'Heaven on Earth'

 “We knew not whether we were in heaven or earth… We only know that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations.”

With these words, envoys sent by the pagan Russian Prince Vladimir in the year 987 recorded their impression of worship within Constantinople’s awesome Orthodox cathedral, Hagia Sophia. They had been sent to search for the true religion. Within a year of their report, Prince Vladimir and the Russian people were baptised into Christ by Orthodox missionaries.

Today, as in Prince Vladimir’s time, the Orthodox Church — fully aware that man is a union of body and soul — uses all the beauty of creation to move her faithful children to prayer and worship: ikons (holy paintings), beautiful singing, sweet smelling incense, and majestic services.

Yet if the visible beauty of the Church is dazzling, her unseen beauty and glory are even more compelling, for the Orthodox Church is the Bride of Christ, and within her shelter we can begin to struggle for our salvation.

Origins of the Orthodox Church

Jesus Christ founded His Church through the Apostles. By the grace received from God at Pentecost, the Apostles established the Church throughout the ancient world. St Paul founded the Church of Antioch; St Peter and St James, the Church of Jerusalem; St Andrew, the Church of Byzantium, or Constantinople; St Mark, the Church of Alexandria; St Peter and St Paul, the Church of Rome. These became the five principal Church centres, or Patriarchates, of the early Church.

From the 11th century, the Church of Rome has charted a different course for herself and much of the Christian West, giving rise since the 16th century to the various Protestant denominations. Meanwhile the other four original Patriarchates have continued in unbroken communion, spreading the Apostolic Faith throughout the East — to Greece, Russia, the Balkans, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Today, this communion of local Churches is known as the Eastern Orthodox Church (or by one of many national names, such as “Russian Orthodox” or “Greek Orthodox”). Faithful to the Apostolic Faith, she is the authentic and organic continuation of the early Church; she is the haven for those seeking the Truth which is Christ.

Orthodox Worship

The Greek word Orthodoxia means “correct praise” or “correct teaching,” and in Orthodox worship the praise and teaching are closely interwoven. If you attentively follow the prayers and services of the Church, you can learn from them all her teachings and rich spiritual experience. The services trace their beginnings back to the Old Testament rites of the Hebrews. They are a treasury of Scripture readings, Psalms, prayers, hymns and canons composed by the saints and pious Christians throughout the ages.

The Orthodox Church has always placed great emphasis on worship. Her services are longer in duration than the worship services of western Christians. Her main worship service — the Divine Liturgy — has captured that element of sheer joy in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus that is found in the writings of the early Church. It has been said that one of the main characteristics of Orthodoxy is its power to perceive the celestial beauty of the spiritual world and to express it in worship.

Pascha (or Easter) is the Feast of Feasts, the high point of the Orthodox year. During Pascha, the Church shines with the glory of Christ’s resurrection. Clouds of fragrant incense accompany prayers heavenward; choirs and bells sing out the triumphant news; the faithful greet one another with the holy kiss of peace and the greeting, “Christ is risen!” The altar doors are left open all week to show that the Gates of Paradise are opened by Christ for us sinners to enter in for eternal life and joy in heaven.

Orthodox Tradition

Just as the Grace of the Holy Spirit which descended on the Apostles at Pentecost flows in a living stream down through today’s bishops and priests, so Holy Tradition carries the spiritual life of the Church in an unbroken stream from the time of the Apostles down to Orthodox believers today.

Holy Tradition is the life of the Holy Spirit within the Church. Through Holy Tradition we are in communion with the spiritual life of all preceding generations from the time of the Apostles. Thus the Orthodox Church has the same faith, the same spirit, the same ethos as the Apostolic Church. She has preserved the fullness of the faith of Christ through the centuries without adding to it or subtracting from it. “This is the Apostolic faith, this is the faith of the Fathers, this is the Orthodox faith, this faith has established the universe” (from the Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers).