Some Questions for the Orthodox

[fingerprint]

I as a Catholic have never gotten the opportunity to meet an Orthodox Christian in my life. I'm hoping to get to know you a little better in this thread. I'm not here to debate, far from it. I want to know more about my Orthodox brothers and sisters. I'll ask some questions and you can take your time replying. Don't feel like each person that replies has to answer every question in their post, feel free to answer as many as you like, I'll get them all answered eventually

Ok here goes the list...

1. What is the Orthodox stance on abortion?

2. What is the Orthodox stance on birth control?

3. What about divorce?

4. Stance on sex before marriage with the person you are marrying, and sex outside of marriage besides that?

5. Do Orthodox venerate Saints and Mary and ask them to intercede on their behalf as Catholics do?

6. Do you have someone like our Pope who is leader of your Church? I mean besides Jesus of course Do you have an advocate for Jesus at the head of the Church or a council or what?

7. Can someone explain what the IC and XC are in the image here http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/orthodox/cross4.GIF , I'm not familiar with that.

8. Where did the tradition of Orthodox priests all having beards come from, every single one I have seen has a beard.

9. I understand your priests are allowed to marry, is that correct?

10. I was under the common misconception that Orthodox was all Eastern European and Greek, I know better now. How do you know if an Orthodox church here in America is going to have an English service or some other language? I've heard there is Eastern Rite and Western Rite but how do you know before you visit the church?

11. What is it like for someone who is wanting to convert to Orthodox? Do you have a program like the Catholic RCIA or what is it exactly?

Ok that's all for now, thanks much

 

[Photini]

8. Where did the tradition of Orthodox priests all having beards come from, every single one I have seen has a beard.

I bumped this thread for you...

http://www.christianforums.com/showthread.php?p=2132250#post2132250

 

[Photini]

And BTW, Welcome to TAW!

 

[Reader Nilus]

I as a Catholic have never gotten the opportunity to meet an Orthodox Christian in my life. I'm hoping to get to know you a little better in this thread. I'm not here to debate, far from it. I want to know more about my Orthodox brothers and sisters. I'll ask some questions and you can take your time replying. Don't feel like each person that replies has to answer every question in their post, feel free to answer as many as you like, I'll get them all answered eventually

Ok here goes the list...

1. What is the Orthodox stance on abortion?

2. What is the Orthodox stance on birth control?

3. What about divorce?

4. Stance on sex before marriage with the person you are marrying, and sex outside of marriage besides that?

5. Do Orthodox venerate Saints and Mary and ask them to intercede on their behalf as Catholics do?

6. Do you have someone like our Pope who is leader of your Church? I mean besides Jesus of course Do you have an advocate for Jesus at the head of the Church or a council or what?


7. Can someone explain what the IC and XC are in the image here http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/orthodox/cross4.GIF , I'm not familiar with that.

8. Where did the tradition of Orthodox priests all having beards come from, every single one I have seen has a beard.

9. I understand your priests are allowed to marry, is that correct?

10. I was under the common misconception that Orthodox was all Eastern European and Greek, I know better now. How do you know if an Orthodox church here in America is going to have an English service or some other language? I've heard there is Eastern Rite and Western Rite but how do you know before you visit the church?

11. What is it like for someone who is wanting to convert to Orthodox? Do you have a program like the Catholic RCIA or what is it exactly?

Ok that's all for now, thanks much

1. What is the Orthodox stance on abortion? It is murder pure and simple and the Orthodox take an active role in protesting abortion. Met HERMAN of the OCA leads Orthodox in the right to life marches in Washington.
2. What is the Orthodox stance on birth control? It is frowned upon, but it is a pastoral matter between the family and their confessor.
3. What about divorce? Divorce is a result of sin. The Church does not grant divorce as it is a civil matter. The Church does allow a 2nd marriage, and it is a penitential service, in some cases maybe a third.
4. Stance on sex before marriage with the person you are marrying, and sex outside of marriage besides that? It is a sin, and if an Orthodox is living with someone, he or she will be excommunicated until, they split or get married.
5. Do Orthodox venerate Saints and Mary and ask them to intercede on their behalf as Catholics do? Yes
6. Do you have someone like our Pope who is leader of your Church? I mean besides Jesus of course Do you have an advocate for Jesus at the head of the Church or a council or what? NO We are ruled by Bishops in synods.
9. I understand your priests are allowed to marry, is that correct? A priest or deacon has to be married before being ordained to Holy Orders. Yes they can be married.
Converts are given instruction which is informal.
Jeff the Finn

 

[Matrona]

1. What is the Orthodox stance on abortion?

Against.

2. What is the Orthodox stance on birth control?

Only permissible for couples having relations within the normal boundaries of marriage, and they cannot use it for selfish reasons (money, not liking children, etc.)

3. What about divorce?

Divorce and remarriage are strongly discouraged but are allowed under certain circumstances as a matter of oikonomia (economy). Second and third marriages are only allowed under extreme circumstances. No Orthodox Christian is allowed to marry more than three times under any circumstances. These rules are for the laity--for clergy they are much more strict.

4. Stance on sex before marriage with the person you are marrying, and sex outside of marriage besides that?

Sex outside marriage is forbidden.

5. Do Orthodox venerate Saints and Mary and ask them to intercede on their behalf as Catholics do?

Absolutely!

6. Do you have someone like our Pope who is leader of your Church? I mean besides Jesus of course Do you have an advocate for Jesus at the head of the Church or a council or what?

All bishops in our church are considered equal in authority, no matter how much territory is encompassed by his diocese. The patriarch of Constantinople is called the Ecumenical Patriarch, but he only has a primacy of honor. He does not have any more ecclesiastical authority on his own than any other bishop. He is not considered infallible under any circumstances and is not an "eastern pope".

9. I understand your priests are allowed to marry, is that correct?

Ordained priests are not allowed to marry. Married men, on the other hand, may be ordained priests. A priest who wishes to marry must do so prior to ordination. Also, he is not allowed to marry again once he is ordained.

I'll let someone else field the rest of your questions--I'm sorry, but I'm tired... God bless!

 

[Rilian]

fingerprint, the OCA also maintains a pretty good Q&A section which addresses most of your questions.

 

[OrthodoxTexan]

I'll try to knock a couple of the easy ones out for you.

7. Can someone explain what the IC and XC are in the image here http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/orthodox/cross4.GIF , I'm not familiar with that.

The ICXC is shorthand for for Jesus Christ in Greek. IC=IHCOYC (Jesus) XC= XPICTOC (Christ). You will also commonly see ICXC NIKA, or "Jesus Christ Conquers".

9. I understand your priests are allowed to marry, is that correct?

Yes, they can be married before ordination.

 

[fingerprint]

Thanks friends

 

[fingerprint]

Ok I knew I had one more, what is the official version of the Bible used in Orthodox churches? And is the service called Mass as in the Catholic faith, or something else?

 

[Orthosdoxa]

We use the Septuagint.

And we call it "Divine Liturgy".

And welcome!

 

[fingerprint]

Ok cool. One more...what about confession? Do you have confession with a priest or do you do it privately in prayer between you and God?

 

[prodromos]

Confession is with a priest. Some have confession standing, some sitting, some face to face, some with the priest to your side both facing an icon of Christ, some privately, some publically. However there is no confession booth as is/was traditional in the Catholic church.

In Russian churches, people confess just prior to Holy Communion. In others, you are expected to go to confession I think at least the night before.

 

[prodromos]

7. Can someone explain what the IC and XC are in the image here http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/orthodox/cross4.GIF , I'm not familiar with that.

OrthodoxTexan has answered this for you. I just thought I would add that on icons of Panagia you will also find "ΜΗΤΕΡ ΘΕΟΥ" (Mother of God) abbreviated as "ΜΡ ΘΥ" or sometimes instead of "Υ" you will see something like an upside down "Ω" which is actually an "Ο" and "Υ" combined as one letter, even though no such letter exists in the Greek alphabet

9. I understand your priests are allowed to marry, is that correct?

This has been answered by others, but I thought I should clarify that our bishops are drawn from the unmarried clergy. A priest who is a widower can also become a bishop if he takes monastic vows.

I thought I might preempt one of your questions
Orthodox Christians fast from meat, eggs, dairy products, olive oil and alcohol on every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year except for the week immediately following Pascha (Easter) and that following Christmas. If a major feast day falls on a Wednesday or Friday or another day when we would otherwise be fasting (such as every day during Lent) then fish, olive oil and wine are permitted on that day. As a rule, Orthodox Christians fast for 182 days out of 365 in a year, not including fasting the day before taking Holy Communion. How strictly we follow the fasts however, is a pastoral matter, and may be relaxed due to health or other reasons (such as pride), or be more strict when dealing with particular sin in our lives. Monastics also fast on Monday on top of Wednesday and Friday (Judas betrayed Christ on Wednesday, Christ was crucified on Friday, and for Monastics, Monday is the day of the angels and they are taking the place of the angels that fell along with Satan)

If you have any more questions I haven't though of, feel free to ask

John.

 

[Michael G]

I as a Catholic have never gotten the opportunity to meet an Orthodox Christian in my life. I'm hoping to get to know you a little better in this thread. I'm not here to debate, far from it. I want to know more about my Orthodox brothers and sisters. I'll ask some questions and you can take your time replying. Don't feel like each person that replies has to answer every question in their post, feel free to answer as many as you like, I'll get them all answered eventually


10. I was under the common misconception that Orthodox was all Eastern European and Greek, I know better now. How do you know if an Orthodox church here in America is going to have an English service or some other language? I've heard there is Eastern Rite and Western Rite but how do you know before you visit the church?

11. What is it like for someone who is wanting to convert to Orthodox? Do you have a program like the Catholic RCIA or what is it exactly?

Ok that's all for now, thanks much

10. Not all Orthodox are Eastern European or Greek. I was brought up Roman Catholic and am of a German/English family. The few Western Rite Orthodox there are primarily use the Liturgy of St. Gregory which is the same as the Old Tridentine Mass was prior to the 1950 when slight changes started creeping into that liturgy. Western Rite Orthodox are a minority among Orthodoxy, although a completely valid minority. As for how to know who will have an English service, most Greek, Ukranian, and Serbian churches tend to use atleast a moderate ammount of their language in the liturgy as do the ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia). I would stick to an Antiochian or OCA Chuch to assure that you are going to get a completely English Liturgy.

11. Conversion to Orthodoxy is a highly personal issue. There is no set RCIA as the Catholic Church has. To be Chrismated you must meet with an Orthodox priest and discuss the faith with you. From that point the priest will lay out the plan for how you are to go about that. He will give you books to read, have you attend liturgy and services regularly and meet with you regularly to see how you are progressing. When you both come to a mutual conclusion that it is time to be Chrismated he will set a date for you to be Chrismated and enter the church. In ancient times this date was often the Saturday before Palm Sunday, but now that is sometimes the case but not always.

 

[Michael G]

I
7. Can someone explain what the IC and XC are in the image here http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/orthodox/cross4.GIF , I'm not familiar with that.

IC XC is the Name of Christ. Most Iconographers choose to leave his name in Greek, although it is entirely proper to replace IC XC with Jesus Christ. In the Halo of Christ you will always see (forgive me my computer doesn't have Greek letters) OWN which is also Greek for the name of GOD, I Am Who Am. Again it is completely proper for an Iconographer to put "I Am Who Am" in the halo of Christ, but most do not, choosing to just use the Greek.

 

[Rilian]

Regarding the Bible, as I understand it the Orthodox Church does use the Septaugint translation of the Old Testament as Anonykat mentioned. I'm pretty sure the only really canonical Bible in Orthodoxy, both Old and New Testaments, is in Greek.

The Orthodox Study Bible which my mission sells (just NT and psalms now) is based on the NKJV, which goes back to the Text Receptus and has its own idiosyncrasies. I believe many parishes use the RSV for readings during the liturgy. There's a project going on now by a group of Orthodox scholars to get a full English translation of the Old and New Testaments not based on the received or Masoretic texts. I'm not sure if that will become canonical for English speaking Orthdox churches.

Beyond that I think many people use different Bibles for personal study based on their own preferences, although I would guess translations based on modern critical scholarship such as the NRSV might be discouraged (or at least one would want to note that they contain changes that deviate from Orthodox understanding). Most commonly it seems like people use the KJV, NKJV or RSV. I heard someone talking about the NJB, though I've never read it. I do believe that translation maintains a better ordering of the deuterocanonicals instead of consigning them to a lonely cubby hole at the back of the Bible.

One question for you fingerprint based on your profile, are you at the St. Joseph's on the far end of Capitol Hill? I'm pretty sure that's the Jesuit church there if I remember right. Anyway, if so, you're pretty near a couple of Orthodox churches - St. Demetrios in Montlake which is Greek and St. Spiridon which is OCA down in Eastlake by the big REI store.

 

[Patristic]

The Orthodox Church uses the Septuagint as it's Old Testament since recent archeological finds and critical research has discoverd the Masoretic text isn't as accurate as many first thought. The Manuscripts that are extant are from the 10th century onwards and when compared to the Septuagint scrolls found at Qumran, the Masoretic text shows some serious deviations from the Qumran text.

 

[Reader Nilus]

The only translation that is prohibitted during public reading is the NRSV in OCA churches. Our parish uses the RSV. For some of the old testament readings during Lent I have used the NAB for the readings.
Jeff the Finn

 

[fingerprint]

One question for you fingerprint based on your profile, are you at the St. Joseph's on the far end of Capitol Hill? I'm pretty sure that's the Jesuit church there if I remember right. Anyway, if so, you're pretty near a couple of Orthodox churches - St. Demetrios in Montlake which is Greek and St. Spiridon which is OCA down in Eastlake by the big REI store.

Yep, you've got a good memory...that's exactly the one. And yes St. Joseph is a Jesuit parish. They have St. Joseph Catholic School right beside the church that goes through 8th grade I believe. Anyways, so St. Spiridon should have the Divine Liturgy in English then right?

 

[Reader Nilus]

St Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral for the most part is in English.
Also around there is Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption
And there is Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas that parish will be Slavonic. The Greek Church will mostly be in Greek.
Jeff the Finn