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Welcome to the Greek Orthodox
Church
Our Orthodox Faith
Orthodoxy traces its roots
back to the original teachings of Christ during His days on earth.
It is the One Holy, Catholic an Apostolic Church spoken of the Nicene
Creed, the Symbol of Faith.
The Holy Scriptures and Sacred Tradition are the equal and complimentary
sources of doctrine for the church. The Holy Spirit is the authentic
and infallible interacts as the vigilant guardian of the Christian
Truths, the "Orthodox" or right belief as taught by Jesus Christ
and propagated by the Apostles, martyrs and Christian faithful.
In the Orthodox Church, called "the Mother of Churches", the Apostolic
Faith is preserved through Apostolic Succession.
What is the Orthodox
Church?
The eastern or Greek Orthodox
Church is one of the original Churches of Christianity, which was
founded on the Day of the Pentecost in Jerusalem in 33 A. D. Ten
days after Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit
on the Heads of His Disciples, which according to the description
at the Acts of the Apostles, stood like burning tongues. Since
that Day the Orthodox Church has kept unbroken the Holy Tradition
of the Church given by Jesus Christ and His Disciples. Later he
accepted the Decrees of the Seven Ecumenical Synods, which were
convened by the Church in order to solve religious, dogmatical questions.
The decrees of the Seven Ecumenical Synods are infallible.
Christianity started in the
Holy City of Jerusalem in the East and with the ages expanded around
the world. During this development, due to different ideology and
point of views and politics, the unity of the Church began to split
into different denominations. The Holiest Cities for early Christians
are considered to be Jerusalem, Damascus, Rome, Alexandria and later
when the Eastern Roman Empire was established in Byzantium - Constantinople.
Constantinople became the Capital of the Byzantine Empire and became
the center of Christianity. The universal language in these first
centuries was Greek and the Gospels except St. Matthew were written
in Greek.
The first three centuries of
Christianity went through severe persecution, but it came out victorious
and the truth dominated the universe.
Christianity was first recognized
by Emperor Constantine the Great. With the edict of Milan in the
IVth Century the persecution of Christians stopped and the Churches
from underground (catacombs) appeared on the surface. Many Churches
started to be built.
The first nation to officially
recognize Christianity was Armenia. The first split of Christianity
occurred after the IVth Ecumenical Synod of Chalcedon with the Monophysites
of Ethiopia, Syria, Chaldeans and Armenians. Later in 1054, due
to politics, the Roman Catholic Church split from the Eastern Church
by adding the word "filioque" at the Nicean-Constantinopolitan Creed,
which was written at the 1st and the 2nd Ecumenical Synods.
In the years to follow other
groups split from the Roman Catholics; the Protestants, the Lutheran
and the Anglican denominations split and today we have many Christians
denominations around the world. Unfortunately, in order to accommodate
their passions and modern ideas, many of the denominations have
created new teachings and rules which are totally against the Gospel
teaching. We as the Orthodox Church pray for the unity of our Christian
Brothers in our everyday prayers. Today in the world The Eastern
Orthodox Faith is the dominant Church of Russia, Ukraine, Serbia,
Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus. There are thousands
and millions of faithful who adhere to the Orthodox Faith in the
Middle East, Africa, Australia, Asia, United States, Canada, Central
and South America. The worldwide membership is more than 300 million.
The Orthodox residing in the
USA are over 3 million people and in the State of New Jersey the
Greek Orthodox faithful comprise 1% of the state's population.
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