About
Orthodox Christianity
We are an Orthodox Christian congregation living the ancient, biblical faith of the New Testament Church; a part of the same Church that was founded by Christ, preached by His apostles, and carried on by their successors, through the centuries, to us today.
The faith we live is the faith of the New Testament Church, devoting ourselves “to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42), just as the historic New Testament Church was devoted to these. We believe that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, sent to die for our sins, raise us to eternal life and unite us with His Father in heaven. We believe that knowing about God is not enough – rather, we need a relationship with Him. We believe that sacraments are not just symbolic, but the communication of God’s love to us. In short, we believe that our Church is the present day experience of New Testament Christianity.
There is a lot to Orthodox Christianity – much more than can be adequately dealt with in a single page. However, we have put together some resources that can help.
Online Books
Firstly, there are books which have been placed online (and are free of charge).
- The Orthodox Faith is a series of four books – on Doctrine & Scripture, on Worship, on Church History, and on Spirituality – which give an accurate description of the life of the Orthodox Church as it is believed and practiced today. It was written by Fr Thomas Hopko, Dean of St Vladimir’s Seminary in New York (1992-2002).
- These Things We Hold is a book written by a Monk of St Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania, and which contains a number of articles on Church History, Feasts of the Church, Dogma and Doctrine, Icons, Monasticism, Prayer, Scripture, Symbolism, Worship, the Church Building and its Servers, and Sacraments.
Online Videos
Secondly, we have been able to curate educational videos on Orthodoxy.
- Since 2012, we have been putting on Public Catechism courses. These have been recorded for the benefit of our viewers.
- We have also created playlists of videos in the four streams of our catechism. These are perfect for introductory videos on particular topics.
- See our ‘For our Catechumens 1: Introduction and History’ playlist on YouTube.
- See our ‘For our Catechumens 2: Theology’ playlist on YouTube.
- See our ‘For our Catechumens 3: Sacraments and Services’ playlist on YouTube.
- See our ‘For our Catechumens 4: Orthodox Christian Life and Spirituality’ playlist on YouTube.
- In addition to creating content, we have also created a playlist of videos on Orthodoxy from around the internet. This includes speakers like Frederica Mathewes-Green, Be The Bee’s Steven Christophorou, Fr Barnabas Powell, and also features 'The Ancient Church', a video about 2000 American Evangelicals who converted to Orthodoxy in the late 1980s.
Our Catechism Course
For those who are inquiring into Orthodoxy, we offer our catechism course, 'Entering the Kingdom', which is designed to prepare people to become part of the Orthodox Church.
More information, including details to register, is available on the Catechism Course page.
Resources in other languages
For the pastoral care of our parishioners who are native speakers of other languages, we offer the following:
- Resources on Orthodox Christianity in Spanish - Recursos sobre el cristianismo ortodoxo en español
- Resources on Orthodox Christianity in Portuguese - Recursos sobre Cristianismo Ortodoxo em Português
- Resources on Orthodox Christianity in French - Ressources chretiennes orthodoxes en francais
- Resources on Orthodox Christianity in German - Orthodoxe christliche Ressourcen auf Deutsch
