The Orthodox Church

An Introduction to Eastern Christianity

By: Timothy Ware

Narrated by: Jonah Martin

The understandable, deeply authoritative and bestselling book on the Orthodox Church, in a fully updated and revised Third Edition.

Since its first publication fifty years ago, Timothy Ware's book has become established throughout the English-speaking world as the standard introduction to the Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy continues to be a subject of enormous interest among western Christians, and the author believes that an understanding of its standpoint is necessary before the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches can be reunited. In this revised and updated edition he explains the Orthodox views on such widely ranging matters as Ecumenical Councils, Sacraments, Free Will, Purgatory, the Papacy and the relation between the different Orthodox Churches.

This audiobook is expertly read by Jonah Martin, with audio engineering by Blake Rook. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

©1963, 1991 The Metropolitan Kallistos Foundation (P)2025 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

The true meaning of the Orthodox Church

I had this book and was excited to see it was finally available here. I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking to go deeper into the Christian faith.

Reading this was long overdue

Considering when, in the life of the late Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, he wrote this book, it is wonderful. God bless him.

It has helped countless people discover, learn about, and even consider joining the Church.

This was a precursor to his deeper understanding and teachings as time went on. His time with us on earth was a gift.

good overview

I think the book was mostly good. It dove into the historical portion of orthodox Christianity. A bit too long as someone who has read or listened to a few orthodox books. I was looking for something outside of historical revalency, and also how the church correlates with other churches and denominations still worth the listen, if this is possibly your first time diving into orthodoxy would be better if it was a bit shorter.

The Orthodox Church

I read this book 20 years ago and found it helpful to my infant orthodox faith- now re reading the update version seemed pointless- fist half gave good history of orthodox churches failings and problems in history - which is always important for context in avoiding assigning blame in long ago historical disputes -but didn’t not state forth conclusions - and second half spent a ton of time on the fringe liberal side of orthodoxy. While the old book gave a solid non biased explanation of orthodoxy for young Orthodox and non orthodox alike - this version seemed to water down Doctrinal and practical differences to nothing important and bring forward a more palatable worldly version of the ancient faith for readers as to not upset them. Really disappointed- Rock a Sand is much more forward and I appreciated it more for where i am at today.

Disagree with the theology

Disagree with most of the theology, but appreciate the history and explanation of stances by the author