Catechism 10.16.2025

Ortho

Right

Doxia

Praise

Theoria

Contemplation of the natural world; the direct, experiential vision of God, not a purely intellectual concept; the culmination of spiritual practice where a person experiences divine illumination and participates in the uncreated energies of God; a crucial stage in the process of theosis (deification)

The word itself comes from the Greek for “vision” or “beholding,” which has both a religious and a philosophical meaning.

The Church Fathers express that right contemplation of the created world reveals the Holy Trinity.

Creation is not God. Creation itself is the outpouring of the love of the Holy Trinity.

Key aspects in Orthodox theology:

• Vision of God: [vocab word] is the spiritual vision of the glory of God or the uncreated Light.

• Experiential knowledge: [vocab word] is a direct, unmediated experience, not simply a rational or theoretical understanding of God.

• Preparation and practice: Achieving [vocab word] requires spiritual preparation, which includes the purification of the heart (praxis) through prayer, fasting, and ascetic practices.

• Union with God: It is part of the journey toward theosis, or deification, where a person becomes “godlike” by partaking in God’s divine energies.

• Illumination of the nous: It involves the illumination of the nous (the spiritual or rational eye of the soul), which allows for true spiritual knowledge.

Greek origins and dual meaning

• Philosophical contemplation: In Ancient Greece, [vocab word] meant contemplation or speculation.

• Religious delegation: It also referred to a religious delegation sent by a city to a distant sanctuary.

• Contemplation vs. action: This classical meaning of contemplation is contrasted with the Western concept of “theory and practice,” where “theory” is seen as intellectual and “practice” is action. In Orthodoxy, [vocab word] is the experiential result of the spiritual “practice” (praxis), which purifies the heart.

Pantheist

One who believes that God is nature

We are panentheists, not pantheists.

Panentheist

One who believes in the theological view that God is both immanent (present within the world) and transcendent (extending beyond it). In this view, the world exists “in God,” but God is not identical to the world and is not limited by it.

This is distinct from pantheism, which claims God and the universe are one and the same.

We are panentheists, not pantheists.

Septuagint (LXX)

The authoritative Greek translation of the OT (Old Testament), used in liturgy and theology

It was the version used by the NT (New Testament) authors, is considered divinely inspired, and contains books that are included in the Orthodox canon but not in some other traditions. The term refers to the legendary “seventy” or seventy-two scholars who translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek around the 3rd century BCE.

Key aspects in Orthodox tradition

• Authoritative text: The Orthodox Church uses the [vocab word] as its official text for the OT, which is believed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

• Canonical differences: It includes books that are often called “deuterocanonical” by Catholics and “apocrypha” by Protestants.

• New Testament usage: It was the Bible of the early Christians, with the NT authors frequently quoting from it.

• Historical significance: It bridged the gap between the Old and New Testaments by providing the scriptures in the common Greek language of the time.

• Liturgical role: It plays a central role in the liturgical language and quotations of the Orthodox Church.

Apocrypha

A term used by Protestants to refer to the OT books found in Orthodox Bibles but not Protestant ones. The term was popularized during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Protestants often place these books in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments, giving them a secondary status or rejecting them as canonical scripture.

This rejection is often based on the books not being in the Hebrew canon used by some Protestants and because some passages were used to support doctrines that other Christians rejected.

In the Orthodox Church, the term is not used to describe the Old Testament books found in Orthodox Bibles but not in Protestant ones; instead, Orthodox Christians call these books the anagignoskomena (meaning “readable” or “worthy to be read”). These texts are considered to have Scriptural authority, unlike the term “apocrypha” which generally implies a hidden or rejected status and is used by Protestants for books they deem not canonical.

Meaning of “anagignoskomena” in Orthodoxy

• Scriptural authority: The Orthodox Church considers the anagignoskomena to be divinely inspired and part of the Holy Scriptures, on par with the rest of the Old Testament.

• Collection: This includes books such as Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees, as well as additions to the books of Esther and Daniel.

• Historical context: These books were part of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible used by the early Church, and were considered part of the biblical canon from the time of the Apostles.

Orthodox churches do recognize a distinction between the anagignoskomena and other texts that are considered “apocryphal” or “pseudopedigrapha”. These other texts, often New Testament-era writings, are not considered canonical but are sometimes read for personal edification and devotional purposes, though not for establishing doctrine.

Autocephaly

Comes from the Greek words for self (auto) and head (kephale). It literally means self-headed or self-governing.

In church usage, [vocab word] refers to those churches which are in no way dependent for their life and mission upon any other church or churches.

In this sense [vocab word] differs from autonomy which in normal churchly usage is employed in reference to those churches which are entirely self-governing which the one exception that their chief bishop (called the primate) is formally confirmed into his office by the blessings of the hierarchy of another church, and receives from this church the holy chrism used for the sacrament of chrismation (confirmation).

Thus, for example, the Churches of Finland and Japan are autonomous churches in the above-described relationship with the Church of Constantinople and of Russia, whereas the Orthodox Church in America is fully autocephalous.

According to Orthodox doctrine and practice, each and every Orthodox church, regardless of its particular status—just as each and every Orthodox Christian— is responsible for the faith and life of the other. Therefore any action of any church is subject to the review of the others in reference to its doctrine, morality, sacramental practices and canonical order.

The Autocephalous Orthodox Churches today are the old imperial patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem; the Churches of Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Cyprus, Poland and Czechoslovakia; the ancient Church of Georgia (Iberia), and the new Orthodox Church in America.

Autonomous

In the context of the Orthodox Church, an [vocab word] Orthodox Church is a self-governing church that operates with a degree of independence from its mother church. It is part of the larger Orthodox communion but has its own primate (like an archbishop) whose election or consecration is confirmed by the mother church, and it may receive its Holy Chrism from its mother church.

Key characteristics of an [vocab word] Orthodox Church

• Self-governance: An [vocab word] church has internal self-government, differentiation it from a non-[vocab word] church.

• Confirmation by a mother church: The head bishop of an [vocab word] church is appointed or confirmed by the primate of the autocephalous church that granted it autonomy.

• Limited independence: While self-governing, its independence is not as complete as an autocephalous church, which is fully independent and \“self-headed\”.

• Communion: It remained in canonical relationship and full communion with the rest of the Orthodox Church.

Example: The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is considered an [vocab word] church, with its head bishop confirmed by a mother church.