The Very Rev.

Father Basil James Miller

Reader Maxim Davi Hayes

Introduction to Eastern Christianity

Saint Apollinaria of Egypt Independent Orthodox Church

Connexion of Saint John Chrysostom

Convergent Christian Communion

January 29, 2022 1

What is the Eastern Church?
• Many Eastern Churches are Orthodox or Catholic

• Orthodox = “true meaning” and “true praise”

• Purpose: the salvation of every human person, through uni cation with
Christ, giving us eternal life

• Born on the day of Pentecost, thus the oldest of all Christian churches

• Wrote the Holy Scriptures and formulated the traditional doctrines of

Christianity

• Today there are over 300M Eastern Christians in the world

• Multi-cultural: In addition to Eastern Catholics, there are 15

autocephalous Orthodox Churches (Constantinople, Alexandria,
Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia,
Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, Czech and Slovak, America)

• The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian

communion in the world; smaller only than the Roman Catholic Church

2
fi
The Great Schism of Constantinople and Rome

• 1054 - The Pope of Rome excommunicates the Patriarch of Constantinople due to:

• Dispute over use of images in the Church

• Dispute over whether or not it was acceptable to use unleavened bread for the
Eucharist

• Addition of the Latin word lioque to the Nicene Creed

• Dispute over who is the head of the Church

• 1646 - The ecclesia sui iuris (self-governing church) of Mukachevo-Uzhorod reunites with
the Roman Catholic Church while maintaining its spirituality, ceremonies, and disciplines
(Byzantine Catholics)

fi

What We Believe…

“I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things,
visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of light, true God of true God, begotten not
created, of one essence with the Father, through whom all things were made; Who, for us
men and for our salvation, came down from the heavens and was incarnate of the Holy
Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man. He was cruci ed for us under Pontius Pilate
and su ered and was buried. And he arose on the third day according to the Scriptures.
And he ascended into the heavens and is seated at the right hand of the Father. And he
shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no
end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life, who proceeds from the Father,
who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glori ed, who spoke through
the prophets. In One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to
come. Amen.”

–The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed

4
ff
fi
fi
 (What We Believe…)

About God
• The Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit): Three
Divine Persons of One Essence

• Pre-eternal: existing beyond and before time

• The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: Yahweh (I AM),

who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush

• De ned by what He is NOT: Ine able, Inconceivable,

Invisible, Incomprehensible

• Humankind encounters God personally, and we realize

our minds are inadequate to comprehend Him fully

• We commune with Him through the mystery of the

Eucharist

• We know who God is through the revelation of Jesus

Christ
5
fi
ff
(What We Believe…)

About Jesus Christ’s Nature

• The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, one in essence with God the Father

• The Messiah, foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament

• The Word or Logos

• The Way, the Truth, and the Life

• The Theanthropos, or God-Man: NOT half God, half human, NOT a hybrid, but
fully God and fully human, joined together in the Incarnation without mixture,
division, or confusion

 (What We Believe…)

About Jesus Christ’s Time on Earth

• Born of the Virgin-Mary

• Was baptized, preached, healed, told parables,

taught His disciples

• Physically died on the cross and rose from the

dead on the third day

• Ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right-

hand of the Father

• Jesus became Man so that Man might become

God: by His Death and Resurrection, we have the
opportunity to become by grace what He is by
nature

7
 (What We Believe…)

About Humankind
• Created by God to worship Him

• Made in God’s image and likeness (we are living

icons of Him)

• Composed of soul and body: both are

permanently part of human nature

• Created sinless, but not perfected

• The Fall: Our nature was not changed, but the

image of God in us was obscured by sin
(separation from God)

• Su ers from the e ects of the world’s collective

sins

• Sin is an illness, and salvation (the path of growth

into God’s likeness) is the cure
8
ff
ff
 For the Eastern Christian, What Does It Mean to Be Saved?

• Salvation = Theosis = The process of becoming more and more like God

• Salvation is more than what happens when we die: It’s how we live on Earth and our eternal life in
God’s Kingdom

• Salvation/Theosis has three stages:

• Puri cation - Becoming sinless

• Illumination - Being lled with divine light (i.e. the Trans guration)

• Divinization - Unity (but not fusion) with God

• Salvation cannot be earned; we can only be saved in and through Christ

• Free will: Salvation requires our cooperation (synergy) with God (repentance and participation in
Sacraments) 9
fi

fi

fi

(In light of the previous slides…)

What is the Eastern Church?

• One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic

• The Body of Christ

• The Bride of Christ, united to Jesus in faith and

love

• Community - We can’t do it alone

• Includes the prophets and saints, the living and

the faithfully departed

10
The House of God - What’s Inside An Eastern Church?
The House of God - What’s Inside An Eastern Church?
• Colorful, distinctive iconography

• God is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, present in all things, so He expresses Himself in the material world; thus, the
beauty of creation (church embellishment) becomes a very important means of praising God

• Designed to create an atmosphere which is special, the building is lled with a feeling of joy and an appreciation of
God's bounty

• The Iconostasis separates the sanctuary (Heaven) from the nave (Earth). It has 3 doors: 2 Deacon’s doors and the
center Royal Doors. The right side will always have icons of Christ and John the Forerunner; The left side will always
have the Theotokos and the patron saint of the Church

• Icons: windows linking Heaven and Earth. Signify the presence of the individual or event depicted. Orthodox Christians
venerate but do not worship icons

• Incense: Engages our senses during liturgy. Use of it predates Christianity (Psalm 140:2 - “Let my prayer ascend to you
like incense, and the lifting up of my hands like an evening sacri ce”). Certain areas are censed by clergy during liturgy
to remind us that our prayers are rising to the heavens.

12

fi
fi

Holy Tradition and the Scriptures

• Teachings given by Jesus to the Apostles

• Passed on from generation to generation without change

• Transmitted by spoken word and writing

• Holy Tradition is “the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church”

(Vladimir Lossky)

• Unchanging in doctrine, dynamic in its application

• Preserved through Apostolic Succession

• Customs that help us to express Holy Tradition (how

feast days are celebrated, fasting rules, Church calendar)

13
What Does Spirituality Mean to the Eastern Christian?

• Spirituality = The daily life of the Eastern Christian

• Prayer - daily, meditative, impromptu, existing written

• Liturgical, Sacramental, Mystical

• Frequent participation in liturgical services (worship)

• Fasting, non-possessiveness, asceticism

• Remembering that the presence of God is in everything and everyone

14

What is Eastern Christian Worship?

• Our highest calling, to come into communion mystically
with God in the Sacraments

• The ful llment of the purpose for which we were created

• Liturgical: ritual patterns/cycles, with music, prayer, and

symbolic actions

• The pattern of Eastern worship is based on the worship in

Heaven as seen in the Bible, which includes an altar,
incense, and chanting

• Worship is also formation, providing a guide for Christian

life

• Divine Liturgy (the center of liturgical life), Vespers (evening

prayers), Matins (morning prayers)

15
fi
The Sacraments/Holy Mysteries
• All facets of our lives are sacramental

• In the mysteries, the Christian is united with God,

becoming a partaker of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4)

• All Sacraments require preparation

• Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism and Chrismation

• The Eucharist, the highest of all Sacraments

• Confession

• Unction for the sick

• Marriage

• Ordination

16
Eastern Christian Clergy

• Called by God to ful ll speci c functions of service and leadership

• Unworthy in themselves to serve, but by the grace of ordination, God enables

them to carry out His will (“Axios!” means worthy)

• Not inherently any better than laity

• Minor Orders: Reader, Cantor, Subdeacon

• Major Orders: Deacon, Presbyter (Priest/Elder), Bishop

• No equivalent to the Roman Catholic Pope

17
fi
fi

 Saints and the Theotokos

• Holy, set apart for God’s purposes

• People whose lives have demonstrated holiness,

should be imitated, and are venerated in the Church

• Canonization/Glori cation

• Saints have feast days with their own liturgical

services and iconography

• The Theotokos (literal translation: She whose

o spring is God) is Mary, the Mother of God, God-
Bearer, Who Gave Birth to the One That Was God,
Whose Child Was God

• We do not worship Saints or the Theotokos; we ask

them to intercede to God on our behalf

18
ff
fi
Questions?

19