General notes on Greek Orthodoxy

Some notes I jotted down listening to a Carl Trueman lecture on the Medieval Church:

Greek Orthodox/Eastern Orthodox:
- High view of the Trinity.
- Highly-elaborate ritual and liturgy.
- Importance placed on icons, with theological arguments made for why dieficiation is given to these (vs. perceiving them as graven images)
- To Eastern Orthodox, icons are an idealized, divinized portrait of what they represent, with a theosis present, or a taking of God's power.  With relics, there is something ontalogically transforming the item (similar to the human body of saints, hence why relics are important.)

Of course I disagree with their view of relics, but I did find it interesting to understand a little bit more of the background as to why they believe this.  I visited a Greek Orthodox church ages ago, and noticed the elaborate ritual.  I was impressed by the importance placed on head coverings, as this was something mandated for all women visiting, as the church adhered to a very high-view of I Cor. 11 (in many ways this was important for me in researching deeper into the head covering issue - that, and Sproul's comments on the topic.)

Sproul on Head Covering

Excerpt from Now, That's a Good Question, a book in which R.C. Sproul takes on a number of various theological questions, and particularly a section on Dr. Sproul's thoughts on the relevance of head coverings for today (per the Apostle Paul's instruction in I Cor. 11).  This is free over at Google Books and also on Amazon: