Any Converts from Orthodoxy?

  • Thread starter Thread starter stavros388
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

stavros388

Guest
I am just curious if there are any here, and if so:
Why? What was the tipping or selling point for you?
Were you an active Orthodox Christian, or was it merely a cultural thing?
Are you happier as a Catholic?
What were the biggest obstacles or challenges you faced during conversion?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

PS Sorry if this is the wrong section. I am new here. 🙂
 
stavros388 said:
I am just curious if there are any here, and if so:
Why? What was the tipping or selling point for you?
Were you an active Orthodox Christian, or was it merely a cultural thing?
Are you happier as a Catholic?
What were the biggest obstacles or challenges you faced during conversion?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

PS Sorry if this is the wrong section. I am new here. 🙂
Click to expand...
I Did, But I Had To Come Back To Orthodoxy.
 
I used to be heterodox, but then I got braces.
No that’s terrible.
Anyway, are you asking for any converts from Orthodoxy to Catholicism specifically or just any sect? It may be better to put this in the Catholic section is all.
 
Elostirion said:
I used to be heterodox, but then I got braces.
No that’s terrible.
Anyway, are you asking for any converts from Orthodoxy to Catholicism specifically or just any sect? It may be better to put this in the Catholic section is all.
Click to expand...
Orthodox to Catholic… specifically. 🙂
 
stavros388 said:
I am just curious if there are any here, and if so:
Why? What was the tipping or selling point for you?
Were you an active Orthodox Christian, or was it merely a cultural thing?
Are you happier as a Catholic?
What were the biggest obstacles or challenges you faced during conversion?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

PS Sorry if this is the wrong section. I am new here. 🙂
Click to expand...
Interesting thread … well, technically I guess that will depend on what responses you get; but interesting questions. 🙂

As a Catholic, I don’t encourage anyone to switch from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, but I don’t discourage them from doing so either. But anyhow, in answer to your (main) question: not me personally (I’m a cradle Catholic) but there are a number of Orthodox-to-Catholic converts on this forum.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. I guess I should make my situation a bit more clear. I love the Orthodox Church. I certainly would choose an Orthodox parish over any other were a thriving one nearby. I have recently relocated to an area where Orthodox services are few and far between, not to mention 1.5 hours away by car. However, there is an active little Catholic parish within minutes from my new place. Now, when it comes right down to it, I became Orthodox because I believe it represents the fullness of the Christian faith, and because there is a tried and true contemplative practice (Hesychasm; The Jesus Prayer), among other things. However, I have never been a strict exclusivist. I am not an anti-papist or anything, I have always considered Catholic sacraments to be entirely valid, and I have read and been inspired by many Catholic writers and saints: (Thomas a Kempis, St. Therese of Lisieux, Thomas Merton, etc). I guess I see it like this… When I don’t attend church regularly, I tend to backslide. If I attend an Orthodox service once a month, I fear I may just attend sporadically or stop going altogether eventually. I have no family or friends who are Orthodox (let alone Christian). So I wonder if I would be better off attending a nearby Catholic parish, where mass is served sometimes 3 or 4 times per week, and where I could worship and communicate with like-minded people? I have moved so many times over the last 20 years, mostly for work, and my wife finally has a decent contract, and my prospects are very much improved. I don’t want to leave where I am. But I DO want to get closer and closer to God.

Any thoughts from Catholics or Orthodox Christians here? Can anyone relate to my circumstances? Has anyone else here converted for practical (rather than theological) reasons? Are these bad reasons to convert? Any and all suggestion or insights appreciated.
 
If you are an Orthodox, then keep to the Orthodox Church. I am not sure that you should come for a Catholic mass though they would be delight for you to do so but I think the Orthodox do not approve of you to receive Holy Communion there. I am not sure but you can check out on this.
 
Stavros look at the Anglican churches in your area. A traditional Anglican (look for ‘Anglo-Catholic’, or ask for other ‘keywords’ from other Anglicans to find something similar) and see what that’s like. A traditional Anglican parish often is much more similar to Orthodoxy, particularly in mindset and community.

That being said if you don’t have a good Anglican parish then Roman I think would be the next best thing. Obviously don’t receive Communion in either, but it will help you from backsliding.

The best thing, of course, is to contact your old priest and ask him what to do. If you can’t get a hold of him write your bishop. It’s what they’re there for.

And, of course, always attend the Orthodox service when possible.
 
Consider doing third hour and the typika together as a reader service at home. That is what I would do if I ever wound up in a place with no Orthodox parishes nearby.
 
stavros388 said:
Thanks for the responses so far. I guess I should make my situation a bit more clear. I love the Orthodox Church. I certainly would choose an Orthodox parish over any other were a thriving one nearby. I have recently relocated to an area where Orthodox services are few and far between, not to mention 1.5 hours away by car. However, there is an active little Catholic parish within minutes from my new place. Now, when it comes right down to it, I became Orthodox because I believe it represents the fullness of the Christian faith, and because there is a tried and true contemplative practice (Hesychasm; The Jesus Prayer), among other things. However, I have never been a strict exclusivist. I am not an anti-papist or anything, I have always considered Catholic sacraments to be entirely valid, and I have read and been inspired by many Catholic writers and saints: (Thomas a Kempis, St. Therese of Lisieux, Thomas Merton, etc). I guess I see it like this… When I don’t attend church regularly, I tend to backslide. If I attend an Orthodox service once a month, I fear I may just attend sporadically or stop going altogether eventually. I have no family or friends who are Orthodox (let alone Christian). So I wonder if I would be better off attending a nearby Catholic parish, where mass is served sometimes 3 or 4 times per week, and where I could worship and communicate with like-minded people? I have moved so many times over the last 20 years, mostly for work, and my wife finally has a decent contract, and my prospects are very much improved. I don’t want to leave where I am. But I DO want to get closer and closer to God.

Any thoughts from Catholics or Orthodox Christians here? Can anyone relate to my circumstances? Has anyone else here converted for practical (rather than theological) reasons? Are these bad reasons to convert? Any and all suggestion or insights appreciated.
Click to expand...
Great post, stavros. I think my attitude is basically the same as yours, but of course in reverse: given that I’m Catholic, I don’t have any intention of converting to Orthodoxy, but if somehow I find out that I’m really Orthodox (though I can’t imagine how that could be, but just supposing) I wouldn’t convert to Catholicism.

And fwiw, I think Rawb’s suggestion to attend a (conservative) Anglo-Catholic or Roman Catholic parish makes a lot of sense. 👍
 
Peter_J said:
And fwiw, I think Rawb’s suggestion to attend a (conservative) Anglo-Catholic or Roman Catholic parish makes a lot of sense. 👍
Click to expand...
Probably to the OP, it does. But generally I do not agree. I would think more in line of what Cavaradossi said, if I think rightly what he was saying.

In any case, my personal opinion is that when there is no Church nearby, probably it is more dangerous for one to go to a different church. Remember we are fed (spiritually) by her belief and teaching as we attend our church. There is really no alternative for that. Probably for the OP, he should make that one and half hour effort to go to his church and what a blessing that would be. God can never be out done in charity and when one do that for God in faithfulness to him, there would be sure equal, if not more, blessing to come. If he cannot come regularly to the church because of the distance, keeping a strong personal prayer life makes that even more important and pressing.
 
Reuben_J said:
Originally Posted by Peter J
And fwiw, I think Rawb’s suggestion to attend a (conservative) Anglo-Catholic or Roman Catholic parish makes a lot of sense.
Click to expand...
So noted, although I don’t agree at all.
Reuben_J said:
Remember we are fed (spiritually) by her belief and teaching as we attend our church. There is really no alternative for that. Probably for the OP, he should make that one and half hour effort to go to his church and what a blessing that would be. God can never be out done in charity and when one do that for God in faithfulness to him, there would be sure equal, if not more, blessing to come.
Click to expand...
If you feel like sharing, about what percent of Sundays in your life have you driven an hour and a half (or more) to get to church? (If you don’t feel like sharing, that’s okay too.)
Click to expand...
 
I understand your struggle, I live in a town without an Orthodox parish, but thankfully I’m not far from the city. It’s a 45 minute drive to Church. Much longer than I’m used to (I used to live a 5 minute drive from my parish), but I manage to do it… for the most part. I was also briefly an hour and a half from the parish, and it is tough to do it no question.

I’d recommend talking to a priest about this though, and see what he says.
 
stavros388 said:
Thanks for the responses so far. I guess I should make my situation a bit more clear. I love the Orthodox Church. I certainly would choose an Orthodox parish over any other were a thriving one nearby. I have recently relocated to an area where Orthodox services are few and far between, not to mention 1.5 hours away by car. However, there is an active little Catholic parish within minutes from my new place. Now, when it comes right down to it, I became Orthodox because I believe it represents the fullness of the Christian faith, and because there is a tried and true contemplative practice (Hesychasm; The Jesus Prayer), among other things. However, I have never been a strict exclusivist. I am not an anti-papist or anything, I have always considered Catholic sacraments to be entirely valid, and I have read and been inspired by many Catholic writers and saints: (Thomas a Kempis, St. Therese of Lisieux, Thomas Merton, etc). I guess I see it like this… When I don’t attend church regularly, I tend to backslide. If I attend an Orthodox service once a month, I fear I may just attend sporadically or stop going altogether eventually. I have no family or friends who are Orthodox (let alone Christian). So I wonder if I would be better off attending a nearby Catholic parish, where mass is served sometimes 3 or 4 times per week, and where I could worship and communicate with like-minded people? I have moved so many times over the last 20 years, mostly for work, and my wife finally has a decent contract, and my prospects are very much improved. I don’t want to leave where I am. But I DO want to get closer and closer to God.

Any thoughts from Catholics or Orthodox Christians here? Can anyone relate to my circumstances? Has anyone else here converted for practical (rather than theological) reasons? Are these bad reasons to convert? Any and all suggestion or insights appreciated.
Click to expand...
I can relate. There is no Orthodox parish in my town and the closest is 100 miles distant.
And that is a small parish in a medium sized (400.000k) city. Around here Baptists and
“non-denominational” denominations rule. There is a church not far from where I live that calls itself “orthodox” but is not. They are just one more evangelical congregation that leans Pentecostal with a “praise band” and a couple of icons to make themselves ‘orthodox’. We do have a small Catholic parish here but they are nearly completely Latino and have Mass in Spanish only. I know more Greek than Spanish. So I alternate between the Latino Catholic parish and a conservative Anglican parish that actually uses English.
 
Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts and suggestions, everyone. Much appreciated. For the time being, I think I will try to attend the Orthodox services once a month and (try to) stick to my prayer rule. I will perhaps attend the Catholic parish once in awhile as a guest.

Again, thanks!
Steve
 
Peter_J said:
So noted, although I don’t agree at all.

If you feel like sharing, about what percent of Sundays in your life have you driven an hour and a half (or more) to get to church? (If you don’t feel like sharing, that’s okay too.)
Click to expand...
Practicing the faith sometimes called for effort and sacrifice. Maybe not if one is a Sunday Christian and don’t care much whether to attend a church or not. As for me there is no alternative - I would definitely not attend a non-Catholic churches to satisfy my spiritual needs. They do not feed me simply because I do not believe in them. And if an Orthodox is like me, then he would do the same regarding his own spiritual need. Having said that, I said earlier on that I am not too sure. If it is alright to go to different churches of different denominations, then who am I to say that he should not do it. So it was merely my personal opinion.

Personally for me and my family, Sunday is spent a full day in the church. We would attend mass in the morning at 9 and in the afternoon from 2 to about 5, we would have our general Community Gathering. So the whole Sunday is spent in the church. Before I was committed I thought committing my time in the church on Sunday afternoon rather than watching tv or sleeping seemed crazy but now I know it is not and we received God’s blessing so much for it, spiritually and at times God gives us a life really worth living. Thus whatever you invested with God, He would give you much, much more in return.

Btw driving time is not that much for us, about forty minutes to the church from our house. Time is including traffic condition. But we do have members who would come to the Cathedral (parish centre) who live in another district and they take about two hours driving time to reach the destination. Since they do this almost every Sunday and weekdays too for cell group meetings, they seem to be able to do it.

God bless.
 
Reuben_J said:
Practicing the faith sometimes called for effort and sacrifice. Maybe not if one is a Sunday Christian and don’t care much whether to attend a church or not. As for me there is no alternative - I would definitely not attend a non-Catholic churches to satisfy my spiritual needs. They do not feed me simply because I do not believe in them. And if an Orthodox is like me, then he would do the same regarding his own spiritual need. Having said that, I said earlier on that I am not too sure. If it is alright to go to different churches of different denominations, then who am I to say that he should not do it. So it was merely my personal opinion.
Click to expand...
Well, though I may disagree regarding part of your earlier post, I do agree with your Catholic-Orthodox comparison. 👍 (I don’t know if you’ve read the same threads that I have, but if you have then you’ve undoubtedly seen numerous Catholic posters express confusion that Orthodox would follow their bishops directives regarding e.g. inter-communion, but simultaneously insisting that Catholics should follow our own bishops directives.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top