Welcome!
Welcome to the St Tikhon’s Inquirers Class. For the next number of months we’ll be going through the video series “Journey to Fullness”. This is a very brief and basic introduction to what the Orthodox Church believes about herself. This is to help give you, the inquirer, more to go on in your Christians journey and hoefully help you decide if this is a journey you want to continue. If it is, at the end of this class, you’ll be enrolled into the catechumenate, where we’ll study even more about the Church, but more importanly, seek to engage with the spiritual life and the life of the Church in a more robust way! I’m so glad you’re able to join us! If you have any questions, please utilize the slack channel. I’m sure there are many people who might have the same question! Or ask me whenever you need. I can be reached via slack direct message, or my email at sethearl@gmail.com.
Below is a supplemental reading list. Though most of this class will be in person discussion and video, I als would like each of you to read the below books before the class is over. They can be found in our bookstore at St Tikhon.
Supplemental Reading for Inquirers Class
"The most ancient name for Christianity, Metropolitan Kallistos reminds us, is 'the Way' (cf. Acts 19.23;24.22), and it is precisely as the journey that this word implies that he presents the tradition of Orthodox Christianity, its teachings and its practices. The result is not an abstract presentation of 'Orthodoxy,' an outside look at, or description of, its dogmatics, rituals, and ascetic disciplines, compared to and contrasted with others, but an invitation to enter into the way, to begin the journey-and to do so always, into eternity-into the mystery of God through the living experience of the Orthodox Church. As Metropolitan Kallistos often points out, just as undertaking a journey into an unfamiliar land or climbing a mountain requires an experienced and knowledgeable guide, so also an experienced and trusted spiritual guide, a mystagogue, is needed for the spiritual journey, to ascend Mount Sinai and encounter the mysterious God in its darkness, and to climb Mount Tabor and behold the mystery of the transfigured Lord, and to be initiated into the mysteries of the Jerusalem above, our Mother, the Church. The Orthodox Way is such a guide, a book that takes the reader into the very mystery of God, and now speaks to us, in a new century and a new edition."
Orthodoxy for the Non-Orthodox is a concise and clear introduction to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Orthodoxy stands outside of the Protestant/Catholic polarization, and is a mystery to many Western Christians, some of whom have started to search Orthodoxy for new light on their own traditions. Here you will find a survey of the differences between the Eastern and Western churches (as well as their shared teachings), a summary of Orthodox belief, a description of the Orthodox liturgy and the feasts of the church, an introduction to Orthodox spirituality, and a survey of some questions facing Orthodoxy in the contemporary world. This is an excellent "first stop" for anyone who wants to know more about one of the world's largest (and still largely unknown) Christian churches. John Garvey is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America and a columnist for Commonweal.
