why convert to orthodox christianity
- On Mar, 12, 2023
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In the year 311, Emperor Constantine moved the political capital of his empire from Rome to Constantinople. "It was a calling of the soul," Devorah Guilah Koren, who converted from Catholicism with her husband and two children, told me. Scripture and tradition. Many people believe the Church is a social group gathering or a place to network with other like minded people. Your email address will not be published. Conversion involves a change or transformation in vision, direction and heart, one rooted in repentance and the acknowledgement of Our Lord as the One Who is truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Who came into the world to save sinners. Copyright 19962023. Orthodox churches are full of them. They insisted that the Bible interprets itself, and through the Holy Spirit, God instructs its readers in a direct and individual manner rather than binding their consciences to the supposedly reliable teaching of the church. 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. On these points evangelical and Orthodox thinking diverge in significant ways. There is an organic quality here, and the thing itself is inexpressibly alive. Two points that have been hallmarks of evangelical identity deserve special scrutiny: the relationship between Scripture and tradition, and the relationship between Scripture and the church. Why would a Protestant Christian convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity? Thatwould be interesting. In the words of contemporary Orthodox theologian Thomas Hopko, "everything in the church flows out of the waters of baptism: the remission of sins and life eternal." Different from forms of western Christianity, there is no rationalization or theorization of dogma because its focus is on symbology rather than the literal. And such a journey can only be spoken of from experience. But why is our kind so characteristically obnoxious? The West used unleavened bread, the East did not. She rightly claims the wholeness of the truth. many mercenaries would convert to Christianity. 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? De Maistre, Billington says, was "convinced that Russia was an instrument chosen by Providence for the salvation of Europe." He was "fascinated by the possibility of converting this vast land to Catholicism." He launched a program towards that end. And while it's true that my involvement with Judaism began with a Jewish boyfriend now my husband of 28 years and the father of our two children as Reform Jews, I would not have had to convert to participate in Jewish life and raise Jewish children. After his marriage Vladimir I officially changed the state religion to Orthodox Christianity and destroyed pagan temples and icons. This has some truth to it, but is mostly false. See something we missed? Like baptism, the Eucharist is administered to infants. On June 16, 1054, Pope Leo IX's legate, Cardinal Humbert, delivered a Bull of Excommunication to the Orthodox Patriarch Michael Cerularius on the altar of the Church of the Holy Wisdom at Constantinople while the patriarch prepared to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, condemning him and his court. We must be willing to embrace mystery, to submit to other authorities, and to ultimately submit to the Church Herself. Whether you decided to do so because you are marrying someone who is a member of the church, or you simply decide to convert on your own, you might be overwhelmed as to where to start. Greece, 9 million 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. These sacraments are not mere signs, symbols, or reminders. I hope so. The blog includes recent news and ministry updates of the Convent, as well as other information about Orthodox Christianity that may be useful to those who are either making their first steps in church or want to learn something new about our faith. Baptism is the primary and fundamental basis of the entire Orthodox Christian life. While evangelicals might be eager to argue there is no biblical warrant for icons, for the Orthodox it is enough that icons have always been a part of church tradition. Pretty good. This period of instruction, discernment and spiritual formation also affords you with the opportunity to develop and strengthen your relationship with the parishs clergy and faithfulthose with whom you will worship in Spirit and truth and with whom you will share in fellowship as a member of the Body of Christ, the Church. The thesis that Eastern Orthodoxy is the true religion was turning out to bear the practical corollary that, to share fully and fruitfully in the life of the Body of Christ, one would almost have. Around 2-3 months ago I decided that I wanted to convert to Christianity. If only you could get them to form two lines.). After five years or so in the Orthodox Church, Ive seen a lot of friends and acquaintances come home to the apostolic faith. It depends on where you put the emphasis. Geoff Harvey on Thu, 20/11/2008 - 11:15am. It depends on where you put the emphasis. The rise of Islam after Muhammad (died 632) was likewise crucial. Because we confess and believe in the one holy, catholic and apostolic Church, this means we are not looking for a Church that fits our own preferences and ideals, but rather one that teaches us what our preferences should be. Orthodoxy looked like taking that escalator up one more floor; plenty of ceremony and beauty, but without the mainline churches affection for keeping up-to-date. He has no good option for dealing with that affection, so hes either sullen or angry. Any vestiges of hope for unity after the estrangement of 1054 were dashed with the pillage of 1204. Vladimir fled to his kinsman Haakon Sigurdsson, who ruled Norway at the time. 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. In other words, one cannot embrace Orthodox Christianity without embracing Orthodox Christians. It is not always easy to advance strong arguments for these conversions. As a young convert to Orthodox Christianity myself, I can testify that confession and Communion have filled my life meaning and have directed me when I have felt lost. I sincerely wish to know everyone's reasons for converting to Orthodoxy. For such a question presupposes a particular person's journey of faith. Serbia, 8 million It is not a surprise that many Catholics adhering to traditional values are converting to conservative Orthodoxy. As Saint Paul reminds us, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another [Romans 12:5; see also Ephesians 4:25]. 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. It took me a few years to sense that there was a whole other something going on. 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). The other forms of tradition include the first seven ecumenical councils, which are acknowledged as normative and, by some, even infallible; patristic writings, especially those of the first four centuries; later councils; the Liturgy; canon law; and icons. Andrey brings us the news about Orthodox Christianity (the form of Christianity . Let us know if corrections need to be made. It took awhile because I grasped it through hearing the hymns of the church year, week in and week out. 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. Such a question cannot be answered through the use of dogmatic assertions or theoretical musings. Jerusalem, 260,000 Clickhereto learn more about the deeds we are talking of and to learn how you can become a part of our social ministry and help those in need. And while they are just beginning to recover, he says, Protestants invade, with all their Western resources, and attempt to draw away the very people the Russian Orthodox Church is attempting to nurture in the faith. Here is an overview of the steps you can take to convert to Orthodox Christianity: Talk With an Orthodox Priest. It takes awhile to get it, because its gotten by a process of immersion, by soaking in a context of worship. He promptly left Constantinople. The percentage of foreign born Orthodox Christians is no larger than the percentage in the population at large. Yes, because clearly a Christian is the most honest person to talk about the inner thoughts of atheists . 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. already I have lost many people I thought were friends but so be it! One is attracted to Orthodoxy in the same way one falls in love. Contact | "I was A. If they are looking for an ethnic identity because they feel they have none. Home / Her allegiance to the perennial truths of Christianity is appreciated by sincere seekers. we'll be happy to answer it! Perhaps this unanticipated experience of encountering something unknown and marvellously organic accounts for the distinctive lapel-grabbing impulse among converts to Orthodoxy. Orthodox Christianity offers a third solution, that is faith with an emphasis on symbolism, inner experience, and Church communion. Without waiting for a response, Humbert exited the church and declared, "Let God look and judge." She is committed to the same, unchanging, absolute truth. T he Orthodox Church in the United States has problems. Even more obnoxious, though, must be the tendency to reject hospitality. Most notable are its beliefs about baptism and the Eucharist. It is a good question, one I will answer in due course. Christianity had, in fact, penetrated "Russia" by the early 900s, when at least one church had been built in the ancient city of Kiev. A Christian representation of Vladimir I, who was the first Rus' leader to officially bring Christianity to the region. 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. Then B. They push it down the road that they will be able to transition to that in their new group eventually. She stands firm on her dogmatic and moral teachings. In 1993, I was chrismated and joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the dystopian film,Children of Mendirected by Alfonso Cuarn, a world is imagined in the future where no more children are born, and, as the decades pass, humanity is plunged into despair. 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." So, you have decided to convert to the Greek Orthodox Christian religion. Conversely, evangelicals argue that this forensic framework for sin and salvation is not merely a historical and unduly negative carryover from Augustine and Anselm, but rather is the clear teaching of Paul in his Letters to the Romans and Galatians. Upon joining the Orthodox Church, converts vow to "accept and understand Holy Scripture in accordance with the interpretation which was and is held by the Holy Orthodox Catholic Church of the East, our Mother." Further, they identify themselves by reference to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), the "new Rome" of Emperor Constantine, and to the first seven ecumenical councils of the church. The first is by Lactantius, a tutor to Constantine's son and a good authority. Ignatius's followers, however, refused to acknowledge the transition, and eventually both Ignatius and Photius appealed to Pope Nicholas (858-67) in Rome. "More than a . The move was far more than geographic. This gives strength and spiritual joy to her members, true to the Lords words, Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Mt. Thats just a fraction of a thorough march through what happened at the first Council of Nicaea, and why it was important (including Arius unpleasant death from digestive indisposition: his bowels were torn by a divine hookin a repulsive manner his soul came out). It is why I think a number of people have a list of groups they have been in here. In the East the local parish priest could administer the sacrament of confirmation; in the West only the bishop could. Second, in biblical interpretation the Reformers placed the Scriptures above the church. In fact, it promises a Cross and joining with Christ in both suffering and humiliation. When you are the only Norse guy and most of your lands are Slovianskian, it makes more sense to convert yourself than to convert them. One finds that the Orthodox Church is indeed the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim. Join our newsletter to get the most interesting articles on spiritual issues and learn about the recent news from St. Elisabeth Convent. All Rights ReservedDesigned by Fr. Submitted by Fr. For the past year or so I have been considering conversion to Orthodox Christianity. Writing a book on Eastern Orthodoxy and working through the manuscript with my Russian students helped me to compare Orthodoxy and Protestant evangelicalism. Because everyone has their own presuppositions in which they interpret reality and thus no surprise you'll find people based on these presuppositions won't accept Christianity. Later ecumenical councils at Constantinople (381) and Chalcedon (451) acknowledged Constantinople as the "New Rome" and accorded it "equal privileges" and "equal rank in ecclesiastical matters" with Latin Rome. You can make an appointment to talk to our parish priest Fr Athanasios by contacting him at (03) 9387 7693. More than 70 percent of the roughly 75,000 Antiochian Orthodox Christians in the United States are converts. For example, if a person goes through a great deal of hardship, sacrifice, and turmoil in order to join the Churchas in the case of former clergy in a different communion, or when ones family does not approvethey might feel that the Church owes them for converting. Their new group who were so "excited" to have them isn't interested/has no role for them as clergy. You can also subscribe without commenting. In Russia, the largest figure usually cited for the Orthodox Church is 85 million people (some estimates are as low as 50 million), which means 100 million Russiansmore than half the countryare not affiliated with Orthodoxy. 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?" Take Russia as an example: First, the majority of Russians are non-Christian and unevangelized. Some have even ended in apostasy. But the "little guy" is not going through a phase. We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendor or beauty anywhere upon earth. Orthodoxy looked like taking that escalator up one more floor. The East allowed some priests to marry, while the West required celibacy. Orthodox Christians viewed the filioque amendment to be contrary to explicit instructions by past ecumenical councils not to change the creeds. He states that in Gaul, before setting out towards Rome, Constantine and his army saw a great cross in the sky. Praise for Surprised by Christ "Surprised by Christ is an autobiography, an intellectual history, and a conversion story, and more than these, conveys a spiritual and theological vision in a message that touches people from many different backgrounds. Different Orthodox theories exist as to what, exactly, this means. True, Luther and some other Protestants have not viewed baptismal regeneration and justification by faith as mutually exclusive. They are the efficacious means by which God transmits his salvific and sanctifying grace to us. But dont do it for all the wrong reasons. Paganism was a mental mindset of the Eastern Slavs living in a world where a majority of the European countries surrounding them had already converted to a monastic religion. 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? . Preeminent among the sacraments are baptism and the Eucharist. People often assume that most Jews by choice convert because they have a partner or spouse who is Jewish. (To be fair, we should note that a large number of Orthodox have become evangelical Protestants as well.). Similar differences and disputes existed within early Christianity, but disputes within Christianity extended also to the place of Mosaic Law or Old Covenant in general in Christianity. Orthodoxy appeals to the soulnot just to the intellect or the senses. Because their focus for years was on their theological education (which they may still be paying for) often they end up in a low wage job that they don't love. As I realized what the big difference is,I grew more insistent, I'm afraid. A wooden pectoral cros, Pectoral Cross for Clergy Twitter | Why did Kievan Rus convert to Orthodox Christianity? 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. But I slowly came to see that I cant communicate it. Your email address will not be published. Perhaps this unanticipated experience of encountering something unknown and marvelously organic accounts for the distinctive lapel-grabbing impulse among converts to Orthodoxy. Surely there is enough evangelistic work for everyone. He mentions one Church, not many. We should expect nothing less of ourselves than total respect for and even love of the history, theology, and culture of Orthodoxy; still, two things ought to be said about Orthodox complaints about Protestant proselytizing. But it's just fantasies, and they going to get themselves hopeless frustrated when it become clear that the fantasies can't become reality. Conversion is not only a matter of the intellect, but also of the heart. Other religions and faiths occupy themselves with this life, with this world. 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. Schisms had already occurred in the Christian church, and others would occur later, but the Great Schism was the first of such major consequence. If you have a specific question about Orthodox Christianity or the Orthodox Church in America, As we said, conversion is a love affair. Rich worship taught the faith to literate and illiterate, peasant and emperor, and its essentially the same as our worship today. Everyone associates Orthodox worship with sensory richness, but its also rich in theological content. A radical conversion to Christianity. Together they gathered an army with the intent to regain control of Rus' and establish Vladimir as the ruler. All Rights ReservedDesigned by Fr. However, because I've never been really exposed to . Essential for clergy to pray together, to talk, and to encourage one another in Christ? For any convert, it's a spiritual, intense, and private process,. While Rome stumbled toward destruction in 476, Constantinople enjoyed relative theological and political stability for another 1,000 years, until it was sacked by the Turks in 1453. Others charge complicity with the state, both past and present. Has Orthodoxy in these lands obscured the gospel, becoming merely a "cultural" religion thoroughly assimilated to ethnic identity? Oden, for example, who delights in referring to his theological method as "paleo-orthodox," is now working on a comprehensive patristic commentary on the whole Bible to be published by InterVarsity Press. (2 Pet. They become clergy in their group. Liberalism is not a word in the Orthodox vocabulary. The reason Orthodoxy is stable is because she is grounded in the truth. 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. John Meyendorff writes that "the Christian faith can in no way be compatible with the notion of sola scriptura." The Orthodox Church has suffered throughout her history. 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. He sailed to Greenland with a priest to convert the people. Well, was it so? Before long, in Reformation churches the sermon had replaced the Eucharist as the defining moment of the liturgy. 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 . Even more obnoxious, though, must be the tendency to reject hospitality. Orthodoxy affirms the real, physical presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist (as do Catholics, Lutherans, and many Anglicans), yet unlike Catholicism it is content not to explain how this happens. The first four enjoy special honor due to their antiquity. Affectionate attempts to obscure this quest feel suffocating. 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?. When I visit prisons where floors are shiny, morale is noticeably higher. Converts to Orthodoxy usually precede their decision with voluminous reading and research, so their friends must endure agitated lectures on church history, ancient heresies, and what words mean in Greek.