WHAT IS THE ORTHODOX CHURCH?

A Brief Overview of Orthodoxy

BY FATHER MARC DUNAWAY

Chesterton, Indiana

WHAT IS THE ORTHODOX CHURCH? A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF ORTHODOXY

Copyright © 1995 by Marc Dunaway

Second edition, 2011

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-936270-36-1

INTRODUCTION

If you are like most Americans, you probably know very little about the Orthodox Church and Orthodox Christianity. Some have even called it “the best-kept secret in America.” Many, however, are becoming convinced that this needs to change, and that the Orthodox Church has a vital message for America today. By the time you finish reading this booklet, I hope you will agree.

As a priest in the Orthodox Church, I have been asked many times, “What is Orthodoxy?” A number of years ago, therefore, I and several others developed a “Seminar on Orthodoxy” that would try to provide an introductory answer to this question. Since then I have given this seminar dozens of times in my home parish to hundreds of inquiring people. The material in this booklet comes from that seminar. Certainly very little of it is in any way “original.” And, as in all historical summaries, there is also here, no doubt, some oversimplifying. Nevertheless, I firmly believe the overall perspective is sound, and no one, Christian or non-Christian, can afford to ignore it any longer.

WHAT IS ORTHODOXY?

My parents and their parents were born and raised in northern Kentucky. It is mostly farm country, with little towns and communities tied together by a web of narrow, winding roads. It’s the kind of place where people sit on porch swings in the afternoon and decorate their yards with concrete animals, birdbaths, and wagon-wheel planters. If you drive through these country hills, about every four or five miles you will see a simple white church building. Occasionally it might have stained glass windows and a steeple. Usually it will be either what they call a Christian Church or a Methodist Church. Those are the two predominant denominations in that part of Kentucky.

The people there are certainly aware of other Protestant denominations and of the Roman Catholics who live in the other part of town. For them the Christian world consists of two basic groups: Protestants and Catholics. Therefore, when I visit my grandparents and tell them that I am now an Orthodox Christian, there is no category for me to fit into in their minds.

Unless you come from Alaska or from one of the urban areas in the Northeast or Midwest, chances are things are pretty much the same where you grew up. The predominant denominations might be different—maybe Baptist, Lutheran, or Presbyterian. Orthodox Christianity, though, would probably be something completely foreign. So it may come as news to you that there are three main groups of Christians in the world today, not just two. There is Roman Catholicism; ...