parresia

brief history of OC

A Very Brief History of the Orthodox Church

What follows was printed in my and Katherine's wedding program. I owe thanks to Wayne and Katherine for helping me in the rushed process. It might be helpful to note that I wrote this knowing that the bulk of the wedding audience would be a mixture of Evangelical Protestants and Mormons.

The church you now sit in was founded approximately 2000 years ago (A.D. 30). Ten days after Christ's ascension into heaven the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and ushered in the apostolic age--the birth of the Christian Church (Acts 2). Of course, this physical building is not 2000 years old, but the church of which St. Paul's is an visible manifestation, is indeed that old.

Those same Apostles who received the Holy Ghost followed Christ's commission to disciple the nations (Matthew 28:17-20). They began their missionary endeavors-- covering much of what was at that time the Roman Empire. The Apostle Paul, for instance, reached at least as far west as Rome, Italy (where he was eventually martyred in A.D. 64); he spread the Gospel, founding churches all over modern-day Greece, and into parts of modern-day Turkey, Syria, Jerusalem, and Iraq.

As time wore on and the Church continued to grow both geographically and in number, and as the Apostles grew older, there arose the need to ordain bishops (overseers) over the churches that were being founded. The Apostles, inspired by the Holy Ghost, realized the importance of an orderly hierarchy (a Priesthood) necessary to the growth and survival of the Church they were helping to build. As Scripture notes, the Apostles chose men to follow in their footsteps as "leaders" of the Church. These men were called Bishops, Priests (Elders), and Deacons (I Timothy 3:1, 8, ff; Acts 6:1-7).

The offices of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon were not mere human offices (such as the C.E.O. of Toyota). Rather, by the power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 20:28), through the laying on of hands (Acts 6:6), which began with the Apostles laying their hands on the first Bishops, the office holder was ordained by God to perform his duty (Acts 14:22-23). These ordained men were thus as much spiritual office holders as they were earthly overseers of Christ's Church.

Thus began the Priesthood, headed by the High Priest, Christ (Hebrews 8:1ff), and it is carried on to this very day. By way of example, Fr. Steve, and Fr. Timothy have both been ordained in the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands, by Bishop Anthony who himself was ordained by the previous Bishop...and so on... all the way back to the Apostle Paul. As such, for 2000 years the Christian Priesthood has stood unfaltering against persecution, war, famine, and heresy. The Holy Spirit has preserved Christian Doctrine and Practice through the Church from the founding apostles even to our current generation (Matthew 16:18-19; Acts 11:26).

The Church of Christ has thus spread into the world one believer at a time, one congregation at a time (Acts16:5). The congregation, then, is not a "new church" per se, but is merely a new assembly of Christians under the umbrella of The Church (e.g., Acts 14:21-23). Thus men, women, and children have been and are continually converted by the preaching of the Gospel; fostered in the Christian life of the Church; strengthened by the legitimately administered Sacraments under the Priesthood; educated from the preached Scriptures, and so much more... all under the banner of the united hierarchy of one Church that has remained to this very day.

Currently, the Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian body in the world, second only to Roman Catholicism. Orthodoxy is the primary religion in such countries as Greece, Romania, Macedonia, Thace, Syria, Caucasus, Armenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Russia.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.