Thats a pretty bold claim, isn it?
It is a bold statement — but Jesus Christ promised that he would found His Church, that His Spirit would lead her into all truth, and that the gates of hell would not prevail against her. So it makes sense that the community of believers, established by Christ on the foundation of prophets and apostles, should continue uninterrupted until He comes again. Jesus never left room for us to believe that the Church would die out for a thousand years, or need to be re-created from scratch. In response to abuses in medieval western European Christianity, the Reformers felt they had to reinvent Christianity. However many people are dismayed at the implicit assumption that Christ’s Church has failed and must be re-established by man. Instead, they’ve taken Jesus at His word and begun seeking out the apostolic community that has continued in unbroken, organic unity and faithfulness to the present day. The Orthodox Church demonstrably is that community.
