2/5/2010: Isaiah 53 of course is a prophecy of the Messiah. Isaiah 53:5-6 tells us for whom the Messiah died:
Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities…All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 11:32 For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust…
Concerning believers the Bible says:
1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
How does the Orthodox Church interpret these verses? Wouldn’t these verses indicate that all people, at one point or another, have committed at least some sins? Wouldn’t that include Mary? Doesn't the teaching of the sinlessness of Mary contradict Scripture? Thank you for your consideration.
David Wolfe
[See details]
2/5/2010: I am seeing more and more people praying in church with their hands extended. I was alway taught that this act was for the Priest (two hands) and Decon's (one hand). [See details]
2/5/2010: Hello,
Firstly, sorry for sending a second question so soon. You get a lot of them and I shouldn't be taking up so much time.
However, how would reunification of, say, the Catholic or Oriental Orthodox Churches with the Eastern Orthodox Church work? Specifically, if there is a Catholic Bishop, an Oriental Bishop, and an Eastern Bishop over the same territory, what would happen? The question could also be extended to the American scene, by asking what will happen to the many Bishops of various Orthodox jurisdictions (OCA, GOA, etc.) who share the same territory?
On a similar note, I believe that the OCA has Bishops without defined territory or at least overlapping territory with others (such as the Albanian diocese). If I am in fact right, what is the historical and canonical justification of this? [See details]
2/5/2010: Hello,
I have recently made a firm decision that I will in fact convert to the Orthodox Church. However, the nearest one is about 2 hours away from where I live and I have no way to get there (I will be 16 at the end of the month) because of that, and I obviously cannot, by myself, move closer to one. I am worried about the possibility of dying before I can convert to the Church. Is there anything I can do until I am able to regularly get to an Orthodox Church? (By the way, even when I have my license, I will not be able to drive there by myself due to the road being very dangerous - we live in a small town situated on a mountain, and consequently the road to the nearest Orthodox Church is very windy and narrow.) [See details]
2/3/2010: Thank you for answering my question about the sinlessness of Mary. In your answer you mentioned "St. John Maximovitch could point to the fact that a very important prayer in the Divine Liturgy calls Jesus Christ 'the only sinless one'." Could you please tell me which prayer is that or where could I find such prayer? Thank you. [See details]
2/2/2010: Could you please elaborate (or direct me to a good source) on the concept of ordination and sacramental authority? Is there biblical support for this? I know the Apostles were given Christ's authority to baptize and forgive sins, etc., but what I'm mainly interested in, is the scriptural foundation and/or patristic logic/explanation behind this transferal, if that makes any sense. For example, how would we explain and confirm this to a Protestant who does not believe their "sacraments" (or versions of them anyway) need ordinational validity? If they ask, "Why would my pastor need to be ordained by someone with apostolic succession for our sacraments to be valid"? [See details]
About the Orthodox Church . info and Orthodox Answers . org
This website offers reliable, scholarly and authoritative information on the Orthodox Christian faith and what is often called 'the Eastern Orthodox Church' or 'Greek Orthodox Church,' Russian Orthodox Church,' 'Serbian Orthodox Church,' etc.
This website is written from the perspective of canonical Orthodoxy, i.e. from within the communion of the ancient patriarchates and other autocephalous units of the Orthodox communion.
In particular, our goal is to be the Orthodox Christian counterpart to Catholic.com (Catholic Answers), providing a balance of apologetics and sound scholarship.
