Having a deep spirituality is an important aspect of Greek orthodox church beliefs. Having this spirituality will help you to make the right decisions in your life. Having this spirituality will help you avoid making mistakes and will also help you to avoid the bad things that can happen in your life. Having this spirituality can also help you to live a happy life.
Suicide
Regardless of your belief system, suicide is a very important topic in the Church. Suicide is a self-murder, a rejection of life and the ultimate form of despair.
The Orthodox Church has taken up this issue on an impressively large scale. They have made their views known, and are learning about suicide at a pace comparable to the medical community. This can help the Church shed light on the darkness of this problem.
The Church has a lot to offer, and this can be especially true in the case of suicide. The Orthodox Church shows its sympathy and compassion to those who are in distress, especially those who suffer from severe emotional stress.
Angels
Various Church teachers believe that angels existed before the physical world was created. They served as guides to God’s chosen people. In addition, Old Testament prophets saw visions of angels in the heavenly kingdom. They also informed the Virgin Mary of the birth of Jesus and told the apostles of His coming and resurrection.
The Orthodox Church believes that angels are intelligent beings, possessing reason and knowledge. They serve God by delivering only what He reveals. They can travel great distances and are incorporeal. They also carry out miracles.
The Orthodox Church also believes that angels are immortal. Their immortality is not their own, but rather it depends on the mercy of God.
Holy Scriptures
Among the Greek orthodox church beliefs is the belief that the Eucharist becomes the physical body and blood of Jesus. This belief is based on the notion that when we drink and eat the bread and wine in the Eucharist, we become part of the body of Christ. This is called transubstantiation. The Greek Orthodox Church adds that sacraments are essential to salvation.
The Greek Orthodox Church also uses the Septuagint for its New Testament. The Septuagint was translated by 72 Hebrew scholars in Egypt during the third century BC. There are ten books in the Septuagint which are not found in the Jewish scriptures.
Matrimony
Getting married in the Orthodox church is a holy mystery. It is a symbol of union with Christ and a partnership of equals. However, it does come with heavy responsibilities.
For instance, the Orthodox church believes that marriage is a sacrament and it is only performed with the blessing of the diocesan bishop. The Church also prohibits marriages during fasting seasons. The fasting seasons include the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, Holy Week, Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Pentecost, and Great Lent.
There are also moveable Feasts, such as Ascension, Christmas, and Easter. If you have children, you must be willing to raise them in the Orthodox faith.
AIDS
During the first six years of the AIDS epidemic, religious groups responded primarily by making moral judgments about high-risk behavior. These judgments were generally consistent with their beliefs. These judgments focused on education about risk reduction and the protection of the civil rights of people with AIDS.
In the 1980s, individual congregations began to offer organized interfaith ministries of care. These ministries provided pastoral care to people with AIDS. The AIDS National Interfaith Network was founded in 1988 to promote more comprehensive religious response to the epidemic.
The Orthodox Church views AIDS as an illness. They also believe that the virus does not result from sinful behavior, and that people who contract the virus through blood transfusion do not suffer any penalty for the sins they commit.
Calendar
During the Protestant Reformation, Roman Catholicism and other Christian denominations broke away from the Roman Church, causing a splintering of the Christian Church. The Orthodox world surrendered one of its outposts.
The Julian Calendar was used in Christian East and West for centuries. It fulfilled its role of organizing liturgical life. However, it weakened the Orthodox world’s ability to differentiate from the Western world. It also penetrated Church tradition.
While the Julian Calendar was in use, the Orthodox world kept to its Old Calendar. Until the end of World War I, all Orthodox Churches followed the Old Calendar. In the 1920s, a splintering of the calendar tradition began in Greece. The civil government tried to suppress the Old Calendarists. However, a small faction of the Church of Greece and the diaspora continue to follow the Old Calendar.
