Inside an Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide.
 It is considered by its adherents to be the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago.
The Church is composed of numerous self-governing ecclessial bodies, each geographically and nationally distinct but theologically and sacramentally unified.
Each self-governing (or autocephalous) body is shepherded by a Synod of independent bishops whose duty is, among other things, to preserve and teach the Apostolic and patristic traditions and related Church practices. All Orthodox bishops trace their lineage back to one of the twelve Apostle through the process of Apostolic Succession.

Eastern Orthodoxy traces its history back to the Hellenized eastern portion of the Roman Empire, especially Constantinople or New Rome (now Istanbul). It shares the first ecumenical councils, concerning the Trinity and the Nicene Creed, with nearly all other Christians. After the Western Roman Empire fell, East and West slowly grew more separate.
 Meanwhile, internal schisms and the advance of Islam reduced Eastern Orthodox territory, but the faith spread to the Slavs to the north (including the Russians). 
Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism split in 1054 over theological issues concerning Western additions to the creed (the filioque clause) as well as the issue of Roman primacy. Later in 1204 Constantinople was sacked by crusaders enlarging the rift between the two.
Reunification was attempted during two councils but they were rejected by the Eastern Orthodox people, being considered "robber councils".
After Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Russian Orthodox Church became more powerful.

Along with all other Christians, the Eastern Orthodox uphold the eternal Trinity. They differ from Oriental Orthodoxy in holding that the Son has two distinct and complete natures: one divine and one human.
 They use the Nicene Creed as endorsed at the First Council of Constantinople (381), and reject the Western addition to it of "Filioque", and the many additions used by the Armenian Apostolic Church in the East.
They celebrate the same sacraments (called sacred mysteries) as in the other ancient Christian Churches, but have some differences in theology and many differences in practice. They teach the doctrine of theosis (deification), by which Christ makes it possible to partake of the divine, a teaching less prominent in the Western Church.
Their Bible is close to that of the Roman Catholic Church: it includes the Deuterocanonical Books, which are generally rejected by Protestants, and a few books that are not in the Western canon.
Eastern Orthodox icons also reflect an ancient opposition to statuary. Most Eastern Orthodox Churches are members of the World Council of Churches,which includes most Protestants, but not Roman Catholics.

                   St Marys Church is a grade I listed building.

It has been called the "Cathedral of South Cheshire" and it is considered by some to be one of the finest medieval churches, not only in Cheshire, but in the whole of England.The building dates from the 14th century, although a number of changes have since been made, particularly a substantial 19th-century restoration by Sir George Gilbert Scott.The church and its octagonal tower are built in red sandstone. Features of the church's interior include the lierne-vaulted ceiling of the choir, the carved stone canopies of the sedilia in the chancel, and the intricately carved wooden canopies over the choirstalls together with the 20 misericords at the back of the stalls. The church is an active parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Nantwich.

The first building on the site was a chapel of ease in the parish of Acton. In about 1130 both Acton church and Northwich chapel came under control of the Cistercian abbey of Combermere.
The building of the present church started in about 1340 in the Decorated style, which was the style most commonly used in English church building at that time. The masons, who came from Yorkshire, used local sandstone, probably from Eddisbury near Delamere.
Building work was interrupted between 1349 and 1369, probably due to an outbreak of the Black Death plague. By the 1380s the town's prosperity had recovered and building work resumed. This phase of construction was carried out by master masons associated with Lichfield and Gloucester cathedrals, now building in the Perpendicular style.
The south transept was endowed as a chantry chapel in 1405. In the late-15th or early-16th century, the south porch was added, the nave roof was raised and the clerestory windows were added. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, six chantry chapels were removed in 1548.
 Between 1572 and 1577 the transept ceilings were renewed, and between 1615 and 1633 the church floor was raised because of flooding, a west gallery was built, and the walls were painted white, with the addition of scriptural texts. The church was briefly used as a prison for Royalists captured at the battles of Nantwich and Preston during the Civil War.
Between 1727 and 1777, the north and south galleries and a new west door were added, and windows were repaired. However, by 1789 the general structure of the church had deteriorated so much that it was said to be "so ruinous that the inhabitants cannot safely assemble".
In the 19th century Sir George Gilbert Scott was brought in to direct a very extensive restoration. Amongst other alterations, he removed the galleries, the box pews, and many old memorials; the floor level was lowered and the transept roofs were pitched higher. Much of the eroded stone was replaced by sandstone from quarries at Runcorn.

Structure
The church is built in red sandstone and is cruciform in shape. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave with north and south aisles, a south porch with two storeys, a central tower, north and south transepts, and a three-bay chancel, to the north of which is a two-storey treasury. The tower is square below and octagonal above. Both transepts are of three bays and the northernmost bay of the north transept was formerly a Lady Chapel.
The other two bays were dedicated to St George. The south transept was known as the Kingsley Chapel.Pevsner, in addition to complaining about some aspects of Scott's restoration, comments on the abrupt change from the Decorated to the Perpendicular style, no doubt the consequence of the interruption to building work caused by the Black Death. This is particularly so in the chancel where the side windows are "very rich Decorated", with crocketed gables and highly decorated buttresses and pinnacles, while the seven-light east window, also under a crocketed gable, is "pure Perpendicular". The aisle windows and all the windows in the north transept are Decorated, while in the south transept one window is Decorated and all the others are Perpendicular. The bell-openings in the tower are Decorated. Pevsner describes the tower as being the "crowning motif" of the church.

I've added some pictures for you to view which you'll find in my photo gallery.