow of the Apostle Peter once cured the sick -- as it is
related in the Acts of the Apostles -- so in like manner do the holy icons, being
shadows of celestial realities, sanctify us.

35.   CULTS: The word "cult" has several meanings. The usage to which we
refer designates a group of people who focus on a religious doctrine which
deviates from the tradition of the historic Church as revealed by Jesus Christ,
established by His Apostles, and guarded by the seven Ecumenical Councils of
the Church. A cult usually forms around an individual who proclaims a heresy as
truth. The error itself assures the separation of the group from historic
Christianity. Many cults claim the Bible as their basis, but they alter the
historic interpretation of Scripture to persist in their own idea. Cults may do
some things that are good (e.g. care for the poor, emphasize the family) and
thus at least appear, to casual observers, to be part of true Christianity. St.
Paul's counsel on cults is: "From such withdraw yourself" (I Timothy 6:5). The
danger of the cult is that it removes those in it from the life of Christ and the
Church, where the blessings and grace of God are found. All cults die; the
Church lives on.

36.   HOMOSEXUALITY: The Orthodox Church does not condemn the
person who keeps this propensity in check, and ministers to homosexuals who
wish to find release from this inclination.
Although there is much more open discussion about homosexuality in the
twentieth century than in previous times, there is sufficient reference to it in
ancient writings. The Old Testament understood normal sexual intercourse as
not only a way of expressing a loving relationship, but also as a divinely
appointed way of creating new life.
There is no example in all of the New Testament of approval, acceptance, or
even tolerance of homosexuality.
Throughout Christian history, this disapproval has continued to be the case. In
the patristic era freedom from homosexuality was seen as a mark of the
Christian's ethical superiority to the wanton way of life that converts had left.
Patristic thinking, like scriptural references, where directed to the practice of
homosexuality, not to the desire itself.