Posted on 09/30/2004 4:42:17 PM PDT by Destro
Orthodox Church drawing converts from other branches of the faith
Saturday, September 25, 2004
By CHARITA M. GOSHAY Repository staff writer
AN ENDURING FAITH. The Very Rev. John Peck, pastor at Holy Assumption Orthodox Church in Canton, ministers to many converts of Orthodox Christianity like himself. Peck said Orthodoxy attracts people who are tired of congregational splits and denominational infighting.
CANTON -- The Very Rev. John Peck calls his faith “a religion off the radar.” The pastor of Holy Assumption Orthodox Church at 2027 18th St. NE for three years, Peck is overseeing a growing congregation that includes a sizable number of Christians who grew up in non-Orthodox denominations.
Peck said Christians are growing tired of churches that constantly change their doctrine or are splitting as a result of bitter divisions.
In contrast, Peck said, the essence of Orthodoxy has remained unchanged since it was born in the first century.
The Christian Church was a single entity until 1054, when it split into two parts, Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Protestantism was created as a result of a split from Catholicism in 1517.
“I wasn’t looking for Orthodoxy,” said Kim Krajci, a member at Holy Assumption for nine years. “It was the people that drew me in. My husband was Catholic and I was with the Friends. We weren’t worshipping together. I told him, ‘Wherever you go, I’ll go.’ A nun with whom he worked and a friend of his from college told him about this church. The people here are very loving. They manifest Christ. I find that irresistible.”
Unlike many Orthodox parishes that have strong ethnic identities, Holy Assumption does not. Peck, whose first parish was in Fairbanks, Alaska, conducts the liturgy in English.
“I don’t know Latin. Apart from (Eskimo), English is the only language I know,” he said with a smile.
A smiling Diane Wilkinson said that when she told her father she was converting to Orthodoxy, he asked her if she were becoming Greek.
Raised Catholic, Wilkinson said she joined the Charismatic movement, which led her to several Protestant churches in search of the truth.
“It irked my husband that there were so many denominations,” she said. “He was looking for the one true church, if it existed. I was looking for a real worship experience. People are really struggling with what is worship. They’re not looking for a make-it-up-as-you-go-along church. Everything you could want for your life is in Orthodoxy. You just have to take advantage of it.”
Peck said that like himself, about 60 percent of his members are converts. Most recently, the church has produced the Very Rev. Stephen Frase of Tuslaw, a Protestant convert and Malone College graduate who recently became a priest.
Peck himself grew up a Lutheran, then joined the Episcopal Church with his wife. They left Protestantism 12 years ago. Peck has been a priest for seven years.
Though Orthodoxy remains somewhat of a mystery, Peck said there’s less ignorance about the church these days.
“In Orthodoxy, there’s no arguing about basic Christian things that have been taught,” he said. “The tether of slicked-up Christianity has been turned loose in terms of theology and worship. We just don’t go for that.”
Peck said Orthodoxy requires commitment of its members. For example, the Orthodox are required to fast much more often than other Christians.
“It’s off the radar,” Peck said of his faith. “It takes a long time to complete the conversion process. That’s not popular.”
“This is a practice of faith that asks you to live a certain way, to act in a certain way,” Krajci said. “When I became a Christian, I was looking to live the Christian lifestyle. I even looked at several Christian communities. I didn’t understand until I came to Orthodoxy that I’d found it.
“There are a lot of people who think the guys in black do it all. ‘Liturgy’ means ‘work of the people.’ You work to worship. It’s not entertainment,” she said.
After attending one of Akron’s largest nondenominational churches for years, Kalle Obeng said she lost faith when the church changed its doctrine.
“When a church changes its doctrine, there’s a rift in that church,” she said. “People become disillusioned.”
Obeng said the experience sent her on a quest to study early church history.
“I visited different denominations and finally asked myself, ‘What am I supposed to be looking for?’ ” she said.
Obeng said a friend invited her to Holy Assumption, and that during the second time she attended, she had a revelation of the Virgin Mary as the mother of God and of the church.
That was eight years ago.
“It hasn’t been an easy thing, but it’s been a great thing,” she said.
Obeng, who is biracial, said she feels comfortable with Orthodoxy, which has deep roots in Africa.
Peck said Orthodoxy is appealing because it cuts across cultural boundaries though its doctrine remains unchanged.
“To the Orthodox, Catholicism is the Protestant Church,” he said. “It’s Orthodox-lite. I don’t mean that in a bad way. The framework of Catholic services is Orthodox. The Roman Church doesn’t do anything the way they did 100 years ago, let alone 500 or 1,000 years ago.”
“Continuity is a tremendous aspect most Protestants don’t understand,” Krajci said. “Repeating the same things week after week is an anathema in a culture that wants change.”
“There’s freedom in accountability,” Peck said. “Our newest liturgy is 1,300 years old.”
Ok, you're going in circles now. Those methods that result in the death of an unborn are not acceptable. Isn't that what we just covered when we discussed that abortiofacient methods are not acceptable?
Yet here you are, asking about the effects of exactly those methods which are not used. Why is this?
The woman using the contraception may not be in full posession of the facts, but those who deem its use licit have a grave burden of responsibility to be informed of the consequences of what they allow.
Sometimes I wonder if Roman Catholics somehow believe that Orthodox clergy spend their days blessing the use of contraceptives to the exclusion of all else!
A couple seeking to use contraceptives would have to present the reason for this to a clergymen who certainly would need to know the method they are considering.
And I'll repeat it for clarity, no abortiofacient methods are permitted.
Conservative til I die "In NFP, you have sex - with your spouse only - of course, which leads to the natural end of marital sex."
A thousand apologies beforehandm for the utterly inappropriate post that follows.
I'm sorry. The double entendre in this sentence is just too delicious for this Frenchman to let pass by.
'Sex with your spouse only of course leads naturally to the end of marital sex.'
Is this related to the plural cases in English?
mouse:mice
louse:lice
spouse:spice?
Thanks for the clarification. That takes care of moral theology, leaving only the small matter of sacramental theology, as I pointed out above. Though I say it as an outsider, it seems this would be a good way for the Orthodox churches to demonstrate that their appreciation for signs is deeper than mere sentimentality.
As a double outsider - what does that mean?
The Pope did not attend Nicaea I, Constantinople I, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Constantinople III, or Nicaea II. In all of these cases, the Pope sent legates to preside at the Council and later confirmed it by his authority. The Pope also sent legates to Ephesus II, the "robber synod", which he refused to confirm and is not considered ecumenical. It follows that the legatine authority is not sufficient to make a council ecumenical, and that the actual consent of the Pope is necessary.
Since the Pope did not attend the 880 Synod, and did not confirm it, it follows that the 880 Synod cannot be considered ecumenical.
The bishops of every nation must acknowledge him who is first among them and account him as their head, and do nothing of consequence without his consent; (Apostolic Canons, XXXIV)
Over these you ruled as a head over the members, among those holding office, displaying your good will. (Council of Chalcedon, Letter "Repletum est gaudio" to St. Leo I)
An excellent question. I recommend to you the excellent article Is Natural Family Planning a 'Heresy'?.
You cannot "rob" a man with no money, any more than you can "strip" him if he is already naked. Likewise, since conjugal acts carried out precisely in the infertile period do not, by the very nature of the case, have any natural procreative potential to begin with, it is obvious that they cannot be "deprived" or "robbed" of that potential.
The Orthodox would never consider a council ecumenical without the Bishop of Rome's participation. The Latin's on the other hand have no problem calling their councils ecumenical.
And I suppose excommunicating Photius counts as Papal "participation" in the 879-880 "ecumenical" Synod?
Any intentional and planned act that prevents contraception in a conjugal relationionship contraception. It takes a special mind to deny this.
But that is how the Catholic Church approaches the isse of divorce as well -- a denial. Officially, there is no divorce, but there is "annullment" -- the Church says that the marriage never took place (in a sense that it was an invalid Sacramanet). But, there is no limit to the number of annullments! The Orthodox Church, on the other hand, recognizes that we are human and fallible, and will grants us two chances to marry and divorce and no more.
What a mastery of rationalization! The bottom line is (and from all this philosophical mush many catholics don't seem to be able to see the bottom) that having sex for pleasure (knowing there will be no conception) is not condoned by the Catholic Church -- and having sex knowing that you are shooting "blanks" or that the woman cannot get pregnant is having sex for no other reason than joy.
What is wrong with you? The decisions of the so-called ecumenical council that excommunicated St. Photius was recanted by another Pope and made permanent. However, if you read the Catholic listings of "ecumenical" councils you will find the mention of the one the Pope rescinded and not the one that restroed St. Photius and rejected Filioque.
More rationalizations. Living in denial?
Kolokotronis"Most of the developments in the first millenium in the Church were our "fault"! :)
Liturgy is a manner of worship. as fra as I know, there is no set rule as to how the essential theological elements of the Liturgy can be expressed. Litugrical differences are indeed expressions of culture and times and are not to be confused with Church teachings which muist remain unchanged.
Knowing this, how can anything relating to the manner of worship be "our" fault? Am I missing something?
Again, where is the proof? I see assertions but no proof.
The pope sent three legates, Cardinal Peter of St. Chrysogonus, Paul, Bishop of Ancona, and Eugene, Bishop of Ostia. The synod was opened in St. Sophia's in November, 879. This is the "Psuedosynodus Photiana" which the Orthodox count as the Eighth General Council. Photius had it all his own way throughout. He revoked the acts of the former synod (869), repeated all his accusations against the Latins, dwelling especially on the filioque grievance, anathematized all who added anything to the Creed, and declared that Bulgaria should belong to the Byzantine Patriarchate. The fact that there was a great majority for all these measures shows how strong Photius's party had become in the East. The legates, like their predecessors in 861, agreed to everything the majority desired (Mansi, XVII, 374 sq.). As soon as they had returned to Rome, Photius sent the Acts to the pope for his confirmation. Instead John, naturally, again excommunicated him. So the schism broke out again. This time it lasted seven years, till Basil I's death in 886. (Catholic Encyclopedia, "Photius of Constantinople")
This must be some new Vatican II teaching. I would like to see some official Church teaching that says having sex for pleasure, er excuse me -- as an "act of love" (sure I love her when I am having sex with her!) -- is sanctioned by the Church.
Yes, that is something I have seen in just about every Orthodox church except in small communities where all the parishoners are known.
If, then, we consider the end of the divine institution of marriage, we shall see very clearly that God intended it to be a most fruitful source of individual benefit and of public welfare. Not only, in strict truth, was marriage instituted for the propagation of the human race, but also that the lives of husbands and wives might be made better and happier. This comes about in many ways: by their lightening each other's burdens through mutual help; by constant and faithful love; by having all their possessions in common; and by the heavenly grace which flows from the sacrament. (Leo XIII, Arcanum Divinae §26)
The point is that beyond the 7th or 8th ecumenical council - take your pick - the Orthodox Church is pretty much the same now as it was then.
If you could time travel and walk into a Church in the 700s you would know exactly what was going on and why it was going on. Can the Catholics or Protestants claim that?
That is authenticity (for lack of a better word) is what is drawing seekers to the Orthodox Church as this article mentions.
Love as in sex? In no comment above is their the mention of joy through sexual relations with your wife.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.