The Orthodox Church’s View of ‘Islam’

The Orthodox Church’s approach to Islam is very simple and is very well spelled out by St John of Damascus (St John the Damascene for the Catholics).  St John was patriarch of Damascus in the 700′s and is the single most important writer in Orthodoxy. He witnessed the rise of Islam first hand and identified what Islam is, a movement brought forward by a false prophet. St John continues in his encyclopedic work “The Font of Knowledge”.
“Concerning Heresy”  is contained in this book, in the section On Heresies, he dedicates a portion to the Heresy of the Ishmaelites, being the first apologetic work against Islam by a Christian. :

There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the Antichrist. They are descended from Ishmael, [who] was born to Abraham of Agar, and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites. They are also called Saracens, which is derived from Sarras kenoi, or destitute of Sara, because of what Agar said to the angel: ‘Sara hath sent me away destitute.’ These used to be idolaters and worshiped the morning star and Aphrodite, whom in their own language they called Khabár, which means great.  And so down to the time of Heraclius they were very great idolaters. From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of seeming piety, he gave out that a certain book had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration….
that the book came down to him while he was asleep. Then we jokingly say to them that, as long as he received the book in his sleep and did not actually sense the operation, then the popular adage applies to him which runs: You’re spinning me dreams.

Please read the rest and peruse this valuable website, Orthodoxinfo center:
I also invite you to please read this Definitive Reply to Islam (the author’s name had to be withheld)
I wish to note that Orthodoxy reserves this dim view for Islam alone.  Other religions are respected by Orthodoxy.  Islam is not respected, because it is not  seen as a religion.
It is the view of the Orthodox church that Islam was brought forward by a false prophet, Mohamed.  His religious movement is heretical to Christianity and is based upon the ‘dreams’ of a sociopath. The Eastern Churches had the unfortunate luck to have Islam as a neighbor. The fight against in the East continues in Russia and Serbia and has been going on since the inception of the rantings of a false prophet. As a practicing Orthodox I proudly agree whole heatedly with these assessments of Islam.