Topic: You've never heard of the Orthodox faith?

[Psalti Boy]

As long as we retain 100% creative control and editorial control...

I wouldn't have it any other way.

[jaderook]

At least every American who is a member of the Christian faith. The fact that Orthodoxy exists is something one should at least know from a history class.

Peace.

I'm responding without reading the rest of thread first.  I'm sorry Matthew, but I disagree.  Orthodoxy is glossed over and only told from a Western perspective in American history classes.  At the most, a person will come away thinking of Orthodoxy as Roman Catholicism with icons.  At the least, they won't remember studying anything about it at all (which I've found to be most people I've encountered).  Heck, most people I've met don't know the difference between Baptist and Catholic, let alone anything else.  It's a consequence of more than a few people being unchurched and poorly educated these days, I guess.  Secularism is their religion with a brief nod to being culturally Christian.

There are only six EO churches in my state (there were only five last year).  Very few people in the cities where those churches are know what Orthodoxy is even if they've heard of it.  One of my co-workers asked me if I was Jewish a few months ago.  I wasn't surprised.  I spent much of the afternoon trying to answer her questions and explaining how it was different from the SBC (which is what she was raised as but didn't know much about as she has been an apathetic agnostic for over thirty years).   

[admiralnick]

I'm responding without reading the rest of thread first.  I'm sorry Matthew, but I disagree.  Orthodoxy is glossed over and only told from a Western perspective in American history classes.  At the most, a person will come away thinking of Orthodoxy as Roman Catholicism with icons.  At the least, they won't remember studying anything about it at all (which I've found to be most people I've encountered).  Heck, most people I've met don't know the difference between Baptist and Catholic, let alone anything else.  It's a consequence of more than a few people being unchurched and poorly educated these days, I guess.  Secularism is their religion with a brief nod to being culturally Christian.

There are only six EO churches in my state (there were only five last year).  Very few people in the cities where those churches are know what Orthodoxy is even if they've heard of it.  One of my co-workers asked me if I was Jewish a few months ago.  I wasn't surprised.  I spent much of the afternoon trying to answer her questions and explaining how it was different from the SBC (which is what she was raised as but didn't know much about as she has been an apathetic agnostic for over thirty years).   

Yea, I kind of agree with this post. I'm finishing up college (1 more semester! ) anwyays, I remember next to nothing about the Hinduism and Shintoism and Buddhism and even very little about the Crusades from grammar and high school classes, which you'd think I'd remember since it is pretty significant in history... Oh well. Thats what happens when you play video games over studying 

-Nick

[Tzimis]

I thing that the orthodox have a tough challenge getting converts in the United States. There are so many different competing Christian religions. Lets face it. Most people are lazy. They tend to be comfortable where they are. And if the holy spirit brings them to Orthodoxy it because they seek truth. To seek truth one must know whats wrong with there belief system. This takes a lot of work and investigation. I think it would be easier to try and convert the ministers and priests of other Churches because of there better understanding of scripture. Once there converted they can bring there flocks with them.

[JoeS]

I think there is a lot of truth to this.

Yes, evangelism is a way of getting more folks interested in the Orthodox faith but I tend to think that this mindset to evangelize is not strong nor has it ever been strong here in the U.S.  The vast majority of Orthodox parishes are satisfied with status quo, ie if someone is interested he or she will pop in and investigate.  Ive heard the only jurisdiction that does anything close to evangelization are the Antiocheans.  Im not sure if there is any official policy regarding evangelizing folks.  What we need is more media exposure.  The RCC has a grand PR dept.  There isnt a week that goes by that we dont  here something about Pope Benedict.  Their PR dept makes sure that any news from the Vatican gets into print and into the major news sources as well.  We need some of this. 

JoeS

[Psalti Boy]

Yes, evangelism is a way of getting more folks interested in the Orthodox faith but I tend to think that this mindset to evangelize is not strong nor has it ever been strong here in the U.S.ÂÂ  The vast majority of Orthodox parishes are satisfied with status quo, ie if someone is interested he or she will pop in and investigate.ÂÂ  Ive heard the only jurisdiction that does anything close to evangelization are the Antiocheans.ÂÂ  Im not sure if there is any official policy regarding evangelizing folks.ÂÂ  What we need is more media exposure.   The RCC has a grand PR dept.ÂÂ  There isnt a week that goes by that we dontÂÂ  here something about Pope Benedict.ÂÂ  Their PR dept makes sure that any news from the Vatican gets into print and into the major news sources as well.ÂÂ  We need some of this.  

JoeS

Very well said!  I've been saying this for a long time and all I ever heard was 'bingo is doing OK.'  Why don't we ever see an Orthodox priest or heirarch on the news discussing various religious topics???  All we see is Catholic, Protestant and an occasional Baptist or Pentacostal.  Aren't the views of Orthodox Christians important to the national or even regional discussion???  If they don't invite us . . . then invite ourselves.    I know of a priest who refuses to get involved with any clergy brotherhoods, even the Orthodox ones.  How can a parish gain exposure when the priest doesn't even try to get out into the community???  That doesn't motivate the parishioners.  When I was a freelance photojournalist and it was a slow news day, we went looking for news . . . and sometimes shamefully tried to create some news.  But it worked and I made some money.  I would love to be involved in a PR campaign for our faith.

[calligraphqueen]

This is really confusing to both my dh and myself.  Coming from a baptist background, we even had classes on how to go door to door sharing the "good news"  Classes started in junior high!
Now as converts the EO, we do ...nothing.  I think there may be personal efforts around Christmas, and for all I know a few of the old folks in our parish support a child in Uganda or something. But, at least for us, it looks like Orthodoxy is hiding waiting for people to stumble into the church looking for KFC or something.  They tell us that it's up the Holy Spirit to lead people to the Church, so they travel worldwide and go to high society parties and whatnot.  I lived here in this very baptist town for over 22 years and never new Orthodoxy or that we had a parish.  What pain I could have avoided had I known!
It's like going from one extreme to another. 
Our priest is elderly as well, and he was like a gruff old bear at first when we came.  I think they get interested LU students that show up and then flit off, and he says the Faith must be protected.
so where do we fit in?
A family with young children that have not one other Orthodox child in town for at least 60 miles.  And I am going to assume there, because the parishes in the cities elsewhere aren't any bigger.  Our family thinks we are nuts or that it's "just another church".  This practice of hiding Orthodoxy sure makes like lonely in baptistville.  Please forgive my venting...this is a touchy issue for us.

[Αριστοκλής]

This entire topic is one which I've spent hours and hours trying to get a handle on. Perhaps it is a product of our fractured, ethnic-closeted jurisdictional problems here; I don't know. Is SCOBA missing the call? Are WE?

[JoeS]

[quote author=Αριστοκλής link=topic=7237.msg125988#msg125988 date=1151541651]
This entire topic is one which I've spent hours and hours trying to get a handle on. Perhaps it is a product of our fractured, ethnic-closeted jurisdictional problems here; I don't know. Is SCOBA missing the call? Are WE?
[/quote]

I see nothing wrong in going from door to door and leaving tags on door handles inviting the public to join us for Sunday morning services.  Some will no doubt throw the tag away and those who do come to Liturgy may or may not stay, but you never know when that two or three people will remain only out of curiosity and maybe some socializing afterwards and discussing what he or she just experienced with the priest.  Who knows maybe this might just work.

[calligraphqueen]

wouldn't that be proselytizing? A thing Orthodox are so afraid of!  I have seen Jerry and all his offshoot daughter churches going out and sharing the gospel, even if they only have a sliver of it.  Like fiends they go out, busy little bees all the time. If you aren't a missionary (basically under cover Christian disguised as an English teacher) to China, you really have not done anything with your faith.
Yet, I don't see the same "go tell" attitude present in the Orthodox.  Is it just my parish, or what?  If my dh didn't just happen to work at his company and meet the man who would be his godfather, we would never have known.

[Dismus]

Hello!
Just my personal opinion (not worth much) is that Orthodoxy is like a little secret no one really talks about. Even one friend I know keeps calling Easter "Greek Easter"  and that just makes non-Greeks feel like it is a thing that they do culturally!! It also implies that the Greeks own that "different" Easter. So you would feel like you were crashing a wedding if you went. This of course might only be my experience.
I think sometimes it is a "state of mind" to be complacent when one is born into a religion.
This is how I saw it years ago as a Protestant.
Or should I say missed out on hearing about it.

[Psalti Boy]

Even one friend I know keeps calling Easter "Greek Easter"ÂÂ  and that just makes non-Greeks feel like it is a thing that they do culturally!! It also implies that the Greeks own that "different" Easter. So you would feel like you were crashing a wedding if you went.

Some of us Greeks tend to have tend to have the bad habit of thinking everything has a Greek connection and try to take ownership of it.  I don't think we mean to do that, it's just the way we are.  Or at least the way I can be sometimes.

[Αριστοκλής]

Some of us Greeks tend to have tend to have the bad habit of thinking everything has a Greek connection and try to take ownership of it.  I don't think we mean to do that, it's just the way we are.  Or at least the way I can be sometimes.

Now there are some great understatements !

"Give me a word, any word, and I'll show you that the root of that word is Greek" MBFGW

[Dismus]

So funny!!

Maybe more people ought to watch the Deer Hunter- there was an Orthodox wedding in that movie no?
Maybe that BFGW movie was good- maybe not- if some thought that the Orthodox Church was really like it was portrayed in that movie.....
??
I think the best way to draw attention to it for me was by wearing my OLD GREEK Byzantine cross around. People would ask what it was. It gave me a reason to tell them. Then usually would respond like this:
So that's a Greek Orthodox cross? So is there an American Orthodox cross too?
Ummmm.....
No....
Why not?
Ummm because there is no such thing.
Then I wished I had not brought it up.

[Thomas]

In response to the presence of the Orthodox churches being limited in news and even in impact with the government has been slowed by the multijuridictional  status of Orthodoy in the US.  One of the purposes of SCOBA was to do was to  resolve these by presenting a united Orthodox Front. While they have had many failures ( like the Ligner Accord and ROCOR not accepting their invitation) they have had some major successes:
a) the IOCC (International Orthordox Christian Charities) is sponsored thru SCOBA
b) the Orthodox Mission Center which assists struggling missions to pay a priest by subsidizing salaries of priests and granting money for basic altar items and vestments at abroad and at home.

Now according to their website they are about to open an office in Washington to Tell the American policy makers the Orthodox side of the story (think Serbia & Kosovo, The Palestinian Christians, Christian Human Rights in Moslem Countries, Turkey and the EP, etc).  They have realized that the united front is important for when The Serbian & Kosovo intervention was occuring , no single Orthodox Bishop could even get on the schedule of the President of the US or Congress Committees to tell the other side of the media news that charged the atmosphere against the Orthodox Christians.

Orthodox Christians jurisdictions may choose to not practice Ecumenism, but to not present a general united front on Charity, Mission, and Orthodox Human Rights advocacy greatly dimishes the Witness of the Orthodox World View  and Voice.

In Christ,
Thomas 

[Bishop Paul Andrew]

My Friends:  You all know that there has been movies made about Jesus Christ and Each movie tells it differently from each other. Why not tell about how the Church was started and so on through a movie. This way every one will know the history of the Church from Beginning to now.

[Psalti Boy]

In response to the presence of the Orthodox churches being limited in news and even in impact with the government has been slowed by the multijuridictionalÂÂ  status of Orthodoy in the US.ÂÂ  One of the purposes of SCOBA was to do was toÂÂ  resolve these by presenting a united Orthodox Front. While they have had many failures ( like the Ligner Accord and ROCOR not accepting their invitation) they have had some major successes:
a) the IOCC (International Orthordox Christian Charities) is sponsored thru SCOBA
b) the Orthodox Mission Center which assists struggling missions to pay a priest by subsidizing salaries of priests and granting money for basic altar items and vestments at abroad and at home.

Now according to their website they are about to open an office in Washington to Tell the American policy makers the Orthodox side of the story (think Serbia & Kosovo, The Palestinian Christians, Christian Human Rights in Moslem Countries, Turkey and the EP, etc).ÂÂ  They have realized that the united front is important for when The Serbian & Kosovo intervention was occuring , no single Orthodox Bishop could even get on the schedule of the President of the US or Congress Committees to tell the other side of the media news that charged the atmosphere against the Orthodox Christians.

Orthodox Christians jurisdictions may choose to not practice Ecumenism, but to not present a general united front on Charity, Mission, and Orthodox Human Rights advocacy greatly dimishes the Witness of the Orthodox World ViewÂÂ  and Voice.

In Christ,
ThomasÂÂ  

I seem to remember that Archbishop Demetrios (GOA) has made many visits to the White House to see the president, as had Archbishop Iakovos.  They've had the opportunity to speak with them one on one, but I would like to see them on news shows to give the Orthodox perspective on many issues important to all Christians.  That's how the world will learn about us.  We seem to be our own best kept secret.  I agree with you about the unity issue.  A united Orthodox church in the US would not only give us more clout, but it would be better for the spiritual health of all of us.  The fact that the first churches started in the US were mostly ethnic, is what keeps us seperate.  We don't have the willingness to make it happen.

[Dismus]

Sorry 2 much wine tonight