How did you find Orthodoxy?

[James the Persian]

I'm new here, so this seemed like the place to post first. I'm an ex-Lutheran convert, although I'd already left the Lutheran church behind in my heart before I encountered Orthodoxy.

I took a year out between school and university and went to work for a charity in Romania. I've always been a history buff and so I started finding out about the history of Moldova (the state I was working in, not the Republic of Moldova). I became very interested in the voievod (sort of like prince) who ruled Moldova from 1457 - 1504, Stephen the Great. He has since been glorified as a saint by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Church (and I'm using his icon as my avatar). It became obvious quickly that Romanian history makes no sense separated from the Orthodox Church, so I decided to find out more.

I started visiting the many monasteries in the area and became more and more interested in Orthodoxy. I visited the cell of St. Daniel the Hesychast, which had a palpable air of holiness about it and eventually I found myself in the monastery of St. John the New in Suceava, looking at the incorrupt relics of St. John. Whilst there a monk overheard me talking to the man who would later become my godfather, recognised that it was in English and began talking to me.

The monk, whose name I unfortunately never got, was amazing. He was gentle, enthusiastic and seemed to exude sincerity. I have never met anybody who inspired me so much. As a parting gift he gave me a prayer book which I still use (luckily I speak Romanian) and a thirst to learn more about the Church. It took several years longer before I was accepted into the Church (taking St. James the Persian as my patron) but I have never looked back.

I owe this anonymous monk and the saints of Moldova a great debt. They helped me find my way back to the Lord when I was all but lost to Him. In particular, I am indebted to the examples of Sts. John the New of Suceava, Daniel the Hermit and Stephen the Great. If anyone is interested in these saints and doesn't know about them, I have added some articles to OrthodoxWiki, all of which can be found here:

http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Category:Romanian_Saints

In Christ,

James

 

[Joannicius]

I'm new here, so this seemed like the place to post first. I'm an ex-Lutheran convert, although I'd already left the Lutheran church behind in my heart before I encountered Orthodoxy.

I took a year out between school and university and went to work for a charity in Romania. I've always been a history buff and so I started finding out about the history of Moldova (the state I was working in, not the Republic of Moldova). I became very interested in the voievod (sort of like prince) who ruled Moldova from 1457 - 1504, Stephen the Great. He has since been glorified as a saint by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Church (and I'm using his icon as my avatar). It became obvious quickly that Romanian history makes no sense separated from the Orthodox Church, so I decided to find out more.

I started visiting the many monasteries in the area and became more and more interested in Orthodoxy. I visited the cell of St. Daniel the Hesychast, which had a palpable air of holiness about it and eventually I found myself in the monastery of St. John the New in Suceava, looking at the incorrupt relics of St. John. Whilst there a monk overheard me talking to the man who would later become my godfather, recognised that it was in English and began talking to me.

The monk, whose name I unfortunately never got, was amazing. He was gentle, enthusiastic and seemed to exude sincerity. I have never met anybody who inspired me so much. As a parting gift he gave me a prayer book which I still use (luckily I speak Romanian) and a thirst to learn more about the Church. It took several years longer before I was accepted into the Church (taking St. James the Persian as my patron) but I have never looked back.

I owe this anonymous monk and the saints of Moldova a great debt. They helped me find my way back to the Lord when I was all but lost to Him. In particular, I am indebted to the examples of Sts. John the New of Suceava, Daniel the Hermit and Stephen the Great. If anyone is interested in these saints and doesn't know about them, I have added some articles to OrthodoxWiki, all of which can be found here:

http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Category:Romanian_Saints

In Christ,

James

Thanks Jame the Persian....... ...... I was just wondering about your history before I found this. thanks.

Joannicius

 

[James the Persian]

Thanks Jame the Persian....... ...... I was just wondering about your history before I found this. thanks.

Joannicius

Joannicius,

I'm glad to see that Orthodox forum isn't completely dead after all. What's happened to all the other posters?

I must say, though, that I'm a little perplexed by your comment. Do you mean that you now understand my screen name (Sf. Iacob Persul is St. James the Persian in Romanian) or something else? Or even nothing at all?

Hopefully there's no longer any need to wonder about my history but feel free to ask away. I've necessarily shortened my conversion story to an absolute bare minimum here.

James

 

[Joannicius]

Joannicius,

I'm glad to see that Orthodox forum isn't completely dead after all. What's happened to all the other posters?

I must say, though, that I'm a little perplexed by your comment. Do you mean that you now understand my screen name (Sf. Iacob Persul is St. James the Persian in Romanian) or something else? Or even nothing at all?

Hopefully there's no longer any need to wonder about my history but feel free to ask away. I've necessarily shortened my conversion story to an absolute bare minimum here.

James

I didn't know what to think. Just thought it fit?

As for the others..... I think some were just passing through, and some are still around watching for the kind of "action" we had with Kenneth (No*s) involved becouse he was very active. He is moving to Texas now as I hope he will be back in style. I know my personal circumstances has cut the time down that I am able to spend here.

Thanks again...... be back soon.

 

[Lady Crimson]

orthodoxy is the only christian religion that didn't spread into different branches. For example the catholocist church spread into penticostal, presbyterian, lutherian churches etc.

I was born into it. My family follows most of the specific rituals. for example, today we all passed under a table in the church. Strangely enough, I don't know what that signifies.

 

[Matrona]

I was born into it. My family follows most of the specific rituals. for example, today we all passed under a table in the church. Strangely enough, I don't know what that signifies.

That's because it was Holy Friday, the Orthodox commemoration of when Jesus was killed and buried. The table you passed under is there to symbolize the bier Christ's body was carried on from the cross to the tomb.

 

[Lady Crimson]

oh, how very, I have no words for it. Ah, i love religious rituals! they're so interesting.

 

[Matrona]

oh, how very, I have no words for it. Ah, i love religious rituals! they're so interesting.

Orthodoxy is rich with these sorts of rituals. I love them, too.

 

[No*s]

I'm new here, so this seemed like the place to post first. I'm an ex-Lutheran convert, although I'd already left the Lutheran church behind in my heart before I encountered Orthodoxy.

I took a year out between school and university and went to work for a charity in Romania. I've always been a history buff and so I started finding out about the history of Moldova (the state I was working in, not the Republic of Moldova). I became very interested in the voievod (sort of like prince) who ruled Moldova from 1457 - 1504, Stephen the Great. He has since been glorified as a saint by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Church (and I'm using his icon as my avatar). It became obvious quickly that Romanian history makes no sense separated from the Orthodox Church, so I decided to find out more.

I started visiting the many monasteries in the area and became more and more interested in Orthodoxy. I visited the cell of St. Daniel the Hesychast, which had a palpable air of holiness about it and eventually I found myself in the monastery of St. John the New in Suceava, looking at the incorrupt relics of St. John. Whilst there a monk overheard me talking to the man who would later become my godfather, recognised that it was in English and began talking to me.

The monk, whose name I unfortunately never got, was amazing. He was gentle, enthusiastic and seemed to exude sincerity. I have never met anybody who inspired me so much. As a parting gift he gave me a prayer book which I still use (luckily I speak Romanian) and a thirst to learn more about the Church. It took several years longer before I was accepted into the Church (taking St. James the Persian as my patron) but I have never looked back.

I owe this anonymous monk and the saints of Moldova a great debt. They helped me find my way back to the Lord when I was all but lost to Him. In particular, I am indebted to the examples of Sts. John the New of Suceava, Daniel the Hermit and Stephen the Great. If anyone is interested in these saints and doesn't know about them, I have added some articles to OrthodoxWiki, all of which can be found here:

http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Category:Romanian_Saints

In Christ,

James

Thank you for the story and link James. I've been gone and haven't gotten to read it till now.

 

[James the Persian]

Thank you for the story and link James. I've been gone and haven't gotten to read it till now.

No*s,

Glad to see you've finally reappeared - it's been lonely here. Even the two Romanians on the board are deists! Can you believe it? I would have been surprised to find one deist in all of Romania, let alone two frequenting this little corner of the internet.

Hopefully now we can get a bit more balance in the Catholic section rather than the current 999 RCs and one poor Orthodox guy!

James

 

[Lady Crimson]

well, there are more deists in Romania than one would normally think.

 

[No*s]

No*s,

Glad to see you've finally reappeared - it's been lonely here. Even the two Romanians on the board are deists! Can you believe it? I would have been surprised to find one deist in all of Romania, let alone two frequenting this little corner of the internet.

Hopefully now we can get a bit more balance in the Catholic section rather than the current 999 RCs and one poor Orthodox guy!

James

Well, I'll be fading in and out like a character in a bad sci-fi novel, but it's good to be back .

I'm not surprised at the fact. Look at the recent history of Eastern Europe. Most likely, the unbelievers will make up a sizeable portion of the population. I only hope that the Church is regaining her former status.

 

[James the Persian]

Well, I'll be fading in and out like a character in a bad sci-fi novel, but it's good to be back .

I'm not surprised at the fact. Look at the recent history of Eastern Europe. Most likely, the unbelievers will make up a sizeable portion of the population. I only hope that the Church is regaining her former status.

Maybe my experience is coloured by the fact that I spent so long in the mostly rural area of Bucovina (which also has a huge number of monasteries) but I'd never met a Romanian deist until I started posting here. The vast majority of people in Bucovina are Orthodox and my experience is of monasteries being reopened, churches being so overcrowded that people stand outside and listen to the Liturgy via loudspeakers, new churches (and a huge new cathedral in Suceava) being built etc. Orthodoxy is certainly alive and well (and growing) in north eastern Romania.

James

 

[No*s]

Maybe my experience is coloured by the fact that I spent so long in the mostly rural area of Bucovina (which also has a huge number of monasteries) but I'd never met a Romanian deist until I started posting here. The vast majority of people in Bucovina are Orthodox and my experience is of monasteries being reopened, churches being so overcrowded that people stand outside and listen to the Liturgy via loudspeakers, new churches (and a huge new cathedral in Suceava) being built etc. Orthodoxy is certainly alive and well (and growing) in north eastern Romania.

James

That might be possible. I can't speak for Romania directly, but what you say makes sense (my previous assertion was an inferance from a redneck in Texas ). In most cases, the rural community are the slowest to change religion or patterns due to external pressures. It's simply more conservative.

Still, it's nice to hear about churches needing loudspeakers. That's something I can only imagine here. That begs the question for me...how are the people's needs addressed? That would seem to make it difficult for a spiritual father to get very close. That's a lot of people.

 

[James the Persian]

That might be possible. I can't speak for Romania directly, but what you say makes sense (my previous assertion was an inferance from a redneck in Texas ). In most cases, the rural community are the slowest to change religion or patterns due to external pressures. It's simply more conservative.

Still, it's nice to hear about churches needing loudspeakers. That's something I can only imagine here. That begs the question for me...how are the people's needs addressed? That would seem to make it difficult for a spiritual father to get very close. That's a lot of people.

Well in terms of practicalities (and I can only speak for the churches I know well) what tends to happen is that the people inside the church slowly rotate with the ones outside (the sort of 'milling about' that my Protestant mother gets so shocked by - thank heavens we don't have pews!) and, of course, the Liturgies are much longer than usual in the west (I've heard of them running for four hours on major feast days), which gives more time, I suppose. Plus, I guess you're aware that in Eastern Europe many Orthodox only take the Eucharist pretty infrequently? That certainly helps, except that it probably makes the liturgies on major feasts even longer.

On other days than Sunday it's not so difficult - you don't see congregations in the street! It's still much better than in Britain, though. At my last church (Greek) we had a core group of about 12 who were there every Sunday. On major feast days there might be several hundred. Understandably they didn't bother with putting on services on Friday evenings or anything like that. In Siret, I've almost been unable to get into the church one Friday and the other major difference? Most of the people there were younger than me (and I'm not yet 30).

James

 

[No*s]

Well in terms of practicalities (and I can only speak for the churches I know well) what tends to happen is that the people inside the church slowly rotate with the ones outside (the sort of 'milling about' that my Protestant mother gets so shocked by - thank heavens we don't have pews!) and, of course, the Liturgies are much longer than usual in the west (I've heard of them running for four hours on major feast days), which gives more time, I suppose. Plus, I guess you're aware that in Eastern Europe many Orthodox only take the Eucharist pretty infrequently? That certainly helps, except that it probably makes the liturgies on major feasts even longer.

On other days than Sunday it's not so difficult - you don't see congregations in the street! It's still much better than in Britain, though. At my last church (Greek) we had a core group of about 12 who were there every Sunday. On major feast days there might be several hundred. Understandably they didn't bother with putting on services on Friday evenings or anything like that. In Siret, I've almost been unable to get into the church one Friday and the other major difference? Most of the people there were younger than me (and I'm not yet 30).

James

Yes, I hadn't thought about the infrequency of communion in Eastern Europe. That would help significantly. Here in America, there are "mega-churches" in Protestantism with similar problems, but naturally, the Orthodox solution of cycling folks in and out makes more sense to me than theirs. I hadn't ever encountered a situation where that occured in Orthodoxy, so my curiosity was piqued.

Of course, the best thing you posted was about the number of youth getting involved. Catching a younger generation into the faith is difficult over here. My church has maybe a couple of people my age, and I'm not yet thirty either. All the rest are forties or somewhere around there (I am, of course, working to change that ).

 

[SageTree]

bump... saw another member looking at this today... so thought I would bump it since there is are a lot of Orthodox members around recently.