My Journey into The Ancient Church
Fr. Jeremy, USA
My journey into Orthodoxy was not easy. But it is not meant to be. It challenged me (and continues to do so) to become the person God has created me to be, and to recognize my place in His Body, the Church.
When one becomes Orthodox they are called a “convert,” which helps to emphasize just how much of a change one must experience. Becoming Orthodox is not simply acknowledging one belief system as being superior to another. It is an ontological change, meaning it regards your entire being.
In order for the conversion process to be authentic, one must encounter this mystical body of Christ and not ask, “What do I like about this that I can choose from?” It is not “cafeteria Christianity.” Rather we must allow ourselves to be shattered upon the Rock and rebirthed into a child of the most-high God.
One of the best images of that rebirth is the phoenix. I remember reading about how Harry Potter, while sitting in Professor Dumbledore’s office, was surprised to see the Professor’s bird burn up in flames. It later rebirthed began a new life. Other ancient Orthodox accounts also draw on this parallel between the rebirth of the phoenix and the death of the old man and our resurrection in Christ.
I was raised in a conservative Christian home that leaned toward the charismatic, tongue speaking side. I attended non-denominational churches throughout most of my youth and student years. I enjoyed that type of worship for several years and stuck with it through college because it seemed alive and not full of “dead traditions.”
After college though, I became disillusioned with the modern American church scene, which often seemed to contain more hype and emotion than an authentic and life-changing presence of the Holy Spirit. I began to dialogue with other Christians as well as atheists through a blog network. These dialogues forced me to consider points of view I never knew existed. Consequently, I adopted the view that “everybody has it wrong and I don’t know what to think church is supposed to look like anymore.” My wife and I dropped out of church for a couple of years and I committed my time to studying the Bible and church history.
Eventually, I connected with a few churches in my area but couldn’t fully commit to one. I thought of that as a virtuous sort of thing, because hey, none of them had it fully right anyway. At least in this manner, I could cherry pick the things I liked.
I was a worship leader for years and, it seemed, no matter where I went I ended up assisting with or leading their music. I found minimal lasting fulfillment in it. The excitement of leading worship usually last less than an hour or two. When I left the parking lot of the church or outreach ministry, I felt the return of a nagging restlessness and emptiness.
THE RESTLESS EMPTINESS
What to do with these unpleasant feelings? Being the typical American Christian, the answer seemed obvious: become more busy with “serving God.” I hung out with the homeless one day of the week, reached out to the unchurched another day, went to a Bible study on another day, was involved in prison outreach, Sunday morning worship, etc. During a period in which I was jobless, I was involved with various spiritual communities almost every day of the week.
While a desire to be involved and serve God is admirable, I knew there was something missing. No matter how involved I was, the warm fuzzies of the event would fade away and I was left with my restlessness, emptiness, and even loneliness at times. I attempted to manage my sin the best I could, but it had the upper hand. I was a slave to my sinful desires and I exhibited self-destructive behavior that hurt both me and others.
Something had to change.
WHAT IS THIS ORTHODOXY?
I tried the charismatic movement, I ran in progressive Christian circles, and I even considered starting my own home church. Nothing had a satisfactory answer.
A spiritual mentor of mine suggested I look into Eastern Orthodoxy (he himself was not Orthodox but had friends who were). I gave him a dismissing waive, telling him I had read about them in my history books, “They’re nothing more than the Roman Catholic Church of the East.” He told me there was much more to it than that; there was a hidden depth and treasure of spiritual knowledge within Orthodoxy. I highly respected his opinion and tucked that conversation away to chew on later.
My spiritual journey continued as I outlined above: full of busyness and emptiness. But I found something odd: I kept “bumping into” Orthodox Christians in my online discussions as well as their theology in some of my readings. Every time I had a differing opinion with them, I found that I agreed more with the Orthodox Church than I did with myself. After a year or so, I sighed and decided it was time to take the advice of my spiritual mentor seriously.
As with many inquirers, I began with Kallistos Ware’s The Orthodox Church and The Orthodox Way. They were good primer books that helped me to understand some of the beliefs and practices of the Orthodox Church. After reading most of the way through those books and having several discussions with Orthodox bloggers, I decided the only thing left was to make an actual visit to an Orthodox Church.
For several months I wanted to attend an Orthodox Church, but I was afraid of letting people down. Eventually, I decided I would not be controlled by my fear of people’s opinions and I would go where I felt God was leading me. This was an important step for me.
I had a difficult discussion with the man who was at that time my pastor. While not everyone would need to talk to their pastor about leaving their church, I was part of the Sunday morning worship team and, on some Sundays, the primary leader. The pastor was disappointed to see me leave, and I felt a bit guilty for letting him down. I told him it might only be for a month or two. I had no idea what God had planned for me.
ENTERING A FOREIGN LAND
My wife agreed to venture out with me for our first liturgical experience: a visit to the local Greek Orthodox Church.
We were completely lost.
About half of the service was in Greek; they were swinging incense around; many people were coming in an hour late (we were one of the first ones there and were only a couple minutes early); people were standing and sitting over and over; there was (what seemed to us) a random procession where the priest walked out with some shiny dishes in his hands and everyone became solemn; there were conversations around us in Greek (nearly everyone there was Greek); and we hadn’t a clue what was happening. With all of this chanting and singing, I wondered when they would begin the actual service. There was a sermon at one point that, while brief, struck my heart and I longed to hear more.
After standing (and some sitting) for two hours they began a memorial service and I looked at my wife and whispered, “You ready to go?” She nodded emphatically and the two of us quickly walked out just as people were going up front to receive a piece of bread.
What just happened in there? we both wondered as we hurried to the car. Trying to be positive, I said, “That was an interesting cultural experience.”
Soon afterward, we decided to check out a Russian Orthodox parish that was a little further away. As we walked in and looked around in our usual clueless manner, the elderly priest walked up to us with a smile and explained that they were going to be doing their first service ever partially in Slavonic. We nodded and said, “Ok, thanks for letting us know” as I thought, “Slav…what?” There was something deep and loving about that priest, and even though we were bored with the liturgy, I felt a tug in my heart to return.
By then, my wife was finished with experimenting in Orthodoxy, though she did not oppose my continued exploration. I frankly couldn’t blame her. And if it wasn’t for an incredibly powerful and irresistible tug in my heart toward it, I would have given up on Orthodoxy as well.
Growing up in charismatic circles, I had grown used to live bands, words on large projector screens, upbeat music, and an entertaining and sometimes emotional sermon that took up most of the service time. It was the Sunday Morning Show.
To me church was supposed to loosely follow this format:
Opening song
Announcements
Three or four more songs
Sermon (which took up a majority of the service time)
Altar call
Closing song
Every time I visited the Orthodox Church, I found that I was waiting for the service to actually begin. It was then that I realized that my subconscious impression was that Sunday morning services are a sermon with an opening act, which is ironic considering I was a worship leader for years.
DIGGING DEEPER
One day, I heard that there was another Orthodox Church much closer to my home. I visited the all-English Carpatho-Russian parish and found the people to be quite inviting. After a couple of chats with the priest, he recommended a book to me called Introducing the Orthodox Church in order to help acquaint me with the service, the theology, and the church building itself.
I was repeatedly challenged in Orthodoxy: so many of the concepts were foreign to an American and charismatic Christian like me. Many of my struggles included the role of Mary the Theotokos, praying with the saints, a service that was not open to changes on a whim, submission to hierarchy, the exclusive claims of Orthodoxy as being the Church, and –as strange as it may sound- the repeated requests for God’s mercy. Aren’t we all already saved, I thought, why keep asking for God’s mercy?
But there were many aspects of it that I found to be refreshing: once I was used to a different style of worship, I realized there was a deep beauty to it. In the Orthodox Church there was no rock star worship leader or superstar pastor who took it upon himself to be the center of Sunday morning. Instead, I found that the Eucharist was celebrated as the actual body and blood of Christ made present among us, and that was the center of attention – Christ’s (invisible) presence in our midst. And it wasn’t even talked about so much as it was acknowledged through experiencing the service.
With that being the case, it was very unpretentious. Sure there are clergy with fancy vestments, incense, and bells. But no Sunday morning rock concert, no motivational speech, no hype, and no warm fuzzies. You were expected to simply show up with a ready heart and meet God there.
I also realized the altar call (which began during the revivalist movement) was absent from the typical Sunday morning service (called the Divine Liturgy). That really bothers some people. How can we get people saved without an altar call? Of course, in order to answer that, we should pose a better question: what does it mean to be saved?
In Orthodoxy, salvation is not an event that happens to us (i.e. a prayer for Jesus to come into our hearts) so that we can escape hell and go to heaven later. Rather, it is a lifestyle and an orientation of our entire being toward Christ and His Cross. Our desire is to become intimately one with Him in this life and the next. Most of the time, that process of change is a lengthy one.
In that sense, Christians are those who are “being saved” rather than “the saved.”
THE TRUE EARLY CHURCH
After arriving at the Carpatho-Russian parish, I spent a few months waffling. Part of me was ready to give up on the boring liturgical services and go back to something with a bit more hype and excitement. I was having difficulty engaging in the services. Also, some of the above mentioned theology was challenging.
So, I spent months studying the writings of the ancient church within its first 120 years after Christ’s death and resurrection. Many Protestants have a desire to return to the “early church;” quite a few (myself included at that time) think the Church became completely pagan by the time of Constantine.
But my studies blew away all of my assumptions regarding what the early church looked like. (You can read some of those writings here, they are called the Apostolic Fathers.) I had to confess that most everything I was learning was contrary to the fantasy I had in my head about the early church.
I learned there were bishops and Christians willingly submitted to them; the Eucharist (communion) was considered the actual body and blood of Christ; services were liturgical in nature; only baptized believers were allowed to stay until the end of the service when the Eucharist was served; there was no mention of instruments being used in worship; there were days and seasons of fasting (especially Great Lent as well as Wednesdays and Fridays); and many other things all within the first few generations of Christians!
As my historical research progressed, I could not help but admit, somewhat unwillingly, that the Orthodox Church was the early church they were claiming to be. However, that is not what convinced me to join. After all, what good is the claim to an outward structure and worship format if there is no life within?
LOSING INTEREST
After months of what felt like dry liturgical services, my quasi-Pentecostal mindset wondered: where is the Holy Spirit in all of this? I recognized the validity the Orthodox Church’s claims to have the same beliefs and practices as the early church, but what good is that if the Holy Spirit has abandoned them and their services are dead and boring?
It was then that I somehow came across the book The Way of a Pilgrim. It is the story of a young Russian peasant during the late 1800’s who set out on a quest to experientially understand St Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing.”
The pilgrim learns about the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner”) and begins to practice it rigorously. I decided that I would journey with this simple Russian peasant and practice the Jesus Prayer. My priest, who himself was experienced in this prayer life, asked that I meet with him regularly to discuss how things were going with that.
THE DIVINE SPARK
Words cannot adequately express what began to happen in my heart as I opened myself to Christ and the Holy Spirit through a disciplined prayer life. When first venturing into Orthodoxy, I began reciting a few simple selections from the Morning Prayers. I was now coupling that with the Jesus Prayer throughout the day and I began to notice changes in myself.
The prayer is not meant to be a mantra, rather it is something that is fused to our hearts. It opens us to inner communion with Christ. As this deepened, I noticed that old sinful habits that had the upper hand over me for many years were shaken. I was far from overcoming them, but a visible shift had taken place. Even my wife commented that something was happening to me; at that time she did not want to join the Church herself, but she liked what it was doing to me.
After some months had passed, the church services that I once found boring were moving me to tears at times. I sensed a deep presence of Christ in the worship and even in the icons. The power of the Holy Spirit overcame me in a way that was very quiet, yet vivifying and profound. It was something into which God had allowed the briefest glimpses throughout my life. Now, it was happening more frequently and more deeply.
THE POINT OF NO RETURN
I came to the realization that Orthodoxy truly was not offering me a new set of beliefs with old ways of doing things. The offering was oneness with the Body of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
There were still some theological questions and hang-ups, but those seemed less important. I concluded that if this is where I am meeting God Himself, then this is where I belong. If there are differences of belief, then maybe it is me that needs to change and not the ancient Christian Church.
With everything that had happened, I felt like the twelve disciples when Jesus had scandalized the multitude by stating they must eat and drink His body. He didn’t shout, “Hey guys, come back. I was just being metaphorical and stuff.” Rather, He let them go and asked the disciples if they too would leave. Peter spoke for all of us when he said, “To whom shall we go?”
And that is exactly how I felt.
I was convinced that Orthodoxy was Christianity in its truest and most powerful form. At the start of my journey, I briefly studied Buddhism and Taoism (the latter of which I found to be attractive), but everything I liked about those I found to an even fuller extent in Orthodoxy.
LANDING GEAR IS DOWN — I’M COMING HOME
After years of feeling spiritually homeless I knew where I belonged. Keeping with an early tradition of the Church in which many converts were brought in the day before Pascha (Easter), I was chrismated on Holy Saturday and partook of my first communion on Pascha.
It was a cold, wet morning, but nothing could quench the fire within; I was exploding with life, joy, and love. No longer was I part of the nameless, placeless, faceless tribe! I wanted to embrace the entire world and shout to them about the love of Christ that I found in Orthodoxy. During those initial months, I probably seemed like a fanatic and I wouldn’t be surprised if I annoyed some of my family and old friends.
SETTLING INTO ORTHODOXY
The coming months and years had many challenges. I continued to discover the life-changing power of God’s grace in the Orthodox Church, but the “old man” does not die easily or quietly. As St Ignatius Brianchininov said, our flesh does not like to be crucified.
In my Protestant years, we practiced sin management. In other words, “sin is bad, so try not to do it. And if you do sin, say you’re sorry and move on.” During those years I surrounded myself with noise and distractions so I wouldn’t hear my heart or conscience.
It was not the same in Orthodoxy.
Instead, I was learning inner quietness and that Christian virtue was not simply a nice idea, but the direction in which we should be striving to become one with Christ. The commandments of God were not given to us because God has a quirky dislike for certain things; rather, they reflect who God is. If salvation is oneness with God, and sin is breaking oneness, then, I realized, to break the commandments is to break my communion with God by participating in behavior with my soul and my body that is contrary to the very Being of God.
Heaven and salvation are not a place or an eternal destination. Rather, they are a state of being in which we experience oneness with God Himself. This life prepares us for that oneness, and I began to realize the depth of my selfish desires as the Holy Spirit further enlightened my heart. I learned first hand why the Church is called a hospital for the soul and salvation is considered to be therapeutic (and not an instantaneous magic trick).
TAKE A LITTLE TIME
One of the most important decisions I made on my journey into Orthodoxy was that I would not hurry. After the first month, I realized through the haze of challenges there was something within me deeply drawn to it. I decided I would purposely take a year to explore it; by then I felt I would know for certain whether or not it was for me.
As I progressed in my journey, I believed that if I waited until I was 100% convinced of all beliefs and practices in Orthodoxy, then I may never join. It is completely foreign to our westernized form of Christianity and entering into the life of the Church requires time and grace in acquiring a new heart and mind. I personally feel that if one is mostly convinced and has no major hang-ups, then entering into the grace of the Church will help them resolve any minor lingering thoughts or doubts. Of course, this is my opinion and not pastoral advice.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE VIRTUES
Once one has joined, they may be a bit overwhelmed – I was. There are cycles of feasts and fasts, a church calendar with daily readings, morning and evening prayers, prayer without ceasing is taught, services throughout the week, confession, pre-communion prayers, an expectation to actually live this faith, and all sorts of practices. It is easy to feel Frustrated with The Spiritual Struggle.
As one Greek Orthodox theologian* wrote, it is sometimes better to establish the positive virtues before the negative. Positive virtues, meaning those things you add to your life, include establishing a prayer rule, learning the Jesus Prayer, going to church services, spiritual reading, etc. Negative virtues are things that are “taken out” of your life such as sleep (prayer vigils), food (fasting), and other forms of abstinence. These latter virtues, while perhaps being practiced initially in small doses, are strengthened as one’s spiritual life deepens and a desire for them begins. More important than my opinion though is the direction that your spiritual father discerns for your path of salvation.
All virtues have one aim: to attain to union with God (aka, theosis). This is accomplished through the grace of God and humility (the latter of which is our synergistic cooperation with God). Without either of those, the virtues can still be practiced to some degree but will often lead to feelings of spiritual superiority and pride.
WRAPPING IT UP
In summary, I was spiritually hungry for something deeper than the intellectual Christianity I found in some circles and the hype-based emotionalism I found in others. I wanted an experiential faith filled with wisdom regarding the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit. In short, I wanted to encounter God Himself.
Orthodoxy, on the surface, seemed an unlikely candidate. It took some time to realize there was nothing wrong with the liturgical form of worship; rather, I was closed off to the movement of the Spirit. Once that was shown to me through prayer, it was an easier course from there.
If you are considering Orthodoxy, then as I said above, take your time. Read books on it that spark your interest and visit your local Orthodox parish. If you’re not sure what to read, ask your priest and check out a list in my Resources.
Also, online discussion forums were not helpful to me early in my journey. There are really knowledgeable and caring folks in many forums, and there are also some people who enjoy flaunting their opinions or over-zealously attacking anyone who is not well-versed in the fathers. Watching people fight and call each other heretics mostly discouraged me during my initial steps toward Orthodoxy, but I do recognize that some groups have been instrumental in assisting others in their journey.
Last of all, approach Orthodoxy in prayer. But also, learn the Orthodox way of praying. My martial arts sensei used to say, “Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” In other words, if we learn something wrong and practice it for years that way, we will not suddenly get it right.
It is the same with prayer. The fathers of the Church offer thousands of years of wisdom in regards to prayer, how to pray, what happens in the spiritual realm during prayer, and how to come out victorious. For that reason, one of the first things I would recommend to an inquirer is to glean the wisdom this Church has to offer on prayer. A good Prayer Book can assist with that.
Godspeed on your journey.
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FEBRUARY 2016 at SAINT NICHOLAS RUSSIAN Orthodox Church, Bangkok, Thailand
MY WIFE's BAPTISM and CONFIRMATION (We call it Chrismation. Baptism and Confirmation are 2 Holy Sacraments done on the same day. The Romans Latins separated it hundreds of years later by way of innovations. The Romans Latins once also had the Baptistry in separate buildings outside the main church buildings. These still exists in Rome, Italy in some ancient places).
My wife was tonsured and also anointed with Holy Oil in all of her 5 senses per ancient Baptismal Rite (Protestant don't know anything about this). Strands of hair were cut and given to her. It signals surrendering and offering oneself entirely to God.
Take Notice, the baptistry is in a shape of a Holy Cross.
My wife was submerged 3 times.
A MIRACLE HAPPENED
At baptism, my wife felt 5 or more entities leaving her body from her tailbone all the way to the crown of her head. For over 20 years my wife had the ability to prophesy and tell the future with 100% accuracy. (This is just like the story in the Acts of the Apostles wherein a slave girl was freed from demonic possession through baptism by Saint Paul. She earned money for her Master by fortunetelling. Her Master sought to kill Saint Paul for this since she could no longer fortune tell). My wife knew she was possessed and fought with the demons for over 20 years. Her Father and Mother took her to many demonic Buddhist satanic rituals and at these ceremonies she became possessed by many demons.
A Buddhist monk tried to help her, but told her that he had no power to expel demons. He sent her to the local Roman Catholic Church. An elderly Vietnamese Priest prayed with her and that helped her for a period, but not entirely. The Buddhist monk told her that there is only One God, and Buddha is not God. He went on to say to her that at 42 years old she would meet me and I will lead her into the House of God. She was 15 years old at the time.
About this Buddhist Monk
She asked the Monk why he did not become a Christian. He replied that being a Buddhist monk is only a profession. He was always taught at the early age about God the Father, but because he lacked any formal education this is all that he knew. He's a Chinese Thai, raised in a well to do family, but his inheritance was stolen by his older sister and brother in law. They drove him out of the house and he became homeless. A Buddhist monk who was an Abbot at a particular temple took him in. That was how he became a Monk. Then he was taught the esoteric arts of the hidden secrets. He was able to foretell the future. All the same, he always firmed in his belief that there is only One and Only God who created all things and He governs all. Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was just a man, and nothing more. Human beings deified him and made him into the supreme god. They erected statues and bow down to worship and pray to these statues and make petitions asking for favors not knowing that these statues, and for that matter the Buddha, cannot hear prays or grant blessings. Demonic beings entered into and live inside these statues made of cement, concrete, pewter, bronze and other material. Buddha owned nothing. In fact, the soul of the Buddha is in hell, and he leads millions of souls to hell.... At the time of this elderly monk's death, followers found less than $3.00 USD in his possession. He lived in poverty. I pray God have mercy on his soul since this old man pointed my wife to Christ Jesus. He spoke the truth about God.
About the Baptism of Moo
Father Serafim (Russian Priest now stationed in an island in Southern Thailand to serve Russian population) and Father Anton, a Laotian Priest (now called Father Micah, a Hieromonk, Priest-Monk) also officiated in my wife's baptism.
My wife's Maternal Grandmother also attended her Baptism and Chrismation (confirmation).
Roman Catholic Church Departed from Christ Jesus Years Ago:
Just to let you know, Pope John Paul 2 came to Bangkok and held a Mass at the National Stadium. My wife and her Catholic school came to attend that event from Paknampo, Nakorn Sawan Province, some 4 hours North of Bangkok...
Roman Catholic Church teaches Universal Salvation:
At this event, John Paul 2 preached "Universal religion" a la Freemasonry. He said that all religions are good and lead to salvation. This is worst than heresy. It is a lie from hell. If this is so, there was no need for Christ Jesus, God the Son, to come to the world, lived for 33 years, suffered terrible tortures, and died on the Cross for the sins of the whole world... This is what modern Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Rite Catholicism teach. Hence, I could no longer remain a Roman or Eastern rite Catholic, and became an Orthodox. I am so glad and very happy that Moo is also an Orthodox, too. We are Russian Orthodox.
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Congo, 2021: African prostitute baptized an Orthodox Christian two hours before she passed away
Father Chariton Musungayi from Goma in the Eastern Congo:
"...It was six in the afternoon. It was already dark when a young woman unknown to me was knocking persistently on the door of my house waiting for me to open it. I responded, and I asked her what she wanted.
-Father, I want you to read me a blessing.' She looked very upset, she spoke abruptly. She did not tell me many things, she just asked me to pray for her. We went into the church and I read a blessing over her. She departed without saying a word, not giving me any other information about her life, nor explaining why she wanted me to read her a blessing. Three days later, she came to me again. She again asked me to pray for her. We entered the church, I read a blessing over her, and, when I finished, she asked me:
-Father, are you afraid of me?'
-No, I replied.
Her face was much calmer than before. She again departed without a word, with her head bowed down.
Three days passed and she once again came to me, late at night. When I read the blessing over her, I asked her to not come so late. She looked at me and I noticed her eyes were full of tears... She said to me:
-Father, I am a prostitute, this is my job. I do not move about during the day, because everyone knows who I am and I am ashamed to be seen in public. That's why I came and came again in the evenings. I come to you because I feel good when I enter the Church. I want to tell you that the first time I came here, I felt an inexplicable force inside me and that night I did not sin. I have nothing to do with the Church, nor am I Orthodox.
After that, she departed and I never saw her again. Sometimes I would ask the church guard if he had seen that young woman circulating in our city, and he always replied in the negative.
Six months passed, and one afternoon she came again, this time her body supported by a friend. She smiled when she saw me. I recognized her immediately. I brought her in, and made her lay down on a bench that we had in the Church. As her friend explained to me, she had asked for her help, saying:
-I want you to take me to the Orthodox Church, with the many ringing bells. I want you to take me there today, not tomorrow!
I looked at her and she said:
-Bless me, Father, bless me.
I immediately thought of something, so I asked her:
-Do you want me to baptize you, to become a Christian?
She replied:
-Yes, Father, you will give me much joy if you baptize me. God will help me.
I began the preparations for Holy Baptism. I also gave her a baptismal gown, and she put it on. After reading the Catechism, I baptized her, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, and I gave her the name Georgia. I also put a Cross around her neck; then I brought out the portion of Holy Communion that is kept in the Artophorion and she received Holy Communion. Her face was calm and happy.
She said:
-Father, I thank you very much. I give glory to God for this moment, which made me worthy to be baptized. The doctors were tired of my illness and they told me to go home. I beg God to forgive me for everything that I have done in my life. Please, father, I want to take this baptismal gown with me, so that they can dress me with it when I die. I do not want anything else!
I was amazed at hearing these words and gave her the gown. Her friend thanked me, she took Georgia and they departed. As they left, I looked at the time: it was 6:30 in the afternoon. Two hours later, I was informed that Georgia the prostitute had fallen asleep! God had called her into His heavenly Kingdom!
Our God is just. He had prepared her in a way that our mind cannot grasp. People spoke very badly of her; everyone regarded her as garbage - but not her Creator. We buried her, wearing her baptismal gown and the Cross that I put around her neck... How beautiful was our Georgia!
God’s notion of justice is one thing, and man’s idea of justice is entirely different. God does not desire the loss of a single soul, as long as they acknowledge Him as their Savior and Redeemer".
The event of Georgia’s baptism and her death was narrated to us in a letter by Father Chariton Musungayi from Goma in the Eastern Congo.
Source:
http://grforafrica.blogspot.com/2021/03/congo-prostitute-baptized-orthodox.html
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A letter from the first Taiwanese Orthodox Christian missionary Pelagia Yu to the Greek people
I am Chinese, born in Taiwan and my Christian name is Pelagia. I was a Protestant Christian, and it took me five years to become Orthodox. I love to read the Holy Bible and have all of its publications in the Chinese language.
I have visited Greece and discovered that it is a truly unique country. While travelling in your country, even before I arrived, on the plane I saw how different in temperament Greek people were, how cheerfully they conversed with each other, how they laughed and how they applauded the pilot after the landing, something unheard of for us Asians, who are more conservative and do not easily display emotion. I learnt after this experience that the expression of freedom requires passion and liveliness.
In Greece, I visited many churches, I participated in the Divine Liturgy, and when I received Holy Communion it reduced me to tears even though I did not understand the Greek language, because the Orthodox faith is the same, no matter what the language.
I would have liked to be born Greek, to have been born Orthodox, to have received Holy Communion and venerated holy icons from my years of infancy right up until my death.
I cry for me and my compatriots, because instead of Holy Communion, we eat and drink food sacrificed to idols.
I would have liked to be born Greek, so my ears may be filled with holy hymns.
I cry for me and my compatriots, whose ears are filled with the noise of sutras and the screeches of those who worship the idols.
I would have liked to be born Greek, so that I may smell the sweet aroma of incense.
I cry for me and my compatriots, who are constantly assaulted by the pungent smell of the smoke rising up from the sacrifices offered up to the idols.
I would have liked to be born Greek, so that my hands could touch the holy icons, the holy relics of the Saints and be filled with the love of Christ.
I cry for me and my compatriots, whose hands touch the idols and the things sacrificed to them, but who in reality are holding on to nothing.
I would have liked to be born Greek, so that I may light candles to Christ – not like here, where we burn money as an offering to the spirits.
I was searching for the Truth, using more than 30 different publications of the Holy Bible, which unfortunately, were all full of errors (translated by non-Orthodox).
I would have liked to be born Greek, so that I may read the Holy Bible in its original form!
I cry for me and my compatriots, because, although we have eyes, we are blind.
I would have liked to be born Greek, so that I may be able to see the grace of God all around me.
I cry for me and my compatriots, who are surrounded by temples dedicated to false gods.
Yes, I am Orthodox, but living in Taiwan, I have very limited opportunities to experience the Orthodox Christian way of life.
I cry for me, because I do not have the ability to show my compatriots the greatness of our faith. The people here want to see signs and miracles.
I cry for me and my compatriots, because we do not have the gift of hearing of and seeing so many miracles, so many holy words that you have seen and heard over 2000 years in Greece, and which you still see. Taiwan is not an Orthodox country, our feast days and holy days do not look at all like yours.
I am disappointed that in Greece, although you have so many beautiful mountains, you do not look after them, you burn them down. However, I am amazed that practically every mountain in Greece has at least one monastery. We have mountains filled with Buddhist temples and monasteries.
I would have liked to be born Greek, so that I may go and pray at an Orthodox monastery easily.
I cry for me and my compatriots. For the first time, I visited an Orthodox monastery dedicated to St John the Forerunner in Pelion. I travelled to Greece from Taiwan – 16 hours on the plane, a few hours on the train to Larisa and another hour with the monastery car, that was driven by one of the nuns.
I saw the ancient ruins of the Holy Monastery, I saw so many other places in Greece that have been abandoned and my heart bled. In Taiwan, we do not have such a wealth of archaeological artefacts, holy and beautiful places, but you do not appreciate them.
I cry that we do not have beautiful icons. I cry because I feel like Christ is weak and naked here.
Greeks, you think you are poor due to the economic crisis you are going through, but you do not know how truly rich you are.
Taiwan is a country with a huge amount of material development and progress, and yet it remains in the darkness of Satan and our spiritual life is empty.
In Greece, I saw a lot of people, especially on Sundays, drinking and celebrating and not going to church. But here in Taiwan our fellow citizens, mainly young people, even if they wanted to, find it impossible to come to church, because the only Orthodox church in the entire country is a small room on the 4th floor of a huge apartment building on the outskirts of Taipei. Many times, people cannot fit into the church and remain outside for the duration of the services.
My brothers and sisters in Greece, even though I am spiritually handicapped, I still have my legs active so that I can kneel before you and beg.
I pray that you consider me like the poor man Lazarus, so that you may throw to me some crumbs from the spiritual treasures you have, of the gifts you give to your churches, of the many little churches you build on all corners of your homeland.
Our Orthodox flock in Taiwan, as you know, is small – less than 100 people. We are not wealthy. We do not have the means to buy a decent place in the city that will be able to meet our needs for worship, catechism and teaching. Fr. Ionas conducts lessons on a regular basis, targeted mainly at the young people of our city and of course, open to whomever wants to come and meet us in person; those people that up until now have only had the opportunity to see the Orthodox Church in Taiwan through the Internet.
We do not ask for help to build an Orthodox church building here. It would cost millions. Please help us to buy a bigger place in the city centre, which we will convert into a church, for the sake of our nation, our brothers and sisters, who have never had the opportunity to hear about and know our Christ. We are a country of 23 million people! And yet we have need of your help.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, if the need arises, I will do whatever is in my power to repay a little of your love. I will do whatever is needed with all my heart and for the duration of my life.
I thank you. Forgive me.
Pelagia Yu.
Source: Translated by P.S.Z. This article was originally published in Greek in the Periodicαl “Agios Kosmas o Aitolos” (Issue 84 – first quarter 2011) and online at http://www.iersyn.gr/pelagias_letter.php (Tuesday 22nd February 2011).
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Japanese fighter baptized Orthodox Christian
September 29, 2012
From his childhood years he focused on the martial arts, which led him to study traditional Eastern religions, especially Buddhism.
After a period of many years, Tokashi Kishi came to know Christianity, the result of having read very many books. Christianity for Tokashi was another ethical teaching and appeared to him something like Buddhism.
After a visit to Russia he felt an inner desire to learn more about Orthodoxy. His desire to become a Christian became even stronger when he returned to Japan, where following his Catechism in the Japanese language, he accepted the Orthodox Church.
A short while ago he visited Russia again, and announced his desire to be baptized an Orthodox Christian. With the blessing of Metropolitan John of Belgorod, the Japanese martial arts fighter was baptized and received the name of Saint John the Baptist.
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/10/japanese-fighter-baptized-orthodox.html
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2001: Abel-Tasos Gkiouzelis, Greece - My conversion from atheism and Protestantism ("No Name Church", "2x2's", "Workers & Friends") to Orthodox Christianity
Hi my dear friends! My name is Abel-Tasos Gkiouzelis (Abel-Anastasios Gkiouzelis) and I will tell you about my conversion from the Protestantism to Orthodox Christian Church (Eastern Orthodox Church).
I was born in Athens, Greece, in 1981 in the Protestantism, in the small Protestant sect of “Workers”, in the Worker Sect which also called “Church Without Name”, “Two by Two Church”, “Friends & Workers”, “The Truth”, “Christians”, “The Non-Denominational Church”, “Christian Convention Church”, “The Christian Church”, “No-Name Church”, “The Faith Missioners”, “Nameless House Church”, “The Damnation Army”, “Dippers”, “Go Preachers”, “The Jesus-Way”, “The New Testament Church”, “Pilgrims”, “The Reidites”, “Tramp Preachers”, “The Testimony”, “The Way”, and with at least 20 still concrete names, who was founded in Ireland on 1897 by William Irvine, Edward Cooney and Jack Carroll, for this reason also the are known and as “Cooneyites”, “Irvinites” or “Carrollites”.
Until 1997, 16 years old, Ι went regularly to meetings of “Workers” believing that this is the Truth. At home but also in entire building in which I stayed, often hosted all over the world preachers who call themselves “brothers and sisters Workers” and teaches that it is the first successors of the Apostles. Unfortunately, I could not imagine that there were “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves apostles of Christ”(2 Corinthians 11:13 ), which in deed make and women in “Apostles”, which is not testified in the New Testament.
In 1997, 16 years old, Ι started to find the meetings of “Workers” boring and so stopped going to them. The months went I began to feel hate for this “Christianity” those whom I had known since birth. My dislike for Christianity gave the baton to a complete disregard for God and indifference for God led me to atheism. And my soul, however, was actually empty. I felt a void that I wanted to fill ti with something. And I tried to fill my void with the rock music. I tried to imitate the life of hippies of the 1960s. I had the hippies as model in dressing, music and ideas. I was believing that there is not sin and that all permits. So, when the “Workers ” visited our house, I put deliberately hard rock music. I wanted with this way to show them that I had break away from their team. From their “Christianity”.
Deep my soul, however, I wished the faith in the God. But now I hated, I felt a repulsion for the Christianity. So I began to read for the ancient Egyptian religion of Pharaoh, placing in my room several Egyptian idols.
I had changed. I was not henceforth the “Worker meeting young boy”. The “meetings old boy” had changed. I tried to make new friends who would not know the old “meetings boy”. After one year, in 1998, 17 years old, I Knew experienced some Christians Orthodox persons, aged 20-21 years old, students in TEI-University of Athens, which is in the neighborhood, feeling very glad that I found this good friends company where one help and supports each other in difficult times. I was avoiding talk to them about God. I had enough discussions about God. The “Workers” occasionally asked me what I’m thinking about my future and jokingly, I replied that I want to be a hippie. And he tried to explain me what were the hippies and that this is not a good choice for the life of somebody.
Next year, in 7 September 1999 in Athens, where I lived, there was a great earthquake which was new to me. For several days were aftershocks and day by day more and accumulate within the fear of something worse leading evenings I could not, not to sleep, nor even to lie on the bed. One evening, while I was awake and the rest my family slept, thought to settle my library so as it turned from it all books and other things, deep in a shelf and powder I found in a small New Testament which he had given several years before.
I arranged the library and, as I had the whole evening in front of, I thought to read some New Testament, since not sleep nor did anything else. With that in spring in a random page and I began reading I was surprised. My heart was filled with calmness, courage and joy. All fright which I had accumulated in me from the first earthquake and repeated aftershocks disappeared immediately. Plus I do not feel fear of aftershocks. Immediately thought that God exists and that He just showed it to me!
The next morning I got happy phone my friends and I told them: “Do you know what to do to avoid fear the earthquakes? Still read the New Testament!”. They were surprised with what they hear. They never expected to hear something like that, because I never had left might appear my Christian side. So I began to believe again that God exists and Sunday for the first time after two years I went back to meetings of “Workers”. Everyone there was glad to see me and welcomed me with a warm “welcome”. So from then normally go again to meetings of “Workers” and particularly first of all.
One day I tried to talk to a girl person, called P., with whom were friends, about the meetings of “Workers” where I was going. I told her that every Sunday in the apartment building that I was living, we have some “meetings” where we read the Gospel and sung several Christian hymns suggesting her to come if she want it. P. with the thought that I found in some Christian sect that are now trying to muzzle proselytizing heresy, left shocked, turbulent, hurried, not knowing what to the fork and how to troubleshoot the call on heretical gatherings. And I could not understand why she left. I asked her the next day and received no answer.
One day P. asked me if I am baptized Orthodox Christian. I fell into embarrassment. I was afraid of saying the truth because I did not know how she felt. So I told her, “I don’t Know”. She replied me “You must Know if you are baptized Orthodox or not”. Cluttered and awkward again I said her that I would call in my house to ask about it… I asked my mother if I am baptized Christian Orthodox and she told me: “Don’t you know? What are you ask me? Of course you’re not”. I said to her, and she showed convulsed and embarrassed for once and formal learning that I’m not Orthodox Christian.
Next day my friends with a calm manner tried to talk to me, telling me that I was in the fallacy of heresy and the Christian Orthodox Church is the Truth of Christ. Then I stopped being the calm “boy of meetings” and I filled rage. I forgot that I discuss with someone who really loves me, with my friends, with-full of rage I began to speak against the Orthodox Church, accusing it of not properly clergy, not knowing that there are reverent and proper clergy. My friends embarrassed about the behavior of me and they stopped the discussion and they tried to calm down me.
The next day on when I had calmed down, my friends company from TEI-University tried again to explain to me that I am in heresy. I answered them again filled rage, talking them with hate about the Christian Orthodox Church, leading my friends company to grieve much for the bad behavior of me, for the bad behavior of their friend. I understand that I spoke badly but my ego will not let me admit it.
Next day, my friends again for other one time, with calm manner and love of Christ tried again to explain to me that I was in fallacy. But it was very difficult from them because they did not know the Holy Bible by heart. While they started with calmly about the Christian Orthodox Church and while I still full of rage prepared to respond to them I though in myself:
“I know that these persons really love me and they have demonstrated it too many times to various problems and difficulties in TEI (University) etc. Also never they have told me lies. Never they have derided me. Regarding the Christian Orthodox Church about they are trying to talk to me at this moment… I know nothing about the Christian Orthodox Church. How can I be sure how all that they say to my are wrong? First I must go to see what is the Christian Orthodox Church and after I will can to have a conclusion…”.
So, instead of angrily replied, I replied them with calm and I assured my friends that I will go to looking for where is the Truth, going to see what is the Christian Orthodox Church, too.
After few day, I decided to go alone in the Christian Orthodox Church of my neighborhood and while I stund from a Picture-Icon of Christ and Virgin Mary I maked (I was doing) my Cross and I said to Christ:
“My Christ I don’t Know if the place, the Orthodox Church, in which I find this moment is correct. Also I don’t Know if the way with which this moment I pray, that I pray with Your Picture-Icon and that I make-doing my Cross, is correct. However, I Know that You say in the Holy Bible, “If someone knocks Me I will open him” give me an answer where is the Truth. Is it in the “Workers” or in the Christian Orthodox Church? And if You give me an answer I will not deny You! And before you see to me where is the Truth I will not discuss with any Christian Orthodox clergyman in order to explain to me what the Orthodox Church teaches or any “Worker” in order to explain to me what the “Workers” are believe. I will wait to see me where is the Truth. Please, answer me where is the Truth and I will not deny You! Amen”.
From that day my friends didn’t told me again about the Christian Orthodox Church. Some day just told me that I will must make-doing my cross whenever I passed in front of a Church. And I accepted. And I started to go alone on a Sunday the Orthodox Liturgy prayed sincerely to see God ‘s Truth and one Sunday alternately I went in meetings of “Workers” praying again warmly to see me our God where is the Truth. Also, each night knelt to bed before lying down, praying again to God to see me the Truth. My friends did not tell me anything on this matter, but they knew from me that I was going to the Christian Orthodox Liturgy, too.
One day, early in 2000, offer my friends if I wanted to go one day excursion to Aegina Island (Greece) to visit the Monastery of St. Nectarios. And I answered “Yes, let’s go”, thinking that it had nothing waning.
Over the monastery of St. Nectarios I asked them to stay a little lonely. I took a walk and I went to the place where was the tomb of St. Nectarios. I saw some persons to kneel in front of the tomb of St. Nectarios and to prayed. It seemed strange to me, but I did impressions.
When empty the small chapel with the tomb of St. Nectarios and I stayed alone I knelt and said to the Saint: “St. Nectarios, if you are live in the heaven with God and hear me and if the Christian Orthodox Church is the Truth, help me and show me…”.
After a few minutes I got up and went to meet my friends who waited for me at the exit of the monastery. Just my friends saw me, they thinking that something awful happens to me. And with interest asked me, “Are you Ok? You somehow appear… Does you happens something good or something ugly?”. Full query, I ensured them that all it’s well, realising however that I felt a calm which rather it they had distinguished my friends who uneasy asked me if I am fine of not. I ensured them one more time that all it is a joy and that only that I done it was prayer as doing all there in the Monastery. The calm which I felt I didn’t interpreted and I didn’t reported it to my friends. Just I knew that I had felt it.
The next day when we came back in Athens I called P. to tell her my impressions from the monastery of St. Nectarios of Aegina Island. Before I called her I knew very well that the day before we had gone to St. Nectarios of Aegina. When, however, I called P. I said her that we had gone to Monastery of St. Andrew (Apostle Andrew) of Aigina! But there isn’t “St. Andrew of Aigine”. There is only St. Apostle Andrew. And there is not any Monastery with the name of St. Andrew in Aegina.
My friend P. thought that I was made (that I was doing) jokes and she was wondering how can I don’t remember where we had gone just the day before. I had completely forgotten the name of St. Nectarios and I insisted that we go to the St. Andrew of Aegina. When P. reminded me that we had gone to the St. Nectarios of Aegina and not to the St. Andew, immediately I remembered where we had gone and with amazement how could I forget I said her, “Oh, yes, I’m sorry”.
The months are going on and I was going one Sunday to the meetings of “Workers” and one Sunday alternately to the Liturgy of Orthodox Church, praying always hotly to the God to answer me where is Truth. All these months I and my friends from TEI-University did not have any discussion about where is the Truth. They did not wanted to pressure me. Simply they prayed for me knowing that no prayer does not go lost. Even smallest.
In the summer of 2000 my friends company of TEI-University, offer me if I wanted to going to Church of the Virgin Mary in Tinos Island, Greece. I accepted thinking again that it had nothing waning. In Tinos Island (Greece) stayed for two days because it was far away. The first day we visited the church-chapel of the Virgin Mary in Tinos Island that there is the miraculous Icon of Virgin Mary. I went front to the Icon of Virgin Mary where she has the Christ in her arms and with heartfelt prayer I said: “My Jesus Christ, show me where is the Truth and I will not deny You!”.
After, while we left from the church-chapel of Virgin Mary, my friends stopped in a bench outside from the Church that there sold small candles, Icons of Virgin Mary, books etc. and I was waitting them. Someone from my friends told me: “If you want buy a small Icon of Virgin Mary”. So I bought one small icon of Virgin Mary.
In the evening we went to our rooms at the hotel and I put the small icon into a sachets on the nightstand and light up a candle wax. I lied in bed and fell asleep without even noticing. In the middle of the night I woke suddenly startled and immediately I saw that the candle towards the bedside table had melted and the wooden nightstand catched fire (it was on fire). I got up quickly and awestruck with a cloth, put out the fire. Since then I looked at the sachets the small icon on the nightstand, I thought that possibly the Virgin Mary help me to wake up so suddenly and promptly anticipating the fire before it spread further.
The next day when we came back in Athens, I hung the small icon of Virgin Mary on a wall inside my room. I didn’t believe yet that the Christian Orthodox Church is the Truth Church of Christ, but something told me that Virgin Mary had helped me to woke up in time before to expand the fire. And for these reason I decided to put the small icon of Virgin Mary in my room. So I waited for with distress how would react my parents when they will see the small Orthodox Icon. After some hours at evening my parents were saw the small Icon and for first time they occupied that their son (me) relates himself with the Christian Orthodox Church. They told me with anger and neurously to throw out and I tried to explain them that I didn’t doing something wrong-bad and that I has every right to have in my room everything that I want. The troubles were continued on a daily basis. For the fear to they throw the small Icon of Virgin Mary when I was absent from the house was taking with me the small Icon and when I came back I was hanging it again.
One night my mother insisted that I throw the small icon. She said to me that “if the icon of Virgin Mary tomorrow morning it will here in your room I will throw it”. And, this time, I told her calmly “You can doing what ever the God illuminated you… “, thinking to myself that if God accepts Orthodoxy as Truth He illuminated her not to throw it. And if God accepts the “Workers” as Truth illuminated her to throw it. And so I understand what the Truth is.
When the next morning I woke up at 7:00 to go to TEI-University, I saw that my mother went to her job and she hadn’t throw away the small Icon of Virgin Mary. I felt very glad that she didn’t throw the small Icon but… I was not yet isconvinced about where is the Truth. So, I left from my home to go in University. I left the small Icon in the wall. The midday I came back in my house, and I realized astonished that the Icon was absent. My brother and my sisters came back at home and someone of them was hiding the Icon under a book. I fount it and I didn’t tell them something about the small Icon of Virgin Mary.
At 14:00 I was distressed because I could not unterstand where is it the Truth and I began to prepared in to meeting at 15:00 my friend P., in the centre of Athens, in Plaka, for a time-walk. But when I was absent my mother at 15:30 would returned from her job in the house. And I thought if it would be supposed to left the icon hung in my room or I would must be took it with me from the fear to throw my mother the Icon as to told me previous evening. So I decided to left the small Icon in the house and whether that will happened (if she throw the Icon or not) that will was a proof about where it is the Truth. With the hope that the God answer me where is the Truth, I maded my Cross, I kissed the small icon of Virgin Mary and I left it hung in the wall.
So I met in Plaka of Athens my friend P. and as we walked at some point P. said me that she did not feel well and that dizzy. She had indeed pale and I told her to sit down on a bench that was near there and I went to buy her an orange juice. As I put my hand in my pants pocket to pull out money to pay, knowing that in my pocket I had only money and keys, I thought it catch a shaped object “Q”, that is object with like crick. Over the agony, I paid with no attention, I paid the orange juice and gave it to P. and she drank it and she assembled.
They continued to walk in the Plaka of Athens, and after half an hour, whilst just walked in silence for something specific, I wondered to myself if it was my idea of what I looked it catch in my pocket half an hour ago shaped “Q “, like something with crick and spontaneously I put my hand in my pocket to municipalities if indeed caught something or was just my idea. Surprised to discover that in my pocket was the small icon of Virgin Mary, and “Q” which in shape was caught was the crick that the small icon has to hang!
Immediately I told to P. what happened but she did not believe me. She told me whether I took the small icon with me like other times and that I did not remember it. And I replied her that I took it this time with me and that even left the small icon at home as a criterion to where is the Truth. My friend P. didn’t believe me and she said to me: “Ok, when you come back at home, you hang the small icon again to see what your parents tell you”. So the afternoon as I came back home I was hang the small icon and when my parents saw it created a fuss. The evening before lying down to sleep, to corp the icon for fear my parents throw away.
The next morning I left for TEI (University) and I took together the small icon and when I returned home in the evening I hang it again in the wall of my room.
When my mother saw it, made a great fuss and she said me with angry: “I told you that if you would hang the icon again I throw it. But you hung it and I take it and after you went and took it from me, inside my bathrobe”.
When I hear these words, I was surprised. I know that something supernatural had happened, but in any case I don’t expect that will confirm it and my mother. And I told her exactly what had happened, stressing that I didn’t took the icon from her bathrobe, but miraculously founded in my pocket. My mother quickly went to my room and corp the small icon by opening the windows to be discarded. I run anticipating before she throw it.
With all these I just believed that our God showed me that the Christian Orthodox Church is the Truth. So I decided to talk with an Christian Orthodox clergyman-priest. I went in the Orthodox Church of my neighborhood and I spoke with priest Father Andrew, narrating to him the whole story of how I believed to Cristian Orthodox Church. Father Andrew listened to me carefully and he said to me in the end: “You have every right to believe what you want but because you live with your parents in the same house, is better to you have the small icon with you together, not to sag it for not having troubles at home. And in the future, God first, in your home you will bore what you want”.
Since, I had the small icon with me together and I went every Sunday only to the Orthodox Church.
My father before married and maked family had become “Worker” with the result can be interpreted the Holy Bible in the Protestant way, ie misinterpreting and omitting several passages hagiography (verses). So he called me with a view to demonstrate how through Holy Bible proves that the Orthodox Church is not the Truth. I had hoped that I could be proved otherwise. But I knew nothing of anti-heretical hagiographic (verses from Holy Bible) argument.
My father began arguing that the holy icons are idolatry and I answered him that it is not idolatry because we don’t worship the wood or the pictured saints and the veneration that is honorable and not worship, something with which my father did not agree. Then my father began to show various hagiographic (verses) without which he argue was against holy confession, Priesthood, fasting and, as well, against the Saints and the Virgin Mary. Unfortunately, although I know that it is not right, I didn’t not know how to prove it hagiography (verses), preferring not to answer at all.
The days went by and every day my father asking me to show me and other hagiographic passages (verses) which, as mistakenly claimed, proves that the Orthodox Church is wrong. Sometimes I went to talk with him, because he insisted and sometimes not, because I know that my father misunderstand the Holy Bible and that I was not at a position to prove it because I didn’t knew about Holy Bible. One morning as I was leaving for TEI-University, I was stopped by my father to show me something in the Holy Bible. Began to bring me back argument against Orthodoxy and this time he managed to convince me that Orthodoxy is located in fallacy.
So I convinced that Orthodoxy is wrong heading into TEI-University thinking if I should made to the company that eventually became convinced from his father that the Orthodox Church is wrong. So, under punching my hand and thinking that I agree with my father that Orthodoxy is false, I decided that I will tell it to them.
In TEI-University I met my friend P. and I told her that I was convinced from my father that Orthodoxy is wrong. So P. without anger but with emphasis and tears in her eyes said to me: “Are you forget everything that Virgin Mary did to you? Are you forget everything?”.
When I listened these words severally mentally shaken and immediately I said to myself: “She has right. I asked Christ to show me where is the Truth and He showed me, knowing that I will be continuous war must remain solid and will come also the time during which learn and how through Holy Bible proves that the only Truth is the Christian Orthodox Church”. So when I returned at noon in my home, with these same words that I said to myself, I said to my father confessing that the Orthodox Church is the Truth regardless at the moment I do not know how to prove it by Holy Bible.
The days passed and I keeps going steadily every Sunday to the Orthodox Liturgy and I felt to grow up in more a leaf in favor of the Orthodox Church. So one day I said to Father Andrew that I would like to be baptized Christian Orthodox. Fr. Andrew answered me that “To be baptized Christian Orthodox you should really believe rather than at the barrel e.g whether to marry an Orthodox girl or for other reasons”. I assured him that I really believe that the Orthodox Church is the Truth and that the Orthodox Church is the Church that founded by Christ and I wants with my heart to come in His Church and I don’t doing it for other reasons”. So, Fr. Andrew said me that we should find a godfather.
Unfortunately, months went by, and we didn’t find a godfather. Father Andrew wanted to baptism me but he was told me that he wanted to find a trusted person for godfather and I answered him: “God will find someone”.
One morning in late March 2001, I passed outside a church-chapel near the neighborhood and thinking that it has ever been in this church decided to lit a small candle. The small church was dedicated to St. Apostle Andrew. As prayed into the small church the vicar priest of the church, Father Emmanuel asked me: “Who are you? Where are you from? Are you from this neighborhood? We haven’t seen again here”. I surprised, I took his blessing (I kissed him hand) and I told him that I’m a neighbor. After I told him my story, about how I believed and that I want to be baptized Orthodox. Fr. Emmanuel surprised looked the sacristan-woman who was also there and told her that if I desire they can indeed baptized me there. Then Fr. Emmanuel explained to the resurrection that I be baptized must truly believe and not barrel for any other reason. And I assured him that every day more and a leaf growing in favor of Orthodoxy.
So, by the Grace of God after two weeks of catechism, on 7 April 2001, Saturday of Lazarus I baptized Christian Orthodox, with godfather the son of Fr. Emmanuel, in this church of St. Apostle Andrew.
On the occasion that I was baptized in a chuch (chapel) of St. Apostle Andrew and “St. Andrew of Aegina” which I had said instead of “St. Nektarios”, I thought that maybe St. Nektarios had helped me to believe and be baptized, as I requested him. So, I bought a book of his life in order to ask more about his life. As I read surprised found that the folk name of St. Nectarios, before he became a monk was “Anastasios”. Like me. And after when the St. Nectarios became a monk named “Lazarus”. And I baptized “Saturday of Lazarus” (feast day of St. Lazarus). And that then St. Nectarios became a priest named “Nektarios”.
Almost immediately I remembered an incident from the time when I was at school, about 1993, 12 years old. In the time of Gymnastics I sat with peers who were discussing something and I heard them without myself taking part in the discussion. Suddenly, without myself to the will, inconsiderate, I switches them from the discussion by asking so spontaneously: “Hey Guys, how about we become when we will are 20 years old?”.
My classmates started laughing about this question and I realizing that I told something “wrong” by talking and I tried to fix it by saying “uh… e… I say how I am when I’m 20 years old”. Realizing, however, that I said something irrelevant to discussion I didn’t asked again.
Just now, after 8 years I found that those which I said at the time in high school was not an ordinary recklessness. Because on 31 March 2001 I was 20 years old (I was born 31/3/1981) and after one week, on 7 April 2001, I baptized Christian Orthodox.
I thought all of them can be simple coincidences and that really St. Nektarios had helped me to believe in the real Truth. In to the unbroken apostolic succession Orthodox Church. In the Church founded by Christ. And for which he said “I build my Church, and the gates of hades will not prevail against it”(Matthew 16:18 ). I remembered that one of the names of “Worker Sect” is “The Truth”. But the “Truth” of “Workers” is false. It’s a lying “Truth”.
With the Grace of God, I continued to damage the spiritual life in the Orthodox Church, in real Truth. However, the devil did not remain inactive and before spending two months from my baptism, the devil began to sow heretics thoughts against the embassy of the Saints. So I started thinking why would I pray to the Saints and not only pray directly to Christ. Although I know that these thoughts were heretical and wrong, I could not with anything to get it out of my mind. I kicked again and again. I felt clearly that the devil makes war of putting all these thoughts, but I could not doing nothing. So, I asked for help from God.
On the afternoon of 8 May 2001 while I was in the Church in the evening prayer of the feast of St. Christopher and continues all these heretical thoughts, when I saw the icon-image of St. Christopher started patiently enter thoughts against this particular Saint. The icon-picture of St. Christofer to pass a river, having at the back of Christ as a child. I could not understand how this is done, from the moment the St. Christopher lived in the 3rd century A.D..
At the end of the Vespers a lady gave to me an identical plasticized small icon of St. Christopher saying me that the St. Christopher is a patron of drivers. I was perplexed and asked her to learn about the life of St. Christofer. She told me that he was idolatry to originate cannibal tribe, but he was very good and virtuous. He was big with great physical strength and so very often help disability, elderly and children to cross a raging river much of the area where they lived. One time as he tried to lift a child to spend it on the opposite bank found surprised that despite his power, he could not lift it. After he was revealed that this child was the Christ, and appeared to congratulate him for a job well help and love which offers fellows. And then St. Christopher believed in Christ, was baptized and became worthy to Witness and now he is a Saint Martyr who killed for Christ.
I was glad for the life of St. Christopher. The heretical thoughts continued and I begged St. Christopher to help me to stop the bad thoughts. I did not like to bore thoughts against the Saints. I feel that someone else whispering bad thoughts constantly in my mind. And I realized that he was the devil. While the bad thoughts like “Why do you pray to the Saints and not only to Christ?”, continued, and I could not stop them, begging God to help me.
This time (2001) I went to TEI-University and I worked in McDonalds (2000-2002) of the centre of Athens, too.
So, in May 2001, after a few days, when I finished from my work-McDonalds at noon and I led for my home with my car, I realized that from fatigue sleepy and my eyes closed. As I tried to hold open unwisely thought the Avenue of Athens-Corinth from which I was going is a straight and that we would be able to keep my eyes open and while running at higher speed to be faster, I would arrive in a fourth at my home well. As I started to cross the avenue and increasing speed to reach home sooner, my eyes closed and hastily exposures. I opened the windows of car and the music radio.
I thought it was a quarter that should have patience and barrel would reach. As I began to drive in the bridge of Kifisos I heard a loud collision while I thought someone crashed while I opened my eyes, which I were not understood that it was closed and I saw broken panes. And then I saw that I had crashed myself. Immediately I came out and I was surprised when I saw where I was. Moving up the bridge of Kifisos without realizing I had fallen asleep and crossed the entire bridge asleep, and that part of the avenue after the bridge crashed in cars that were stopped In first traffic light after the bridge and causing pile. The frond of my car crashed very match but had not anything happening to myself.
So, straight my mind went to the St. Christopher and generally the embassies of the Saints. Immediately I realized that I had helped by St. Christopher and that Christ accepts our pray to the Saints, who after death is not in a stupor as they say the heretical, but also they live after death, they can hear, they can see, they can understand and help people. Like the Prophet Moses had died though (Deuteronomy 34:5) he appeared in the Transfiguration of Christ (Matthew 17:3-4 ) and as though Abraham who also died in about 1800 B.C., from heaven “saw it and was glad”(John 8:56) (he saw the Incarnation of Christ). And so by Grace and the help of God completely dissolved from my mind the heretical thoughts against the Saints.
After, I began to feel the desire to get to know other young persons that are conscious Orthodox Christians inside the Church and I began to pray to God to send me some persons. And God answered immediately with a reply which He had “preparation” many years ago. Our family dentist who had come in my baptism and has extended family, said me that her children go to a priest in the center of Athens, who engaged in anti-heretical and apologetic work of the Church and that every Sunday makes speeches on youth in style Q & A (questions and answers), where they were asking questions about faith and disbelief and he answered to them. And she offer to go there, me too. And she told me that I will have the chance to meet a lot of new young persons from the Orthodox Church and yet I can ask the priest various questions that I have been on the Orthodox Faith.
So, on June 2001 I went to meet the priest who called Father John. Father John asked me to tell him my story of how I believed and was baptized and happily I recounted his. When I finished my narration Fr. John said to me: “You believed in a miracle. But that the Orthodox Church is the only Truth is not only established through the wonders but also only from Holy Bible. Because and the devil can doing wonders. And Buddhists do wonders and many others with the power of the devil doing wonders. But God loves you and He maked a wonder in your life to believe Him”.
I surprised with what I heard and I asked Fr. John to explain me that reveals this up during the Holy Bible. Also wondered how my parents just read Holy Bible and being outside the Church and Fr. John replied that they misunderstand the Holy Bible.
Then he mentioned the words of Christ Himself who said of his Church that it will establish and will not be interrupted when your work forever and ever: “I will build my Church, and the gates of hades will not prevail against it”(Matthew 16:18). Roman Catholics were detached from the body of the Church in 1054 AD and the Protestants left from Roman Catholics on 1517 AD. And then as now established at least 33,000 different Protestant heresies where one does not accept the other and all claims that the Church had stopped Her work and its restarted when themselves founding the protestants sects. So the words of our Lord “build my Church, and the gates of hades will not prevail against it”(Matthew 16:18 ) match only the Christian Orthodox Church. The Christian Orthodox Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ and His Apostles on 33 A.D.. Also, the Christian Orthodox Church has the Apostolic Succession.
The Christian Orthodox Church is also called Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox Catholic Church, Orthodox Church and Orthodoxy. (But, be careful: Christian Orthodox Church is not same with Coptic Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Church of Armenia, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Christianity, that they are also called Monophysites, Copts and Chalkedonians and they are heretical false sects because they left from Christian Orthodox Church on 451 A.D.)
On September 2001 I started going in speeches for young people which they have Fr. John in style A&Q. I asked many questions, quite benevolent wonder which I had on how all those who teach the Orthodox Church, having abolished the Protestants like Holy Icons, Virgin Mary, Priesthood, Confession etc., it turns up during the Holy Bible.
Fr. John answered to me many questions but because I had a lot of questions told me to come after speaking to his office to give me an anti-heretical book. And he gave me one that automatically negate the heretical protestants teachings with only hagiographies passages (verses) from Holy Bible. So I read the anti-heretical this book and God blessed me to believe the Christian Orthodox Church from the Holy Bible, too.
After a few months, on 2002, I learned that Fr. John want to build a monastery in Attica, Greece, which will deal divine confession and apology against heresies, atheists, buddhists etc. with anti-heretical books. And Ι said to Fr. John that I want abided by his monastery.
So, on 29 November 2002, the eve of St. Apostle Andrew, I came officially escorted of Fr. John, and I waiting and making daily prayer to God given us a place monastery.
In the summers of 2002 and 2003, I worked with my father as painters. These two summers I had gone with my father to Mykonos Island (Greece) to paint a new hotel. There I asked as to whether there is some local Saint and I learned about St. Manuel of Mykonos, who was married in Mykonos and he was martyred in Chios Island, Greece. The memory day of St. Manuel is on 15 March (+1792).
So, I asked Fr John to pray every day to St. Manuel of Mykonos and he said me: “Ok, pray to help us to find a place for our monastery”. So I prayed to Christ, to Virgin Mary and St. Manuel of Mykonos to help us to find a place to build monastery.
After 5 years, with God’s Grace we found a temporary place for Monastery and on 25 November 2007 I went to lived there. And to show me our God, for another one time, that the Saints of God helps us and that we must invoke them without any hesitation on 15 March 2008, the feast day of St. Manuel of Mykonos, I was tonsured an Orthodox monk with the name “Abel” that gave me the Bishop of Piraeus in honor of St. Forefather Abel (Adam’s son in Old Testament) noting surprised that on 29 November where I desided on 2002 to be a monk, is the feast day of another Saint who called St. Abel of Valaam, Russia (+1831).
After 6 years, on 2013, we find a place from monastery and now we went there.
Every day and every night I pray for all the people to coming inside the House of Christ, to the Orthodox Christian Church (Eastern Orthodox Church).
I wish you all the best!
Abel-Tasos Gkiouzelis
Email: gkiouz.abel@gmail.com
Feel free to email me...!
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Conversions of murderers to Holy Confession
The late Preacher and Father Confessor Archimandrite Venedictos Petrakis (+1961) reports:
"Through the preaching and the Sacrament of Confession at least ten planned murders were prevented!
One of those who renounced his murderous plans, as soon as he came out of the church after confession, began to say to those who were in the square: 'Everyone, run to Father Confessor to make you human!' He himself, not only did he disown murder and forgive his enemy, but he also managed to bring him to confession.
In another village, an old woman whose only son had been murdered, as soon as she came out of the church after confession rushed to the shop, approached the murderer of her son and forgave him, and she even urged him to confess! The murderer, deeply moved, proceeded to the Sacrament of the Holy Confession in tears!
In another village of the same area, some people who had come under orders and decision to execute me, also repented and confessed...".
INS
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The conversion of Fr. Nikolaοs Loudovikos from atheism to Orthodoxy with the help of Saint Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia, Athens & Oropos, Greece (+1991)
Fr. Nikolaos Loudovikos, Greece:
When I was 20 years old, I was an anarchist...
I had long hair, I had earrings and I was tyrannical to
spiritual people, my teachers...
They sent me to a Christian boarding school and I caused havoc...
One day, at the urging of an uncle, I decided to visit Saint Porphyrios...
I thought I would meet a naive old man, but I was quickly proved wrong...!!!!!
As soon as the Saint Porphyrios saw me he said:
"Ηey you, you want to believe, but your strong mind won't let you...!
But one way or another, know that He loves you, Christ is waiting for you and will win you over one day...!!!
Hey, come tomorrow and we'll talk !"
The next day I went to talk to him...!
As soon as the Saint Porphyrios saw me he said:
"Hey you, do you like poems? Because I'm a poet, too.
Shall we go to the forest to recite to you?"
He took me by the hand and started reciting poems...!
As I listened, I burst into tears and cried. Why...?
Because the poems that the Saint Porphyrios was reciting were my poems...!!!
The ones I had written and hidden in a notebook, believing that one day I would publish them...
I was shocked!
INS
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A young man in Athens, Greece, in 1963, during the summer months was tempted in the flesh beyond his strength. He made up his mind to put an end to the struggles of abstinence, for as he said he could no longer bear the weight of the flesh. He thought of his Elder, the Elder Amfilochios Makris of Patmos Island, Greece, but he was too far away to help him. He left his aboad and headed towads the center of Athens. It was getting dark. The journey took an hour. He kept on praying but the flame of the flesh would not cool down. So, the young man who had never been to the cinema before, said to himself: "Let me start with an X- rated movie", which was then showing at the Rex cinema. He bought a ticket and stood near the advertising posters. Inexperienced as he was, he understood almost nothing. As he squinted to look, he turned his face away in case someone he knew saw him. And there beside him was the figure of Elder Amfilochios with tears in his eyes! That's where it all stopped. He returned home and wept bitterly like Peter.
INS.
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The conversion of an Australian man from Hinduism to Orthodoxy with the help of Saint Gabriela Papagiannis missionary of India, from Greece (+1992)
Saint Gabrielia Papayanni (+1992), missionary of India:
«Once, in India, there was a very great "master", of those so called guru (at the time I was working in the small hospital that belonged to his ashram - his "monastery"). One day, a very cute 26 year old youngster from Australia came to the ashram, having brought with him a big box. He showed up where this great "master" was, surrounded by people who heard him speak... When this young man entered, he blushed with joy and excitement, looking at the "master" the way we look at, if I may say, the icon of a Saint! So after the "master" took a good look at him, he said: "So you're the one who came from Australia? What have you brought us?" The poor guy could not speak from excitement, and yet the other one insisted: "Did you bring us bananas? Did you bring us fruit? Did you bring us sweets? What did you bring us?" The poor guy began to open the box and took out papers and more papers and more papers... "Hey, show us now what you're going to give us." In the end he took out tapes and the tape recorder he had brought to record the voice of this great "master"! "Oh!.... Is that it? Is that all you've got? Go show him his room!".
So the poor guy went to his room, sat down, locked himself in and didn't want to come out at all. He was shocked! He expected to see a man who had almost deified him, and now he saw him waiting for bananas and fruit like a commoner, finally telling him to go to his room since he hadn't brought anything... But the poor guy had come to capture the guru's voice and send it back to Australia (... for everyone to admire his achievement, because of course, in all this there was a little bit of ego...) The young man, as you may have gathered, was in real shock. The next day they tried to get him out of his room to go and listen to the teachings, but he did not want to.
One day he told me: "You tell me that when God wills something, it is done, and that when you leave yourself free in God's hands, He does it for you, and that the only way to reach God is through Christ, who takes you by the hand and educates you and takes you where you need to go; and all you have to do is leave yourself in His hands." "Yes," I said to him, "as long as you really let go of yourself in Him!" Another day he said to me: "You say that we must leave ourselves completely in God's hands, and then... Fine! So let's go the two of us with no money to a mountain, to an unknown place, to see... Will we find food and shelter, as you say?" "No question about it! Of course we will!" "So you're sure?" "I am sure." "If I see this, I will believe in Christ and give up all the "masters" and all the gurus."
But my children, the Bible says "do not tempt the Lord your God, and do not seek a sign". But then I had such a longing and certainty that this young man, having been born in a Christian country, must not lose his Christ. What could happen now? So I said to him, "Yes, we will go." We only had enough money for the train and for sleeping the first night; very little, a rupee (something like a hundred drachmas). The next day we would wait and see what would happen. I was so sure! It was as if I was going to a familiar place... Well, this young man had brought some fruit and we took it along with us.
The next day in the morning, we set off for the mountain. We climbed and climbed and climbed... And it was noon. At one point we sat down on a hill to rest. He said to me: "No miracle yet." I said, "You're in too much of a hurry. I told you that tonight, God willing, we will find a place to stay." "Fine", he said. But not before long the sun began to set, for we were on a mountain where it was setting fast. We looked down into the valley, and to tell you the truth, I was beginning to think that somehow... the miracles I was expecting were a little late in coming, but God knows best ... He turned to me and said: "And now what do you say?" "I say tonight we'll sleep where God wants us to sleep." And not before long, as dusk approached, just as the sun was about to set, we saw a tropical hat slowly coming up from below the hill, then a face, and then two Indian figures. Soon we saw that the face with the tropical hat was a woman wearing glasses; she seemed to be old and European. The two Indians were young girls. Gradually their faces were coming up until they finally reached us.
"Good evening." "Good evening." "Where are you coming from"? "We're coming from down there." "Where are you going?" "To friends". He glared at me. He might have wondered whether I was lying. "So where are you from?" "I'm from Greece and the young man's from Australia." She said:"And I'm from Holland. I was brought up in America and these two Indian girls you see, are two of the six daughters I've adopted here and I've helped them study nursing. What do you do for a living?" I said: "I teach physiotherapy and now I've just finished from a hospital." "Ah! God sent you. Are you perhaps free to come to our house tonight? These two girls of mine are on leave for a month. Maybe you'd like to teach them a little..." I said, "I'd love to... But I have this young man with me and we were going..." "I've also adopted a boy. They'll share his room, and tonight we'll all be a family." "Thank you and God for bringing us together. The young man from Australia, indeed, was completely dumbfounded...
God had worked his miracle and I was elated! At that time I had an indescribable excitement. India was my great adventure with the Faith of God, for I had gone there without knowing anything, in a foreign country and in a foreign language. Anyway, we arrived at their little house in the mountains. It was a nice house on a hill. She told me how she had left for other places when she was young, how she had lived there for so many years, and that it was only her friends who supported her because she didn't belong to any organization and all that, and how God had blessed her.
That night, the Australian guy was so moved that he told me with tears in his eyes "My sister Lila, sit down at the piano and let's play all the Christmas songs now! Christ has just been born in me!" And I sat at the piano and we started singing in high summer all the Christmas songs! And the girls started singing with their mother and her son and everybody... And this guy, Alan, was literally in the bliss of God.
But you see, God performs his miracles as and when He needs to. Because this young man was so misguided in other directions and because God wanted him, He did all of this for us. And I was so sure that he couldn't be lost like that, at 26, with all these workouts that cause squint and all sorts of other things, when they are not... Anyway. We stayed there for a fortnight. I showed the girls what they wanted, and then he went back to Australia. This lady, the missionary, had invited me every summer ever since and I used to spend some time with her. They never forgot that story, especially when I told them what happened to that young man later because his story wasn't over...
Another year had passed, and another, and he was back to the workouts and the others there. I had gone far away, up a mountain and no one could find me. As he told me later, he remembered what I had told him and thought: "Just as Sister Lila says yes when she is invited, so will I say yes this time and wherever it takes me", for again he wasn't happy there. So he got up and went to the place where he thought he would find me, where we first met. But they told him "She won't be coming back this year, she's up on the mountain." Now look at this coincidence! Someone came to where I was and said to me "You know, Alan from Australia is in that place." "Oh", I thought, "I'll send him a letter to come here", not knowing the recent troubles he had gone through... And as he was waiting for an invitation from someone else for a big change in his life or I don't know what, here comes my letter. It was the only invitation he got!
Back on the road, he came to that mountain where there were no Europeans, only he and I. So he came and said to me: " What happened then was good and holy. But in the meantime, I saw a lot of things not being done the way you said. That is why I came back to India, in search of the Truth." "But I've already told you, my boy, that the Truth is not a theory, it is Christ who said, 'I am the Truth'. What else do you want? Do you want more miracles?" "But you say you always live in miracles." "Yes, I live in miracles. The fact that you are alive and came back, that we have our eyes and our feet, all this is a miracle. You see where I work with the lepers? You see the blind? You see all these sick people here? Why them and not us? Did you ever ask that? By Grace, we have it all! By Grace! In spite of all our sin! By Grace we are as we are. By the Blood of Christ's sacrifice! Don't you understand that? And as we were talking, an old man came crying... "Run, my boy is seriously ill in the hospital. Come on!" And off we went. This little village was very small and the hospital was not very... The doctor said to me: "You've come to see the boy. He fell from a scaffold and it seems to me that his spine is broken and that he will be dead by morning." We saw the boy. He was eighteen years old. I was so moved to see this boy that I started to stroke his forehead a little, and I said to his father :"No. God's miracles are great! The boy will live. Don't worry."
"Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here I am." (Isaiah 58:9)
At that moment, the boy opened his eyes a little. His father expected him to die. But when he heard that his boy could live, he turned to me and said: "Hey, if my boy is going to live, give me some money to go eat, because I'm hungry." The instinct of self-preservation! I said: "I don't have any money, this guy will give it to you", and the young man from Australia gave it to him. We left. The next morning he said to me: "Let's go and see if the boy is still alive." When we got there, we found the doctor at the door and he said: "I'll tell you one thing, you'll be surprised. Nature sometimes plays games like this! The boy is well and this morning he set off on foot with his father to their village, ten miles away." Hey... The Australian guy this time almost fell down! He was really overwhelmed. He turned to me and said: "Now, I believe in the omnipotence of God. I believe in Christ! I am a Christian in my soul! I'm going back to Australia! I have found what I was looking for!"
The young man left... The years went by. I left India, too... I went to Bethany, became a dokime and one day I got a letter from this young man again, saying: "My great pride has brought me to despair. Three young women almost drowned while swimming, and because I was a very good swimmer, I jumped into the water and rescued them. But I had such a great pride that I loudly announced it to the whole world, and in the end I lost my mind and they put me in a mental hospital. I got out afterwards, they said I'm fine, but I don't feel good. Now what do you advise me to do?" At that time I had met Father Lazarus, the English Orthodox in India. I said to him, "Go back to India. But this time go straight to Father Lazarus, I beg you." I sat and wrote to Father Lazarus. The young man went to him...
When Father Lazarus wrote to me, he told me that for a whole year the young man was just looking at him. He attended the Divine Liturgy every day but didn't speak to him at all. Ηe was an enigma. One morning he said to him: "Father, I've known Sister Lila for so many years, but she never asked me whether I had been baptized, nor if I was a Christian. She must have thought that, since I was born in Australia, I would be. But I am not baptized. I'm not even a Christian! Please, baptize me!" Father Lazarus' joy was great. He baptized him and named him Adrian. He changed his name from Alan to Adrian. He received his blessing and went off to become a missionary... These are the great and astonishing miracles of God!"».
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An Orthodox priest from Exeter, England, tells us his own unique story of how he came to know Orthodoxy
One of the priests of the parish of Exeter, England, the eldest one, told us his own unique story through which he came to know Orthodoxy:
I was in Paris, it was raining and I had to go somewhere to stay dry. I saw a door near me and entered. I can't say I saw the exterior of the church because it was raining; I just saw the door and entered. If it hadn't rained, I wouldn't have gone in! Opening the outer door abruptly, I tripped and fell into another door and so I got into the church. Not wanting to disturb anyone, I sat back in the corner and watched. Once I became more confident, I went ahead because I wanted to know what was going on, where I was. I saw the icons, the crosses and thought it must be a church. I wondered if it was a synagogue, because I'd never seen vestments worn in such a way. I liked the vestments, the incense, the whole visual impression of the service, and I didn't want to leave. I heard the choir in a completely different language, not even French. It was Slavic. I was sitting and looking at the icons. And if they had told me then that in eight years I would be doing the same thing as a Deacon, I wouldn't have believed them at all.
While I was in the temple and I saw the way in which the service was taking place, the order of the priests and the faithful, I felt that heaven was there and I thought: 'If there is a God - because I was wondering until that moment if there was - this is the way He should be worshipped.' Since then, in our parish, they say that 'Nicanor went into the temple to be protected from the rain of heaven and he found himself in Heaven! I always say to anyone who comes to the Orthodox Church for the first time, 'Enter the temple, go to the middle of the church and you will see in front of you the gates of Paradise!', which is nothing but the iconostasis.
Before I became Orthodox, I was a believer in the English sense of the word: God was always there! I knew how to pray when I wanted to. Besides, for I happened to come from a military family, I had the mentality that 'if God is good enough for the Royal Navy, then it is good enough for me!' That was the depth of my theology!
I went back to England and heard that there was a bishop in London, Antony Bloom, but I didn't pursue the matter. One day I was watching a film on television about the French Revolution. At that time the television programme ended at midnight and it was the custom on the BBC to invite someone to end the day. The epilogue that night was some prayers presented by Bishop Bloom of the Russian Orthodox Church. I was about to turn off the television, but I tripped on the carpet in front of it and so I could not turn it off. Listening to the prayers, I was surprised and sat down again to watch the rest. Then, the icons from the church in Paris came to my mind!
I did not have his address, but I wrote him a letter saying 'I heard you on television a week ago and I am interested in becoming Orthodox. Could I meet you sometime?' I wrote on the envelope 'Bishop Antony Bloom, Russian Church, London', I knew nothing else. After all, there wouldn't be many such churches in London! Finally he replied and I met him for a whole afternoon. Later he suggested that I contact a priest. I was in correspondence with him on matters of Orthodoxy, so we had something like a correspondence course in Orthodoxy! We continued this communication for quite some time and one Easter I became Orthodox and after a few years a Deacon".
ANT. INS.
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Reason #1: the ever-changing church
This series of articles are from the “Becoming Orthodox” blog.
This is the first in a series of posts highlighting reasons why I have converted to the Orthodox Church. They are listed in no particular order. Some are big, important reasons; others may be small, wonderful but non-essential reasons. I hope they offer food for thought.
A few months ago I read an article in Christianity Today that highlighted a Christian movement in Mexico. It’s been awhile since I read the article and I can no longer recall the particulars, but one line really stood out: “How will the church in Mexico continue to change?” asked the columnist.
If the church is the pillar of truth (1 Timothy 3:15), then it should be unchanged since the day that it was founded by Jesus. Yet in any particular church group (save one) you will find numerous changes. Roman Catholics have a pretty long history, but they change the rules all the time. Protestantism is no different, being that it was borne out of a desire for change; a desire that certainly continues to this day when we have thousands of different denominations.
I’m disturbed by all of these changes. Truth doesn’t change. Neither should the Church.
INS.
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Evangelism and Culture
by Fr. Michael J. Oleksa,
Missionary in Alaska
The most obvious gospel paradigm for the theme evangelism and culture is the parable of the sower. The seed is the Word of God.
But as St. Maximos the Confessor wrote in the seventh century, the Word of God is constantly revealing himself, becoming “embodied.” The Word establishes the created universe, the heavens tell his glory, the firmament his handiwork, for it is by the Word that everything that was made came into existence and is sustained in being. The Word is embodied first of all in the entire cosmos. The Word in the Cosmos has been misunderstood, after all. It was as if the Message revealed by the Word was written, as C.S. Lewis once said, in letters too large for us to read clearly. In the pre-Christian societies, he was wrongly identified with Neptune, Zeus, Adonus, Apollo, or in the modern world with the forces of the natural world, with the “laws” of chemistry, physiology, genetics.
So in the second embodiment the Word became easier to decipher. The Word of God is also embodied in the Holy Scriptures, in some ways in amore focused and understandable form. Even there, the possibility of misinterpretation arose, and the Scribes and Pharisees were constantly criticized for missing the intended meaning of the Law and the Prophets.
So ultimately, at the fullness of time, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is called “Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” He is called “the Messiah.” “the Christ,” the Way, the Truth and the Life.” He calls himself “the Living Bread,” “the Son of Man,” “Living Water,” “the Good Shepherd.”
All of this is the Word of God, the seed in the parable of sower- and more. The gospel is also the Church, the mystical body of Christ, and the scattered seed can refer to the evangelical establishment of the church as the faith spreads geographically throughout the world. And fullness of the gospel, of the Christian faith, is Orthodoxy. The seed then means all these-the Word of God in all embodiments, the Gospel of Repentance, of the Kingdom, the sacramental and iconographic presence of Christ, the Truth of the Orthodox faith. And none of these existed in a vacuum. The seed always requires a specific place, some oil, in which to grow.
The Word of God as scripture must be expressed in human language, and language is culture. The gospel of the kingdom must be preached in human words, and words are culture. The presence of Christ must convey, manifested with signs, symbols, art, music, liturgical action, sacrament, and all this is culture. The Truth, like the seed, needs soil in which to grow, and the soil is culture.
The seed in the parable is scattered and some grows, some does not. But even the seed that reaches maturity produces different harvests, some thirty or sixty or a hundredfold. The same truth, the same gospel, the same Christ, when introduced into specific cultural context produces a unique harvest, for different soils have different levels of fertility. Climatic conditions vary from time to time and place to place. The reception of the Word of God varies accordingly, not only as individuals hear the gospel, understand the Truth, confront Christ, enter the church, but as cultures do as well.
No one plants without expecting a harvest. The results the church anticipates and for which it prepares, the goal of all that it says and does, is revealed in the gospel passage read on more Sundays during church year than any other: John ch. 17.
It is no accident that the church presents our Lord’s prayer for unity to us more often than any other, for this is the ultimate goal of his life and mission, the fulfillment of the gospel. In the end, the scriptures tell us, Christ will be “all in all.” He will hold us, all people of all races, nationalities, ethnic groups, political parties, religious sects and creeds, and with all others, our friends, neighbours, and the enemies Jesus Christ commanded us to forgive, to bless, to love. For those who have loved and served him- and the neighbour the have abused, despised, rejected, exploited, hated- will be their sorrow, humiliation, their torment, their hell. Heaven and hell are not places we “go to,” but spiritual conditions we are already in.
We must become one, the way our Lord prayed to his heavenly Father, as the Holy Trinity is one, in total humility and love, each of us fulfilling the will of the Father as the son and the Holy Spirit perfectly and eternally do. This is the end toward which the church labours and strives. The church plants the seed in order to reap this harvest. No one can be the image of the Holy Trinity alone, as isolated individual. While only human beings, by an acct of faith and commitment, can be saved, no one is saved alone. There is no such thing as an individual salvation, for salvation is to enter into the community of interpersonal love, love of God, fulfilling his will in all things, and the love of one’s neighbour, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.
This is the goal, the harvest the church expects, awaits, and in which it invites all humanity to participate.
The church’s vision, her soteriology and eschatology, while focused on Christ, is not exclusively Christocentric but Trinitarian. And the essence of his interpersonal unity-in-love, the possibly for many persons to be one, is revealed in divine love, tri-personal Agape, which, which makes the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, the three equally divine persons, one. We must always keep the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians in mind in all the evangelists think, say and do. There is no place for coercion, persecution, intolerance or violence in planting the seed, in announcing the good news to the nations, for these tactics would render the ultimate goal, total Agape, unattainable.
Syncretism and inculturation
Perhaps no question is more heatedly discussed in various ecumenical mission conferences today than the attempt to distinguish theologically between syncretism and inculturation. Within the World Council of Churches, the problem, it seems to me, is that there are different kinds of seed. In this context, the temptation to syncretism is inescapable.
What is syncretism? It has been difficult if not impossible for many Protestant theologians to arrive at consensus, a definition of exactly what constitutes syncretism, but the historic, patristic Orthodox tradition offers us clear guidelines. The church, during the period of ecumenical councils, sought to express its faith in terms intelligible to Hellenic culture without being distorted, without being “contaminated” by it in the process. This was no easy task, and it required five centuries and seven councils to accomplish it. Syncretism was successfully voided. The church, guided by the Holy Spirit, did not add to its doctrines, practices, beliefs, anything extraneous or incompatible with the faith of the Apostles, the witness of sacred scripture, the Truth revealed in Christ.
Syncretism is precisely the introduction into Christian doctrine or worship elements that are incompatible with the fullness of the Apostolic tradition.
Thus, when we learned Chinese Protestant theologian attempted to include within her presentation at Canberra general assembly of the World Council of the Churches an act of reverence to the Chinese goddess of mercy, the Orthodox were correct in rejecting such an inclusion as syncretistic. There is no place for “goddesses of mercy” in Christian doctrine or piety. (Orthodox missionaries, however, encountering a culture with a personification of a merciful feminine principle might attempt to present this pre-Christian intuition as typologically prefiguring the Theo-okos.
If syncretism must at all costs be avoided as distorting or corrupting the gospel message, inculturation, on the other hand, is inevitable and necessary. However, inculturation is only possible when the evangelist knows the Orthodox tradition and can therefore discern what is and what is not compatible with it. Inculturation is the planting of the gospel, the seed, the presence of Christ, in the unique soil of new culture, and allowing it, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to mature at its own pace, to produce ultimately a new, indigenous church.
The Alaskan Orthodox mission
When, for example, the Valaam Mission analyzed the spirituality of the Kodiak native peoples in 1795, they expressed a willingness to tolerate certain aberrations (such as polygamy) for a short time, to discuss others (the belief in the inua/yua) and to overlook still others (for example, fasting norms).
Polygamy endured for one generation after the baptism of the Kodiak Alutiiqs. This was a necessary accommodation, since to require the separation of multiple wives from their husbands would have created severe social upheaval and economical hardship for women and children. Fasting norms could not be enforced in a land of hunter-gatherers whose food supplies were never stable or predictable, and starvation was an annual possibility.
Only today, after two centuries, is fasting being gradually introduced. Everywhere, however, the reception of the gospel ended inter-tribal warfare and the enslavement and mistreatment of the prisoners. This was seldom recognized or even noticed by later observers, who had not complained that the Orthodox natives had not absorbed much doctrine, had not memorized much scripture, and thus had not, in their estimation, been properly evangelized.
Belief in the Yua persists. The Yua, in Yup’ik Eskimo culture, is the spirit that makes a living thing to be alive. It is the life force, which in pre-contact times was believed to be conscious but interpersonal. Animals and human beings have essentially the same Yua, and differ only in their outward physical form.
Animals have abilities that surpass those of human beings. They see, smell, and hear what we cannot. They have strengths and capabilities that surpass ours. They are not viewed as inferior beings, but in some ways as superior creatures. Their sensory input permits them to know things that we cannot perceive. To be changed into an animal in all native Alaskan folklore is viewed not as a curse (typical of European stories; – “the Frog Prince,” “Beauty and The Beast,” werewolves, etc.), but as a promotion. Some Alutiiq stories end with the hero deciding to remain an animal and “live happily ever after.” This belief in the intelligence, sensitivity and even superiority of the animals made traditional Alaskan peoples reverent towards the game they needed to kill in order to feed themselves, in order to survive. And it is the universal beliefs that since the animals know more, see more, hear more, sense more, they are willing victims who offer to the hunter. But they only sacrifice themselves to feed those human beings who treat them reverently, respectfully, not only during the hunt, in the act of killing the and butchering them, but in the way the meat is thoroughly eaten, wasting none of it, and how various parts of the animal (such as the pelts) are used. The unusable remains must also be treated respectfully, returned to the habitat from which the animal was taken. Recycling is an ancient practice in the Arctic.
Orthodox missionaries did not discourage this belief that life in all its form should be treated reverently. Their Alaskan converts heard the Paschal gospel from within the context of their traditional worldview, and saw Christ in the whole created universe, the Word of God in the Cosmos, in a way even the missionaries had not seen him before. The life of the world, the life of all, yes-all the Yua are really him. And the first chapter to the Colossians took on a meaning that was always there, but had gone unnoticed, or at least under appreciated, for centuries.
The seed found especially fertile ground, for the text “He is before all things and in him all things subsist” affirmed that what the Alaskans had intuited centuries before was now affirmed in the gospel. Only now they knew his identity. Alaskan Orthodoxy affirms a cosmic dimension to the Christian faith that many, perhaps most, modern Christians fail to grasp. John 3:16 is probably the most widely memorized verse in the New Testament, few who study the Bible in English translation grasp its full meaning the way most Eskimos do. The original text speaks of God’s love for the world, and most suppose the Greek word here is oikoumene, the inhabited earth, the human beings, and indeed the evangelist could have chosen this word. In fact, however, he did not. This famous verse affirms “For God so loved cosmos the sent his son.”
In the missionary context of the industrialized world, where secularism is in some instances giving way to a revival of “paganism” or the emergence of “new age” spirituality, or an interest in oriental religions, the theology of St. Maximos, in which the “logoi”: of God are affirmed, in which the created universe plays a mediating and sanctifying role in God’s divine plan, which the cosmos is to be blessed, reclaimed, transfigured and transformed, sanctified and blessed to become “the Kingdom of our God and His Christ” presents a Christian alternative.
The Alaskan church goes forth in procession each January for the great blessing of water, in most places walking on the frozen river, standing on the ice in subzero temperatures, to sanctify the one small piece of the cosmos on which their lives have always depended. The river is their highway, their cleansing, their supermarket, their home, their life. In their pre-Christian past they thanked the animal spirits for offering themselves, sacrificing themselves to feed the people, and put their inflated intestines and bladders through the holes in the ice in order to recycle their Yua. Now they go to the river and bless the waters, putting the cross through a cruciform hole in the ice; it is Christ they bless, Christ they thank, for his sacrifice, prefigured in the cycle of the natural world as they understood it.
This not, I would submit, syncretistic, for these patterns were always there, in the liturgical life of the church. The gospel texts were always there, within the hearing of all believers. But the Eskimos have discovered a meaning hidden from those of other cultures and they offer this meaning back to the church. This the pattern of all genuine inculturation-the missionary, and, through the evangelist, the whole church, discovers heretofore unnoticed or disclosed treasures of her own sacred heritage.
When Navajo Indians of the American southwest were asked to make a film about production of their famous rugs, they submitted a video depicting a sunrise, wild flowers blooming, rain falling, sheep grazing, wind blowing, the sun setting, and finally a few seconds showing a half-finished rug on a traditional loom. The producers who had commissioned the film were confused and disappointed. They had expected to see wool being spun, dyed and woven, and none of this was included in the video. But to the Navajo, it takes more than wool, vegetable dyes, a loom and a grandmother to make a rug. They assumed a much wider frame of reference: The sun must rise. The rain must fall. The flower must bloom. The sheep must graze. And if all is harmony, you can get rugs out of it. It takes the whole cosmos to make a rug.
It this not equally true of our Eucharastic Gifts?
We so often perceive it as merely bread- flour, water and yeast. But what does it take to produce that flour? The sun must shine. The wind must blow. The rain must fall. The earth must be fertile. Human beings must appropriately interact with it. And if all is in harmony, you can make bread. On every altar, in every church we offer the universe in joy and thanksgiving back to God. But our frame of reference can be too small.
Christ fed thousands with only a few a few loaves and two fish. Those who witnessed this considered it a miracle. Our Lord also said, “The son only does the works he sees his Father do.”
The Father is always taking a little wheat and feeding thousands, but we fail to see it, we don’t get the message. He is taking some seeds each spring and making food in every wheat and corn field, but the pagans said it was Apollo or Zeus or Minerva or “Mother Nature” at work, and secularists say it is all “natural processes.” So the Son does the same thing he sees his Father do, but on a smaller scale and a faster speed, and suddenly the miraculous element becomes evident. It is the same Word of God made manifest and the feeding of the thousands will have its full impact when we can recognize it continuously in the miracle of the cosmos, the Word written in letters so large we could not read the message before.
Be reminding the church of the cosmic dimensions of its faith and mission, the Greek evangelized become evangelists. In the Patristic age, Greek language, Greek culture, Greek philosophical language enriched the life of the church forever.
As the seed, the gospel, the church, as Christ’s presence enters into the context of other cultures, these too offer something back to God. The same seed, the same faith, the same Orthodox truth, implanted in another culture produces a unique harvest, a Serbian, a Romanian, a Russian, a Ukrainian, an Albanian, an African, an Alaskan, an Indonesian, a Korean or Japanese (or even an American), expression, each the product of the same holy faith, yet each irreplaceable and unique.
Father Alexander Schmemann defined in his most famous book, For the Life of the World, what it means to be Christian.
“A Christian, “ he wrote, “is someone who, wherever he/she looks sees Christ and rejoices Him.”
I read this book many times. I was blessed for several years to attend Father Alexander’s lectures. I read Holy Fathers. But it was my Eskimo parishioners who revealed to me the depth of the passage, revealed to me the cosmic dimension of the prologue to the gospel according to St. John, showed me the magnificence of the Apostle Paul’s Christocentric experience and vision. This is what inculturation means for the church. Unlike syncretism, which distorts the gospel, corrupts the faith, renders a Christian harvest impossible, inculturation enriches and deepens and expands the genuine apprehension of the Apostolic faith, to the glory of God and building up of his holy church. The church, while resisting any syncretism, delights and rejoices in inculturation.
Conclusion
The church scatters the seed, offering the gospel to all, and in so doing, discovers the new harvest dimensions of the faith it had not consciously known, noticed or appreciated fully before. Evangelism enriches the church. Inculturation blesses the church. Our Greek patristic legacy is the historic evidence of the creative process. The seed always needs soil in which to grow-the gospel always needs a culture in which to be planted, and the Holy Spirit produces various harvests in each culture and in each of us.
Evangelism and Culture. 1995. International Review of Mission. Authentic Witness Within Each Culture. Section 1; Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 1996). LXXXIV No. 335, October 1995. The World Council of Churches. 387-393.
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“BIBLE ANSWER MAN” HANK HANEGRAAFF JOINS ORTHODOX CHURCH
Known to millions as the “Bible Answer Man,” 67-year-old Hank Hanegraaff and his wife were received into the Orthodox Church this year on the great feast of Palm Sunday, at St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, NC.
Mr. Hanegraaff can be seen kneeling with a lit candle under a priest’s epitrachelion in the picture to the right. His wife’s hands can be seen as well. The picture originates from the Facebook page of the parish, but has been removed after an influx of comments, including negative remarks from those who appreciated Hanegraaff’s work as a Protestant.
The Bible Answer Man addressed his conversion to the Orthodox faith on his program yesterday, in response to a caller who had seen remarks claiming that, in becoming Orthodox, Mr. Hanegraaff had left the Christian faith. He responded:
«I am now a member of an Orthodox Church, but nothing has changed in my faith. I have been attending an Orthodox church for a long time—for over two years, really, as a result of what happened when I went to China, many years ago. I saw Chinese Christians who were deeply in love with the Lord, and I learned that while they may not have had as much intellectual acumen or knowledge as I did, they had life. And so I learned that while truth matters, life matters more, and I remember flying back from China after spending time with just common people who had a deep, intense love for the Lord, and wondering, “Was I even a Christian?”
I was comparing my ability to communicate truth with their deep and abiding love for the Lord Jesus Christ… One man, by the way, said to me, truth matters but life matters more. In other words, it is not just knowing about Jesus Christ, it is experiencing the Resurrected Christ. As a result of that I started studying what was communicated by the progeny of Watchman Nee with respect to theosis and that drove me back to the early Christian Church.
And I suppose over that period of time I have fallen ever more in love with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It’s sort of like my wife—I have never been more in love with my wife than I am today, and I’ve never been more in love with my Lord Jesus Christ than I am today. I’ve been impacted by the whole idea of knowing Jesus Christ, experiencing Jesus Christ, and partaking of the graces of Jesus Christ through the Eucharist or the Lord’s Table. And that has become so central in my life, but as far as the statement that you mentioned, that I’ve left the Christian faith—nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact I believe what I have always believed, as codified in the Nicene Creed, and as championed by mere Christianity».
After reciting the entire Nicene Creed, he concluded, “In other words, I am as deeply committed to championing mere Christianity and the essentials of the historic Christian faith as I have ever been.”
Hank Hanegraaff has served as the president and chairman of the board of the North Carolina-based Christian Research Institute (CRI) since 1989, when he also took over previous-president’s radio talk-show “The Bible Answer Man.” The show includes answering questions about matters of Christian doctrine and history and Biblical interpretation, and denominational particularities. He has been an outspoken critic of non-Christian religions, new religious movements and cults, and heresies within conservative Christianity. He is also the author of over twenty books. His The Complete Bible Answer Book—Collector’s Edition is a compendium of the most common, and the most difficult, questions regarding Christianity, culture, and cults that Hank has received over the past three decades.
It has been noted that Hank has been speaking about the Orthodox Church more on his show lately, referring to it as “fantastic,” and “the early Church.” In 2016, Hank interviewed Fr. Themistoclis (Adamopoulos), a Greek Orthodox priest, to discuss his journey from Marxist rock star to Orthodox monk. Fr. Themi works tirelessly with the poor and suffering in Sierra Leone, where people are still suffering from the effects of a recent Ebola epidemic. The interview can be listened to here.
In March, Mr. Hanegraaff answered a caller’s question about the Orthodox teaching of theosis, ably explaining the doctrine of man’s sanctification on both a Biblical and Patristic basis. “We become Christ-bearers since His Body and Blood are distributed throughout our limbs, as Cyril of Jerusalem said… The whole idea being that we become by grace what God is by nature… We become, as Peter put it, partakers in the divine nature,” the Bible Answer Man explained. A full video of the call can be seen below:
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The miraculous conversion of three atheists to Orthodoxy by Saint John of Kronstadt, Russia (+1908)
There are, however, as a counterbalance, completely opposite cases, such as that of three non-believing youths who wanted to mock the miraculous power of Saint John of Kronstadt of Russia (+1908):
Two students asked him to pray for the healing of a friend of theirs who lay down and pretended to be ill. However, after the visit and his prayer, they found that the supposedly sick man could not get out of bed. He was completely paralyzed! He finally got well and got up, but only when all three of them sincerely repented.
ΥΤ. INS.
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Ancient Rhythm
By Robin Galiano Russell, USA
Converts to Orthodoxy are drawn by its unchanging nature, aesthetic beauty and spiritual mystery
Orthodox churchgoers line up at the end of service to kiss the cross being held by Father David Hovik in Arlington, Wash. After six months of catechism studies, Hovik and 104 members of the independent Grace Community Church converted to Eastern Orthodoxy and became the St. Andrew Antiochian Orthodox Church. Meg Robinson lights a candle for her uncle and grandparents before service at St. Andrews Church in Arlington, Wash.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, as far removed from a nondenominational or evangelical congregation as you can get, is attracting a growing number of converts who are drawn by the tug of an ancient faith.
Converts are trading in their PowerPoint sermons and praise bands for the ancient rhythms of a liturgy that hasn’t changed in thousands of years – a pendulum swing from the casual, seeker-friendly services that have dominated contemporary evangelicalism.
Their numbers are still small compared to megachurch growth patterns, with 1.2 million Eastern Orthodox Christians in the United States. But adherents say there has been a surge in people drawn to the faith.
The Antiochian Orthodox Church, the most evangelistic of the American Orthodox churches, has tracked conversions for several decades. The number of its churches in the United States has doubled in 20 years to more than 250 parishes and missions. About 80 percent of its converts come from evangelical and charismatic backgrounds, 20 percent from mainline denominations.
Those who convert say they are drawn to an aesthetic beauty and spiritual mystery in Orthodox worship that are often lacking in their own Protestant services. It’s like entering a time machine that allows congregants to worship as the early Christians did.
Not that it doesn’t take some getting used to. Orthodox services are based on the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which can last two hours or more. Congregants stand much of the time, while priests in vestments offer incense and chant the Psalms.
‘Startlingly different’: Frederica Mathewes-Green, a former Episcopalian and author of Facing East: A Pilgrim’s Journey Into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy, said the experience of Orthodoxy was ”startlingly different” from anything she had known in Western churches. But it clicked when she saw it was directed toward God rather than her own emotional needs.
”It called us to fall on our faces before God in worship and to be filled with awe at his glory. I could never go back. I now find Western worship tedious and sentimental. To me, the contrast is jolting.”
Mathewes-Green also prefers the Orthodox view of the Christian life as a healing process and a journey, rather than a one-time ”sinner’s prayer.” She and her husband converted from a liberal Episcopal Church in 1993 and helped found an Orthodox church made up mostly of American converts.
”It’s not about getting the sin-debt paid, the ticket punched and now you wait around to die and go to heaven. Orthodoxy is a transforming journey where every day the Christian is being enabled to bear more of God’s light. That’s exciting,” she said.
Stan Shinn, who was raised in the Assemblies of God denomination, recalls feeling nearly overwhelmed when he stepped inside Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in North Dallas for the first time. What looked good on paper – definitive answers to his search for early Christian worship and doctrine – had taken him to a ”very bizarre and strange” church with icon-filled walls, heavy incense and Byzantine chanting.
”I felt like there was a gauntlet thrown down in front of me,” he said.
He and his wife, Janine, and their three children converted in 2002 from their nondenominational church to the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Like the Shinns, those who convert are joining 350 million Orthodox Christians around the world.
First-century church: “Orthodox” means ”right belief.” The Orthodox Church traces its origins back to Jesus’ apostles and first-century practice. The Roman Catholic Church makes that same claim, but the two branches of ancient Christianity differ in ecclesiastical hierarchy and a few doctrinal points.
Catholics believe the pope has ultimate authority, while Orthodox Christians say their council of bishops is more in line with Scripture and church tradition. Orthodox Christians also disagree with the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which states that Jesus’ mother was born without sin herself. The two branches of ancient Christianity split in 1054.
Today, the Orthodox community is led by patriarchs and a hierarchy of bishops who must be celibate. Unlike Catholic clergy, Orthodox priests can marry before ordination.
Archbishop Dmitri, 81, leads the Archdiocese of Dallas and the South for the Orthodox Church in America. He grew up as Robert Royster in a Southern Baptist family in Teague, Texas, but converted to Orthodoxy as a teen because he wanted more out of faith.
”Everything was true, but it was not complete. It wasn’t that I needed to repudiate it. I just went on to find the rest of it,” he said.
The Orthodox consider themselves to have a bond with other Christians but believe they have a more accurate understanding of the faith. At a recent daylong festival in Dallas about Orthodox Christianity, Dmitri encouraged people in other denominations to cling to the elements of the historic faith that their churches uphold, but added an invitation:
“‘If you find there are holes at the bottom and you have to abandon ship, then head for one that’s still afloat,” he said.
In search of history: Conversion to Orthodoxy often begins with an intellectual quest, Shinn said. He began searching when he saw modern churches abandoning historic Christian tenets, such as the Nicene Creed, and stripping their sanctuaries of any religious symbolism to be more seeker-friendly.
”The elements of Christianity were disappearing before me like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland. What kind of Christianity would my grandchildren inherit, and would the Gospel even be recognizable?” he said.
The ancient liturgies, chants, incense and sacraments used in Orthodox services, he discovered, were not taken from medieval Catholicism – as his Protestant upbringing taught him – but from early church worship.
”It all caused me to re-evaluate my core assumptions. Instead of me judging history, I decided I wanted history to judge me and tell me what should I practice,” Shinn said.
The unchanging nature of the Orthodox Church is a strong draw for ”serious Christians” who are tired of Protestant individualism yet disagree with the Catholic Church’s teachings, said the Rev. Peter Gillquist, chairman of missions and evangelism for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.
Minority faith: Converts become more familiar with the church through catechism classes and the guidance of spiritual godparents (individuals and couples in the congregation who mentor new converts). If they’ve already been baptized in another church, they also must be chrismated, or anointed, to be received in the Orthodox Church.
Americans who convert to Orthodoxy know they will be part of a minority faith. That doesn’t bother the Rev. Anthony Savas, of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Dallas, who grew up Orthodox among Mormons in Salt Lake City.
”It’s wonderful to practice the ancient Christian faith in an environment that doesn’t know what to do with it. A minority can be a beacon of light, like the apostles, who took it beyond their own country,” he said.
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Holy Virgin Mary, AIDS and Billy Bo (Vassilis Kourkoumelis) - How the most famous Greek homosexual of the 1980s was saved
Maybe some of you older ones will remember a face, a nice lad. He was gay, fashion designer, the famous once Billy Bo (Vassilis Kourkoumelis). We happened to hear from the lips of his spiritual father what his course was, which not many people tell, nor was it written specifically in the books published about him. Everyone wrote about the trips he took in Mykonos with celebrities, the adventures he had as a person. Thirst for life, thirst for love. But he didn't know where to find her and was looking for her on the wrong paths.
At some point the disease visited him. (Billy Bo was the first famous victim of AIDS in Greece.) "The disease is a bad thing," most people say. But sometimes it's for the best... And when the disease came and rang a spiritual bell, he heard the bell. Others just don't hear it at all and they die with the disease, whatever disease and they have not received spiritual notice of anything. He heard the bell, which means he had good evidence inside.
And the cleric narrates: "I see a child, a boy, like an angel he was, with the nice leather clothes all over. He walks into the church and says "Father, I want to confess." And took a look to see if it was a boy or a girl. He was tall, but he also had another beauty that looked like a woman's..."
So he started and confessed with remorse. He started to come, after a rule set by the clergyman, to socialize, to church, to pray, until he slowly collapsed and the priest was forced to go and confess him and to commune him at his home, in Kolonaki.
When the priest first entered the house, he thought he had entered some museum! It was a space decorated only with models, with photos of fashion shows etc., etc. Every time he would come after, a photo would leave and put an image (icon) in their place... In the end you thought you were entering a monastery.
When he left for America to look for treatments, he ordered an iron cross, big, breakable to fit in the suitcase, to put behind the door of his hospital room, to see the Cross of Christ and to pray.
The treatments didn't work, he came back, and the great downhill, the ruin, the road to death began. The blessed death, we would say. Because if we didn't die, guys, we would suffer for many years! So what about ?
And the cleric recounts: "At some point, I went on Saturday morning and communicated with him. The time comes when it's time for me to leave and Vassilakis says to me: 'Father, do me a favor, come after midnight today to commune me. Because I will leave before dawn, Virgin Mary warned me!' I said should I believe him, not believe him? Let me do him a favor, since the man asks for communion."
So, the priest went around 1-2 in the dark night and befriended Basil. And indeed God took him before dawn, at dawn on Sunday, as Virgin Mary had informed him! The priest was telling us these things and says: "Wish, my children, that I have Vasilakis' fees."
That's who Jesus is! That's what the church is, that doesn't confuse people. He doesn't tell them "bye bye" as they go off a cliff. This should not be happening. But on the other hand the Church doesn't let anyone down either. And it shows before people the way to theology.
So did Billy Bo. He didn't just get saved, but for the Virgin Mary to go and say "Get ready, you're coming," that means Vasilis went in a good position too! And we have countless such examples, from the ancient Christian years to this day...
SOURCE Unmuted excerpt from a speech by the priest Georgios Schinas
Homosexuality - Orthodox Blog
Translated from Greek
✚ Eternal Memory ✚
Vassilis Kourkoumelis
"Billy Bo"
(1954-1987)
Ask About The Orthodox Faith
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Arizona: Prayer for an Orthodox Christian Convert on Death Row Soon to be Executed
Frank Atwood, who is convicted of kidnapping and killing an 8-year-old girl named Vicki Lynn Hoskinson in September 1984, has always claimed to have been innocent of the crime. While in maximum security prison, he converted to Orthodoxy and was baptized with the name Anthony through Saint Anthony's Monastery in Arizona. He has studied and prayed and been in correspondence with well-known Orthodox figures in Greece, such as Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol, who visited him in prison a few years ago but was not allowed to see him, as well as Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, who wrote the piece below. Frank has recently issued the following statement prior to his upcoming execution by lethal injection. Let us all pray for him, at his request, and the request of the Metropolitans.
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My name is Frank Atwood, and I am scheduled to be executed by the State of Arizona at 10:00am, on June 8, 2022. I am sentenced to die for a crime I did not commit, but I will let the evidence, supported by experts, and arguments advanced by my attorneys speak to my innocence.
I will at long last experience freedom from the earthly bonds that have crippled my body and caused me excruciating pain. And I will no longer live in a world in which others are caused pain by my very existence.
To the family of Vicki Lynn Hoskinson, I can honestly say that while I know you will never believe that I did not take her ... I did not! That, however, does not change the fact that your pain is as real as anything possible in this lifetime can possibly be, and my profound prayer is that my death will give you and yours some form of relief and closure from your unending misery and torment.
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Prayer for a Man on Death Row
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
A few years ago I started a correspondence with a death row inmate in America, Anthony, who was accused of a very serious offense, which he denies he did, and it seems that he is right, and he was sentenced to death. He himself made several appeals to the American Justice System and remained in a maximum security prison for many years until the final decision was finalized.
The occasion of our correspondence was the study of my book Orthodox Psychotherapy and other related books, which were published in English and they impressed him.
He sent me the first letter, I answered him and his other letters and answers followed, which now that I have collected them, extend to about 100 pages typed in large size.
Because he was waiting for the final decision to determine the day of his execution, he was preoccupied with various spiritual issues.
He was baptized Orthodox in prison, he was living in repentance, prayer, he did vigils and the prayer rope, but mainly he was interested in how to acquire noetic prayer of the heart, so that when he was executed he would pass through the "tollhouses", as he wrote me, and meet Christ in Paradise.
With the answers I sent him I tried to guide him in the spiritual life in this difficult period, to empower him to face death bravely. It was a surprise for me and something moving to correspond with a death row inmate and prepare him for death!! Such an event has never occurred to me in my life, while practicing the ministry of spiritual fatherhood for 50 years, to prepare with the appropriate sensitivity someone for his execution, in such a long time of ministry. As it is known in Greece, the death penalty has been abolished, which is why we do not have such experiences. Someday this correspondence will be published and one will see the way this blessed man thought and how he accepted my guidance.
A few days ago he sent me a letter and informed me that his execution was finally scheduled to take place at the beginning of June, that is, in a few days. He wrote to me that now the security measures are stronger.
In his letter he has three requests. With one he asks me to pray that something be done so that he does not drink from "the cup of execution".
The second request is: "If God, in His infinite love and wisdom, knows that it is best for me to be executed in order to pass through the tollhouses and enter Paradise, I beseech you to pray that I have strength to the end, to be brave and to have trust in God!"
The third request is to give him "final advice". He writes: "I would also very much like to hear any final advice you can give me. Please! The time is short, so please email me as soon as possible. I will continue to remember you and Nafpaktos in my daily prayers!"
I did my cross and answered appropriately.
The reason for publicizing this fact is that I very much ask those who read this text to pray for my friend Anthony, whether to suspend his execution, if possible, or to proceed with bravery and trust in God and, of course, to his meeting with Christ, who loved Him through the prison of the highest security.
Let us pray: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on Your servant Anthony."
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ARIZONA: A FINAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ANTHONY (FRANK) ATWOOD AND METROPOLITAN HIEROTHEOS OF NAFPAKTOS BEFORE HIS EXECUTION
Frank Atwood, named Anthony in Baptism, has now been tonsured as a schema monk with the name Fr. Ephraim. He is scheduled to be executed at 10 AM local time today in Arizona. Good Paradise!—OC.
My dear Theological Master
Metropolitan (Elder) Hierotheos,
Good Paradise!!!
About the court. We had the hearing to ask for the pardon (requesting life imprisonment) on May 24th. With optimism, I thought that the probability of success was 1%! Of course, they refused this mercy. In regards to this, the glory of God is victorious!!! Beloved Elder Paisios brought about two dozen monks and nuns, along with over 150 believers who live around the Monastery. Some monks testified to the great inner transfiguration that God has done in me, so the more the "mercy council" and the government tried to make me look bad, the greater my miraculous transfiguration seemed! God has decisively been victorious! ...
Metropolitan Athanasios told me that if God permits my execution, He has accepted my repentance, and I am ready to leave for Paradise. Sarah and I rely on this wise word. For me, I am saddened by my negligence in prayer, and, of course, for Sarah it would be shocking to be alone without me. Please pray for our strength in Christ.
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