THE ORTHODOX WAY

The first believers in Jesus Christ were known as the "Way".

ORTHODOX PRAYER

WOW!

THE NICENE CREED

THE NICENE CREED SUNG BY AN ORTHODOX CHOIR
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oMGgOozpXM 

ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY

www.mikesbiblenotes.blogspot.com

ORTHODOXY AND THE BIBLE

INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS
When one visits an Orthodox Church they will be struck(if they are acquainted with the Bible) by how much the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, are quoted, sung, read, prayed, and referred to. We know that Jesus established the Church, and said "I will build my church, and the gates of hades will not prevail against it".(Mt. 16:18,19) And we know that the Church is founded upon the teachings of the "apostles and prophets"(Eph. 2:20-22), Jesus being the chief cornerstone. And we know that the Church "is the pillar and ground of the truth(1 Tim. 3:15). We know that where the Church is the Holy Spirit is there!!! And we know the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. And we know that the Holy Spirit inspired the Holy Scriptures(2 Tim. 3:16,17). It's true that the Scriptures flowed out of the Church. But it's also true that the Church flowed out of the Holy Scriptures. As the Word was preached, people were converted, baptized, and the church grew(Acts 6:7). It's also true that the Church was given the Scriptures as "bread from heaven", the scriptures are food for the soul, they are instruction in righteousness.


ARTICLES ON HOLY SCRIPTURE
> How To Read The Bible by Met. Kallistos Ware
www.oca.org/reflections/misc-authors/how-to-read-the-bible
> Which Came First? The Church Or The New Testament?
www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/whichcamefirst.aspx

AWESOME PODCASTS ON HOLY SCRIPTURE
> Search The Scriptures
Bible Commentaies by Dr Jeannie Constantinou
www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/searchthescriptures

BOOKS TO READ
> "Whose Bible Is It?" by Jaroslav Pelikan

FASTING IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

"This effort to purify the passions needs to be carried out on the level of both soul and body. On the level of the soul they are purified through prayer, through the regular use of the sacraments of Confession and Communion, through daily reading of Scripture, through feeding our mind with the thought of what is good, through practical acts of loving service to others. On the level of the body they are purified above all through fasting and abstinence, and through frequent prostrations during time of prayer. Knowing that man is not an angel but a unity of body and soul, the Orthodox Church insists upon the spiritual value of bodily fasting. We do not fast because there is anything in itself unclean about the act of eating and drinking. Food and drink are, on the contrary, God's gift, from which we are to partake with enjoyment and gratitude. We fast, not because we despise the divine gift, but so as to make ourselves aware that it is indeed a gift -- so as to purify our eating and drinking, and to make them, no longer a concession to greed, but a sacrament and means of communion with the Giver. Understood in this way, ascetic fasting is directed not against the body but against the flesh (p. 61). Its aim is not destructively to weaken the body, but creatively to render the body more spiritual." Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way, p. 116.

The Fasting Rule Of The Orthodox Church
www.abbamoses.com/fasting.html

Food, Faith, And Fasting - A Podcast By Rita Madden
"Ancient Ingredients For Modern-Day Health"
www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/foodfaithfasting

REDEEMING TIME - THE CHURCH CALENDAR

Book To Read > "The Year Of Grace Of The Lord" by a Monk of the Eastern Church. St Vladimir's Seminary Press

Web Calendar > www.goarch.org/en/chapel/calendar.asp

WHO IS THE THEOTOKOS?

Theotokos means "The Birthgiver of God". Mary, the Virgin(Isaiah 7:14), gave birth to the God-Man Jesus Christ of Nazareth(Isaiah 9:6, Micah 5:2). The Incarnation of the Only-Begotten Son of God is the "Great Mystery" of the Faith(1 Tim. 3:16).


Podcast By Fr Thomas Hopko:
www.ancientfaith.com/specials/hopko_lectures/who_is_the_theotokos_part_1-1

Book To Read:
"The Orthodox Veneration of MARY The Birthgiver of God"
by St. John Maximovitch www.sthermanpress.com