Next week we will be discussing the last four sections of the Nicene Creed. These sections include a discussion of the Church, Baptism, and the Resurrection of the Dead. If you do not have the book, go
here for the reading.
The question of "what is the Church?" should be at the forefront of every American Christian's search for the "true Church." As always, Holy Scriptures should be our first place to look for this, and both the Gospels and Epistles certainly address the issue.
St. Ignatius of Antioch is the next of our classical sources for understanding the Church.
Here is his letter to Smyrna, which is particularly relevant to this discussion, and
here is an article (a little heady, perhaps), which helps pull together some of his teachings on the Church.
St. Cyprian of Carthage is another saint who wrote about the nature of the Church. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press has published a book of his writings "On the Church," which you can buy on Amazon
here.
. This was a great book for being able to look up a lot of the various symbols, wonderworking icons, vestments and so on that can be found in the Orthodox Church. As of right now, its not available on Amazon, but you might check this link down the road, because its a great resource for your home library.
