Orthodox Church Field Trip

This afternoon the Theology of the Church class took a trip to St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox Church in South Bend, IN (about 40min from campus). The Father told us all about the Orthodox tradition which was really quite interesting. From what I understand and learned today (correct me if I'm wrong),

• They place a lot of emphasis on Christian history as they believe they are the mother church, the true New Testament chuch (ie. they did not "branch off" as all other faith groups have).
• The great consciousness: they do not change anything about their belief or practice and anyone who tries is removed from the church. There is no flexibility. There are no grey areas. In fact "orthodox" means "right belief."
• They do not worship their icons, rather they venerate them. The church is filled with paintings depicting Jesus Christ, prophets, apostles, and saints.
• The Eucharist is what unites the church as one body and that body to Christ.
• They are a Trinitarian tradition; everything is done in threes.

The more I look at other faith traditions the more I appreciate things about those traditions, but I also have a greater appreciation for my own.