Why was our experience in "Holy" Orthodoxy so..?!?

[Photini]

I am so intrigued by this website. I was raised Roman Catholic, but did not know who Jesus is. Ten years ago, I had a very dramatic born-again conversion experience, including many miracles. As a result, I turned my life over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To make a long story short, after much study and "shopping around" for a church home, I finally decided to join the Holy Orthodox Church. I was soon disappointed, however, by how lukewarm this church was. It was more like an ethnic country club filled with meaningless activity, than a body of believing Christians striving to be more like their Savior; there was zero desire to truly live for the Lord, or to even learn about Him! Even though Orthodoxy "looked good on paper," when my family was truly participating, we began to spiritually starve. The last straw was when our Priest said, from the pulpit, "One cannot know God personally; that is purely a Western notion." This was no place to raise our babies to know and love our Lord Jesus! We finally ended up joining an evangelical congregation (Foursquare), where we are ever exhorted to higher ground, though I personally miss aspects of Orthodoxy, especially the beautiful Divine Liturgy. After stumbling upon your website, however, my question is, could we have unwittingly been in one of the "non-traditional" Orthodox parishes? Are there really Orthodox Christians out there who are serious about their faith, and who want to follow Jesus? Please know that I do not mean this disrespectfully-- after my own family's dismal experience, I am just so surprised!!! Please-- tell me more!
Sincerely,
Photini (my baptismal name) ><>

[Justin Kissel]

I think that there are parishes/churches like you describe in every Church/Denomination. Sometimes, people are just happy being a social/ethnic club, and the pot-luck, youth groups, etc. are what they deem to be the most important. Sometimes it's worse, and many people view the connections they can establish to be most important. Orthodox parishes of all types can be like this as well. It's just as possible for a so-called traditional parish to be hung up on ethnicity, as it is for a so-called non-traditional parish. But, I think that most traditional parishes are God-oriented, as are most non-traditional ones.

I don't think the important difference is in whether they are traditional or non-traditional, but rather in who they have as a priest/pastor, and what the people themselves are after. I have been in parishes that have maybe 40 people on Sunday mornings, because it is in a small town, and most of the people leave town once they hit 18. This parish has, from the outside, all the signs of being a dying parish. It's priest still has an old world accent; the average age of the laity is probably above 55; they don't participate in the local clergy meetings like most of the other churches in town do. Yet, the faith of this parish is vibrant; the priest is most eager to say hello, most happy to have a young person actually ask him for a blessing, and basically doing what they can just to survive.

I guess my point is, you can't always judge a book by it's cover. I don't doubt that you had a bad experience at the parish you mentioned. It's understandable that you'd question whether your experience was just what you could expect everywhere else. Personally, I'd say, just try different parishes, whether traditional or non-traditional. See what they are like; call the priest and talk to him, or just talk to whoever picks up the phone and see what you think. I remember when I first was trying to become Orthodox. There were 3 Orthodox Churches in town, two of which weren't reachable by phone, and both of which didn't have services when they claimed they were having them. We Orthodox aren't very organized. Ok, we're downright chaotic at times. But, there ARE people in Orthodoxy with golden hearts, who are on fire to serve the Lord. They read their bible. They pray. Most of all, they live their life by faith.

But Orthodox are also big on humility and simplicity, so the person who is really on fire for the Lord won't attract as much attention as he would if he were in other groups. It's loudmouths like me who get attention (or more likely, cause disruption), but we are neither humble nor virtuously simplistic. Now my wife, she is both humble and simplistic. And she loves God. But she's not someone who you would probably notice. But if you search for her, she's there. As are many others who serve our God. If I could give one bit of advice, it would be not to exchange one label for another. Don't assume that the traditional label is a guarantee that you'll be getting what you're after. As my Protestant pastor used to say, "If you ever find the perfect parish... RUN! You'll just ruin it."

[joasia]

Are there really Orthodox Christians out there who are serious about their faith, and who want to follow Jesus?

OH, yes, yes, yes!

I was Catholic too. Oh, Photini, please don't give up. If you don't have a church now, then collect the lives and writings of saints from the net. There are so many wonderful stories. And buy the books too. And ask as many questions as you want here. There are very knowledgable people here and they're good people.

Ask God to guide you and He will lead you down the path He wants you to follow. Trust. Afterall, He brought you here, right?

I'm looking forward to many wonder spiritual discussions.

God bless,

Joanna