About Orthodoxy

Here is a brief video introduction to Orthodox Christianity from the Be the Bee series. If you enjoy that presentation, the rest of the series is available here.

Fr. Thomas Hopko, of blessed memory, wrote a series of four books introducing various aspects of the Church. Included below are links to the online version of the books on history and dogma.

History

Fr. Thomas's Church History, the third volume of the series

Dogma and doctrine

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed is the basic statement of faith of the Orthodox Church.

For a more detailed presentation of the beliefs and teaching of the Church, see the first volume of Fr. Thomas's series, Doctrine and Scripture

Feasts

The greatest feast of the Orthodox Church, her "feast of feasts, is the Resurrection, commonly referred to as Pascha.

The next set of feasts is known as the "12 great feasts." These feasts are connected with events in the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary and they are:

• The Nativity of the Theotokos ("birth-giver of God"), September 8
• The Elevation (or Exaltation) of the Cross, September 14
• The Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, November 21
• The Nativity of Christ (Christmas), December 25
• The Theophany (or Epiphany) of Christ, January 6
• The Presentation (or Meeting) of Christ, February 2
• The Annunciation, March 25
• The Entry of Christ in Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), Sunday before Pascha
• The Ascension of the Lord, 40 days after Pascha
• Pentecost, 50 days after Pascha
• The Transfiguration, August 6
• The Dormition (falling asleep) of the Theotokos, August 15

In addition to the above feasts, each day of the year several saints are commemorated. Some important saints and their feasts are:

• St. Anthony, January 17
• Ss. Athanasios and Cyril, January 18
• St. Haralambos, February 10
• The forty martyrs of Sebaste, March 9
• St. George, April 23
• Ss. Constantine and Helen, May 21
• Ss. Peter and Paul, June 21
• St. Marina, July 17
• St. Elias/Elijah, July 20
• St. Panteleimon, July 27
• The beheading of St. John the Baptist, August 29
• St. Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope, and Love, September 17
• St. Demetrios, October 26
• The archangel Michael and the other bodiless powers, November 8
• St. Nektarios, November 9
• St. Catherine, November 25
• St. Andrew, November 30
• St. Nicholas, December 6
• St. Stephen, December 27