The Orthodox Faith
An introduction to the Orthodox Christian faith.
The Path to the Kingdom of God
The Orthodox Church is the continuation of the Christian community founded by the Apostles. It holds the faith confessed at the first Councils and expressed in the Nicene Creed, and has continued unchanged in its essentials ever since. At its heart Orthodoxy is the love of God and of our neighbour, through which human nature is healed and restored in Christ.
The Heart of the Orthodox Faith
Christ
Orthodox Christianity rests on the confession that Jesus Christ is God Himself, who took on our human nature and so opened the way to the Father. He called Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the Church takes those words literally.
The Holy Trinity
We confess one God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not three gods, and not one God under three names. God is, in His own nature, a communion of love, and a faith centred on Him cannot be lived alone.
Theosis
The purpose of the Christian life is union with God: to become by grace what Christ is by nature. In the words of St Athanasius, He became man that we might become god. Fasting, prayer and the sacraments all serve that end.
The Church
Scripture calls the Church the pillar and foundation of the truth. For Orthodoxy the Church is not an institution that preserves Christianity but the living Body of Christ, in which He is met through the sacraments, the Scriptures and the lives of the faithful.
Love
Christ summed up the whole law in two commandments: to love God with all that we are, and our neighbour as ourselves. This is the measure of everything else in the faith. Fasting and prayer that make a person colder towards their neighbour have gone wrong.
The Resurrection
Christianity began as a testimony: that a man who had died was afterwards alive. Everything in the Orthodox faith rests on this. Death is not accepted as a natural end but treated as an enemy already defeated in Christ.
The Holy Mysteries
The Holy Mysteries - which the Western Church calls sacraments - are the means by which the faithful participate in the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Baptism
In Holy Baptism we are born again of water and the Spirit, renouncing evil and clothing ourselves in Christ.
Chrismation
Anointing with holy chrism, given straight after baptism - the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Eucharist
The Eucharist, instituted at the Mystical Supper, stands at the very centre of Orthodox worship.
Confession
Confession is understood in the same light - not judgment, but healing offered to the soul that seeks it.
Marriage
The crowning of husband and wife into one life - an image, Scripture says, of Christ and the Church.
Holy Orders
The laying-on of hands by which deacons, priests, and bishops are ordained to serve the Church.
Holy Unction
The anointing of the sick with blessed oil for the healing of soul and body, as the Apostle James directs.
The Church is not a courtroom but a spiritual pharmacy, where the wounded soul finds its remedy.
No one comes to the sacraments because they are already worthy; they come to be healed.
For Those New to Orthodoxy
Is Orthodoxy bound to one nationality?
No. Orthodox Christianity spread through particular nations, and many parishes in Britain keep those roots, but the faith itself belongs to no nation. This parish belongs to the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese, but it began as a mission for all the Orthodox of the North-East and remains one: services are mostly in English, with Romanian, Greek and Slavonic, and the congregation comes from many countries.
Must I know what to do before I come?
No. There is nothing to register for and no one expects you to follow the service closely. Most people spend their first visits simply watching and listening. You are welcome to stand quietly at the back for as long as you like.
Why are there so many icons?
Because God took a physical body. Since He did, physical things can carry holiness, and depicting Christ and the saints follows from the Incarnation. We venerate icons, honouring the person shown; we do not worship wood and paint.
How long are the services?
The Divine Liturgy lasts around ninety minutes and is mostly sung. You may arrive after it has begun, and there is seating for anyone who needs it.
Putting the faith into practice
Prayer
The Prayer page explains the forms that Orthodox prayer takes and how to begin a simple daily rule of your own.
- Morning and Evening Prayers
- The Jesus Prayer
- Akathists
- The Paraklesis
- Canons of Repentance
- Before and After Communion