by Ekaterini
I am a convert
to Orthodoxy and live in regional Australia. I came to my local Greek Orthodox
Church from the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch whose Patriarch is based in
Syria. In Australia, this Church is known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church.
There are five traditions of World Orthodoxy represented in my area, but only
the Greek and Serbian traditions are "affiliated" with the Patriarch
of Constantinople. Only rarely do these churches offer a Divine Liturgy in
English.
I'd like to
share with you some of my thoughts on what difficulties converts face on coming
into the Orthodox Faith. It has been my experience that, if one wants to do
more than just participate in a "nominal way" in the life of the
church, a full commitment to the Orthodox Faith is what is required. My sole
purpose in writing this letter is to increase awareness of the process of
conversion to the Faith. I pray that I will do this with humility. Hopefully,
by sharing some of my thoughts with you, we can learn from one another that the
road will be made just a little easier (not just for those converts who may
come after people like me but for each one of us whose spiritual journeys are
often unique and deeply personal as we aspire to live our lives in the Lord's
name).
People who
come to the Orthodox Church from another faith are required to do Catechesis.
This means taking instructions in the Orthodox Faith. On transferring over to
the Greek Church, I was given special permission by the Bishop so that I would
not have to undertake any more catechesis. I was also granted approval to be
Chrismated any time after that. Because of the unique circumstances that led me
to the Greek Church, I found myself as the only convert attending the church on
a regular basis, in need of a kind of "unofficial" catechesis. This
was not only because I was grasping with a new faith and how to truly live an
Orthodox life in the outside world, but also because of the particular
demographics of the church and my reawakening to its different culture and
language.
Such an
experience has given me a good foundation in Orthodoxy and has helped when I
have had to face the various challenges of life. I have held a strong
conviction that Orthodoxy is the true Faith for a long time. I wanted to offer
my commitment to God through not just the Sunday Services but some of the most
wondrous services in the Orthodox Church including the Paraklesis (Service of
Supplication) and Esperinos (Vespers). I longed for some English in the
Services so that I could explore all the senses... Orthodoxy is certainly an
encounter of the mind, body and soul.
Converts have
a variety of experiences coming into the Faith ranging from virtually turning
themselves inside out as they throw out a lot of their values and beliefs held
for a life time. For others, the move to another faith can be quite smooth.
The
difficulties of course are naturally more likely in parishes where only one or
two converts come to church on an on-going basis and want to participate
regularly in the various services and not just in the Divine Liturgy. The
church may also be of one particular ethnic persuasion and/or have a particular
age demographic.
This lack of
understanding may have been colored by a particular parishioner's personal
experiences of family members becoming Orthodox for the sole reason of wanting
to marry someone in the family who happens to be of that faith. Anecdotal
evidence tends to show that once married, such new family members rarely, if
ever, attend an Orthodox church.
As far as my
own transition to Orthodoxy is concerned, I found myself asking lots of
questions - everything from: "Why did God send me in such a roundabout way
back to the Greek Church; the very church from where I thought about converting
some 20 years ago?" to "What
sort of spiritual and practical commitment is expected from anyone who is a
member of a parish community such as the one I found myself in?"
It means:
- Asking ourselves every day about what are we aiming for in the
Christian life and being aware that what we think, say and do should be in
line.
- Offering ourselves to God in the service of His Kingdom, not just
on Sundays, but every day of the year.
- When you feel discouraged, being strengthened by encouraging
comments from Greek-Australians.
- Trying to throw out the legalisms carried over from one's former
faith as one works through what should actually be one's personal response
as an Orthodox confession and communion.
- Learning that the role of the spiritual father is not the same as a
Catholic Priest.
- Exposing one's own weaknesses to a spiritual father in order to
better understand one's response to the Faith; to better understand
ourselves and with God's help see the inner state of our soul and grow
even more from the experience.
- Knowing that when things get really tough, we need to just step
away and taking a sabbatical for a while, remembering not to be too hard
on ourselves. There is so much to grasp as a committed convert coming into
the Church and we are all only human, after all!
Despite the
obstacles, coming to the Church has made me stronger spiritually in a lot of`
ways. It has been difficult though, to offer patience in the midst of
affliction. Sometimes, when the affliction brought about by others causes us
immense pain, we need to try and liberate ourselves from such encounters by
reminding ourselves that the suffering of the moment is not worth worrying about,
considering the glory we will experience later on (Romans 8:18).
I understand
that Orthodox witnessing is setting an example to others by bearing witness to
the Truth and is the job of every member of the Church. By having such an
outlook, we can actually help our local Parish in genuine service. So, ideally,
this offering of ourselves should be a way of life. We should be in a
continuous relationship with God and hopefully we should be having an ongoing
dialogue with Him and His people. The words " Your own of Your Own, we
offer to you" are a declaration of our Faith. We should give God all our
time, talent and treasure every moment of the day, because He has given us His
gift of grace out of unconditional love for us.
I feel we have
a wonderful treasure in the Orthodox Christian Faith. Others really should be
able to see the beauty of our Faith. Let us consider challenging the attitudes
and modes of our being, so we can continue to grow in the Faith and the Love of
Christ.
from The Greek Australian VEMA, Dec
2003, p. 39.
Source: http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/main.htm
CONVERSATION