Truth: Orthodox Christians venerate (dulia) Mary as the Theotokos (God-bearer) because she carried God in her womb. They ask the saints to pray for them , just as they would ask a living friend to pray. Worship (latria) is given to God alone.
This article explores the history, theology, structure, and spiritual life of the Orthodox Church, shedding light on why this ancient communion continues to draw seekers looking for depth, beauty, and historical continuity. The Orthodox Church
During this period, the Orthodox Church defined itself through seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787 AD), establishing the Nicene Creed, the nature of the Trinity, and the veneration of icons (defended during the Iconoclastic Controversy). Truth: Orthodox Christians venerate (dulia) Mary as the
To learn more, visit a local parish, look for a website with the Greek letters (Orthodox Church in America) or GOARCH (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese), or pick up a copy of The Orthodox Way by Bishop Kallistos Ware. The ancient faith is waiting. This article explores the history, theology, structure, and
The core points of contention were threefold: the authority of the Pope (the West’s doctrine of papal supremacy vs. the East’s model of primus inter pares —first among equals), the Filioque clause added to the Nicene Creed (changing “who proceeds from the Father” to “who proceeds from the Father and the Son”), and practical matters like leavened versus unleavened bread for the Eucharist. For the Orthodox, the Filioque was not mere semantics; it distorted the Trinitarian understanding of the Father as the sole source of divinity. The Schism, hardened by events like the Fourth Crusade’s sack of Constantinople (1204), has never been fully healed, leaving the Orthodox Church as a separate communion of autocephalous (self-governing) churches, including the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and later, Moscow.
The word Orthodox comes from the Greek orthos ("right/correct") and doxa ("glory" or "belief"). Thus, Orthodoxy means "correct belief" or "correct glory." This name was adopted not out of arrogance, but to distinguish the church from the heresies (such as Arianism and Nestorianism) that splintered Christianity in the first millennium.