ABOUT EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

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ABOUT EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

Eastern Orthodoxy is not just another Christian denomination. It is original Christianity—the faith of the Apostles and the Early Church. That statement is not just wishful, unfounded Orthodox propaganda. Encyclopedias and handbooks of religion also attest to it:
Eastern Orthodoxy has its origin in the early Christianity of the eastern Mediterranean…it is marked by a sense of continuity, of embodying the ancient in the modern world, of being “living antiquity.”—A New Handbook of Living Religions.

Their presence in the countries where the Christian gospel was first preached highlights the continuity of Orthodoxy with the Church of the apostles and early Christians…All the Orthodox churches are united in upholding the Christian faith as it was taught by the Church before the division between Eastern and Western Christians.—The Encyclopedia of World Faiths.

Many Christians in the Western world today are totally unaware of “the division between Eastern and Western Christians” that occurred in 1054 AD, in that lamentable event history remembers as the Great Schism. At that time, the bishop (or pope) of Rome declared himself the single ruling head of the entire Church. During the first millennium of its existence, the Church had been guided and governed by councils of bishops, following the governmental structure established by the Apostles at the first Church council in Jerusalem (see Acts 15). While some bishops held higher ranks of honor (in particular, the bishops of the five great Patriarchates: Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch), all bishops had equal authority. In major Church decisions, every bishop—whether from a great city or an insignificant town—had one vote.

In 1054, the Roman pope unilaterally proclaimed his supreme authority. Bishops in the Latin West aligned themselves with the Pope; bishops in the Greek East joined together in resistance. Thus, the One, Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church became the Roman Catholic Church in the West, and the Orthodox Church (meaning “right worship” or “right glory”) in the East.

Since the Great Schism, Orthodoxy has preserved the Christian faith as it was practiced across the first Christian millennium. By contrast, starting with the claim of papal primacy, the Roman Church continued to adopt new doctrines and practices unknown to the original Church (e.g., purgatory and indulgences).

But the rift created by Rome was just the beginning of Christian division in the West. The Protestant Reformation further split the Church. The thousands of denominations spawned since have rendered the Christian West a shattered, pulverized landscape. Many new doctrines have come on the scene. Many beliefs and practices foundational to original Christianity have disappeared.

The condition of Christianity in the West represents an inexcusable violation of St. Paul’s command:

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment (1 Corinthians 1:10, italics mine).

The first Christians worked hard against great temptations and obstacles to maintain this unity. They understood that oneness is the identifying mark of true Christianity. A person could not claim to be a Christian—could not claim salvation—while willfully standing at doctrinal odds with other Christians. Hear these sobering words of St. Cyprian of Carthage (third century):

And does anyone believe that this unity which comes from the divine strength…can be divided in the Church, and can be separated by the parting asunder of opposing wills? He who does not hold this unity does not hold God’s law, does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not hold life and salvation (On the Unity of the Church, 6, italics mine).

In the middle of the second century, St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, vividly painted this unified picture of the Church:
True knowledge is that which consists in the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church throughout the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the succession of the bishops, by which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place, and has come even unto us, being guarded and preserved without any forging of Scriptures, by a very complete system of doctrine…and above all, it consists in the

pre-eminent gift of love, which is more precious than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, and which excels all the other gifts of God (Against Heresies, IV, 33:8).

The Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points of doctrine just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possesses only one mouth. For although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world…Nor will any one of the rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of eloquence, teach doctrines different from these (for no one is greater than the Master); nor, on the other hand, will he who is deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the tradition. For the faith being ever one and the same, neither does one who is able at great length to discourse regarding it, make any addition to it, nor does one, who can say but little diminish it (Against Heresies, I, 10:2).

This describes a Church devoted to the perfect unity that St. Paul commanded. On the other hand, the more than twenty thousand denominations of the Christian West are a far cry from “no divisions” and being “perfectly joined together.” And it’s not just their governing structures that divide them. Even when it comes to the most essential tenets of Christian faith—the nature of God, the purpose and process of salvation, what God expects of believers, what represents proper worship, what the eternal Kingdom of God will be like—members of the various Western churches do anything but “speak the same thing.” They do not have “the same mind” or “the same judgment.” On these ultimately crucial matters, they contradict each other.

By contrast, while Orthodox believers come from many diverse ethnic groups and nations, they hold to one set of doctrines, one unified worship, and a single spiritual lifestyle. Whether you attend a Liturgy in Russia, Greece, Tanzania, Chile, Japan, or the United States, it will be exactly the same service—the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which the Church has celebrated for about seventeen hundred years. Ask an Orthodox priest a doctrinal question, and whether he’s Greek, or Arab, or Serbian, or born-and-bred American, you’ll get the same answer. Most importantly, it will be the same answer you would have received from Eastern Christians across cultures and centuries from the days of the Apostles. As I said at the outset, Eastern Orthodoxy is original Christianity.

© 2007 Matthew Gallatin. Revised December, 2008. next page