Orthodox Christians worship one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - the Holy Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct Persons who share one divine essence. Each has always existed; there was never a time when the Son or the Holy Spirit was not (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). God is not contained within time, yet He has made Himself known within human history. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the One who spoke to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3:2–14). He isn’t a distant “higher power.” He knows us personally and invites us to know Him. And yet, at the same time, we can’t fit God into a comprehensive definition. Orthodox Christians are comfortable with mystery: we trust what God has revealed about Himself while recognizing that He is greater than we can fully understand. We know Him most clearly through Jesus Christ, who has made the Father known to us (John 1:18).

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, worshiped and glorified together with the Father and the Son. In the Nicene Creed, we refer to Him as “the Lord, the Giver of Life.” He is God, who dwells in us, draws us toward Christ, and helps us grow in holiness. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and empowered them to share the Gospel (Acts 2). That same Spirit continues to guide and sustain the Church today. In prayer you will often hear Orthodox Christians address The Holy Spirit as the “Heavenly King, The Comforter, The Spirit of Truth” and ask Him to “come and abide in us.” The Holy Spirit is active in the life of the Church. During the Divine Liturgy, the priest asks the Father to send His Holy Spirit upon us and upon the bread and wine, making them the Body and Blood of Christ. At baptism, we ask Him to sanctify the water, through which we are united to Christ in His death and resurrection. In chrismation, the newly baptized person is anointed with holy oil and receives “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” His work also continues in our everyday lives. The Holy Spirit helps us pray, strengthens us to resist sin, and teaches us to how love like Christ. His presence bears fruit in “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). As we respond to His grace, He changes us—helping us forgive, serve our neighbors, and become more like Christ.

In the Orthodox Church, salvation is much more than being forgiven or knowing where we will go when we die. It is not a one-time event, but a life with Christ that begins at baptism and continues into eternity. We call this process theosis: growing more and more like God by sharing in His life, the life He created us for. Scripture calls us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). This does not mean we become God or lose who we are. Think of a sword held in a fire: it begins to glow with the fire’s light and heat, but it remains a sword. In the same way, God’s grace changes us while we remain fully ourselves. Salvation is God’s gift; we cannot earn it. He invites us to respond freely by turning away from sin, praying, and sharing in the sacramental life of the Church through baptism, Holy Communion, and the other sacraments. As we repent and turn towards Him, we grow in communion with Him. At the Transfiguration, Christ’s glory shone before His disciples (Matthew 17:1–6). The hope of theosis is that, by His grace, we may participate in His divine life and our lives too can reflect His light.

In the Orthodox Church, Holy Tradition is the faith Jesus gave to His Apostles and that the Church has handed down from one generation to the next. The Apostles shared that faith through teaching in person and in writing (2 Thessalonians 2:15). As an Orthodox theologian described it, Tradition is “the visible life of the Holy Spirit in the Church.” The Bible is at the very heart of Holy Tradition and the Orthodox life. It is the written witness to God’s revelation, received and read within the context of the Tradition passed down to us. The process of writing and canonization of the New Testament as we know it today was a long process that lasted until the middle of the 4th century. When we read the Bible within the life and worship of the Church, we encounter the same faith and gospel message that the ancient Christians encountered. Holy Tradition is very different from everyday traditions, or cultural customs. A parish may celebrate a feast in a particular way, and fasting practices or calendars may vary. Those customs can change from place to place or over time. Holy Tradition is the enduring faith we have received in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

In Scripture, saints can mean all those who belong to Christ and have been set apart for God. We also use the word for people whose lives were a testimony to Christ’s love and holiness in a way the Church can clearly recognize. Orthodox Christians honor these saints because we honor what God’s grace has done in them. When the Church formally recognizes a saint, we call it glorification or canonization. The Church celebrates that person’s feast day, remembers them in hymns, and depicts them in icons. We don’t worship them; we worship God alone. Their lives give us examples to follow, much as St. Paul encouraged Christians to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Learning about the lives of the saints can be wonderfully uncomfortable. Their lives call us to take our own life with Christ seriously: to repent, to pray, to forgive, and to love more faithfully. They remind us that holiness is possible for ordinary people who keep turning toward God. The saints also help us lift our eyes beyond the trouble right in front of us. We belong to a Kingdom that reaches beyond this life, and our struggles have a place within that larger story. When we are tempted to stay in a pity party, their examples can gently call us back to courage and gratitude. Many saints knew grief, illness, rejection, and fear. Their stories remind us that suffering does not mean we have been forgotten. We are never alone in it. As scripture says, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have walked difficult roads before us and now pray alongside us as we follow Christ (Hebrews 12:1).

Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity. He is the “I AM” who spoke to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2–14) and the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He has always been God, and yet He entered our world as a little child. Born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus was truly human. He grew up, taught, healed, and lived among us. He suffered and died on the cross, rose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. Through it all, He remained truly God. The Church calls Him the God-man: fully God and fully human, without sin. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament scriptures. Everything He did—from His baptism and teaching to His death and resurrection—was for our salvation and the life of the world. Through Him, we are invited into communion with God and, by His grace, to partake in His divine life (2 Peter 1:4).

Out of His great love, God created us for life with Him. We are made in His image and called to grow into His likeness (Genesis 1:26). That means every person is of infinite value. He created us with both a body and soul, and both matter to God. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin, with the free will to choose growing closer to God. When they turned away from Him, sin and death entered human life. The image of God in us was not erased, but sin has made it harder for us to live as we were created to live, in full communion with our Creator. We all experience sin’s effects—sickness, suffering, and death—and we each struggle with our own sin. In the Orthodox Church, we don’t understand original sin as personal guilt passed down from Adam. We inherit a world marked by sin and death, and we all need healing from our own sin. Salvation is Christ’s gift of that healing: a lifelong journey of returning to communion with God and growing more like Him.

The Church is the Body of Christ: a community united to Jesus Christ and to one another. Christ Himself is its head (Colossians 1:18). In the Nicene Creed, we call the Church “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.” One means we share one faith in Christ. Holy means the Church belongs to God. Catholic means whole, with the fullness of the faith revealed. Apostolic means the Church is rooted in the unbroken succession of the Apostles and continues their work of sharing the Gospel to this day. Scripture also calls the Church the Bride of Christ. He loves her and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25). So, the Church is more than a just place we visit on Sunday. It is where we worship together in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24), receive the sacraments, work out our faith with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), turn towards repentance, and help one another grow in Christ. Orthodox Christians believe the fullness of the Christian faith has been preserved in the Orthodox Church through Holy Tradition, with the Holy Scripture at its heart. We also recognize truth and goodness beyond our visible community. Who belongs to Christ in the end, and how each person will be individually judged, is known only to God. We entrust everyone to His mercy and believe He desires all to come to the knowledge of the Truth (1 Timothy 2:4). There is always room in the Church for questions, for growth, and for all people in all stages of this journey in Christ. You are welcome to come and see.

In the Orthodox Church, God meets us through the ordinary things of life: water, oil, bread and wine, a prayer, a blessing. We call the sacraments the Holy Mysteries because God is truly at work in them, even when we cannot exhaustively explain how. Through them, He draws us into communion with Himself. Baptism and chrismation welcome a person into the Church. In baptism, we are united to Christ in His death and resurrection; in chrismation, we are anointed with the gift of the seal of the Holy Spirit. The Eucharist, or Holy Communion, then nourishes us throughout our lives. At the center of our weekly worship, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. The Church celebrates confession, for repentance and reconciliation; holy unction, for the healing of the sick; marriage; and ordination, for those called to serve in the clergy. These are often spoken of as seven mysteries, though the life of the Church is too rich to be contained in a numbered list. The mysteries belong to the shared life of the Orthodox Church, and each calls for preparation. If you are visiting, you are warmly welcome to pray with us and experience the Divine Liturgy. Holy Communion is received by Orthodox Christians who have prepared themselves by fasting and regular confession. If you are interested in becoming Orthodox, our priest would be glad to talk with you about what that path looks like for you personally.

Clergy are called to serve the Church: to lead worship, care for people, teach the faith, and administer the Holy Mysteries. Through ordination, they receive God’s grace for this work. Clergy share the same need for repentance and healing as everyone else. Every member of the Church has a part in its life, and leadership brings with it a particular responsibility. Those entrusted with caring for God’s people are accountable to Him for that care. The Church’s three main orders of clergy are deacons, priests, and bishops. Deacons assist in worship and service; priests shepherd parish communities and celebrate the sacraments; and bishops oversee the Church in their dioceses, preserving its faith and unity. Readers, chanters, and subdeacons also serve important roles in worship, but are not considered members of the clergy. Following the practice received from the Apostles, the Orthodox Church ordains men as deacons, priests, and bishops. Women serve throughout the life of the Church in teaching, ministry, scholarship, music, monastic life, and countless other works of care. All of these gifts are necessary and enable the Church to grow and flourish. Becoming a priest begins with a calling that is prayerfully discerned with the Church. A man speaks with his parish priest and comes under the guidance of his bishop, who considers his faith, character, family life, and readiness to serve. Candidates attend seminary, where they study Scripture, theology, Church history, and worship while receiving practical training in pastoral care. Prayer, parish service, and spiritual formation are essential parts of that preparation. Seminary graduation does not automatically lead to ordination. The bishop determines whether and when a candidate is ready. A future priest is first ordained as a deacon and later a priest through prayer and the laying on of the bishop’s hands. Married men may become priests, provided they marry before ordination; unmarried men who are ordained remain celibate. Bishops are chosen from celibate clergy, usually monks. Orthodox bishops share the same sacramental ministry and work together in councils. Some hold broader responsibilities or titles such as archbishop, metropolitan, or patriarch. The Orthodox Church has no single bishop with authority over the whole Church equivalent to the Roman Catholic pope. Christ is the head of the Church, and every clerical ministry exists to serve His people.