This church confesses the Trinity and the full deity of Christ in the creeds of the state church councils. But its teaching that grace comes through its sacraments, with tradition sharing Scripture's authority, departs from the Gospel itself on how a sinner is justified. We judge the teaching, not each member's heart.
Where It Came From
The Orthodox Church claims unbroken continuity with the apostolic churches of the eastern Mediterranean through the succession of its bishops, and holds that it alone has kept the apostles' faith unchanged. Theologica holds a different account. In the East as in the West, the hierarchical church developed gradually: one bishop over each city's churches by the second and third centuries, and from Constantine onward a church joined to the empire, whose bishops met in councils called by the emperors. Christ's churches of baptized believers remained distinct from it. Orthodoxy receives seven of those councils of state-church bishops as ecumenical, from the Council of Nicaea (325) to the Second Council of Nicaea (787). Tensions with Rome over papal authority and the Western addition to the Creed led to the Great Schism of 1054. Byzantine missions carried Orthodoxy to the Slavic peoples, and the baptism of Kievan Rus' in 988 began Russian Orthodoxy.
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In Their Own Words
This profile describes the tradition from its own official documents and standard teaching:
- The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381)
- The decrees of the Seven Ecumenical Councils
- The Confession of Dositheus (Synod of Jerusalem, 1672)
- The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church (Philaret of Moscow)
- The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Sharing the Gospel with an Orthodox Christian
Orthodox Christians often love the beauty of the liturgy, the depth of their tradition, and the long history of their church. For many, being Greek, Russian, Serbian, or Romanian and being Orthodox are bound together, so leaving would feel like leaving family and nation. Many see evangelicals as new and shallow. Come with humility, and let your love for Christ be obvious.
Orthodox teaching describes salvation as a lifelong process of union with God, worked out by cooperation with grace through the sacraments. It generally gives little place to God's legal declaration that a sinner is righteous by faith. That is the conversation to open: how can a sinner be right with God today, and know it?
Where to begin
- God is one God in three persons, and Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.
- Christ died for sinners, rose bodily from the dead, and will return.
- Scripture is God's Word, and sin, holiness, and judgment are serious.
- Baptism is by immersion, and no Pope rules the whole church.
Questions to ask
- How does a person become right with God?
Listen carefully. The answer will usually speak of the sacraments, prayer, and a life of repentance. It shows you whether your friend is resting on Christ or on the process.
- Do you know that your sins are forgiven and that you have eternal life?
Read Acts 13:38–39: through Christ forgiveness is preached, and by him all that believe are justified from all things. Then show 1 John 5:13.
- What did Jesus finish on the cross?
Read John 19:30 and Hebrews 10:14. If His one offering perfected forever those who are sanctified, then the cross is not the start of a process we complete.
- If Scripture and tradition ever disagreed, which would you follow?
Jesus judged the traditions of the religious leaders of His day by the Word of God (Mark 7:13). Ask gently, and let your friend think it through.
Where Scripture challenges their thinking
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God (Romans 5:1). God counts the believer's faith for righteousness (Romans 4:5). Peace with God is a gift received at the start of the Christian life, not a prize at its end.
The promise of being partakers of the divine nature is given to those who have obtained like precious faith (2 Peter 1:1–4). Christ dwells in the heart by faith (Ephesians 3:17), and the believer lives by the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20).
There is one Mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5). Christ ever lives to make intercession for those who come to God by Him (Hebrews 7:25), so we need no saint to plead for us.
God forbade bowing down to images in worship (Exodus 20:4–5). He seeks worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23–24).
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and fully equips the man of God (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Tradition can be a helpful witness, but it must answer to the Word.
What to avoid
- Do not mock icons or the liturgy. Explain from Scripture why you worship as you do.
- Do not treat Orthodoxy as the same as Roman Catholicism. The Orthodox reject the papacy and teach differently on several points. Ask what your friend believes.
- Do not try to win a church-history debate. Many Orthodox know the history well. Keep coming back to Christ and the cross.
- Do not ask your friend to give up their heritage. Ask them to trust Christ alone.
Pointing them to Christ
Make the Gospel plain: all have sinned (Romans 3:23), Christ died for our sins and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), and God justifies freely by His grace all who believe (Romans 3:24–26). Invite your friend to trust Christ alone today, not Christ plus a lifelong process, and to rest in the peace He gives.
“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”ACTS 13:38–39 · KJV