What is the Orthodox Church?

Orthodoxy has often been called America’s best kept secret.  But that’s changing as more and more people inquire about our faith.  But just what is the Orthodox Church?  What is Orthodox Christianity?  These are questions that we as Orthodox Christians are often asked by friends and newcomers to our faith.  How well we answer these questions can often turn simple curiosity into genuine interest so it’s good to know how to respond when asked.  The above video is a good place to start. It’s narrated by Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, a priest serving in Emmaus, PA and also a prolific writer and podcaster.  We’ll be sharing his work often, including two relevant resources found further below.

Our next video is from the Be the Bee series created by the youth ministry of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.  This series just ended its impressive four year run with 133 episodes and has been popular with Orthodox believers of all ages. Listen as Steve Christoforou speaks about how Orthodoxy, at its core, is about the Gospel, the Good News of our new life in Christ.  This is the first in a series of eight videos we’ll share from Be the Bee that discusses Orthodoxy and some of the basic questions people have about the faith.  It’s some of the series best work.

For Further Study

We realize that most people are pressed for time and are often distracted by the cares of daily life.  So we’ll always put the shortest resources first.  But for those of you who have time for further study we’ll also include more in-depth resources that you can read, watch, or listen to at your convenience.  We’ll start with the aforementioned examples from Fr. Andrew as he continues to emphasize the importance of the Gospel.

Podcast:  The Gospel Message:  The Heart of the Orthodox Christian

Blog Post:  Do We Preach Orthodoxy or Christ?

For those of you wanting to know more about the history of the church there is a great series of videos from the Archdiocese called The History of Orthodox Christianity.  It’s in three parts, with each episode lasting approximately twenty-eight minutes.

Part One:  Beginnings

Part Two:  Byzantium

Part Three:  A Hidden Treasure

And finally, we have a video from the Discovering Orthodox Christianity series called What Is Christian Orthodoxy?  It’s part of a series of talks, shows, and presentations designed to introduce and explain the basic teaching of Orthodox Christianity. Sponsored by the Leadership 100 Endowment Fund the series covers a wide range of topics with the goal of educating the viewer in simple, easy to understand terms.

More to come …