Document sans titre
What is Orthodoxe Church ?
 

Christ Pantocrator

The advent of the Orthodox Church goes back to Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost went down over Christ's disciples, to lead them to "the very whole truth". They formed only one fraternal group among others, as Palestine knew some at this period. They had accompanied Christ since his Baptism in the Jordan until his "Passion" and his "Resurrection".

When he descended over the Apostles, the Holy Spirit transformed this community into a Church, a holy catholic and apostolic church, in which is alive the plenitude of the truth. The Orthodox Church claims this truth, faithful as the heritage of the Apostles and Fathers who followed them.

In this continuity without any rupture, the Orthodox Church, more than the framework formed by its hierarchy, is the whole of the people of God. Unites with Christ by the sanctification of the baptism and the division of the eucharist.

The orthodox Clergy includes three major orders : the episcopate, the priesthood and the diaconate. The clergy may marry except for the monks and the bishops are chosen among the monks.

The basic structure of the Church is the diocese. The episcopate is the most significant ministry ("Where is the bishop, there is the Church."). The Orthodox Church is thus conciliar. It speaks in the name of the bishops' assembly, brought together in synods or councils.

In this will of communion, the church is made up of several independent churches, controlled by a synod of bishops, and this synod is chaired by a Patriarch. There are 13 independent churches today. These churches are in narrow communion the ones with the others and are bound by the eucharistic liturgy, in the Holy Spirit dynamics.

The parish of "Saint Côme and Saint Damien" of Avignon, depends on the oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, whose leader is Its Bartholomée Holiness 1st.