Orthodox Religion key terms

Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures begun in the third century BC in Alexandria; it includes additional books and is the Old Testament text most often cited by the New Testament and early Church Fathers.

Authoritative Hebrew text of the Old Testament preserved by Jewish scribes (Masoretes) from the early medieval period, featuring vocalization and marginal notes; it underlies most modern Protestant translations.

Greek title meaning 'God-bearer,' affirmed for the Virgin Mary at the Council of Ephesus (431) to safeguard the unity of Christ's person; it remains central to Orthodox devotion and Christology.

Doctrine that in the one person (hypostasis) of Jesus Christ, the divine and human natures are united without confusion, change, division, or separation, as defined at Chalcedon (451).

Greek term meaning 'of the same essence' or 'consubstantial,' used in the Nicene Creed to state that the Son is of one being with the Father, against Arianism.

Profession of faith promulgated at Nicaea (325) and expanded at Constantinople (381); it is recited in the Divine Liturgy and serves as the standard of Orthodox trinitarian and Christological belief.

Latin phrase meaning 'and the Son,' added in the West to the Creed's article on the procession of the Holy Spirit; its unilateral insertion is a major point of Orthodox–Western divergence.

Distinction in God between the unknowable divine essence and the uncreated energies through which God is participated in and known, articulated by St. Gregory Palamas and endorsed by the Hesychast councils.

Greek term for deification: the process by which a human being, through grace and cooperation with God, participates in the divine life and becomes 'god by grace' while remaining creature.

The principal Eucharistic service of the Orthodox Church, celebrated on Sundays and feast days; its most common form is attributed to St. John Chrysostom, with the Liturgy of St. Basil used on certain days.

The central Eucharistic prayer of the Divine Liturgy, culminating in the epiclesis, in which the Church offers thanks and calls down the Holy Spirit upon the gifts.

Invocation of the Holy Spirit in the anaphora, asking God to send the Spirit upon the bread and wine to make them the Body and Blood of Christ; a defining feature of Orthodox Eucharistic theology.

The sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood, celebrated in the Divine Liturgy; Orthodox teaching holds that the bread and wine become the true Body and Blood of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Sacrament of initiation immediately following baptism, in which the newly baptized is anointed with holy chrism and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit; in Orthodoxy it is administered by a priest using chrism consecrated by a bishop.

Belief that the bishops of the Church stand in an unbroken line of teaching and sacramental authority transmitted from the apostles through the laying on of hands.

A gathering of bishops from the whole Church whose dogmatic and canonical decisions are received as authoritative; the Orthodox Church recognizes seven, from Nicaea I (325) to Nicaea II (787).

Conventional name for the breach between the Eastern and Western Churches, traditionally dated to 1054 when mutual excommunications were exchanged between Rome and Constantinople; its causes were cumulative and complex.

Status of a local Orthodox Church that elects its own head and governs its internal affairs without being subject to another Church's hierarchy, while remaining in communion with the others.

The see of Constantinople, held by the Archbishop of Constantinople–New Rome; it enjoys a primacy of honor among Orthodox Churches but not jurisdictional supremacy over them.

Eastern Christian ascetic tradition of inner stillness and unceasing prayer, classically associated with the Jesus Prayer and defended theologically by St. Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth century.

Short repetitive prayer, commonly 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,' practiced in hesychast spirituality to cultivate continual remembrance of God.

Approach to knowing God by negation, emphasizing that God transcends all human concepts and language; contrasted with kataphatic theology, which speaks of God through affirmations and images.

Body of rules (canons) enacted by ecumenical and local councils and Church Fathers, governing faith, worship, and discipline; it is interpreted in light of oikonomia and pastoral needs.

Pastoral principle of economy or dispensation, allowing a relaxation of strict canonical rules in particular circumstances for the spiritual benefit of the faithful, without altering dogma.

Greek term meaning 'sequence' or 'order,' denoting the prescribed structure of a liturgical service, or the collection of hymns and prayers for a given feast or occasion.

Liturgical book or rule that governs the order, texts, and rubrics of services throughout the Church year, including feasts, fasts, and the daily cycle of worship.

Screen of icons separating the sanctuary from the nave in Orthodox churches, with a central royal door and tiers of icons; it developed from the early templon and became standard after Iconoclasm.

Sacred image of Christ, the Virgin, or saints, venerated but not worshipped; Orthodox theology holds that the honor shown to the image passes to the prototype, as defined at Nicaea II (787).

Movement in the eighth and ninth centuries that opposed the veneration of icons; it was condemned by the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) and definitively rejected in 843, celebrated as the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

Type of icon depicting the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, such as the Hodegetria or Eleusa; it expresses the Incarnation and Mary's role in salvation history.

Fourth-century heresy taught by Arius that the Son was created by the Father and is not of the same essence; condemned at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325).

Christological position associated with Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, which so separated the divine and human in Christ as to deny that Mary could be called Theotokos; condemned at Ephesus (431).

Christological teaching that in Christ there is only one nature, the divine having absorbed the human; rejected at Chalcedon (451), which affirmed two natures in one person.

Theological synthesis of St. Gregory Palamas (fourteenth century) defending the reality of uncreated divine energies and the possibility of genuine participation in God, affirmed by the Hesychast councils of 1341–1351.

In Orthodox terminology, a 'mystery' (mysterion) through which divine grace is conveyed to the faithful; the Church commonly recognizes seven principal sacraments, though the number is not rigidly fixed.

Sacrament of initiation by which a person is united to Christ through triple immersion in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, receiving remission of sins and new life.

Ordained successor of the apostles who leads a local Church (diocese), presides at the Eucharist, and shares in the episcopal college that governs the Church in council.

Study of the writings of the Church Fathers, the early Christian theologians and bishops whose works shaped Orthodox doctrine, liturgy, and spirituality.