Resources

These pages are free to read. The parish priest still decides how Holy Trinity's catechumens fast, confess, and are received.

These pages are for study. They paraphrase public teaching from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Orthodox Church in America, and they point to freely available sources. They are not a rule of prayer, a fasting discipline, or a decision about how you will be received. At Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in St. Augustine, the parish priest is the authority for catechumens.

Holy Trinity and the Metropolis

Service times and parish news live on the parish site and in the Sunday bulletin. This portal does not replace them.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, St. Augustine
The parish website: Sunday Orthros and Divine Liturgy, ministries, and the church on County Road 214.
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta
The metropolis of which Holy Trinity is a parish, under Metropolitan Sevastianos.
Metropolis of Atlanta on the Archdiocese site
The Archdiocese directory entry, with the metropolis address and telephone.
Metropolis religious education
Catechism lessons and church-school notes gathered by the Metropolis of Atlanta for its parishes.

The faith, from the Archdiocese

Fr. Thomas Fitzgerald wrote these pamphlets for people learning the Orthodox Church. They are published by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

An introduction to the Orthodox Church
What the name Orthodox means, and how the Eastern Church understands herself.
Teachings of the Orthodox Church
Revelation, the Incarnation, Scripture and Tradition, and the Creed as the Symbol of Faith.
The Nicene Creed
The Creed in the English text the Archdiocese publishes for prayer and the Liturgy.
The sacraments
Baptism, Chrismation, the Eucharist, confession, marriage, ordination, and the anointing of the sick.
Spirituality
Theosis, the Holy Spirit, and why life with God is lived inside the Church.
Becoming an Orthodox Christian
How a person meets the priest, is instructed, and is received by Baptism or by Chrismation.
Department of Religious Education
The Archdiocese office that publishes church-school curriculum and resources for every age.

Worship and the church building

Read these with the Liturgy in front of you on Sunday. The words on the page and the service in the nave teach each other.

Online Chapel
The saint of the day, the fasting rule, the Epistle and Gospel, and the date of Pascha.
Chapel calendar
A month of feasts, saints, readings, and the daily fasting directions.
Orthodox worship
The week, the year, the twelve great feasts, Pascha, and the fasts.
House of God
Narthex, nave, sanctuary, iconostasis, and why the Church uses icons.
Introduction to the Divine Liturgy
A walk through the Liturgy from the opening blessing to Holy Communion.
The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
The text the Archdiocese publishes, including the Creed and the prayers the people hear.
Preparation for Holy Confession
How to examine one's life before confession, and a short prayer of repentance.
Dictionary of Orthodox terminology
The Archdiocese glossary, A through H, including baptism, confession, and the antidoron.
Dictionary of Orthodox terminology, I–Z
Icon, kontakion, narthex, Pascha, prosphora, Theotokos, troparion's cousin the apolytikion, and the Typikon.

The Orthodox Church in America

Fr. Thomas Hopko's The Orthodox Faith is a free four-volume catechism on the OCA site. It is Orthodox teaching from a sister Church, not a second creed.

The Orthodox Faith
Fr. Hopko's series: doctrine and Scripture, worship, history, and spirituality.
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed
Why the Creed is called the Symbol of Faith, and why it is said in the first person.
The Holy Trinity
The table of contents for Fr. Hopko's chapters on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Bible
How the Orthodox Church receives Scripture as the Word of God inside the Church.
Questions and answers
The OCA's pastoral answers on doctrine, worship, the sacraments, saints, and daily life.