Question to all converts!!!

[TrueHope]

This ties in with the Poll, I suppose!

I ask this. What made you convert to Orthodoxy. For what I understand, from many denominational backgrounds, they call the Orthodox Idol worshipers and pagans. Now, I ask this, because through doing some research and reading, I see a lot of stuff against us....with biblical reference as to why the Orthodox are "Idol Worshipers"

Being there are so many different beliefs out there on how to worship, whether to be water baptized or not, baptized by the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues etc.

SO....What made you FIGHT all of that to convert to Orthodoxy? I am sure you had people telling you...What are you doing???!!!??? So, I would LOVE to hear everyone's story!!!

Thanks. :wave:

[Jacob4707]

Some of my comments about this are on my blog http://waterandspirit.blogspot.com Pick the "Journey to Orthodoxy" posts.

[TrueHope]

Some of my comments about this are on my blog http://waterandspirit.blogspot.com Pick the "Journey to Orthodoxy" posts.
(I may have quick quoted twice...)

Anyways, I have book marked it and look forward to reading your journey!!!!!!!! :)

[EmperorConstantine]

Consistency also the parishes I had been to always welcomed me with open arms.

There's also a strong sense of community in Orthodox parishes. All the Roman Catholic churches I went to seemed to exist for one reason: serve in masses of people.

[Friul]

Consistency also the parishes I had been to always welcomed me with open arms.

There's also a strong sense of community in Orthodox parishes. All the Roman Catholic churches I went to seemed to exist for one reason: serve in masses of people.
I agree with your last statement for the most part. The RC parishes that had the strongest sense of community I found were the very traditional ones that recited the Latin Mass and the more ethnic parishes (I went to an Italian parish for a while).

[Lukaris]

The Holy Spirit. I had not been born again until 2003 but had not found a church which seemed right. Attended a Baptist-fundamentalist church for several months went as far as considering baptism & left at last moment. Attended a Pentacostal (much better) church for several months in 2004 and was to be baptized in August 2004 at a church picnic (did not seem right). For several weeks I had felt a pull towards the Orthodox church of my long past on Syrian grandparents (which my grandfather had regrettably but justifiably left over a bitter but not theological dispute decades earlier & my grandmother later returned). Orthodoxy? It seemed so mysterious & strange although I always had a favorable view of the Holy church but knew little of it.Intercession of saints, the veneration of the Theotokos, I had read the Didache, letters of St Ignatius, some quotes from fathers like St Justin the martyr etc & started to realize things in, and of, the Holy Bible that were "Orthodox." The very Sunday I was to be baptized Pentacostal, I attended the Divine Liturgy and realized this is our ancient faith and the reality of the sacraments, worship, hymns, and the preaching . This all happened very fast for me and yet in a very low key manner. On Holy Saturday 2005 I was baptized (finally) and chrismated.

[EmperorConstantine]

I agree with your last statement for the most part. The RC parishes that had the strongest sense of community I found were the very traditional ones that recited the Latin Mass and the more ethnic parishes (I went to an Italian parish for a while).
Even the parish that was more Irish that I went to for a long time was not very community oriented. It was sad.



One thing I forgot to add: what lead me away from Catholicism was the fact that about 700 years of history (Constantine's ending of persecution to Crusades) had vanished. It wasn't there. I found out what happened after reading a book. Finding an answer to the question I had for the better part of three years was very... fulfilling.

[TrueHope]

Consistency also the parishes I had been to always welcomed me with open arms.

There's also a strong sense of community in Orthodox parishes. All the Roman Catholic churches I went to seemed to exist for one reason: serve in masses of people.
Did you feel led. What I mean is...did something draw you to it?

My experience here, I searched for churches, and felt very uncomfortable because people...well, it is not like the States, that is for sure. So we moved outside of Athens to a coastal area. Suddenly, I went from not knowing anyone, to knowing everyone. And everyone went to the same church. So I went....and I felt like it was HOME!

We have since moved a bit of a distance, and our priest was transferred to a church 2 hours away, so I am again in search mode. I know God will lead me to the right place, as He did before.

[EmperorConstantine]

Did you feel led. What I mean is...did something draw you to it?
Oh yeah.

My stepmom has been Orthodox for years. Whenever we'd go to (what was known as) her church, I always felt something afterward. It was a feeling of... fulfillment.

[kamikat]

What drew me in was the spirituality. It really hit home the first time I attended a Tuesday night Canon of St Andrew during the first week of Great Lent. To see people on the floor, before the Lord, was amazing to me. That this humbling act was performed together, as a congregation was also humbling to see. Everyone, from the priest down to small toddlers, were bowed before the Lord and crying out to him. It was amazing. I was also drawn by the fact that we commune children and infants. Even today, I fills me with joy to watch the little ones run up first for communion.

[EmperorConstantine]

Even today, I fills me with joy to watch the little ones run up first for communion.
What's funny is when the real energetic kids will run up to kiss the icon and wait for their parents to lift them up to it!

^_^^_^^_^

[Theophorus]

This ties in with the Poll, I suppose!

I ask this. What made you convert to Orthodoxy. For what I understand, from many denominational backgrounds, they call the Orthodox Idol worshipers and pagans. Now, I ask this, because through doing some research and reading, I see a lot of stuff against us....with biblical reference as to why the Orthodox are "Idol Worshipers"

Being there are so many different beliefs out there on how to worship, whether to be water baptized or not, baptized by the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues etc.

SO....What made you FIGHT all of that to convert to Orthodoxy? I am sure you had people telling you...What are you doing???!!!??? So, I would LOVE to hear everyone's story!!!

Thanks. :wave:

Truth. The others lambasted me about the Theotokos and icons, but what we supposedly "add' does not compare to what they subtract from scripture. Only the OO and EO practice all of NT Christianity.

It was not the theology that was difficult. For me, it was the cultural aspects. I would be perfectly happy as a High Church Anglican, or even Roman Catholic (It's gothic, I speak a little Italian, and love Gregorian chant and plainsong)

But alas, here I am.

[kamikat]

It was not the theology that was difficult. For me, it was the cultural aspects. I would be perfectly happy as a High Church Anglican, or even Roman Catholic
I hear ya! If there had been an Anglo-Catholic parish near me, I might not be Orthodox today!

[Theophorus]

I hear ya! If there had been an Anglo-Catholic parish near me, I might not be Orthodox today!

The irony is , I was immediately plunged into a Byzantine Liturgy and hardly heard a word of English in services for a full year. :D

[TrueHope]

What drew me in was the spirituality. It really hit home the first time I attended a Tuesday night Canon of St Andrew during the first week of Great Lent. To see people on the floor, before the Lord, was amazing to me. That this humbling act was performed together, as a congregation was also humbling to see. Everyone, from the priest down to small toddlers, were bowed before the Lord and crying out to him. It was amazing. I was also drawn by the fact that we commune children and infants. Even today, I fills me with joy to watch the little ones run up first for communion.
That is just awesome to see!!!! I agree!!!!!!:):amen:

[TrueHope]

Truth. The others lambasted me about the Theotokos and icons, but what we supposedly "add' does not compare to what they subtract from scripture. Only the OO and EO practice all of NT Christianity.

It was not the theology that was difficult. For me, it was the cultural aspects. I would be perfectly happy as a High Church Anglican, or even Roman Catholic (It's gothic, I speak a little Italian, and love Gregorian chant and plainsong)

But alas, here I am.
This , I see too! Many things are taken away...yet believed to be correct through the bible....I never got that!

I was never Catholic, but I do love Gregorian chanting, Anyways, the first time I heard the Psalters, I was in tears, I thought it was so beautiful....I think I embarrased my DH that day! lol;)

[Orthosdoxa]

A two year study of history convinced me this was THE original church. Why would I want something that had been altered or changed later?

I also began to realize what a joke sola scriptura is. It leads to nothing but factions and pride. It really does. I know that's hard for ss'ers to hear, but it leads to people thinking they have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit. The first time my friend Steve (RIP) told me, "No one man is holy enough to interpret the the holy Scriptures all by himself", my jaw about hit the ground. It was so obviously true, yet I'd been trying to understand, trying to reinvent the wheel all by myself, for years and years. When there was 2000 years of collective Christian wisdom to be had, how foolish I was to think my prayers for "understanding" would all of a sudden reveal the truth, as if it had never occurred to anyone else before! :doh:

I had a hard time with the whole Mary and icons thing, too, but the more I grew in my understanding of the nature of the Church and of theosis, the more it all tied together, and the more I began to realize the corporate nature of salvation - what is that saying... no one can get to heaven by himself, but he can certainly go to hell by himself... The saints are our co-workers in Christ, and to deny that is to deny the power of the Resurrection.

[TrueHope]

I really am so relieved that I am not alone (Though, I know I am not) in this struggle with the icons. The more I pray upon this battle I have, the more people pop into my life with stories and reasons. I find God speaking through many during my times of questioning. What I do know is this....Through the monasteries I have visited, there is an intense energy that is not there, outside their walls. A feeling of Life. No matter if they were a small building amongst rubble from war, or if it were glorious...each had the same type of energy. I would go in exhausted from life, and leave feeling like I took a year long vacation from life! Each visit has opened my eyes, each monk or nun whom I have spoken to has enriched my spiritual growth and showed me things I could not have seen otherwise.

The more I learn about the Saints, the more certain I am, that I am in the right place.

The night of Pascha, this year, I asked God....Please, let me know I am in the right place...I get so confused, the devils games with me....that night, as people were leaving the church, a man came up to me. He said...I have a book on the history of the Church, would you like it? I said sure, (BTW...I am in Greece and he spoke to me in English....)He said, the book is in English...I said, Oh, thank you! How perfect. My entire family witnessed this....and then POOF, he was gone! We turned to say thank you again, and he was no-where to be found. We looked for him.

Now, what are the chances of that? Easter night...receiving a book in English, very shortly after I asked God...Please tell me this is where I should be!!! I love Pascha here! But I battle this, inside me, regularly. My husband and I agreed, this was no coincidence!

[Mary of Bethany]

In the beginning, it was coming to a belief in the reality of Sacraments that pulled (or kicked!) me out of the Baptist church. Once I looked for a church with sacrament and liturgy, it opened my eyes to "catholic" Christianity. I continued to read and study and became convinced the Orthodox Church was the Ancient Church founded by Christ and the apostles, and it was still here, so I needed to be a part of it.

That took ten years, so I had already overcome my misunderstandings about icons, intercessory prayers, etc. In fact, I think Icons actually helped draw me into Orthodoxy.

Mary