Returning to the Orthodox faith?

[rusmeister]

I confirm the popularity of that book Fotina mentioned over here, in Russian: Несвятые святые ("unsainted saints", literally).

 

[ArmyMatt]

My wife is from a Protestant background and we have sort of an agreement not to convert each other, to be respectful of each other's faith. Can there be a healthy mixed marriage if one spouse is devoutly Orthodox?

well, welcome back! I would say yes, it can work out. I know many folks who have actually let their families to Orthodoxy by NOT prosletyzing (spelling?), but rather just being loving and prayerful and letting God do what He does best. so yeah, you should have no worries man.

sorry as well you have been burned before, that is a bummer. I guess I'll leave you with some words from Met Isaiah of Denver. he says and agrees with what you said, and that proves Orthodoxy is the True Church, because inspite of all of our problems, from the outside and the ones we heap on ourselves, we are still kicking after 2000 years.

hope you stick around!

 

[1970jennifer]

Cool!

 

[Yoder777]

This is why I am Orthodox:

The LORD is king! He is robed in majesty - YouTube

What originally attracted me about Orthodoxy is the liturgical and mystical side of things. Later, while away at college a few years ago, I got way too involved in a congregation that was sort of cult-like, and I was way too much into the political side of things, insisting that Orthodoxy is the only true way to every random person possible that I lost sight of what really attracted me to Orthodoxy in the first place. There are two meanings to the term Orthodox, "right belief" and "right worship," and it's the second definition that made me want to be Orthodox in the first place and what is drawing me back to the faith. In my journey back to Orthodoxy, I even attended a Buddhist church for a number of weeks. I was never heavily into meditation but perhaps I was seeking what I had lost from the Jesus Prayer. I didn't feel comfortable with the prayers and incantations to the Buddha in their liturgy, but it was a liturgy just the same, and that made me feel at peace, not realizing it was the Orthodox liturgy that I really missed.

 

[27B6]

...

 

[-Kyriaki-]

Lord have mercy, and welcome back

 

[Gnarwhal]

This is why I am Orthodox:

The LORD is king! He is robed in majesty - YouTube

What originally attracted me about Orthodoxy is the liturgical and mystical side of things. Later, while away at college a few years ago, I got way too involved in a congregation that was sort of cult-like, and I was way too much into the political side of things, insisting that Orthodoxy is the only true way to every random person possible that I lost sight of what really attracted me to Orthodoxy in the first place. There are two meanings to the term Orthodox, "right belief" and "right worship," and it's the second definition that made me want to be Orthodox in the first place and what is drawing me back to the faith. In my journey back to Orthodoxy, I even attended a Buddhist church for a number of weeks. I was never heavily into meditation but perhaps I was seeking what I had lost from the Jesus Prayer. I didn't feel comfortable with the prayers and incantations to the Buddha in their liturgy, but it was a liturgy just the same, and that made me feel at peace, not realizing it was the Orthodox liturgy that I really missed.

Man that sounded beautiful, I haven't gotten to experience something quite like that yet since there is only the one OCA mission parish in my town and that's it. There's a Georgian Orthodox and a Greek Orthodox parish about an 90 minutes away from here but I don't really have the time to check them out.

I'm in the exact same place now that you seem to have been in the past. I get very argumentative if I feel like people are being the least bit intolerant or ignorant of Orthodoxy, which only works against me in the long run, to my shame. It also serves to just muddy my own vision and cause me to forget the beauty and truth that I originally saw in Orthodoxy. I hope I can learn from these mistakes and stop trying to argue people into Orthodoxy, Fr. Damick spoke from personal experience when he says it never works, I should pay more attention to him.

At any rate, were you a part of the Roman Catholic Church at any point? I've seen you around in GT but I don't think we have dialogued face-to-face, but I could have sworn I saw a Catholic icon under your name at one point.

At any rate, nice to meet you and see you around TAW.

 

[desertfathersincense]

Thank your for your kind words. I am meeting with a priest this week and I am a little nervous about it. I know him and trust him as a priest but I've been hurt by enough priests in the past that it's a little hard to come to him. I've been waiting for years.

I have only read this far, but it was enough, for me to sense your pain and confusion.

May I say only a few simple things, in the hope that it will help you?
Firstly, I would like to offer my simple and heartfelt prayer for you that your soul will be healed. the Book says, "Speak the word only and my soul shall be healed." Our Lord IS the Word....therefore, I will be praying the Jesus prayer for you, on your behalf, if you cannot pray right now for yourself, which is completely understandable, considering your very difficult journey thus far.

Second, I would like to say that I completely agree with you on all the things you have mentioned. Remember that even cradle Orthodox have difficulty with the conversion of heart. Conversion begins with the mouth, but ultimately, it must end in the heart, where it finds fulfillment in the fullness of the Lord Himself. The throne within the heart will never be empty .... we choose Who shall sit there.

And yes, I would go out on the limb and say I am one of those "crazy Orthodox" who believe that ALL spiritual truth is God's truth.

Many years ago, in addition to being a high ranking occultist (among other things), I was also a Taoist by philosophy. I still consider myself a Taoist and find no problem with Buddhist philosophy for example. Even the Buddha said, :

Live in Joy, In love,
Even among those who hate.

Live in joy, In health,
Even among the afflicted.

Live in joy, In peace,
Even among the troubled.

Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.


==Sounds a lot like a Certain Divine God Man we read about in Sunday School. (No matter what church that might have been.)

Our Lord never said, "Follow me perfectly."
He said, "Take up your cross and follow Me."

He never said anything about getting it perfect, getting it just right, never making mistakes or never falling down. Simon fell down lots of times, just trying to make it up the hill carrying our Lord''s cross AND at times, carrying our Lord. How can we expect to do better???

As for going to meet the priest: remember he is a man, too, just like you. He is flesh and blood and bleeds the same color as you, and cries tears like you. He is only there to bear witness to your pain, as a service to you, as consolation to you. Noone wants to die alone, and just the same, no one wants to suffer alone. We all want solace in the company of another human being, even if all they can offer is to bear witness to our pain.

Orthodoxy, as a form and function of faith, is the fullness of all faith. That much is true. But Jesus Christ IS the Faith. He IS the Truth. He IS the Life. He IS the word. He IS the Way. As a Taoist by philosophy, I just had to slip that in there and I don't think anyone will mind very much if I "show my true colors".

I will pray for you. Relax my friend. All truth IS our Lord Jesus Christ, in the form that He wishes, in order that all people be saved.

God bless you.

 

[desertfathersincense]

This book also seems interesting:



...or it could be a polemical hate fest of an Orthodox convert against his former faith. Has anyone read it?

I've read it. Not worth the binding or the paper it's printed on. What a slap in his very devout parent's faces. Does not our God say, "Honor thy father and mother?" I found no "honor" in that book and was sick by the time I got to the fourth chapter. Throw it away if it is in your possession. That book is NOT Orthodox. It is a temper tantrum in print.'


Incidentally I should mention that, I get many letters a month by email through my website. I cannot tell you how many times I have told people to return to the "faith of their fathers and mothers". In other words, my advice to people has always been to return to the church from which they come, and MAKE PEACE, before they do anything else. I have never seen a "conversion" that begins with anger, end in peace. Never. Not once. And I have been Orthodox a very long time.
Just my 2 shekels.

 

[Yoder777]

At any rate, were you a part of the Roman Catholic Church at any point? I've seen you around in GT but I don't think we have dialogued face-to-face, but I could have sworn I saw a Catholic icon under your name at one point.

Roman Catholicism is the faith in which I was raised. I converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in my teenage years, with a reason being my resentment about the priest scandal. A few months ago, I started attending Catholic mass again, and even had my daughter baptized in the Catholic church, which may have just been a bridge for me returning to Orthodoxy after a four year absence. I can say for sure that I've gotten over my previous resentment against Catholicism. Like I said, I may not have come to liturgy this Sunday if I hadn't been invited to do so, but I am happy that I was.

 

[Yoder777]

I met with the priest today and it was a good experience. He understands that, right now, I am sort of testing the waters. He isn't pushing me into a particular direction and understands that I've been hurt by priests in the past.

 

[Gnarwhal]

I met with the priest today and it was a good experience. He understands that, right now, I am sort of testing the waters. He isn't pushing me into a particular direction and understands that I've been hurt by priests in the past.

Glad to hear the meeting went well, did your nerves pass by the time you met with him or were they still there? Either way, I'm glad you had a good experience.

That's also been something very attractive to me about Orthodoxy: that there's no push to make a decision or commit to anything. It's probably because Orthodox Christians know what they have in the Church and that they don't need to "sell" it like, say, an Evangelical would. Rather its beauty and its truth will be compelling enough. That's just my perspective though.

 

[ArmyMatt]

as a deacon I know once said, the best we can do is get out of God's way. let the Truth speak for itself

glad you had a good experience Yoder!

 

[Yoder777]

my grandfather was a greek orthodox immigrant but also a freemason. do you believe there is such thing as a generational masonic curse?

 

[Yoder777]

I used to altar serve but I don't think I'd be ready for a while to do something like that again. Maybe I could be of service in another way, like cleaning the church.

 

[Gnarwhal]

my grandfather was a greek orthodox immigrant but also a freemason. do you believe there is such thing as a generational masonic curse?

I can't speak from an Orthodox perspective but I've always been skeptical of the "generational curses" stuff, I don't completely know what it's origins are but I always thought it was a product of charismatic evangelicalism. There were people at my old church who would talk about that stuff a lot and eventually they were holding seminars on how to "free yourself" from it.

Inside I always felt it was pretty dodgy, but hey I could be way off in my assessment.

My maternal grandfather, while I never met him nor was he Orthodox, was a freemason and I never felt like there was a problem with that.

 

[MariaRegina]

Our daughter has already been baptized, which I am very appreciative of since that went outside my wife's comfort zone. My wife, however, wants to allow her to choose which church she wants to belong to when she's old enough to make that choice. I honestly can agree to that because it would just give me the incentive to be a truly godly example of the faith so that she will have a good example to choose to emulate.

Several studies have shown that the depth of a father's faith will influence the children more so than the faith of the mom.

 

[MariaRegina]

This book also seems interesting:



...or it could be a polemical hate fest of an Orthodox convert against his former faith. Has anyone read it?

I read it mostly, but had to stop as the polemical nature of the book destroyed it.

 

[ArmyMatt]

do you believe there is such thing as a generational masonic curse?

no, and if there is I gotta watch out. two of my great grandfathers were masons.

but in all honesty no.

 

[choirfiend]

Specific curses? No. Generational effects of sin? Yes. If Grandpa was an abusive alcoholic, we all know Dad has a much higher chance of being an abusive alcoholic, which means you as the kid are likely to be abused, and then more likely to be an abusive alcoholic....Our sin is never only personal, but effects everyone around us.