why convert to orthodox christianity

For church membership? But Islam's conquest of this same area eventually isolated the Eastern Christians centered in Constantinople from their counterparts in the West centered in Rome. Yeah, I think Ive gotten it out of my system. Second, in biblical interpretation the Reformers placed the Scriptures above the church. Handcarved The sum of all parts wont add to the total. The basic framework of services like the Divine Liturgy or Vespers doesnt change much, but every day of the liturgical year provides prayers for saints and feasts that can be added to that framework. Indeed, what Protestant converts to Orthodoxy have often sought is not only a conscious continuity with the historic, apostolic past, but also a richer experience of God's majesty and mystery through a more liturgical worship setting. Icons are, quite literally, a "theology in color.". 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'. Copyright 1997 Christianity Today. "I was A. Christ is thus "the Offerer and the Offered, the Acceptor and the Distributed," all in such a way that nothing is added to his once-for-all sacrifice on the cross. Others charge complicity with the state, both past and present. Rome accused the "Greek heretics" of trying to "humiliate and crush the holy catholic and apostolic church." Theologically, just what is at stake in the differences between Protestant and Orthodox theology? YouTube | These Protestant movements, important in their own right, are liturgical light years from Orthodoxy. 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. Everyone associates Orthodox worship with sensory richness, but its also rich in theological content. This icon, Wedding Icon of The Mother Of God Around 2-3 months ago I decided that I wanted to convert to Christianity. So You Want to Convert to Judaism? It's Not That Easy How did Vladimir's conversion to Christianity affect Kiev? From Islam to Indonesian Orthodox Priest In "Clergy" 97% of Moldovans Identify as Orthodox Christians In "Latest Stories" From Protestant to Orthodox - Orthodox Christianity serving Costa Mesa, CA . Other times it is a youth group or Bible study group inspiring and educating. A second theory is that converts of any sort have a tendency to exuberance that is wearying to outsiders. Who can explain why one has fallen in love with a given person? But the human warts of where they are at and continuing searching within causes them to look elsewhere. Their new group who were so "excited" to have them isn't interested/has no role for them as clergy. We think the fundamental Christian schism occurred when Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg church, October 31, 1517. 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. Why Are Protestants Converting To Orthodox Christianity? When I visit prisons where floors are shiny, morale is noticeably higher. Another issue is becoming Orthodox because one thinks the Church will reward them in some way for doing so. These arguments wont convert anyone. There is world of difference between going Orthodoxy vs staying pagan. This has some truth to it, but is mostly false. Why Would A Protestant Christian Convert to Eastern Orthodox - YouTube The stability that the Orthodox Church provides for the seeker consists in the assurance of the truth she possesses, her other-worldly and mysterious character, the beauty of her liturgical celebrations and her crucified lifethey all attest to what she is for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear: the unique, beloved Bride of Christ. Growing up in the Bible Belt, I was only ever exposed to Christian theology. Luther urged that Christianity would stand or fall with this doctrine; Calvin called it "the hinge upon which all true religion turns.". Eastern Right: Conservative Minds Convert to Orthodox Christianity However, I do think that there are certain factors that influence and even cause these abandonments and apostasies from the one, true Church. Converts to Orthodox Christianity in America in the Russian Church 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. Are Orthodox Christians "Bible believing?". The move was far more than geographic. Alexandria, 350,000 Let us know if corrections need to be made. At the beginning, I thought I knew what I was getting into. Why did Vladimir convert to Orthodox Christianity? The Eucharist, according to the Divine Liturgy of Saint Chrysostom (the normal liturgy for Sundays and weekdays), is "for the purification of the soul, for the remission of sins, for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, [and] for the Kingdom of Heaven.". Put more starkly, Orthodoxy explicitly rejects the historic Protestant idea of sola scriptura. 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. Geoff Harvey on Thu, 20/11/2008 - 11:15am. You can also subscribe without commenting. Christianity had, in fact, penetrated "Russia" by the early 900s, when at least one church had been built in the ancient city of Kiev. Orthodox Christians believe you must be converted every day- every day - and everyone must start with this step if they desire to make spiritual progress and be saved. Although it is difficult to gather firm figures, worldwide Orthodox Christians number about 150 million, with 3 million in the U.S. alonemore than most evangelical denominations. The first, most obvious explanation is that some people simply are obnoxious to start with. In this video, Fr. 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. 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. Why did YOU convert to the Coptic Orthodox Church? Your email address will not be published. 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). For example, on the Feast of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, the chanter launches into this: Of the Father before the morning star You were begotten from the womb without mother before all ages, even though Arius did believe You to be created, not God, classing You in ignorance and impudence with creatures 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). In the East the local parish priest could administer the sacrament of confirmation; in the West only the bishop could. Conversion means belief and acceptance in Jesus Christ, the God-man, as the Savior of the world. In an encyclical letter of 1848, the Eastern patriarchs stated this most emphatically: "Infallibility resides solely in the ecumenicity of the church bound together by mutual love. 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. Why isn't everyone christian? : r/Christianity The basic theological impetus for the ever-virginity of Mary (besides the fact that it is presumably historically true and would have been passed down from the early days of the church) is the fact that Mary was profoundly sanctified by her role as the living sanctuary in which God dwelled (quite literally) for nine months and from whom he 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. 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. Icons. John 17:14.16). For any convert, it's a spiritual, intense, and private process,. In fact, what Orthodox converts "vow to accept" diverges significantly from important, basic tenets of evangelical Protestantism. If a richer liturgical life is what a believer wants, converting to Orthodoxy is hardly necessary. They conceded a special honor to the Western papacy but insisted that the bishop of Rome was only the first among equals. The Orthodox Faith / Legislation pending in Russia, for example, could, if implemented, curtail Western missionary enterprises. Home / On these points evangelical and Orthodox thinking diverge in significant ways. Antioch, 750,000 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 Actual Conversion to Judaism: Conversion to Judaism has a few components, which are undertaken under the supervision of an established beit din: Accepting the yoke of the commandments. Such a question cannot be answered through the use of dogmatic assertions or theoretical musings. The Orthodox Church does not fit into the paradigms of modernity; it is not a wholly rational faith. One thinks, for example, of those committed to full ministerial status for women, the centrality of lay ministry and spiritual gifts, charismatically inclined groups, seeker-sensitive churches attempting to reach baby boomers or Generation X'ers with novel worship formats, and so on. But perhaps our theology of the church is too "low," much lower than our Protestant forebears would have it. Indeed, in a letter of 865, Pope Nicholas made it clear that he intended to extend the power of the papacy "over all the earth, that is, over every church." It was electrifying. Nicola Yanney, Holy Man of Nebraska, Out of Appalachia: Orthodox Christianity and the Old Regular Baptists, What Do You Believe In? It is precisely this exclusivistic assertion that some Protestant converts, in search of the "true, New Testament Church" have found so beguiling. The sacraments of the Church have helped fill countless young people's lives with meaning in ways that are difficult to find elsewhere. It is not a surprise that many Catholics adhering to traditional values are converting to conservative Orthodoxy. 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. These are worthy pursuits that can be fulfilled in the Orthodox Church. We must be willing to embrace mystery, to submit to other authorities, and to ultimately submit to the Church Herself. This could take some timeperhaps a year or more, depending on a variety of circumstancesand should not be rushed. Just as we pray that Gods will, not our own, be done, so too we pray that we might embrace the faith in Gods time, not our own. Further, Protestants have long enjoyed rich liturgical traditions of their own (see, for example, Bard Thompson's classic Liturgies of the Western 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? Liturgically, the Orthodox ethos of a formal worship setting will attract some Christians, but to many other vibrant movements within evangelicalism it will have little if any appeal. People are attracted by the permanence of Orthodoxy. Conversion is not only a matter of the intellect, but also of the heart. The Eucharist is a true, propitiatory sacrifice. Discussion online about converts to Orthodoxy in America includes papers and blogging by writers in venues such as Public Orthodoxy of the Fordham Orthodox Christian Studies Center, the allied Orthodox Theological Society of America, and various blogs and social media. Two theological controversies drove the final wedge between Catholic and Orthodox Christians: papal supremacy and the so-called filioque controversy. Schisms had already occurred in the Christian church, and others would occur later, but the Great Schism was the first of such major consequence. John 6 Comments Cole Knight, a former Anglican, got Baptized in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church. First, Christianity had no doctrine to support the Islamic hypothesis about Jesus' modification into a semi-god. They have not given up the idea of being clergy. 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. 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. Before you start the process of converting, you will want to speak with a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church. Why Would I Need to Convert in Order to Get Married? Sdn Tim Grace unveils the surprising message of Christmas. 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." Vladimir I and Christianization | Western Civilization - Lumen Learning That there are too many people joining the Church with a silly belief that they rebelling against the modern world, and hoping to instate absolute monarchy. Converting to Orthodox Christianity : r/OrthodoxChristianity - reddit 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. Second, whatever failings Western missionaries might bring to their work, and whether Orthodoxy likes to admit it, many Russians are responding very positively to a clear, contemporary presentation of the gospel by Protestant missionaries. In fact, it promises a Cross and joining with Christ in both suffering and humiliation. Ignatius's followers, however, refused to acknowledge the transition, and eventually both Ignatius and Photius appealed to Pope Nicholas (858-67) in Rome. Wynona is a Catholic planning to marry an Orthodox man, but as she tells us, "my Catholic parish priest is not giving his consent for this marriage, so it will be held in an Orthodox church.". Kate Forbes Is Done (or Why an Orthodox Christian Can Never Lead a It takes a while to get it, because its received by a process of immersion, by soaking in a context of worship. The Orthodox Church in America, with roots in Moscow and about 85,000 adherents . One need not travel overseas to encounter Eastern Orthodoxy. 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. The Orthodox Church is the only Church, originally founded by Christ and still retaining the apostolic succession and the undistorted teaching of the Lord and . Greece, 9 million I responded by writing back: "Because I am committed to key distinctives of the Protestant evangelical tradition.". 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. What do they find so attractive? Those friends benefit, no doubt, from this opportunity to practice patience and long-suffering. 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. In this Orthodox view, Scripture stands within rather than above the church, and to distinguish its authority from that of the church is a mistake of method. For we cannot forget that beauty (Envoys of the Russian Prince Vladimir, after experiencing the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople in the year 987). This statement cannot be challenged. 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. She rightly claims the wholeness of the truth. How do you convert to Greek Orthodox Christianity? - Short-Fact Those friends benefit, no doubt, from this opportunity to practice patience and long-suffering. Inherent in this claim, of course, is the charge that both Catholics and Protestants have lapsed from the true faith into error, if not outright heresy. She stands firm on her dogmatic and moral teachings. Why Are Protestants Converting To Orthodox Christianity? For me, the one and only valid, core reason is because a person desires to be part of the one, true Body of Christ. Why I'm Not Orthodox | Christianity Today Why Ultra-Orthodox Jews Are Turning to Jesus | Opinion News Converting to Orthodoxy. Interesting comments. Missiological concerns surface here, too. For such a question presupposes a particular person's journey of faith. 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. Baptism is the primary and fundamental basis of the entire Orthodox Christian life. ADL, AJC join Orthodox groups in Supreme Court case on supporting Vladimir fled to his kinsman Haakon Sigurdsson, who ruled Norway at the time. 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. Rich worship taught the faith to literate and illiterate, peasant and emperor, and its essentially the same as our worship today. I hope so. 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 . In 1523-24 the Reformers Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther donned the gown of the university scholar. It was like seeing a face emerge from a random pattern of dots, and then wink at you. Those who will guide you through your period of instruction and formation surely will help you in this regard. Because of my interest for eastern culture, negative views on catholicism (I live in a mostly catholic country) and protestantism and my fascisnation for the Orthodox Church, i decided to convert to just that. I've chosen Oriental Orthodoxy over the Byzantine Church because I believe that ours is closer in doctrine and liturgy to the earliest Christians. It is often wrongly assumed that Orthodoxy . If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you If they persecuted me, they will persecute you (John 15:18. Administered to infants who are fully immersed three times, baptism effects the "bath of regeneration" by which a person is born again, wholly cleansed from both original and actual sins, and, consequently, saved from guilt and punishment. 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. For such a question presupposes a particular person's journey of faith. They are the efficacious means by which God transmits his salvific and sanctifying grace to us. (2 Pet. But whether a non-Orthodox person can even be saved is an open question in Orthodox ecclesiology. Recently I worshiped at an Orthodox church in Palo Alto on this celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. During my four years as a visiting professor at Moscow State University (1991-95) I often felt schizophrenic. 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. Converting to Orthodoxy | St Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church How to Become an Orthodox Christian - Phoenix, Arizona Orthodoxy is true to the Lord, to herself and to her past. But the "little guy" is not going through a phase. 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. That is, Orthodoxy's commitment to "right belief" provides a natural link to evangelical concerns. Most notable are its beliefs about baptism and the Eucharist. Circumcision controversy in early Christianity - Wikipedia

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