Glorious Pascha everyone!

S

SpyderJon

Joined
Jan 27, 2002
Messages
2,038
CHRISTOS VOSKRESE!

CHRISTOS ANESTI!

AL MASEEH QAM!

Its Pascha (Easter) again, and thought I'd say "Howdy" and "Lets celebrate" to anyone here who may be/know an Orthodox person. That is all!
 
Christ is risen!

I still count my time among the Eastern Orthodox as some of the most spiritual of my life.

Happy Pascha!
 
Thank you VERY much. It was a L-O-N-G week, but Its ended now. I'm at once saddened and relieved. May I ask about your particular experience? I'm always interested to see someone who's had a bit of contact with us.
 
VOISTINU VOSKRESE!

ALETHOS ANESTI!

HAKKEN QAM!



Hristos a inviat! (That's Romanian:p )

Don't know about you, but I'm feeling fat as a tick today. Steak N Shake for dinner...:D

Mike
 
SpyderJon said:
Thank you VERY much. It was a L-O-N-G week, but Its ended now. I'm at once saddened and relieved. May I ask about your particular experience? I'm always interested to see someone who's had a bit of contact with us.
Click to expand...

I attended an Eatern Orthodox church about 5 years ago, for around 2 years. At that time, they had a priest that was very welcoming to people and a great spiritual father and teacher. I learned a great deal from him. The church itself was rather small, and mostly decendence of Russian Imigrants, that were all "cradle Orthodox" and were a very tight knit group. Converts were somewhat "step-children" and after that priest was transfered, most of the new folks like me slowly drifted away because we felt like outsiders.

I still miss the Liturgy, and have been thinking alot about it recently. The Orthodox view of the Church as a "hospital" is a powerful thing.
 
Mike, I know what you mean. Lamb chops for appetizers?!? ONLY at Pascha!!

Confederate, I can understand about the feelings of being an outsider. Really ethnic churches can feel like that to a lot of people. Its really sad that a lot of the time it is just people who feel afraid of general society, and it makes them cling tighter to their traditions. Its got to be weird to come from an outside country where EVERYONE speaks the same language, and has at least a fimiliarity with your traditions to a country where people speak all kinds of different languages and your traditions are nothing but a small footnote.

If you're still interested in trying the Church, I'd suggest looking for an Antiochian church. They're middle eastern by tradition, but have a LARGE percentage of converts in this country. If you're looking for a church that tends to be more "warm and fuzzy" then they would be the first place to start. I've been to only one Antiochian church where I didn't like it, and that was just because the priest was a little intense for me. My wife's home church, however, is Antiochian, and they are VERY lovely people. They always made me feel welcome, and when I first went there I wasn't even Orthodox. I converted in a Russian-Patriarchal church, but it was heavily americanized when I started going. The priest and I became good friends, actually. I can recommend some books for you as well if you'd like (more with the viewpoint of the Church as a hospital and such).

Thanks for letting me in on your experience- it can be a real personal thing!

CHRIST IS RISEN!!
 
SpyderJon said:
Confederate, I can understand about the feelings of being an outsider. Really ethnic churches can feel like that to a lot of people. Its really sad that a lot of the time it is just people who feel afraid of general society, and it makes them cling tighter to their traditions. Its got to be weird to come from an outside country where EVERYONE speaks the same language, and has at least a fimiliarity with your traditions to a country where people speak all kinds of different languages and your traditions are nothing but a small footnote.
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This was a small OCA church, that was originally built in 1914 as a Russian Church abroad. Most of the members were 3rd-4th generation American, but the church is in a small isolated mining community, so "everybody knows everybody"!....if you had to drive to get there, you were from out-of-town.... :D

If you're still interested in trying the Church, I'd suggest looking for an Antiochian church. They're middle eastern by tradition, but have a LARGE percentage of converts in this country. If you're looking for a church that tends to be more "warm and fuzzy" then they would be the first place to start. I've been to only one Antiochian church where I didn't like it, and that was just because the priest was a little intense for me. My wife's home church, however, is Antiochian, and they are VERY lovely people. They always made me feel welcome, and when I first went there I wasn't even Orthodox. I converted in a Russian-Patriarchal church, but it was heavily americanized when I started going. The priest and I became good friends, actually.
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I do not think there are any Antiochain Churches around, the OCA church is about 40 minutes away, and the next Orthodox Church is a Greek one about 2 hours away. (to be honest, most folks raised around here are unaware of the OCA one, Eastern Orthodoxy is virtually unkown around here)

I can recommend some books for you as well if you'd like (more with the viewpoint of the Church as a hospital and such).
Click to expand...

Please do, no bookstores around here stock E.O. materials, any links to online bookstores that sell them would be great.

CHRIST IS RISEN!!
Click to expand...

Indeed he is!
 
Sorry, dropped the thread for the moment :o . Well, I can understand that there aren't a lot of our Churches there. I remember when I went to school in northern Indiana, and boy you'd be hard put to find one there too! As far as online bookstores, the best one is http://www.light-n-life.com/. They have just about anything you could want.

As far as individual books, probably the classic for general information on the Church (all of it, not just the Russian) is "The Orthodox Way" by Bishop Kallistos Ware. For the perspective of a convert getting into Orthodoxy, one that a lot of people like and can relate to is "Facing East" by Frederica Mathewes-Green. Facing East is about her life in the Church over the course of a year. Its got all kinds of interesting insights from someone who wasn't born to Orthodoxy but chose it.

Give Light and Life a try and see if there's anything that strikes your fancy. I know that they'll have both of the books I mentioned. A word though, I and a lot of other Orthodox people tend to use Light and Life's catalog for research purposes, but you can often find the more popular books cheaper on Amazon or one of the other online bookstores. Also, for a good deal you may wish to check sites like www.abebooks.com. They'll sometimes have the books cheaper because they're used.

Please let me know if you have any other needs, or feel free to email me. Good hunting!!!
 
THANKS, I have Bishop Ware's other book "The Orthodox Church", he is a great author. I have heard of Frederica M-G, but haven't read any of her books, so I will chekc that one out.

Thanks again for the information!
 
Confed,

It makes me happy to see someone with an active interest in Orthodoxy :)

Here's what was most helpful to me when I converted:

www.oca.org -> "Q & A About Orthodoxy"
www.orthodoxinfo.com -> "Just For Inquirers" section at the left

I was too busy to really digest serious books, but reading an article at a time allowed me to get an idea, a whole idea, at one sitting. Then I could mull it over, talk about it, and do it justice. When I had time for books, I read books. When I didn't, I really enjoyed articles.

Maybe my attention span's just short. But being able to mix up my history, theology, cultural insights, etc. kept my research interesting and pleasurable.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

Mike
 
I'm a little late so Alethos Anesti.
 
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