Why do Orthodox Christians fast?

The Orthodox Church is the first Christian Church, the Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and described in the pages of the New Testament. Her history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles.

Incredible as it seems, for almost twenty centuries she has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice. Today her apostolic doctrine, worship, and structure remain intact. The Orthodox Church maintains that the Church is the living Body of Jesus Christ.

Many of you may be surprised to learn that for the first thousand years of Christian history there was just one Church. There were no denominations. It was in the eleventh century that a disastrous split occurred, resulting in the Western Church, under the pope, separating itself from the Orthodox Church. The papacy sought to establish itself over all of Christendom and finally succeeded in the West. But the rest of the Church rejected this innovation, knowing no so-called "universal head" apart from Jesus Christ Himself.

Because the Roman Catholic Church was in isolation from the rest of Christianity after the schism of 1054 AD, changes in the teachings began to creep into the Church. In isolation, there was no other authority to keep the Roman Church on track and true to the original teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. By the late 1400's a Roman Catholic Monk named Martin Luther sought to "reform" the Roman Church but instead of returning to the original teachings, retained most of the profound changes made by Rome. This was the second split in the Church and began the Protestant Reformation.

By the 1900's there were about 200 different denominations, all having split from the Roman Catholic Church or from another Protestant Church. By 1995 there were 28,000 denominations. Today, Christianity has fragmented into over 33,000 different identifiable denominations, each one teaching something different from the original teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles and each of the other denominations. Is it any wonder that 70% of Americans have given up trying to find the truth and no longer attend any Church?

Because the Orthodox Christian Church has never lost the review and checks and balances that come with collegiality, the teachings have not changed. The worship is the same. The baptism is the same. The Orthodox Christian Church is a continuum of The Church that Jesus Christ built in 33 AD with Jesus Christ, the teachings of the Apostles, and the Prophets of the Old Testament as Her foundation.

Are all Orthodox churches the same?

All Orthodox churches share the identical faith and doctrine, a common tradition passed down from the teaching of the Apostles, and the same basic form of worship. Individual Orthodox communities, especially those that are made up of members from a particular country of origin, may use their own language for parts of the services and have some of their own ethnic customs. Our services are all conducted in English.

What is your worship like?

The roots of Christian worship actually go back to Old Testament Judaism. We, as 21st Century Christians, often forget that the early Church was born from the midst of Judaism, and that the first Christians actually met for decades in the synagogues and temple for worship. The early Christians, like Christ, did not "destroy the law but fulfilled it" in their worship, and "Christianized" many of their former worship practices. Thus, like synagogue worship, ours is liturgical, having elaborate and very meaningful set forms of practices and prayers. The worship is literally "heaven on earth" and thus God is approached with great reverence and awe.

What does the Orthodox Church offer me that I cannot get from other churches?

The Orthodox Church is the most ancient Christian church on earth. It possesses nearly two thousand years of unbroken continuity in its thought, teaching, worship and practice. The theology and spirituality of this Church has been worked out across twenty-one centuries by men and women who lived lives dedicated to the will of God, many times dying for their faith. Since the time of Christ and the Apostles, the Orthodox Church's teachings and way of life have been tested and proven to be the cure for our human failings and the path to true knowledge and of union with God. All teachings and practices are carefully weighed and held up to the light, lives and teachings of Jesus Christ, His Scriptures, and the great Saints of the Church. Without apology, we carefully guard these truths. In the Orthodox Church you will find both grace and truth (John 1:17). Accordingly, here you will encounter both obedience and freedom, love and accountability, discipline and mercy, truth and acceptance. For Centuries, we held these things and many more in a delicate balance. Therefore, you will find that Orthodoxy offers a level, solid and steadfast, foundation for your faith and spiritual life.

Where did the Orthodox Church begin?

Christ founded His Church on Pentecost in Acts, Chapter 2 when the Apostle Peter first preached the Gospel of Jesus and 3,000 people were baptized. The Orthodox Church traces its leadership and practices back to the apostles and their teachings. The head of the Orthodox Church is Jesus Christ alone. (Ephesians 1:22-23) While the Church has leadership in its bishops, there is no single person who is an "earthly head" of the Church.

Are there other names for the Orthodox Church?

You have probably heard of the Russian Orthodox Church or of the Greek Orthodox Church. Usually their country of origin (or their Patriarchate) accounts for the names of the Orthodox churches you see. We are of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, which traces its roots back to the Apostles Peter and Paul and the church of Antioch where "the disciples were called Christians first." (Acts 11:26)

This leads one to think of Orthodoxy as a very loosely organized body. How is the Orthodox Church organized and how is it held together as one world-wide Church?

The Orthodox Church as a whole is the unity of what are called local autocephalous or autonomous churches. These words mean simply that these churches govern themselves, electing their own bishops and organizing their own lives.

Each of these churches has exactly the same doctrine, discipline and spiritual practices. They use the same Bible, follow the same canon laws, confess the authority of the same Church Councils and worship by what is essentially the same liturgy.

It is nothing other than this communion in faith and practice which unites all Orthodox Churches together into one world-wide body. In this sense, there is no one dominating authority in the Orthodox Church, no particular bishop or See or document which has authority over the churches.

In practice, the Church of Constantinople has functioned for centuries as the church responsible for guiding and preserving the world-wide unity of the family of self-governing Orthodox Churches. But it must be noticed that this responsibility is merely a practical and pastoral one. It carries no sacramental or juridical power with it and it is possible that in the future this function may pass to some other church.

What about all those titles then: patriarch, metropolitan, archbishop, bishop? What does all of this mean?

In Orthodoxy, the bishop is the leading church officer, and all bishops have exactly the same sacramental position in guiding the people of God.

A bishop of a large and important area of leadership (usually called a diocese) may be called archbishop or metropolitan. The latter meaning simply the bishop of a chief city, or metropolis.

The patriarch is the bishop of the most important city and diocese in a local church and is normally the leading bishop of a country (PATRIA means country). This is especially the case when within the self-governing church of which the patriarch is primate there are other bishops with metropolitan Sees. For example, in Russia the bishop of Moscow is the patriarch, the bishops of Kiev and St. Petersburg are metropolitans; and there are other archbishops and bishops within the local church.

However, once again, it cannot be over-stressed that all bishops, regardless of their title or the size and importance of their diocese, are identically equal with regard of their sacramental position. None is higher or greater than the other; none rules over another.

Speaking about the clergy, what are the clerical offices in the Orthodox Church and what is their significance?

The Orthodox Church has the three classical Christian offices: bishop, priest (or presbyter), and deacon.

The bishop is the highest office since the bishop is the one responsible to guide the life of the church, to guard the faith and to preserve the unity of the churchly body in truth and love. Bishops are traditionally taken from the monks, and by a regulation dating from the 6th Century, must be unmarried. A widowed priest or an unmarried man can be elected to the office of bishop.

The priests (or presbyters) carry on the normal pastoral functions in the Church and lead the local parish communities. They are usually married men. They must be married prior to their ordination and are not allowed to marry once in the priestly state. Single priests or widowers may marry but in this case, they are no longer allowed to function in the ministry.

At the present time, the diaconate in the Church is usually a step to the priesthood, or else it exists solely as a liturgical ministry. The deacon may also be a married man, with the same conditions as those for the married priesthood.

Your explanation until now makes the Orthodox Church look like a highly clerical body with strong hierarchal control. What about the laymen in the Church? Do they have a role?

First of all, it has to be understood that all members of the Church are full members, each with his own calling and responsibility.

The clergy are those members who have a special service within the body, and not over it or apart from it. They are chosen from the people and are ordained within the community with the special sacramental function to lead and to care for the life of the faithful.

The clergy, however, are in no way infallible. They also have no "personal" rights or powers. Their entire service is organically carried on in and for the Church. If they fail in their service and prove themselves unworthy, they may be challenged by the lay people and by procedures clearly indicated in church laws they may be removed from their ministry. There are many examples in Orthodox Church history when lay people have preserved the Christian Faith in opposition to unworthy hierarchs.

Also it must be seen that there are conciliar bodies on every level of church life in which lay people participate. The majority of theologians and teachers in the Orthodox Church, as well as church administrators and workers of various sorts, are lay people and not clergymen.

Thus, although the clergy have their own particular function of leadership, and that by sacramental grace and not merely by human choice or selection, the lay people have their functions as well. All, however, are responsible for the integrity of the Church. This traditional Orthodox position has the official confirmation of the famous Encyclical Letter of the Eastern Patriarchs of 1848. In this letter it is clearly expressed that the entire body of the Church is the bearer of the Orthodox Faith and Life, with each member bearing full responsibility before god and men for Christian unity in the Truth and Love of God. Thus, if we can speak about any infallibility at all, or of any power or authority, it must belong to God who lives and acts in all of His People, led by the sacramental hierarchy.

Are you Jewish?

No. We're most definitely Christians.

Oh, then are you Orthodox Presbyterians?

No. We're neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic.

Oh, you mean like "Eastern Orthodox"?

Yes, except that we as Americans are very much in and of "the West." Ironically it is from the West that "The Eastern Orthodox Church" came to these shores some two hundred years ago through Alaska and California. Since that time Orthodox Christianity has been flourishing in the Americas.

Is that like "Greek Orthodox" and "Russian Orthodox"?

Yes, but . . . The Orthodox Church is One Church. Currently, however, Church organization in North America is divided among several different "jurisdictions," or governing bodies of varying national origin within the One Church.

The doctrine and worship of each jurisdiction and parish is the same, though in some, languages other than English continues to be used in the services.

Orthodox Christianity in a number of ways is quite different from Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. The following questions and answers point out some important points of contrast and similarity.

I thought there are just two kinds of Christians, Protestant and Catholic. How can you claim you are neither?

From the Orthodox point of view, Roman Catholicism is a medieval modification of the original Orthodoxy of the Church in Western Europe, and Protestantism is a later attempt to return to the original Faith. To our way of thinking, the Reformation did not go far enough.

We respectfully differ with Roman Catholicism on the questions of papal authority, the nature of the Church, and a number of other consequent issues. Historically, the Orthodox Church is both "pre-Protestant" and "pre-Roman Catholic" in the sense that many modern Roman Catholic teachings were developed much later in Christian history.

The word catholic is a Greek word meaning "having to do with wholeness." We do consider ourselves "Catholic" in that sense of the word, that is, as proclaiming and practicing "the Whole Faith." In fact, the full title of our Church is "The Orthodox Catholic Church."

We find that Protestants readily relate to Orthodoxy's emphasis on personal faith and the Scriptures. Roman Catholics easily identify with Orthodoxy's rich liturgical worship and sacramental life. Roman Catholic visitors often comment, "in lots of ways your Liturgy reminds me of our old High Mass."

Many of the "polarities" between Protestants and the Roman Communion (i.e., "Word versus Sacrament" or "Faith versus Works") have never arisen in the Orthodox Church. We believe Orthodox theology offers the "western" denominations a way in which apparently opposite differences can be reconciled.

Why do you call yourselves "Orthodox"?

The word orthodox was coined by the ancient Christian Fathers of the Church, the name traditionally given to the Christian writers in the first centuries of Christian history. Orthodox is a combination of two Greek words, orthos and doxa.

Orthos means "straight" or "correct." (It is also found in the word "orthopedics," which in the original Greek means "the correct education of children.") Doxa means at one and the same time "glory," "worship" and "doctrine." So the word orthodox signifies both "proper worship" and "correct doctrine."

The Orthodox Church today is identical to the undivided Church in ancient times. The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther once remarked that he believed the pure Faith of primitive Christianity is to be found in the Orthodox Church.

Then you must be a very conservative Church.

In current American usage, the words "conservative" and "liberal" indicate a variety of often-conflicting viewpoints. Usually we don't really fit either category very well.

On seven major occasions during the first millennium of Christianity the leaders of the worldwide Church, from Britain to Ethiopia, from Spain and Italy to Arabia, met to settle crucial issues of Faith. The Orthodox Church is highly "conservative" in the sense that we have not added to or subtracted from any of the teachings of those seven Ecumenical Councils. But that very "conservatism" often makes us "liberal" in certain questions of civil liberties, social justice and peace. We are very conservative, or rather traditional, in our liturgical worship.

Which do you believe in, the Bible or Tradition?

A good short answer to this question is "Yes!" The question implies precisely a kind of polarity (i.e., "Bible versus Tradition") which is not found in the Orthodox Christian worldview.

"Tradition" or in Greek paradosis, is used very often in the New Testament both as a verb and a noun (See I Corinthians 11:23, where literally translating the original Greek, Paul says "for I received of the Lord that which I also have traditioned to you . . ." See also I Corinthians 11:2, and II Thessalonians 2:15 and 3:6).

Tradition means "that which is handed over." The New Testament carefully distinguishes between "traditions of men" and The Tradition, which is the Faith handed over to us by Christ in the Holy Spirit. That same Faith was believed and practiced several decades before the New Testament Scriptures were set down in writing and given canonical (i.e., official) status. We experience the Tradition as timeless and ever timely, ancient and ever new.

We distinguish between The Tradition ("with a capital T") which is the Faith/Practice of the Undivided Church, and traditions ("with a little t") which are local or national customs. Due to changing circumstances, sometimes cherished traditions must be altered or respectfully laid aside for the sake of The Tradition.

The New Testament Scriptures are the primary written witness to the Tradition. Orthodox Christians therefore believe the Bible, as the inspired written Word of God, is the heart of the Tradition. In the New Testament all basic Orthodox doctrine and sacramental practice is either specifically set forth, or alluded to as already a practice of the Church in the first century A.D.

The Tradition is witnessed to also by the decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, the Nicene Creed, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, by the liturgical worship and iconography of the Church, and in the lives of the Saints.

We have not talked much about the Church itself. For example, what about the Bible? Do the Orthodox use the Bible as other Christians do?

For the Orthodox, the Bible is the book of the Church, written by and for those who believe in God and constitute His people.

The Four Gospels are the center of the Bible, just as Christ is the center of the Church. For this reason the Four Gospels are always enthroned on the Altar in the Orthodox Church building.

The Orthodox generally interpret the Bible in terms of Christ. In this sense, the Old Testament is partial in that it prepares for the time of Christ the Messiah, who fulfills its message and history.

The New testament writings are also centered around Christ, and tell of His action in the world and in the Church through the Holy Spirit.

Thus the Orthodox position about the Bible, would be that the New Testament is prefigured in the Old, and the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New.

The Bible is central in the life of the Church and gives both form and content to the Church's liturgical and sacramental worship, just as to its theology and spiritual life. Nothing in the Orthodox Church can be opposed to what is revealed in the Bible. Everything in the Church must be biblical.

The Bible itself, however, not only determines and judges the life of the Church. but is itself judged by the Church since it "comes alive" and receives it proper interpretation and significance only within the life of the Church as actually lived and experienced by the People of God.

This would be the basic Orthodox approach to the Bible. Very sadly however, it must be mentioned that the knowledge of the Bible among Orthodox is not very great. There is a conscious attempt being made today to renew the reading and meditation of the scriptures by the faithful of the Church.

Are Orthodox Christians"saved?"

Orthodox Christians speak of salvation as a three-fold process:

We are saved by the power of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection when we received the Christian Mystery ("born again") at Baptism;
We are being saved by the working of the Holy Spirit through prayer, the Holy Gifts (the Eucharist) and all the Mysteries of Divine healing; and
By the mercy of God we shall be saved for Eternal Life at the Partial Judgment at the moment of our death, being made worthy by the Life-Giving Word and Holy Tradition.

The Holy Spirit, through the Orthodox Church, teaches that attaining everlasting life (being "saved") is a lifelong process and that during our earthly life there is no guarantee that we are saved.

You talk as if only the Orthodox who believe these things can be saved. What about other Christians and all other men in the world?

In the first place it must be made clear that it is not enough for anyone merely to believe these things, or merely to be a formal member of the Church. In order to be saved one must live by the truth and love of God.

It is the common teaching of the Orthodox Christian Tradition that the Church has no monopoly on grace and truth and love. The Church teaches on the contrary that God is the Sovereign Lord who saves those whom He wills.

The Church believes as well that salvation depends upon the actual life of the person, and God alone is capable of judging since He alone knows the secrets of each mind and heart. Only God is capable of judging how well a man lives according to the measure of grace, faith, understanding, and strength given to him.

The Orthodox would insist, nevertheless, that an honest seeker of truth and love will see these things perfectly realized and expressed in Jesus Christ and will recognize God, the end of their seeking, in Him.

We all know, however, that our image of Christ is deformed both by the lives and the doctrines of those who claim Him, and thus His truth and love and His very person remain obscure and hidden to those who might follow Him if they could see Him clearly.

But once again let it be clear that every man is judged by God alone according to the actual truth and love in his life. This goes for Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike. And although the Orthodox confess that the fullness of truth and love is found in the life of the Church, nominal church membership or formal assent to some doctrines does not at all guarantee salvation.

Do you mean you Orthodox believe your elaborate worship is based on the Bible? I'd like to know where.

The Christian Church learned to worship in the Jewish Temple and in the Synagogues. Again and again the New Testament tells us that Jesus, Paul and the others worshipped regularly in Jewish houses of worship. (See for instance Luke 4:16; Acts 3:1; Acts 17:1-2.) We know from archaeology, and from modern Jewish practice, that Synagogue worship was and is highly liturgical, i.e., communal, organized, ceremonial, and done decently and in order (I Corinthians 14:40).

The French Protestant biblical scholar Oscar Cullman demonstrates very convincingly in his little book Early Christian Worship that when John describes heavenly worship in the book of Revelation, he is following the Hebrew custom of portraying Heaven's worship in terms of earthly liturgy. The writers of the Bible thought of earthly worship as a "shadow" or "type" of Heaven's liturgy. (See Isaiah 6, Hebrews 8:4-6.) In other words, a biblical passage such as the fourth and fifth chapters of the Book of Revelation gives us an accurate picture of a very early Christian worship service. That service very much resembles modern Orthodox worship.

Orthodox worship is also very Scriptural in the sense that it is a kaleidoscopic mosaic of Scriptural quotations, paraphrases, references, and allusions. It is, quite literally, "to pray the Bible!"

Apart from the fact that we worship in English, and use modern harmonies with our ancient melodies, our services are basically identical to those of the early Christian Church. For that reason our worship sometimes seems a bit "strange" to Protestant and Roman Catholic visitors. We often hear, "Your services are just beautiful, and the music is outstanding, but they feel somewhat different."

It sounds as if you are rigidly bound by your Tradition. You mean it can't change?

The Tradition as a set of basic principles outlining our worldview is a constant. Its very constancy, however, sometimes will even demand change. As a simple instance of this, by Tradition our worship is to be celebrated in a language understood by the worshipping congregation. This means the Tradition not infrequently requires a change in liturgical language. As another instance, the Tradition also requires constant change in ourselves as, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we grow spiritually and respond ever more fully to the call of God in Jesus Christ.

Do you have the Virgin Mary, Saints, pray for the dead, and have confession "like the Catholics"?

There are points of contact between Orthodox and Roman Catholic belief on these issues, and modern Roman Catholic practice. There are also significant differences. To discuss them in depth is beyond the scope of this short summary. The following is a brief statement of the Orthodox point of view.

We honor the Virgin Mary as "higher than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim" because she is the woman who gave birth to Jesus, Who is the Word of God, Who is God, (in Greek, Theotokos). We call her blessed and think of her as the greatest of missionaries, for her unique mission was to deliver the Word of God to the world (See Luke 1:43, 48: John 1:1, 14; Galatians 4:4).

We likewise honor the other great men and women in the life and history of the Church - patriarchs, prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors and ascetics - who committed their lives so completely to the Lord, as models of what it means to be fully and deeply Christian. These men and women are called "saints;" a word deriving from the ancient Latin word meaning "holy." For example, we believe that men like the apostle Paul - in their devotion to Christ - led holy lives and that we are indeed to be imitators of him, as he was of Christ.

We also believe that in the risen Christ, prayer transcends the barrier between life and death and that those who have gone before us pray for us, as we remember them in our prayers. In Christ, we are one family (See Hebrews 12:1; II Timothy 1:16-18).

As indicated in John 20:21-23, and James 5:14-16, we practice sacramental confession and absolution of sins. The presbyter (priest) is the sacramental agent of Christ. The priest sacramentally conveys Christ's forgiveness, not his own.

Does your church practice "Open Communion"?

In the strictest sense the Communion of the Orthodox Church is open to all repentant believers. That means we are glad to receive new members in the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox concept of "Communion" is totally holistic, and radically different from that of most other Christian groups. We do not separate the idea of "Holy Communion" from "Being in Communion," "Full Communion," "Inter-Communion" and total "Communion in the Faith."

In the Orthodox Church therefore, to receive Holy Communion, or any other Sacrament (Mystery), is taken to be a declaration of total commitment to the Orthodox Faith. While we warmly welcome visitors to our services, it is understood that only those communicant members of the Orthodox Church who are prepared by confession and fasting will approach the Holy Mysteries.

Why do you have all those pictures in your church?

Icons are not pictures in the sense of naturalistic representations. They are rather stylized and symbolic expressions of divinized humanity (See II Peter 1:4; I John 3:2.). Icons for the Orthodox are sacramental signs of God's Cloud of Witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). We do not worship icons. Rather, we experience icons as Windows into Heaven. Like the Bible, icons are earthly points of contact with transcendent Reality.

In the original Greek of the New Testament Christ is called several times the icon (image) of God the Father (See II Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). Man himself was originally created to be the icon of God (Genesis 1:27).

Isn't all your old-fashioned doctrine and worship a bit irrelevant to modern American life?

We believe that God quite literally does exist. He is not a figment of pious fiction or wishful thinking. God and His will is therefore our "top priority." We believe that the Word of God quite literally became Incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth. We believe the Lord Jesus literally rose from the dead in a real though transfigured and glorified physical body. We believe that life apart from God is hollow and meaningless.

We notice that people today talk often of "meaningfulness," "the meaning of life," meaningful relationships," "the common good," "the good of humanity," "hope for the future of mankind" and so on. Also, various cults continue to attract many followers in all parts of our land. This indicates to us that people today are hungry for the answers we believe God has revealed through His Word, Who is Jesus Christ.

We believe ultimate human values are revealed to us by God, and serve as constant guides in the use of our steadily expanding scientific knowledge. We seek to evaluate technological advances in the light of those basic values.

It is our experience that our venerable Liturgy and the ancient Christian doctrines about God and the meaning of human life are just as relevant today as yesterday. These define our basic values. We know the whole ancient Christian Faith as that which makes more sense than anything else in this world of constant change, confusion and conflict.

God is the Source of all Meaning; we believe that "mankind's noble ideals" such as truth, beauty, freedom and love, are not "merely ideals," but real characteristics of a real Lord.

In and through Christ Jesus, God reveals Himself in human terms and in human terminology as One who is at the same time Trinity of Persons. The word "person" as used in classical Christian theology is not the singular form of "people;" God is not "Three people." Person here means something similar to "I," or "Subject," as in the subject of a sentence. The One God is revealed as having three personal "Centers of Being." God is therefore neither alone nor lonely, for the One Lord is also a perfect Communion of Persons. God as Trinity is the model and source of human inter-personal communion and fellowship.

Man was created capable of communion (mystical union) with God. Human matrimony is a favorite biblical image of this communion-relationship. Our capacity for divine communion was soon damaged by human error, stubbornness, and evil (i.e., sin). Because of God's infinite love, our potential for communion with God has been restored, renewed, and transfigured by Christ Jesus. Christ communicates His very life to us through His Word and Sacraments. In Christ and the Holy Spirit we can and do experience varying degrees of a mystical union with God now in this life, and on a regular basis.

We believe that the purpose of human life is for us to become partakers of the divine nature through the grace of the Holy Spirit, in prayer, sacrament, study of the Word, fasting, self-discipline, and active love for others. All other human projects and purposes, however noble, and important, remain secondary to that, which gives ultimate meaning to human existence.

This brief outline of Orthodox Faith necessarily but touches upon a number of more involved issues. If you would like to find out more, we would welcome your inquiries.

What about the Orthodox relation to war? The fact that the Orthodox have blessed the military seems to contradict your entire position, not to mention the teaching of Jesus about non-violence.

On the contrary, we hope that the Orthodox position relative to the military supports what we have already discussed.

Christ taught that perfection requires the love of enemies and the absolute renunciation of resisting evil by evil. Thus if a man will be perfect he will renounce the relative values of the world totally and will not participate in any act which is morally ambiguous. In this way, for example, the Church forbids the bearing of arms to its clergy and does not allow a man to continue in the ministry who has shed blood, theoretically even in an accidental way!

However, the Orthodox church follows Christ and the apostles in teaching that the relative and morally ambiguous life of his world requires the existence of some form of human government which has the right and even the duty to "wield the sword" for the punishment of evil.

In the Gospels, for example, we do not find Christ or the Baptist John, or the Apostles commanding the soldiers which they met to cease being soldiers. Even the early Christians bore the arms of the pagan Roman state for the welfare of society in this world.

But still, if a man will be perfect and give his life totally to Christ, he will of necessity renounce military service which always and of necessity is involved with relativistic values and greater and lesser evils and goods. Such a man will also renounce his possessions and follow Christ totally and in everything.

Thus total pacifism is not only possible, it is the sign of greatest perfection, the perfection of the Kingdom of God. According to the Orthodox understanding, however, pacifism can never be a social or political philosophy for this world; although once again, a non-violent means to an end is always to be preferred in every case to a violent means.

When violence must be used as a lesser evil to prevent greater evils, it can never be blessed as such, it must always be repented of, and it must never be identified with perfect Christian morality.

Also, one final point of great importance is that Christians who are involved in the relativistic life of this world must resist military subscription when the state is evil. But when doing so they must not yield to anarchy, but must submit to whatever punishment is given so that their witness will be fruitful.

What about such very specific issues as divorce and birth control and abortion? What do you have to say about such things?

These important issues all bear upon the appreciation of the family, and generally we can say without hesitation that the Orthodox understand the family to be willed by God as a created expression of His own uncreated life. Thus, in principle, the family must be preserved and glorified as something divinely and eternally valuable.

Regarding divorce, the Orthodox follow Christ in recognizing it as a tragedy and a lack of fulfillment of marriage as the reflection of divine love in the world. The church teaches the uniqueness of marriage, if it will be perfect, and is opposed to divorce absolutely.

If, however, a marriage breaks down and collapses, the Orthodox Church does in fact allow a second marriage, without ex-communication, that is, exclusion from Holy Communion, if there is repentance and a good chance that the new alliance can be Christian.

More than one marriage in any case, however, is frowned upon. It is not allowed to the clergy, and the service of second marriage for laymen is a special rite different from the sacrament as originally celebrated.

The control of the conception of a child by any means is also condemned by the Church if it means the lack of fulfillment in the family, the hatred of children, the fear of responsibility, the desire of sexual pleasure as purely fleshly, lustful satisfaction, etc.

Again, however, married people practicing birth control are not necessarily deprived of Holy Communion, if in conscience before God and with the blessing of their spiritual father, they are convinced that their motives are not entirely unworthy. Here again, however, such a couple cannot pretend to justify themselves in the light of the absolute perfection of the Kingdom of God.

As to abortion, the Church very clearly and absolutely condemns it as an act of murder in every case. If a woman is with child, she must allow it to be born. In regard to all of the very difficult cases, such as a young girl being raped or a mother who is certain to die, the consensus of Orthodox opinion would be that a decision for abortion might possibly be made, but that it can be made, but that it can in no way be easily justified as morally righteous, and that persons making such a decision must repent of it and count on the mercy of God. It must be very clear as well that abortion employed for human comfort or to stop what a contraceptive method failed to prevent, is strictly considered by the canon laws of the Church to be a crime equal to murder.

What you say sounds super-human. Is it really reasonable to expect the people to do it? Indeed, who can do it?

The question about who can do it was asked a long time ago. St. Peter asked it of Christ when he was listening to His teachings. the answer of Christ was conclusive: "With men these things are impossible. But with God all things are possible."

This is the point. Christian morality is, strictly speaking, not a human morality designed for the happy life in this world. Christian morality is the morality of perfection. "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." these are the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.

Such a morality in this world is really open-ended. It is never complete. As a matter of fact, it is the teaching of the Orthodox Church that man's life is never complete even in the kingdom of God. Man will always be "on the way." His very perfection, as one saint put it, is always to grow more perfect.

To be perfect as God is impossible to men. But to move towards this perfection eternally and forever is within man's possibilities with the help of God. And this is the life and the moral position to which Christians are called.

The Church is always ready to forgive the sinner, since Christ is the Head of the Church and He has come exactly to save sinners. But while condescending to forgive every sort of sin and weakness and necessity to indulge in relativistic and morally ambiguous actions (such as warfare and politics and birth control . . .), the Church cannot give these actions complete approval and cannot change its gospel which proclaims that man is created for the Kingdom of God and divine perfection.

Can you say something more about the Divine Liturgy? It is obviously the center of Orthodox life.

The Divine Liturgy is indeed the center of the Orthodox Christian life. As we mentioned, it is the sacrament of sacraments, or to use the more traditional Orthodox expression, the "mystery of mysteries." The word for "sacrament" among the Orthodox is usually "mystery."

the central mystery of the Orthodox faith is the service of Holy Communion, called the Eucharist. As words, liturgy means "common action" and Eucharist means "thanksgiving."

The first action of the liturgy is the gathering in common. The baptized and confirmed gather in one place. After the common prayer of the Church called the Great Litany in which petitions are made for all of the essential elements of life, biblical psalms are sung and the Word of God is presented to the faithful. Here the emphasis is on the epistle, the gospel and the sermon.

Then follows the offering of the bread and the wine as the offering of ourselves and our world to God in Christ. We ask God to accept us and our gifts (the bread and wine) as we love one another and confess the Orthodox faith, the Nicene Creed which we, or our sponsors for us, proclaimed at our baptism.

We then offer up ourselves and our gifts to God in Christ in remembrance of all that He has done for us: the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the sitting on the right hand of God the Father, and the second and glorious coming again.

We then call the Holy Spirit "to come upon us and upon our gifts" and to make the body and Blood of Christ and to give us the experience of the Kingdom of Heaven. thus we receive back our gifts of bread and wine as the gift of Holy communion with God the Father through Christ and the Spirit.

Finally we depart in peace to bear witness in the world to the Kingdom of God which has been given to us, calling all men into this unity with God and each other in Him.

The Orthodox celebrate this Mystery of the Kingdom of God, the Divine liturgy on each Lord's Day as well as on feasts and special occasions. It is the living experience of what all Christianity, and indeed all of life, is really about.

Would you agree then that the Liturgy reveals what Orthodoxy really is?

Yes, of course, the Liturgy is the central revelation of the Christian mystery, and in it the whole of Orthodoxy is somehow contained, remembered and given to our living experience.

All the icons, the vestments, the candles, the singing . . . everything taken together in harmony and unity serve to disclose just one thing: Man is made for God and finds his identity, fulfillment and perfection in Him.

We speak much today about identity and fulfillment. Who am I? What am I doing in this world. What is the sense of it all? Does it have any meaning?

The Orthodox Church says that the answer to all these crucial questions lies in Christ, His Cross, and His Resurrection. Through Christ the meaning of myself and the world and everything that exists is disclosed and revealed. Through Christ, the Kingdom of God is opened to men and the possibility for my becoming myself is guaranteed. I become myself only in God. My nature finds its meaning in Him. My existence, as an image reflecting His divine reality, is secured. My life as an eternal being is established.

In this life this means that I must put on Christ and take up His Cross and follow Him. I must suffer for truth and love and goodness. And yet there is joy in this suffering, for obedience to the Word is fulfilled in the Marriage Banquet of the Lamb of God in the Kingdom of God.

This is the Christian Mystery which the liturgy reveals and for which alone, the Orthodox Christian Church exists in the world.

Some Facts about Orthodoxy

It is the oldest Church in Chistendom.
There are over 300 million Orthodox Christians in the world.
Most Christians in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, Russia, and Ukraine are Orthodox.
Over six million Americans are Orthodox Christians.
Orthodoxy is the Church of some of history's greatest theologians, scholars, and writers -- people like John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Dostoyevsky, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
The heaviest concentrations of Orthodox in America are in Alaska, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio.
Organized Orthodox Church life first came to America in 1794 with missionaries from old Russia who came to Alaska.
Centuries of vigorous Orthodox missionary activity across 12 times zones in northern Europe and Asia was halted by the Communists after the Soviet Revolution in 1917.
In the Twentieth Century alone, more than 20 million Orthodox Christians have given their lives for their faith, primarily under communism.
So high is the commitment of many Orthodox Christians to Christ and His Church, she has often been called "the Church of the Martyrs."
Orthodox missions are active in Central Africa, Japan, Korea, and many other parts of the world.