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Eastern Orthodoxy
A Christian Faith that believes in Jesus Christ as both Son of God and God, and in the Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Church. God is defined as the Holy Trinity, which is One God in Three Persons (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). The statement of the Orthodox Christian faith is the Nicene Creed.
752 Questions
Are there deaconesses in The Orthodox Church today?
There are no known deaconesses in the Orthodox Church today, as the practice of having deaconesses gradually discontinued over the centuries. This does not mean that deaconesses are not allowed, or could not be appointed in future, but there has possibly not been a need or demand for their services any longer. The role of deaconesses in the Church was non-liturgical, meaning they did not administer any of the sacraments of the Church or perform the role of a priest. Their main role was to take care of the charitable work of the Church, to assist during the baptism of women, ministering to the martyrs in prison, and taking care of the widows and orphans. These were very important roles in the early church.
Political reasons
To combat Arianism, by trying to make clear that the Son is equal to the Father (yet inadvertently diminishing the importance of the Holy Spirit)
What are the causes of the decline of the Coptic Church?
after the Islam army entered Egypt Omar the leader of them had apeace agreement
with the coptic to leave them free to choose their religion and the worship.
but after brok it and
1_moslems killed millions of coptics since they come to Egypt
2_ imposed(but) taxeas which was too much and we could not pay it ;they used unhuman way to collect it .
3_puplic used to kill and descreminate the christians
4_the gornment ignor the coptic and fired them from the gornment jops
Antony nasser
In what city was the first Christian church in Europe?
The first Christian church in Europe was developed by Paul on his second missionary journey in Philippi.
Does Emmet Fox teach orthodox Christianity?
Emmet Fox uses the essential teaching of Jesus as the basis of his own metaphysical teaching. He does not teach doctrine, theology or traditions. He tries to distill the universal truths from Christ's teaching, exclusive to any religious beliefs, including Christianity. As he says, Christian did not form a new religion, and in fact challenged religious thinking with it's Focus on Material representations of the spiritual things of God.
What is Orthodox Christianity and what was the Schism?
Orthodox Christianity is the eastern branch of Chistianity with Istanbul, Turkey the centre of their religion. They broke off from the Roman Catholic Church over
1200 years ago over the infallibility of the Papacy which they didn't recognize. In doctrine and rituals, there is virtually no difference between the two. The
Orthodox are concentrated in Russia and Southeastern Europe like Bulgaria and parts of the old Yugoslavia. There are around 200 million Orthodox Christians vs over 1billion Roman Catholics. Interestingly, a man who wants to be an ordained Priest as is married, can remain married and become a priest-unlike the Roman Catholic Church. One of the primary problems of this faith is that they spend very little time evangelizing and hensce their numbers continue to decline. There are over 2 million members in the U.S. which hasn't changed in over 20 years! They were horribly persecuted under Stalin but have made a comeback since the communists were thrown out in 1991. The Russian Orthodox church is the established church and receives special subsidies from the government. The leader of the Orthodox Church is the Holy Primate in
Istanbul-used to be Constantinoble. There is a cathedral where he resides. He is comparable to the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Orthodox view:
The Christian Church was founded by Jesus Himself in the year 33 AD, on the Day of Pentecost. According to Orthodox Christian beliefs, the Orthodox Church is the one church that was established in Jerusalem in 33 AD and continues to exist to this day without any changes to its dogmas and beliefs.
Both the Orthodox and Catholics claim to have started at the same time, when there was no such thing as 'Orthodox' or 'Catholic' or 'Protestant' and there was only the Universal Christian Church. So both the Orthodox and Catholics shared a common foundation for the first 1,000 years of their history.
However, from the year 1054 AD, which is regarded as the Great Schism (or split) in the Universal Church, the two have been known by the names of Orthodox and Catholic.
The Orthodox Church states that the Roman Catholics split from the body of the Church mainly because of Papal claims of supremacy over the Church, and unauthorized change to the Nicene Creed (the 'filioque' clause), which was not accepted by anyone else at that time.
For most of the centuries, the Orthodox Church was the largest church in the world, until 1453 AD, when Constantinople fell to the Turks, as the West watched and did nothing to help. This event caused Islam to spread in Europe.
The Roman Catholics also conducted Crusades and Inquisitions to increase its membership, but the Orthodox church has never had crusades or inquisitions. The Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD resulted in the Catholic crusaders destroying Constantinople and killing much of the Christian population. It never fully recovered from this event.
Prior to this, the Orthodox church was the first to evangelize successfully, particularly in Eastern Europe, and this resulted in its large numbers all over the world. This was long before any Protestant groups existed. Although its numbers are now approx 300 million, it cannot keep up with the number of Protestants and others who want to become Orthodox, particularly in the USA, South America, Africa and numerous other countries, where there has been a huge revival and desire to return to the original New Testament church.
Does Eastern Ortodox Christians have a pope?
No, not in the same way that Roman Catholics believe in him. The Orthodox regard the Pope as being the Bishop of Rome and the leader of Roman Catholics. They do not regard him as the head of all Christians.
What is the effect of the religious dispute in 1054?
Christianity split into Catholicism & Orthodoxy.
Is Elaine an Orthodox saint name?
Elaine is indeed an Orthodox saint's name, as it is derived from the name Helen. St. Helen was the mother of St. Constantine the Great. Together, the two of them "discovered" the one true Cross upon which our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was crucified. In fact, in their search for the foundations of the Christian faith, the mother and son duo came upon all three crosses from that historic day that were buried upon the hilltop of Golgotha. As a result, they were unsure as to which was the Cross belonging to Christ. One tradition of the story tells that a sweet-smelling herb began to grow at the foot of the one Cross. No one knew what the herb was, so they named it basil, which means "king", in honour of The Lord Himself.
Quoted from OrthodoxWiki, the information regarding the empress and holy saint is stated: "According to a number of early writers, the Empress Helen, (c.255-c.330 AD), mother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, at a date after 312 AD when Christianity was legalized throughout the Empire, traveled to the Holy Land, founding churches and establishing relief agencies for the poor. It was at this time that she discovered the hiding place of three crosses used at the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves that were executed with him. By a miracle it was revealed which of the three was the True Cross"
Sts. Constantine and Helen are annually commemorated on May 21.
I am a Coptic Orthodox and we belive the divorce is completely wrong. God himslef says that He is against divorce in the Bible. In the book of Malachi, Chap. 2 verse 16 it says, " 'For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garement with violence.' says the Lord of Hosts. 'therefore take heed to your spirt, that you do not deal treacherously.' " So God says that it is very wrong to divorce. you have already done this, so you have commited a sin. divorce is a big sin which means there would be a big punishment. the only way to fix what you have is by confessing to a priest. the best church to go to would be a coptic orthodox church because it truly is the church of god. the priest will not judge you. he will help you and give you advice. once you have confessed, the sin will be wiped away and on judgment day, god will not remember that sin. If you don't confess, God will not as you, 'why have you commited this sin?' but rather, 'why have you not confessed?' you don't have any excuses now because i have showed you the path. you cannot say that you did not know. if you want to know were your nearest coptic church is, you can always search the internt, but if you are in England, write another question with the title, "where is my nearest coptic chruch in England" and write wat city/ town you live in and i will try to help you.
i hope that this advice helped you.
god bless,
john
In the greek orthodox church the religious picture sacred heart is referred to as?
"We do not worship a created thing, but the Master of created things, the Word of God made flesh. Although the flesh itself, considered separately, is a part of created things, yet it has become the body of God. We do not worship this body after having separated it from the Word. Likewise, we do not separate the Word from the body when we wish to worship Him. But knowing that 'the Word was made flesh,' we recognise the Word existing in the flesh as God."
And we also believe that visions had by the promulgators of the sacred heart were unfounded, as did the Pope of Rome Pius VI
Why do Orthodox Christians allow infants to have communion?
Because the christian orthodox bliefe that if the infants are dead before they becomes a younger and, if they haven`t a communion too they will not be a part of the righteous. . .
What does the text say around the Coptic cross?
Iseus pi-christous ep-sheri em-phiti
Jesus the-christ the-son of-god
Why do orthodox christians fast from oil?
Oil means olive oil, not vegetable oil, and Orthodox Christians fast from olive oil on weekdays of Great Lent, but oil is permitted on all Saturdays and Sundays of Lent, except for Holy Saturday. Here is an extract from an article called "THE MEANING OF THE GREAT FAST" by Bishop Kallistos Ware. Generally speaking, we fast from foods that give us physical strength, such as meats and dairy products and olive oil. The reason for this is to make us conscious of our dependence upon God. The Lenten fast gives us a feeling of tiredness. The purpose of this is to lead us in turn to a sense of inward brokenness and contrition; to bring us, that is, to the point where we appreciate the full force of Christ's statement, 'Without Me you can do nothing' (John 15: 5). If we always take our fill of food and drink, we easily grow over-confident in our own abilities, acquiring a false sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency. The observance of a physical fast undermines this sinful complacency. Stripping from us the specious assurance of the Pharisee - who fasted, it is true, but not in the right spirit - Lenten abstinence gives us the saving selfdissatisfaction of the Publican (Luke 18:10-13). Such is the function of the hunger and the tiredness: to make us 'poor in spirit', aware of our helplessness and of our dependence on God's aid.
What early Christian writings did not end up in New Teastament?
book of Judas book of Mary magdaline is all i can think of now
How did the eastern orthodox church influence art?
By creating some of the best iconography and church mosaics the world has seen, such as those in Agia Sophia and other churches in Constantinople. The Byzantine influence in art extended to many other areas, such as Venice (church of St Mark) and in Ravenna. The fall (siege) of Constantinople in 1453 also led to the Renaissance in the West.
Why twelve years for the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible?
A large crowd followed Christ and pressed around Him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, 'If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.' Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, 'Who touched my clothes?' 'You see the people crowding against you,' His disciples answered, 'and yet you can ask, "Who touched Me?"' But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and knelt at His feet, and trembling with fear, told Him the whole truth. He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering'" (MAR 5:25-34).
In Hebrew, the number twelve stands for Gov't, law, the Divine law, Perfection in Gov't. This woman was bound up with an issue of blood in the physical realm that caused her to be bound up spiritually as well by the legalism she was subjected to. Jesus came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. The 613 commandments of the O.T. law were covered under the greatest commandment, the Love of God! That woman was healed and set free from all afflictions, in the physical and spiritual. There is so much richness in this text of scripture!
How old is the greek orthodox religion?
The Orthodox Christian Church is over 2,000 years old, however, the name for this Church in Greece and some other parts of the world started to become known as "Greek Orthodox" from about 1821. The Greek Orthodox are part of the Orthodox Christian Church (sometimes called the Eastern Orthodox Church) which is the same Church that Jesus founded in 33 AD.
What happened at the reunion council of Florence in 1453?
This council you mention was actually the Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence of 1452. It first convened in Basel (Switzerland) in October 1438, then it moved to Ferrara and finally ended up in Florence in 1452, just a few short months before the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. According to some historians, the terrible events at the so-called "reunion" council were directly linked to the capture of the great city of Constantinople.
The events are too many to detail here, and many books have been written on this topic, such as "The History of the Council of Florence" by Ivan Ostroumoff (Boston, Massachusetts) and "Against False Union" by Alexander Kalomiros (Seattle, Washington) but I will provide a brief outline of the main events.
The whole reason for convening this church council in the first place was because Constantinople was under threat of attack from the advancing Ottoman Turkish army, and the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Emperor in Constantinople appealed to the Pope for help. The Pope said he would send help, but only on condition that the Orthodox Church come under his authority - something the Orthodox would never accept.
So this council was called to try to resolve some of the theological differences between the Latin West (ie. the Roman Catholics) and the Orthodox East, so that the two sides could be reunited again, following the Great Schism of 1054 AD. However, the Orthodox did not forget what the Roman Catholics did to them during the Fourth Crusade of 1204, when the Catholic Crusades, led by the Venetians, sacked and pillaged Constantinople; detsroying churches, stealing its treasures and killing the people. This tragic event is referred to by some famous historians as the most tragic event and greatest betrayal in history. One of the best books on this topic is called "The Great Betrayal" by Ernle Bradford (Dorset Press) or "The Fall of Constantinople" by Edwin Pears (Dorset Publishers, London).
The council discussed and debated many theological topics for over four years, with little success. At one stage, the council fathers of Basel excommunicated the Pope for failing to obey the council decisions. However the Emperor had other things on his mind and simply accepted the Pope's decisions in the hope of securing Western help.
None the less, the council continued to meet and discuss various thological matters. The main areas of contention were the addition to the Creed, made by the Roman Catholics, who inserted the "filioque" (meaning and the Son) clause in the Creed. The canons of the church forbid any changes to the Creed, so that's why this was (and still is) such a controversial issue. Other issues related to the authority of the Pope and his relationship with the Orthodox Patriarchs, who regard the Pope as an equal bishop, continue to this day. The Orthodox do not accept the authority of the Pope over the whole church, as Ecumenical Councils have always been the highest authority in the church for over 1,000 years, and this is still the case with the Orthodox Church today.
In short, the Emperor realised that no progress had been made at this council, and the Turks were quickly advancing towards Constantinople, so he had to take drastic measures. He ordered his Orthodox delegates at this council to simply accept whatever the Catholics wanted, for the sake of securing military support from the Papal armies of the West. The only Orthodox bishop who refused to sign the Act of Union in Florence was Mark of Ephesus. His amazing defense of Orthodoxy earned him the title of "Champion of Orthodoxy" and the church later proclaimed him a Saint. When the rest of the delgates returned to their home countries, they were immediately condemned as traitors by their people. Following this revolt, most of the delegates withdrew their support for the union and, as a result, the union was never implemented.
Constantinople was known as the God-guarded city and the Queen of all cities, because it was the wealthiest and most powerful city in the world that stood for 1123 years against many attacks from its enemies. None were successful in defeating the city, because the inhabitants believed the Mother of God protected them against their enemies. However, this situation changed soon after this "reunion" council took place. The Emperor had not placed in his trust in the Mother of God any more, but rather hoped that the Pope would come to his aid.
Unfortunately, this help never came, and the Turks attacked and defeated his army, killing the Emperor as well, and seized Constantinople on 29 May 1453.
Were the Orthodox and Catholic religions the same at one time?
Yes.
The Orthodox and Catholic Churches were one Church until they mutually excommunicated one another in 1054. The main issues were whether the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) had authority over other bishops and the adding of a phrase to the Nicene Creed without the benefit of an Ecumenical Council to make that decision.
Initially, the main difference, besides the ones mentioned above, was that the Orthodox and Catholics had different styles of what Catholics call Mass (Orthodox refer to it as Divine Liturgy). As time went on a number of other differences have arisen. The most controversial of the differences center around the authority of the Pope and their differing understandings of the role of Mary in salvation and the workings of the Trinity.
More recently there has been a thawing of relations between the two groups with each Church revoking their excommunication of the other. There is hope by many on both sides that one day the two will be reunited in one Church again. In fact, Pope John Paul II said of the Orthodox Churches in Orientale Lumen, "A particularly close link already binds us. We have almost everything in common."
What religion did the eastern orthodox church belong to?
The Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church were once united. The Orthodox Churches separated from the Catholic Church over political and doctrinal differences.
How did the people of the eastern orthodox church feel about icons?
Icons are venerated (honored) but not worshipped in the Orthodox Church. This is done by commemorating the memory of a saint, in the same way that the people of God in the Old Testament commemorated the righteous people who pleased God: "The memory of the righteous is blessed" (Proverbs 10:17).
St Luke the Apostle and Evangelist was the first person to paint icons (of the Virgin Mary and Christ) and some of these icons are still in existence to this day (on Mt Athos, Greece). This practice has continued in the Christian Church for over 2,000 years and is an essential part of Christianity, as confirmed by the Seventh Ecumenical Council and the Church Fathers.
By venerating icons we ask for the saints to pray to God for us, because we are told that God hears all prayers, but especially the prayers of his saints, as stated in Revelation 5:8 and in Revelation 8:3-4 "…the prayers of the saints, ascended before God…"
Is the Eastern Orthodox Church one with the Roman Catholic Church?
No, unfortunately they are not one. There are just a few differences that separate them and no one wants to budge on these issues.
Why was the patriarch excommunicated in 1054?
This was done during the Great Schism in which the Eastern and Western Churches excommunicated each other.
Negative view of women by Coptic orthodox?
Orthodoxy holds men and women to be equal.
If it seems that this is not the case then this is the result of the culture (in this case, Egyptian)
