What is THE WAY?
*You will find below resources for organising THE WAY course, as well as recordings of the twelve talks of the course (bottom of this page). Since the work of digitising the course for web use and uploading all resources online has involved many hours of work and significant expenses, we kindly suggest that you make a donation to our Institute if you plan to use THE WAY – either in your parish or for your personal use.
THE WAY is the outreach programme of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge. It is a 12-session course that aims to introduce the Orthodox Christian faith to adults in Orthodox communities or belonging to other traditions. The course can be organised in parishes or groups, following the original instructions of the course (to be found below) or can be used for personal use as an introduction to the Orthodox Christian tradition.
In its early days, THE WAY was presented with success, in London, Manchester and Cambridge (UK), Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), Boulder, Colorado (USA) and Singapore. After its publication the course has been adopted in its current form by the Patriarchate of Romania as its main adult catechization programme and was organised widely in the Archdiocese of Bucharest as well as in other parts of the country. A Greek version is also currently being prepared for distribution and presentation across Greece.
Please see below for more information on the structure of THE WAY, the methodology for organising it in groups, as well as resources that facilitate the running of the course.
The course topics
The titles of the twelve talks are:
- The Search for Faith
- God the Holy Trinity: “The Lover of Mankind”
- Being Human: Fully Alive
- Why Did Jesus Come to Us?
- Salvation in Christ
- The Holy Spirit
- What on Earth is the Church? Isn’t God Enough?
- Living the Faith: (1) The Divine Liturgy – “A Pearl of Great Price”
- Living the Faith: (2) The Holy Mysteries
- Living the Faith: (3) The Bible, Prayer, and Fasting
- Living the Faith: (4) Christian Behaviour
- “Heaven on Earth”: Members of the Church and Citizens of Heaven
Who is the course for?
The course is taught in English and was initially designed for people between 18 and 45 who had completed secondary school. In practice, it has been enjoyed by those of all ages and attainments, people with considerable Christian knowledge or very little, those from a variety of racial backgrounds, by Orthodox wanting to better understand their faith, by other Christians seeking to know more, and by those of goodwill who have a curiosity as to what Christians believe.
What is THE WAY course’s authority?
THE WAY derives its authority to teach from the blessing given to the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies by those Orthodox bishops with responsibilities in Great Britain.
The course was put together by members of the Organizing Committee who come from Greek, Russian and Antiochian congregations in Great Britain, the United States, Australia and Greece, while its workers have been drawn from almost all the ethnic Orthodox churches in Great Britain. Its origins are therefore pan-Orthodox.
Texts of the talks were vetted by Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (Ware) and ongoing revisions and expansions have been scrutinized by him.
Who were the original organizers?
The following have been Members of the Organizing Committee:
- His Grace Bishop Theodoritos of Nazianzus
- Father Raphael Armour
- Mrs Carolyn Armour
- Father Demetrios Bathrellos
- Mr John Bazlinton
- Dr George Bebawi
- Miss Gladys Bland
- Dr Christine Mangala Frost
- Professor David Frost (Founding Director)
- Father Michael Harper
How to organize a Course presentation
How to run THE WAY in a parish context (click here for a PDF document with details)
Other resources for running THE WAY
Recorded talks of THE WAY:
*These talks were delivered by the original contributors of THE WAY (with one exception)