The awaited Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, appeared on earth and lived among men. The God-Man, the New Adam, the Divine Priest and King and Sacrifice, offered Himself up, for our salvation, as it is written in the hymn from the First Hour of the Royal Hours for Holy Friday:
When Thou wast crucified, O Christ, the tyranny of the enemy was destroyed, and his power was trodden down; for neither an angel, nor a man, but Thou Thyself, O Lord, didst save us. Glory be to Thee.
Our Lord came in the spirit of self-sacrificing, co-suffering love in order to enlighten all men and lead them from the darkness of error to the light of truth. Our Lord unambiguously declared to all men of every generation, “ I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
Thus, our Savior is Incarnate Truth, the Way of Salvation and the Source of eternal life.
Our Lord entrusted His uniquely saving teachings to humble fishermen, who He made His Apostles and heralds to the whole world. These men did not come to knowledge through philosophical speculation or intellectual artifice, but by humility and grace-filled illumination of the Holy Spirit.
For example, our Savior granted this illumination unto the Apostles at the time of His resurrection, saying:
“…These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus ought Christ to have suffered, and rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:44-47)
On another occasion after He arose from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ told the Apostles, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of time.” (Matt 28:19-20)
These God-chosen men were granted the grace of the New Testament Priesthood at Holy Pentecost, and they went out unto the world and “hazarded their lives” (Acts 15:26) in a spirit of self-sacrificing love to preach the singular eternal truth of the Gospel of Christ, and many were converted. From that time each local Church strove to preserve “all things whatsoever our Lord commanded them.” Saint Paul referred to these teachings in his Epistle to the Thessalonians, when he said, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” (2 Thess. 2:15.)
In the Orthodox Church we refer to these teachings of all things whatsoever our Lord commanded as “Apostolic Tradition” in some instances, and as “Holy Tradition” in others.
Only the Orthodox Church has maintained the Holy Traditions of the Apostles unbroken from the time of the Apostles and only the Orthodox Church has the key to understanding what the Gospels and Epistles actually mean.
The New Testament is a sacred text, but it can be misinterpreted. There is only one source of Divine Knowledge in the world, and it is the one Church established by the Apostles. The Orthodox Church, the Church of the living God, is the “pillar and ground of truth.” (1Tim 3:15)
The Church established by the Apostles throughout the world is known as the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. She is One, insofar as there is only one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. (Eph 4:5) She is Holy, insofar as the grace of the Holy Sacraments are to be found in the New Testament priesthood of the Church. She is Catholic, insofar as she preserves fullness of that Faith, the only Truth, that is to be believed everywhere, always, and by all. (Cf. St. Vincent of Lerins Chapter 4 of the Commonitorium) She is Apostolic, insofar as she maintains that Holy Apostolic Tradition, that has been handed down from the Holy Apostles through the bishops until the present day and to the end of the world.
The Church is the steward of Grace and dispenser of the Mysteries, all of which aim at the salvation of their participants. The Apostles themselves taught that the authority to teach abides within the Church, that God acts through His Church, as St. Paul wrote: “And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” (1 Cor. 12:28)
Saint Peter wrote to the faithful Christians of his time regarding the importance of keeping the doctrine given unto us by Christ and preserved by the Apostles, saying:
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” (2Peter 1:20-21, 2:1)
In our day, the proponents of the pan-heresy of Ecumenism overturn Apostolic Tradition by teaching that Christ’s Church is not one, but rather that it is divided into so-called branches which differ in doctrine and way of life and they do not distinguish the priesthood and mysteries of the Church from those of the heretics. This is completely inconsistent with the dogma of the Orthodox Church and Apostolic Tradition. Sadly, the so-called official Orthodox Churches participate in the pan-heresy of Ecumenism and are members of the World Council of Churches.
Consequently, we of the Traditionalist Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians (GOC) of Greece follow the Julian Calendar and we do not maintain communion in the sacraments with those who participate in the ecumenical movement. This is not because of a factional spirit or a lack of “love,” and it is not because of an interest in setting forth any new teaching. Rather, we wish to preserve the Deposit of Faith we have received from the Holy Fathers of the Church, which they received from the Holy Apostles themselves.
This is a website of the local Metropolis of Toronto, a diocese of the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians (GOC) of Greece under his Beatitude Archbishop Kallinikos I of Athens. Our Metropolis is one of the three dioceses that make up the local eparchial Synod of the GOC in America, with Metropolitan Demetrius as its president.
Our goal and the goal of this website is to proclaim Traditional Orthodoxy.