orthodox or catholic?

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Renarax

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Hi
So I’ve wanted to be Christian since I was 15. I’m going to turn 18 this year and closer to becoming an actual Christian. Obviously the catholic Church was the only option for me as out of ignorance i assumed protestants were living a lie and that orthodox Christians were living in the past.
But two days ago for some reason I was brought to the Wikipedia article about eastern orthodoxy and I was hooked. I found myself loving the idea that one is called to fulfillment of gods image in ourselves.
So yesterday I searched a ton and found myself becoming more convinced. The divine liturgy and the traditions all seemed too good. Its safe to say I had already made up my mind.
But all this is going against what my original faith was. I had so many plans about what I’d do when I become Catholic and now I’m going to have to change everything. One thing I’ll have to consider is that I can’t influence or evangelize people like I wanted to (who’s gonna join orthodox? ) and maybe start a youth group (not many kids are orthodox in Canada)
But the main obstacle is that I’m not Greek or Russian. I know that’s not a requirement but the Greeks here are super Greek and the Russians don’t have a permanent church (small churches make me feel unimportant) the catholic cathedral on the other hand is huge.
So please tell why or why not join catholic or orthodox church. I know these reasons may seem stupid but they are real.
This confusion has disturbed me so much these two days. All the time instead of remembering Christ I try to decide what church I should join. Please help. It’s driving me nuts!
 
Renarax said:
Hi
So I’ve wanted to be Christian since I was 15. I’m going to turn 18 this year and closer to becoming an actual Christian. Obviously the catholic Church was the only option for me as out of ignorance i assumed protestants were living a lie and that orthodox Christians were living in the past.
But two days ago for some reason I was brought to the Wikipedia article about eastern orthodoxy and I was hooked. I found myself loving the idea that one is called to fulfillment of gods image in ourselves.
So yesterday I searched a ton and found myself becoming more convinced. The divine liturgy and the traditions all seemed too good. Its safe to say I had already made up my mind.
But all this is going against what my original faith was. I had so many plans about what I’d do when I become Catholic and now I’m going to have to change everything. One thing I’ll have to consider is that I can’t influence or evangelize people like I wanted to (who’s gonna join orthodox? ) and maybe start a youth group (not many kids are orthodox in Canada)
But the main obstacle is that I’m not Greek or Russian. I know that’s not a requirement but the Greeks here are super Greek and the Russians don’t have a permanent church (small churches make me feel unimportant) the catholic cathedral on the other hand is huge.
So please tell why or why not join catholic or orthodox church. I know these reasons may seem stupid but they are real.
This confusion has disturbed me so much these two days. All the time instead of remembering Christ I try to decide what church I should join. Please help. It’s driving me nuts!
Click to expand...
First, welcome to the Forums.

First, there are Eastern Orthodox that are in communion with Rome, part of the 23 rites of the Catholic Church, also called Eastern Rite Catholics, so this may be an option for you also.

calledtocommunion.com/2011/06/st-optatus-on-schism-and-the-bishop-of-rome/

catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2010/11/early-church-father-worth-knowing.html

strobertbellarmine.net/books/Solovyev–Russia_Universal_Church.pdf

catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=1355

But ultimately, it is your choice and continue praying and submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
 
Congratulations on your first step towards Christianity!

Whatever you choose (and even if you think people as I are living a lie) I pray that God leads you to His Son and all the Church has to offer; whether it be Catholic or Orthodox.

I’m always very excited to hear a non-Christian has become a Christian; Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant.
 
It’s great you’re coming to Christianity, and Eastern Orthodox are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Heck, Eastern Orthodoxy is the closets thing to the Catholic Church. But they are in schism, in 1054 A.D the Catholic Church excommunicated them because they rejected papal primacy, [see Matthew 16:18-19] and they persecuted Latin Rite Catholics by taking the precious body and blood of our Lord and throwing it into the streets and shutting down our churches. They did come back into full communion with us after that but they then schismed off again.

I truly hope you come to the Catholic Church, and you don’t need to join the Roman Rite, let alone any Latin Rite. Join the Byzantine Rite if you love the liturgy of Eastern Orthodox. The Orthodox’s liturgy was created by us Catholics, they later schismed off and we lost the liturgy to them stealing it, luckily some Eastern Orthodox came back into full communion with us and we got our liturgy back.
God bless. 😃
 
As a catholic, I consider myself an orthodox Christian in relation to all those other Christian sects out there. See, so you can be an orthodox Catholic.

What you should do is to attend both denominations worship services and have the experience yourself.
 
Renarax said:
Hi
So I’ve wanted to be Christian since I was 15. I’m going to turn 18 this year and closer to becoming an actual Christian. Obviously the catholic Church was the only option for me as out of ignorance i assumed protestants were living a lie and that orthodox Christians were living in the past.
But two days ago for some reason I was brought to the Wikipedia article about eastern orthodoxy and I was hooked. I found myself loving the idea that one is called to fulfillment of gods image in ourselves.
So yesterday I searched a ton and found myself becoming more convinced. The divine liturgy and the traditions all seemed too good. Its safe to say I had already made up my mind.
But all this is going against what my original faith was. I had so many plans about what I’d do when I become Catholic and now I’m going to have to change everything. One thing I’ll have to consider is that I can’t influence or evangelize people like I wanted to (who’s gonna join orthodox? ) and maybe start a youth group (not many kids are orthodox in Canada)
But the main obstacle is that I’m not Greek or Russian. I know that’s not a requirement but the Greeks here are super Greek and the Russians don’t have a permanent church (small churches make me feel unimportant) the catholic cathedral on the other hand is huge.
So please tell why or why not join catholic or orthodox church. I know these reasons may seem stupid but they are real.
This confusion has disturbed me so much these two days. All the time instead of remembering Christ I try to decide what church I should join. Please help. It’s driving me nuts!
Click to expand...
I joined the Orthodox, but not right away. I became interested in the Orthodox church when I found one, by accident in another town. But it would be another ten years before I actually joined. That is because there was no Orthodox church where I lived until ten. Up to that time I was Catholic.

I think the Eastern Catholics would be an excellent idea for me, but the nearest one is over 400 miles away.

I prefer Eastern liturgy and spirituality to Latin versions of the same. To me I think Eastern worship is more reverent than Latin worship with all the ‘yous’, guitar Masses and over Protestantising. Whatever became of incense?

The ideal to me would be the traditional Latin Mass, or even the Latin Mass translated to reverent English. But a TLM is not to be found anywhere in my diocese.
 
Though I disagree with those who say you can be both “Catholic and Orthodox”, our stance is that Orthodoxy is not something you just jump into.

Your post demonstrates a certain amount of misinformation regarding what Orthodoxy is (you seem attracted to the ‘smells and bells’, your dichotomy between Russian and Greek).

I suggest if you are interested in the Orthodox Church you continue to study it, make contact with a priest in your area (whatever his ethnicity). Ask questions about the faith on Orthodox forums. Read Met. Kalistos Ware’s book, “The Orthodox Church”.
 
whoisdiss said:
we lost the liturgy to them stealing it, luckily some Eastern Orthodox came back into full communion with us and we got our liturgy back.
Click to expand...
So what, we broke into a vault where Rome kept all the copies of the three versions of the Divine Liturgy we use and you had to wait until a group with another copy schismed your way before you were able to use it again?

We’ve never exactly kept the service books in high security locations or anything like that you know.
 
Nine_Two said:
So what, we broke into a vault where Rome kept all the copies of the three versions of the Divine Liturgy we use and you had to wait until a group with another copy schismed your way before you were able to use it again?

We’ve never exactly kept the service books in high security locations or anything like that you know.
Click to expand...
😃
 
well, perhaps they did close our churches and throw the Eucharist out. But there was that business in April 1204, in which we ransacked Constantinople and massacred a lot of our Orthodox brethren.

To the original poster, I believe in the Catholic church. But it is also fairly clear that Orthodoxy is also a true apostolic faith with real and valid sacraments.

I think you’re in a good place with either choice.
 
bingbell484 said:
well, perhaps they did close our churches and throw the Eucharist out. But there was that business in April 1204, in which we ransacked Constantinople and massacred a lot of our Orthodox brethren.
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Yes, but that was not at the behest of Rome (it’s patriarch, aka, the pope).
 
bingbell484 said:
well, perhaps they did close our churches and throw the Eucharist out. But there was that business in April 1204, in which we ransacked Constantinople and massacred a lot of our Orthodox brethren.
Click to expand...
“We” meaning the excommunicated armies of the fourth Crusade? I wouldn’t identify with a bunch of excommunicated crooks. I would say they acted in defiance of the Church, and I think the historical record backs that up.
 
Hi Renarax
I think it is not a good idea to join the orthodox. If you have been baptisd into an eastern rite then you can receive the sacraments in that rite but if you are baptised catholic then you cannot receive the eucharist in an eastern rite except in danger of death. What im trying to say is that because the orthodox are in schism their eucharist is only valid in emergencies.Read good catholic books such as Fundamentals of catholic dogma by Ludwig ott to get the true (semper et ubique,always and everywhere) faith and go along to an sspx mass to see this faith in action.👍
Thanks
Dan
 
Renarax said:
Hi
So I’ve wanted to be Christian since I was 15. I’m going to turn 18 this year and closer to becoming an actual Christian. Obviously the catholic Church was the only option for me as out of ignorance i assumed protestants were living a lie and that orthodox Christians were living in the past.
But two days ago for some reason I was brought to the Wikipedia article about eastern orthodoxy and I was hooked. I found myself loving the idea that one is called to fulfillment of gods image in ourselves.
So yesterday I searched a ton and found myself becoming more convinced. The divine liturgy and the traditions all seemed too good. Its safe to say I had already made up my mind.
But all this is going against what my original faith was. I had so many plans about what I’d do when I become Catholic and now I’m going to have to change everything. One thing I’ll have to consider is that I can’t influence or evangelize people like I wanted to (who’s gonna join orthodox? ) and maybe start a youth group (not many kids are orthodox in Canada)
But the main obstacle is that I’m not Greek or Russian. I know that’s not a requirement but the Greeks here are super Greek and the Russians don’t have a permanent church (small churches make me feel unimportant) the catholic cathedral on the other hand is huge.
So please tell why or why not join catholic or orthodox church. I know these reasons may seem stupid but they are real.
This confusion has disturbed me so much these two days. All the time instead of remembering Christ I try to decide what church I should join. Please help. It’s driving me nuts!
Click to expand...
It drove me nuts, too. I was born Catholic but my born protestant husband wanted to be Orthodox. Long story short, to be Orthodox, we would have to be anti-Catholic and I could not reject Papa Francis. So we landed in Eastern Catholicism.
 
joseph_therese said:
If you have been baptized into an eastern rite then you can receive the sacraments in that rite but if you are baptized catholic then you cannot receive the eucharist in an eastern rite except in danger of death. What im trying to say is that because the orthodox are in schism their eucharist is only valid in emergencies.
Click to expand...
You might want to re-think this.
 
Brothers and sisters, please let us not get embroiled in an Eastern verses Western battle .We both are believers in the sacramental way of Christianity and let us be friends on that basis.

I applaud the poster for looking.into either faith tradition.
 
Nine_Two said:
We’ve never exactly kept the service books in high security locations or anything like that you know.
Click to expand...
Yeah, yeah. Because you don’t have to deal with Protestants! Rowdy and Motley bunch they are!

:D:D:D

I just could not let this pass, sorry
 
Isaiah45_9 said:
Yeah, yeah. Because you don’t have to deal with Protestants! Rowdy and Motley bunch they are!

:D:D:D

I just could not let this pass, sorry
Click to expand...
Hey, we don’t need to steal anything* from you Catholics: you make practically all of it freely available online. 😉
  • i.e. anything more than we took when when we left in the C16th, and most of us have dropped half of that already.
 
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