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Hi, I am Roman Catholic and my boy friend is Greek Orthodox. I want to learn about the Orthodox church as my boy friend and I had talked about marriage, and I am considering conversion. The little that I know Orthodox church has different denominations...???..Am I on right site to post my questions and learn about the Greek Orthodox faith and interfaith relationships?
Thank you, PRLady

Pr Lady!

Welcome!

Some good websites you might check out would be


www.goarch.org [goarch.org] (The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese)
www.oca.org [oca.org] (The Orthodox Church in America)


but always, ask questions of your local Orthodox priest first. He is in the one to go to!

Dear PRLady,

Welcome!

Brian is a great resource and he is a recent convert himself.

You might want to look into how much you would be expected to be GREEK as well as ORTHODOX too!

There are people on this forum who are really into the "ethnic" thing with respect to Eastern Churches.

I know that's hard to believe that people in this enlightened day and age are like that, but it's true.

They can also help in this respect as well.

Alex

Dear PR Lady,

One approach might be to attend, at least once or twice, an Orthodox service at a non-Greek parish. This will help you to distinguish what is purely ethnic from what is universal to Orthodoxy. The main contrast will probably be liturgical language, with the Greek parishes using more than 50% Greek and with the non-Greek parishes more than 50% English. The Antiochians, Albanians, and OCA will tend to have this 50%+ English pattern.

Despite the emphasis or lack of emphasis on ethnicity, Orthodox parishes are remarkably similar, especially in liturgical usages.

May the Lord guide your steps.

In Christ,
Andrew

Dear PR lady,
You may be interested to know that most of us would give the same advice to you if you were thinking of transferring to one of the many wonderful Eastern Catholic churches.

I heartily recommend a reading program that will help you understand the differing perspective of Byzantine spirituality, you may find opportunities to enhance your prayer life and spiritual development in one of the 21 other churches of the Catholic Communion. There may be one near your home!

I like to recommend (1) “The Orthodox Way” by Bishop Kallistos Ware (2) “The Face of God” by Archbishop Joseph Raya and (3) “Philokalia” which is a compendium of the actual Philokalia with comments and instructive helps by Anthony Coniaris.

These should help introduce you to Byzantine spirituality and practice whether you decide to become Greek Orthodox or Byzantine Catholic.

May Almighty God bless you always!!
Michael

PRLady,

I must frist comment on the conversion issue.... Is the conversion only for the sake of marriage/your future spouse? If the answer is yes then I would say that this type of conversion may not be correct.

I do not believe that conversion is necessarily called for when you are both already members of the True Church.

As for Alex,
You sure have gotten mean and nasty as of late, I can't help but say that I prefer you the old way.

I do not think this comment was called for at all.

As for the Greek Orthodox Church, from my experience being Greek has little to do with it here in the States. They welcome everyone.


David

Yesterday, my boy friend and I talked about going to church together. I will definitely talk to the priest. The ethnicity issue doesn't concern me as much as the language. This is all overwhelming and new to me.
Thank you guys so much for your replies and God Bless you,
Luly

PRLady,

As fellow RC let me welcome you to this cyber Parish.

Don't be put off by the occasional niggle of one to another - we are all , on the whole , Good Friends - we support each other in time of need

I echo what the others have said - go to the Liturgy be it Orthodox or Eastern Catholic - I'm sure you will come to love it as I do.

Take your time - there is no need to hurry over anything - just go and start to absorb the Eastern spirituality.

I Just know that I wish it were possible for me to apply for a Change of Rite .

Enjoy your journey .

God will show you in His time where He wishes you to be.

Anhelyna

Dear David,

Sorry I seem mean to you of late!

But I think you are reading into what I said things that are just not there, you meanie . . .

As PRLady said, the Greek language is an issue in parishes, even in your country where people apparently lose the power to speak in any tongue other than English (and the people in Britain deny you speak real English anyway).

For your information, Smartty Pants, I've had the ethnic issue come up with a number of converts I've worked with.

My friend who became an OCA Priest on Thomas Sunday was warned, by me, NOT to join the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

He didn't listen and joined. He had some bad experiences as a result and moved over to the OCA.

If you have some time, an apology to me would be appreciated.

Alex

I will apologize if that is necessary, but I do not think so.

We are not in a vacuum here. With that other thread going on and then you say.

With that other thread, it can be construed as a disparaging comment towards those who disagree with you on that thead.

As proof of this I offer myself, as that is how I took it.

Now, if you had included any 's or 's then I would have guessed that you weren't doing so, but without them I can only go by what I read as I have yet to perfect my mind reading skills, especially when there is one large lake between my mind and the one I am trying to read...... :p


David

Dear David,

Well, that was a sarcastic comment that describes myself on that other thread.

I thought that would be so obvious that I wouldn't need to put those smiley faces

There, are you happy now?

Can I have that apology?

Alex

Now boys! Let's be nice in front of the guests! Be on you best behavior! :rolleyes:

And don't forget to wash behind the ears and brush your teeth!!

Dear Coalesco,

You are right.

David's behaviour here has been appalling!

And in front of a new poster!

I'll come back when David decides to do the right thing!

Alex

Dear PR Lady:

While the boys continue their rather entertaining banter (I LOVED the "Smarty Pants" bit, Alex - and I mean that sincerely), I thought of a book you may want to add to your reading list.

The title is "Gold, Frankinsence and Myyrh - An Introduction to Eastern Christian Spirituality." It was written by a Jesuit whose name escapes me (I'll look it up at home tonight), but it would ssem to be quite appropriate for you given your RC background.

As for the ethnic thing, it's a hot topic around here right now, but don't let that discourage you from anything. Also, I'm sure that if you're getting to the point of discussion religion with your boyfriend, you probably have experienced his family life and know just how "Greek" they are.

Still, the suggestion of atteding at an "ethnically neutral" Byzantine Catholic or Orthodox parish at first might not be a bad idea.

Yours,

kl

I think after this last week there's a round of soap in the teeth for most of us!!

And that means you too Alex!

(Or did you get yours already?)