The Orthodox church (Eastern Orthodox [Greek, Russian, etc.] and Oriental Orthodox [Coptic, Syrian, etc.]) is the oldest denomination in the world, but it was not founded by Jesus, and its beginnings are not chronicled in the New Testament. Her history cannot be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Jesus and His twelve apostles. Such a claim to the contrary is a LIE and lies are not becoming of those who profess to belong to King Jesus. Her history can be traced, however, in unbroken continuity all the way back to Emperor Constantine and his “Christianity.”
Rome forfeited its place in the Church of the New Testament, and the Protestant Reformation failed to return to the New Testament Church, but the Orthodox churches also left the Church of the New Testament. Do they meet in homes? Do they repudiate titles and positions of honour? Do they reject the unbiblical division of "clergy" and "laity"? Ergo, the Orthodox church is not the New Testament Church. Large cathedrals, fanciful garb, priests, division of clergy/laity, veneration (reverence) of icons; etc. None of these date to the early, pure Church; they date to the corruption of the Church under Emperor Constantine!
If Orthodox individuals believe that Yahweh God raised Jesus from the dead and confess Him as Yahweh God’s anointed King of the whole Earth and Judge of the living and the dead, earnestly pursuing to live holy lives set apart from sin, then I love them as my brothers and sisters in both the faith and the Spirit. However, if they are the least bit honest with themselves, and with the Scriptures and Church history, they will have to admit that a great deal of the elements they cling to not only cannot be found in Scripture or the early Church, but also cannot be defended from Scripture or the early Church. If any Orthodox priest wants to contact me and debate these issues, I will be waiting.
The Orthodox churches believe themselves to be retaining the practices and traditions of Jesus, the apostles, and the early Church, condemning all other branches of Christendom, from the Roman Catholics to the Protestant Reformers and onward, as having departed New Testament Christianity. They erroneously refer to the elements they hold to as “biblical ideas,” without regard for what the Scriptures actually teach or even what the early Church taught (A.D. 90-300). Let us examine some of their heretical practices and traditions, shall we.
Tradition #1: Why do Orthodox churches have cathedrals? Neither Jesus nor the apostles instituted any kind of temple for believers to meet in. Why? Because we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit! (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:19-22) For the first three centuries, Christians went from house to house meeting in homes. Temples were first introduced to the New Testament Church under and by Emperor Constantine. Orthodox tradition #1 exposed, refuted, rebuked, and condemned.
Tradition #2: Why do Orthodox churches have a division of clergy and laity? Neither Jesus nor the apostles instituted any such division between believers. Read Matthew 23, where Jesus condemns titles of honour and says that if you want to be great you need to be like a slave. Elsewhere He says you need to be like the youngest member of the family. What kind of authority does a slave have? What kind of authority does the youngest member of the family have? Jesus said that "it is not this way among [us]" (Mark 10:42-45). While such divisions began appearing in the latter part of the third century, they became entrenched under Emperor Constantine. Orthodox tradition #2 exposed, refuted, rebuked, and condemned.
Tradition #3: Why do Orthodox churches have priests? Neither Jesus nor the apostles instituted priests because every believer is a priest. Hence “the priesthood of all believers” (1 Pet. 2:5-9). Priests have their origin in pagan religions and the Jewish religion. They are not part of the New Testament Church. The New Testament Church knows only two terms, and neither is an authority over other believers: watchman or overseer (episkope) and ministers or servants (diakonos). Watchmen are also described as elders (presbuteros). Priests were introduced into the New Testament Church under Emperor Constantine. Orthodox tradition #3 exposed, refuted, rebuked, and condemned.
"Our elders are proven men who obtain their position not by purchase, but by established character." —Tertullian
"As to anyone who teaches principles to live by and molds the characters of others, I ask, "Is he not obligated himself to live by the principles he teaches?" If he himself does not live by them, his teaching is nullified. ...His student will answer him like this, "I cannot practice the things you teach, because they are impossible. You forbid me to be angry. You forbid me to covet. You forbid me to lust. And you forbid me to fear pain and death. This is totally contrary to nature; all living creatures are subject to these emotions. If you are so convinced that it is possible to live contrary to natural impulses, first let me see you practice the things you teach so I will know they are possible." ... How will [the teacher] take away this excuse from the self-willed, unless he teaches them by his example, so they can see with their own eyes that the things he teaches are possible? For this very reason, no one obeys the teachings of the philosophers. Men prefer examples to words, because it is easy to speak—but difficult to act." —Lactantius
"[The elder] should be chosen in the presence of the people under the eyes of all, and should be proved worthy and suitable by public judgment and testimony. ...For a proper ordination, all the neighboring overseers throughout the same province should assemble with the congregation. The overseer should be chosen in the presence of the congregation, since they are intimately familiar with his life and habits." —Cyprian
Tradition #4: Why do Orthodox church clergy wear fanciful robes and giant hats? Observe the photo below. Do you think that either Jesus or the apostles ever dressed this way? No, no they did not! None of the early Christians dressed this way. Some Orthodox individuals may attempt to connect the priest and this clothing to Moses and/or the Levites, but this is a false connection. This mode of dress, imitating the officials of Roman government, was instituted under Emperor Constantine. Orthodox tradition #4 exposed, refuted, rebuked, and condemned.
Tradition #5: Why do Orthodox churches "venerate" icons (paintings and statues)? Iconography is idolatry! Have Orthodox churches never read Exodus 20:4-5 or Deuteronomy 5:8-9? "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth." The early Christians repudiated such practices, and yet the Orthodox churches have made it part of their practices and traditions. Why? Because they embraced pagan practices and traditions that trace back to Emperor Constantine. Orthodox tradition #5 exposed, refuted, rebuked, and condemned.
"They call themselves Gnostics. They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material. They maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at the time when Jesus lived among them. They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world. That is to say, they place them with the images of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and the rest. They have also other modes of honoring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles." —Irenaeus, c. 180
"It is with a different kind of spell that art deludes you. . . . It leads you to pay religious honor and worship to images and pictures." —Clement of Alexandria, c. 195
"Ages before, Moses expressly commanded that neither a carved, nor molten, nor molded, nor painted likeness should be made. This was so that we would not cling to things of sense, but pass to spiritual objects. For familiarity with the sense of sight disparages the reverence of what is divine." —Clement of Alexandria, c. 195
"He who prohibited the making of a graven image would never Himself have made an image in the likeness of holy things." —Clement of Alexandria, c. 195
"Works of art cannot be sacred and divine." —Clement of Alexandria, c. 195
"In a word, if we refuse our homage to statues and frigid images, . . . does it not merit praise instead of penalty that we have rejected what we have come to see is error?" —Tertullian, c. 197
"We know that the names of the dead are nothing, as are their images. But when images are set up, we know well enough, too, who carry on their wicked work under these names. We know who exult in the homage rendered to the images. We know who pretend to be divine. It is none other than accursed spirits." —Tertullian, c. 197
"Demons have their abode in the images of the dead." —Tertullian, c. 197
"'Not that an idol is anything,' as the apostle says, but that the homage they render to it is to demons. These are the real occupants of these consecrated images—whether of dead men or (as they think) of gods." —Tertullian, c. 197
"[This disciples of Carpocrates] make counterfeit images of Christ, alleging that these were in existence at the time . . . and were fashioned by Pilate." —Hippolytus, c. 225
Tradition #6: The Orthodox churches think that their services closely relate to the practices of the New Testament Church. Much of their service follows a similar pattern to Roman Catholic Mass and Anglican Holy Communion. Let us put their claim to the test, shall we. Observe how Justin Martyr, who lived from A.D. 110 to 165, described a typical New Testament Church meeting:
"On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place. There the memoirs of the apostles, or the writings of the prophets, are read, for as long as time permits. When the reader is finished, the presiding brother verbal instructs us and urges us to imitate the good things that were read to us.
Next we all rise together and pray. And as I related before, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine [mixed with] water are brought. In like manner, the presiding brother offers prayers and thanksgiving according to his ability. And the people assent, saying, "Amen." Then the bread and wine are distributed to each person, and each partakes. The servants [diakonos] take a portion to those who are absent.
Those who are well to do, and are willing, give what they think fit. The funds collected are deposited with the presiding brother, who helps the orphans and widows, together with others in need because of sickness or any other reason. He also assists the prisoners, and any strangers who happen to be among us. In short, he takes care of all who are in need.
Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common meeting, because it is the first day on which God made the world, having worked a change in the darkness and matter. On this same day, Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead."
First Corinthians chapters 11 through 14 describe what typical meetings looked like, too. The fellowship was centered around a meal. This meal was known as the "love feast." Every member of the Body was allowed to contribute for the edification of the entire Body. "When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." Orthodox tradition #6 exposed, refuted, rebuked, and condemned.
The Orthodox church could benefit greatly from reading and paying attention to not only the New Testament, but the writings of the early Christians from A.D. 90-300. While some the Orthodox church's practices and traditions may trace back to these early centuries, several of them did not exist until Emperor Constantine turned Christianity upon its head and perverted it. A significant portion of their beliefs, practices, and traditions also originate from Augustine (such as the unbiblical idea of Mary being a perpetual virgin despite Scripture stating the opposite). The Orthodox churches have blindly clung to these unbiblical ideas and attempted to defend them via proof text methodology from the Scriptures. If they bothered reading and paying attention to the writings of the early believers, they would find that several of the practices and traditions they cling to, that were borne under Emperor Constantine, are condemned by the early Christians.
I love my brothers and sisters in the Orthodox church. I love and admire the Orthodox church, but they have some soul searching to do. They are not as in line with the teachings, practices, and traditions of the New Testament Church as they would like to think they are. We have just examined six elements where they have departed from the Church of the New Testament. If they are honest in the least, they will have to admit that this is indeed the case. Like every other denomination out there, they have some restitution that they need to do in order to return to the biblical standard of the New Testament Church.
There are no gifts that are "limited to those who lead the Church," as the Orthodox Study Bible claims. No one leads the Church except for King Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, as He is her Head and we are His Body. The Body does not consist of one mouth and many ears, as our denominations today practice (Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:12-31). Any other form of "leadership" is severing the headship of King Jesus and usurping His authority for themselves. He said in Matthew 23 not to call others Leader and not to be called Leader ourselves because hierarchy is not to be named among us as we are all equals. Anabaptists were closer to the biblical New Testament Church in practice than the Orthodox churches ever will be.