The ultimate goal is theosis an even closer union with God and closer likeness to God than existed in the Garden of Eden. The abandonment of a wife by her husband, of children by their father, of friends by their friend—not to mention the abandonment of the ministry by a pastor—above all causes pain and sorrow. Each regional church consists of constituent eparchies (or, dioceses) ruled by a bishop.
The celebration of the Resurrection of Christ at Pascha is the central event in the liturgical year of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The incense is burned in an ornate golden censer that hangs at the end of three chains representing the Trinity. The church has developed eight modes or tones (see Octoechos) within which a chant may be set, depending on the time of year, feast day, or other considerations of the Typikon. In other cases, opinions differ, no consensus is forthcoming, and all are free to choose. Depending on circumstance, the role of the iconostasis can be played by masonry, carved panels, screens, curtains, railings, a cord or rope, plain icons on stands, steps, or nothing at all. Its patriarchates, reminiscent of the pentarchy, and other autocephalous and autonomous churches reflect a variety of hierarchical organisation.
Baptism is the mystery which transforms the old and sinful person into a new and pure one; the old life, the sins, any mistakes made are gone and a clean slate is given. The limitations are those of mankind, not God. Every holy day of the Eastern Orthodox liturgical year relates to the Resurrection directly or indirectly.
Perhaps I can illustrate this from a story taken from the late history of the Russian Church. Nuns live identical ascetic lives to their male counterparts and are therefore also called monachoi (monastics) or the feminine plural form in Greek, monachai, and their common living space is called a monastery. Because of the schism the Eastern Orthodox no longer recognise the primacy of the Pope of Rome. With the exception of bishops, who remain celibate, the Orthodox Church has always allowed priests and deacons to be married, provided the marriage takes place before ordination. Sin (separation from God, who is the source of all life) is its own punishment, capable of imprisoning the soul in an existence without life, without anything good, and without hope: hell by any measure. The meaning of holding to a faith that is true is the primary reason why anyone's statement of which church split off from which other has any significance at all; the issues go as deep as the schisms. The first ceiling-high, five-leveled Russian iconostasis was designed by Andrey Rublyov in the cathedral of the Dormition in Vladimir in 1408. a priest cannot celebrate alone, but must have at least a chanter present and participating). There are seven councils authoritatively recognised as ecumenical: There are also two other councils which are considered ecumenical by some Orthodox. The separation from God caused the loss of (fall from) his grace, a severing of mankind from his creator and the source of his life.
[133] But Holy Tradition did not change, because "that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all" remained consistent, without additions, and without subtractions. [119] They refer to the Bible as Holy Scripture, meaning writings containing the foundational truths of the Christian faith as revealed by Christ and the Holy Spirit to its divinely inspired human authors.
In the Eastern Orthodox view, the Assyrians and Orientals left the Orthodox Church in the years following the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431) and the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451), respectively, in their refusal to accept those councils' Christological definitions.
Partially recognized autocephaly by Constantinople, the Church of Greece, and Alexandria.
For example, their salvation of mankind is an activity engaged in common: "Christ became man by the good will of the Father and by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, they will fast completely from food and drink from the evening of the previous day (usually sunset on Saturday if communing on Sunday).
The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the God-bearer, honoured in devotions.
Members of the church are fully united in faith and the sacred mysteries with all Orthodox congregations, regardless of nationality or location. It is rational and reasoned, but is not arrived at only by means of deductive reasoning. Up until 1666, when Patriarch Nikon was deposed by the tsar, the Russian Orthodox Church had been independent of the State. Christianity in 9th-century Rus. In a very strict sense, it is not entirely orthodox to call the Holy Scriptures the "Word of God".
At these crucial moments in the history of the church, it found itself able to rebuild on the basis of the faith as it was kept and maintained by monastic communities, who subsisted without reliance on the community of the state or popular culture and were generally unaffected by the materialism and rhetoric that often dominated and threatened the integrity and stability of the urban churches. The Eastern Orthodox communion is organised into several regional churches, which are either autocephalous ("self-headed") or lower-ranking autonomous (the Greek term for "self-governing") church bodies unified in theology and worship.