The Catalog of Good Deeds

… It is practical, however, to pause for a minute at these times to say a short prayer such as the Jesus Prayer or the Prayer of the Hours …

The daily prayer cycle begins at sundown with Vespers. This tradition comes to us via the Jewish tradition, the way the disciples and Christ would have prayed.

Vespers

"Let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice." (Psalm 141)

The tradition of praying a sundown coincides with the time of lighting the lamps, before the time of electricity. This was a definite transition time in ancient times, something we have lost in our electrical power world where there is no need to change what we are doing because of the setting of the sun. But, this transition required a definite change of activity in the days before electricity.

In the Church at this time of day, as the sun sets, we traditionally gather in the Church to give thanks for all the blessings our Lord has granted us this day. This prayer service begins with the psalm of creation (Psalm 103(104)).

Compline

"In Peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety." (Psalm 4)

The after our evening meal and before we go to sleep we say personal prayers which is how the service of compline is usually done. Here we reflect on the difficulties of the day and examine how we handled them and ask for forgiveness our shortcomings as well as our negligence of things we did not do we should of done.

Great Compline is a church service used to commemorate occasions such as the Eve of the Nativity and is also used during weekdays in Lent.

Midnight prayer

"At midnight I will rise and praise you." (Psalm 119)

In the monasteries the monks will rise at midnight for prayer. We know this tradition goes back at least as far as the time of David.

Matins or Orthros

"O God, You are my God, early will I seek You!" (Psalm 63)

At dawn we rise at sunrise and experiencing the goodness of God praise Him, give thanks, make petitions, and seek His blessing for the activities of the coming day.

First Hour

"To You I pray, O Lord; in the morning You hear my voice!" (Psalm 5)

Before the use of clocks the hours of the day were determined from sunrise. So the first hour is probably at 7:00am At this hour we ask God to guard us from everything that could harm us in either body or soul. As our senses are being awakened we ask for spiritual awakening through Jesus Christ who is the "true light who comes into the world.'' This is usually joined with the Matins prayers. This is the time at which Christ was led into the Praetorium before Pilate.

Psalm 5:

Order my steps in Your word and so shall no wickedness have dominion over me. Deliver me from all wrongful dealings of men, and so I shall keep Your commandments. Show the light of your countenance upon Your servant and teach me Your statutes. Let my mouth be filled with Your praise, O Lord, that I may sing of Your glory and honor all the day long.

Prayer:

O Christ the true light, enlightening and sanctifying every man who comes into the world. Let the light of Your countenance shine on us, that in it we may behold the ineffable light. Guide our footsteps aright in keeping Your commandments. Through the intercessions of Your all-pure Mother and of all the saints. Amen.

Third Hour

"Take not Your Holy Spirit from me." (Psalm 51)

This is about 9:00am and is the hour when the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles on Pentecost. We give thanks to God for this gift and ask that He never deprive us of the fruits and graces of the Spirit. We also commemorate the condemnation of Christ by Pilate.

O Lord, You sent down Your Most Holy Sprit upon Your Apostles at the Third Hour. Take Him not from us, O Good One, but renew Him in us who pray to You.

Prayer of Saint Basil the Great:

O Lord our God, You have given Your peace to men and sent down the gift of Your All-Holy Spirit to Your disciples and Apostles, opening their lips with fiery tongues by Your power. Open also my lips and teach me, sinner that I am, how and for what I ought to pray. Guide my life, O calm Haven of the storm-tossed, and reveal the way in which I should walk. Renew in me a right spirit and make my mind steady with a governing spirit, so that guided and guarded each day by Your good Spirit, I may be enabled to practice Your commandments, always remembering Your glorious presence which looks upon the deeds men do. Do not let me be deceived by corrupting delights of this world, but rather strengthen in me the desire to attain the treasures of the world to come. For You are blessed and praised in all Your saints, unto ages of ages. Amen.

Through the prayers of the holy Fathers, may the Lord have mercy on us. Amen.

Sixth Hour

"There they crucified Him... It was now about the sixth hour" (Luke 23: 33, 44)

This is about 12 noon, the time when the divine drama of Christ began. It is when Pilate released Him to the Jews and they condemned Him and He was nailed to the Cross. We rejoice in the infinite life of God and show our gratitude, for through this event He wrought our salvation.

O Christ God, on the sixth day and hour, You nailed to the cross the sin which rebellious Adam committed in paradise. Tear asunder also the bond of our iniquities, and save us!

You have wrought salvation in the midst of the earth, O Christ God. You stretched out Your all-pure hands upon the Cross, You gathered together all the nations that cry aloud to You: Glory to You, O Lord!

Prayer of Saint Basil the Great:

O God, Lord of hosts and Maker of all created things, who in Your great compassion and mercy sent down Your Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for the redemption of mankind, and by His precious cross destroyed the writing of our sins, thereby triumphing over the source and power of darkness. O Lord and Lover of man, accept also the thanksgiving and fervent prayers of us sinners. Deliver us from every dark and harmful transgression and from all the visible and invisible enemies which seek to destroy us. Nail our flesh to the fear of You, and do not incline our hearts to words or thoughts of guile, But wound our souls with Your love, that ever looking to You, and guided by You in the light, and beholding You, the Light ineffable and ever lasting, we may offer ceaseless praise and thanksgiving to You: To the Father who has no beginning, together with Your only-begotten Son and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Ninth Hour

"And at the ninth hour...Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last." (Mark 15: 34, 37)

This occurs about 3:00pm, the time that Jesus died on the Cross. It is when he promised His kingdom to the repentant thief. We give thanks singing hymns of these saving events.

O Christ God, at the ninth hour You tasted death in the flesh for our sake: mortify the rebellion of our flesh and save us!

In the midst of two thieves, Your Cross was revealed as the balance-beam of righteousness. For while the one was led down to hell by the burden of his blaspheming, the other was lightened of his sins to the knowledge of things divine. O Christ our God, glory to You!

Prayer of Saint Basil the Great:

O Master, Lord Jesus Christ our God, You have led us to the present hour, in which, as You hung upon the life-giving tree, You made a way into Paradise for the penitent thief, and by death destroyed death: Cleans us, Your unworthy servants, for we fall into sin continuously and are not worthy to lift up our eyes and look upon the heights of heaven. Forgive us for departing from the path of righteousness and following the desires of our own hearts. We implore Your unending goodness: Spare us, O Lord, according to the multitude of Your mercies, and save us for Your holy name's sake, for our days are passing away in vanity. Take us from the hand of the adversary and forgive our sins, and mortify in us all impure thoughts. Help us to lay aside our old ways so that we may be clothed with new resolve and may dedicate our lives to You, our Master and Benefactor, so that by following Your commandments, we may come to the eternal rest which is the abode of all those who rejoice. For You are the true joy and exultation of those who love You, O Christ our God, and to You we ascribe glory, together with the Father who is without beginning and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, may the Lord have mercy on us Amen.

For most people who do not live a monastic life, following this routine is not very practical. It is practical, however, to pause for a minute at these times to say a short prayer such as the Jesus Prayer or the Prayer of the Hours. If you listen to Ancient Faith radio on the internet they offer short prayers on the hours.

For a pocket sized book that contains the above and more see A Manual of the Hours of the Orthodox Church compiled by Archimandrite Cherubim, Monastery of the Paraclete, Attica, Greece, translated and published by Community of the Holy Myrrhbearers, 1993.

A good book with the complete services adapted for use without a priest is The Hours of Prayer Published by the Orthodox Brotherhood of the Virgin Mary in Elkhorn VA. See the page on prayer books.

Sources: http://www.orthodoxprayer.org/Hours.html

The Transfer of the relics of Righteous Lazarus of the Four Days, Bishop of Kiteia on Cyprus, took place in the ninth century. The Righteous Saint Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, lived in the village of Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. During His earthly life the Lord Jesus Christ often visited the house of Lazarus, whom He much loved and called His friend (John 11:3,11), and when Lazarus had died and lain four days already in the grave, the Lord raised him from the dead (John 11:1-44). Many of the Jews, when they heard about this, came to Bethany. Being persuaded of the reality of this most remarkable wonder, they became followers of Christ. Because of this the High Priests wanted to kill Lazarus.

According to Scripture and the tradition of the Cypriot church, Lazarus had to leave Judea to seek refuge in another country. This location was Kiteia in Cyprus.

When Apostle Paul and Apostle Barnabas travelled to Cyprus, they ordained Lazarus as the first Bishop of Kiteia. This is why all episcopal thrones in Larnaca have the icon of St. Lazarus instead of Christ, which is the standard custom of the church.

Another famous tradition related to Lazarus is the discovery of Mount Athos in 52 AD by the Theotokos. Lazarus was very close to the Virgin Mary and he was very grieved that he could not return to Jerusalem to visit her (he was still in fear of the Jews). The Theotokos learned of his sorrow and sent him a letter to comfort him. She asked that he might send a ship to her that she might visit him in Cyprus. With great joy, Lazarus sent a ship to the Holy Land to bring the Virgin Mary and John, the beloved disciple to Cyprus for a visit. However on their journey, a great storm blew them off course and carried them to the shores of Ephesus and then the ship to the shores of Athos, Greece. Unaware that divine providence had brought her to this area, the Virgin Mary completely taken by the beauty of the area, prayed to her son that this could be her garden devoted to prayer to "fight the good fight of faith". Having converted, blessed and established a new Christian community from the local idolaters they set sail for Cyprus and met with Lazarus.

Further establishing the apostolic nature of Lazarus' appointment, was the tradition that the bishop's omophorion and epimanikia were presented to Lazarus by the Virgin Mary, who had woven it herself.

Little more is known about Lazarus after Our Lord's Resurrection and Ascension, except that during his thirty years after his resuscitation, he never smiled or joked except on one occasion, recorded in the Synaxarion. One day, he saw someone stealing a clay pot and he smiled saying, "the clay steals the clay".

The first tomb of Lazarus in Bethany remains as a site for pilgrims to this very day.

The second tomb on the island of Cyprus, was found in Kition sometime in 890 AD, with his relics inside, and bearing the inscription: "Lazarus, the Friend of Christ."

After St. Lazarus' tomb was found in Larnaca in 890 AD, Emperor Leo VI of Byzantium had Lazarus' remains transferred to Constantinople in 898. The transfer was apostrophized by Arethas, Bishop of Caesarea (Caesarea Palestinae), and is commemorated by the Orthodox Church each year on October 17.

In recompense to Larnaca, Emperor Leo had the Church of St. Lazarus erected over Lazarus' tomb, which still exists today. The marble sarcophagus can be seen inside the church under the Holy of Holies.

After the sacking of Constantinople by the Franks during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Crusaders carried the saint's relics to Marseilles, France as part of the booty of war. From there, "later on, they disappeared and up to the present day they have not been traced."

In the 16th century, a Russian monk from the Monastery of Pskov visited St. Lazarus’s tomb in Larnaca and took with him a small piece of the relics. Perhaps that piece led to the erection of the St. Lazarus chapel at the Pskov Monastery (Spaso-Eleazar Monastery, Pskov), where it is kept today.

On November 23, 1972, human remains in a marble sarcophagus were discovered under the altar, during renovation works in the church of Church of St. Lazarus at Larnaka, and were identified as part of the saint's relics.

In June 2012 the Church of Cyprus gave a part of the holy relics of St. Lazarus to a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, after a four-day visit to Cyprus. The relics were translated to Moscow on June 11, 2012, and were given to Archbishop Arseniy of Istra, who took them to the Zachatievsky monastery (Conception Convent), where they were put up for veneration.

Local Traditions

Though not as widespread as they used to be, "Lazarine Carols" are still sung in certain parts of Greece as a cherished tradition. On the day before Lazarus Saturday, children would go out into the fields to gather flowers to decorate their baskets and go out singing carols. In some cases they will also have prepared special outfits. In return for singing the Lazarine Carols, the children would receive gifts in the form of eggs, money or other foods.

Sources: http://www.stjohndc.org/en/list-of-relics/lazarus-four-days-tomb-bishop-kition-cyprus-righteous;

https://oca.org/saints/lives/2008/10/17/102991-translation-of-the-relics-of-st-lazarus-of-the-four-days-in-the

From Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica (St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood (December 19, 2011)

The book, published by St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, is highly recommended. Here is a brief description of the book from St. Herman Press: Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica was one of the most renowned spiritual guides of Serbia in the twentieth century. As a novice he lived in obedience to Elder Ambrose of Miljkovo Monastery, a disciple of the Optina Elders. From him Fr. Thaddeus learned the Prayer of the Heart and the selfless love that came to characterize his whole ministry to the suffering Serbian people. Born in 1914, Elder Thaddeus lived through all the suffering endured by Serbia in the twentieth century. Over the course of two World Wars, during the Communist takeover, and through the nato bombings of 1999, he co-suffered with his people. He taught, counseled, and prayed for all who came to him in pain and sorrow. His words of love and hope provided spiritual balm for people from all classes of society. In 2002 Elder Thaddeus reposed, leaving behind a large collection of his teachings, preserved by his faithful spiritual children. His life, teachings, and spiritual conversations are here presented for the first time in English (see St. Herman Press).

1) "Our thoughts determine our whole life. If our thoughts are destructive, we will have no peace. If they are quiet, meek, and simple, our life will be the same, and we will have peace within us. It will radiate from us and influence all beings around us."

2) “Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.”

3) “Our starting point is always wrong. Instead of beginning with ourselves,we always want to change others first and ourselves last. If everyone would begin first with themselves, then there would be peace all around!”

4) "I realized that we all worry about ourselves too much and that only he who leaves everything to the will of God can feel truly joyous, light, and peaceful."

5) "We must learn to ease the burden of thoughts that bears down upon us. As soon as we feel burdened, we must turn to the Lord and give our worries over to Him, as well as the worries and cares of our loved ones."

6) "The Lord has taken all of our sufferings and cares upon Himself, and He has said that He will provide for all our needs, yet we hold on to our cares so tightly that we create unrest in our hearts and minds, in our families, and all around us."

7) "The Lord is present everywhere, and nothing happens without His will or His permission, either in this life or in eternity. When we accept this idea, everything is made easier. If God would allow us to do everything the way we desire and when we desire, this would certainly result in catastrophe."

8) "We cannot achieve salvation unless we change our thoughts and make them different.... This is achieved by the the work of Divine power in us. Our minds thus become deified, free of passions, and holy. Only a mind which has God within it and a constant remembrance of the Lord can be deified. By knowing that He is in us and we are in Him, we can move around like fish in the water. He is everywhere, and we, like the fish, swim in Him. As soon as we leave Him, we die spiritually."

9) "A man who has within him the Kingdom of Heaven radiates holy thoughts, Divine thoughts. The Kingdom of God creates within us an atmosphere of heaven, as opposed to the atmosphere of hell that is radiated by a person when hades abides in his heart. The role of Christians in the world is to filter the atmosphere on earth and expand the atmosphere of the Kingdom of God."

10) "We can keep guard over the whole world by keeping guard over the atmosphere of heaven within us, for if we lose the Kingdom of Heaven, we will save neither ourselves nor others. He who has the Kingdom of God in himself will imperceptibly pass it on to others. People will be attracted by the peace and warmth in us; they will want to be near us, and the atmosphere of heaven will gradually pass on to them. It is not even necessary to speak to people about this. The atmosphere of heaven will radiate from us even when we keep silence or talk about ordinary things. It will radiate from us even though we may not be aware of it."

11) "A person who is entrapped in the vicious cycle of chaotic thoughts, in the atmosphere of hades, or has only so much as touched it, feels the torments of hell. For example, we read the newspapers or take a walk in the streets, and afterwards we suddenly feel that something is not quite right in our souls; we feel an atmosphere; we feel sadness. That is because by reading all sorts of things, our mind becomes distracted and the atmosphere of hades has free access to our minds."

12) "The Holy Fathers tell us to let our attention be on the Lord immediately upon waking, to let our thoughts be united with Him during the entire day, and to remember Him at every moment. The Holy Fathers prayed to be delivered from forgetfulness, for we often get carried away by the things of this world and forget the Lord.... We forget that He is everywhere and that any job we do and any task we perform is His."

13) "Your thoughts are burdened because you are influenced by the thoughts of your fellow men. Pray to the Lord that He might take this burden from you. These are the thoughts of others which differ from yours. They have their plan, and the plan is to attack you with their thoughts. Instead of letting go, you have allowed yourself to become part of their plan, so of course you suffer. Had you ignored the attack, you would have kept your peace. They could have thought or said anything at all about you, yet you would have remained calm and at peace."

14) "Why does the Lord command us to love our enemies and to pray for them? Not for their sake, but for ours! For as long as we bear grudges, as long as we dwell on how someone offended us, we will have no peace."

15) "This is how we must live - controlling our thoughts. It is not good to dwell on every thought that comes to us; otherwise we lose our peace. If we learn to refuse such proposals, we are quiet. We do not fantasize or create any images in our mind."

16) "While praying, a person should not have any thoughts, but rather become selfless.... When praying, we should not be preoccupied with ourselves, because in that case we are so absorbed in our own needs that we ourselves are detrimental to our prayer.... Let us say someone is threatening us, or trying to talk us into doing something bad. Let him do so; this person has a will of his own. Let him do his job, and we will do ours, which is to preserve our inner peace."

17) "One should preach not from one's rational mind but rather from the heart. Only that which is from the heart can touch another heart. One must never attack or oppose anyone. If he who preaches must tell people to keep away from a certain kind of evil, he must do so meekly and humbly, with fear of God."

18) "The Holy Fathers have written much about . . . how to control one's mind and heart. They have said that we must endeavor to perform every task, every kind of work, from the heart, because feelings come from the heart, not from the head. We think with the head, but when everything proceeds from the heart, this is a concentration of all the powers of the mind in the heart. When we pray, we must do so from the heart, for God is the Lord of the heart."

19) "God reveals Himself only to the meek and humble.... He who is not obedient cannot attain humility."

20) "We should not think too much about who our superiors are, or who our employer is. What we should bear in mind is that every type of work on earth and in all the universe is God's work, and as such it should be performed from the heart, without reservation."

21) "When our neighbor comes to us with his troubles, we take part in them, but if we do not know how to relax - to give all our infirmities and those of our neighbor to the Lord - then we bear this cumbersome burden in our own minds and hearts and, over time, we become unbearably stressed and nervous.... This is because we have not taught ourselves to let go of our thoughts. When our thoughts are at peace, our body rests too."

22) "Our plans and interests often interfere with our lives. We make all these plans, believing that we will never succeed in anything unless we arrange everything meticulously. We truly must try to do everything as our conscience tells us, but we must not do anything in haste. It is when we are in a hurry that the enemy traps us. In haste we cannot be aware of whether we have said something to offend our fellow man or whether we have ignored him, because we have no time to think of him; we are too busy with the plans inside our head. In this manner it is easy to sin against our neighbor. And when we sin against our neighbor, we are actually sinning against God, for God is everywhere. He dwells in the souls of each and every one of us. Our relationship toward our fellow men defines our relationship toward God."

23) "When we are among a large number of people, say at our workplace, people often argue there, especially at large meetings. It is always best to keep silent at large gatherings. Let the others bring out their suggestions. We should keep silent. If you absolutely must say something, then say it so as not to offend anyone's dignity. It is better not to become involved. Mind your own business and try to keep your peace."

25) "When we pray without attentiveness, then we are not praying in spirit and in truth, or in our thoughts. However, when we are attentive to what we ask for in prayer, we are concentrated on the words we speak and on that which we are asking for."

26) "The Holy Fathers say that everyone, when they pray to God, can find a word that can touch their hearts, whether it be in the Psalter or in some soul-edifying book."

27) "There are very few people who come to their senses, very few who understand life. We pray with our lips only, and we hurry through our prayers to 'get it over with' as soon as possible, and then we lose peace. Fasting and prayer are a means of embellishing our soul and bringing it back to its original state."

28) "The Holy Fathers have taught us how to fast. Those who are physically weak and sick do not need to fast; they can take Holy Communion without fasting. But we who are physically healthy must prepare for Communion by fasting. This means that we eat less and only certain kinds of food, for by doing so we discipline our bodies and our thoughts. When the body is humbled, our thoughts become more peaceful, too. This is the purpose of fasting. God is present in a mysterious way in every being, most especially in the heart, which is the center of life. It is impossible to unite with God when the stomach is full, for a full stomach causes many cares and worries. All our thoughts, all our emotions, and all our will must be concentrated. When they are not, we are restless and lose our peace."

29) "St. Isaac the Syrian says, 'Preserve your inner peace at all costs and do not trade it for anything in this world.'

30) "We should say the words of the prayers knowing that the Lord sees us and that He is listening to us. When something 'moves' in the heart while we are at prayer, we should hold on to it and try to preserve that feeling."

31) "Death, the Judgment, heaven, and hell. We must have a remembrance of these things all the time. As for our attention, it must be focused on the words of the prayer."

32) "It is God's all-encompassing love that manifests itself in us. When this happens we see no difference between people - everyone is good, everyone is our brother, and we consider ourselves to be the worst of men, servants of every created thing. In this kind of love we are humbled; our soul is at peace and in humility. And humility is the perfection of the Christian life. It is not in the raising of the dead or in working miracles that Christian perfection lies, but in extreme humility. When we are illumined by the Grace of the Holy Spirit in the fullness of Divine love, then we want to serve everyone and help everyone. Even when we see a little ant struggling, we want to help him. So, love is sacrifice. Love sacrifices itself for its neighbor."

33) "Let us fall down before the Lord with an innocent heart, using our own words in addition to the prayer rule that we all adhere to and which we very much need (for if we have no prayer rule, then the evil one will give us his own rule - all kinds of thoughts). That's why we need prayer, no matter how short. As soon as we are out of bed, let us give thanks to God for having allowed us to live through the night. When evening comes, let us give thanks for everything, for the Lord is the Giver of life and the Giver of all things."

34) "The heart is always cold when the thoughts are scattered. It is only when the thoughts are gathered and centered in the heart that the heart begins to burn."

35) "If we turn toward the Fountain of Life - God - then He will give us the strength to become rooted in good thoughts - quiet, peaceful, and kind thoughts, full of love. Our sincere repentance will shine through, for good thoughts, good wishes, and feelings of love radiate peace and give comfort to every being.... Repentance is a complete turning of one's heart toward Absolute Goodness, and not only of the heart but also of the mind, the feelings, the body, and one's whole being. Repentance is the unbreakable union of love with our Father and Creator."

Source: http://www.fatherarseny.com/elder-thaddeus.html

Q: Are there dogmas in the Orthodox Church? What are the dogmas and the things that are opinions?

A: Yes, Orthodox Christianity has dogmas; however, to truly appreciate what that means, one must understand what the word “dogma” refers to. In our modern era (especially in the United States) the words “dogma” and “dogmatic” have negative connotations — they refer to those who cannot or will not change their position, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary (the belief that world is flat, for example.) Though it is true that dogmas do not change, this is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a very good thing.

Dogmas are the various summary statements about revelation that have been received by Orthodox Christianity throughout the centuries. For example: The Nicene Creed. In other words, dogma is about God and Salvation. Even the dogmatic title given to the Virgin Mary — Theotokos (birth-giver of God) — speaks about the Word of God and His Incarnation.

Since God does not change, dogma does not change. Orthodox Christians, through the bishops and council, may make new statements to deal with changing contexts, but these statements do not and cannot change “the faith once and for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) or who God is; it is only our understanding of revelation what should brighter as we strive to be “witnesses to the truth.”

Dogmas are (1) based in the revelation of the Holy Scriptures (2) have been confirmed by the Ecumenical Councils.

Opinions (technically called “theologoumenon”) are those things that do not directly affect our understanding of who God is and for which there is not clear Scriptural teaching.

An example of this is the Orthodox position on the Assumption of Mary*. While this belief is popularly held by many Orthodox Christians, it is not necessary to accept it in order to be an Orthodox Christian. The same cannot be said about the Orthodox Christian teachings found in the Nicene Creed or the teachings of the other Ecumenical Councils regarding the the divinity and humanity of Christ our Savior.

Source: http://www.orthodoxanswers.org/are-there-dogmas-in-the-orthodox-church-what-are-the-dogmas-and-the-things-that-are-opinions/

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