My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
12 REASONS WHY I BECAME AND/OR REMAIN AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN
by Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Lists like this are usually so much clickbait, I know, but I thought it was nevertheless worthwhile to compile a list of most of the reasons why I became and/or remain an Orthodox Christian. Some of these things were not really on my radar when I became Orthodox in 1998, but they are part of the reason why I genuinely do love belonging to the Orthodox Church (which is why "and/or Remain" is in the title).
The nature of lists like this is such that they can't constitute apologetics, really, nor is this one (at least) intended to be universally applicable--these are my reasons. They may not be someone elses. It will also become apparent that my background as an Evangelical prior to becoming Orthodox is a major factor here. So, all that said, here's the list.
1. I believe the Orthodox Church really is the one, true Church of Christ.
There's a lot that could be said here, but the reason why I believe this is that I examined both the Scripture and the early history of Christianity, and I became convinced that the only Church that matches them both is Orthodoxy. Particularly formative for me were the writings of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John. The Church life he described was definitely not what I saw in Evangelicalism. Since he was someone who learned how to be a Christian from the Apostles themselves, I wanted to be in his Church.
Orthodoxy takes history seriously and doesn't gloss over the hard stuff. It also doesn't pick and choose from early Christian witness to develop a streamlined "system" of theology that is easy to swallow. Rather, because Orthodoxy is truly the community descended from the Apostles, within its theological memory are centuries of dogma, doctrine and theological reflection. Not all of it is totally consistent or easy to sort out, but it is nevertheless one great river of truth with an overall unified direction. One doesn't see that in the same way in Roman Catholicism (there are several major turns in history), and it is impossible to find that in Protestantism. Most Protestants aren't even concerned with it.
None of that means I regard non-Orthodox Christians as damned, nor do I even regard all Orthodox Christians as destined for eternal bliss. And Orthodoxy's truth is no testament to me. Orthodoxy is true, but not because of me.
2. Orthodoxy gives me something to do.
I don't mean I was bored and needed something to entertain me. I mean that the Christian life as I had been taught it prior to becoming Orthodox was essentially non-critical. I had been "saved," and there was really nothing critical to do after that. I should try to be moral, of course, and get other people to get saved, too, but those things weren't really necessary to the big question, which was: "Do you know what would happen to you if you died tonight?" Well, I knew, I was "saved." I was going to Heaven.
But what if spiritual life is actually all critical? What if you need to endure to the end to be saved? What if being a Christian means working out your salvation with fear and trembling? Orthodoxy provides a full-bodied, full-souled spiritual life that assumes that everything you do as a Christian makes you either more like God or less like Him, and because becoming like God is what salvation consists of, that means that everything you do is critical. You haven't "arrived" in this life. You should be moral and you should be evangelistic not because they get you bigger rewards in Heaven but because those things are part of what it means to cooperate with God so that you can be saved.
3. Orthodoxy gives me a way to see and touch God physically.
The Son of God became the Son of Mary, and that means that He became visible and touchable. In Orthodoxy, the implications of the doctrine of the Incarnation are that the divine presence--holiness--actually becomes present in the material world. Now, one can argue that the presence is uniquely present only in one physical place--the human body of Jesus--or one can be consistent and see how holiness shows forth in lots of other physical places both in the Bible and in subsequent Christian history. Saints' bones, Apostles' shadows and even handkerchiefs touched by Apostles have all showed forth the power of God.
Within that context, when Jesus said "This is My Body" and "This is My Blood," it makes more sense to take Him seriously and not just metaphorically. That's why Saint Paul warned that people who received Holy Communion unworthily could get sick or even die. If it's "just" a symbol, why would it do that?
The physicality of Orthodoxy--Sacraments, incense, vestments, church architecture, icons, etc.--don't get between me and God. They put me in touch with God. A bridge between two cliffs does not get between the cliffs but rather connects them. Orthodoxy's many physical elements are not manmade magic, but the working out of God's gift of the Incarnation, the reconnecting of God and man.
4. Change is really hard.
People sometimes joke that Orthodoxy is not really an "organized religion," with emphasis on "organized." There is no Pope handing down uniform instructions to the whole Church; our chiefest prelates often can't seem to get along; and it seems like we're going to get around to holding that Great and Holy Council we've been talking about for nearly a century. But all those things don't bother me. For one thing, it means that sheer logistics make it nearly impossible for us to alter what we do.
And if all that Eternity and Truth stuff is really true, why should we even think about altering it? It can't get voted on democratically, and it can't get imposed monarchically. So change doesn't much happen. That's not a bug. It's a feature. Orthodoxy is not going to change out from under you.
That lack of organization also leads me to love Orthodoxy for another reason, too:
5. Orthodoxy really is one church.
Unlike the denominationalism of the Protestant world, the various churches of Orthodoxy really do have to have to talk to each other and work things out. A Presbyterian and a Lutheran may each recognize each other as Christian, but they have almost no stake in each other's internal church life. The same even holds true of someone belonging to the PCA and someone belonging to the PCUSA (both Presbyterian denominations). They don't have to work anything out between them. A PCA church plant does not in any way infringe on the territory of the PCUSA, because they're not the same church.
Orthodoxy may often bicker and fight (though most parishioners never see this unless they happen to be in a dysfunctional parish), but the fact that we have such bickering and fighting with each other means that we recognize in each other that we are one Church, that we have a problem and that we need to fix it. Protestants always have the option of just splitting (and once splits occur, they don't have to bother with each other), while Roman Catholics can ultimately appeal to the Vatican, who can impose solutions that work for the Vatican but might not work for everyone else involved.
6. Orthodoxy is a faith for the whole life.
Because Orthodoxy comes with a vast set of expressions of its tradition, you can never exhaust it all. There is always something new not just to learn but to become. While we don't really "arrive" until the next life (and I'd argue even that is not an arrival; that is, it's not the end of the road of salvation), there are many way-stations in this life that delight and grant joy. The difference between Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism in this regard is that I'm talking about not just growing in wisdom, which is common to all religious traditions, but that Orthodoxy tracks many stages of spiritual development throughout a whole lifetime.
I remember one time hearing a monk explain the response he got from a holy elder on Mount Athos after asking him many questions. The elder replied that some things just wouldn't make sense to him until later, until he'd received some level of illumination (theoria). It's true. One cannot read a "Statement of Faith" from Orthodoxy (not even the Creed) and say, "Ah, yes. That is everything Orthodoxy teaches. I understand it now."
Again, that's not a bug. It's a feature. Yes, we like things to be simple, to be readily accessible to everyone, but any faith that is not complex enough to address all the complexities of human experience is not worthy of the dignity of mankind. Orthodoxy provides that in a way that I haven't found anywhere else.
(To be continued)
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MY BLESSING TO ALL OF YOU
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
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Glory Be To GOD For All Things!
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George