The Orthodox Church

Publication Data: New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1997
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: viii + 359
Dimensions (l × w × h): 19.7 cm × 12.9 cm × 1.6 cm
Additional Information: black-and-white illustrations
ISBN-13: 978-0-140-14656-1

   
Second Edition

Timothy Ware (Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia)

“Orthodoxy claims to be universal—not something exotic and oriental, but simple Christianity. Because of human failings and the accidents of history, the Orthodox Church has been largely restricted in the past to certain geographical areas. Yet to the Orthodox themselves their Church is something more than a group of local bodies. The word ‘Orthodoxy’ has the double meaning of ‘right belief’ and ‘right glory’ (or ‘right worship’). The Orthodox, therefore, make what may seem at first a surprising claim: they regard their Church as the Church which guards and teaches the true belief about God and which glorifies Him with right worship, that is, as nothing less than the Church of Christ on earth. How this claim is understood, and what the Orthodox think of other Christians who do not belong to their Church, it is part of the aim of this book to explain.”
—“Introduction”

CONTENTS

      Map
      Introduction
PART ONE: HISTORY
   1. The Beginnings
   2. Byzantium, I: The Church of the Seven Councils
   3. Byzantium, II: The Great Schism
   4. The Conversion of the Slavs
   5. The Church under Islam
   6. Moscow and St Petersburg
   7. The Twentieth Century, I: Greeks and Arabs
   8. The Twentieth Century, II: Orthodoxy and the Militant Atheists
   9. The Twentieth Century, III: Diaspora and Mission
PART TWO: FAITH AND WORSHIP
   10. Holy Tradition: The Source of the Orthodox Faith
   11. God and Humankind
   12. The Church of God
   13. Orthodox Worship, I: The Earthly Heaven
   14. Orthodox Worship, II: The Sacraments
   15. Orthodox Worship, III: Feasts, Fasts, and Private Prayer
   16. The Orthodox Church and the Reunion of Christians
      Further Reading
      Index