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The Orthodox
Faith
Orthodoxy holds that the eternal truths of God's saving revelation in Jesus
Christ are preserved in the living Tradition of the Church under the guidance and
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Scriptures are at the heart of the Tradition and
the touchstone of the faith. While the Bible is the written testimony of God's revelation,
Holy Tradition is the all-encompassing experience of the Church under the abiding guidance
and direction of the Holy Spirit. Essentially, Orthodox Christians consider that their
beliefs are very similar to those of other Christian traditions, but that the balance and
integrity of the entire Apostolic faith once delivered to the Saints has been preserved
inviolate.
We believe that God is One in substance and Triune in
persons. We worship One God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the
persons nor dividing the substance. Creation is the work in time of the Blessed Trinity.
The world is not self-created, neither has it existed from eternity, but it is the product
of the wisdom, the power, and the will of the One God in Trinity. God the Father is the
prime cause of creation and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit took part in creation, God
the Son perfecting creation and God the Holy Spirit vivifying creation.
We believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is
truly God. He is Jesus, that is, the Savior and Christ, the Lord's Anointed, a Son not
created of another substance, as is the case with us, but a Son begotten of the very
substance of the Father before all time, and thus consubstantial with the Father. He is
also truly man, like us in every respect, except sin. The denial either of His divinity or
of His humanity constitutes a denial of His incarnation and of our salvation. The Holy
Spirit proceeds from the Father. The faith of the Church about the procession of the Holy
Spirit was confirmed by the Second Ecumenical Council, which added to the Creed the
following clause: "And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who
proceedeth from the Father." The Church is the holy institution founded by our Lord
Jesus Christ for the salvation of men, bearing his holy sanction and authority, and
composed of men having one and the same faith, and partaking of the same sacraments. It is
divided into the clergy and laity. The clergy trace their descent by uninterrupted
succession from the Apostles and through them from our Lord Jesus Christ. The Church is
ONE because our Lord Jesus Christ founded not many, but only one Church; HOLY because her
aim, the sanctification and salvation of her members through the sacraments, is holy;
CATHOLIC because she is above local limitations; and APOSTOLIC because she was "built
upon the foundation of the Apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone"
(Eph. 2:20). The Head of the Church is our Lord, Jesus Christ.
We recognize seven sacraments: Baptism,
Chrism or Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Confession, Ordination, Marriage and Holy Unction.
Baptism is the door through which one enters into the Church. Confirmation is the
completion of Baptism. In the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, with the bread and wine, we
partake of the very Body and the very Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for remission of sins
and eternal life. Both the New Testament and Sacred Tradition bear witness to the real
Presence of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. In the sacrament of Confession Jesus Christ,
the founder of the sacrament, through the confessor, forgives the sins committed after
Baptism by the person who confesses his sins and sincerely repents of them. In the
sacrament of Ordination through prayer and the laying-on of hands by a bishop, divine
grace comes down on the ordained enabling him to be a worthy minister of the Church.
Apostolic succession is fundamental to the Church. Without it there can be no continuity
of the Church. In the sacrament of Marriage, divine grace sanctifies the union of husband
and wife. In the sacrament of Holy Unction the sick person is anointed with sanctified oil
and divine grace heals his bodily and spiritual ills.
At death man's body goes to the earth from
which it was taken, and the soul, being immortal, goes to God, who gave it. The souls of
men, being conscious and exercising all their faculties immediately after death, are
judged by God. This judgment following man's death we call the Particular Judgment. The
final reward of men, however, we believe will take place at the time of the General
Judgment. During the time between the Particular and the General Judgment, which is called
the Intermediate State, the souls of men have foretaste of their blessing or punishment.
Further, we venerate and honor the saints and we ask their intercession with God, but we
adore and worship God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Of all saints, we honor
exceedingly the Mother of our Lord because of the supreme grace and the call which she
received from God. Though she was not exempt from original sin, from which she was
cleansed at the time of the Annunciation, we believe that by the grace of God she did not
commit any actual sin. We venerate the sacred icons and relics. Yet this veneration,
according to the decisions and canons of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, relates not to
the sacred images as such, but to their prototypes, or to the persons whom they represent.
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
of North America
Department of Communications
(212) 570-3528
10 East 79th Street
New York, New York 10021
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