What is the Orthdox CHurch?
The Orthodox Christian Church (also often referred to as the “Eastern Orthodox Church” or simply “the Orthodox Church”) is the Church that Christ promised, the Holy Spirit established, and the Apostles first led. The Orthodox Christian Church has a continuous 2,000-year history from the time the Apostles until today with an unbroken history of administration, doctrines, and worship. This means that Orthodox Christians never need worry that their children or grandchildren will find themselves in an Orthodox Christian Church that has beliefs that they did not or that they removed beliefs that they do hold.
Today, there are many different denominations in Christianity. The denominations have definitive beginnings that can be dated long after 33 AD, the date of the founding of the Church on Pentecost by the Holy Spirit. These denominations are typically groups that splintered off of other denominations due to disagreements about leadership, doctrine, and worship. If you were to reverse time, you would see a process of these splintered groups re-connecting to one another, little by little, until you were left with just one Church. This is the Orthodox Christian Church. Every denomination today, therefore, can find its original existence – devoid of doctrinal diversity and confusion – in a unified Church that traces its roots to the time of the Apostles. If any denomination cannot find a continuous line that traces its current existence back to an Apostolic founder, then it simply cannot be the one, true Church.
The Orthodox Christian Church consists of various self-ruling “jurisdictions.” Thus, one often hears about the “Greek Orthodox Church” or the “Russian Orthodox Church” or the “Antiochian Orthodox Church.” These are all part of the same, universal Orthodox Faith, and thus, all of the canonical Orthodox Churches are fully united in faith and worship.
The Church exists to continue the work and ministry of Jesus Christ. This is the work of bringing people to repentance. “Repentance” is not a negative term in Orthodox Christianity meaning to “beat oneself up” but is a positive process of turning one’s life away from death-bearing sin and the false promises of a purely material life and toward a true relationship with Christ. As one deepens his repentance, his heart his purified, and his heart becomes a seat and source for the Kingdom of God:
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).
This has been the work of the Orthodox Christian Church for 2,000 years. The Church exists to transform people by purifying them and illumining them with the Grace of the Holy Spirit as they deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.