The Four Marks of the Church

The Four Marks: One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381 AD) professes that the Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. These four marks are inseparable and are fully realized only in the Orthodox Church, which has preserved unchanged the faith, sacraments, and hierarchical order of the apostolic era.

One

The Church is one because there is only one Christ and one faith. The Orthodox Church maintains this unity through unbroken dogmatic agreement, shared Eucharistic communion, and fidelity to the Seven Ecumenical Councils. Schisms, such as the Roman Catholic schism of 1054 and later Protestant divisions, broke visible unity; Orthodoxy alone has preserved the original undivided Church.

Holy

The Church is holy because its Founder is holy and it possesses the holy mysteries (sacraments) that truly convey divine grace. Orthodox liturgy, ascetic tradition, and unbroken succession of Saints, from the apostles to contemporary elders such as St. Silouan the Athonite and St. Porphyrios, demonstrate that holiness is not merely imputed but actually imparted and lived.

Catholic

Catholic but not Papist. The Church is catholic (καθ’ ὅλου, “according to the whole”) in both fullness and universality.

St. Ignatius of Antioch (107 AD), disciple of the Apostle John, wrote in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans (ch. 8): “Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic Church (ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία).”

For Ignatius, “catholic” is not a later jurisdictional term but the mark of the local Eucharistic assembly in full communion with the apostolic tradition under its bishop. The Orthodox Church fulfills this catholicity: every local Orthodox parish, when gathered around its canonical bishop for the Eucharist, is the whole Church in that place, complete in faith and grace, not a “part” awaiting union with a universal primate. Communion is therefore organic and not mechanical.

Apostolic

The Church is apostolic because it stands on the foundation of the apostles (Eph 2:20), preserving their doctrine without addition or subtraction and maintaining unbroken episcopal succession from the apostles to the present day. Orthodoxy alone has kept the apostolic faith unaltered: no Filioque, no papal infallibility, no post-schism dogmas, while guarding the apostolic succession recognized by the ancient Church.

Thus, the Orthodox Church does not merely possess the four marks; it is their living embodiment, the unchanged continuation of the one Church founded by Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth (John 16:13).