What does orthrodoxy mean?

Answer 1

http://www.merriam-Webster.com/dictionary/orthodox

http://www.merriam-Webster.com/thesaurus/orthodox

Far as religion it is understood to be the "true" doctrine. For example, Orthodox Jews call themselves "Orthodox" because they believe to be following "real" Judaism, when the Old Testament/Torah clearly dictates, a non-priestly class Jew, is only required to follow the 10 commandments, and be obedient to the priests regarding the law. Orthodox Jews basically hold that EVERY Jewish male has follow the law like a priest. Even within Jewish circles, the idea is generally considered ridiculous, and impractical. The Torah clearly dictates, only members of the tribe of Levi, and even then only the descendants of Aaron, are required to follow all of the laws. In the event that no member of the tribe of Levi is around, you go down the hierarchy, at least, that is the way it was done, although no rule (that I remember) is written about that.

In Christianity, specifically, it has to do with the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is the dominant branch of Christianity throughout the slavic world. Modern Greeks, are not like ancient Greeks; genetically speaking, the ancient Greeks were more closely related to semitic peoples, as haplogroup J, the most common Y chromosome genetic marker in the middle east, is very common throughout Greece and it is SPECIALLY common, in the towns and communities of the islands belonging to Greece, which historically saw little to no Slavic admixture. Greeks who live on the islands are "pure" Greeks, mainland Greeks on the other hand are a mixture of Slavic and ancient Greek elements. The connection to the slavs, has to do with the Byzantine empire; to flee from attacks by the Rus (A Viking tribe) many Slavic peoples sought refuge within the borders of the Byzantine empire. Although formidable warriors, the Vikings were no match for Byzantine Cataphracti. The Slavic people of Europe, have always been physically attractive, both men and women; the end result was that *cough* there was a lot of intermarriage and interbreeding. However neither side looked down on the other; both daughters and sons were given to both sides of the line in generally equal measure in fact, emperor Justinian had a Slavic father, a general who served Byzantium with distinction, and a Greek mother.

The relationship with the Slavs, was a strange one; for centuries, some Slavic tribes had been harassing the Byzantine empire. Militarily, the Byzantine empire is considered the most formidable in history, because for 1,000 years, it fought a four front war, to hold on to its territories. Count them; four fronts. To the north, you had the slavs, and later the Rus, the Varangians, and the Goths, to the south, you had frequent revolts in Egypt, attacks by the Persian empire, and later, attacks by Arab Muslims, and to the west, you had attacks by Vandals, and, yet, even more Goths. Nice people those Goths eh? I'm an Attila the Hun fan; he killed a lot of blonde germanic people.

Moving on; the Byzantine Empire, was the eastern half of the Roman Empire. As the western portion of the empire lost its power, and with it, Rome lost her authority, wanting separation politically, and religiously, the great schism occured, in which the church in Rome excomunicated the church in Byzantium, and the church in Byzantium excomunicated the church in Rome. However to add insult to injury, as a deliberate insult to the Catholic Church in Rome, the eastern Church began calling itself the "Orthodox" Church, meaning "we are the true Church but you aren't; you are too far to the west." Because of all the history that I mentioned here, it is generally meant to be the "true" this or the "true" that.

Indeed, even Muslims have borrowed the word; when Muslims use the word "Orthodox" what they mean is "I am not a secularist, I feel that Islam should dominate every aspect of your life, however I am not an extremist either, I am Orthodox." Muslims generally use the word to inform everyone, that they feel strongly about their faith, however, also to inform people that they are not terrorist lunatics either. Of all the branches of Christianity, Muslims generally respect the Orthodox church the most, because it is a branch of Christianity with close cultural ties to the middle east. Indeed, the protestant and Anglican traditions, compared to the Orthodox, are as different as night and day.

Because of the heavy admixture that occured with the Slavic people, in time, Orthodox Christianity, spread to other parts of the Slavic world, and this came to include Russia. Culturally, Russia is a blend of Slavic elements, with mediterranean.

In the end though I over answered over something that was supposed to be a simple definition.

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Answer 2

Orthodoxy typically refers to adherence to traditional or established beliefs, especially in religion. It can also refer to correctness or accuracy in a particular doctrine or practice.