In a Nutshell...

[Llauralin]

How would you desscribe Orthodoxy to those who've never heard of it?

The thing is, since I'm hoping to join the Orthodox Church at some point in time, and say so, I keep getting asked "so what's that?" Sometimes I'm tempted to say "the early Church," but since it's still around, that might be misleading. I can try to define some of the differences as best I can, but they're all over the place, and sometimes hard to define, especially since the ones that come up first are usually secondary concerns, like "what do you think about Mary?" (a favorite), or other things that are important, but not necessarily the real point. From there I get confused by the very range of differences major and minor, and end up feeling as though the person I was talking to have a very poor understanding of what Orthodoxy is.

So my question: how do you guys respond to the query: "Orthodox? What's that?"

 

[gzt]

I think the best way is sometimes to give a walkthrough of history, the amount of detail you give depends on how much you think they'll care. The key point is the emergent unity of the orthodox in combatting heresy in the early church and how we're the continuation of that. The Catholics and the Orthodox parted ways around the year 1000. The Orthodox never experienced the Scholastic movement or the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, so many of the familiar western debates never occurred in the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox faith is firmly grounded in the Ecumenical Councils, which defined and defended the doctrine that Christ is fully man and fully God and that the Trinity is one God in three persons.

 

[moses916]

its the Church that has existed for 2000 years and has never changed, it did not allow heretic groups to destroy the faith, rather the Church preserved its faith, it has set up ecumenical councils and local councils to agree upon certain issues, however it hasn't introduced any new material. if examined, the Church can be traced back to the founder Jesus Christ through the bishops and archbishops of each see. apostolic succession has never ceased in the Church.

 

[Marjorie]

Well first I have to clarify that I mean Eastern Orthodox/Russian Orthodox/Greek Orthodox...

Then I say that I believe it actually is THE Church, not just A Church...

Then I will say something about how it, the continuation of the original Church, is not an institution or an organization primarily but the mystical body of Christ... the holy mystery of the incarnation and death and resurrection of the God-Man made present and tangible for mankind... the foretaste of the world to come.

Then I'd get into specifics.

In IC XC,
Marjorie