Readings
Thirty articles on what the Orthodox Church believes and why — written for anyone curious, and especially for Christians from other traditions who want a clear account rather than an argument.
These pages set out the Orthodox position on its own terms. They are not written against anyone. Where Orthodox Christians differ from other Christians, the difference is stated plainly and the reasoning given, so that a reader can weigh it. Many of them draw on the writings of Fr. Seraphim Rose (1934–1982), who came to Orthodoxy from a Protestant background and who insisted that harshness towards other Christians is, in his own published words, “spiritually wrong” even when it is technically correct.
Where this begins
Who Fr. Seraphim Rose was, the spirit in which these pages are written, and why the question of truth is worth asking at all.
Who Was Fr. Seraphim Rose?A Californian who lost the religion he was raised in, studied Chinese philosophy, walked into a Russian church out of curiosity, and died a hieromonk in the forest.9 min readFr. Seraphim Rose Against Religious HarshnessHe held the Orthodox Church's exclusive claim without softening it, and spent his last years arguing that Christians who state it cruelly are spiritually in the wrong.10 min readNihilism and the Question of TruthHis hardest book is not about villains. It is about how a civilisation stops believing that anything is true, written by a man who had stopped believing it himself.10 min read
Scripture, Tradition and authority
Where the Christian faith is kept, who recognised the Bible, and how the Church reads it.
Scripture Alone, or Scripture in the Church?Two accounts of where the Christian faith is kept and handed on, set beside each other and explained on their own terms rather than in caricature.9 min readWho Decided Which Books Are in the Bible?The canon was not settled by a single vote; it emerged from what the churches actually read aloud, and the real history is more interesting than the usual summaries.9 min readReading Scripture with the Church FathersWhy Orthodoxy reads the Bible inside a community stretched across twenty centuries, and what the Fathers were actually doing when they read.9 min readWhat Are the Seven Ecumenical Councils?From Nicaea in 325 to Nicaea in 787, seven councils settled questions the Church could not leave open — and one test decides which councils count.9 min readApostolic Succession, and Why It MattersThe unbroken laying-on of hands is not a chain of magic and not a guarantee of holiness. Here is what Orthodoxy believes it does carry.9 min readDoes Christian Doctrine Develop, or Is It Preserved?Orthodoxy says the faith is guarded rather than improved. But the Church did coin new words, and the tradition's own classic text allows for growth.9 min read
The sacramental life
Baptism, the Eucharist, confession, icons and fasting — what Orthodox Christians believe is happening.
What Happens in an Orthodox BaptismThree immersions, a renunciation, a turning to the East, and a claim that something real is done to the person standing in the water.9 min readThe Eucharist: Real Presence Without ExplanationThe Orthodox Church says the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Christ, and then declines to say by what mechanism.9 min readWhy Confess Your Sins to a Priest?Orthodox confession is closer to a visit to a physician than to a court appearance, and the priest standing beside you is a witness rather than a judge.9 min readChrismation: The Seal of the Gift of the Holy SpiritThe anointing that follows baptism without a pause, the fragrant oil a patriarch consecrates, and the door through which most converts enter the Orthodox Church.9 min readWhy Orthodox Churches Are Full of IconsThe commandment against graven images is a serious objection, and it deserves a serious answer rather than a shrug.9 min readWhy Orthodox Christians Still FastFour seasons, two days a week, and one thing that must be said plainly at the start: nobody is buying anything from God.9 min read
The Mother of God and the saints
Honour and worship, asking for prayer, relics, and one Church on both sides of death.
Why Orthodox Christians Honour the Mother of GodThe title Theotokos was defined to protect the truth about Christ; the honour Orthodox Christians give his mother follows from that, and stops short of worship.9 min readAsking the Saints to Pray for UsThe one-mediator objection is the strongest case against this practice, and it deserves a real answer rather than a shrug.9 min readWhy Orthodox Christians Venerate RelicsEvery Orthodox altar has a martyr's bone in it. Here is the reasoning behind a practice most Protestant visitors find genuinely strange.9 min readThe Communion of Saints, ExplainedIf the Church is one body and death does not dismember it, then a great deal follows for how Christians worship and how they mourn.9 min read
The soul after death
What Orthodoxy says, and declines to say, about what waits beyond death.
What Happens to the Soul After Death in OrthodoxyThe Orthodox Church says a good deal about the soul's first days, and says it with a reserve that is part of the teaching rather than an apology for it.9 min readThe Aerial Toll-Houses, ExplainedAn old and widely attested Orthodox teaching, frequently misread in both directions, and the subject of a real disagreement among Orthodox writers.10 min readNear-Death Experiences: An Orthodox ReadingOrthodoxy does not dismiss these experiences, and does not treat them as maps of the world to come; it asks a different question about them.9 min readWhy Orthodox Christians Pray for the DeadA guide to the panikhida, the forty days, Radonitsa and the parental Saturdays, where the practice comes from, and why many Christians do not share it.8 min readThe Two Judgments in Orthodox TeachingWhat Orthodoxy holds is settled when a person dies, what waits for the general resurrection, and why the interval is neither a second chance nor a purgatory.9 min readHeaven and Hell as Relationship, Not PlaceThe Fathers speak of one divine love, received as light by those who have come to want it, and endured as fire by those who have not.9 min read
Faith in the modern world
Spiritual experience and its testing, the meaning of ecumenism, and the seeker's road east.
Fr. Seraphim Rose on the New Religious ConsciousnessA hieromonk in the Californian forest gave a name to something he watched happening around him, and the name has outlasted the decade.9 min readSpiritual Deception: What the Fathers Call PrelestOrthodox Christians are taught to distrust their own spiritual experiences before they distrust anyone else's, and there is an old word for the reason.9 min readWhat the Word Ecumenism Has Actually MeantOne word has carried at least three different projects, and most arguments about it are arguments between people using different senses of it.10 min readEastern Religions and the Western SeekerBefore he was a monk in the Californian forest, Eugene Rose read the Chinese sages in their own language — and that is why his later verdict carries weight.9 min readDiscernment of Spirits: Testing Religious ExperienceThe Fathers assumed that sincere people are regularly mistaken about their own spiritual experiences, and they left behind a way of checking.9 min read
This parish rents its premises and receives no government funding. About S$18,000 is needed each month for the rent and running costs. If these pages have been useful to you, please consider helping to keep them and the parish going.
Support the parish