Welcome to the Orthodox Church

An Introduction to Eastern Christianity

Mathewes-Green, a graduate of the Virginia Theological Seminary, converted to Orthodoxy from the Episcopal Church following her husband, now an Orthodox priest.

She describes life in a composite American Orthodox parish, describing in elaborate but personal and appealing detail everything from the character of the faithful; the appearance of the building; the form and nature of liturgy through a church year, weekly services, a communion, Pascha, baptisms, a marriage and a funeral, hospitality hour; a midnight telephone call to the priest from a spiritually distressed parishioner; to a house blessing (and a brief window into Orthodox worship at home). She describes the music, the role of icons, the written sources of wisdom, and something of the meaning of praying continuously. Above all, she describes how the entirety makes up the ancient spiritual Way that Orthodoxy offers for drawing ever nearer to God and Jesus. In a delicate afterward she invites us to take any part of Orthodoxy we may find appealing, but to understand that it is the combination of elements accumulated and refined over millennia that make Orthodoxy a resolute, difficult, and effective Way.