No*s
Captain Obvious
Orthodoxy is a materialistic religion. I may get a few people who read this and say eek 
, but it's true.
We believe that in Genesis, whether we interpret it literally or not, God created the world, and He fashioned it. Each thing He fashioned, He saw as "good." He then culminated His efforts by creating man. Man, He fashioned out of the dust of the earth and breathed His spirit in him. Adam, thus, was material. He was fashioned from the ground (again, whether we take this literally or not, we have Adam being made materially...we can't escape this, whether we believe in evolution or not). God also made Him spiritual by breathing into him, and man also, was created good, within his purpose.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they were guaranteed death. While they died spiritually that day, just as God promised, physical corruption and decay followed. They were given skins to cover themselves, they grew old, and they died. It brought with it the consequences of increased birth pangs and a difficult working life. God's list of consequences and punishments were all physical. The spiritual punishments are seen and implied, but not listed.
This "material" theme continues throughout the Old Testament, and isn't just restrained to the story of Adam and Eve. When God meets Moses, He does so in a physical manifestation in a bush, on a mountain that God had made holy enough that Moses was to take off his shoes. When God sends Moses into Egypt, God's invasion of the territory involved ten very physical plagues. He then guided the people by means of physical signs, whether a cloud or pillar of fire.
While in the desert, God commanded Moses to make a brone serpent for the healing of the people. This serpent was a physical thing that prefigures Christ coming down and assuming our flesh. The Law continued the tradition of Abraham, which included the circumcision of flesh, a sign of the community inscribed into the very body of its adherants. The Law also contained the instructions on how to make brazen images, cups, and utensils for the Temple...all of these material and very holy despite their being material.
This theme is encapsulated most in the Ark of the Covenant, where God was said to have had a very potent presence. Its sanctity was such that those who touched it were in danger of being cast down. Its presence likewise had other effects, such as the casting down of Phillistine idols. The Ark was physical.
This theme continues still further. We see that a dead man thrown on the bones of Elisha is healed. We see the Naaman, the Syrian commander, taking back soil from Israel so he could worship God. This practice wasn't condemned by Elisha (and is a sign of henotheism), but rather, it was granted. The tendency in the Old Testament was to mark places where things occurred so that children could go vistit the holy places.
Indeed, God worked repeatedly throughout the Old Testament using the material. However, God didn't stop working that way with the New Testament. God sent St. John the Forerunner to baptize people, a physical act using physical water. The Apostle Paul gave people his handkerchief to heal them. A woman simply wants to touch Christ so that healing power can go out of Him.
All these things are physical, but the most important biblical symbol is Christ's Incarnation. In this, God became flesh. God assumed a body and walked among us to help sanctify not just the spiritual side of men, but also the physical. Then, we see since He left, that He gave us the Eucharist for the same reason: the sanctification of us, including our bodies and material. It is the reason He was born of a Virgin and why she remained a Virgin.
For this reason, saints that die may be incorrupt. Their bodies may give off a sweet fragrance. Icons have helped perform miracles. All these things are God's sign that the material, that our physical nature is good. We, thus, glorify and praise God for the physical world we have, for our bodies, and because salvation involves not just the unseen part of us, but our hold person.
, but it's true.We believe that in Genesis, whether we interpret it literally or not, God created the world, and He fashioned it. Each thing He fashioned, He saw as "good." He then culminated His efforts by creating man. Man, He fashioned out of the dust of the earth and breathed His spirit in him. Adam, thus, was material. He was fashioned from the ground (again, whether we take this literally or not, we have Adam being made materially...we can't escape this, whether we believe in evolution or not). God also made Him spiritual by breathing into him, and man also, was created good, within his purpose.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they were guaranteed death. While they died spiritually that day, just as God promised, physical corruption and decay followed. They were given skins to cover themselves, they grew old, and they died. It brought with it the consequences of increased birth pangs and a difficult working life. God's list of consequences and punishments were all physical. The spiritual punishments are seen and implied, but not listed.
This "material" theme continues throughout the Old Testament, and isn't just restrained to the story of Adam and Eve. When God meets Moses, He does so in a physical manifestation in a bush, on a mountain that God had made holy enough that Moses was to take off his shoes. When God sends Moses into Egypt, God's invasion of the territory involved ten very physical plagues. He then guided the people by means of physical signs, whether a cloud or pillar of fire.
While in the desert, God commanded Moses to make a brone serpent for the healing of the people. This serpent was a physical thing that prefigures Christ coming down and assuming our flesh. The Law continued the tradition of Abraham, which included the circumcision of flesh, a sign of the community inscribed into the very body of its adherants. The Law also contained the instructions on how to make brazen images, cups, and utensils for the Temple...all of these material and very holy despite their being material.
This theme is encapsulated most in the Ark of the Covenant, where God was said to have had a very potent presence. Its sanctity was such that those who touched it were in danger of being cast down. Its presence likewise had other effects, such as the casting down of Phillistine idols. The Ark was physical.
This theme continues still further. We see that a dead man thrown on the bones of Elisha is healed. We see the Naaman, the Syrian commander, taking back soil from Israel so he could worship God. This practice wasn't condemned by Elisha (and is a sign of henotheism), but rather, it was granted. The tendency in the Old Testament was to mark places where things occurred so that children could go vistit the holy places.
Indeed, God worked repeatedly throughout the Old Testament using the material. However, God didn't stop working that way with the New Testament. God sent St. John the Forerunner to baptize people, a physical act using physical water. The Apostle Paul gave people his handkerchief to heal them. A woman simply wants to touch Christ so that healing power can go out of Him.
All these things are physical, but the most important biblical symbol is Christ's Incarnation. In this, God became flesh. God assumed a body and walked among us to help sanctify not just the spiritual side of men, but also the physical. Then, we see since He left, that He gave us the Eucharist for the same reason: the sanctification of us, including our bodies and material. It is the reason He was born of a Virgin and why she remained a Virgin.
For this reason, saints that die may be incorrupt. Their bodies may give off a sweet fragrance. Icons have helped perform miracles. All these things are God's sign that the material, that our physical nature is good. We, thus, glorify and praise God for the physical world we have, for our bodies, and because salvation involves not just the unseen part of us, but our hold person.