| THE HOLY BYZANTINE CATHOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH A TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY |
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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 from 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.
THBHOC
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 from 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.
THBHOC
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