Maybe you have to soak in it for years, till the evidence becomes overwhelming. One of the problems the Orthodox Church currently suffers in this country is a lack of converts. This absorbed my attention so much that I was apt to expound my current level of comprehension to anyone who stood still in my vicinity. Kate Forbes is young, smart, a woman (in the actual sense of the word), but fatally, an orthodox Christian seeking the top office in the land. Others charge complicity with the state, both past and present. In the first place, Christians believed Jesus to be the true God rather than a semi-god. Thus Luther once wrote, "What else do I contend for but to bring everyone to an understanding of the difference between the divine Scripture and human teaching or custom?" Writing a book on Eastern Orthodoxy and working through the manuscript with my Russian students helped me to compare Orthodoxy and Protestant evangelicalism. When Martin Luther burned the books of Catholic canon law at Wittenberg's Elster Gate on December 10, 1520, he symbolized an important Protestant distinctive. It doesnt matter how long they have served, or how extensive their education. Orthodoxy knows where she stands, and she is in no need to re-define herself. If only they would realise that they are rotting corpses trapped in worshipping themselves. Calvin objected to the "tyranny of human tradition which is haughtily thrust upon us under the title of the Church." She is conscious of being the true Church founded by Christ. Are Orthodox Christians "Bible believing?". John Meyendorff writes that "the Christian faith can in no way be compatible with the notion of sola scriptura." Orthodox Christianity has a rich tradition of meditation, of fasting, of praying, of giving alms. Can you explain why some former clergy (from non-orthodox backgrounds) can enter without formal orthodox seminary education, while other former clergy (again, from non-orthodox backgrounds) are kept away even after the bishop (he who has the control and power) makes a statement that none may come to the clergy with our formal orthodox seminary? Orthodox Priest Explains Why Many People in the West are Converting to Orthodox Christianity. But every church must have its distinctiveness, or wed all be in the same church. Unfortunately most "Orthodox Christian" are nominal even despite their active presence they are nominal because they extinguish the Holy Spirit and do not have a relationship with God, they outwardly seem to be praying but like the Pharisee praise themselves for being 'good with God'. At the time I was so occupied with comprehending this strange thing called Orthodoxy that I emphasized the differences, and was impatient with kindly big-tent suggestions. My ideas havent changed, and Im always glad for a good discussion, but maybe Im past the need to belabor them. Nicholas Kim. . In 867, Patriarch Photius of Constantinople told other Christian patriarchs that the Rus' people were converting enthusiastically, but his efforts seem to have entailed no lasting consequences, since the Primary Chronicle and other Slavonic sources describe the tenth-century Rus' as still firmly entrenched in Slavic paganism. But if you are still intrigued and drawn to the Orthodox Church, considering all of these disclaimers, then do so with faith, reverence, and a healthy fear of God. Buddhists fast, pray, and give alms. Thus Georges Florovsky once referred to tradition as "the witness of the Spirit.". We are looking forward to our journey in the church. I felt like Marco Polo. In Catholicism this external dogmatic authority resides in the teaching magisterium of the church as expressed in the primacy and infallibility of the papacy. Here are a few reasons from this man's personal reflection. Poland, 1 million Also, people should not join the Church in the hopes of solidifying an identity they have in the first place. Orthodoxy appeals to the soulnot just to the intellect or the senses. She rightly claims the wholeness of the truth. The West used unleavened bread, the East did not. Beyond the recovery of history and liturgy, there are deeper and more important questions. Instead, an adolescent has to figure out and establish his adult persona in the face of affection. Believe in the Church as the true Body of Christ, and the Churchflawed people and allwill help lead you down the right path. But unlike the other two large branches of Christianity, which have spread throughout the developing world, Orthodoxy remains largely confined to Europe. we'll be happy to answer it! But why is our kind so characteristically obnoxious? Along with Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, Orthodox Christianity is one of the world's three major Christian traditions. Everyone associates Orthodox worship with sensory richness, but its also rich in theological content. The Orthodox Church does not fit into the paradigms of modernity; it is not a wholly rational faith. So they begin the process of "converting.". From the Orthodox perspective, both Catholics and Protestants seek to ground theological authority in an external norm. While reading about the Orthodox Christian tradition is certainly important, it is crucial to stepliterallyinto an Orthodox Christian parish church near you to witness/experience the Churchs worship and fellowship. Affectionate attempts to obscure this quest feel suffocating. Is Orthodox different from Catholic? One finds that the Orthodox Church is indeed the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim. If only you could get them to form two lines.). Orthodoxy, advocates suggest, reveals and corrects evangelical reductionism and superficiality. Second, in biblical interpretation the Reformers placed the Scriptures above the church. The Search for Authority and the Fear of Difference, Nostalgia Without Memory: A Case Study of American Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Eastern Church in the Spiritual Marketplace: American Conversions to Orthodox Christianity, New York Times Article on Calvinist Revival., If Not Sola Scriptura, Then What? Sizable groups of the Russian population are disenchanted with Orthodoxy for a number of reasons. See something we missed? Granny and Pops and Uncle Pete love the little guy, and theyre going to be kindly and patient with him because hes going through a phase. Different from forms of western Christianity, there is no rationalization or theorization of dogma because its focus is on symbology rather than the literal. It is not a religion but rather a way of life. After his marriage Vladimir I officially changed the state religion to Orthodox Christianity and destroyed pagan temples and icons. What was the impact of Vladimir I converting to Greek Orthodox Christianity in the region of Byzantium? The independent Orthodox Church in America (OCA) desires to function as a fully "autocephalous" church, although as yet the oca has not been officially recognized by most of the thirteen patriarchates. Evangelicals focused on social ethics may also find little comradeship in Orthodoxy, as there is nothing in Orthodoxy comparable to the body of Catholic social teaching, for instance. As former Campus Crusade staff member Gillquist put it, why have so many "Bible-believing, blood-bought, Gospel-preaching, Christ-centered, lifelong evangelical Protestants come to embrace this Orthodox faith so enthusiastically?" Why Are Protestants Converting To Orthodox Christianity? Let us know if corrections need to be made. But about this pursuit we can make several observations. For taking Communion together? Orthodoxy provides a full-bodied, full-souled spiritual life that assumes that everything you do as a Christian makes you either more like God or less like Him, and because becoming like God is what salvation consists of, that means that everything you do is critical. Luther urged that Christianity would stand or fall with this doctrine; Calvin called it "the hinge upon which all true religion turns.". It is not surprising they become disaffected and leave. John A. Peck, The Apostolic Mission of Journey To Orthodoxy, On the Path of Love: From Islam to Christianity, Madagascar: Church Opens Huge Complex with Church, Schools, Orphanage, Old Folks Home, Australia: Orthodoxy Fastest Growing Church amidst General Christian Decline. Theological disputes combined with these geopolitical and cultural factors to divide the Christian East and West. Each of them had his idiosyncrasies, and they regularly disagree. At a minimum, Protestants need to move beyond ignorance of these neighbors. I love the Church, and so I find it difficult to understand how a person could not see the beauty in our faith, leaving it all behind. Why did Kievan Rus convert to Orthodox Christianity? (To be fair, we should note that a large number of Orthodox have become evangelical Protestants as well.). If anyone is unwilling or not ready to submit to the Church in all areas of life, they should stay awayuntil or unless they are ready to do so. Reaching for the Transcendent on the Streets of New York, http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2007/12/icons-will-save-the-world, cool blog entry by Fr Andrew Damick - Christian Forums, http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/athenagoras_remarriage.htm, http://www.oodegr.co/english/ekklisia/marriage_divorce.htm, http://www.oodegr.com/english/ekklisia/marriage_divorce.htm, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/justandsinner/the-church-fathers-interpretation-of-the-rock-of-matthew-1618-an-historical-refutation-of-the-claims-of-roman-catholicism-by-william-webster/. As we move constantly between Unity and Trinity in God, so we must move between the parts and the whole in the Church, the whole being infinitely more than the sum of the parts. The Mission of The Orthodox Church in America, the local autocephalous Orthodox Christian Church, is to be faithful in fulfilling the commandment of Christ to Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In Orthodoxy one encounters the eternal, unchangeable God. But why is our kind so characteristically obnoxious? They are the efficacious means by which God transmits his salvific and sanctifying grace to us. Most Protestants would experience an Orthodox liturgy as something strange, even exotic. They have not given up the idea of being clergy. Such a question cannot be answered through the use of dogmatic assertions or theoretical musings. The Orthodox Church has existed since the day of Pentecost and when we truly believe and become truly attached, not merely by baptism or chrismation, not merely by our presence but by our actions and our inner convictions, then and only then do we truly become connected to the Church, to Jesus Christ the Saviour and therefore to the Trinitarian God, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. He mentions one Church, not many. Debate is more plentiful than research, but also indefinite. Even more obnoxious, though, must be the tendency to reject hospitality. But it's just fantasies, and they going to get themselves hopeless frustrated when it become clear that the fantasies can't become reality. The Catalog of Good Deeds is the official blog of the Catalogue of St. Elisabeth Convent. But the claim to be Christ's one, true church remains the clear Orthodox position. Orthodox spiritual life gives central prominence to the sacraments. But I slowly came to see that I cant communicate it. Excellent comment Kosmas, I totally concur. So Christianity would not have been completely alien to the Rus, and even Vladimir's grandmother, Olga, would become enamored with Christianity. It is a good question, one I will answer in due course. It also must be noted that embracing the faith involves a running to Christ and His Church as the Ark of Salvation, rather than a running away from somethingother than sin. For good and ill, it is a classic "cultural religion," and comprehending Orthodoxy is an indispensable key to understanding those countries, cultures, and people. In addition, sizable Orthodox "diasporate" groups exist in Europe, North and South America, and Australia, typically under the jurisdiction of one of the thirteen patriarchates mentioned above. During my four years as a visiting professor at Moscow State University (1991-95) I often felt schizophrenic. Linguistic factors posed other, very practical problems. As historians mostly suppose, Vladimir's turn to Orthodox Christianity was more about the improvement of Russians' connections with Christian states than about sentiments: for Rus, Byzantium. It is precisely this view that elevates Scripture above the church and actually encourages private interpretation that the Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky once called "the sin of the Reformation.". Persons wishing to become Orthodox of their own free volition, without any direct or indirect pressure from anyone, should firstly meet with a Priest of the Church. You can also subscribe without commenting. She is the Church of martyrs. Through the centuries, theological, geopolitical, cultural, and linguistic factors have combined to differentiate the Orthodox ethos from Western patterns of Christianity. So, you have decided to convert to the Greek Orthodox Christian religion. In the history and theology of Orthodoxy it is startling to observe the nearly complete absence of any mention of the doctrine of justification by faith. its the same every year, year after year), it soon becomes familiar, and perhaps even boring for some. Put another way, we must invoke the spirit of irenic disagreement in the formula: "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity." We must be willing to embrace mystery, to submit to other authorities, and to ultimately submit to the Church Herself. Young teens go through a few years when they are trying to understand their own unique identity, and trying to establish it in the face of well, it would be one thing if they had to establish it in the face of hostility, because, even though that would be hard, it would be bracing and clarifying. I think people just dont believe me, and I hardly provide a good personal example. In the opening pages of Book IV of Calvin's Institutes, for example, Calvin refers twice to the famous words of Cyprian (d. 258)so Catholic-sounding to our earsthat "you cannot have God as your Father without the Church as your Mother" (IV.1.1, 4). This is particularly notable in the mid-1st century, when the circumcision controversy came to the fore. Orthodox Christians and some Eastern Catholics baptize by triple immersion upon invocation of the Trinity; the only time the Orthodox Church permits other forms of baptism is in the case of an emergency. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Four important areas deserve ongoing dialogue. This icon, Wedding Icon of The Mother Of God I do not wish to antagonize anyone and if there is a place online where I might go to better have my questions answered, please. (Of course, for every person insisting that there were no differences, there was another person asking me to explain the differences. Sara Villate, 10, by a menorah during Hanukkah. Vladimir I, a great prince of Kiev, reigned from 980 till 1015 and succeeded in the mass conversion of the Eastern Slavs.1 Throughout his reign Vladimir's agenda had . The church. Assuming that, after subsequent visits, you grow into the conviction that Orthodox Christianity is the fullness of Truth as revealed by Jesus Christ and discern your desire to embrace faith in Our Lord in its fullness, make your desire known to the parish priest, who will initiate the period of instruction and spiritual formation that eventually would lead to your reception into the Church. If only you could get them to form two lines.). Who can explain why one has fallen in love with a given person? All Rights ReservedDesigned by Fr. Rome accused the "Greek heretics" of trying to "humiliate and crush the holy catholic and apostolic church." Further, the Orthodox reject the idea of inherited guilt; we are guilty only for our own sins rather than for the inborn consequences of Adam's fall. Two theological controversies drove the final wedge between Catholic and Orthodox Christians: papal supremacy and the so-called filioque controversy. Hymns like these offer quite a theological education to anyone who comes to services, and if you didnt catch it all, theres a good chance theyre going to sing it two more times. The first, most obvious explanation is that some people simply are obnoxious to start with. John A. Peck, The Apostolic Mission of Journey To Orthodoxy. 1. Her allegiance to the perennial truths of Christianity is appreciated by sincere seekers. While this exclusivism is not unique to Orthodoxy, with this self-understanding it is easy to see why the Orthodox Church in countries such as Russia is extremely unhappy about Western, Protestant missionary incursions. Growing up in the Bible Belt, I was only ever exposed to Christian theology. Put more starkly, Orthodoxy explicitly rejects the historic Protestant idea of sola scriptura. This should trouble evangelicals (as well as other Protestants), especially when it is combined with the Orthodox idea of who constitutes the church and how one enters the church. Orthodoxy has always affirmed that Peter was the "first among equals" (primus inter pares) ; but unlike Roman Catholics, the Orthodox have always denied that he held any "primacy of power" (primatus potestatis). Andrey brings us the news about Orthodox Christianity (the form of Christianity . The more familiar I became with Orthodoxy by serving in a local parish, on a parish council, and as an altar assistant, the more I saw others approach the Church, test the waters, and walk back out the narthex door. When the media seized on John Paul II's statement, they not only missed his main point, they missed a wider story. ), since the Reformation, justification by faith and substitutionary atonement have enjoyed pride of place in our understanding of the doctrines of sin and salvation. This is the ultimate reason an ultra-Orthodox Jew would turn to Jesus. There are many basic beliefs that Orthodoxy and evangelicalism hold in common: the inspiration of Scripture; the two natures of Christ, the finality and uniqueness of Christ's death on the cross, the resurrection, and our future hope of eternal life. This has some truth to it, but is mostly false. 1:4). Vladimir I formed an alliance with Basil II of the Byzantine Empire and married his sister Anna in 988. The sacraments of the Church have helped fill countless young people's lives with meaning in ways that are difficult to find elsewhere. Shortly after the beginning of our own catechumenate as a family, we saw friendsand their familiesbegin journeys towards the East. Around 2-3 months ago I decided that I wanted to convert to Christianity. I hope so. Wynona doesn't indicate why the parish priest has done this, but it would appear from the context that the priest objects to her marrying an . For such a question presupposes a particular person's journey of faith. The sacraments. Heres a clue to a third possibility. This statement cannot be challenged. Before long, in Reformation churches the sermon had replaced the Eucharist as the defining moment of the liturgy. They become clergy in their group. At the beginning, I thought I knew what I was getting into. Romania, 19.8 million However, I do think that there are certain factors that influence and even cause these abandonments and apostasies from the one, true Church. But the Church is not dependent upon any one convert or their family, nor will the Church reward people (beyond the mysteries and salvation) for converting. The Biblical Basis for Holy Tradition., On the Path of Love: From Islam to Christianity, Madagascar: Church Opens Huge Complex with Church, Schools, Orphanage, Old Folks Home, Australia: Orthodoxy Fastest Growing Church amidst General Christian Decline. Handcarved At the 1996 meeting of sseoe, Orthodox representative Stanley Harakas said that the Orthodox, who have lived for 70 years in Russia under Communist oppression, are in a state of weakness, unable to rebuild churches and barely able to educate their parishioners. All Rights ReservedDesigned by Fr. In the 950s, Olga, the grandmother of Vladimir, was . At each point in their conversions, from initial religious seeking to settling into life as Orthodox Christians, Orthodox converts in Pittsburgh consistently relate a kind of on-going negotiation between self and other, as they research religious differences and experiment with practices and dogmas. More than 70 percent of the roughly 75,000 Antiochian Orthodox Christians in the United States are converts. There was plenty of ceremony and beauty, but without the mainline churches affection for keeping up-to-date. Are you sure you heard the Meaning of Christmas? Ignatius's followers, however, refused to acknowledge the transition, and eventually both Ignatius and Photius appealed to Pope Nicholas (858-67) in Rome. It was like seeing a face emerge from a random pattern of dots, and then wink at you. Another danger is converting to Orthodoxy simply because it is beautiful. Those friends benefit, no doubt, from this opportunity to practice patience and long-suffering. Many people believe the Church is a social group gathering or a place to network with other like minded people. Suspicion and recrimination have often characterized relationships between Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Protestantism. Or again, it is one thing to guard the doctrine of sola scriptura, but quite another to ignore or disdain two thousand years of tradition; surely there is a dangerous arrogance in imagining that we do not need to listen to the wealth of biblical wisdom from the patristic writers. Rather, for Orthodoxy the whole people of God is the protector of apostolic tradition. Thats surely a factor, but I think theres something else going on, more specific to Orthodox converts. A wedding set o, Wedding Icon of Christ the Pantocrator (in Oklad /, A Handmade Bookcover For The Gospel. Even before entering the church one is taken aback by the unusual architecture-the glittering gold onion domes that sparkle like diamonds on a sunny day. That vision is of the Living God revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, the life of the Faithful, the hope of the . One can find Orthodox statements that ascribe a unique authority to Scripture over tradition, but these are few and far between, and they speak of tradition in a narrower than usual sense. Through the centuries, theological, geopolitical, cultural, and linguistic factors have combined to differentiate the Orthodox ethos from Western patterns of Christianity. This is not just an explanation but an apology, and even an appreciation for the perseverance of friendship in the face of truly annoying behavior. These sacraments are not mere signs, symbols, or reminders. We cannot describe it to you: only this we know, that God dwells there among men, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. Whatever honor Protestants bestow upon tradition, they deny that its authority is coequal with Scripture. No doubt, I felt at home when first attending the Divine Liturgy, but this was after months of study and discussion with other Orthodox people. At the time, I was so occupied with comprehending this strange thing called Orthodoxy that I emphasized the differences, and was impatient with kindly big-tent suggestions. Those friends benefit, no doubt, from this opportunity to practice patience and long-suffering. The conversion of 2,000 evangelicals in 17 congregations "from Alaska to Atlanta" in 1987, recounted in Peter Gillquist's Becoming Orthodox, is only a small window into a larger phenomenon. For Eastern Christians, this was yet another Roman encroachment upon their autonomy. This may be to some extent true but it is much more than that. Do we mean essential for salvation? The ex clergy thing I think is very real. That is, Orthodoxy's commitment to "right belief" provides a natural link to evangelical concerns. But they all came together in worship, and were shaped by the same hymns and prayers, the appointed Scripture readings, preaching, and the "picture bible" of iconography.
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