Sign in

What We Believe77 entries

The doctrine of the Orthodox Church — not a system invented by theologians, but the faith once delivered to the saints and handed down for two thousand years.

Holy Spirit, Grace & Salvation

6
Theosis (Deification)Salvation as union with God — “God became man that man might become god”The Holy SpiritThe third Person: Lord and Giver of Life, proceeding from the FatherGrace (Uncreated Grace)Grace as God's own uncreated energy, not a created substanceSynergy (Synergeia)Divine grace and human freedom cooperating in salvationSalvation (Soteriology) in OrthodoxySalvation as healing and union, past-present-future; “I am being saved”Faith and WorksThe Orthodox rejection of the faith-versus-works dichotomy

Heresies

4
Arianism“There was when the Son was not” — the crisis behind Nicaea (325)What Is Heresy?How the Church distinguishes heresy, schism, and honest errorNestorianismDividing Christ into two subjects; why “Theotokos” answered it (Ephesus, 431)Monophysitism / MiaphysitismOne-nature Christology, Chalcedon (451), and today's Oriental Orthodox dialogue

Eschatology (The Last Things)

8
Death in Orthodox UnderstandingWhat happens at death; death as enemy already defeatedPrayers for the DepartedWhy Orthodoxy prays for the dead without a doctrine of purgatoryThe Second Coming (Parousia)Christ's return in glory; watchfulness without date-settingThe General ResurrectionBodily resurrection of all, the core Christian hopeThe Last JudgmentFinal judgment as revelation of truth and love (Matthew 25)Heaven and Hell in Orthodox TheologyBoth as experience of God's presence — glory or fire — not geographyThe Kingdom of GodAlready present in the Church, fully revealed at the EndAerial Toll HousesThe contested teaching on the soul's post-death passage — views and statusGoing deeper

God & the Holy Trinity

9
The Holy TrinityOne God in three Persons — the central Christian dogma and its Orthodox articulationGod the FatherThe first Person of the Trinity, source (arche) of the Son and SpiritEssence and EnergiesPalamite distinction: God unknowable in essence, truly participable in His energiesApophatic Theology (Via Negativa)Knowing God by negation; why Orthodoxy begins with divine mysteryHypostasis (Person)The Trinitarian term for “person” and its history from Nicaea to ChalcedonHomoousios (Of One Essence)The Nicene watchword that the Son is fully God, not a creatureProvidence (Pronoia)God's care for creation without violating creaturely freedomThe Symbol of Faith (Nicene Creed)The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as the Church's core dogmatic confessionDogma and DoctrineWhat the Church defines as dogma, how, and why definitions exist

Christ & the Incarnation

13
Jesus ChristThe eternal Son incarnate — the entry anchoring all ChristologyThe IncarnationGod become man: why, how, and what it changes for humanityLogos (The Word)Christ as the eternal Word through whom all things were made (John 1)Hypostatic UnionOne Person of Christ in two natures, defined at ChalcedonThe Two Natures of ChristFully God and fully man “without confusion, change, division, separation”Theotokos (Mother of God)Why calling Mary “Birth-giver of God” safeguards Christology (Ephesus, 431)Ever-Virginity of MaryThe dogma of Mary's perpetual virginity and its place in TraditionKenosis (Self-Emptying)Philippians 2: the Son's voluntary humility in incarnation and CrossThe Cross and Atonement in OrthodoxyChrist's death as victory and healing, versus purely juridical modelsChristus Victor & the Harrowing of HadesChrist's descent into Hades and trampling down of deathThe Resurrection of ChristThe bodily resurrection as the foundation of Orthodox faith and PaschaThe AscensionChrist's glorified humanity taken into heaven; ongoing high-priesthoodThe Transfiguration and Uncreated LightTabor light as revelation of divine glory; link to hesychasm

Creation, Humanity & the Fall

9
Creation ex NihiloGod freely creating from nothing; creation as good and lovedImage and Likeness of GodHumanity made in God's image, called to grow into His likenessThe Human Person: Body, Soul, and NousOrthodox anthropology and the unity of the human beingNous (The Eye of the Soul)The perceptive faculty that knows God; its darkening and healingFree Will (Autexousion)Human self-determination as intrinsic to the divine imageThe FallWhat went wrong in Eden: broken communion, mortality, corruptionAncestral Sin vs. Original SinWhy Orthodoxy speaks of inherited mortality, not inherited guiltAngelsThe bodiless powers: their nature, ranks, and ministrySatan and the DemonsFallen angels, the origin of evil as privation, spiritual warfare

Church & Ecclesiology

10
The Church (Ecclesiology)What the Church is: the Body of Christ, not merely an institutionOne, Holy, Catholic, and ApostolicThe four creedal marks of the Church explainedBody of ChristThe Church as Christ's Body and Eucharistic communionHoly TraditionTradition as the Spirit's life in the Church — Scripture's living contextScripture and TraditionWhy Orthodoxy rejects sola scriptura: the Bible within the ChurchApostolic SuccessionContinuity of faith and ordination from the apostles to today's bishopsConciliarity (Sobornost)The Church governed by councils and communion, not a single headBishop, Priest, Deacon (Holy Orders)The threefold ministry and its theological meaningThe Communion of SaintsThe living and departed united in Christ; why we ask saints' prayersVeneration vs. Worship (Proskynesis vs. Latreia)The crucial distinction defended at Nicaea II

Icons & Their Theology

2
Icons: An IntroductionWhat icons are, and why they are not “religious art” or idolsThe Theology of the IconIncarnation as the basis of images: “the honor passes to the prototype”

Key Theological Terms & Methods

4
Theology (Theologia) in the Orthodox Sense“A theologian is one who prays” — theology as encounter, not speculationEconomy (Oikonomia) of SalvationGod's whole plan and action in history for our salvationOrthodoxy and OrthopraxyRight belief and right practice as inseparable (“right glory”)Patristics: Reading the Church FathersWho the Fathers are and why their consensus carries authority

The Nicene Creed, Article by Article

12
The Creed, Article 1: One God, the Father AlmightyI believe in one God — the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisibleThe Creed, Article 2: One Lord Jesus ChristThe Son as true God of true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the FatherThe Creed, Article 3: Incarnate of the VirginWho for us and for our salvation came down, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin MaryThe Creed, Article 4: Crucified for UsCrucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered, and was buried — the historical Cross in the CreedThe Creed, Article 5: He Rose on the Third DayThe Resurrection according to the Scriptures as the Creed confesses itThe Creed, Article 6: Ascended into HeavenChrist seated at the right hand of the FatherThe Creed, Article 7: He Shall Come AgainThe Second Coming, the judgment, and the kingdom without endThe Creed, Article 8: The Holy SpiritThe Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, worshipped with Father and SonThe Creed, Article 9: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic ChurchWhat the Creed confesses about the Church itselfThe Creed, Article 10: One BaptismI confess one baptism for the remission of sinsThe Creed, Article 11: The Resurrection of the DeadI look for the resurrection of the dead — the Christian hope for the bodyThe Creed, Article 12: The Life of the Age to ComeThe Creed's last word: eternal life in the world to come