wgw
Member
I am a member of the Orthodox Church and am not looking to change, but I just wanted to tell you Sikhs, I love your religion. Growing up one of my best friends was a Sikh boy named Hartaj, he had not yet been baptized but I suspect he has been now; his parents were baptized I believe and were so nice to us. They owned a grocery store. This meant when I came over to play, we would munch on microwaveable pizzas we would hear up in the break room, and then play in fortresses we erected in the parking lot using shipping crates. We were in the fourth grade, 9-10 years old.mmsadly next year my family moved. I still love Sikhism though: I love your egalitarianism, your monotheism, your tradition of service through the Langar, your Nihangs with their elephants and horses, and your ethic of being warrior saints, dedicating yourself to protection of the weak from would be oppressors. I love your Guru Granth Sahib and it's beautiful verses. I Wish several million of you would settle in Iraq, Syria and Turkey to protect the Christians and other religious minorities, such as the Yazidis, Alevis and Mandaeans, several of which are by nature non violent (Mandaeans are prohibited to take up arms for example). 
I pray that eternal friendship may exist between Eastern Orthodox Christians and our Sikh brothers and sisters. Our religions are in some ways very different, in that in my faith we have priests, for example, and do not believe in reincarnation or the other common aspects of the Indian religious tradition, but in other respects are very (Both our faiths are monotheistic, have sacred scriptures, and practice baptism). Like Sikhs, Orthodox clergy and monks also don't shave and often do not cut their hair, and some Oriental Orthodox like the Syriac Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox wear turbans, usually black due to Islamic dhimmi status, but sometimes white during the liturgy. I feel a deep kinship with the Sikhs. Of the four major religions of Indian origin (not counting Zoroastrianism, which seems to be a faith composed in opposition to Hindu theology, but which uses a similar language and similar priestly rituals to those of the Brahmins, and which had an influence on my own tradition, but which probably emerged in Iran or Pakistan, at the border of the Indian sphere of cultural influence), I believe Sikhism to be the most beautiful, and the closest to my own faith in terms of what I feel is a genuine sense of love and compassion for people. The idea of the Langar as a blessing, on the grounds that service to people is service to God, is essentially the theology of the soup kitchens operated by the Orthodox Christians. The underlying theology is subtly different, if I understand your faith, in that correct me if I'm wrong, Sikhism is Pantheistic and the people being served are literally a part of the One God, whereas in Orthodoxy human beings are made in the image of God, but the result of these divergent theological concepts is the same: God is served by serving human beings.
I pray that eternal friendship may exist between Eastern Orthodox Christians and our Sikh brothers and sisters. Our religions are in some ways very different, in that in my faith we have priests, for example, and do not believe in reincarnation or the other common aspects of the Indian religious tradition, but in other respects are very (Both our faiths are monotheistic, have sacred scriptures, and practice baptism). Like Sikhs, Orthodox clergy and monks also don't shave and often do not cut their hair, and some Oriental Orthodox like the Syriac Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox wear turbans, usually black due to Islamic dhimmi status, but sometimes white during the liturgy. I feel a deep kinship with the Sikhs. Of the four major religions of Indian origin (not counting Zoroastrianism, which seems to be a faith composed in opposition to Hindu theology, but which uses a similar language and similar priestly rituals to those of the Brahmins, and which had an influence on my own tradition, but which probably emerged in Iran or Pakistan, at the border of the Indian sphere of cultural influence), I believe Sikhism to be the most beautiful, and the closest to my own faith in terms of what I feel is a genuine sense of love and compassion for people. The idea of the Langar as a blessing, on the grounds that service to people is service to God, is essentially the theology of the soup kitchens operated by the Orthodox Christians. The underlying theology is subtly different, if I understand your faith, in that correct me if I'm wrong, Sikhism is Pantheistic and the people being served are literally a part of the One God, whereas in Orthodoxy human beings are made in the image of God, but the result of these divergent theological concepts is the same: God is served by serving human beings.
