Orthodox Christianity
Christ is in our midst! He is and always shall be!
Consider:
- On the one hand, it is the oldest Church in Christendom. On the other hand, it's new to most North Americans.
- It is the second largest body in christendom with 225 million people worldwide. But in the U.S., and Canada there are less than six million.
- In the twentieth century alone, more than 20 million Orthodox Christians primarily under communism. So high is the commitment of many Orthodox Christians to Christ and His Church, she has often been called "the Church of the Martyrs."
- She is the Church of some of history's greatest theologians, scholars, and writers - people like John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Dostoyevsky, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
The Orthodox Church is the first Christian Church, the Church founded by Jesus Christ that is described in the pages of the New Testament (. . .the Disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Acts 11:26). The Churches history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles and begins at Jerusalem in approximately 33 A.D.
It is probably hard for some of us to believe that for the first thousand years of Christianity there was only one Church, one faith that the East and West worshiped. There were five historic patriarchal centers - Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople. The uprising over doctrinal disputes occured. Inaccurate theologies were originated during the fourth and fifth centuries by Nestorians, Monophysites, Nestorians and others.
In the eleventh century, in the year A.D. 1054, the East and West broke communion with each other, otherwise known as the Great Schism. The Western Church, under Rome, changed a phrase in the Nicene Creed (filioque). The Roman Patriarch pulled away by making many other changes and differences regarding theology, worship and Church government while the other four Patriarchates remained one united church, even at the present time. The 16th century brought Protestant Reformers who made additional changes and once again the four Patriarchates remained faithful.
- Antiochian Orthodox Homepage
- Antiochian Youth Ministry
- TheoLogic Systems Orthodox Links
- Eastern Orthodox Resources
- Collection of Orthodox Material
- Orthodox Information Center
- Greek Orthodoxy - a remarkable site!!
- Faith Stories
- Iconographer Mark Kinan
- Conciliar Press
- Orthodox Camps
- Antiochian Parish Directory
- Saints of the Day
- Parents Page
- Orthodox Christian Holy Bread
- Come Receive the Light-Orthodox Christian Talk Program
- A Timeline of Church History
- Decent of the Holy Spirit Orthodox Mission - Los Osos, California
If you have an Eastern Orthodox link you would like me to add, please send email to: yasitt@msn.com
since July 5, 2000
Above information (slightly modified by me) has previously been posted on a number of websites, original author unknown.