Zack

The level of venomous bigotry, vicious hate and fanatical extremism of this so called Christian, towards other type of Christian practices is mind blowing. That inexcusable behavior he exhibits teaches kids and invites others to hate, to be fanatical extremists. And for what? What have the Orthodox Christians ever done to them? Will they even do anything like this towards Jewish or Muslim practices? I bet they will not dare, because they know there will be consequences and a price to pay. The Orthodox Church does not claim to have rediscovered Christianity after centuries of darkness. It confesses that Christ has preserved His Church in the apostolic faith, sacramental life, and worship from the beginning. Scripture itself was received and preserved within this living Church. For this reason, we invite our Protestant brothers and sisters to examine not only the biblical texts, but also how the earliest Christians understood and lived the faith handed down by the Apostles. Protestants misunderstand Orthodoxy because they judge it by principles that developed during the Reformation, rather than within the faith and worship of the ancient True Church, The Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy receives Holy Scripture within the living Holy Tradition and preserves the apostolic faith through the episcopate, the sacraments, and the Church’s continuous worship. Protestant communities retain important Christian beliefs, but their separation from the historic episcopate and their rejection of parts of the Church’s ancient Tradition represent, from the Orthodox perspective, a departure from the fullness of the apostolic faith. Protestants differ among themselves in many aspects and do not all hold the same views of Orthodox Christianity. Christ established a visible Church that has continued in the apostolic faith, worship, and sacramental life throughout history, and so Christianity doesn't have to be reconstructed from Scripture apart from that living continuity. The Orthodox Church confesses that it is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded by Christ and manifested at Pentecost. It understands its faith not as a much later interpretation of Christianity, but as the life and teaching received from the Apostles and preserved through the Holy Spirit in the Church. This conviction is theological and historical. Orthodoxy also affirms the supreme importance and divine inspiration of Scripture. However, it does not see Scripture as standing apart from the Church. The New Testament was written within the apostolic community, read in its worship, and recognized by the Church through a historical process. For Orthodoxy, Holy Scripture is the central written witness within Holy Tradition: the living transmission of the apostolic faith. Saint Paul speaks of teachings handed on both orally and in writing (2 Thessalonians 2:15), and he calls the Church “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). Thus, the Orthodox objection is that Scripture should not be interpreted independently of the Church’s inherited faith, worship, and witness. For Orthodox Christians, apostolic succession involves both continuity of ordained ministry and fidelity to apostolic teaching. Bishops are ordained through the laying on of hands within the Church, in continuity with the apostolic ministry. Yet succession is not merely a list of names or an automatic guarantee that everything a bishop teaches is correct. It belongs to the whole life of the Church: faith, Eucharist, communion, worship, and mission. Protestants should examine the Church before the Reformation. Early Christian sources and historical accounts describe a Church with bishops, priests, and deacons; liturgical worship; baptism; and the Eucharist at the center of its life. If Christ promised that the gates of Hades would not prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18), should we believe that the Church’s essential faith and life disappeared for centuries and had to be restored only in the modern era? In the Orthodox Church, icons are venerated, not worshipped. The honor shown to an icon passes to the person represented. Icons of Christ also affirm that the eternal Son truly became man and could be seen. The saints are asked to pray for us; they are not treated as gods. Christ remains the one Mediator between God and humanity (1 Timothy 2:5), and all intercession depends on Him. The Eucharist is the Church’s communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, not merely a reminder of an absent Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16). The Liturgy is prayer and worship offered to God, rooted in Scripture and in the Church’s inherited life. Protestantism departed from the fullness of the apostolic faith and succession when it separated itself from the historic Church’s sacramental life and accepted principles that place the individual community’s interpretation of Scripture above the Church’s continuous witness. Teaching vicious hate, venomous bigotry, and fanatical extremism is not the answer, dear Protestants and Neoprotestants.