Conversion Inquiry

[fingerprint]

I am currently Presbyterian and am seriously considering a conversion to Orthodoxy. Can someone outline the process and things I need to know to get started on my journey? I have Wednesdays and Thursdays off so would never be able to go to church on Sundays. So a few questions:

1) Do Orthodox churches have Sunday late afternoon/evening services

2) If not, would I be able to go to a Wednesday or Thursday service?

3) Does anyone know where I would go in Seattle that is completely English only?

4) What is the typical attire worn by men attending the service?

5) What is the service called? For example, Catholics have Mass.

6) How long does it typically take to become a full member of the Orthodox church. I realize it's probably up to the individual, just looking for a rough idea. And also what is involved along the way.


Any other help is appreciated. I'm not very knowledgeable in Orthodox ways, but from what I've learned thus far it appeals greatly to me. Thank you kindly for the replies.

[Oblio]

Welcome to TAW :)

1) Saturday evening Vespers

2) Yes, there may be Wed services

3) Have you checked St. Spyridon

4) Depends on the parish, if you wear a collared shirt (no logos), and slacks you should be fine.

5) Our Eucharistic service is called the Divine Liturgy

6) 6 mos is probably a good average.

[Eusebios]

Yes, St. Spyridon Cathedral (http://www.saintspiridon.org/index.html) looks like a good bet. They do serve once a month in Slavonic, and have some weekday lliturgies, as well as an impressive web-site.
It also looks like they have compline and other services on Sunday evenings, as well as regular Great Vespers (a wonderful service to get your feet wet) on Saturday evenings.
In Xp,
Eusebios
:bow:

[Asinner]

Welcome to TAW, fingerprint :wave:

I pray your visit is edifying.


Love,
Christina :)

[Knowledge3]

A true conversion is a complete change.

[Knowledge3]

6) How long does it typically take to become a full member of the Orthodox church. I realize it's probably up to the individual, just looking for a rough idea. And also what is involved along the way.


For me, it will be 1 year of cathecism and instruction before I become Orthodox.

[Sacrum Silentium]

1) Do Orthodox churches have Sunday late afternoon/evening services
None that I know of, there's only the early Divine Liturgy.

2) If not, would I be able to go to a Wednesday or Thursday service?
My parish has Wednesday Akathist's then a Bible study, but it varies from place to place.

3) Does anyone know where I would go in Seattle that is completely English only?
I can't help you here, but I know others can, and from the looks of it probably have.

4) What is the typical attire worn by men attending the service? You don't need a suit and tie. I wear a dress shirt and khakis all the time. Dress like you'd dress for a nice dinner and you can't go wrong.

5) What is the service called? For example, Catholics have Mass. The Divine Liturgy.

6) How long does it typically take to become a full member of the Orthodox church. I realize it's probably up to the individual, just looking for a rough idea. And also what is involved along the way.
This varies too, but usually between 6 months to a year. What's involved is your Priest doing a bit of hands on instruction with you. Expect to learn a lot about Orthodoxy, as the point of catechesis is to ensure that you know exactly what you're 'getting yourself into.' ;)

[Jacob4707]

Yes, St. Spyridon Cathedral (http://www.saintspiridon.org/index.html) looks like a good bet. They do serve once a month in Slavonic, and have some weekday lliturgies, as well as an impressive web-site.
It also looks like they have compline and other services on Sunday evenings, as well as regular Great Vespers (a wonderful service to get your feet wet) on Saturday evenings.
In Xp,
Eusebios
:bow:

This blogger/convert goes to St. Spiridon:

http://www.nowandever.be/

his story/profile: http://www.nowandever.be/weblog.php?id=P119

His blog has many good things to read.

[Paisley]

Welcome to TAW! It appears many of the answers have come along for your questions. It would be better to call a priest and meet with him to get an answer to what you should do next. It is too bad your schedule is difficult to accomodate the DL service. I am sure something can be worked out.

[fingerprint]

Thank you for all of your replies, very helpful. I will look into making a visit to St. Spiridon.

[zebu]

Ooooooooooh! If you're in the Seattle area come to my parish, Saint Katherine's! It's in Kirkland! And it's all in English! And our priest is super amazing and we would love to have you!! As for other churches using lots of English...Saint Spiridon is probably the best. But their priest is retiring next summer. Also there is Holy Apostles in Shoreline, they are pretty much all English. Saint Paul's in Brier also is entirely English. Assumption on Capitol Hill is about half English I think. But if you need weekday services, then your best bet is either Saint Nicholas or Saint Demetrios, both have liturgy almost every day. Saint Nicholas is 95% Church Slavonic though, and Saint Demetrios is 75% Greek. But at Saint Demetrios at least the sermon is in English, this is not the case at Saint Nicholas(Well, the priest gives a little 1 minute summary in English). PM me if you want to know anything else about area churches or Orthodoxy!

[Xpycoctomos]

To the OP: I understand your percieved need for an English Liturgy and this is important, especially at the beginning. But, I think you will find that this is not the end all. As you learn more about the Divine liturgy and what t he parts represent and pray for, you will begin to realize that the Liturgy has power in any language. the nice thing about belonging to a Church that has a uniform Liturgy is that I can go to Japan and celebrate the Divine Liturgy with my Japanese Brothers and Sisters and still fervently worship with them even though I don't understand a lick of Japanese. I'm not saying don't worry about it or that it doesn't matter at all... I think it is best that one search out the Liturgy in a language that he or she can understand, but seeing that your schedule is apparently so wacko, your best bet then is finding ANY Liturgy to attend (whether in English, Slovanic or Russian) and recieving spiritual instruction other times from the priest in the area that best speaks to you and your situation, even if he is not the priest at the Parish with the weekday service.

I'll tell you this, 95% English or 75% Greek... it will ALL be Greek to you the first couple times you go. Most Churches have an English version of the Liturgy in the pews (the Greek Churches usually have a bilingual book of the Liturgy there)... but i think you are best reading it on the Net first... the biggest mistake newcomers often make is they bury themselves in the liturgy book and by the end of the service they hadn't seen anything and really their understanding was not much better than it would have been. Remeber, hearing is only once sense but the Liturgy is meant to incorporate all FIVE senses... get them all involved. Give your intelect a rest. Save that for at home when you can have time read and scrutinize the Liturgy (http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/liturgy/liturgy.html) in you pijamas. Expoect to be confused... but if you follow a book... expect to be frustrated for sure (in part, becuase the books many times skip parts and ASSUME the reader knows why... th Orthodox are not well known for their organization lol).

After a while, I think you will begin to realize how absolutely attendance of the Divine Liturgy is to the Orthodox experience and cannot be replaced with books or formal catechesis. It's where Christ make's himself present in the Flesh. When you come to this inevitable conclusion, you will do whatever it takes to make it to some liturgy, even if it is in 100% Swahili :)

John

[DonVA]

And for good measure, you might want to read this:

http://www.frederica.com/12-things/

Welcome to TAW.:wave: God bless you on your journey!

[Asinner]

To the OP: I understand your percieved need for an English Liturgy and this is important, especially at the beginning. But, I think you will find that this is not the end all. As you learn more about the Divine liturgy and what t he parts represent and pray for, you will begin to realize that the Liturgy has power in any language. the nice thing about belonging to a Church that has a uniform Liturgy is that I can go to Japan and celebrate the Divine Liturgy with my Japanese Brothers and Sisters and still fervently worship with them even though I don't understand a lick of Japanese. I'm not saying don't worry about it or that it doesn't matter at all... I think it is best that one search out the Liturgy in a language that he or she can understand, but seeing that your schedule is apparently so wacko, your best bet then is finding ANY Liturgy to attend (whether in English, Slovanic or Russian) and recieving spiritual instruction other times from the priest in the area that best speaks to you and your situation, even if he is not the priest at the Parish with the weekday service.

I'll tell you this, 95% English or 75% Greek... it will ALL be Greek to you the first couple times you go. Most Churches have an English version of the Liturgy in the pews (the Greek Churches usually have a bilingual book of the Liturgy there)... but i think you are best reading it on the Net first... the biggest mistake newcomers often make is they bury themselves in the liturgy book and by the end of the service they hadn't seen anything and really their understanding was not much better than it would have been. Remeber, hearing is only once sense but the Liturgy is meant to incorporate all FIVE senses... get them all involved. Give your intelect a rest. Save that for at home when you can have time read and scrutinize the Liturgy (http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/liturgy/liturgy.html) in you pijamas. Expoect to be confused... but if you follow a book... expect to be frustrated for sure (in part, becuase the books many times skip parts and ASSUME the reader knows why... th Orthodox are not well known for their organization lol).

After a while, I think you will begin to realize how absolutely attendance of the Divine Liturgy is to the Orthodox experience and cannot be replaced with books or formal catechesis. It's where Christ make's himself present in the Flesh. When you come to this inevitable conclusion, you will do whatever it takes to make it to some liturgy, even if it is in 100% Swahili :)

John

John,

I so agree with this! My first year Orthodox, I worshipped in a 100% Greek monastery. I craved to hear it in English; however, now that I am attending a 100% English Liturgy, I crave the Greek!^_^ When I visit the monastery now (after hearing the Liturgy in English for a year), I can follow what is happening without a book. I also find worship much more beautiful in the Ancient Greek, with only candlelight, by men with long beards, long hair, and dark robes, with the women completely covered standing to the left, the men on the right. I am brought back to early Christian worship.

Love,
Christina

[NyssaTheHobbit]

I am currently Presbyterian and am seriously considering a conversion to Orthodoxy. Can someone outline the process and things I need to know to get started on my journey? I have Wednesdays and Thursdays off so would never be able to go to church on Sundays. So a few questions:

Welcome to TAW! I was a Presbyterian up until a couple of weeks ago. I just informed my old pastor this week that I've decided to become Orthodox, so you could say I've "sealed my fate." I started attending the PCUSA church back in June of 2004, loved it, and thought I had found my church "home" for the rest of my life--until I began researching Orthodoxy in October 2005. The more I learned, the more dissatisfied I became with my own church, its teachings and worship services. I do miss it a lot, but several weeks ago I got this major feeling that I could not go back to its worship services. It was like a spiritual barrier. That, combined with reading some of the writings of the Early Church Fathers, convinced me that I belonged in Orthodoxy.

Please pray for me, though, everybody, because I'm struggling like the Israelites wanting to go back to Egypt--even though I can't imagine going back after discovering what I now know about Christianity.

[theoforos]

Yes, St. Spyridon Cathedral (http://www.saintspiridon.org/index.html) looks like a good bet.

That's cool! I believe that's the church I mentioned to someone here just a couple of days ago, can't remember in what context it was, but I remember I talked about how funny it looks as you are driving I5 past downtown Seattle and all of a sudden, not far from the sooooooo American highrise skyscrapers you see that sooooo Russian cathedral with the onion domes. I always wanted to visit it, we'll see if I ever again have my ways past it, maybe I'll be able to visit it then. :)