What Icons do you have?

[Orthodox Andrew]

Sweet. They've got Chrysostom and Cyril&Methodius.

Plus so many different sizes.

 

[Matrona]

Matrona!
You are too sweet!

Thank you Suzannah! And thanks for the recipe for that Irish soda bread. I will be sure to make it next time I'm home (my mom has a cast-iron skillet, my skillets aren't cast-iron, cast-iron skillets are hard to find these days!).

How wonderful that you will become a catechumen next Sunday! Which of the churches are you going to? Now you'll get prayed over every week, plus you'll be mentioned in the Litany of Fervent Supplication.

I became a catechumen last year on Super Bowl Sunday...

 

[Suzannah]

Dear Suzannah:

Do you think your mom might join you in the Orthodox Church?

Her gift of the Icons was a beautiful gesture.

Yours in Christ,
Elizabeth

This gift was such a beautiful expression of my mother as a whole being. She has always been a very gentle Christian who just loves Jesus and sees Jesus in everyone. She said she would like to go to church with me sometime and I think that is very like her to want to do that. At one time in my childhood, we lived in Rumania (Bucharest) and she did go to the one "official" Orthodox church there for all the major holidays and sometimes in between. She was always very careful to go alone and pretend she didn't know anybody, but our "babysitter" went to that church also along with most of her family and a lot of the people that lived in our building and around the neighborhood......she actually knows quite a bit about Orthodoxy, and has come right out and said that yes, she believes that they are the first Christian church.

But here's the really interesting part. My dad has always been an intellectual agnostic. Somewhat "anti-Christian" but I really should clarify that his issues are with Protestant Bible Thumpers, the kind that yell and scream about the fires of hell. Anyway, he's been in the hospital this week (he has cancer) and when I went to see him tonight, he seemed very animated and excited...the first thing he said to me was "What did you think about the Orthodox church??? Your mother told me all about it! What do you think????"
My father, as long as I have been alive, has NEVER initiated a religious conversation in his life. To my knowledge, he has never, ever wanted to know about a church, a church service, what it was like, what happened during it and/or whatever.....I was really kind of dreading him finding out about my interest in Orthodoxy because my dad was an analyst for the government specializing in the former Soviet Union and Eastern "BLOC". He was astounded that there are Orthodox churches in America. And he was even more interested to hear what I thought of it, and how I enjoyed it, and if I was going to go back. He asked me questions for about thirty minutes: what is it like, is it in English, is the priest a nice person, is the priest Russian or Serbian, are the people Serbian, are the people nice to me and the kicker: WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY BELIEVE??? My answer to that was in the form of a lame joke: that I am very relieved that I don't have to invent "Common Sense Christianity" because it already exists in Orthodoxy...Then he asked if I was going to convert. When I said Yes, he got very thoughtful look on his face....He didn't say anything else, but I get the feeling that this conversation with him is a GOOD PRECURSOR of WONDERFUL THINGS TO COME!



THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOR THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
!!

 

[Suzannah]

Thank you Suzannah! And thanks for the recipe for that Irish soda bread. I will be sure to make it next time I'm home (my mom has a cast-iron skillet, my skillets aren't cast-iron, cast-iron skillets are hard to find these days!).

How wonderful that you will become a catechumen next Sunday! Which of the churches are you going to? Now you'll get prayed over every week, plus you'll be mentioned in the Litany of Fervent Supplication.

I became a catechumen last year on Super Bowl Sunday...

:hugs: Matrona! The best place to buy a skillet is at a "surplus" store, the kind that sells camping gear/wilderness gear!

I decided on the St. John the Baptist Serbian Orthodox Mission. It's small, and cozy and very convert friendly. Most of the people there are converts like me, (except this little old Russian lady who goes there so she doesn't have to take a bus to the Russian congregation, and she seems to like me a lot because I speak some Russian. She thinks I am "charming". )

 

[MariaRegina]

This gift was such a beautiful expression of my mother as a whole being. She has always been a very gentle Christian who just loves Jesus and sees Jesus in everyone. She said she would like to go to church with me sometime and I think that is very like her to want to do that. At one time in my childhood, we lived in Rumania (Bucharest) and she did go to the one "official" Orthodox church there for all the major holidays and sometimes in between. She was always very careful to go alone and pretend she didn't know anybody, but our "babysitter" went to that church also along with most of her family and a lot of the people that lived in our building and around the neighborhood......she actually knows quite a bit about Orthodoxy, and has come right out and said that yes, she believes that they are the first Christian church.

But here's the really interesting part. My dad has always been an intellectual agnostic. Somewhat "anti-Christian" but I really should clarify that his issues are with Protestant Bible Thumpers, the kind that yell and scream about the fires of hell. Anyway, he's been in the hospital this week (he has cancer) and when I went to see him tonight, he seemed very animated and excited...the first thing he said to me was "What did you think about the Orthodox church??? Your mother told me all about it! What do you think????"
My father, as long as I have been alive, has NEVER initiated a religious conversation in his life. To my knowledge, he has never, ever wanted to know about a church, a church service, what it was like, what happened during it and/or whatever.....I was really kind of dreading him finding out about my interest in Orthodoxy because my dad was an analyst for the government specializing in the former Soviet Union and Eastern "BLOC". He was astounded that there are Orthodox churches in America. And he was even more interested to hear what I thought of it, and how I enjoyed it, and if I was going to go back. He asked me questions for about thirty minutes: what is it like, is it in English, is the priest a nice person, is the priest Russian or Serbian, are the people Serbian, are the people nice to me and the kicker: WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY BELIEVE??? My answer to that was in the form of a lame joke: that I am very relieved that I don't have to invent "Common Sense Christianity" because it already exists in Orthodoxy...Then he asked if I was going to convert. When I said Yes, he got very thoughtful look on his face....He didn't say anything else, but I get the feeling that this conversation with him is a GOOD PRECURSOR of WONDERFUL THINGS TO COME!



THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOR THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
!!

If you father is still in the hospital, ask if the priest could visit him. That gesture could result in his conversion. Please don't wait. Many people convert in the hospital because they have time to read and to think. There are also wonderful videos that he can watch on TV.

My prayers for your dad and mom, for their health and salvation.

Lovingly yours in Christ our God,
Elizabeth

 

[prodromos]

Suzannah,

it seems like almost every post you are making lately is bringing tears to my eyes

Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!

John

 

[MariaRegina]

Suzannah,

it seems like almost every post you are making lately is bringing tears to my eyes

Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!

John

Indeed, it seems like one miracle of grace after another. Thanks Suzannah for coming into our lives here on CF.

 

[Suzannah]