Creedal Faith: As Orthodox Christians, we understand ourselves as participating in and having been shaped by the activity of the Church, the Body of Christ. As that Body, the Orthodox Church has gathered and made proclamations regarding faith and life within that body. These truths are communicated to the world in the form of canons and most especially the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Therefore, the faith is once-delivered and is not open to interpretation from place to place, or by individual instantiations of the Orthodox Church. It is received, interpreted, lived, and propagated by the Church as a whole, and serves as a monolithic statement about God in Trinity, and about His body, the Church.
The Nicene Creed:
I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not created, of one essence with the Father through 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 became man. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried; And He rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father; And He will come again with glory to judge the living and dead. His kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke through the prophets.
In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come.
Amen.
Orthodox Christianity: A Unique Faith
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- We are Catholic but not Roman: In 1054, the Great Schism resulted in the tragic and much-mourned separation of the Greek East (the Orthodox Church) and the Latin West (the Roman Catholic Church). Far from being the sole property of the Roman church, we as Orthodox Christians claim the word catholic in the Nicene Creed (catholic coming from the Greek word katholikos, meaning “according to the whole”). The word catholic indicates that the whole of the Church as the body of Christ is present and expressed fully within the Eastern Orthodox Church.
- We are Orthodox but not Jewish: A common question we get from the wider world when we call ourselves Orthodox is “Oh, are you Jewish?” The answer is of course “no,” but the instinct is correct. The liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church is, in many real respects, the continuation of the Jewish temple system, both symbolically and liturgically. This can be seen in our hymnody, our vestments, our incense, and the shape of our worship spaces/altars. At the center of our worship is the “bloodless sacrifice” of Christ, which reverberates throughout history as the ultimate offering to God (“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10.10). As the new Israel, the Church testifies to God’s faithfulness in word and will. These are fulfilled in Christ’s death and resurrection, and by our worship of Him.
- We are evangelical but not Protestant: As the Church, the Body of Jesus Christ, we are called to proclaim the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world; “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” This abundant life is what is at the heart of the word “evangelical.” Like the word “Catholic,” it has become synonymous with a movement and a body, but only the Church has as its inheritance the good news of God’s grace and the defeat of death. “When this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ As Orthodox Christians, we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the reign of life eternal with the Easter hymn; “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”
Liturgy and Life: The Orthodox Church is a liturgical body, meaning that we subscribe and adhere to an ancient order of worship handed down for thousands of years, from the apostles themselves. While it is ancient, the liturgy has seen many changes over time and is a living document that has morphed and adapted to the difficulties and challenges that the Church has faced over the course of its existence. The liturgy reflects the theological and cosmological inheritance of the Church, meaning that the liturgy informs how we think about both God and the world. It is a source of life, light, and truth, and serves as the axis on which the Church spins in its life of worship of the One True God and His Son, Jesus Christ. In a very real sense, the liturgy is a phenomenon that must be seen to be believed and understood. “O, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him” (Psalm 33.9).
