The Orthodox Church is the Church that Jesus Christ founded, the same Church the Apostles built, the Church that’s been teaching and worshiping and baptizing in unbroken continuity for two thousand years.
That’s a big claim. We know it. But it’s what we believe, and if you’re going to understand Orthodoxy, you need to hear us say it plainly: we’re not a denomination among denominations. We’re the Church that wrote the Nicene Creed, that decided which books belong in the New Testament, that fought the heresies and defined the faith at the Seven Ecumenical Councils. When we say “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” every Sunday, we mean us.
The Same Church, Unbroken
Walk into St. Michael’s in Beaumont and you’re walking into something that connects directly back to Pentecost. Our bishops trace their ordinations in an unbroken line to the Apostles themselves. Bishop BASIL laid hands on the priests who serve here, and his consecration traces back through centuries of bishops, each one ordained by the laying on of hands, all the way to the Twelve. That’s not a metaphor or a spiritual idea. It’s a physical, historical reality.
But apostolic succession isn’t just about who ordained whom. It’s about preserving what the Apostles taught. The Orthodox Church has kept the faith whole. We didn’t add the filioque to the Creed in the Middle Ages. We didn’t subtract sacraments during the Reformation. We’ve been celebrating the same Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom since the fourth century, baptizing by immersion, anointing with chrism, communing infants, venerating icons, asking the prayers of the saints.
Not a Denomination
If you grew up Baptist or Methodist here in Southeast Texas, you’re used to thinking of churches as different flavors of Christianity. First Baptist believes this, Abundant Life believes that, everyone’s got their own take. Orthodoxy doesn’t fit that framework.
We’re not claiming to be the best denomination or the truest interpretation. We’re claiming to be the thing itself. The Church that Christ established didn’t split into denominations until groups broke away from it. First Rome in 1054, then the Protestant Reformers in the 1500s. Those were departures from the Orthodox Church, which kept right on being what it had always been.
That’s not arrogance. It’s just history. You can trace it. Read St. Ignatius of Antioch writing in AD 107 about bishops and the Eucharist and the importance of unity. Read St. Athanasius defending the divinity of Christ in the 300s. Read St. John of Damascus on icons in the 700s. They sound like us because we’re still them.
One Church, Many Languages
You might wonder about all the different Orthodox churches. Greek, Russian, Antiochian, Serbian. Are those denominations?
No. They’re administrative families within the one Orthodox Church. Think of them like regions, not competing franchises. We all believe exactly the same thing. We all celebrate the same sacraments. We’re all in communion with each other. A Greek Orthodox priest can serve Liturgy at St. Michael’s. An Antiochian can commune at a Russian parish. We’re one Church that happens to be organized along ethnic and geographic lines, mostly for practical reasons like language.
The Antiochian Archdiocese traces its roots to Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians. That’s the church St. Peter founded before he went to Rome. St. Paul launched his missionary journeys from there. It’s one of the oldest Christian communities on earth, and it’s your spiritual home now if you’re part of St. Michael’s.
What Makes Us Orthodox
Seven sacraments, which we call Holy Mysteries. Baptism brings you into the Body of Christ. Chrismation seals you with the Holy Spirit. The Eucharist is Christ’s actual Body and Blood, not a symbol. Confession heals. Marriage unites. Ordination continues apostolic ministry. Holy Unction anoints the sick. These aren’t just rituals. They’re how God’s grace reaches us, transforms us, makes us partakers of the divine nature.
We worship liturgically because that’s how Christians have always worshiped. Read the Didache from the first century or Justin Martyr’s description of Sunday worship in AD 150. You’ll recognize what we do every Sunday. The prayers are ancient. The Scripture readings follow a cycle. The incense and the chanting and the icons all serve to make worship what it should be: heaven touching earth.
We read Scripture within Holy Tradition. The Bible didn’t fall from the sky with a table of contents. The Church wrote it, compiled it, preserved it, and interprets it. Sola scriptura isn’t an option for us because the Apostles didn’t teach it. They taught us to hold fast to the traditions, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
For Catholics and Protestants
If you’re Catholic, you’ll recognize a lot. We share apostolic succession, seven sacraments, devotion to Mary and the saints. But we don’t have a pope. Our bishops are equals, united by shared faith rather than submission to Rome. We reject doctrines Rome added after the schism. We kept the original Creed without the filioque. We honor the Theotokos without defining the Immaculate Conception as dogma. We’re what the Church was before 1054.
If you’re Protestant, this will feel foreign at first. We’re not low-church. We don’t do altar calls. Salvation isn’t a one-time decision but a lifelong process of healing and union with God. We call it theosis. You’re not just declared righteous. You’re actually being transformed into the likeness of Christ. That takes a lifetime, the sacraments, the prayers of the Church, fasting, confession, the whole Christian life lived in the Body.
Come to Vespers on a Saturday evening or Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning. Stand in the incense and the candlelight. Hear the ancient prayers. You’ll be standing in the same worship that Christians have offered for two millennia. That’s what the Orthodox Church is: the Church Christ founded, still here, still unchanged, still offering the fullness of the faith to anyone willing to receive it.
