by Fr. Jonathan H. Cholcher
Orthodox Christianity is unique among all the other varieties of Christian belief, practice, and expression. Orthodoxy is the original way of Faith and Life given by our Lord Jesus Christ to His one Body, the Church (see Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:4-6; Jude 3).
Our Lord warns: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with arousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectantly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk. 21:33-36).
The Apostle says likewise: “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:17-20).
How does Orthodox Christianity differ from the prevailing other versions of Christianity in our world and society? In other words, what are the chief unique characteristics of Orthodoxy?
First, Orthodoxy is unique in retaining the clear confession of the one God (divine Essence; Gk., ousia; Ex. 3:14, He Who Is) in three co-equal and co-eternal Persons (Gk., hypostaseis): the Father who is the Source, the Son who is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son (Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19; Jn. 1:14, 18, 32-34; 15:26; 1 Cor. 8:6). God is personal and cannot be conceived apart from His tri-personal nature, each divine Person retaining His unique characteristics.
Second, Orthodoxy is unique in understanding the clear distinction between God’s essence and His energies (i.e., operations, or activities). While each Person of the divine Essence: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, alone retains His own personal properties as a unique Person (e.g., the source, begottenness, and proceeding, respectively), the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit share and manifest together their divine operations and activities. We know these energies of God as grace, life, light, glory, love, the kingdom of God, etc. (1 Cor. 12:6; 2 Pet. 1:2-4, 16-21).
We creatures cannot participate in the essence of the uncreated God – He is God and we aren’t. However, God gives His creatures to participate in His divine energies, His operations and activities, and this is how God makes Himself known to us. Famously, what God is by nature (essence) we are called to become by grace; this is possible because God gives us to participate in His divine energies. Such communion with God is uniquely possible for human beings who are created in the image and likeness of God, because God has created us with the ability to receive and perceive divine (noetic/spiritual) realities (see 1 Cor. 2:13-16).
Third, Orthodoxy is unique in retaining the clear confession of the Person of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. Jesus Christ is the Word (Son of God) made flesh, both fully God and fully man, who unites perfectly in His one Person both the divine and created natures. By assuming our entire human nature, body, soul, and mind, Jesus Christ redeems and restores His creatures to communion with God the Holy Trinity. In Christ, we who were separated from God in our sin and death participate once again in the incorruptible life of God accomplished by His voluntary birth, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension on our behalf.
Fourth, Orthodoxy is unique as the one Church where true communion with God takes place. The Church is the family of God the Father, the Body of Christ who is its Head, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:18-22; 3:14-19), a living reality visible and recognizable in the world yet joining those on earth with the heavenly hosts (Eph. 2:4-6; Heb. 12:22-24). The Church is literally the assembly (Gk., ekklesia) of the faithful – baptized and chrismated/sealed disciples of Christ – gathered in Divine Service (liturgy) precisely for receiving the very Body and Blood of the Lord until He comes in glory (see 1 Cor. 11:17-26; Acts 2:38-45). The Church is manifested wherever this liturgical gathering takes place (the local church) whenever the faithful gather for Holy Communion, and all Church life begins from and leads back to this Communion, otherwise known as the New Covenant affected in Christ who is its great High Priest (Heb. 8; 10:19-25).
Therefore, active participation in the life of the Church is absolutely essential for Christians desiring to be authentically Christian. Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). Communion with God in the Church is manifested in its mystical (sacramental) life: Baptism, Chrismation (anointing with the seal of the Spirit), Holy Communion, Confession, Unction (for healing), Marriage, Ordination (of clergy), instruction and catechesis, fellowship of love, asceticism (e.g., fasting, prayer, and works of mercy), blessings, funeral practices, etc. Participation in these activities of the Church reveals the ultimate purpose and meaning of our lives created and redeemed by God, as they reveal the ultimate purpose of all of creation stewarded by mankind according to God’s design.
Last, Orthodoxy is unique in its mind-set, or comprehensive understanding of how every aspect of life is integrated into the practice of Christian faith and love. Only within the context of the Church, the Body of Christ joined to its Head in communion and worship, can Christianity truly be known and experienced. Only within the context of the Church can the meaning of Holy Scripture be properly discerned, for the Scriptures were written to the faithful already believing and practicing the prophetic and apostolic words. Within the Church the mind of Christ and the Spirit is revealed to know God and to discern how to conduct one’s life in a God-pleasing way (Rom. 8:5-8; Phil. 2:1-11; etc.).
“The church…[is] the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). For in the Church the unknowable and inscrutable God dwells and reveals Himself for our salvation. “’For my counsels are not as your counsels, neither are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord” (Isa. 55:8). Our Lord declares, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:27-28). The Apostle writes, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving…For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead (divine nature) bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:6-7, 9-10).
This Orthodox mind-set can only be developed over time by living the faith in the communion of love with God and all the saints, both living and departed, past, present, and future. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Therefore this Orthodox mind-set requires detachment from one’s own ideas, repentance, humility, obedience to God’s commandments, patience, and peace.
The Orthodox mind-set grows best in the environment of prayer born of faith and quietness (Gk., hesychia; “stillness”). “The eyes of evil men are waiting for evil things all the time, but good men are quiet continually (Gk., hesychazousin)” (Prov. 15:16). “[A]spire to lead a quiet life (Gk., hesychazein), to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you” (1 Thes. 4:11; 2 Thes. 3:12).
Especially in hesychia (quiet prayer) Orthodoxy differentiates itself from the intellectualism and emotionalism of fragmented non-Orthodox Christian systems. In hesychia the Orthodox Christians uniquely apprehend the things of God by purposely stilling the lusts of the flesh and thoughts of the world by focusing solely on the name of Jesus in communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
