In any event, feel free to introduce yourself to and speak with the priest and his parishioners. The beauty and majesty of her liturgical services celebrating the majesty and mystery of God continue to be a major attraction to many seekers of a religious experience that transcends the mundane reality and elevates the spirit to the divine realm. Schisms had already occurred in the Christian church, and others would occur later, but the Great Schism was the first of such major consequence. Your email address will not be published. He promptly left Constantinople. After his marriage Vladimir I officially changed the state religion to Orthodox Christianity and destroyed pagan temples and icons. For them the fundamental schism occurred 500 years earlierin the year 1054 (more about that below). To be Eastern Orthodox is, above all, to stake a bold and unapologetic theological claim as the one true church of Christ on earth, which alone has guarded right belief and true worship in absolute identity and unbroken succession with the apostolic church. I've chosen Oriental Orthodoxy over the Byzantine Church because I believe that ours is closer in doctrine and liturgy to the earliest Christians. De Maistre, Billington says, was "convinced that Russia was an instrument chosen by Providence for the salvation of Europe." He was "fascinated by the possibility of converting this vast land to Catholicism." He launched a program towards that end. Preeminent among the sacraments are baptism and the Eucharist. Thank you for this post! But the little guy is not going through a phase. Small bodies of Orthodox believers exist in other places as "autonomous" but not "autocephalous" churches (Finland, Japan, former Czechoslovakia, etc.). And I would try hard, no doubt to the point of rudeness, to convince them this was not so. The Eucharist is a true, propitiatory sacrifice. John 17:14.16). Eastern Christians would hear nothing of it. In the opening pages of Book IV of Calvin's Institutes, for example, Calvin refers twice to the famous words of Cyprian (d. 258)so Catholic-sounding to our earsthat "you cannot have God as your Father without the Church as your Mother" (IV.1.1, 4). There is world of difference between going Orthodoxy vs staying pagan. Are Orthodox Christians "Bible believing?". Serbia, 8 million Modern speculation is simply just that, speculation, and . In contrast, Orthodoxy offers a view of theological authority that is internal and pneumatic rather than external and dogmatic. For such a question presupposes a particular person's journey of faith. Unfortunately the Eastern organization is founded on control and power. Whatever honor Protestants bestow upon tradition, they deny that its authority is coequal with Scripture. But that cant be the case with me, so lets press on. Are you sure you heard the Meaning of Christmas? While Protestant evangelicals have never agreed on the precise meaning or mode of the sacraments, they have historically emphasized two related truths that diverge from the Orthodox understanding of the sacraments. The independent Orthodox Church in America (OCA) desires to function as a fully "autocephalous" church, although as yet the oca has not been officially recognized by most of the thirteen patriarchates. As Philip said to Nathaniel, Come and see [John 1:46]. Second, in biblical interpretation the Reformers placed the Scriptures above the church. Christians in the West variously trace their roots to Rome (Catholics), Wittenberg (Lutherans), Geneva (Calvinists), Canterbury (Anglicans), or Oxford (Wesleyans). Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Wynona is a Catholic planning to marry an Orthodox man, but as she tells us, "my Catholic parish priest is not giving his consent for this marriage, so it will be held in an Orthodox church.". Different from forms of western Christianity, there is no rationalization or theorization of dogma because its focus is on symbology rather than the literal. Many people believe the Church is a social group gathering or a place to network with other like minded people. Sad, very sad. Not a few evangelicals in the last decade have forsaken Protestantism to join an Eastern Orthodox church. At the 1996 meeting of sseoe, Orthodox representative Stanley Harakas said that the Orthodox, who have lived for 70 years in Russia under Communist oppression, are in a state of weakness, unable to rebuild churches and barely able to educate their parishioners. In the end, they concocted a list of reasons for not converting. And I would try hard, no doubt to the point of rudeness, to convince them this was not so. There are no doubt some ways that he is the same person he will always be, and there are ways Orthodoxy and every other church has significant points in common, not least that we love the same Lord. July 2012 edited December 1969 in Coptic Orthodox Church As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I am interested in finding out why all of you converts out there converted to the Coptic Orthodox Church, and not any one of the Eastern Orthodox Churches readily available in so many parts of the world. When celebrating the Eucharist, Catholics mixed the wine with water, while the Orthodox did not. The Orthodox Church has suffered throughout her history. There was plenty of ceremony and beauty, but without the mainline churches affection for keeping up-to-date. An Orthodox priest who lectured to standing-room-only crowds at Moscow State once described Orthodox theology to me as "music made in the conservatory," whereas he described Protestant theology as "music made in the honkytonk bars. The Orthodox Church is indelibly marked by the One who is its origin and source. In many of these lands, Orthodoxy exhibits an unveiled distrust and even xenophobia toward the massive influx of Western missionaries into their backyards. Get the best from CT editors, delivered straight to your inbox! This is particularly notable in the mid-1st century, when the circumcision controversy came to the fore. However, I do think that there are certain factors that influence and even cause these abandonments and apostasies from the one, true Church. The Spirit of God himself, realizing the sacramental presence of Christ in the church, speaks to us in tradition. The Biblical Basis for Holy Tradition., On the Path of Love: From Islam to Christianity, Madagascar: Church Opens Huge Complex with Church, Schools, Orphanage, Old Folks Home, Australia: Orthodoxy Fastest Growing Church amidst General Christian Decline. Daniel B. Clendenin is a graduate staff member for InterVarsity at Stanford University and author of Eastern Orthodox Christianity: A Western Perspective and Eastern Orthodox Theology: A Contemporary Reader (both published by Baker). Because we confess and believe in the one holy, catholic and apostolic Church, this means we are not looking for a Church that fits our own preferences and ideals, but rather one that teaches us what our preferences should be. In the history and theology of Orthodoxy it is startling to observe the nearly complete absence of any mention of the doctrine of justification by faith. This conception lessens the validity and value of the Holy Scriptures as the primary source of Christian dogma." Over coffee one day I asked an Orthodox priest whether I, as a Protestant theologian, might be considered a true Christian. It must sound like vague, fluffy religious talk (though in my experience it is anything but). Her admirable heritage of perseverance amid terrible fires of persecution has been noted even by non-Orthodox admirers, as one of her strongest attractions and sources of strength. Converts from Protestantism claim that Orthodoxy is strongest where evangelicals tend to be weak-its robust liturgical celebration of the majesty and mystery of God, its unyielding insistence on the indispensable role of tradition in theology, and its admirable heritage of perseverance amid terrible fires of persecution. In the dystopian film,Children of Mendirected by Alfonso Cuarn, a world is imagined in the future where no more children are born, and, as the decades pass, humanity is plunged into despair. But one insightful reader asked a penetrating question: "Your book does a fine job comparing the two traditions; why have you not converted to Orthodoxy?" Indeed, what Protestant converts to Orthodoxy have often sought is not only a conscious continuity with the historic, apostolic past, but also a richer experience of God's majesty and mystery through a more liturgical worship setting. But they all came together in worship, and were shaped by the same hymns and prayers, the appointed Scripture readings, preaching, and the "picture bible" of iconography. An Orthodox Christian Perspective: Overcoming Difficulties in Life, Church Under Soviet Totalitarianism: Suppression, Resistance and Compliance, St Kassia and Her Creations, Still Heard at Todays Divine Services, The feast of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Inexhaustible Chalice, Why Our Catalogue Is More Than Just an Online Store Selling Church Supplies, The List of Musical Instruments Mentioned in the Bible, The First 40 Days after Death Explained by St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, An Old Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign Has Started to Exude Myrrh in the Diocese of Tula, Complete List of Prohibited Marriages in the Orthodox Church. In this Orthodox view, Scripture stands within rather than above the church, and to distinguish its authority from that of the church is a mistake of method. Most Protestants would experience an Orthodox liturgy as something strange, even exotic. As former Campus Crusade staff member Gillquist put it, why have so many "Bible-believing, blood-bought, Gospel-preaching, Christ-centered, lifelong evangelical Protestants come to embrace this Orthodox faith so enthusiastically?" In this wonderful, 4-minute video, Fr. Conversion means belief and acceptance in Jesus Christ, the God-man, as the Savior of the world. So Christianity would not have been completely alien to the Rus, and even Vladimir's grandmother, Olga, would become enamored with Christianity. In Orthodoxy one encounters the eternal, unchangeable God. Orthodoxy allows divorce in some conditions if I'm not mistaken, and it would have been an easier transition to switch to another powerful church (and become friendly with Russia, etc.). But Islam's conquest of this same area eventually isolated the Eastern Christians centered in Constantinople from their counterparts in the West centered in Rome. Orthodoxy, in contrast, is a thoroughly aesthetic tradition, as attested by the central role played by icons. She is not the endshe is the way. Although she is in this world, she is not of this world (cf. Several factors must be considered when converting to Greek Orthodox Christianity. These are worthy pursuits that can be fulfilled in the Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy looks forward, to the age to come. Subscribe for our weekly newsletter not to miss the most interesting articles on our blog. But unlike the other two large branches of Christianity, which have spread throughout the developing world, Orthodoxy remains largely confined to Europe. There is not going to be a restored "Celtic" Orthodoxy or "Anglo-Saxon" Orthodoxy. It took awhile because I grasped it through hearing the hymns of the church year, week in and week out. Everyone associates Orthodox worship with sensory richness, but its also rich in theological content. Is Orthodox different from Catholic? Orthodoxy is true to the Lord, to herself and to her past. Contact | Further, Protestants have long enjoyed rich liturgical traditions of their own (see, for example, Bard Thompson's classic Liturgies of the Western Church). I will always remember my first visit to an Orthodox church in Russia. True, Luther and some other Protestants have not viewed baptismal regeneration and justification by faith as mutually exclusive. No new dogmas of faith spring out of the blue in her life. Why do people convert to Orthodoxy? What they objected to was the elevation of tradition to the status of Scripture. When you are the only Norse guy and most of your lands are Slovianskian, it makes more sense to convert yourself than to convert them. Icons. Some have even ended in apostasy. This should trouble evangelicals (as well as other Protestants), especially when it is combined with the Orthodox idea of who constitutes the church and how one enters the church. Thus Georges Florovsky once referred to tradition as "the witness of the Spirit.". No doubt, I felt at home when first attending the Divine Liturgy, but this was after months of study and discussion with other Orthodox people. When we realize that every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle or a matter of conscience, then we are freed to engage fully people with whom we actually have profound differences without compromising our own theological commitments. This may be to some extent true but it is much more than that. She rightly claims the wholeness of the truth. It is not always easy to advance strong arguments for these conversions. * Alister McGrath, an intellectual historian and proponent of paleo-orthodoxy, claims that many of the . Others charge complicity with the state, both past and present. Nicola Yanney, Holy Man of Nebraska, Out of Appalachia: Orthodox Christianity and the Old Regular Baptists, What Do You Believe In? The Orthodox Church in America, with roots in Moscow and about 85,000 adherents . Even more obnoxious, though, must be the tendency to reject hospitality. But this really begs another question: "Essential" for what? Photius then branded the entire Western church as heretical for inserting the phrase "and the Son" (filioque) into the Nicene Creed. Converting to Orthodoxy. One need not travel overseas to encounter Eastern Orthodoxy. Differences over clerical beards, the tonsure, and fasting also exacerbated the growing deterioration of East-West unity. In 999, Leif, the son of Erik, was converted to Christianity by Olaf Tryggvason. For example, on the Feast of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, the chanter launches into this: Of the Father before the morning star You were begotten from the womb without mother before all ages, even though Arius did believe You to be created, not God, classing You in ignorance and impudence with creatures Thats just a fraction of a thorough march through what happened at the first Council of Nicaea, and why it was important (including Arius unpleasant death from digestive indisposition: his bowels were torn by a divine hookin a repulsive manner his soul came out). Worshipers prostrate themselves before them and kiss them. Search, Learn more about the Orthodox Church in America, Orthodoxy and Cults and Non-Christian Groups. Orthodox worship can be overwhelmingly beautiful and attractiveon multiple, deeply-felt levelsbut this should not be the only reason why a person converts. For such a question presupposes a particular person's journey of faith. Affectionate attempts to obscure this quest feel suffocating. Geoff. Two theological controversies drove the final wedge between Catholic and Orthodox Christians: papal supremacy and the so-called filioque controversy. In Catholicism this external dogmatic authority resides in the teaching magisterium of the church as expressed in the primacy and infallibility of the papacy. Emmanuel Hatzidakis | January 19, 2013. Bauxite mining would threaten birds, plants, and clean water. One is attracted to Orthodoxy in the same way one falls in love. This has some truth to it, but is mostly false. As we said, conversion is a love affair. In Matthew 16:18, Christ speaks about building His church that "the gates of Hades will not prevail against". According to The Saga of Erik the Red, there were Christians among the people whom Erik the Red brought to Greenland to settle it in the late tenth century. Romania, 19.8 million Karmiris writes, "Scripture and Tradition are equally valid, possess equal dogmatic authority, and are equal in value as sources of dogmatic truth . Linguistic factors posed other, very practical problems. T he Orthodox Church in the United States has problems. A priest can provide guidance and support to help converts discern whether the religion is right for them. It was electrifying. Instead, Orthodoxy believes that the church stands above the Scriptures, which is why, as noted, Orthodox believers agree to "accept and understand Holy Scripture in accordance with the interpretation that was and is held by the Holy Orthodox Catholic Church of the East, our Mother." The genius of this principle is that it allows us to disagree with other believers, even vehemently so, yet in an edifying fashion with a degree of theological modesty and a perspective that seeks a deeper consensus within the bounds of true faith. For example, their local parish was too ethnic; the priest wasnt nice or outgoing; their spouse wasnt interested; they found logical inconsistencies in the writings of the fathers; and so on. Thats surely a factor, but I think theres something else going on, more specific to Orthodox converts. Such a question cannot be answered through the use of dogmatic assertions or theoretical musings. The unchangeableness of dogma as well as the purity of rite [are] entrusted to the care not of one hierarchy but of all the people of the church." But the impulse is to exaggerate the differences when you fear being hugged to death. Home / So they begin the process of "converting.". There are two accounts of Constantine's conversion to Christianity. In the security of the Orthodox Church one finds peace, reassurance. Her name is "right belief". I can remember, after Id been Orthodox a few years, developing an increasing sense of tension or frustration. The essence of it was to evangelize younger aristocrats, future leaders of the land. Thumb through Calvin's Institutes or a volume of John Wesley's Works and you will see our Protestant forebears thoroughly engaged with patristic tradition. Kind of like large scale serial monogamous people. In the East the local parish priest could administer the sacrament of confirmation; in the West only the bishop could. While this exclusivism is not unique to Orthodoxy, with this self-understanding it is easy to see why the Orthodox Church in countries such as Russia is extremely unhappy about Western, Protestant missionary incursions. The blog includes recent news and ministry updates of the Convent, as well as other information about Orthodox Christianity that may be useful to those who are either making their first steps in church or want to learn something new about our faith. There I was, a Protestant theologian teaching in the former Department of Scientific Atheism in the land where Eastern Orthodoxy had reigned for over 1,000 years. Orthodoxy looked like taking that escalator up one more floor. They conceded a special honor to the Western papacy but insisted that the bishop of Rome was only the first among equals. We are not seeking to reform or to teach the Church how it should do things, but are rather seeking to be formed by the Church and to learn how we should be doing things as faithful Christians. A person (who is searching within) goes through clerical education to explore questions. Unfortunately most "Orthodox Christian" are nominal even despite their active presence they are nominal because they extinguish the Holy Spirit and do not have a relationship with God, they outwardly seem to be praying but like the Pharisee praise themselves for being 'good with God'. We must be willing to embrace mystery, to submit to other authorities, and to ultimately submit to the Church Herself. What are we to make, for example, of the Orthodox liturgy in Russia today, which is recited in ninth-century Slavonic, a language very few Russians even understand? His response: "I don't know.". Click for reprint information. People often assume that most Jews by choice convert because they have a partner or spouse who is Jewish. And for Orthodoxy, this argument from holy tradition is of great significance. . Orthodox Priest Explains Why Many People in the West are Converting to Orthodox Christianity. For example, on the Feast of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, the chanter launches into this: Of the Father before the morning star Thou wast begotten from the womb without mother before all ages, even though Arius did believe Thee to be created, not God, classing Thee in ignorance and impudence with creatures. Buddhists fast, pray, and give alms. Not that every churchgoer is following that path, not that the church administration is perfect, but that the path still existedthats what amazed me. But dont do it for all the wrong reasons. My husband had been an Episcopal priest for 16 years, and we had gradually moved from evangelical-style "low church" to the more liturgically-fancy "high church." When you convert, you must verbalize your commitment to live in accordance with all of the Torah 's commandments as they are explained in Torah law. However, this is a mistaken viewpoint and can lead to the destruction of a persons faith. What was the foreign policy of Yaroslav the Wise? Second, whatever failings Western missionaries might bring to their work, and whether Orthodoxy likes to admit it, many Russians are responding very positively to a clear, contemporary presentation of the gospel by Protestant missionaries. This book cover is made to order i, Hand-painted Icon of Christ the Pantocrator (acryl. Although it is difficult to gather firm figures, worldwide Orthodox Christians number about 150 million, with 3 million in the U.S. alonemore than most evangelical denominations. Protestant Christianity," Andrei went on, "is a cheap, terrible substitute, and an Orthodox believer who knows his own faith will never go there.". Why did Kievan Rus convert to Orthodox Christianity? Rather, they are a source of revelation. Why did Vladimir convert to Orthodox Christianity? They have not given up the idea of being clergy. Frederica Matthewes-Green reflects on how new converts to Orthodoxy can sometimes be overzealous. Thank you for this! These arguments wont convert anyone. He shares his witness of it. It is often wrongly assumed that Orthodoxy . There is a myth in Orthodoxy that people only became Eastern Catholics under force by Catholic kings. Take Russia as an example: First, the majority of Russians are non-Christian and unevangelized. Join our newsletter to get the most interesting articles on spiritual issues and learn about the recent news from St. Elisabeth Convent. There are no doubt some ways that he is the same person he will always be, and there are ways Orthodoxy and every other church has significant points in common, not least that we love the same Lord. On June 16, 1054, Pope Leo IX's legate, Cardinal Humbert, delivered a Bull of Excommunication to the Orthodox Patriarch Michael Cerularius on the altar of the Church of the Holy Wisdom at Constantinople while the patriarch prepared to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, condemning him and his court. He states that in Gaul, before setting out towards Rome, Constantine and his army saw a great cross in the sky. Its not something you can figure out by studying the Church Fathers. Tom Hanks Legion Media The famous Hollywood actor converted to Orthodox Christianity as an adult. But I slowly came to see that I cant communicate it. Anxious to avoid the siege of his capital, Basil II turned to the Rus' for assistance, even though they were considered enemies at that time. The Orthodox Churches share with the other Christian Churches the belief that God revealed himself in Jesus Christ, and a belief in the incarnation of Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection. For good and ill, it is a classic "cultural religion," and comprehending Orthodoxy is an indispensable key to understanding those countries, cultures, and people. For me it was due to the fact that papal supremacy is a later doctrine, yet I could not become a Protestant because the writings of the Fathers do not agree with Protestantism. Further, they identify themselves by reference to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), the "new Rome" of Emperor Constantine, and to the first seven ecumenical councils of the church. "Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." Turning to Jesus brings you to God, and you begin to understand His plan of salvation. (Of course, for every person insisting that there were no differences, there was another person asking me to explain the differences. The reason Orthodoxy is stable is because she is grounded in the truth. First, Christianity had no doctrine to support the Islamic hypothesis about Jesus' modification into a semi-god. The first, most obvious explanation is that some people simply are obnoxious to start with. To the extent, however, one could intellectualize the reasons for converting, he or she would probably summarize them along these lines: In our ever-changing world, in the constant re-design of services and re-evaluation of beliefs, Orthodoxy stands as a mountain of granite, unshakable by fads and movements and political correctness. These groups mostly came over willingly. Heres a clue to a third possibility. Their new group who were so "excited" to have them isn't interested/has no role for them as clergy. Its not something you can figure out by studying the Church Fathers. Baptism is the primary and fundamental basis of the entire Orthodox Christian life. Thus Luther once wrote, "What else do I contend for but to bring everyone to an understanding of the difference between the divine Scripture and human teaching or custom?" Nicholas reversed the decision, reinstating Ignatius and deposing Photius. People are attracted by the permanence of Orthodoxy. Antioch, 750,000 A second theory is that converts of any sort have a tendency to exuberance that is wearying to outsiders. Such a question cannot be answered through the use of dogmatic assertions or theoretical musings. She is conscious of being the true Church founded by Christ. After being dunked in this sea of hymnography for a few years I began to recognise an underlying unity among all the elements of Orthodoxy the worship, the fasting, the exhortations to humility, the companionship of the saints, all of it. Those who approach Orthodoxy looking for all their questions to be answered in a neat-and-tidy manner will be deeply disappointed, left rejecting the faith to which theyve only been shortly exposed. Those who were clergy in a former denomination have no guarantees they will become clergy in the Orthodox Church. The Eucharist, according to the Divine Liturgy of Saint Chrysostom (the normal liturgy for Sundays and weekdays), is "for the purification of the soul, for the remission of sins, for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, [and] for the Kingdom of Heaven.". Orthodoxy, advocates suggest, reveals and corrects evangelical reductionism and superficiality. Some have argued that evangelicals eager to "contend earnestly for the faith" (Jude 3) will find an ally in Orthodoxy's allegiance to the basic truths of Christianity. Thats just a fraction of a thorough march through what happened at the first Council of Nicaea, and why it was important (including Arius unpleasant death from digestive indisposition: his bowels were torn by a divine hookin a repulsive manner his soul came out). Theological disputes combined with these geopolitical and cultural factors to divide the Christian East and West. These Protestant movements, important in their own right, are liturgical light years from Orthodoxy. However, because I've never been really exposed to . As Saint Paul reminds us, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another [Romans 12:5; see also Ephesians 4:25]. You can also subscribe without commenting. They become clergy in their group. The conversion of 2,000 evangelicals in 17 congregations "from Alaska to Atlanta" in 1987, recounted in Peter Gillquist's Becoming Orthodox, is only a small window into a larger phenomenon. Orthodoxy knows where she stands, and she is in no need to re-define herself. But they all came together in worship, and were shaped by the same hymns and prayers, the appointed Scripture readings, preaching, and the picture Bible of iconography. This icon, Wedding Icon of The Mother Of God The reason Orthodoxy is stable is because she is grounded in the truth. Calvin objected to the "tyranny of human tradition which is haughtily thrust upon us under the title of the Church." These thirteen churches are united in their understanding of the sacraments, discipline, doctrine, faith, government, and worship, but they administer their internal affairs separately. Handcarved My husband and I were just Chrismated into the church on Christmas day. At the time, I was so occupied with comprehending this strange thing called Orthodoxy that I emphasized the differences, and was impatient with kindly big-tent suggestions.