During Great Lent, I ran a series of posts from guest bloggers asking to explain why they became Orthodox. The why is important. Most of us are very good at telling the story of how we converted, but I asked contributors to reflect upon the reasons behind that story. I have spent the past three weeks reflecting on the posts in the series. What I learned was different than what I expected. Continue reading
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By David J. Dunn
My baptism (yes; that is a swimming pool)
I became Orthodox because I fell in love. Nobody can tell you why they fall in love. Nobody can make you fall in love. It just happens. In the mystery of Orthodoxy, I fell in love with a God who loves me, a sinner.
I came to God in a small holiness church. I was reared in the faith by wonderful people, people who taught me what it means to be a Christian. But I did not really love God. I thought I loved God in the way that a 12 year old girl thinks she loves a 12 year old boy. I was really afraid of God – afraid of hell – and tried to master my fears by mastering God. I studied the Bible, and later theology, to get God “right” and feel better about my own salvation. Continue reading
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By Holly Algood
I became Orthodox because my husband is a good man. Try as I might, I could not remove my husband from my religious calculus (and as a scientist, I tend to see most of life as an equation).
Twelve years ago I was a faithful, happy Catholic. I never missed Sunday mass. I sang hymns in my car. I went to confession more than once a year. I said the rosary while doing lab work. Then I met my future husband, a faithful, happy Orthodox Christian. I knew about that Eastern Rite Church. I thought, “we are not that different”. We saw our meeting as a blessing from God and we treated our relationship as a gift; a gift to help us reach salvation. Nearly 10 years ago, we married in the Orthodox Church with the blessing of the Catholic Church. I signed a document saying if we had children they would be raised Catholic. My Catholic priest attended the wedding and served us by giving a homily at the end of the Sacrament. We figured by the time we had children we would know which Church was best for our family. We wanted unity. Continue reading
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By Mark Timson
I became Orthodox because I didn’t want to be gay anymore. I wanted to write a high-minded, spiritual reflection for you about my deepening walk with Christ, but I’ve torn up rewrite after rewrite because none of them were true. I became Orthodox because I was a gay man in denial, which as we all know is more than a river in Egypt!
I was raised by devout Evangelical Protestant missionaries in the developing world, longing from middle school on for some way to change who I was, to stop being one of the guys responsible for the collapse of Western Christian civilization as my parents’ church knew it. I couldn’t love God and love another man, and I was tormented by this reality. When I finally discovered the strong, deep peasant Orthodoxy of my parents’ last mission field I thought I finally had a way to live in God as well as all the rules I needed to live righteously. And if you live in righteousness, the evils that beset you will be removed. Right? Right…
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By Sheila Mullican
I became Orthodox because God hurled me into it. Arms flailing. Guts wrenching.
My whole life has been a chasing after God. I first knew Him in a tiny church in Appalachia. My earliest memories include flannel-graphs, brush arbors, and foot washings. As an adult, I followed Him to a mega church in the city where I played in a rock and roll band (my daddy’s words) and offered the love of Christ to those far from God.
In all of those places, God was. And I had meaningful encounters. But I craved an intimacy with Him that eluded me. Though I would have told you my hope rested entirely in the grace of God, I frantically tried to prove myself worthy of His love. I volunteered for everything, certain that if I did just a little more He would be happy with me and want to be with me. Continue reading
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I became Orthodox because of the beauty of the Church and the Orthodox tradition. I found the theology to be luminous, ranging from restoration of the imago dei and the intricacies of personhood, to visions of cosmic integration and the victory of Christ over death and evil, a victory of being over non-being. The liturgy is ancient, the icons smoky and illuminated by small flames, the incense rose and myrrh tinged, and the chanting and music rich and wonderful. And perhaps most unexpectedly, I encountered the Person at the center of the beauty: Christ in our midst. Continue reading
Read about the “Into Orthodoxy” series here.
By Amir Azarvan
I am Orthodox because: