The person of Jesus Christ is the center of the Scripture and of the Church. In him there is the whole truth concentrated; everything is summed up in Him, the whole man, the whole matter, the Creation and at the same time the whole God. The dogma of the fourth ecumenical synod at Chalcedon, according to which Christ is perfect God and perfect Man is the kernel of the Orthodox faith. So, an Orthodox is the one who in an absolute way insists to unite himself with God and who insists also on the Creation's acceptance of the whole God on its fulfillment transfiguration and deification through life of God. By saying Creation we mean every single aspect of life, every human act, everything except human sin.
It is obvious that Orthodoxy concerns immediately and essentially the whole world, the whole inhabited earth. Its nature is ecumenical and catholic. Christianity appeared on earth showing the same ecumenical and catholic dimensions. The kerygma of the Apostles was the overcoming of every division and restrain. It provided the elimination and the overcoming of all political, religious, social or any other kind of establishment.
The Gospel brought a new catholic look of life. Christians saw men in a new and different way. Until then, men were "neighbors" or "foreigners", Greeks or barbarians, Romans or non-Romans, free men or slaves, men or women. It was the first time in the history of mankind that man saw his fellowman simply and profoundly as a human being. And he understood that every other man is his "brother". So, agape, charity, common life were not duties. They did not mean obedience to a more perfect law-religion, but they were the offspring of this new look of life. The whole ecumene became a family. Christians brought another great message to the world. It was the message of the overcoming of Death, the radical hope and optimism, the complete affirmation in life. It was the first time that such a message was heard on earth. It is about the union of mortal with the immortal, of man with God, about the real catholicity. In this way man's soul and body, matter and spirit, are united. No dualism exists.
-Panagiotis Nellas
Through my participation in our Church’s life of worship, I am joined to Christ and become a member of His body and to be a living member of the body of Christ means that I must partake of the qualities of Christ, so that there might take place an “interpenetration” and “exchange of attributes”, as happened with the two natures of Christ. This is achieved through Holy Communion, which makes me, as a member of the body, share in the properties of my Head, with whom I have been united.
-Archim. Aimilianos
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