Current status within Eastern Orthodoxy

[Akathist]

Please vote about your current status within Eastern Orthodoxy. If one of the choices does not fit you, click on "other".

Feel free to comment about how you feel about your status, what your next step is within Orthodoxy (for example, do you plan to study to become a Reader, or do you as an inquirer hope to become a catachumen soon or are you content with just reading up on things for now.)

By the way, you can vote for more than one for those who are already Readers or who are already in Seminary.

 

[Kolya]

I'm a Chrismated convert. I am just to be content to be a worshipper in the congregation, but I also sing in the monthly English DL choir.

 

[Ioan cel Nou]

I'm currently just a lay convert but I hope to become a reader or perhaps a deacon in future.

James

 

[Annoula]

i am a cradle Orthodox, but it's only now that i came to realize the treasure that Orthodoxy carries within herself.

i want to know more about Orthodoxy and find Christ.

 

[Kaonashi]

I would have to identify myself as a seeker into Orthodoxy right now.

 

[Llauralin]

Didn't we just have this thread?

 

[Canadian75]

Didn't we just have this thread?

I posted a similar one. Yet, my poll choices were not good enough as they led to confusion and negative feedback. I believe the OP wished to create a better poll. A census of TAW members is a good thing IMO.


Peace.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

Adult convert by chrismation, sing in the choir.

 

[orthodoxy]

Converted "lone ranger" christian of nearly 4 years.

Junior Elder on the council.

sinner

I could be a reader but I cannot be in the clergy because I married a woman 20 years ago that was previously married so I am excluded from this high honor. I am, however, content to be a lay person in the "cloud of witnesses" and be a "bee in the bonnet" of the priest from the council. Even if I was not in the council I would attend the meetings just to be part of the Church community.

kyril

 

[Melethiel]

Like I said in the other thread, baptized/chrismated as infant, somewhat curious and pop in here sporadically, but like Bach too much to convert.

 

[Orthosdoxa]

I like Bach too - some of the finest choral music ever written. It's okay to be Orthodox and still listen to Bach outside of church.

 

[Greg the byzantine]

I am a cradle

 

[ReformedCharismatic]

I have many Orthodox friends, including a number of former band members (I've been in a "rock" band for the past 13 years). Personally, I'm an Evangelical Christian, far more of the "Reformed Charismatic / Pentacostal Calvinist" persuasion, with a strong leaning towards the "Radical Orthodoxy" influenced wing of the Emergent conversation, HOWEVER, I've read Franky Schaeffer's publication on occasion, and absolutely LOVE iconography - it is nothing short of absolutely powerful. I may not understand you folks - in some ways I think we reformed Christians and ya'll speak right past one another - but I'm glad you're following Jesus. Bless you...

 

[ufonium2]

Like I said in the other thread, baptized/chrismated as infant, somewhat curious and pop in here sporadically, but like Bach too much to convert.

Bach's great, but he's no Handel Bach and Handel are both great, but not as great as the Truth.

I'm a musicologist, so I spend all day surrounded by/talking about/thinking about music. I love Pergolesi, Palestrina, and Handel's sacred music. I'm not going to hear it in church, but neither is 95% of the rest of America. Your standard Orthodox service music isn't Palestrina, but it's not the musical blasphemy that is praise bands either. Besides, I'd rather belong to a church with perfect theology and bad music than one with wonderful music and lacking theology.

So I buy CDs of really good sacred music (Eastern and Western), thank God for giving us Bach (and Rimsky-Korsakov), but go to church and thank God for the folks willing to hack through the service book every week, and for the beauty of Orthodoxy.

 

[Photini]

Convert.

 

[Photini]

Bach's great, but he's no Handel Bach and Handel are both great, but not as great as the Truth.

.

When I was a kid taking piano lessons, I considered Bach's music a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

 

[Melethiel]

Bach's great, but he's no Handel Bach and Handel are both great, but not as great as the Truth.

I'm a musicologist, so I spend all day surrounded by/talking about/thinking about music. I love Pergolesi, Palestrina, and Handel's sacred music. I'm not going to hear it in church, but neither is 95% of the rest of America. Your standard Orthodox service music isn't Palestrina, but it's not the musical blasphemy that is praise bands either. Besides, I'd rather belong to a church with perfect theology and bad music than one with wonderful music and lacking theology.

So I buy CDs of really good sacred music (Eastern and Western), thank God for giving us Bach (and Rimsky-Korsakov), but go to church and thank God for the folks willing to hack through the service book every week, and for the beauty of Orthodoxy.

But see, I'm working on a degree in Organ Performance and Church Music. All those hours learning chorale preludes, hymns, lots of Bach, how to blend it into the liturgy without being overpowering...

And I have CDs of Eastern sacred music too...Ancient Echoes rocks.

 

[choirfiend]

"Come and follow me," and they left their nets and followed Him...

 

[ufonium2]

But see, I'm working on a degree in Organ Performance and Church Music. All those hours learning chorale preludes, hymns, lots of Bach, how to blend it into the liturgy without being overpowering...

I have an education degree and teaching license that I've never used. My mom has an anthropology degree she's never used. My husband has a history degree and works in a warehouse. Besides, you'll probably get an MM, and they won't even care what your undergrad specialization was. You'll have all sorts of options to jump that ship.

I used to have a steady church gig too, in a church that regularly hired an early music ensemble to play Baroque music on authentic instruments. How cool is that? But I decided I should get that kind of experience playing with a professional early music orchestra, and should work on my soul at church. So I set out to find the truth, and if that truth involved bad music and ugly buildings and tacky bulletins, I was willing to accept that. Fortunately for me, I found the truth in a church with a great choir. A great a capella choir that had no use for an instrumentalist like me.

But that's okay, and in a way, liberating. I mean, computer programmers aren't expected to write code while they're supposed to be worshipping God, so why should we, as musicians, be expected to worry about music during church? Let the computer programmers run the choir. I've found they have a much healthier approach to church music than I do, because I tend to think of the service as a performance, which is not good.

So I have one parish where I only sing when asked, and the priest is kind enough to only ask on Saturday nights when I'm literally the only person there who can read music, and another parish where I pick out the music and get it ready behind the scenes, and then everyone sings at the liturgy. It's not the prettiest thing you'll ever hear, but it allows everyone to participate, and to keep their minds on God.

 

[ufonium2]

"Come and follow me," and they left their nets and followed Him...

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to choirfiend again.