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Thank you both!

I've been away awhile -- got hitched and have been settling in. I now have a stepson, age 8, who lives with his mom and stepfather. Mom is Quaker; stepdad used to be kinda Orthodox but doesn't seem to practice anything now. My husband and I are Orthodox (I was chrismated in May), and we get to...

Oh, I love that one!

I think you're right. ANYTHING will feel like fluff after these. And I may need some fluff after the marathon of heavy books I have between now and the wedding. LOL:tonguewink:

Thank you, ArmyMatt. I'll look into that one. Evdokimov's book was the one recommended by our priest, and I have three others on the list, too: Preserve Them, O Lord by Fr. John Mack, Mastering the Art of Marriage by Fr. Constantine Nasr, and Glory and Honor by David Ford.

Before I made my first confession in May, I was struggling with forgiveness for two people who harmed me immensely, physically and emotionally. For both of them I had also wished horrible things. I was hanging on to the lack of forgiveness, the bitterness, and the anger for decades. I had no way...

Gallatin's book is on my reading list. However other reading has become higher priority at the moment. I finished Marriage: an Orthodox Perspective by John Meyendorff last week and am currently reading The Sacrament of Love by Paul Evdokimov, as well as Wisdom from Mount Athos: The Writings of...

Welcome, aluke164. I come from a very cerebral Protestant upbringing and very recently became a member of the Orthodox Church. Reading is well and good. But *experiencing* is where it's at. You mention hearing the music and seeing the icons. That's a start. As others have recommended, I...

Thank you again to all for your thoughts. I was Chrismated a couple of Sundays ago and had my first Communion on Pentecost. Yay! For my sponsor, I found an icon of St. Euphrosynos the Cook. My Godmother's cooking is fabulous!

Thank you all. I will speak with him. We'd spoken the second week of Lent about fasting, but I may not have expressed well enough the restrictions I'm under already to keep things from going off kilter. And at that point I didn't know just how bad things would get. I also found myself worrying...

Great Lent was my first fast. I was an Inquirer during the fast but kept the fast as best I could. (Now 10 days away from Chrismation.) The first two weeks were pretty good. Mid-Lent I had a spike in migraine activity and started to feel overly lethargic. It took several weeks after Pascha to...

I'm a cradle Episcopalian and grew up with a strong foundation there, but I did not attend services often as an adult. Most of my closest friends have been RC, so I've spent time with them in their churches but never for a moment considered changing camps. Then I met my SO. I didn't know...

As I've been reading and learning in these beginning steps towards Orthodoxy, I've realized just how damaging the filioque has been to my understanding of the Holy Spirit. (I'm from an Anglican background.) By relegating the Holy Spirit to kind of a side bar, it seriously stunted my learning...

LOL He's thrilled.

Excellent information! Thank you, nutroll!

I will ask if the priest should be gifted. Thank you. If not a monetary gift, I likely would give him food. One can only fill the home and church with so much stuff. Tipping the chanter would be ... interesting. He's my significant other. LOL

I'm from an Anglican background and was unsure of the whole veneration of the Theotokos. "The Orthodox Veneration of the Mother of God" by St. John Maximovitch helped tremendously. Also, I attended a service during Lent for part of the Akathist to the Theotokos with Compline. (Couldn't attend...

Many thanks, Fender, ArmyMatt, and Anastasia! Giving something to the sponsor may not be an actual custom, but I would like to give her something. Anastasia, that is lovely! Great ideas all around. Thank you! Dunno where I heard about a gift to the church for special services. {scratches head}...

Hi! I'm to be Chrismated after Liturgy the Sunday before Pentecost. What would be an appropriate gift of thanks to give to my sponsor? Also, I heard somewhere that it's customary to give an offering to the Church after specially prepared services. What would be an appropriate amount? I'm...

I couldn't help but think of this meme I saw a while ago as I drove down the interstate the other night by the glow of an open flame of Holy Fire inches from my arm. Dang, the Orthodox church is fun! (And I tried to think of a possible explanation should I get stopped by the cops....)