Church History in Plain Language

by Bruce L. Shelley

What is Eastern Orthodoxy? Today it is about fifteen distinct churches, mostly in Eastern Europe, bound together by a common faith and a common history. The best starting point for understanding Orthodoxy, however, is probably not its basic doctrines but its holy images called icons. Most westerners can recall those characteristic pictures of the saints with the golden nimbuses encircling their heads. These are basic to understanding Orthodoxy. The Orthodox believer who enters his church to attend services, for example, goes first to the iconostasis, the wall of paintings that separates the sanctuary from the nave. There he kisses the icons before taking his place in the congregation. Or a guest who enters an Orthodox home finds an icon hanging in the eastern corner of the living room and bedroom. If he is himself an Orthodox believer he will, upon entering a room, greet the icons first by crossing himself and bowing. Only then will he greet his host.