Conversions to Orthodoxy

[Shubunkin]

I have been "lurking" about here for quite some time, and so I know all of you, but you do not know me. This should change. It was suggested that I post my story of how I came to Orthodoxy here. This story is currently being "written" however, so it may not be easy to tell... but I will tell the beginning of this story, and what has occurred so far. I have been to many types of churches, and was baptized in a Church of God as a teenager. I married a Lutheran, and became Lutheran in 1991, and was active in our church in choir, Sunday School, the grade school there, and also with the Board of Evangelism. Bad things happened at this church, and I won't go into that here.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with a tumor on my thyroid. It was not cancerous, but was causing severe hyper-thyroid problems. Finally, I was introduced to a specialist in thyroid treatment, and was put through a vigorous round of anti-thyroid hormone medication that destroyed my health, caused excessive weight-gain, and so forth. Finally, it came time that this specialist wanted to do an I-131 treatment which would have destroyed my entire thyroid gland, and made me even more ill. The night before I was to go into an outpatient hospital to have this done... well, let's just say I had a "blue light experience" ... and I did not know what this was at the time. Also, the appointment the next day went well, but all they had time to do was check my thyroid levels. This gave me time to think, perhaps...but later on, they called to have me come in again (this was out of town), and have the I-131 treatment. I declined the treatment. The doctor who ordered this was furious with me, and wouldn't even let me call her to explain.

This experience had somehow given me the idea to try to cut down on the amount of iodine in my diet. We were eating a lot of seafood, etc., and so it was possible for me to do this. I have since cut out seafood (which I really love to eat) in my diet, and also changed over to plain, un-iodized salt in my diet. Well, there is no more problem after two years since that time. I have since lost a lot of weight, and feeling much better than before. In fact, our family doctor recently had my thyroid levels checked, and they are in fact in the normal range.

Then one day a few months ago I was surfing the Internet and came across this site: http://www.holyfire.org/eng/velich.htm

and couldn't believe my eyes!! This was what was I experienced two years ago. This was the full explanation for me. It seemed this made me so curious about the Orthodox faith that I even purchased an Orthodox Study Bible. But God is not finished with me yet, as this is only the beginning of the story.

I will try to keep you informed as this comes about. Oh, and I did not pick up this study with the idea of becoming Orthodox, at first. It actually didn't seem I was worthy in the first place. It did seem so fascinating that I couldn't put this study Bible down, but now ... this has become my path to follow.

 

[Kolya]

Welcome to TAW Charitina!
We all look forward to the rest of your wonderful story.
In IC XC
Kolya

 

[Xpycoctomos]

That's a wonderful story! Welcome to TAW!!!!!

How does your husband feel about this?

 

[Xpycoctomos]

If you've been lurking enough, you might already know that I was once Lutheran (like many others here who either were lutheran or looked into it seriously before coming Home). LCMS, ELCA, WELS? (LCMS here)

 

[Shubunkin]

That's a wonderful story! Welcome to TAW!!!!!

How does your husband feel about this?

So far he doesn't mind!

 

[Shubunkin]

If you've been lurking enough, you might already know that I was once Lutheran (like many others here who either were lutheran or looked into it seriously before coming Home). LCMS, ELCA, WELS? (LCMS here)

LCMS

 

[Xpycoctomos]

LCMS

Ah, the correct one

 

[Rilian]

I finally wrote mine up the other day. Anyway, here it be:

My parents are Atheist/Agnostic and I only went to church a handful of times with extended family/friends as a kid. I would say I grew up with no religious inclination whatsoever. The first real flicker I can recall were some experiences while on a high school trip to the Soviet Union in the 80’s.

Two experiences in college were the turning point for me. I began attending mass regularly with some friends and fell in love with it. I read the Gospels for the first time and found the person and life of Jesus Christ to just spoke directly to my soul.

I attended Latin Rite services for the most part in several different parishes. I also did some reading about the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and attended services in a few of those parishes. I was very close to formally joining the church in college but held off. While in college I also attended a couple of Orthodox liturgies and high church Anglican services to see what they were like.

I fell out of church for a while after graduating, but thought about it a lot. When my wife and I started going to church it was to Protestant services because that was her background; though her Dad was Catholic (but had left the church) and she prayed the Rosary with her Grandmother as a kid. I definitely could tell I wasn’t a Protestant though. Eventually we settled on the Episcopal church, though it felt like a way station and in the back of my mind was always the idea of Catholicism as an eventuality.

Anyways, about two years ago something sparked my interest in Eastern Christianity again and I began taking an intensive look at the theology of the church. I have to admit up until that point I didn’t really investigate the theology of the respective churches I had attended a great deal. I think I always had this underlying assumption that the differences were varying cultural manifestations of the same thing. I basically decided my whole theological outlook was Eastern and one day out of the blue I pretty much told my wife I was going to become Orthodox. I had not at that point been to an EO liturgy since attending in college fourteen years earlier. Once she got over the shock, and after some emotional discussions she agreed to try it for a year. I know I’m lucky.

It turns out a mission was very close to us and I called the priest and talked to him. We visited after that and have been going since that time. We will be formally received in to the church this summer.

 

[Lotar]

Ah, the correct one

The only real Lutherans.

 

[Lotar]

(or "How I Learned to Stopped Worrying and Love the Church")​

​

​

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Steadily in the Grasp of Baal​

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​

Installment III​

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​

I felt the cold sweat run down my back as the pain in my shoulder slowly numbed. I thanked God that he stopped twisting before it dislocated. Colonel Carter was lying in the corner unconscious, or more precisely, I hoped that she was just unconscious; she had lost a lot of blood.

Baal slowly pulled a mature symbiote out one of his goon's pouch. "Such impudence. Did you truly think you could fool a god?"

"Actually, I did," I quipped, and then gasped as I felt the Jaffa give my arms a sharp twist. Stars appeared before my eyes, and I felt like I would lose my stomach. No, you will not pass out! I angrily told myself.

The symbiote's eyes flashed as it squirmed eagerly in Baal's hand. Its sole immediate desire was to burrow its way through the back of my neck, and I knew it. I'll be darned if I have to spend the next millennia a million light years from home and a prisoner in my own body.

"I think he likes you," Baal laughed cruelly.

I had to do something, and I had to do it quick…

…wait… wrong story…



Though at 21 I was at a low point in my faith, under my father's urging, I took up teaching Sunday school. He was convinced that if I got more involved, I would begin to become at better Christian. Though it did not help my faith, as he had hoped, it was a lot of fun for me; I love little kids.


Only one other thing of note happened that year, but it was something that has stuck with me since. Weaster of that year, I had decided to sleep in and just show up to teach, instead of going to the service. It so happened that upon making the last left before the church, an old lady in a stereotypical 70's Lincoln tank, ran the red light and crushed front end of my VW bug. People thought I had died, but I ended up walking away, with nothing more than a rub burn from the seatbelt.

I can vividly remember the tears in my mom's eyes when she first saw the vehicle. It was a true miracle, and I knew it.

I can't say that the experience made me instantly a better Christian, or person, but it did give me an unshakable belief that God was truly there. I now believe that He was preserving me so I could find His Church, and that on that day, He saved me not only from death but from perhaps the worst type of death, death as a lapsed Christian.

Once again, I entered into the wastelands of apathetic Christianity, belief that did little to affect my life.

Over year later my sin, of all things, would lead me somewhere that would change my life.

I was surfing the internet, looking for justification for a sin I struggle with, and I happened upon an internet forum that had a thread dedicated to the topic. You guessed it, Christian Forums.

After finding what I wanted to hear, I decided to browse through the forum and see what other types of topics there were. I happened across a certain, now deceased, forum called "Inter Denominational Debate." Here I read some posts made by a certain Catholic that made my blood boil. "One true Church!!! Oh no she didn't just say that!" Needless to say, I was soon registered to my first Internet forum.

I was 22 years old, I thought I knew everything and yet I knew nothing, I knew not the Church, and Baal was going to put a Goa'uld in my head.



Well, maybe not the Baal part, but the rest is true.

 

[MariaRegina]

I finally wrote mine up the other day. Anyway, here it be:

My parents are Atheist/Agnostic and I only went to church a handful of times with extended family/friends as a kid. I would say I grew up with no religious inclination whatsoever. The first real flicker I can recall were some experiences while on a high school trip to the Soviet Union in the 80’s.

Two experiences in college were the turning point for me. I began attending mass regularly with some friends and fell in love with it. I read the Gospels for the first time and found the person and life of Jesus Christ to just spoke directly to my soul.

I attended Latin Rite services for the most part in several different parishes. I also did some reading about the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and attended services in a few of those parishes. I was very close to formally joining the church in college but held off. While in college I also attended a couple of Orthodox liturgies and high church Anglican services to see what they were like.

I fell out of church for a while after graduating, but thought about it a lot. When my wife and I started going to church it was to Protestant services because that was her background; though her Dad was Catholic (but had left the church) and she prayed the Rosary with her Grandmother as a kid. I definitely could tell I wasn’t a Protestant though. Eventually we settled on the Episcopal church, though it felt like a way station and in the back of my mind was always the idea of Catholicism as an eventuality.

Anyways, about two years ago something sparked my interest in Eastern Christianity again and I began taking an intensive look at the theology of the church. I have to admit up until that point I didn’t really investigate the theology of the respective churches I had attended a great deal. I think I always had this underlying assumption that the differences were varying cultural manifestations of the same thing. I basically decided my whole theological outlook was Eastern and one day out of the blue I pretty much told my wife I was going to become Orthodox. I had not at that point been to an EO liturgy since attending in college fourteen years earlier. Once she got over the shock, and after some emotional discussions she agreed to try it for a year. I know I’m lucky.

It turns out a mission was very close to us and I called the priest and talked to him. We visited after that and have been going since that time. We will be formally received in to the church this summer.

Ah. Taste and see how good the Lord is.

Welcome home to Orthodoxy, Rilian.

 

[Xpycoctomos]

Rilian, how did your wife finally warm up to it? Does she prefer it or would Catholicism have been just as good for her?

John

 

[MariaRegina]

(or "How I Learned to Stopped Worrying and Love the Church")​

​

​

​

Steadily in the Grasp of Baal​

​

​

Installment III​

​

​

I felt the cold sweat run down my back as the pain in my shoulder slowly numbed. I thanked God that he stopped twisting before it dislocated. Colonel Carter was lying in the corner unconscious, or more precisely, I hoped that she was just unconscious; she had lost a lot of blood.

Baal slowly pulled a mature symbiote out one of his goon's pouch. "Such impudence. Did you truly think you could fool a god?"

"Actually, I did," I quipped, and then gasped as I felt the Jaffa give my arms a sharp twist. Stars appeared before my eyes, and I felt like I would lose my stomach. No, you will not pass out! I angrily told myself.

The symbiote's eyes flashed as it squirmed eagerly in Baal's hand. Its sole immediate desire was to burrow its way through the back of my neck, and I knew it. I'll be darned if I have to spend the next millennia a million light years from home and a prisoner in my own body.

"I think he likes you," Baal laughed cruelly.

I had to do something, and I had to do it quick…

…wait… wrong story…



Though at 21 I was at a low point in my faith, under my father's urging, I took up teaching Sunday school. He was convinced that if I got more involved, I would begin to become at better Christian. Though it did not help my faith, as he had hoped, it was a lot of fun for me; I love little kids.


Only one other thing of note happened that year, but it was something that has stuck with me since. Weaster of that year, I had decided to sleep in and just show up to teach, instead of going to the service. It so happened that upon making the last left before the church, an old lady in a stereotypical 70's Lincoln tank, ran the red light and crushed front end of my VW bug. People thought I had died, but I ended up walking away, with nothing more than a rub burn from the seatbelt.

I can vividly remember the tears in my mom's eyes when she first saw the vehicle. It was a true miracle, and I knew it.

I can't say that the experience made me instantly a better Christian, or person, but it did give me an unshakable belief that God was truly there. I now believe that He was preserving me so I could find His Church, and that on that day, He saved me not only from death but from perhaps the worst type of death, death as a lapsed Christian.

Once again, I entered into the wastelands of apathetic Christianity, belief that did little to affect my life.

Over year later my sin, of all things, would lead me somewhere that would change my life.

I was surfing the internet, looking for justification for a sin I struggle with, and I happened upon an internet forum that had a thread dedicated to the topic. You guessed it, Christian Forums.

After finding what I wanted to hear, I decided to browse through the forum and see what other types of topics there were. I happened across a certain, now deceased, forum called "Inter Denominational Debate." Here I read some posts made by a certain Catholic that made my blood boil. "One true Church!!! Oh no she didn't just say that!" Needless to say, I was soon registered to my first Internet forum.

I was 22 years old, I thought I knew everything and yet I knew nothing, I knew not the Church, and Baal was going to put a Goa'uld in my head.



Well, maybe not the Baal part, but the rest is true.

Dear Lotar,

You had me kind of worried. I was wondering if you had contact with aliens as I read the first paragraph. Are you planning on writing SciFi?

That was really a cliff hanger.

Lovingly in Christ,
Elizabeth

 

[Rilian]

Rilian, how did your wife finally warm up to it?

Well, she's really not interested in dogma or church history or anything like that. I think primarily what made her comfortable was just attending the liturgy. She also read bishop Kallistos' The Orthodox Way which I think she liked. She also asked our priest a lot of questions.

Really I would have to ask her though.

Does she prefer it or would Catholicism have been just as good for her?

I would have to ask her. I know she thinks priests should be able to marry and she said she thinks it's a lot easier to relate to our priest and Khouria because they face many of the same struggles as us. I think she also prefers a smaller parish where people are much more familiar with each other. I know you can find both of those things in the RCC, but my experience was it was harder to come by.

All of her friends who are religious, aside from people we know from church, are Catholic. We also agreed that if public schools did not work out for our kids, we would send them to one of the Catholic schools around us.

 

[MariaRegina]

Well, she's really not interested in dogma or church history or anything like that. I think primarily what made her comfortable was just attending the liturgy. She also read bishop Kallistos' The Orthodox Way which I think she liked. She also asked our priest a lot of questions.

Really I would have to ask her though.



I would have to ask her. I know she thinks priests should be able to marry and she said she thinks it's a lot easier to relate to our priest and Khouria because they face many of the same struggles as us. I think she also prefers a smaller parish where people are much more familiar with each other. I know you can find both of those things in the RCC, but my experience was it was harder to come by.

All of her friends who are religious, aside from people we know from church, are Catholic. We also agreed that if public schools did not work out for our kids, we would send them to one of the Catholic schools around us.

Have you considered home schooling? There are home schooling support groups operating around the country. It's really wonderful and promotes family unity.

 

[Rilian]

Have you considered home schooling? There are home schooling support groups operating around the country. It's really wonderful and promotes family unity.

We talked about it, but my wife didn't think she or my daughter was well suited to it. My son would probably be fine with it though. We're trying to do things outside of church to foster faith and create family time as well. We're been looking at Fr. Coniaris' book about making God real in the home for some ideas.

I have heard good things about home schooling and I know many people have had success with it. I have to say I have seen one instance where I think the kids education is suffering somewhat though because of it. That could be due to various factors.

 

[Rilian]

Does she prefer it or would Catholicism have been just as good for her?

This came up in a conversation today and she says Orthodoxy matches what she believes. She said she could not be Catholic.

 

[Xpycoctomos]

Rilian,

Your wife's experience and points of view re the RCC and OC are exactly the same as my girlfriends. She likes Hopko a lot and Ware (well, she was bored to tears by Orthodox Church, but she loved the Orthodox Way, and Mountain of Silence). It's funny, but Im all into this theology stuff and while she can have limited conversations about it and is perfectly comfortable with the idea of others being and remaining Catholic... she lives Orthodoxy so much better than I. I think it's a good team because she grounds me in what's most important (although she doesn't see this). She just hates the incense (the slavs don't understand that the sanctuary does not have to be hazy to be holy ) because she has messed up sinuses. She's a trooper during Vespers and Liturgy!

John

 

[Xpycoctomos]

Oh, and my gf and I also plan to send our kids to a Catholic School (at least for grade school), as long as it is actually Catholic. So many of them around here though are pandering to academics to the point that they will hire non-Catholics and even non-Christians to teach there. Nuts!

John

 

[MariaRegina]

Oh, and my gf and I also plan to send our kids to a Catholic School (at least for grade school), as long as it is actually Catholic. So many of them around here though are pandering to academics to the point that they will hire non-Catholics and even non-Christians to teach there. Nuts!

John

Check it out first. A lot of the so-called Catholic schools in the Los Angeles diocese are far from Catholic - and many of the student come out believing in abortion. My next door neighbor sent his kids to the local Catholic school and he was really shocked.