Conversion experiences: Advice and comments

[Christopher Huckabay]

I would be most interested in hearing about the experiences of those who converted to Holy Orthodoxy from Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, or other faiths. I was raised Southern Baptist and was blessed to find the light of Holy Orthodoxy in the last year. I think the sharing of our past can keep us mindful of the beauty and truth we have found in the Faith.

[Justin]

I was baptized Catholic as an infant, though I wasn't raised Catholic. The view of religion in the home(s) that I grew up in was somewhere between Agnostic and Deist. At about the age of 18 I started watching a Christian TV personality named Bob Enyart, and attending a Wesleyan Holiness Church with a friend of mine. After a few months I went to the front of the Church and "got saved" (actually what I did was commit to studying God and the Bible). For the next couple years I studied the Bible from a mostly (Protestant) Ultra-Fundamentalist perspective, though the Wesleyan theology of the Church I was attending also played a part in my spiritual development.

At about the age of twenty I started to attend a denominational (liberal arts) college in Florida as a Biblical Studies major. Two major things happened here within the first few months that forever changed my life and eventually led me into Orthodoxy. First, theology had always been a "hobby" for me (I shudder to think of it as such today, but that's how I viewed it then). At college then, with only a few easy courses to worry about (and no job), I found myself with lots more free time to study. The conclusions I came to, though, clashed to a great degree with what I'd been taught. Also during this time I was seperated to a degree from the teaching of the Ultra-Fundamentalist that I had been following. This came just as I was confronted not only with other perspectives on religion, but other cultures altogether (there were students from as far away as Africa attending the college). I quickly learned that not only was my theological understanding flawed in many serious ways, but it just plain didn't work in the real world (ie. outside of the little protective bubble I had created for myself in my hometown).

After the first year at the College I decided to not return, and to leave Protestantism altogether. I honestly didn't think Catholicism a real possibility, but I knew that I couldn't be a sincere Protestant either (e.g., I constantly found myself criticizing the theology of sermons and hymns I heard instead of actually concentrating on worshipping God). I went out searching for the truth, but unfortunately my methodology was bass ackwards. At a time when I shouldn't have been praying an enormous amount of time every week, I was in actuality not praying at all. Not even an "Our Father" every once in a while. I was approaching things from a purely academic/intellectual perspective. As I was exploring Orthodoxy a Priest recognized this and basically told me that if this was the way I was approaching Orthodoxy I might as well stop looking into it. So I did.

I went the other direction instead and read things like Borg, Kung, Pagels, etc. This lasted for only a few months though, and I think it was at that point that I finally got it. God is sought through experience and prayer and loving him and others, not through learning or thinking about him alone. I was reading all kinds of stuff that sounded logical enough, or at least tenable based on the available evidence, but my gut (I dare not say spiritual discernment) told me it was mostly hogwash. With that in mind I returned to exploring Orthodoxy, but this time in a more experiential, prayerful way. Many Catholics helped me at this time to see that God did indeed found a Church, and that he promised/prophecied that it would not fail or be overtaken by heresies. So, I went searching for it.

I ended up looking, finally, at only the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. I tried to figure out (I pray through the guidance of God) where the Church was best embodied today. As I read about the early Church, and tried living an orthodox life, and sought to experience catholic orthodoxy and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I eventually came to see Orthodoxy as the place where God's spirit was most present (It should not be inferred from this that at some point in the future I might decide that the Holy Spirit was not present in Orthodoxy and therefore might leave). I especially found that as I read the early Church Fathers, especially Clement of Rome and Ignatius, among others, what I was seeing was much closer to the Orthodox position than the Roman Catholic one. As I went further into Orthodoxy I was also further assured that I was headed in the right direction (I'd rather not go into specific issues of praxis as it'd just sound like I was condemning the RCC, which I have no want to do).

I was brought into Holy Orthodoxy through chrismation last December (22nd) at Saint George Antiochian Orthodox Church, in Altoona, PA, by Father Vladimir (Belcher). Father Vlad was gracious enough to allow me to have Saint Justin (Popovich) as my patron saint, for which I am extremely thankful. The only advice I could think to give would be not to rush into conversion. Becoming Orthodox is much like getting married, and to say you wish to become Orthodox and then change your mind (especially after being a catechumen) is not unequal to committing spiritual adultery. Don't convert because of bad Priests or other such reasons. Only convert if you are sure that Orthodoxy is indeed the Church that Christ founded, that Orthodoxy has kept the faith as delivered to her, and that it is the place you are suppose to be.

[anthony cominsky]

I'm a revert to the Catholic Church by way of learning about the Orthodox Church. Though I returned to the Cath Church, it was perhaps the Orthodox Church that "saved me". Toward the end of my lapsed college years, as I searched for Truth in various places, I was drawn back to the Gospel and discovered the Fathers.

Long story made short: it was the witness of the Saints/Fathers that proved the Gospel to me. That the Apostolic Faith is able to be lived even today. The holy lives of the Saints proved to me that there was something real, tangible, in the Sacraments of the Church. They are not merely symbols. The connection between heaven and earth, the passing and the eternal, the Word made Flesh, exists in the Divine Liturgy/Mass.

I considered becoming Orthodox. Why didn't I "switch"? Again, the witness of the Saints. The Greek Orthodox have Elder Porphyrios, the Latin's Padre Pio. The Russians have St. Silouan, the Latin's St. Therese. The fruit can be the same, at least in my opinion. I didn't see this in the Protestant Churches or in the pseudo-Cath/Orth churches that have popped up recently.

Had I not been from a Polish/Lithuanian family that preserved the faith, or had a cousin who was a holy bishop, or an aunt who worked for a holy priest, or an awareness of some Cath saints, I might have become Orthodox.

So, to recap, it was the Saints, the Sacraments, and true Apostolic Succession that convinced me to return to the Church, in my case, the Catholic Church. But I wear a Russian Orthodox cross around my neck in thanksgiving to Christ, in honor of the Orthodox Church and her holy saints, and as a reminder of the role that Orthodoxy played in my re-conversion.

-tony

Glory to Jesus Christ!
Holy Holy Holy art thou, O God! Through the Theotokos have mercy on us.
St. Michael, pray for us.

[anthony cominsky]

I'm a revert to the Catholic Church by way of learning about the Orthodox Church. Though I returned to the Cath Church, it was perhaps the Orthodox Church that "saved me". Toward the end of my lapsed college years, as I searched for Truth in various places, I was drawn back to the Gospel and discovered the Fathers.

Long story made short: it was the witness of the Saints/Fathers that proved the Gospel to me. That the Apostolic Faith is able to be lived even today. The holy lives of the Saints proved to me that there was something real, tangible, in the Sacraments of the Church. They are not merely symbols. The connection between heaven and earth, the passing and the eternal, the Word made Flesh, exists in the Divine Liturgy/Mass.

I considered becoming Orthodox. Why didn't I "switch"? Again, the witness of the Saints. The Greek Orthodox have Elder Porphyrios, the Latin's Padre Pio. The Russians have St. Silouan, the Latin's St. Therese. The fruit can be the same, at least in my opinion. I didn't see this in the Protestant Churches or in the pseudo-Cath/Orth churches that have popped up recently.

Had I not been from a Polish/Lithuanian family that preserved the faith, or had a cousin who was a holy bishop, or an aunt who worked for a holy priest, or an awareness of some Cath saints, I might have become Orthodox.

So, to recap, it was the Saints, the Sacraments, and true Apostolic Succession that convinced me to return to the Church, in my case, the Catholic Church. But I wear a Russian Orthodox cross around my neck in thanksgiving to Christ, in honor of the Orthodox Church and her holy saints, and as a reminder of the role that Orthodoxy played in my re-conversion.

-tony

Glory to Jesus Christ!
Holy Holy Holy art thou, O God! Through the Theotokos have mercy on us.
St. Michael, pray for us.

[Mary Cecilia-Ann Stas Kissel]

I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church and received all of the sacraments there. One parent always made sure I got there but the other parent was hostile towards it, and this created a tense environment for me growing up. When I was about 16 or Seventeen I became very unhappy with what was occuring in the RC Church, it seemed like the Church was falling apart and I was feeling empty and disappointed and confused.

I started to look for another Church and I was talking to a girl online at the time too. She gave me information on a SSPX Church. At first I was unsure about that group because it sounded like a schismatic group and cultish (which, by the way, it is). Somehow though she convinced me that I was wrong. I started attending an SSPX church in the spring of my Sr year of highschool. I liked the SSPX Church a little bit because I learned some Latin while I was there and met some very nice people there. I also liked the fact that the ladies had to wear dresses or skirts and headcoverings while in Church. I was Confirmed for the second time in June of 2000. Somehow I was convinced by those around me that my rc sacraments were invalid because the rc church was liberal and they didn't perform the sacraments correctly. After I was confirmed for the second time things started becoming confusing to me again and I started to doubt everything that I was ever taught, and began to question my faith, and all of the Church teachings. I stopped attending Church at the SSPX and would just hibernate in my dorm room.

One day I just decided to surf the internet and I found one of my friends online, I had began to ask him many questions regarding Catholicism. Instead of him answering my questions he just direceted me to a website that had a directory of Eastern Orthodox Churches in my area, and he told me to call the priest closest to me and ask to visit their Church. He assured me that it would do no harm at all to go there, that they wouldnt force me into doing anything I didnt feel comfortable doing and that I would feel welcome there. I made the call and talked to the priest in charge of the Church and asked him about a way to come to visit the Church. He gave me someone's phone number and I called them and got a way to Church for the following Sunday.

My first visit was July 2000. I felt welcome immediately, everyone was kind and talked to me and the guy I went with let me use his book so I could follow along with what was occuring. I just knew deep down that this was my home. I knew I finally found what I was looking for. The priest answered all the questions I had and even gave me a book to read (I can't remember the title or author right now...). The book was also helpful to me. I loved this new Church very much and wanted to continue attending. I asked the priest how I could become Orthodox and we talked a long time about all of this. In Novemeber of 2000 I became a Catechumen in the Orthodox Church. That was the happiest day and the saddest day of my life. That day was the saddest because I realized right then how important the sacraments are, and how badly I missed them (at this point I hadn't received Communion anywhere since June 2000 when I was confirmed in the sspx). I really wanted to receive Communion very badly and was starving for it. I knew I had to wait though and it gave me something to look forward to. This was the happiest day because I knew I was doing the right thing, I have found the True Church. I would never turn back now. No matter what, I promised myself I would never ever leave.

On Palm Sunday, April eighth 2000 I was received into the Holy Orthodox Church (in the OCA jurisdiction) through Holy Communion, Chrismation and Confession. I was on cloud nine at this point and I was even 'higher' when I received Communion that day. This all felt like a dream to me, a dream I never wanted to wake up from.

[sinjin smithe]

Mary, what is the SSPX church? I have never heard of it.

[sinjin smithe]

By the way, a priest once told that there are three types of christians. One type is the person who is very happy and contented with their faith. The second group is the group of christians who don't really care i.e. they come to church on Sunday or for important days only. They go to church because it is the socially acceptable thing to do so to speak. The third group are those who are searching to know God, in other words they are looking for something more. These tend to be the people who convert from one religion to another.