Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 3. From 600 A.D. on, the question of the Papacy's role in the Church proved difficult. At the turn of that century, however, an ideal man was drafted to fill the Roman see. St. Gregory the Great shepherded his patriarchate in a truly inspired way. St. Gregory is revered as the Father of the

Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 4. The 8th century was one of general doctrinal stability and harmony in the Western churches, but one of great turmoil for the Eastern churches. A succession of Byzantine Emperors called the iconoclasts or “icon-smashers” condemned the general Christian practice of venerating images ("icons”) of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints, and raised

Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 5. Century by century, we have been building toward a dramatic break, a catastrophic split, between the Christians in the East and the Christians in the West. As the year 1000 A.D. grew nearer, Central Europe continued to be Christianised, mostly through the efforts of monks. Germans also insisted upon the addition of Filioque

Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 6. During the 12th century, the Greek Church struggled to hold its own against the geographic expansion of the Islamic religion. But as Greek Christendom shrank, the Church gained new wings in the conversion of the Slavic peoples: The 12th century, for example, was a Golden Age of Christianity in Kievan Rus (now Russia

Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 7. The Council of Florence prepared the way for a new structure in the Western church: The Councils of Constance & Basel had decreed a dogma of Catholicism that the highest authority in Roman church was an ecumenical council of bishops. The Council of Florence reversed this trend and re-established the Papacy as the

Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 8. To understand the difference between Orthodoxy and the Roman Catholic and Protestant forms of Christianity, the Faith is often compared to a masterpiece painted by a great master (Christ): Roman Catholicism has added strokes of its own design (doctrinal innovations ). Protestantism has attempted to remove innovations, but in the process has destroyed

Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 9. Perhaps the greatest bulwark of our Faith at this time was Mount Athos, the Holy Mountain, a peninsula in Greece teeming with monasteries populated by monks of all Orthodox national backgrounds. Mt. Athos preserved the culture and faith of Eastern Christianity, together with the highest ideals of Christian ascetic and contemplative life as

Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 10. The late 18th and the 19th centuries were times of great missionary fervour in the Church: God granted Orthodoxy outstanding Saints to reinvigorate His Church: St. Nicodemus of Mt. Athos (+1809) compiled the Philokalia, the teachings of the Holy Fathers on interior prayer of the heart. St. Paisius founded many monasteries where contemplative prayer flourished:

Church History for Orthodox Christians, part 11. In the year 1917 , a horrific calamity befell the Christian world: A revolution overthrew the Orthodox Tsar of Russia, and the “Third Rome ” fell to atheistic Communists. This event signalled the return of a martyr’s age: Over 20 million people lost their lives in the conflict, many of them Martyrs for the name of Christ.