Frequently Asked Questions
Have a Question?
This is a brand new website so we haven't gotten many questions yet! Let us know what your questions are and we will continue to work on this page! :)
Who are Iakabos and Amelia?
For those of you who know us from our previous blog or in real life, you might not recognize our new blog names. When we were chrismated (welcomed into the Orthodox Church) we recieved new names to reflect our membership in the Christian community.
Iakabos and Amelia are our "church names" and we have decided to celebrate our new identity as Orthodox Christians by using these names on our blog.
What is Holy Tradition?
OrthodoxWiki defines Holy Tradition this way:
"Holy Tradition is the deposit of faith given by Jesus Christ to the Apostles and passed on in the Church from one generation to the next without addition, alteration or subtraction. Vladimir Lossky has famously described the Tradition as "the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church." It is dynamic in application, yet unchanging in dogma. It is growing in expression, yet ever the same in essence.
Unlike many conceptions of tradition in popular understanding, the Orthodox Church does not regard Holy Tradition as something which grows and expands over time, forming a collection of practices and doctrines which accrue, gradually becoming something more developed and eventually unrecognizable to the first Christians. Rather, Holy Tradition is that same faith which Christ taught to the Apostles and which they gave to their disciples, preserved in the whole Church and especially in its leadership through Apostolic Succession."
Please also read this article by Fr Lawrence Farley "Sola Scriptura".
What church body did you belong to before Orthodoxy?
Iakobos was born into and raised in the LCMS, educated at a Concordia University and at Concordia Theological Seminary. Amelia was born into the ELCA but her family left for the LCMS in her childhood. She also was educated at a Concordia University.
What are the Lutheran Confessions?
The Book of Concord, also known as the Lutheran Confessions, is a collection of documents that form the doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church historically and was published in 1580 as a way of bringing an end to doctrinal controversies that had raged in the lands of the Reformation. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod subscribes to this book because they believe it agrees with the teaching of Scripture.
Do you have resources for helping me understand the Orthodox Christian Faith better?
Yes! Go to our resources tab which has a page for The Orthodox Faith.
What Orthodox Blogs do you recommend?
There are a lot out there! But I always recommend at least these two:
Glory to God for All Things
Why We Blog
Life is hard and God did not intend for us to go it on our own. Through this blog we are richly blessed by the people He has brought into our life; and maybe, in some small way, we can encourage others who struggle with similar challenges.