Worship services are filled with formality, ritual, and choral music. Their structure more resembles Catholicism than Protestantism. Many Greek Orthodox Churches conduct their Sunday service, called a Divine Liturgy, in Greek, which is a problem for anyone who does not speak Greek. The Greek Orthodox Church claims to trace its roots to the apostles and early church fathers, calling itself “the Mother Church of Christendom.” While they do hold to many foundational truths of Christianity, such as the Trinity, they have also added many practices and beliefs at variance with biblical Christianity. The term orthodox means that they believe they hold the correct opinion on true Christianity. Even though the Greek Orthodox Church is separate from Catholicism, many of its practices are similar, such as the veneration of saints. © 1988 Conciliar Press Ben Lomond, CaliforniaĪll Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible, © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee, and are used by permission.The Greek Orthodox Church (GOC) is a branch of Eastern Orthodoxy, which formally broke with the Western (or Roman Catholic) Church in AD 1054. This is the yardstick for truth by which our choices in regard to Christianity need to be evaluated. It is our hope this material will help introduce readers to the Christianity espoused by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and instituted by them. But it is also just good sense to be acquainted with the options before we make our final choices. Certainly we all have the God-given right to believe whatever we desire and to participate in whatever religious association we choose. A 'yardstick for truth' is needed by which to compare what the Church originally believed and practiced with what these groups proclaim. The Orthodox Church carefully guards the truth against all error and schism, both to protect its flock and to glorify Christ, whose Body the Church is.Īn astonishing number of religious groups today claim to be the successors of the early Church. The word Orthodox literally means 'straight teaching' or 'straight worship,' being derived from two Greek words: orthos, 'straight,' and doxa, 'teaching' or 'worship.' As the encroachments of false teaching and division multiplied in early Christian times, threatening to obscure the identity and purity of the Church, the term 'Orthodox' quite logically came to be applied to it. All other Christian Churches and sects can be traced back historically to it. The Orthodox Church is the Church founded by Jesus Christ and described throughout the New Testament. Published by Conciliar Press (now Ancient Faith Publishing)

A comprehensive guide to what the Orthodox Church believes about a number of subjects including belief in: God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Greek orthodox