Orthodox-turned-Catholics: Why did you convert?

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

Silyosha

Guest
I’m interested in reading the testimony of people who have converted from the Orthodox Church to the Catholic. No arguments, please. 🙂
 
Silyosha said:
I’m interested in reading the testimony of people who have converted from the Orthodox Church to the Catholic. No arguments, please. 🙂
Click to expand...
I converted from the Orthodox Church to Catholic Church under pressure from my many devote Catholic friends and from reading a quote falsely attributed to St. John Chrysostom where he supposedly said the St. Peter’s jurisdiction was “the whole universe”.

After conversion, I immediately saw in myself a loss of spiritual growth I had made. I also missed in my heart the Divine Liturgy. I was sure to tote the Roman Catholic line on issues as represented in the CCC, but I couldn’t make myself believe it even though I defended the Catholic positions.

Eventually, I discovered that what I’d honestly thought was a quote of St, John Chrysostom was actually part of the work: Thesaurus of Greek Fathers which had been determined to be a mix of forged quotations attributed to St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Maximus the Confessor by 19th Century Catholic Historian Lord Acton, unfortunately before it was discovered to be a work made up of forgeries, Thomas Aquinas in his work: Against the Heresies of the Greeks had relied on these forgeries, they have since, even though are known to be forgeries have even be placed in a recent work of James Likoudis’ book: Ending the Greek Schism.

Once I discovered that my ONLY true reason for converting to the Catholic Church was based on a forgery, I knew I had to come home to the Orthodox Faith. I waited for like 4 months and then went to Confession last Saturday and was welcomed home to the Orthodox Faith. It feels so wonderful to be back and back on track spiritually. I have a lot of lost time to make up for as I was out of the Orthodox Church for about a year.
 
SingleMomMonica said:
I converted from the Orthodox Church to Catholic Church under pressure from my many devote Catholic friends and from reading a quote falsely attributed to St. John Chrysostom where he supposedly said the St. Peter’s jurisdiction was “the whole universe”.

After conversion, I immediately saw in myself a loss of spiritual growth I had made. I also missed in my heart the Divine Liturgy. I was sure to tote the Roman Catholic line on issues as represented in the CCC, but I couldn’t make myself believe it even though I defended the Catholic positions.

Eventually, I discovered that what I’d honestly thought was a quote of St, John Chrysostom was actually part of the work: Thesaurus of Greek Fathers which had been determined to be a mix of forged quotations attributed to St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Maximus the Confessor by 19th Century Catholic Historian Lord Acton, unfortunately before it was discovered to be a work made up of forgeries, Thomas Aquinas in his work: Against the Heresies of the Greeks had relied on these forgeries, they have since, even though are known to be forgeries have even be placed in a recent work of James Likoudis’ book: Ending the Greek Schism.

Once I discovered that my ONLY true reason for converting to the Catholic Church was based on a forgery, I knew I had to come home to the Orthodox Faith. I waited for like 4 months and then went to Confession last Saturday and was welcomed home to the Orthodox Faith. It feels so wonderful to be back and back on track spiritually. I have a lot of lost time to make up for as I was out of the Orthodox Church for about a year.
Click to expand...
May I ask, did you convert to the Western or Eastern Rite in the Catholic Church?

PAX DOMINI :signofcross:

Shalom Aleichem
 
Javl said:
May I ask, did you convert to the Western or Eastern Rite in the Catholic Church?

PAX DOMINI :signofcross:

Shalom Aleichem
Click to expand...
Roman Church…early on I did try to go to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church once I began missing Divine Liturgy, but the priest said I’d have to commit to NEVER going to a Roman Catholic Church again because of their different theological beliefs. I couldn’t make that commitment, so I spent the year in the Latin Rite. I have to admitt it was one of the red flags that I’d made the wrong decision. Being Orthodox, I’d forgotten how each Catholic Church is so different from each of the other Catholic Churches and that was a water in the face wake up reminder.
 
I have a few questions, Monica. First of all, it has said “Orthodox Christian” on your profile for a LONG time yet you say you just recently went back there from the Catholic Church? And another post in another thread you put up said you were a Protestant as a child at your father’s funeral. So you were a protestant, a catholic, an orthodox, a catholic, then back to orthodox? Is that right?

I also would like to know how you had a “loss of spiritual growth?” I don’t ask this with a sarcastic or condescending tone, I ask it sincerely. What had you done or experienced in the orthodox church that had given you spiritual growth that you ended up losing in the catholic church?

I’m not passing judgment but wanting to understand. I myself have been in a similar situation as you, only I went back and forth between the Anglican and Catholic churches. If you’d like to IM me about it rather than post it here, I’d be most open to knowing your story. God bless
SingleMomMonica said:
I converted from the Orthodox Church to Catholic Church under pressure from my many devote Catholic friends and from reading a quote falsely attributed to St. John Chrysostom where he supposedly said the St. Peter’s jurisdiction was “the whole universe”.

After conversion, I immediately saw in myself a loss of spiritual growth I had made. I also missed in my heart the Divine Liturgy. I was sure to tote the Roman Catholic line on issues as represented in the CCC, but I couldn’t make myself believe it even though I defended the Catholic positions.

Eventually, I discovered that what I’d honestly thought was a quote of St, John Chrysostom was actually part of the work: Thesaurus of Greek Fathers which had been determined to be a mix of forged quotations attributed to St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Maximus the Confessor by 19th Century Catholic Historian Lord Acton, unfortunately before it was discovered to be a work made up of forgeries, Thomas Aquinas in his work: Against the Heresies of the Greeks had relied on these forgeries, they have since, even though are known to be forgeries have even be placed in a recent work of James Likoudis’ book: Ending the Greek Schism.

Once I discovered that my ONLY true reason for converting to the Catholic Church was based on a forgery, I knew I had to come home to the Orthodox Faith. I waited for like 4 months and then went to Confession last Saturday and was welcomed home to the Orthodox Faith. It feels so wonderful to be back and back on track spiritually. I have a lot of lost time to make up for as I was out of the Orthodox Church for about a year.
Click to expand...
 
gurneyhalleck1 said:
I have a few questions, Monica. First of all, it has said “Orthodox Christian” on your profile for a LONG time yet you say you just recently went back there from the Catholic Church?

Yes, I just “officially” returned this weeked, but knew I was going back about 4 months ago. I wanted to take some time between decision and action because I didn’t want to continue bouncing.

And another post in another thread you put up said you were a Protestant as a child at your father’s funeral. So you were a protestant, a catholic, an orthodox, a catholic, then back to orthodox? Is that right?

Yes. I was raised in Protestant Churches. Became Catholic - Roman initially, then after 2 yrs began attending Ruthenian after a year moved to a new city and began Melkite Greek Catholic for Sundays and daily @ Roman. Through years of prayer and study converted to Orthodoxy. Moved again and was sucked back momentarily (about a year) into the Catholic Church and am back home in Orthodoxy to stay.

I also would like to know how you had a “loss of spiritual growth?” I don’t ask this with a sarcastic or condescending tone, I ask it sincerely. What had you done or experienced in the orthodox church that had given you spiritual growth that you ended up losing in the catholic church?

I’m quite sure I’ll be unable to adequately express it in words. My spiritual father noticed it also, so I know it’s not just a misperception on my part. My spiritual father offering me hope said that like when King David had sinned, he had lost the Holy Spirit and where he had been spiritually, but after the sin which had humbled him, he eventually regained all that he’d lost spiritually and then exceeded his former. I’m sorry I don’t know how to express the spiritual growth, I’d lost…but I can say that I’m seeing a come back. I’m already (by the grace of God) noticing more strength against the logismos and prayer is coming so much easier too!

I’m not passing judgment but wanting to understand. I myself have been in a similar situation as you, only I went back and forth between the Anglican and Catholic churches. If you’d like to IM me about it rather than post it here, I’d be most open to knowing your story. God bless

Thank you for the blessing. Darn, wish I’d read this last part first because it is quite humbling and I’d have preferred to answer you privately, but I’m almost finished and it’s hard to type all this on my phone & I’m unwilling to start all over:blush: I’m glad I’m. Not the only one to allow Satan to use as a pingpong. As long as he can keep us bouncing, we fail to grow roots and are unable to make spiritual progress. I noticed that I wasn’t tempted to go back to the Catholic Church until I’d failed to keep the Orthodox Fasts, didn’t make my Prayer Rule a priority and missed Divine Liturgy due to sleeping in - that was made a breeding ground for demons’ logismos to enter in and take root. Now I have learned the hard way that I can’t let go of watchfulness even for a minute.

Each time we fall, we must rise! Part of my Prayer Rule is 100 metanoias / prostrations. From standing to the floor to standing 100 times this is training really that each time we fall, we MUST rise! Let this be the lesson from my failures. I hope others to learn the easy way - I’m a dork and usually need the hard way to learn lessons.

God bless you too!
Click to expand...
 
I came to the Catholic Church, simply put, after I started reading what the Catholic Church taught from Catholic sources, instead of the reports I had been getting from non-Catholic (i.e., Orthodox) sources.

I realized what the non-Catholic sources were stating about the Catholic Church were either misconceptions (and a few outright lies).

It was a 3 - 3 1/2 year process for me. As I learned more, I realized how similar my own Coptic Orthodox Church was to the Catholic Church. Given the Catholic Church’s acceptance of the Sacraments of my Church, and the strides in Christology between our two Churches, I was pretty content to remain Coptic Orthodox.

But something happened one day (deeply personal, that I don’t really want to talk about) and within 24 hours, I had resolved to become Catholic. I’ve been growing ever since.

Here is a more complete relation of my translation to the Catholic Church:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=202141

Blessings,
Marduk
 
There are many Catholics here who came over from Orthodoxy, and also a lot of Catholic reverts from Orthodoxy. But I think, generally, you will find them lurking more in the Eastern Catholicism forum, or the Apologetics forum. Perhaps if you ask your questions there, you will have more fruitful replies.

Remember the forum rules. An identical thread cannot be repeated in different Forums. If you reword your initial post, it should be fine, or you can ask the moderator to move this thread to either one of those two forums. FYI, there is much, much more traffic in the Apologetics forum than any other forum in CAF.

Blessings,
Marduk
 
SingleMomMonica said:
Roman Church…early on I did try to go to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church once I began missing Divine Liturgy, but the priest said I’d have to commit to NEVER going to a Roman Catholic Church again because of their different theological beliefs. I couldn’t make that commitment, so I spent the year in the Latin Rite. I have to admitt it was one of the red flags that I’d made the wrong decision. Being Orthodox, I’d forgotten how each Catholic Church is so different from each of the other Catholic Churches and that was a water in the face wake up reminder.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your answer. I am very surprised that a Melkite priest would ever say that to you since the Catholic Melkite Theology is almost the same as the Roman theology, and also since they are Catholics in communion with Rome. But anyway, it is/was your decision to make and the important thing is that you are at peace with yourself where you are. God bless.

PAX DOMINI :signofcross:

Shalom Aleichem
 
SingleMomMonica said:
Eventually, I discovered that what I’d honestly thought was a quote of St, John Chrysostom was actually part of the work: Thesaurus of Greek Fathers which had been determined to be a mix of forged quotations attributed to St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Maximus the Confessor by 19th Century Catholic Historian Lord Acton, unfortunately before it was discovered to be a work made up of forgeries, Thomas Aquinas in his work: Against the Heresies of the Greeks had relied on these forgeries, they have since, even though are known to be forgeries have even be placed in a recent work of James Likoudis’ book: Ending the Greek Schism.

Once I discovered that my ONLY true reason for converting to the Catholic Church was based on a forgery, I knew I had to come home to the Orthodox Faith. I waited for like 4 months and then went to Confession last Saturday and was welcomed home to the Orthodox Faith. It feels so wonderful to be back and back on track spiritually. I have a lot of lost time to make up for as I was out of the Orthodox Church for about a year.
Click to expand...
This is am amazing and very instructive post.

If you can bear it, I invite you to read the last few pages of the thread “Pet Peeve…A comment of Tim Staples” forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=415600. Links and information are assembled so that you can look at what SMM cites as reference information for her assessment of the source of the Chrysostom quote and its authenticity. Overall, relevant to this particular claim, it is clear that SMM is misinformed on many facts, and uninformed on others.

There are many factors that inform the decision about church affiliation, and I do not intend to judge anything about the choices made by SMM, who seems well-intentioned, or anyone else. On the other hand, on this forum we often hear of such decisions being informed by “research”. IMO this method of informing such decisions is fraught with grave spiritual danger: we can easily become a terminal victim of our own poor scholarship. This approach is more dangerous than doing a little reading, then self-treating serious disease. For safety, there must be reasons that are more robust or skills far better developed. And I urge prudence and caution to everyone, independent of whatever change they would make in their church affiliation.
 
dvdjs said:
This is am amazing and very instructive post.

If you can bear it, I invite you to read the last few pages of the thread “Pet Peeve…A comment of Tim Staples” forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=415600. Links and information are assembled so that you can look at what SMM cites as reference information for her assessment of the source of the Chrysostom quote and its authenticity. Overall, relevant to this particular claim, it is clear that SMM is misinformed on many facts, and uninformed on others.

There are many factors that inform the decision about church affiliation, and I do not intend to judge anything about the choices made by SMM, who seems well-intentioned, or anyone else. On the other hand, on this forum we often hear of such decisions being informed by “research”. IMO this method of informing such decisions is fraught with grave spiritual danger: we can easily become a terminal victim of our own poor scholarship. This approach is more dangerous than doing a little reading, then self-treating serious disease. For safety, there must be reasons that are more robust or skills far better developed. And I urge that care to everyone, independent of what sort of changes they would make in their church affiliation.
Click to expand...
 
I am confused. Was the false quote listed in the Thesaurus or was it the Thesaurus that showed it to be false?
 
ralphinal said:
Ok. So how did Aquinas quote a work that was written several hundred years after him?
Click to expand...
You make no sense. The forgeries were written like in the 7th or 8th centuries and then were quoted in many works…Thomas Aquinas’ work was one of many that contained quotes from the many forgeries.
 
SingleMomMonica said:
You make no sense. The forgeries were written like in the 7th or 8th centuries and then were quoted in many works…Thomas Aquinas’ work was one of many that contained quotes from the many forgeries.
Click to expand...
That is why I am confused. You said that the work was written by a 19th century Catholic author.
Thesaurus of Greek Fathers which had been determined to be a mix of forged quotations attributed to St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Maximus the Confessor by 19th Century Catholic Historian Lord Acton,
Click to expand...
Unless there is a writing style issue that is making me misread what you said
 
ralphinal said:
That is why I am confused. You said that the work was written by a 19th century Catholic author. Unless there is a writing style issue that is making me misread what you said
Click to expand...
There is an syntax issue. But there are worse problems. SMM is getting things mixed up between certain forgeries of the middle ages (her 7th or 8th centuries), and the Thesaurus (1200’s). Lord Acton is much later. His work, that SMM gave as a reference behind the claim that the relevant quote of Chrysostom is a forgery, actually only refers to the forgeries of the middle ages. It does not mention the Thesaurus or the Chrysostom passage. forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=6175162&postcount=119.

In fact, of all of the references that she gives to support her claim of forgery, only one (Whelton’s book) mentions the Chrysostom passage. But it has been pointed out that Whelton gives no evidence to support the claim either. (also in the “Pet Peeve” thread).

A missing element of the analysis is the fact that the entire sermon from which this quotation is drawn is part of Migne’s PG, which being so much more extensive, is very unlikrly to have come from the Thesaurus, which is described as a “catena” of patristic quotations.

SMM’s claim, notwithstanding the importance that she gives it, does not appear to have any foundation.
 
Actually, I think SMM has justified herself incontrovertibly…

Can Dvdjs provide ANY evidence that she has not?

I am afraid that his ‘say so’, without quoting sources just doesn’t suffice.
 
Andrew_Phillip said:
Actually, I think SMM has justified herself incontrovertibly…

Can Dvdjs provide ANY evidence that she has not?

I am afraid that his ‘say so’, without quoting sources just doesn’t suffice.
Click to expand...
On this thread, I would agree. ON the Pet Peave thread, it is different. More evidence is given, including a work defending the Orthodox position that actually lists the Chrysostom quote as the only VALID one in the bunch.

As an aside, I am having trouble finding ANYTHING on the Thesaurus of Greek Fathers other than it being mentioned in Aquinas and in anti-Catholic (not in the bad way) works. Can anyone point me to the actual work or to a true resource on it?
 
Javl said:
Thank you for your answer. I am very surprised that a Melkite priest would ever say that to you since the Catholic Melkite Theology is almost the same as the Roman theology, and also since they are Catholics in communion with Rome.
Click to expand...
No it’s not.

Eastern theology and Western theology are polar opposites a lot of the time. Even the reason for Christ’s death are different.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top