What's Your Past And Present?

[Anastasios]

Thank you Orthodoc for being upfront. Let us put this discussion to rest now as it is causing us to feel anger which is sinful.

anastasios

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

<<insert OCA bashing tirade followed by a short outburst here>>

[尼古拉前执事]

... I should continue to confess and commune in [Uniate/Latin] Catholic Churches.

I know this thread came to a nice ending, but I just had to comment. I was still attending a Uniate church when I came to the realization that the Orthodox Church was the one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Church, the One True Church that Christ started.

So I stopped confessing and communing. Afterall during the examination of conscience before confession it asks if I believe everything that the Uniate/Latin church teaches. Not doing so, I could neither confess nor commune. Eventually I could not even attend because I felt like such a hypocrite being there in a church I did not agree with.

Anastasios, I understand why you would go to a Uniate/Latin church because of your wife, but I honestly do not know how you could confess and commune if you do not believe the teaching of the Uniate/Latin church and believe that it is not the one true Church that it claims to be. Communion, after all, means agreement in dogma, doctrine & Faith and you say you do not agree with the Uniate/Latin church on these things.

[OrthoDoc]

[So I stopped confessing and communing. Afterall during the examination of conscience before confession it asks if I believe everything that the Uniate/Latin church teaches. Not doing so, I could neither confess nor commune.]

Not having ever been a papal Catholic (Latin or Uniate), I was not aware of this. Your decision (which I highly respect) saved you from being a hypocrite!

[but I honestly do not know how you could confess and commune if you do not believe the teaching of the Uniate/Latin church and believe that it is not the one true Church that it claims to be. Communion, after all, means agreement in dogma, doctrine & Faith and you say you do not agree with the Uniate/Latin church on these things.}

Very good points Nick. Perhaps Anastasios will explain.

Orthodoc

[Justin Kissel]

Peter,

There's so much more to write but this was supposed to be brief I believe.

If you'd like to post more, please do so! I mentioned about being brief because I didn't want people to be intimidated by the thread, as though they would have to write these huge posts. Any information that someone wanted to offer was what I was hoping for. By all means, post more If you do, I will to (I use to think that that was sort of prideful, posting about yourself, but I've since seen that it's not... even Fr. Arseny encouraged people to tell others their conversion/spiritual stories).

[Natasha]

Peter wrote: " I had always been most aware cultuarally of my Ukrainian roots(actually, my dad always just called it Russian, but that's not really the case), "

There are many historical reasons for the Ukrainian/Russian confusion. It could be just due to the frequent border changes, or because of the Austrian rule and the animosity that resulted. Have you looked into it?

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

Again, I must point out that everyone is critiquing Anastasios for his practice and beliefs.

Anastasios is simply following the "good council" of the OCA. You are all asking someone who is not even new in the faith and someone who is not even in the church, to shepherd himself, contrary to what the OCA, the group that is supposed to be "wiser" than him, is telling him!

If I were Anastasios, this would be good cause to question what he is converting to.

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. And a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." (John 10:1)

That is, “My disciples hear My words with a simple spirit, and accept them in their hearts without passing them through your complicated intellects and creating theories; accept them with faith like the innocent sheep which hear the voice of the shepherd and run close to him”. And that those who are not the true shepherds, they have a “voice of strangers”, that is, they say things which you will recognize as new and strange teachings, which were unknown to the flock in all ages past.