Over the centuries since the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western Churches, the two groups have diverged to the point that they often no longer understand each other's vocabulary, let alone the fundamental concepts on which each faith is built. Know the Faith is an attempt to present Orthodox Christianity in a way Western Christians can understand, grounding each point in Scripture and patristic theology, with comparisons to what Catholics and Protestants believe.Whether you are an Orthodox Christian seeking to explain your faith to others or an inquirer into this ancient faith, Know the Faith will help you understand and communicate the Orthodox faith as never before.
From the time you were in your childhood, did you begin to wonder what the meaning is of your Orthodox Christian beliefs? Especially, what the significance is of the prayers, hymns, the Epistle and Gospel readings, and communion during the Divine Liturgy? As you get older you may read books about the Orthodox Christian Church, attend religious education workshops and seminars, and look at video tapes; and start to compile the answers to the questions you had. This book helps you to better understand the doctrines, beliefs, the Holy Traditions, the faith, sacraments, and worship of the church. Also in this book, you comprehend a very important aspect as to how the Christian religion got started, and the connection of the Orthodox Christian Church to our Lord Jesus Christ, His apostles, the early church fathers, and the Seven Ecumenical Councils. This puts you on a path where you regularly attend, participate in, and better understand the Divine Liturgy. You learn that the Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox Christian Church has remained the same for more than 1500 years. You begin to understand that the Orthodox Christian Church is the true path to Jesus. When you begin to read the Holy Bible daily, you learn about the ministry of Christ and how to better live our lives. We should regularly say our daily morning prayers and nightly prayers, and our special prayers when needed. The fruit of prayer is inner peace, healing power, the Holy Spirit, union with God, and love. If we still have doubts in our minds about the existence of a mighty power, our God, then all we have to do is to look all around us. Everything is arranged in an orderly manner, and there is a grand purpose in every aspect of the human, animal, and plant kigndoms - and the planet earth within an infinite universe. The evidence that is presented in this book truly confirms that God is with us and all around us.
What does it mean to "think Orthodox"? What are the unspoken and unexplored premises and presumptions underlying what Christians believe? Orthodox Christianity is based on preserving the mind of the early Church, its phronema. Dr. Jeannie Constantinou brings her more than forty years' experience as a professor, Bible teacher, and speaker to bear in explaining what the Orthodox phronema is, how it can be acquired, and how that phronema is expressed in true Orthodox theology-as practiced by those who are properly qualified by both training and a deep relationship with Christ.
Welcome to the Orthodox Church—its history, theology, worship, spirituality, and daily life. This friendly guide provides a comprehensive introduction to Orthodoxy, but with a twist: readers learn by making a series of visits to a fictitious church, and get to know the faith as new Christians did for most of history, by immersion. Mathews-Green provides commentary and explanations on everything from how to “venerate” an icon, the Orthodox understanding of the atonement, to the Lenten significance of tofu. It’s the perfect book for inquirers and newcomers, but even readers who have been Orthodox all their lives say they learned things they never knew before. Enjoyable, easy-to-read, and leavened with humor, Welcome to the Orthodox Church is a gracious guide to the ancient faith of the Christian East.
In order to become a healing presence for others, we must first be healed ourselves--through an active relationship with the great Healer, Christ. Drawing on the teachings of the Fathers and saints of the Church, Dr. Rossi gently points the way toward deepening our love for God and for each other so that others may experience Christ through us.
The Orthodox doctrine of salvation in an easy-to-understand format, fully supported with scriptural references and quotations form the Fathers. The Life addresses several issues related to the doctrine of salvation, including issues that many find confusing; the immortality of the soul and the resurrection, the relationship of faith and works, and what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ.
This new edition of the bestselling Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy is fully revised and significantly expanded. Major new features include a full chapter on Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movements, an expanded epilogue, and a new appendix ("How and Why I Became an Orthodox Christian"). More detail and more religions and movements have been included, and the book is now addressed broadly to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox, making it even more sharable than before.
The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.
