Orthodox Christianity is centered on Jesus Christ. We believe in one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly human. The eternal Son of God became man for our salvation, was crucified, died, and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death and opening the way to eternal life.

We believe that God created humanity to know Him and share in His life. Although sin has wounded our relationship with God, with one another, and even within ourselves, God has not abandoned us. In Jesus Christ, God enters our brokenness to heal, restore, and unite us to Himself.

The Orthodox Church understands itself as the continuation of the Church established by Christ and entrusted to His Apostles. We seek to preserve and live the same apostolic faith through Scripture, worship, the Sacraments, prayer, and the life of the Church.

The Nicene Creed, proclaimed at every Divine Liturgy, provides the Church's most concise summary of this faith.

Salvation is God's gift. We cannot earn it, purchase it, or save ourselves through good behavior. We are saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

Orthodoxy understands salvation as more than being declared forgiven. Christ came to heal and transform us, restoring us to communion with God. Salvation is therefore a lifelong journey in which we freely respond to God's grace and are gradually transformed into the people He created us to be.

The Church often calls this theosis: participation in the life of God. We do not become God by nature, but by grace we are united to Him and increasingly transformed into His likeness.

Faith and works are therefore not competitors. Our prayer, repentance, love for others, fasting, generosity, and obedience do not purchase salvation. They are ways in which a living faith responds to the grace God has already given us.

Ultimately, salvation is life in Christ—beginning now and reaching its fulfillment in His Kingdom.

Orthodox Christians believe the Holy Scriptures are inspired by God and essential to the life of every Christian. Scripture permeates Orthodox worship: we read it, sing it, preach it, and pray it.

We do not, however, understand the Bible as a book that appeared independently of the Church. The New Testament was written by members of the early Christian community, received and preserved within that community, and its books were recognized as Scripture within the life of the Church.

This larger life of the Church is what Orthodox Christians call Holy Tradition. Tradition does not simply mean customs or “things people have always done.” It is the apostolic faith handed down and lived in the Church through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Scripture is at the heart of that Tradition, together with the Church's worship, the teachings of the Ecumenical Councils, the witness of the Fathers, and the lives of the Saints.

For Orthodoxy, the question is therefore not Bible or Tradition. Scripture belongs within the living Tradition of the Church that received it and continues to proclaim it.

Orthodox Christians worship God alone. We do not worship Mary or the Saints.

We honor the Virgin Mary because of her unique place in God's work of salvation. Through her free response to God, Jesus Christ took flesh and entered the world. We call her Theotokos, meaning “Birth-giver of God,” not because she existed before God, but because the child she bore is truly God incarnate.

We honor the Saints because their lives bear witness to what God's grace can accomplish in a human person. They are not substitutes for Christ; their holiness comes entirely from Him and points us toward Him.

Orthodox Christians also ask the Saints to pray for us. Christians regularly ask one another for prayer, and we believe that death does not sever the communion of those who are alive in Christ. Asking a Saint for prayer is not an attempt to bypass Jesus Christ. It is an expression of our belief that the whole Church, in heaven and on earth, is alive in Him.

All Christian worship ultimately belongs to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.

Icons are everywhere in an Orthodox church because Christianity is rooted in the Incarnation.

In the Old Testament, God could not be depicted because He had not been seen. But Christians believe that the invisible God truly became visible in Jesus Christ. The Son of God took a real human body, lived among us, died, and rose from the dead.

An icon of Christ therefore makes a theological claim: God truly became man.

Orthodox Christians do not worship wood and paint. We venerate icons—showing honor through gestures such as kissing them or bowing before them—while worship belongs to God alone. The honor shown to an image is directed toward the person depicted, not toward the physical material itself.

Icons also surround us with the story of salvation. Christ, His Mother, the Saints, and the events of Scripture are placed before our eyes as reminders that the Gospel is not merely an idea. God entered human history, sanctified the material world, and calls real human beings to holiness.

Orthodox Christianity does not separate spiritual life from physical life. God created the material world, and in Jesus Christ the Son of God Himself took flesh. We therefore believe that God uses the physical creation to communicate His grace.

This is at the heart of the Church's sacramental life.

In Baptism, water becomes the means through which we are united to Christ's death and Resurrection. In Chrismation, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the Eucharist, bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Christ and are given to us for communion with Him.

The sacramental life also includes Confession, Marriage, Holy Unction, and Ordination.

These are not merely symbolic ceremonies marking important moments. Through them, Christ acts within His Church and draws us more deeply into His life.

Orthodox Christians share much with other Christians. With Roman Catholics and many Protestants, we confess the Holy Trinity, the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, His death and Resurrection, and the authority of Holy Scripture.

There are also real differences.

Orthodoxy understands itself as the continuation of the ancient apostolic Church rather than as a later denomination or reform movement. Its worship, sacramental life, episcopal ministry, and theology developed within the life of the early Church and remain central to Orthodox Christianity today.

Orthodoxy shares with Roman Catholicism a sacramental understanding of the Church, apostolic succession, the Eucharist, and many teachings inherited from the early centuries. Significant differences developed over time, particularly concerning the authority of the Pope and certain later theological developments in the Western Church.

The Protestant Reformation raised important concerns about developments within Western Christianity. Orthodoxy, however, was not part of the medieval Western Church from which Protestantism emerged. As a result, Orthodox Christianity approaches questions such as Scripture and Tradition, faith and works, salvation, the Church, and the Sacraments from a different historical and theological framework.

The best way to understand Orthodoxy is therefore not simply to place it somewhere between Catholicism and Protestantism. We invite you to encounter the Orthodox Church on its own terms through its worship, teaching, and way of life.

Jesus Christ did not leave behind only a set of teachings. He gathered disciples, chose Apostles, and established a Church that continued His ministry after His Resurrection and Ascension.

Those Apostles preached the Gospel, celebrated the Eucharist, established local churches, and appointed bishops and other ministers to continue their work. The Orthodox Church traces its bishops and sacramental life through this historic apostolic succession.

The same Church also gathered in councils to defend the Christian faith when serious controversies arose. The early Ecumenical Councils articulated teachings Christians across many traditions still confess today, including the doctrine of the Trinity and the full divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ.

Orthodoxy's claim to continuity is therefore not simply that our worship looks old. It is a claim of continuity in faith, worship, sacramental life, and apostolic ministry with the historic Church of the first centuries.

This does not mean that every Orthodox custom has remained unchanged for two thousand years. Cultures, languages, musical traditions, and local practices have developed over time. What the Church seeks to preserve is the apostolic faith at the heart of them.

Orthodox worship can feel very different if you have never experienced it before.

The Divine Liturgy is the central act of worship in the Orthodox Church. We gather as the Church to pray, hear the Holy Scriptures, proclaim the faith, offer thanksgiving to God, and celebrate the Holy Eucharist.

Our worship engages the whole person. We see icons and candles, hear Scripture and chanting, smell incense, make the sign of the Cross, bow, stand, and receive the Sacraments. Even our bodies participate in prayer.

You may also notice that Orthodox worship is not designed primarily around a sermon or a particular personality. The priest, chanters, altar servers, and congregation participate together in a form of worship received and handed down through generations of Christians.

If it feels unfamiliar at first, that's okay. You do not need to understand every word, gesture, or hymn before you can experience it.

Come, listen, observe, pray, and allow yourself time to encounter the Liturgy.

You do not need to decide that you want to become Orthodox before you begin exploring the Church.

Start by coming to worship. Experience the Divine Liturgy. Meet people in the parish. Ask questions. Read and learn. Most importantly, give yourself time.

If you become interested in exploring Orthodoxy more seriously, speak with the priest. Those preparing to enter the Church ordinarily participate in a period of instruction and formation called catechism.

Catechism is not simply a class to pass. It is a period of learning, prayer, participation in parish life, and discernment. There is room for questions, uncertainty, and growth along the way.

When someone is prepared and ready to make the Orthodox faith his or her own, that person is received into the Church through Baptism and Chrismation, or according to the appropriate manner determined by the Church.

There is no need to rush.