Orthophoria
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« on: October 05, 2010, 09:02:02 AM » |
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Greetings one and all! I have been "lurking" for quite some time on the boards, and finally thought I would introduce myself. First, and short and sweet bio. I wasn't really raised with any religious affiliation; my parents let me make that decision for myself. At the age of 14 or so, mainly because my two best friends at the time were musicians, and were playing accompaniment at this church, I joined a pentecostal Church of God. I was later baptized into this denomination; although looking back now, I really didn't have a firm enough grasp on their precepts to make such a monumentous decision. A couple of years later, I converted to Catholicism (which is a story in itself), but later fell away from the church went I began going to college. While in college, I met several friends who were Episcopalian, and several years later joined that church. I am in my 40's now, and due to what has been going in the Episcopal Church, I started looking around for another faith tradition. Literally, on a whim, I decided to attend an local Orthodox Church (GOA), and was completely blown away by the beautiful liturgy, and the sense of the sacred (which it seems most other faith traditions have tossed aside, I think). I met some nice people there, but wasn't really sure if I would ever "fit in"; the parish is VERY Greek..  One of the people that I met there suggested that I might want to try an OCA parish, which does its liturgy entirely in English, and whose congregants are about 75% converts. That was back in April, and I have since become a catechumen! My parish priest has tentatively scheduled my reception into the Church for sometime around Theophany. Everything I am learning in class seems to make so much sense, I really feel as though I have finally "come home"! I look forward to chatting with everyone on the board. Please pray for me, my brothers and sisters, as I continue to learn about the faith! In Christ, Marcus |
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Asteriktos
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« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2010, 11:11:41 AM » |
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Welcome to the forum |
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Michał Kalina
proud Podlachian Belarusian parajournalistic engineer in spe
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Hypatos
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OC.net's trickster
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« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2010, 11:16:27 AM » |
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Hello!
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formerly known as mikeDespite being a Polish citizen I am not a Pole.  Long live Belarus! "It's my constitutional right!" |
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biro
Ursus maritimus
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Και κλήρονομον δείξον με, ζωής της αιωνίου
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« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2010, 11:46:05 AM » |
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Hello. |
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phthalyl.podomatic.com
the-cornet.blogspot.com
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Heorhij
Hoplitarches
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« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2010, 12:52:03 PM » |
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Welcome to the forum, Orthophoria! I have to say it... I hope that your decision to become Orthodox was not made because you feel "conservative" and the Episcopal Church nowadays is a bastion of "liberals." To be Orthodox means something entirely different than just having political or social views that make you revolt against women-priests or gay bishops. Just a thought. May the Lord illumine your path to the Truth, and give you a faithful Guardian Angel. |
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Love never fails.
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scamandrius
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« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2010, 01:19:19 PM » |
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Welcome to the forum, Marcus! I hope that we hear from you often. Feel free to ask anything. We're not infallible around here, but we're always happy to try and answer questions. Welcome to the forum, Orthophoria! I have to say it... I hope that your decision to become Orthodox was not made because you feel "conservative" and the Episcopal Church nowadays is a bastion of "liberals." To be Orthodox means something entirely different than just having political or social views that make you revolt against women-priests or gay bishops. Just a thought. May the Lord illumine your path to the Truth, and give you a faithful Guardian Angel. Heorhij, Was that little snipe really necessary? Marcus didn't bring anything like that up--you did. You don't know what his motivations are. Why don't you just welcome him and leave it at that? Why must almost everything be turned into some political statement by you? |
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I seek the truth by which no man was ever harmed--Marcus Aurelius Those who do not read history are doomed to get their facts from Hollywood--Anonymous What earthly joy remains untouched by grief?--St. John Damascene http://myorthodoxjourney.blogspot.com/ |
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Orthophoria
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« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2010, 03:46:16 PM » |
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Thanks everyone for the welcome! Heorhij - I consider that a fair question and will try to provide a response... The issue of women priests/bishops, and gay bishops, was only indirectly involved in my decision to seek out another faith tradition. If that had been the sole reason, I could have easily switched to one of the "continuing" Episcopal churches. I think there are at least a couple of those parishes near me. My decision to leave the Episcopal Church in particular, and the Anglican Communion in general, was more of a sense of "not being fed" so to speak. On the whole I enjoyed the services, but always felt like it was 'lacking' in something. At one point before attending an Orthodox church, I tried to 'reconnect' to Catholicism, and attended a few services, but again I didn't feel that sense of groundedness or peace (you will have to forgive me if I sound a bit vague on this, but what I was looking for is hard to articulate). As far as women priests and women/gay bishops go, I am assuming that no church canons were violated in those decisions, and that the Episcopal Church was well within its rights to consecrate whomever they deemed fit - my biggest beef with that whole issue is that while they proudly claim to be a part of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, they seem to taking great pains to do everything they can to 'strain' that communion, and that is one thing that I don't think a church should be doing to its sister-churches... a little less action, and a lot more listening (wisdom) might have averted a lot of pain and strained relationships later on... As I stated in my initial post, I literally went to an Orthodox church 'on a whim'. I didn't know a soul who was Orthodox, had not read much, if anything on it; my only exposure to Orthodoxy was the local Greek Fest..  (they had GREAT food, btw!!). But as I continued to attend the liturgies and vespers, I l felt like I had literally STUMBLED onto the truth! I have found 2000 years of continued, unbroken tradition. There is a deepness to the theology, an almost mysticalness, that I have never experienced in Western Christianity. I HAD to learn more about this faith! I feel like I am rambling now, but I hope that answered your question. In Christ, Marcus |
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Pravoslavbob
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St. Sisoes the Great
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« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2010, 04:20:38 PM » |
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Welcome Marcus! |
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Religion is a disease, and Orthodoxy is its cure.
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Fr. George
formerly "Cleveland"
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Domestikos tou thematos
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May the Lord bless you and keep you always!
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« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2010, 04:29:03 PM » |
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Welcome!
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"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the one who can't read them." Mark Twain
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Ordained on 17 & 18-Oct 2009. Please forgive me if earlier posts are poorly worded or incorrect in any way.
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SolEX01
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« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2010, 04:53:11 PM » |
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Welcome Orthophoria!
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Heorhij
Hoplitarches
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« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2010, 05:11:12 PM » |
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Thanks everyone for the welcome! Heorhij - I consider that a fair question and will try to provide a response... The issue of women priests/bishops, and gay bishops, was only indirectly involved in my decision to seek out another faith tradition. If that had been the sole reason, I could have easily switched to one of the "continuing" Episcopal churches. I think there are at least a couple of those parishes near me. My decision to leave the Episcopal Church in particular, and the Anglican Communion in general, was more of a sense of "not being fed" so to speak. On the whole I enjoyed the services, but always felt like it was 'lacking' in something. At one point before attending an Orthodox church, I tried to 'reconnect' to Catholicism, and attended a few services, but again I didn't feel that sense of groundedness or peace (you will have to forgive me if I sound a bit vague on this, but what I was looking for is hard to articulate). As far as women priests and women/gay bishops go, I am assuming that no church canons were violated in those decisions, and that the Episcopal Church was well within its rights to consecrate whomever they deemed fit - my biggest beef with that whole issue is that while they proudly claim to be a part of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, they seem to taking great pains to do everything they can to 'strain' that communion, and that is one thing that I don't think a church should be doing to its sister-churches... a little less action, and a lot more listening (wisdom) might have averted a lot of pain and strained relationships later on... As I stated in my initial post, I literally went to an Orthodox church 'on a whim'. I didn't know a soul who was Orthodox, had not read much, if anything on it; my only exposure to Orthodoxy was the local Greek Fest.. (they had GREAT food, btw!!). But as I continued to attend the liturgies and vespers, I l felt like I had literally STUMBLED onto the truth! I have found 2000 years of continued, unbroken tradition. There is a deepness to the theology, an almost mysticalness, that I have never experienced in Western Christianity. I HAD to learn more about this faith! I feel like I am rambling now, but I hope that answered your question. In Christ, Marcus Thank you! I am very glad you gave me this answer. Scamandrius, I did not have an intention to be "political," and I am happy that the OP understood me correctly. |
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Love never fails.
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quietmorning
Quiet Morning
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« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2010, 09:19:46 PM » |
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Welcome!! |
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Tzimis
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« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2010, 09:23:29 PM » |
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Welcome!
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Excellence of character, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect.
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