The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity

by Timothy Ware, Jonah Martin (Narrator)

The understandable, deeply authoritative and bestselling book on the Orthodox Church, in a fully updated and revised Third Edition.

Since its first publication fifty years ago, Timothy Ware's book has become established throughout the English-speaking world as the standard introduction to the Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy continues to be a subject of enormous interest among western Christians, and the author believes that an understanding of its standpoint is necessary before the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches can be reunited. In this revised and updated edition he explains the Orthodox views on such widely ranging matters as Ecumenical Councils, Sacraments, Free Will, Purgatory, the Papacy and the relation between the different Orthodox Churches.

This audiobook is expertly read by Jonah Martin, with audio engineering by Blake Rook. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction, History

Audible Audio

Published August 8, 2025

About the author

Timothy Ware is the lay name of Kallistos Ware.

Reviews

[Low Profile · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

The first type of this book gives an account of the history of the Church. I have not read any other works on this matter, so I cannot compare it to others, but I think this is a pretty good summary. It discusses the various ages of the Church and how it grew and developed, by region and age. The book, intentionally, I believe, is not supposed to offer super in-depth discussions of each region / era, but I found that it gives a good general understanding. I do think it’s important to have the right mindset / phronema when reading this history. If I were to have been someone reading this book from outside of the Church, I believe it would’ve been easy to have been scandalized. One must recognize that these schisms and divisions between people in the Church come from without, not within. It is not the Church that is divided, but rather the Evil One that seeks to divide those in the Church. These schisms and divisions and such are to be looked at for what they are: demonic attacks on the Church — and not, as the heterodox might claim, signs of its fallibility and proofs of it not being the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

The second half of the book talks more about Orthodox perspectives and the beliefs they hold to, contrasting them against Western ideologies. I found this section also to be beneficial to read. One thing I will say, though, is that I did feel at times that the book voiced or skirted close to voicing Ecumenist rhetoric. I do not mean this as an attack on Metropolitan Ware, though. Rather, I was told by a clergyman that he was a strong voice for Orthodoxy but that in the later versions of his book (such as the one I read), its editors or something like that chose to include more liberal elements. In fact, I have heard that the Metropolitan did not even encourage people to read the newer versions of this book. Perhaps, then, it would be better to read the original edition of it.

Regardless, I still found this book to be good to read from an informational standpoint. I feel like I now have a better understanding of Church history and the uniqueness of Orthodoxy as contrasted to Western practices.

The book ends with a message explaining how the heterodox in the West can actually help / encourage Orthodox to become more erudite in their faiths. In 2026, I feel like we are witnessing a fruition of this in. Orthodox apologists have thrived in the online environment, and many people have come to the faith partially due to their influence, myself included. I am reminded that the seven Ecumenical Councils are too consequent to heresies. Through deceptions of the Enemy, Orthodoxy has been strengthened. In this, we are reminded of the paradoxical victory of the Cross.

Glory to God for all things.

[Joseph O'Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is separated into 2 parts and is the first book I read as an Orthodox inquirer. While necessary and profitable, the first section was quite historically dense. I found myself stumbling over a multitude of names and dates I'll never remember. That's history though, I suppose. This book was very thorough in its explanation of the Great Schism of 1054, which was the best and most profitable part about the first section, and I did take that information in well. The second section was much better. Part 2 did a great job outlining the dogmas of the orthodox church and served as a great intro to the faith. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to someone who isn't super interested in the history of the schism, though.

[Matt D’Aquino · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been wanting to read this book for a while as I have listens to some of Timothy wares sermons and he is great.
I also wanted to know a bit more about the OC.
The first part of this book is the history of the OC and it was a hard hard slog to get through. A ton of names, places and dates that got mixed together into a clump of nothing.

The second half was all about the OC doctrines but I found that the author didn’t fully explain the doctrines well enough. He does mention that Protestant’s are more black and white with doctrines where as the OC leave a bit of wiggle room.

I’ll be reading another OC book after this to further enhance me knowledge.

[Sani Akbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku pengantar tentang Kristen Ortodoks yang bagus, karena nerangin sejarah, dasar teologi, dan ibadah Kristen Ortodoks dengan ringkas tapi lengkap. Di sini penulis juga bisa ngimbangin pandangan dia yang tentunya mengunggulkan agamanya (penulis merupakan pendeta Kristen Ortodoks) dengan cara yang gak berlebihan. Perhatian aja, beberapa istilah mungkin kurang familiar bagi para non-Kristen (termasuk aku), karena bisa aja penulis menujukan bukunya bagi para pembaca Barat yang emang mayoritas Kristen atau memang tumbuh di lingkungan Kristen, jadi perlu berselancar juga di internet tentang beberapa istilah keagamaan. Overall good!

[Mel Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book in two main parts: a broad history of the Orthodox Church and the theology and practice of the Orthodox church. It was well worth the time.
The tone is fairly measured throughout. I would say Ware seems most emphatic or polemical with respect to his passion for ecumenism and the urgency of dialogue towards fellowship with other traditions. Yet he tries to portray all sides of this question.

[Wesley Roen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very helpful for learning about the history of the Orthodox Church, it connected the modern church all the way back to the church of Acts. Explaining different church eras and periods as well as countries conversions and all sorts of developments. It didn’t hide sadder aspects of the history or try to excuse them which i was very fond of. Overall the book is exactly what it is supposed to be and a great read for anyone intrigued in Eastern Orthodoxy.

[Lucas Bradburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful overview. The history section gets a little dense. The last part about the beliefs and practices of the church moves along and is really informative.

[Kenneth Geiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for the inquirer. It’s broad enough to cover a breadth of questions you may have about orthodoxy, yet leaves plenty of room to spark curiosity into further and deeper reading.

[Levi Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

My good friend recently converted to Orthodoxy, and gave me this book. A great resource to understand this branch of our Christian brothers and sisters and their beliefs.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid intro to the history, beliefs, and practices of the EO church.

[Tanner T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful introduction to Holy Orthodoxy, inescapably dry during the large historical periods.

[Cyrus Nelsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit more history than I was expecting, wish there was more theology discussed in the second half. Nevertheless, still a solid book.