Our Orthodoxy
From the book: “Simple Preaching for a Simple Priest” (1986) by Archimandrite Ioannikios,
excerpt translated from the original Greek by Fr. Emanuel Hatzidakis, 1992.

Our Orthodoxy is the Christian Church just as it came out of the hands of Christ and just as the holy Apostles handed it down to us: undefiled, unadulterated, virginal.

Our Orthodoxy is the pure, Apostolic Christianity. Orthodoxy is the Church of the Holy Fathers, who paid homage to her, lifted her up, glorified her and interpreted the holy Gospel correctly, clearly, with the illumination of the holy Spirit.

Our Orthodoxy is the Church of the Ecumenical Councils, which guard her and protect her from the falsity of the heretics and their errors throughout the centuries, till today.

Our Orthodoxy is the Church of the Martyrs, holy Ascetics, Hermits, Hesychasts and Neptic Fathers; the Church of the Confessors, Ecumenical Teachers and New-Martyrs; the Church of the grace-flowing holy relics.

Our Orthodoxy is the Church of Byzantium (the Christian Roman Empire, AD 330-1453), Byzantine Music, Byzantine Icons, Byzantine Architecture.

Our Orthodoxy is the Church of the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments); the Church of the mystical life in Christ and of Theology, of the prayer of the heart and of our union with God.

Our Orthodoxy is the Church of the Byzantine worship “in spirit and in truth” and of the Byzantine Hymnology.

Our Orthodoxy is the Church of the Resurrection.

Come, you are invited! Get to know better, more deeply and more clearly our faith; to study the enlightened writings of the Holy Fathers, and especially to live experientially the Theanthropic, ecclesiastical, mystical, Orthodox life.

As Phillip said to Nathaniel: “Come and see!” (John 1:46)

You are invited: “Come and see” how man, body and soul, is sanctified in the Spiritual and Christ-centered Body of the Church.

You are invited: “Come and see” the Truth, the Light, the Theology, the Vision of God, the Divine Liturgy, the Mystical Life, the Dogma, the Grace, the Uncreated Energy of the Holy Spirit. This is Orthodoxy.

You are invited: “Come and see” the incense, the beeswax, the prosforo, the Feasts, the all-night vigils, the fasts, the prostrations, the prayer of the heart, the Byzantine Icons, the Byzantine music. This is Orthodoxy.