What is the significance of the church you're baptised into?? Thnx

[Poppy]

If you start off being baptised into the Greek version of the Orthodox faith then are you always known after that as Greek Orthodox or just plain Orthodox?? Joining that question is this one as well.... Do you have to have a Greek Saint (and not any other one) and last one.... Do you come under a certain jurisdiction all your life or does that change depending on where you move to and what type of Orthodox church you go to?? Like if you start out Greek baptised then go to a Russian one even though you can attend any Orthodox church... do the Russians look at you and think yeah but your Greek Orthodox because that's where you were baptised??

Sorry jumbled questions

[akimori makoto]

If you start off being baptised into the Greek version of the Orthodox faith then are you always known after that as Greek Orthodox or just plain Orthodox??

Someone might jump on me for saying this, but there is no such thing as a Greek Orthodox Christian -- there are just Orthodox Christians who are under the authority of a bishop of the Church of Greece, Cyprus, Constantinople, &c.

I am under the authority of the Archbishop of the Greek Archdiocese of Australia, but I never refer to myself as "Greek Orthodox" and would quite happily commune in a Russian or Serbian or Bulgarian Church.

Joining that question is this one as well.... Do you have to have a Greek Saint (and not any other one)

Any name of any saint of an Orthodox Church is acceptable. That's how the Russians ended up with names like Nikolai and Fyodor, after all.

and last one.... Do you come under a certain jurisdiction all your life or does that change depending on where you move to and what type of Orthodox church you go to?? Like if you start out Greek baptised then go to a Russian one even though you can attend any Orthodox church... do the Russians look at you and think yeah but your Greek Orthodox because that's where you were baptised??

This one is more complicated. While you will not be refused communion in a Russian Church if you were baptised in a Greek Church, it must be kept in mind that in the past it was not possible to jump from jurisdiction to jurisdiction without actually physically leaving the territory of your particular bishop -- eg: crossing the border from Constantinople's territory into Bulgaria's territory. You should always keep this in mind when considering issues of jurisdiction and the authority of the bishop.

[Poppy]

No but that's exactly what i needed to know.... especially the last part... thanks AM

[Poppy]

So when do you think we will get a English patriarchate (?) Bishop here then?? America have got one so how long do you think before we get one because the British Orthodox one is under the coptic Bishop or something like that??

[Michał Kalina]

Creating new autocephalous (independently governed) Churches is a controversial issue and North America is the great example of this. There won't be an autocephalous Church of England in the predictable future.

There are about 10 Eastern Orthodox Bishops in and of England. I don't know much about the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

[JamesRottnek]

I would say not to expect an autonomous, let alone autocephalous, British jurisdiction for some time.  North and Central America have over 50 bishops - certainly more than enough for a united autonomous/autocephalous synod - and the closest we have is the Orthodox Church in America which is not recognized as autocephalous by most Churches (though, the majority of Orthodox Christians are under Churches recognizing it) and it only has 34,000 attendees (compared to several times that for the Greeks) on an average Sunday. 

As for whether or not people baptized by the Greeks consider themselves Greek Orthodox, by the Russians Russian Orthodox, etc., I can only tell you based on those people I know.  Let me start with this, at the Greek Orthodox Church in Prescott, AZ (St. George Orthodox Church - IIRC that is exactly what the sign says, no mention of "Greek") there are two priests.  One of them got a theological degree from St. Herman's Seminary (an OCA seminary in Alaska, and following the Russian tradition), and is a Greek priest - though not ethnically Greek.  The other is of Irish-Catholic heritage and was trained through St. Stephen's Course (this may have been because he may well be the oldest non-monastic ordained in North America in the history of Orthdooxy) and is actually a priest of the Romanian Archdiocese, and is a supply priest for them but usually serves alongside the main priest at the parish, and serves on his own on Friday mornings.  So, those are two examples of how inter-connected Orthodoxy can be in America (the UK may well differ).  But, of all the people I've met at St. George, I have never heard anyone refer to themselves as Greek Orthodox, just Orthodox.  They don't talk about Russian Orthodoxy or Greek Orthodoxy or Romanian Orthodoxy, but about Orthodoxy (unless people are comparing the liturgical, or other unique, practices of a particular ethnic group, then of course they mention the ethnic affiliation).

[Poppy]

Ok thanks. Every time i mention i'm interested in the Orthodoxy to ppl over here they say.... oh Jewish lolOl and i'm like NO!?!?

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