Finding the True Church
There is an popular game called 'Chinese Whispers' wherein one person is given a message to whisper to the person next to them. This is repeated from person to person until the last person says aloud what they understood the message to be. Rarely does it bear resemblance to the original. This is repeated on a larger scale in religion and philosophy. While Christianity has the protection of the Holy Spirit in sound doctrine, finding the 'denomination' closest to the original Early Church can be difficult.
Of the three major groups in modern Christianity, I have found that only Orthodoxy has attempted to remain as true to the Early Church in teachings and practice as possible, resisting change. It is a common saying among modern Orthodox that Protestants took away parts of the Church's practice and teachings while the Catholics added to or modified them. Protestants claim that they have stripped away the 'teachings of man' that were added to the Church particularly after Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire. Catholics maintain that the Church can evolve as needed since the Pope represents Christ and would not allow heresy to enter official Church teaching.
I believe that the easiest way to deal with this complex issue is to examine what the Church was like before there were Orthodox, Roman Catholics or Protestants....basically the first 1000 years of Christianity. A variety of sources will be used and will be cited for further study.
Each page that follows will have very basic, direct information that was of importance to me in understanding Orthodoxy. For additional indepth information and reference each page that follows will have links to appropriate sections of two catechisms (i.e. approved collections of teachings) that reflect the authentic doctrine and practices of the Orthodox Church and which are especially complete and well referenced. The complete texts of these catechisms as well as others may be found at the resouces page.
There is an popular game called 'Chinese Whispers' wherein one person is given a message to whisper to the person next to them. This is repeated from person to person until the last person says aloud what they understood the message to be. Rarely does it bear resemblance to the original. This is repeated on a larger scale in religion and philosophy. While Christianity has the protection of the Holy Spirit in sound doctrine, finding the 'denomination' closest to the original Early Church can be difficult.
Of the three major groups in modern Christianity, I have found that only Orthodoxy has attempted to remain as true to the Early Church in teachings and practice as possible, resisting change. It is a common saying among modern Orthodox that Protestants took away parts of the Church's practice and teachings while the Catholics added to or modified them. Protestants claim that they have stripped away the 'teachings of man' that were added to the Church particularly after Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire. Catholics maintain that the Church can evolve as needed since the Pope represents Christ and would not allow heresy to enter official Church teaching.
I believe that the easiest way to deal with this complex issue is to examine what the Church was like before there were Orthodox, Roman Catholics or Protestants....basically the first 1000 years of Christianity. A variety of sources will be used and will be cited for further study.
Each page that follows will have very basic, direct information that was of importance to me in understanding Orthodoxy. For additional indepth information and reference each page that follows will have links to appropriate sections of two catechisms (i.e. approved collections of teachings) that reflect the authentic doctrine and practices of the Orthodox Church and which are especially complete and well referenced. The complete texts of these catechisms as well as others may be found at the resouces page.
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Modern American Catechism These Truths We Hold by an OCA Monk |
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1830 Longer Catechism of Russian Metropolitan St. Philaret |
