The Orthodox Church does not worship graven images or practice idolatry ☦️

The Orthodox Church is the only Church on earth that can trace its worship directly back to Christ and the Apostles in an unbroken historical line. Orthodox worship goes back even further to the Old Testament Tabernacle (Exodus 25-30) and Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 5-6). God commended the Children of Israel to make a Tabernacle so that He “may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8-9).

The Tabernacle contained a Naive or “Holy Place,” a table of showbread, the seven-branched golden candlestand, an altar of incense, and a veil or Iconostasis with ICONS of Cherubim embroidered on it that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:31-33; Hebrews 9:1-5). The walls and doors of the Temple were covered with “figures of cherubims” (1 Kings 6:29-35).

The Tabernacle also had an Altar or “Holy of Holies,” which contained the Ark of the Covenant with two golden winged angelic Cherubim facing each other and the Mercy Seat on top. The Ark of the Covenant contained RELICS: the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, the jar of manna, and Aaron’s budded rod.

All these elements are still present in the 2000-year-old Orthodox Church to this very day. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

It is of note that our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Apostles all frequently WORSHIPPED (Matthew 26:55; Mark 14:49; Luke 24:53; Acts 3:1) and PREACHED (Matthew 21:14-15, 23; Luke 20:1; Acts 2:46; Acts 5:42; Acts 21:26-28) in the Temple, which was identically patterned after the Old Testament Tabernacle (1 Kings 5-6). Even after Christ ascended into heaven, the Holy Apostles “were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God” (Luke 24:51-53). Our Lord Jesus Christ said that the Temple was God’s house and a “house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). Even the gold of the Temple was sanctified (Matthew 23:17)!