Paul Vickers, October, 2024
‘Orthodox catechism refers to the systematic instruction and
education of individuals in the fundamental beliefs, practices, and
traditions of Orthodox Christianity’
There are now a huge number of resources and instructional materials to be found in English to help the enquirer and catechumen learn more about the Orthodox faith and practice. Many of them are solid and come from reliable sources, others come from less reputable corners of the Orthoweb, and the unwary enquirer can, if not careful, be led into the dark recesses of dangerous rigorist and uncanonical views, promoted by self-appointed experts (the “Orthobros”, “Cyberdox”, or “Hyperdox”) or argumentative “priests” under no identifiable episcopal authority.
Below are some resources I have found to be helpful in my own journey. Using a variety of different approaches they cover many topics
that those new to the faith seek out. Some of the resources take a very deep dive into narrow topics, while others are less demanding (of time and/or brain power) and provide an accessible introduction to key ideas and concepts.
I have grouped these resources into books, podcasts, and videos.
Books
There are many books I have read that I could recommend, but here are some I found particularly helpful. All of the ones published by Ancient Faith Publishing have cheaper e-book versions available from www.orthodoxchristianebooks.com.
‘The Orthodox Church’, Timothy (Kallistos) Ware — I found this a really easy read and the first section on Church history was an unexpected page turner. However, I also know people who found it a bit heavy going in which case I would start with book 3 below.
‘The Orthodox Way’, Kallistos Ware — This is a more demanding read than the previous book as it is quite detailed in its treatment of theology.
‘The Orthodox Church’, Katherine Clark (Simple Guides series) — This is a really accessible and short introduction to the faith in the form of a tourist’s guide. Great for someone who just wants to get straight to some of the basic facts and get a sense of what the Orthodox faith and the Orthodox Church are.
‘Religion of the Apostles’ by Fr Stephen De Young — a short book that shows how the Orthodox Christian Church of today is a continuation of the religious life of the apostles, which in turn was a continuation of the life of the people of God since the beginning of creation.
‘Arise, O God: The Gospel of Christ’s Defeat of Demons, Sin, and Death’ by Fr Andrew Stephen Damick — another short book which has the sole purpose of explaining what the term ‘gospel’ means and how the Protestant ‘sales pitch’ approach of preaching the gospel distorts our understanding.
‘The Whole Counsel of God’ by Fr Stephen De Young — another short book which helps readers to understand what the bible is, how it takes the form in which we have it today, and the position it holds in the Orthodox faith. Helpful for all, but especially for Protestants who come from a sola scriptura background.
‘Thinking Orthodox’, Eugenia Constantinou — I bought this to help me understand more fully the concept of phronema in Orthodox faith and practice. The first 60% was really helpful but I found the second 40% a bit tougher to chew through.
‘Introduction to Eastern Orthodox Theology’, by Fr Andrew Louth — as a transcription of a series of lectures, this doesn’t read like a standard book and might be a bit too academic for some. For me the section dealing with the two arcs of salvation described by Western and Orthodox Christianity was worth the cover price alone.
‘Beginning to Pray’ by Met. Anthony Bloom — Prayer is a multifacted concept and this short book really helps to contextualise the practice within Orthodox tradition.
‘When You Fast’ by L. Joseph Letendre — explains the discipline of fasting in the Orthodox tradition.
‘Coming Closer to Christ: Confession and Forgiveness’ by Metrpolitan Anthony of Sourozh — a short volume containing a collection of some of Metrpolitan Anthony’s essays and lecture transcripts covering the question of why we hold the discipline of confession to be so important. Useful for someone preparing to make their life confesstion prior to baptism/chrismation.
Videos
First of all, a caveat: one has to be really careful when relying on YouTube videos about the Orthodox faith as there are many ‘Cyberdox’ out there who are ultra rigorists who can fill enquirers’ minds with despair. Some of the better ones I have found are:
‘Welcome to the Orthodox Church’. All the videos are really short (around 3-5 minutes) and are presented by Frederica Mathewes-Green who is an excellent communicator. Her husband is an Orthodox priest but used to be an Episcopalian priest. Here’s the link for the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxcntdlvObPgDGgBg1mYsUxnfGcyTBKcc
The Protecting Veil channel has a playlist titled ‘Orthodoxy 101’ and another titled ‘For Enquirers to Orthodox Christianity’, both of which contain a set of short (5–6 minutes) videos covering different aspects of the faith. See https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLICaxWzRyjJuUsI-MBUx2hK0tF5xWJGBK and https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLICaxWzRyjJv2fdg21LJcfqzIRkgcqX6p
respectively.Fr Seraphim’s channel for the Mull Monastery has some helpful videos: https://www.youtube.com/@mullmonastery
St Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church in Stafford, VA, USA has a very good YouTube channel. One playlist of note is a series of talks by Metropolitan Jonah on Prayer and Inner Stillness. This playlist will take several hours to complete but will reward you with coverage in some depth of the Jesus Prayer, the nature and role of the nous, stillness, and so on.
Podcasts
Too many to list, but here are some I think are particularly useful. They’re all from Ancient Faith Radio (apart from the last two, I think) and so they have an imprimatur of authority and episcopal oversight. I can provide links to other podcasts covering other topics if you would like them.
There’s a really helpful podcast by Lynette Horner titled ‘Walking an Ancient Path’. Lynette is a former evangelical/charismatic Christian who became Orthodox around ten years ago. In this podcast, and especially in the earlier episodes, she has a recurring theme of stumbling blocks, those elements of the Orthodox faith that are the common barriers Protestants face when exploring the faith (icons, praying to the saints, relics, etc.) Each episode is around 30 minutes or less, so not as demanding as the Lord of Spirits. 🙂 Here’s the link: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/walkinganancientpath.
‘Our Life in Christ’ is an older podcast (2004–2009) but covers a lot of topics that enquirers and catechumens will find helpful (asking the saints’ intercession, the place of Mary, and so on). It’s not quite as convenient a package as Lynette Horner’s podcast above, but selected episodes could be chosen as homework listening. Link: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/ourlife/.
Fr Andrew Stephen Damick’s ‘Orthodoxy and Heterdoxy’ is a podcast I found incredibly helpful in getting an overview of the differences between the Orthodox faith and other Christian traditions, non-Christian sects (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Christian Science), and other religions. It’s based upon his book of the same title, though the most recent edition of the book has some differences in content. Link here: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/orthodoxyheterodoxy
For those who like a really deep dive I heartily recommend the podcast ‘Lord of Spirits’ by Fr Andrew Stephen Damick and Fr Stephen De Young. The overarching theme of the podcast is to break the materialist worldview that so many Western Christians as well as atheists hold to. The episode ‘The Priest Shall Make Atonement’ was really helpful for me in understanding the Orthodox position on what Christ did on the cross in opposition to the Western position of penal substitutionary atonement. The episode on Sacred Geography will help you to understand why we pray to the East, how the Divine Liturgy actually takes place in Eden and in the Kingdom of Heaven, how the service at Pascha is a real participation in, and not a reenactment of, Christ’s harrowing of Hades, and so on. Each episode is pretty long (2–3 hours) but will reward the keen listener. Link: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits
‘At the intersection of East and West’ by Fr Deacon Dr Michael Hyatt is a series of recorded teachings presented by Fr Michael to his adult Sunday School class. It covers a bunch of typical catechetical topics as well as some book studies. Link: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/eastwest
‘Daily Orthodox Scriptures’ by Fr Alexis Kouri does what it says on the tin. It’s a reading through of the Orthodox Study Bible in one year plus a short homiletical reflection at the end of each day’s readings. Each day comprises one OT reading, an excerpt from the Psalms, a section from Proverbs, and a NT reading. I’ve been using this myself for over three years now. Link: https://dailyorthodoxscriptures.com/
‘Enacting the Kingdom’ by Fr Yuri Hladio and Fr Geoffrey Ready. This is not for the faint hearted, but if anyone wants a really deep dive into understanding the Orthodox liturgies then this is it. They’re currently on Season 7. For an idea of what they do, Season 1 was 40 episodes devoted entirely to discussing the service of Vespers. Link: https://www.enactingthekingdom.com/. More recently they did a really helpful series on how to realistically incorporate the prayers of the hours in our daily lives.