Did you feel weird tranistioning from other Christianity to EO?

Oct 15, 2008
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There is a set theology for Orthodoxy. There is no official position about some things like birth control or the status of other Christian communities and their 'validity,' but overall there is definitely a strong ethos and theological foundation in Orthodoxy.

Getting back to your OP, Orthodoxy does feel weird for a while. Honestly, for me, it STILL feels weird. While I like the people at my parish, I still after a few years feel like an outsider at times and once in a while ask myself if I'm not crazy being around Russians, Serbs, and participating in slavas and other things that are NOT part of my heritage. I am sad that Western Rite Orthodoxy has been shunned so much. I think that is something I could've grabbed onto easier. To this day, I still feel odd being grafted on to Serbians and a religious way of life utterly foreign to my family, friends, coworkers, and my culture at large. Other people I know have had ZERO problems acclimating to it. I hear all these saints like Xenia, Demetrios, Nektarios, Herman of Alaska, on and on and it still feels foreign to me despite my chrismation. Occasionally I feel like "these aren't my saints. St. Francis and the gang are my saints!" then I have to remember, "oh yeah, I'm Orthodox, uh, yeah, they're my saints now!" LOL....it's weird.

It's a journey, and it's weird. I desperately wish Orthodoxy had opened itself to the West better and with more enthusiasm decades ago, and could've done more to evangelize and play a part in Western culture, but it didn't, and it is what it is as they say.

It might not be easy for you when you convert. It hasn't been easy to me. Still isn't at this very moment. I wish you well and God's peace on this tough journey! :crosseo:

Arrgghh what? Now I'm confused. Is there a set theology for EO's? I thought there was. :confused:
 
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Shiranui117

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I don't have a problem with Orthodoxy at all, but that's because my first experience with it was a new ACROD mission where everything was in English, and even the two priests were converts; it's a thorougly, legitimately American Orthodox parish. The same is the case with the OCA-Bulgarian and Antiochian churches near where I go to university in the States, but these latter two use a bit of the "old language", since some of the parishioners are ethnic and still immigrants. But even that's no problem, since even what is said in the old language is also said again in English. The only church I've been to where the service was in less than 50% English was a Greek cathedral. Americans interested in Orthodoxy have a plethora of resources available, and even those in ethnic parishes have excellent opportunities to learn more about the Faith.

In Austria (and I assume Western Europe in general), it's tougher; the ROCOR parish here is generally 95-100% Slavonic, and not even the Gospel or homily are in German (the native language in Austria), so you just end up standing there in a church you can't understand, not knowing what's going on when, and I barely saw any effort whatsoever to reach out to those who aren't Russian or are unable to speak the language. The Romanian parish has the Liturgy in about 75% Romanian, but you can at least hear the Gospel and part of the sermon in German (not the Epistle, though, sadly). I still find it difficult to get into the life of the parish because of the language barrier, but there are at least a few people I can chat with after Liturgy if I can find them, and the parishioners have directed me to people who can speak English or German before, so they at least make an effort to receive visitors and be open to outsiders.
 
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truthseeker32

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My transition to Orthodoxy has been very difficult. I came from a Mormon background where the church was ran pragmatically; more like a social club or business than a religion. There was a heavy emphasis on the usefulness of the gospel, or how it is good for you. Things like the safe communities and great family life promoted by Mormonism are often used to argue its veracity. Also, there was a belief that the Fall was a good thing, and that men are good. Thus things like seeing myself as the chief of sinners or accepting things that don't seem "useful" has been very difficult for me to believe and accept. It is also sometimes difficult to believe that the most true religion in the world is one that, very often, appears to care little for evangelism.
 
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Well I can understand those sentiments to a certain degree. Orthodoxy's evangelism zeal barely registers on the odometer. It's inaccessible and most people have no clue what it even is. And I don't see a ton of effort to overcome that. In liturgy Orthodoxy dominates hundreds of miles above the rest, but when it comes to fighting secular humanism, trying hard to fight for objective morality, feeding the hungry and helping the homeless, the Catholic Church knocks us on our butts EVERY time. There is a LOT of work to do!

My transition to Orthodoxy has been very difficult. I came from a Mormon background where the church was ran pragmatically; more like a social club or business than a religion. There was a heavy emphasis on the usefulness of the gospel, or how it is good for you. Things like the safe communities and great family life promoted by Mormonism are often used to argue its veracity. Also, there was a belief that the Fall was a good thing, and that men are good. Thus things like seeing myself as the chief of sinners or accepting things that don't seem "useful" has been very difficult for me to believe and accept. It is also sometimes difficult to believe that the most true religion in the world is one that, very often, appears to care little for evangelism.
 
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ArmyMatt

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Arrgghh what? Now I'm confused. Is there a set theology for EO's? I thought there was. :confused:

there is, the dogmas of the Church are not up for negotiation. however, there are things that can be applied more liberally depending on a person's circumstance. as an example, I know some folks who cannot digest plant protein because of some stomach disorder. so when the Fasts come around, it is not healthy for them to give up meat and dairy like the rest of us. so priests would take something like that into consideration, and differing priests would prescribe different things in that situation.
 
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Mariya116

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For me the idea of switching churches has always seemed weird and scary. I'm an Orthodox with a strong lifelong pull towards Western Christianity, I'm at Catholic churches all the time... but actually converting? Nooo... I love both Eastern and Western Christianity equally.
 
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InnerPhyre

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Becoming Orthodox was a very very weird experience. Totally out of my comfort zone and totally out of the realm of everything I thought was real and normal. I used to think I knew quite a bit when it came to religion and theology. Then I became Orthodox and discovered that I knew absolutely nothing. Very weird.
 
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One thing that crossed my mind (and still does from time to time) was the Serbian people themselves. I converted in a Serbian parish. I was in high school and then college during the whole Serbian-Bosnian-Croat wars going on and then Kosovo. The war crimes perpetrated by the Serbs and the sheer enormity of violence by them at the time, it shocked me to the core. I went to high school with Croats who were taken in by members of our Catholic church here in town to give them a chance at life. They went to my high school. There was one foreign exchange student, a Serb, who was super nice to me (truth be known, she was after me romantically for about a year! LOL), but man oh man, the Croats looked at her like she was Vlad the Impaler! The Croats were terrified of the Serbs.

I just remember seeing the "ethnic cleansing" and horrors in those wars, and the reputation of the Serbs was pretty much zero there for a while. And at my parish I would hear a lot of soft-padding those conflicts and harkening back to the horrors against Serbia perpetrated by the Croats in previous eras as if to say, "yeah, well, they have it coming! Look at what they did back around WWI, etc.!" I've always felt uneasy about that. I don't feel close to Serbian culture and I think growing up during wholesale slaughters is a part of it I have yet to totally get over. Maybe I saw "Behind Enemy Lines" one too many times! :o
 
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seashale76

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Well- before becoming Orthodox I had given up on any other kind of Christianity. So- it wasn't that weird for me. Nothing is weirder than anything I experienced as a Pentecostal. Now- having to deal with family and friends who don't get it has been a little frustrating at times- but I've never been one to let anyone's disapproval stop me.
 
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