"We believe that the collective wisdom and understanding of God handed down through the generations is a vital part of our faith--and no less important than Scripture. In addition to Scripture, our faith is understood and celebrated in the Eucharist, through the teaching of the Church Fathers and the Saints, through the doctrines established at the Ecumenical Councils, and through private and communal prayer."

The Holy Orthodox Christian Church was founded by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and maintains an unbroken continuity of faith that began with the Holy Apostles on the day of Pentecost. Throughout its two-thousand-year history, the Church has maintained, defended, and protected the doctrine and worship which was first established by the Holy Apostles and witnessed by their successors.

Those interested in converting to the Holy Orthodox Church hunger for sound doctrine, for the authentic Church of Christ. They desire to return to the Mother Church with the unbroken continuity for over the last two thousand years. They are looking for substance and beauty. They want their children to become Orthodox and a Church that will give them a living faith that they will want to follow.

We find the word "proselytism" in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.  A non-Christian in the early Church who wished to become a Christian and went through religious instruction for three years was known a proselyte. In the Septuagint and the New Testament, it referred to pagan converts to Judaism.

The Emperor could think of nothing but how he might bring Saint Katherine to accept his impious beliefs. Unable to accomplish it he commanded that Katherine be stripped of her purple robe, left naked, and beaten mercilessly with leather straps. For two hours the servants lashed the martyr upon the shoulders and belly until the whole of her virginal body was covered with stripes. The Saint endured with such bravery that those who beheld her could only marvel. After this, that beast ordered that Katherine be cast into prison, permitting her neither food nor drink while he pondered how to put her to death.

Saint Katherine awoke, marveling at what she had seen and heard in the dream. The next morning, she went with a number of her maids to the cell of the holy elder and fell down in tears at his feet. She told him what she had seen in the dream and asked him what she must do to gain the love of Him Whom she so desired. The godly elder (geronda) spoke to her at length of the mysteries of the True Christian faith, beginning with the creation of the world and our forefather Adam and continuing up to the Second Coming of the Master Christ. He told her of the ineffable glory of Paradise and the terrible and eternal torments of hell, and she, being an educated and wise maiden, straightway understood and believed with her whole heart. Then she received Holy Baptism at the elder's hands, and he instructed her to pray fervently to the Most Holy Theotokos as before.