orthodox, a. and n.
(ˈɔːθədɒks)
[Ultimately ad. Gr. ὀρθόδοξ-ος right in opinion, f. ὀρθό-ς + δόξα opinion. Cf. late L. orthodox-us (Jerome Codex Just.), and F. orthodoxe (a 1488 in Godef. Compl.), which may have been the proximate sources.]
A. adj.
1. Holding right or correct opinions, i.e. such as are currently accepted as correct, or are in accordance with some recognized standard: a. in theology.
| 1611 Cotgr., Orthodoxe, orthodox, orthodoxall; of a right faith, true beliefe, sound opinion. c 1615 Bacon Adv. Villiers Wks. 1879 I. 510/2 The church of England; which doubtless is as sound and orthodox in the doctrine thereof [i.e. of the true protestant religion], as any christian church in the world. 1636 Prynne Unbish. Tim. (1661) 45 None of the Orthodoxest or most Judicious Writers. 1722 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iv. 287 Men falsely called orthodox and divines. 1850 W. Irving Mahomet viii. (1853) 40 We follow, says the Koran, the religion of Abraham the orthodox who was no idolater. 1861 Stanley East. Ch. vii. (1869) 246 To be called ‘orthodox’..implies, to a certain extent, deadness of feeling; at times rancorous animosity; narrowness, fixedness, perhaps even, hardness of intellect. |
b. Hence in reference to other subjects.
| c 1645 Howell Lett. i. v. x. (1650) 145 Of Authors, two is enough upon any Science, provided they be plenary and orthodox. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. xi. §5 Obscure and equivocal Terms,..capable to make the most Attentive or Quick-sighted, very little..more knowing or orthodox. |
2. Of opinions or doctrines: Right, correct, true; in accordance with what is accepted or authoritatively established as the true view or right practice; a. orig. in theological and ecclesiastical doctrine.
| 1581 Hamilton (title) Certane orthodox and catholik conclusions vith yair probations. 1616 Jas. I Remonstr. Right of Kings Wks. 440 To maintaine the precepts of the orthodox faith. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 187 ¶1 The Doctrine is received amongst you as Orthodox. 1865 Max Müller Chips (1880) I. vi. 135 The received and orthodox view of..Christian divines. |
b. Hence in general application.
| 1730 Swift Vind. Ld. Carteret Wks. (1761) 186, I am well aware, how much my sentiments differ from the orthodox opinions of one or two principal patriots. 1804 Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 20 Every word of mine..however innocent, however orthodox even, is twisted, tormented, perverted. 1888 H. Sidgwick Scope Econom. Sci. 3 This kind of political economy is sometimes called ‘orthodox’, though it has the characteristic unusual in orthodox doctrines of being repudiated by the majority of accredited teachers of the subject. |
3. In accordance with what is regarded as proper or ‘correct’; conventional; approved.
| 1838 Lytton Alice 124 Then the orthodox half-hour had expired. 1877 Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 3) II. App. 553 The orthodox thing was to condemn William and Harold alike. |
4. Also Orthodox. The specific epithet of the Eastern Church, which recognizes the headship of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and of the various national churches of Russia, Serbia, Romania, etc., which hold the same ‘orthodox’ creed, and recognize each other as of the same communion; the historical representative of the churches of the ancient East, commonly called the Greek Church.
The full ancient designation is ἡ ἁγία ὀρθόδοξος καθολικὴ ἀποστολικὴ ἀνατολικὴ ἐκκλησία, ‘the holy, orthodox, catholic, apostolic, Eastern church’. The epithet ‘Orthodox’ was originally assumed to distinguish it from the various divisions of the Eastern Church, e.g. the Jacobite or Monophysite, Nestorian, etc., which separated on points of doctrine, and have not accepted all the decrees of the successive general councils; but it is sometimes used by historical writers as opposed to ‘Catholic’. Also combined with national names, as Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, etc.
| [1679 Sir P. Ricaut Pres. State Gk. Ch. xviii. 331 That which they call, The Orthodox Confession of the Anatolian Church.] 1772 J. G. King Rites Gk. Ch. Pref. 18 They are read at the grave to testify to the people that the party died in the true faith of the orthodox church. 1850 Neale East. Ch. I. 69 An Union has often been proposed between the Armenian and Orthodox Eastern Communions. 1861 Stanley East. Ch. i. (1864) 3 By whatever name we call it—‘Eastern’, ‘Greek’, or ‘Orthodox’—it carries us back more than any other existing Christian institution, to the earliest scenes and times of the Christian religion. 1881 Freeman Hist. Geog. Eur. I. vii. 170 Till a new patriarchate of Moscow arose in Russia, to mark the greatest spiritual conquest of the Orthodox Church. |
5. Also Orthodox. Of Judaism or Jews: adhering to the rabbinical interpretation of Biblical law and its traditional observances.
| 1853 Jewish Chron. 15 July 326/2 In all affairs of this kind, concessions are expected only on the orthodox side. 1858 Manch. Guardian 26 Mar. 3/4 He would not limit himself to a mere apology for their position, but confidently proclaim their right to the title of ‘The truly orthodox Manchester Hebrew congregation’. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. III. vi. xlvi. 308 He is not a strictly orthodox Jew, and is full of allowances for others. 1898 W. J. Locke Idols iv. 38 An elderly..Jewess of the most orthodox faith. 1904 Jewish Encycl. VII. 368/1 The stability and the immutability of the Law remained from the Orthodox standpoint one of the cardinal principles of Judaism. 1938 Time & Tide 12 Mar. 343/1 Peggy Simon, who was Jewish too, didn't have to bother about prayers..because Peggy's father and mother weren't Orthodox. 1960 ‘E. McBain’ Give Boys Great Big Hand iv. 31 The family was..practising Orthodox Judaism. 1966 Guardian 28 July 6/5 The traditionalist right flank of Orthodox Judaism. 1973 Jewish Chron. 19 Jan. 22/2 It is..unlikely that he would have been allowed to speak in an Orthodox pulpit in this country. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia X. 301/1 For many, the foreign designation ‘orthodox’ (used by Reform Jews for traditionalist Jews) makes little if any sense. |
| 1973 J. Ryder Trevayne (1974) xxxii. 247 It is the Hebrew Sabbath... This house is Orthodox. 1975 Nature 6 Nov. 9/2 For an Orthodox woman, sexual intercourse is only permitted during a limited period each month. 1977 Rolling Stone 21 Apr. 72/2 Conversation among Orthodox Jews never strays far from questions of ethics, points of law, one's religious activities. |
6. Applied to sleep characterized by the absence of rapid eye-movements and probably of dreams and by lesser physiological activity as compared with ‘paradoxical’ or REM sleep.
| 1967 W. P. Koella Sleep ii. i. 16 Subjects after being aroused from..‘orthodox’ sleep stages rarely recalled dreams. 1971 U. J. Jovanović Normal Sleep in Man ii. 75 We shall..use the Kleitman (1963) and Jouvet classification (1961, 1965, 1968), and divide up the entire polygraphic period of sleep in man into normal (orthodox) sleep and paradoxical sleep (periods of dream phases). Ibid. vii. 259 A phase of orthodox sleep lasts for about one-and-a-half hours. |
B. n.
1. An orthodox person. b. A member of the Orthodox Eastern Church.
| 1587 Harrison Descr. Brit. i. ix. 27 The Pelagian heresie, which not a little molested the orthodoxes of that Iland. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 169 Was he an Heretick, or an Orthodoxe? 1797 W. Johnston Beckmann's Invent. III. 406 In the altercation between a Luciferan and an Orthodox. 1888 Pall Mall G. 26 Sept. 2/1 Punctual..in discharging all the functions of a Greek Orthodox. |
c. An orthodox Jew (see sense A. 5).
| 1889 I. Zangwill in Jewish Q. Rev. I. 391 With the ‘unintelligently orthodox’, this mental attitude is generally associated with ignorance of our history and of the fluidity of ceremonial forms. 1892 I. Zangwill Childr. Ghetto II. 296 Now at last we poor orthodox will have a voice. 1914 Encycl. Relig. & Ethics VII. 608/2 The choice of method, unpleasing though it be to the orthodox, must be left to the conscience and judgment of the liberals themselves. 1927 E. O'Neill Lazarus Laughed i. ii. 35 Their former distinctions of Nazarenes and Orthodox are now entirely forgotten. Ibid. 42 The Nazarenes and the Orthodox separate and slink guiltily apart. 1964 E. E. Klein in W. Berkowitz Ten Vital Jewish Issues 48 The Conservative Jew always keeps one [sc. a yarmulke] in his pocket, and the Orthodox wears it on his head. |
† 2. An opinion generally accepted as right; an orthodox opinion. Obs.
| a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. i. xiv. §3 (1622) 150 It is indeed an Orthodoxe; though it be numbred as a Paradoxe; that Omnes Stulti insaniunt. 1646 Buck Rich. III, i. 4 The Sirname and Sobriquet of Plantagenest, or Plantagenet after the vulgar Orthodoxe. |