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What is the Eastern Orthodox Church and what are the beliefs of Orthodox Christians?



    
    

Clarify Share Report Asked July 01 2013 Mini Anonymous (via GotQuestions)

For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.

Mini Redeemed Soul

I highly admire your love for the Lord and wish you more and more of His infinite grace during your journey (living in the earthly tent). It is written through Paul the faithful apostle in (1. Tim 3:15), the Church is the pillar and ground of the Truth of the entire Christian faith. The errors of Roman Catholicism began "only" in Rome and officially spread throughout mainland Western Europe under the body "Roman Catholicism" in 1054 A.D. That is more than a 1000 years after the glorified ascension of our Lord Jesus. What was Christianity like before 1054? Why do we in the Western world entirely focus on Christianity after the REFORMATION era in 16th century only? As if Roman Catholicism were the Church! God forbid! That's the lie which has been widely propagated by the Roman Catholic church for centuries until today, but it is honestly just as false and wrong as the infallibility of the pope!


What happened with the lands of the bible as in (Acts 11:26)? Where does Christianity have its roots? Did it come from Rome? NO!
Did it originate in Western Europe? NO!
Did Jesus of Nazareth go to any country in the West? Or did any of His faithful apostles personally established any churche in North America. England or Germany? Rather the Lord's ministry was in Jerusalem, then He went to Egypt as recorded in St. Matthew's gospel (2nd chapter) - Saul becomes Paul in the Church in Antioch of Syria were the disciples are FIRST called Christians (Acts 11:26), then later to Corinth, Athens and Thessaloniki Greece. All faithful Christian scholars from various Christian denominations know and admit that the entire new Testament wasn't officially recognized and canonized until the 4th century amongst all the "pseudo - Apostolic books" which are referred to in St. Luke's gospel chapter 1 et al. - This all came to being by ONE Church and of course ONE faith which was represented East and West or else we'd have had, e.g. many versions of the NT which did NOT happen. How then did those predominantly poor, "illiterate", humiliated and most severely persecuted Christians of the first centuries stood firm in faith in Christ along with their permanent suffering, let alone from physically seeing their children and family members either slaughtered or brutally persecuted (talking about dismembering body parts, being thrown in cauldrons of fire and boiling oil - going through unbearable pain in brutal punishments in prisons for days - months and sometimes over many years...)! All this with no bible in their possession.What was the Church like back then? Was Christ not fully man and fully God: How could He be fully God and let His Church faith be destroyed for nearly 1600 years and "suddenly" He calls an "ex-Catholic" priest to fix it with his 5-point salavtion gospel? What about His words in (John 14:16) with the Holy Spirit abiding "forever" in the Church?
Does He not say in St. Matthew's gospel " The gates of hell shall NOT prevail against the Church" and in Isaiah that it is surrounded by walls of fire? In addition to many other old testament prophecies and new testament revelations - it is evident that the Lord is faithful to His word and that heaven and earth shall pass away -" but His words will not pass away."

The one universal, holy and apostolic Church our Lord Christ talked about and established, His faithful apostles carried on and preached in, this one which was mightily manifested in the lives of her faithful and pure-hearted saints to her Lord and Bridegroom, the ONE He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28) - has through His infinite power and grace survived "with unchanged faith" until today, originating the in lands of the Bible (Jerusalem, Egypt and Syria those of which the Lord "specifically" talks about concerning the establishment of His Church/people in Isaiah 19 after their conversion to Christianity in the 1st century following His glorious ascension. "Walk in the old paths of the Lord" (Jeremiah 6:16).Pray.

November 30 2013 Report

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