Orthodoxy has a largely uniform series of beliefs which have remained unchanged for the centuries. Believing that we are to safeguard the teachings and traditions of the Apostles and to pass on the deposit of faith to successive generations, we do not change our beliefs to accomodate - indeed, we cannot, because they are not ours to change.
It must be said at the outset that knowledge about Orthodoxy can only be seen as beneficial, but it is only part of the life in Christ: to experience the early Church living today, come and visit us.
On this webpage, we intend to offer a catechism of the Orthodox Church, looking at the Bible, the Sacraments and services of the Church, some notable saints, and Church History, among other important aspects of the Church. In addition to this offered catechism, we highly recommend the books The Orthodox Church and The Orthodox Way, both by Timothy Ware (now Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia in Oxford, England); these are the classic texts for newcomers to the Faith. Both of these are available from our Parish Lending Library and many public libraries.
Even a basic catechism of the Orthodox Church is quite thorough, and the complete catechism designed for this website has not yet been finished. As each section is completed, however, we intend to post it on this page, and we invite you to look at the components that are available.
— Synaxarion: St Barnabas, Patronal Saint
This page looks at St Barnabas the Apostle, commemorated on June 11 with St Bartholomew, the reasons that he was chosen by our parish to be the patron saint, and gives his troparion, life story and references made to him in Scripture.
— Theology: An Orthodox Understanding of Sin
The Orthodox Church views sin in a profoundly different way to what most people have previously heard; we also do not accept the concept behind 'Original Sin' (even going so far as to call it by other names, such as the 'ancestral sin') and affects our understanding of many doctrines (e.g. the Immaculate Conception).
— Sacraments: Baptism and Chrismation
Following Christ's injunction to 'baptise all nations', the Church has taken both baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, or Chrismation, as being the first sacraments that a person will enter into upon being received into the Orthodox Church.
— Sacraments: Communion and the Divine Liturgy
Following the example that Christ gave us in the Last Supper, and the injunction that we must all eat Christ's body and blood, the Church has practised Holy Communion from the time of the Acts of the Apostles to the present day. The theology of the Eucharist is on the first page, while the Liturgy, for the sake of formatting, is on the second.
— Sacraments: Confession
Following Christ's words to His disciples, that "if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven", the Church has practised the Sacrament of Confession. Far from being a sign of clericalism, the early Church practised public confession; after the legalisation of Christianity, the Church then began to practise confession where the priest was the representative of the Church, being the hands through which God forgave a person.
— Services of the Sanctification of Time.
This page looks at the other services the Church has to sanctify time, including Midnight, Matins, Vespers, Compline and the Prayers of the Hours, and at the variable components within each service.
— Church History: the First Century to the Fourth Century
This period covers from the Apostles and their missionary journeys, early Jewish-Christian relations, state persecutions of Christianity, the Apostolic Fathers, the rise of Logos Theology, the struggle against Gnosticism, the first description of the Divine Liturgy; figures such as St Justin Martyr, St Athanasius of Alexandria, St Anthony the Great, Arius and Eusebius of Nicomedia; the conversion of the Roman Empire, the rise of monasticism and the first two Ecumenical Councils.
— Church History: Asceticism and Monasticism
This is an article regarding the ascetic tendency in the early Church, followed by the rise of Monasticism during and after the fourth century. This will look at the major areas of monasticism - from Egypt to Syria, Greece, Western Europe and Ireland - and will include figures such as St Anthony the Great, St Pachomius the Great, St Simeon Stylites, St Basil the Great, St John Cassian, St Columbanus and St Benedict of Nursia
— Articles written by our Parish Priest: the Rev. Fr Raymond Smith
Fr Raymond has written some articles especially for the website, which we recommend that readers peruse.
Knowledge about Orthodoxy can only be seen as beneficial, but it is only part of the life in Christ: to experience the early Church living today, come and visit us.
Contact the Parish
P.O. Box 448
Southport 4215
Ph: (07) 5573 7977
E-mail: Fr Raymond
E-mail: Webmaster
Regular Services
Divine Liturgy
Sunday 8am
The Chapel,
18 Tonga Pl, Parkwood
The Parish of Saint Barnabas the Apostle, 2007-2008, is in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand.
Website established as a Directed Project in the St Stephen's Course of Orthodox Theology.
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