They push it down the road that they will be able to transition to that in their new group eventually. But the impulse is to exaggerate the differences when you fear being hugged to death. Rather, "theosis" (literally, "deification"), or the progressive transformation of people into full likeness to God, in soul and body, takes center stage. Overall, is the Orthodox church growing in America or is it slowly dying, as the older cradle Orthodox are dying and fewer cradle Orthodox either convert to other churches [primarily Protestant churches] or morph into Deists or worse?. The collapse of the Roman Empire created a power vacuum that was increasingly filled by the growing power of the Roman papacy. Linguistic factors posed other, very practical problems. Geoff. Protestant theologian Adolf von Harnack once described the Orthodox church as "in her entire structure alien to the Gospel and a perversion of the Christian religion, its reduction to the level of pagan antiquity." Alexandria, 350,000 Facebook | For example, their local parish was too ethnic; the priest wasnt nice or outgoing; their spouse wasnt interested; they found logical inconsistencies in the writings of the fathers; and so on. Whereas Western Protestants want to hear the written Word spoken in the sermon, Orthodox believers want to see it in the visual images of iconsas well as hear it in the spoken word. My ideas havent changed, and Im always glad for a good discussion, but maybe Im past the need to belabor them. Q&A: A closer look at Orthodox Christians. For any convert, it's a spiritual, intense, and private process,. It is not surprising they become disaffected and leave. More than 70 percent of the roughly 75,000 Antiochian Orthodox Christians in the United States are converts. The last reason Orthodox converts are obnoxious resembles the reason adolescents are obnoxious. The theological objections evangelicals have traditionally had with Rome on these two points rightly apply to Orthodoxy. There are no doubt some ways that he is the same person he will always be, and there are ways Orthodoxy and every other church has significant points in common, not least that we love the same Lord. From Islam to Indonesian Orthodox Priest In "Clergy" 97% of Moldovans Identify as Orthodox Christians In "Latest Stories" The Orthodox Church is indelibly marked by the One who is its origin and source. Another danger is converting to Orthodoxy simply because it is beautiful. My husband had been an Episcopal priest for 16 years, and we had gradually moved from an evangelical-style low church to the more liturgically-fancy high church. Orthodoxy looked like taking that escalator up one more floor. The late Orthodox theologian John Meyendorff once remarked that the ultimate conflict between the Orthodox East and the Latin West, both Catholic and Protestant, resided in two different ideas about tradition. Whatever honor Protestants bestow upon tradition, they deny that its authority is coequal with Scripture. After five years or so in the Orthodox Church, Ive seen a lot of friends and acquaintances come home to the apostolic faith. 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. Your email address will not be published. In 1993 I was chrismated and joined the Eastern Orthodox Church, but only lately has it dawned on me that I must have strained friendships over the years, due to my vocal enthusiasm for my adopted church. A priest can provide guidance and support to help converts discern whether the religion is right for them. Why Convert to Orthodox Christianity? What are we to make, for example, of the Orthodox liturgy in Russia today, which is recited in ninth-century Slavonic, a language very few Russians even understand? (Of course, for every person insisting that there were no differences, there was another person asking me to explain the differences. I had been to the east and discovered something wondrous that I assumed all Christians crave. All Rights ReservedDesigned by Fr. This doesnt mean we shun catechesis, but just that its not always done in the same way everywhereand where it exists, its likely different from what a catechumen might expect or even hope. Teachings of Orthodoxy. However, because I've never been really exposed to . Bulgaria, 8 million Failing to remember (or be taught) this, we are scandalized and even lose our faith in the Church, not distinguishing between the divine and human natures, or confusing them. Are Orthodox Christians "Bible believing?". But the claim to be Christ's one, true church remains the clear Orthodox position. I responded by writing back: "Because I am committed to key distinctives of the Protestant evangelical tradition.". 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?" The genius of this principle is that it allows us to disagree with other believers, even vehemently so, yet in an edifying fashion with a degree of theological modesty and a perspective that seeks a deeper consensus within the bounds of true faith. A wooden pectoral cros, Pectoral Cross for Clergy Even more obnoxious, though, must be the tendency to reject hospitality. Thus, while the Protestant principle of sola scriptura places Scripture above tradition, for Orthodoxy the two are complementary means of one organic whole through which the Spirit of God speaks. While discovering the truth of Orthodoxy is exciting, we need to learn a gracious balance when dealing with our friends, family, workmates and others with whom we have contact. Together they gathered an army with the intent to regain control of Rus' and establish Vladimir as the ruler. Is Orthodox different from Catholic? At the beginning, I thought I knew what I was getting into. Similarly, Protestants like Thomas Oden, Donald Bloesch, and others have shown that one need not join Orthodoxy to immerse oneself in the patristic past with joy, gratitude, and a sense of accountability to that "great cloud of witnesses" of the last two millennia. But perhaps our theology of the church is too "low," much lower than our Protestant forebears would have it. It is why I think a number of people have a list of groups they have been in here. Thus Georges Florovsky once referred to tradition as "the witness of the Spirit.". Toggle signature Her allegiance to the perennial truths of Christianity is appreciated by sincere seekers. It was like seeing a face emerge from a random pattern of dots, and then wink at you. There is an organic quality here, and the thing itself is inexpressibly alive. But that was too little, too late. I've chosen Oriental Orthodoxy over the Byzantine Church because I believe that ours is closer in doctrine and liturgy to the earliest Christians. Why do Orthodox Christians keep a vigil at the Tomb of Christ? In fact, it promises a Cross and joining with Christ in both suffering and humiliation. July 26, 2019 By Fr. Women and men who marry into the Orthodox Jewish faith are required to convertand both genders follow an identical process. I cant be the only one to have done this. Rich worship taught the faith to literate and illiterate, peasant and emperor, and its essentially the same as our worship today. One finds that the Orthodox Church is indeed the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim. Rather, for Orthodoxy the whole people of God is the protector of apostolic tradition. Pray for the Lords mercy, and you can find the strength to endure to the end. Along with Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, Orthodox Christianity is one of the world's three major Christian traditions. I hope so. The priest censes them and elevates them in processions. The Eucharist is a true, propitiatory sacrifice. At the beginning, I thought I knew what I was getting into. That is, Orthodoxy's commitment to "right belief" provides a natural link to evangelical concerns. For me it was due to the fact that papal supremacy is a later doctrine, yet I could not become a Protestant because the writings of the Fathers do not agree with Protestantism. Recently I worshiped at an Orthodox church in Palo Alto on this celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. It took awhile because I grasped it through hearing the hymns of the church year, week in and week out. Do we mean essential for salvation? He has no good option for dealing with that affection, so hes either sullen or angry. Daniel B. Clendenin is a graduate staff member for InterVarsity at Stanford University and author of Eastern Orthodox Christianity: A Western Perspective and Eastern Orthodox Theology: A Contemporary Reader (both published by Baker). Learn About the Religion. It is not a surprise that many Catholics adhering to traditional values are converting to conservative Orthodoxy. In the East the local parish priest could administer the sacrament of confirmation; in the West only the bishop could. Becoming an Orthodox Christian is not easy, nor does it promise great happiness or success in this life. My husband had been an Episcopal priest for 16 years, and we had gradually moved from evangelical-style "low church" to the more liturgically-fancy "high church." For instance, John of Damascus (675-749), Orthodoxy's most famous systematic theologian, epitomized the Orthodox ethos when he wrote in his The Orthodox Faith, "we do not change the everlasting boundaries which our fathers have set, but we keep the traditions just as we have received them." In the Orthodox calendar, the first Sunday of Lent celebrates the Triumph of Orthodoxy, a commemoration of the final triumph of icons in the long and bitter battle with the iconoclasts (literally, "image-smashers") on March 11, 843. A wedding set o, Wedding Icon of Christ the Pantocrator (in Oklad /, A Handmade Bookcover For The Gospel. 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. This book cover is made to order i, Hand-painted Icon of Christ the Pantocrator (acryl. Serbia, 8 million John 17:14.16). He has no good option for dealing with that affection, so he's either sullen or angry. 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. On these points evangelical and Orthodox thinking diverge in significant ways. Forgetting early on that Orthodox worship is liturgical and cyclical (i.e. There most certainly will never be a "Southern" or "Confederate" Orthodoxy".And yet another reason not to join is the hopes of having a base of operations for a goofy political ideology. Any objective historian can discover that the permanence of Orthodoxy is due to the preservation and the passing on of the apostolic faith unadulterated, pure. Thank you for this! 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 . This simple change of dress symbolized a radical shift that has characterized the Protestant West ever since: that the knowledge of God is mediated primarily through the written Word. I kept finding myself in conversations with nice people who wanted to assure me that this very thing I was so excited about in Orthodoxy is something they have in their church as well. Its that Orthodoxy still passes on the early churchs knowledge of how to tune in to the presence of Christ. When you convert, you must verbalize your commitment to live in accordance with all of the Torah 's commandments as they are explained in Torah law. Orthodox believers see things very differently. Instagram | However, I do think that there are certain factors that influence and even cause these abandonments and apostasies from the one, true Church. It is no small thing for us to hold in common all the early, Christian creeds. Through the centuries, theological, geopolitical, cultural, and linguistic factors have combined to differentiate the Orthodox ethos from Western patterns of Christianity. In Orthodoxy one encounters the eternal, unchangeable God. One can find people who interpret this ecclesiological exclusivity more leniently; in fact, some would argue that the best Orthodox scholarsGeorge Florovsky and John Meyendorff, to name twowould allow for such leniency. John A. Peck, The Apostolic Mission of Journey To Orthodoxy. Despite efforts at reunification, to this day the Catholic and Orthodox churches remain estranged. Why would a Protestant Christian convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity? Why did Kievan Rus convert to Orthodox Christianity? Others are already involved in a Jewish community. Orthodoxy, advocates suggest, reveals and corrects evangelical reductionism and superficiality. Antioch, 750,000 It is not about rules and regulations but rather guide posts to make choices to transition to what we were designed to become. Conversion means belief and acceptance in Jesus Christ, the God-man, as the Savior of the world.