Orthodox Christianity Volume I

Foreword by His Holiness Alexei II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Translated from the Russian by Basil Bush
This is the first volume of a detailed and systematic exposition
of the history, canonical structure, doctrine, moral and
social teaching, liturgical services, and spiritual life of the
Orthodox Church. The purpose of this series is to present
Orthodox Christianity as an integrated theological and liturgical
system, in which all elements are interconnected. Theology is
based on liturgical experience, and church art including icons,
singing, and architecture is shaped by theology and the liturgy.
Theology and the services, in their turn, influence the ascetic
practice and the personal piety of each Christian; they shape the
moral and social teaching of the Church as well as its relation
to other Christian confessions, non-Christian religions, and the
secular world.
This volume begins with an account of the historical arc of
the Orthodox Church during the first ten centuries after
Christ s nativity, when the Christians of the east and west shared
a common history. In examining the second millennium, the
author, a hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, delves
deeply into the life of Christianity in Russia, providing a case
study, as it were, of how Orthodoxy can infuse the literature, art,
and philosophy of an entire culture. He then goes on to discuss
the canonical structure of the Orthodox Church, describing the
emergence and development of diocesan structures, metropolias,
and patriarchates, as well as the contemporary structure of
world Orthodoxy and the principle of canonical territory,
which forms the basis of inter-Orthodox relations.