• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

I feel the church too hermetic..

parafjala

New Member
Nov 30, 2025
2
1
Tirana
✟236.00
Country
Albania
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
I have been trying to approach christianity and lately orthodoxy after many readings and meditating on spiritual matters.

I was raised in italy within the catholic church and thats where as a child i felt and learned about Christ. I never got baptised though as my family decided to go back from where we migrated initially.

Keeping it short during my life (now approaching my 40s) i had my moments of ups and downs (spiritually) but i was always interested in religion in general. I like to read theology too which i enjoyed even during faith crisis and thats connected to my love of philosophy.

Now to the main point. After the pandemic hit i got more and more interested in orthodoxy due to a series of events and 2 theologians i discovered, namely Sergius Bulgakov and Vladimir Lossky (the former through David Bentley Hart and the latter through Rowan Williams).

When i was a child i used to open the new testament and put the finger randomly somewhere through the text and read from it. I did it 2 years ago and stumbled upon John 5 (the story which Jesus heals the invalid which was sick for 38 years). I dropped the book. I was 38. I still think of this..

I tried to get closer to my local church (there is no need to name which one) i also emailed the main Orthodox church in the city I'm moving to in January, but I have not yet received a response. Everytime i tried to express an idea or "something more" i get this feeling of a system to hermetic or closed to new people outside to what is expected.

I just wanted to put this up here since i may be wrong in feeling this (or maybe not) and would like to know and hear your experience.

Love you all!
 

Reluctant Theologian

אַבְרָהָם
Jul 13, 2021
849
653
QLD
✟150,595.00
Country
Australia
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Welcome, how is Christianity (the active type, not the cultural/formal type) doing in Albania? Old friends are moving there soon. Have you read all of the TNK/Old Testament and New Testament? Going through that one can develop a good understanding of who God is, what He did in the past, who Jesus/Yeshua is .. and what God's desire for us if. Who is Jesus/Yehua for you and your family?
 
Upvote 0

parafjala

New Member
Nov 30, 2025
2
1
Tirana
✟236.00
Country
Albania
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Welcome, how is Christianity (the active type, not the cultural/formal type) doing in Albania? Old friends are moving there soon. Have you read all of the TNK/Old Testament and New Testament? Going through that one can develop a good understanding of who God is, what He did in the past, who Jesus/Yeshua is .. and what God's desire for us if. Who is Jesus/Yehua for you and your family?
If there is smth im proud of is indeed being an avid reader. I have obviously read the Bible, even comparing it to various translations many times through the years. I have read also other main religious texts as i always was/am interested in comparative religion.

Not easy to answer in plain words what Jesus is to/for me though as i try not to be influenced by cultural attachments but merely see it as a mistical experience.

To answer your first question, Albanians have a very complex relationship with interfaith dialogue, so much so that I would go as far as to call it unique. I often point to the story of the Orthodox Church of 'Shën e Premte' near my town. Initially a pagan temple, it was destroyed by the Romans and rebuilt as a Catholic church (it still retains the original architecture). It was later converted to an Orthodox church during the Slavic invasions, and was eventually saved from destruction by a local Muslim community during Hoxha's regime.

Lately though i notice a spiritual decline in general - but than i notice this everywhere to be honest..
 
Upvote 0

Maria Billingsley

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Oct 7, 2018
11,581
9,622
65
Martinez
✟1,195,689.00
Country
United States
Gender
Female
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
I have been trying to approach christianity and lately orthodoxy after many readings and meditating on spiritual matters.

I was raised in italy within the catholic church and thats where as a child i felt and learned about Christ. I never got baptised though as my family decided to go back from where we migrated initially.

Keeping it short during my life (now approaching my 40s) i had my moments of ups and downs (spiritually) but i was always interested in religion in general. I like to read theology too which i enjoyed even during faith crisis and thats connected to my love of philosophy.

Now to the main point. After the pandemic hit i got more and more interested in orthodoxy due to a series of events and 2 theologians i discovered, namely Sergius Bulgakov and Vladimir Lossky (the former through David Bentley Hart and the latter through Rowan Williams).

When i was a child i used to open the new testament and put the finger randomly somewhere through the text and read from it. I did it 2 years ago and stumbled upon John 5 (the story which Jesus heals the invalid which was sick for 38 years). I dropped the book. I was 38. I still think of this..

I tried to get closer to my local church (there is no need to name which one) i also emailed the main Orthodox church in the city I'm moving to in January, but I have not yet received a response. Everytime i tried to express an idea or "something more" i get this feeling of a system to hermetic or closed to new people outside to what is expected.

I just wanted to put this up here since i may be wrong in feeling this (or maybe not) and would like to know and hear your experience.

Love you all!
Welcome to CF!
 
Upvote 0