Etymologically, it derives from the exact (ὀρθός) formulation and – accordingly – confession of the Christian faith. It was arrived at after long centuries of severe theological disputes between the greatest and most enlightened minds of the Church and the no less well-read (and often the most sincerely believing and convinced of their rightness) representatives of the different understandings of God and His revelation in Christ from the faith of the Church. In these disputes, which sometimes even reached physical clashes, mutilations, exiles and other sentences, the entire repressive apparatus of the Roman state actively participated, taking the side of those who ultimately turned out to be heretics in most cases.
Incidentally, it is often forgotten that the etymology of heresy (αἵρεσις) is absent of negative connotations. The word itself literally means “choice” – a meaning that has expanded over time to that of a philosophical school, a line of thought, an attachment to someone’s teaching, or simply a disagreement. It is only in Christian and ecclesiastical usage that heresy becomes something that is unequivocally evil and condemnable, and the “heretic” – a criminal. However, the classical usage is also preserved in the New Testament. In 1 Cor. 11:19, for example, we still read that “δεῖ γὰρ καὶ αἱρέσεις ἐν ὑμῖν εἶναι, ἵνα οἱ δόκιμοι φανεροὶ γένωνται ἐν ὑμῖν” (“There must also be dissensions among you, so that those who are worthy may become evident among you”). It is very possible that the narrowing of this concept by Christians was done precisely with the aim of different human opinions and views being separated as clearly as possible from the teaching of the Church, which is believed to be God’s and divine.
The faith, unanimously defined by the fathers and teachers of the Church as Orthodox, is set forth in clear and understandable formulations.
Orthodoxy is an occasion not for complacency and self-affirmation, self-indulgence and idealization of the past, but for humility and gratitude because God has deigned to assist in the formulation of the exact creed, in finding the exact words, concepts and expressions describing the mystery of His benevolence towards the human race and the salvation of each of us personally, which surpasses every human mind.
Source in Bulgarian: First Sunday of Lent – Orthodox, by LIVING TRADITION, March 9, 2025, https://dveri.bg/dc6p9.
Illustration: Orthodox icon of St. Marina.
