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Orthodoxy [one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church] is the true faith believed by all the Saints, everywhere, at all times.
We are Orthodox… but not Jewish… We are Evangelical… but not Protestant… We are Catholic… but not Papist… We are Pre-Denominational… but not Divided… We are the Christian Church… but not a Church… We have believed, taught, preserved, defended, and died for the Faith of the Apostles since the Day of Pentecost… Saints… We are the ORTHODOX CATHOLIC CHURCH…
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“The Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, whilst the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and resteth in the Son. But at the same time each Person has Its own particular properties: God the Father is not begotten, not created, does not proceed; the Son is begotten; the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father, whilst the substance of the three Persons is one, a Divine, incomplex substance. This similarity is based upon the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who calls Himself the Light of the world, and thus speaks of the Holy Ghost, comparing It in Its actions to the element water: ‘He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.’ 415 He also compared the Holy Ghost to the air or wind: ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.’” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
“The power to bear Mysteries, which the humble man has received, which makes him perfect in every virtue without toil, this is the very power which the blessed apostles received in the form of fire. For its sake the Saviour commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they should receive power from on high, that is to say, the Paraclete, which, being interpreted, is the Spirit of consolation. And this is the Spirit of divine visions. Concerning this it is said in divine Scripture: ‘Mysteries are revealed to the humble’ (Ecclus 3:19). The humble are accounted worthy of receiving in themselves this Spirit of revelations Who teaches mysteries.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 77
“‘And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’ (John 14:23). My friends, consider the greatness of this solemn feast that commemorates God's coming as a guest into our hearts! If some rich and influential friend were to come to your home, you would promptly put it all in order for fear something there might offend your friend's eyes when he came in. Let all of us then who are preparing our inner homes for God cleanse them of anything our wrongdoing has brought into them.” —St. Gregory the Great, on Pentecost in Be Friends of God
“If from one burning lamp someone lights another, then another from that one, and so on in succession, he has light continuously. In the same way, through the Apostles ordaining their successors, and these successors ordaining others, and so on, the grace of the Holy Spirit is handed down through all generations and enlightens all who obey their shepherds and teachers.” —St. Gregory Palamas, On how the Holy Spirit was manifested and shared out at Pentecost
“‘And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:3-4). They partook of fire, not of burning but of saving fire; of fire which consumes the thorns of sins, but gives luster to the soul. This is now coming upon you also, and that to strip away and consume your sins which are like thorns, and to brighten yet more that precious possession of your souls, and to give you grace; for He gave it then to the Apostles. And He sat upon them in the form of fiery tongues, that they might crown themselves with new and spiritual diadems by fiery tongues upon their heads. A fiery sword barred of old the gates of Paradise; a fiery tongue which brought salvation restored the gift.” —St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Book Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem
“The Church is without beginning, without end and eternal, just as the Triune God, her founder, is without beginning, without end and eternal. She is uncreated just as God is uncreated. She existed before the ages, before the angels, before the creation of the world – before the foundation of the world as the Apostle Paul says. She is a divine institution and in her dwells the whole fullness of divinity. She is an expression of the richly varied wisdom of God. She is the mystery of mysteries. She was concealed and was revealed in the last of times. The Church remains unshaken because she is rooted in the love and wise providence of God.
The three persons of the Holy Trinity constitute the eternal Church.” —St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, Wounded by Love
“In the history of the human race there have been three principal falls: that of Adam, that of Judas, and that of the pope.” —St. Justin Popovich
