What is the Orthodox Church?
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The Orthodox Christian Church (also often referred to as the “Eastern Orthodox Church” or simply “the Orthodox Church”) is the Church that Christ promised, the Holy Spirit established, and the Apostles first led. The Orthodox Christian Church has a continuous 2,000-year history from the time the Apostles until today with an unbroken history of administration, doctrines, and worship. This means that Orthodox Christians never need worry that their children or grandchildren will find themselves in an Orthodox Christian Church that has beliefs that they did not or that they removed beliefs that they do hold. Today, there are many different denominations in Christianity. The denominations have definitive beginnings that can be dated long after 33 AD, the date of the founding of the Church on Pentecost by the Holy Spirit. These denominations are typically groups that splintered off of other denominations due to disagreements about leadership, doctrine, and worship. If you were to reverse time, you would see a process of these splintered groups re-connecting to one another, little by little, until you were left with just one Church. This is the Orthodox Christian Church. Every denomination today, therefore, can find its original existence – devoid of doctrinal diversity and confusion – in a unified Church that traces its roots to the time of the Apostles. If any denomination cannot find a continuous line that traces its current existence back to an Apostolic founder, then it simply cannot be the one, true Church.
(excerpt from Sts. Peter & Paul Orthodox Church)