personages: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They practice baptism
by immersion and the laying on of hands to receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. Bread and water, the elements of communion or the Lord’s Supper,
are blessed in a simple manner and all members partake. A unique belief of
the Mormons is the doctrine of vicarious work for the dead, including the
baptism of living proxies in behalf of the dead. They believe that people who
are married in a Mormon temple are married for “Time and Eternity,” and
that children of such marriages keep their position in the family through
eternity. Persons not born of such marriages may be sealed into the family
with living proxies for the dead. Mormon worship is prescribed and may be
considered liturgical. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is
evangelistic.
Mormons are noted for their care of the poor. The church urges each
family to keep extra supplies, and the church itself, through an extensive
welfare program, produces and stores goods in a chain of farms, store-
houses, groceries, and other facilities. The welfare program also includes an
employment placement service.
Mormon temples are devoted entirely to religious ceremonies and are
closed to the general public. However, all meeting places, chapels, and
recreation halls are open to visitors. Mormon churches contain facilities for
worship, for instruction, and for recreation. They have several beautiful
temples in the United States. Their headquarters is in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The temple in Salt Lake City is a popular tourist attraction as is the
tabernacle with its famous choir and organ.
THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH.—The first Eastern
Orthodox church in America was established in Kodiak, Alaska, following
the arrival there of eight Russian Orthodox monks in the year 1792. Later, a
chapel was built at a Russian trading post near present-day San Francisco.
An episcopal see (a diocesan center) was established in San Francisco in 1872
and moved to New York City in 1905. The Russian Revolution of 1917,
however, cut off the financial support that had come from the mother
church in Russia, which was then fighting for its very existence under the new
Bolshevik (communist-atheist) regime. At a Sobor (church assembly) in
Detroit in 1924, the Russian Orthodox in America, while acknowledging
their spiritual Russian heritage, asserted their administrative, legislative, and
judicial independence of the Patriarch in Moscow.
The Eastern Orthodox church represents one of the three major divisions
within Christianity. In A.D. 1054 the Christian church divided into two
separate groups—the Eastern Greek faction and the Western Latin faction.
The Eastern Orthodox church was established by the Eastern faction.
Government of the Eastern Orthodox church is episcopal. In the United
States each Orthodox jurisdiction is incorporated, with a church assembly of
bishops, clergy, and laity. The grades of deacon, priest, and bishop comprise
the three orders in their ministry. The parish priests of the Orthodox
churches may marry. The bishops, who may not marry, are chosen from
among the monks.
The Eastern Orthodox faith is based on the doctrinal decisions of the
seven ecumenical councils. The last council was held in A.D. 787. They
consider the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as binding. They do not
acknowledge the claim by the leader of Roman Catholicism (the pope) to
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