Ancient Byzantium
01-04-2005, 09:55
Well, I've seen a few threads pop up about religions that not many know about, and I am pretty confident that very few people know much about Orthodoxy.
Who's the head of the Church?
There really isn't one, aside from the Spiritual head of the church, who has about as much power as Prince Charles :). The true head of the church is supposed to be Christ/God. When decisions are to be reached, a synod/council, etc., is held with a large number of higher ranking Priests coming together to discuss certain topics, and together try to choose the decision that fits best with the Church Doctrine, a.k.a. what God wants.
I've never heard of them... how long have they been around?
As long as organized Christianity has. The Orthodox Churches and the Catholic churches used to be one, but due to a few conflicting issues, namely we didn't believe one man could be the head of the Church (a Pope), we split. Catholocism and Orthodoxy are very similar, but there are huge aesthetic differences, and a few Big-Picture dissimilarities. In fact most Orthodox rituals date back to the beginning of Christianity. Our most important ritual is the Holy Flame, something some may need to experience to believe... more on this here: http://www2.cytanet.com.cy/gogreek/miracle.htm
Oh wait, I've heard of them, they have Easter like at different times, um... why?
Because at one point every religious holiday was changed, why I have no clue, frankly I think it's kind of dumb (Off Topic: I'm pretty sure that the Greek Orthodox Church is the ONLY Orthodox Church that changed the holidays to a different day, which again, I find stupid). The Holy Flame, for those of you that didn't check the link out, happens at midnight between Great Saturday and Easter Sunday (When Saturday turns into Sunday). When the ritual was tried on the date that Easter was changed to, it didn't work. So instead of losing it's most cherised ritual, the Orthodox Church decided to leave Easter on its original day.
What, are there like 8 Orthodox Christians in the World? lololo!!11!1!!!
Actually, there are around 250 million. 98% of Greek citizens are baptised in the Greek-Orthodox Church, the vast majority of Greeks abroad are Orthodox, the majority of Russians are Orthodox, many middle-eastern Christians are Orthodox, a large number of Indians have converted to the Orthodox faith, and others. The Orthodox make up a fairly large chunk of Christianity.
The Churches:
Autocephalous Churches:
The Church of Albania
The Church of Alexandria
The Church of Antioch
The Church of Bulgaria
The Church of Constantinople
The Church of Cyprus
The Church of the Czech and Slovak Republics
The Church of Georgia
The Church of Greece
The Church of Jerusalem
The Orthodox Church in America
The Church of Poland
The Church of Romania
The Church of Russia
The Church of Serbia
Autonomous Churches
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
The Church of Finland
The Church of Japan
The Church of Sinai
The Church of Ukraine
Semi-Autonomous Churches
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
More Information
The website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is loaded with lots of information about the church and its history.
Link: http://www.goarch.org
If you guys have any questions about Orthodoxy, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them as best I can, thanks :).
Please note that this thread isn't meant for any flaming, or direct debate on the existence of God etc. I only made it so people can find out more about my faith, or at least find out that it exists. ;)
=George=
Who's the head of the Church?
There really isn't one, aside from the Spiritual head of the church, who has about as much power as Prince Charles :). The true head of the church is supposed to be Christ/God. When decisions are to be reached, a synod/council, etc., is held with a large number of higher ranking Priests coming together to discuss certain topics, and together try to choose the decision that fits best with the Church Doctrine, a.k.a. what God wants.
I've never heard of them... how long have they been around?
As long as organized Christianity has. The Orthodox Churches and the Catholic churches used to be one, but due to a few conflicting issues, namely we didn't believe one man could be the head of the Church (a Pope), we split. Catholocism and Orthodoxy are very similar, but there are huge aesthetic differences, and a few Big-Picture dissimilarities. In fact most Orthodox rituals date back to the beginning of Christianity. Our most important ritual is the Holy Flame, something some may need to experience to believe... more on this here: http://www2.cytanet.com.cy/gogreek/miracle.htm
Oh wait, I've heard of them, they have Easter like at different times, um... why?
Because at one point every religious holiday was changed, why I have no clue, frankly I think it's kind of dumb (Off Topic: I'm pretty sure that the Greek Orthodox Church is the ONLY Orthodox Church that changed the holidays to a different day, which again, I find stupid). The Holy Flame, for those of you that didn't check the link out, happens at midnight between Great Saturday and Easter Sunday (When Saturday turns into Sunday). When the ritual was tried on the date that Easter was changed to, it didn't work. So instead of losing it's most cherised ritual, the Orthodox Church decided to leave Easter on its original day.
What, are there like 8 Orthodox Christians in the World? lololo!!11!1!!!
Actually, there are around 250 million. 98% of Greek citizens are baptised in the Greek-Orthodox Church, the vast majority of Greeks abroad are Orthodox, the majority of Russians are Orthodox, many middle-eastern Christians are Orthodox, a large number of Indians have converted to the Orthodox faith, and others. The Orthodox make up a fairly large chunk of Christianity.
The Churches:
Autocephalous Churches:
The Church of Albania
The Church of Alexandria
The Church of Antioch
The Church of Bulgaria
The Church of Constantinople
The Church of Cyprus
The Church of the Czech and Slovak Republics
The Church of Georgia
The Church of Greece
The Church of Jerusalem
The Orthodox Church in America
The Church of Poland
The Church of Romania
The Church of Russia
The Church of Serbia
Autonomous Churches
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
The Church of Finland
The Church of Japan
The Church of Sinai
The Church of Ukraine
Semi-Autonomous Churches
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
More Information
The website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is loaded with lots of information about the church and its history.
Link: http://www.goarch.org
If you guys have any questions about Orthodoxy, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them as best I can, thanks :).
Please note that this thread isn't meant for any flaming, or direct debate on the existence of God etc. I only made it so people can find out more about my faith, or at least find out that it exists. ;)
=George=