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Orthodox Doctrine

The fundamental distinction between the dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church and that of other confessions consists in the particular view it takes of dogma. Orthodoxy does not allow of the possibility of dogmatic development. The complete fullness of dogmatic doctrine was once for all taught by Christ and the Apostles, and is an object of faith. Modification and development can affect only the formularization of the dogmas. Such formnlarization is the more authoritative according as it expresses better the faith of the whole Church at all times.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches found their doctrine on the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Traditions, and and hold that the Holy Scriptures should be interpreted strictly in accordance with the teachings of the seven Ecumenical Councils and the Holy Fathers. Recognizing Christ as the only head of the earthly as well as of the heavenly church, they do not accept the dogma of the Pope as visible head of His earthly church. According to their teaching, infallibility belongs alone to the whole assembly of true believers, to the "Ecclesia" or the Church, represented by their council legally called together.

The highest authority in the Orthodox Church is the Seven Ecumenical Councils, because they had representatives of the Church from all parts (ubique), and because they did not establish any new dogmas, but only formularized that which always (semper) had been confessed by the Church ('followingafter the Divine Fathers'). Guided by this principle, the Orthodox Church regards as inventions of men's minds the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church as to the perpetual procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son as well (Filioque) (instead of the momentary sending of the Holy Ghost by the Son), the Immaculate Conception of the Theotokos, the Infallibility of the Pope and his power over the whole Church, and the doctrine of purgatory.

The Orthodox Church is distinguished from Protestantism by its recognition of Holy Tradition as a source of teaching as to faith ; by its doctrine of Seven Sacraments, not as signs of grace, but as being the grace itself; and in particular by its doctrine of the Transubstantiation of the bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Eucharist into the very body and very blood of Christ; and by its doctrine of salvation not by faith alone, but also by good works. It also rejects the Reformers' doctrine of the working of salvation by grace alone, and of unconditional predestination, and it teaches that grace works together with man's freedom (synergismos), and that predestination has its foundation in the Divine foreknowledge.

While admitting the common priesthood of believers, the Orthodox Church admits at the same time a special priesthood in a hierarchy of three orders (Bishop, Priest, and Deacon), and that this receives its full powers not from other members of the Church, but from her Founder Himself, and hands it on in succession by episcopal laying on of hands. Reckoning the Church on earth as only a part of the whole Church, Orthodoxy teaches the indispensability of lively communion between the Church on earth and the other part of the Church-the Church in heaven. This is expressed in prayer to the saints. Finally, Orthodoxy teaches of reverence (irpoaAWTjffis) paid to relics and icons; but this reverence is, by the decision of the 7th Ecumenical Council, ' not to the wood and the paints, but to the persons represented in them.'

As with its Apostolic succession, the faith held by the Church is that which was handed by Christ to the apostles. Nothing is added to or subtracted from that deposit of faith which was "handed once for all to the saints" (Jude 3). Throughout history, various heresies have afflicted the Church, and at those times the Church makes dogmatic pronouncements (especially at ecumenical councils) delineating in new language what has always been believed by the Church, thus preventing the spread of heresy and calling to repentance those who rend asunder the Body of Christ. Its primary statement of faith is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches found their doctrine on the Niceo-Constantinopolitan Creed in its original wording, without the "Filioque". They believe in the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father alone; the only practical difference between the Eastern version and the West is that the Holy Ghost is said to proceed from the Father alone. The addition of the words "and the Son" was one of the main causes of the great schism. The objection of the Greeks was due not so much to any difference of doctrine implied thereby, as to its arbitrary insertion by the Roman Church without the consent of the Eastern bishops. And so the Eastern Creed is the Nicaeo-Constantinopolitan, which, in the form at present used by them, was agreed to be the authoritative and final pronouncement of the Church at Chalcedon in 451, and at subsequent Councils.

In the idea of the Filioque the Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son, that means that the vicar of the Son can dispose of the Spirit, so that the Spirit acts through Him ex opere operato. It follows necessarily that he who performs the sacraments of the Church, 'the minister of the sacrament', must automatically be 'infallible', for it is the infallible Spirit of God Who works through him and is inseparable from him.

No Church historian believes that great schisms are wholly due to the insignificant and unmeaning dogmatic problems and differences to which ecclesiastical writers attribute them. Who, for example, will believe that it was the question whether the Spirit proceeded from both Father and Son or from Father alone which caused the great schism of East and West? It is obvious to a student of Mommsen or Gibbon that the real cause was a difference of national temperament which divided the Roman Empire into two halves, Greek and Latin. Long before the advent of the new religion, there had arisen a fundamental antagonism between the Greek and Romans in matters political, moral, and intellectual.

They honor Mary as the Mother of God, and honor the Nine Orders of Angels and the Saints; do not accept the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, and reject the doctrine of the surplus merits of saints and the doctrine of indulgences. They respect relics of the saints, pictures of holy subjects, and the cross, but forbid the use of carved images. They accept seven sacraments - baptism, anointing (confirmation or chrismation), communion, penance, holy orders, marriage, and holy unction. Baptism, of infants or adults, is by threefold immersion. The sacrament of anointing is administered ait the same time as that of baptism, with "Chrism" or holy oil.

The doctrine of transubstantiation is accepted. In the Eucharist, leavened bread is used, being soaked in wine and offered, after confession and absolution, to all members of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Children under 7 years of age, however, receive the sacrament without confession. Holy unction is administered to the sick, and not alone to those in danger of death. The church rejects the doctrine of purgatory, but believes in the beneficial effect of prayer for the dead by the living, and for the living by the dead. It rejects the doctrine of predestination, and considers that for justification both faith and works are necessary.