Entering the Order

• The Oriental Orthodox Order exists to express Christianity as a sapiential or wisdom tradition based upon the original vision and teachings of Yeshua (Jesus).

• It provides a pathway of understanding and practice that allows its many friends and members to live out this teaching in fellowship with the hidden Master at the level of the heart.

• The Order has been formed in solidarity with all the saints, sages, and spiritual beings across the centuries and through the great sacred traditions. It feels its kinship to these.

• It exists as a lineage of transmission that emphasizes transformational wisdom in order to bring balance to one’s outer life and inner progression in such a way that humans become wise beings in their own life and practice.

• It wishes to express hospitality, generosity of heart, and solidarity of spirit with all living beings in such a way that it manifests all realities, seen and unseen, as a web of interconnected wholeness.

• It exists to serve the life of this world and the life of the worlds to come.

• Members of the Order are committed to a traditional understanding of theoria (gaining contemplative insight through study and prayer) and praxis (embodying that understanding in life through contemplative practice) as both the goal and means of its inner work in the form known as Interiorized Monasticism.

• Fundamental to this understanding of spiritual practice is the awareness of the need for an inner orientation to the vertical axis of divine transcendence and immanence while seeking to live meaningfully and mindfully along the horizontal axis of space and time.

• Individual members of the Order live in solidarity with fellow pilgrims on a wisdom path, and seek to strengthen their ties and commitment to that larger community through common work, ongoing study, and regular periods of contemplative prayer.

• Those in association with the Order may also maintain parallel commitments to other churches, institutions, spiritual orders, or religious traditions while following the particular practices of the Order’s wisdom path.

• Members of the Order are encouraged to express loving service to the world through one of the fourfold archetypes: the Way of the Teacher, the Way of the Warrior, the Way of the Healer, and the Way of the Visionary.

• The Oriental Orthodox Order is a network of individuals and communities (sometimes called a priory) who live in voluntary relationship with one another to support a wisdom path.

• Without coercion or creed the Order extends membership to those members who, committing themselves to the path of personal transformation following the wisdom of Yeshua, wish to align themselves with its vision and work.

• The membership of the Order is guided by those principles and practices available through its founding documents such as the Pledge of a World Christian and Guidelines for a Rule of Life.

• The life of this Order and its affiliated communities is sustained by abbots, priors, and priests who oversee its growth and give guidance to its development.

• The Order is maintained by a yearly gathering of its friends, members, and fellow monks to make decisions about its continued life and governance.

The Oriental Orthodox Order in the West was established under the guidance and direction of is bishops and abbots as a direct transmission from the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church of the East.

From its historical roots in the Middle East, members of the Order are found across North America, in particular, as a network now of priories and associated groups that hold or continue similar lineage, or which support these common goals and values.