r/OrientalOrthodoxy

This is mainly for my Orthodox brothers and sisters, how do you respond to claims of people quoting the Ten Commandments with reference to the veneration of icon. I understand it to be veneration and not worship, my growing intrigue in Eastern Orthodoxy is making me question this more from those in the tradition themselves.

Many Protestants might argue against it being the church that Christ left due to icon veneration, but I think that’s an oversimplification on their part.

I have been thinking about it and, in the near future I think I may want to visit a coptic monastery. I have never been to one and so I am wondering, would it be better to wait a while for my church to go visit one as a group or maybe visit one on my own in a couple months? To anyone who has visited a monastery, what was your experience like?

I’ve been really leaning on Coptic Orthodoxy. But for some reason I’m really scared to submit myself to a church as well as to traditions. I have already reached out to a local priest but I’m just scared that I may submit myself to the wrong church or something like that. If anyone can give advice or help me along this journey. If you could give advice on what you did?

Скажу в кратцее лор событий:Мне 14 и я хочу стать православным священником. Я хожу в храм молюсь причищаюсь и пытаюсь возлюбить ближних максимально сильно.

Ситуацию:Я со своей девушкой значит смотрел проповедь одного священника. (Она у себя дома а я у себя) И мы сделали феноменально разные выводы.

Проповедь:Грехи они как пылинки. Их не нужно пересчитывать из нужно просто смыть. А в конце Отец сказал:Вот к примеру спрашивают:можно ли есть сырокопчёную колбасу. Что бы полезное спросили!

Её вывода она озвучила первая так как я ещё обдумывал а она уже все решила, и она выдает:в колбасе мяса нет но по вкусу она как мясо поэтому ее нельзя в пост.(это была не шутка она реально пришла к такому выводу.)

Я опешил. Иисусе сладчайший, помилуй нас!

Секунд 10 я думу думал и сказал что то вроде этого:

"Иисус он был распят за что?За то что кто то попил чай с молоком в пятницу или колбасу съел в страстную седмицу? Может он висит за масло в Успенский пост?

Нет, Иисус был перенесён в жертву за грехи а не за дурость. Он умер за грехи а не еду. Он умер за беззакония людей, за идолопоклонство, блуд, ложь, войны и педофилию и прочие прочие страсти и пороки людей.

Что лучше сделать в пост? Смотреть дебилов в интернете во время обеда НО С ВАРЕНОЙ КАРТОШКОЙ. Или убрать телефон взять Библию и почитать НО СО СТАКАНОМ МОЛОКА?"

Она мямлила и не сказала по итогу ничего. И я понять не могу для людей что правда жранье важнее каких то реальных поступков предательства войн в конце то концов.

Глагольте слова на сердце вашем;

forgive me if theres any grammar mistakes english isnt my first language

so, im agnostic and i dont really know much about orthodox christianity but my boyfriend recently found out hes an oriental orthodox christian and he told me homosexuality is a sin (we're both boys by the way).

and now we rlly dont know what to do because we cant be together if its a sin. ive tried researching if its actually a sin or not but theres multiple answers and interpretations and im genuinely really confused.

sorry if this sounds silly but i need answers i dont know what to do atp

Is there any veneration of Origen in the Oriental Orthodox churches?

I want to become Orthodox, but I don't know where to start

Hi everyone. So, I've been seriously considering becoming Orthodox, but I'm kind of lost and wanted to hear other people's experiences.

I'm from Brazil, and there aren't many Orthodox churches here, especially outside the major cities. I live in the countryside, and there isn't an Orthodox parish anywhere near me. And there's another thing: I've never been Catholic and I've never been baptized in any church.

My family has always been kind of divided when it comes to religion. I was raised Evangelical by my mother, and pretty much my entire mother's side of the family is Evangelical. I was always much closer to that side of the family. On my father's side, though, pretty much everyone is Catholic. My father, on the other hand, never seemed to care much about religion and was basically a non-practicing Catholic.

When I was a child, my father's family actually tried to take me to the Catholic Church a few times. The problem was that I had already learned a lot of anti-Catholic prejudices from my Evangelical family. I remember that when I was around 3–5 years old, my uncles even taught me that the Catholic Church was “Babylon” lol, along with a bunch of negative things about saints and other Catholic practices.

Obviously, I don't believe the whole “Babylon” thing anymore. There are still quite a few Catholic doctrines I disagree with, but at the same time, I find that I agree with the Orthodox theological perspective on many of these issues. In general, I seem to agree with Orthodoxy more than I disagree with it.

So it's kind of funny because I have a Catholic family on my father's side, but my actual religious upbringing ended up being completely Evangelical.

I grew up in the Assemblies of God, but I never really felt comfortable there. I always felt kind of like an outsider. Especially because of speaking in tongues. I could never really believe in it or identify with that experience.

I still have a lot of sympathy for traditional Protestantism today, especially Presbyterians and Reformed Baptists. But lately I've been learning more about Orthodoxy, and I've become really drawn to the liturgy, the sacraments, icons, and the whole ancient Christian spirituality.

The problem is that then I discovered there are actually several different Orthodox traditions, and now I'm even more confused lol.

I'm very interested in Byzantine Orthodoxy, but I've also become really fascinated by the Oriental Orthodox Churches, especially the Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopian, and Armenian traditions.

And I know they're not simply “the same thing with different liturgies” — there are important historical and theological differences between them. So I want to understand those differences better before simply deciding that I like one or the other.

Since I've never been baptized, I also have no idea what the process would look like for someone in my situation. And since there aren't many Orthodox parishes in Brazil, and none near me, I don't even know if it's possible to start studying/catechizing remotely and then travel to a church later.

So I mainly wanted to ask people who have been through something similar: did anyone here come from a Protestant background and become Orthodox? Or did anyone enter the Church without ever having been baptized?

And for those who know these traditions well, how would you recommend that I start learning about the differences between Byzantine Orthodoxy and the Oriental Orthodox Churches?

Any advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated. ❤️

I know the Judaizers were condemned for clinging to the Old Covenant "shadow" (circumcision) whereas the Church believes Sacraments are the "reality" of Christ

I know you don't view Sacraments as legal "works" to earn salvation, but as a beggar opening his hand to receive the medicine of Theosis.

I also know the Church teaches God is not bound by His Sacraments (hence He can save unbaptized martyrs), but that He has bound us to them as the ordinary means of salvation

And lastly I know the Orthodox view that faith without works/physical participation is dead

But even granting every single one of those premises, the structural paradox of a "Mandatory Physical Gatekeeper" remains completely unreconciled with the Apostle Paul.

You say the Sacrament is just a "beggar opening his hand" to receive grace. But the Church teaches God requires that hand to perform a specific physical ritual (Baptism, Eucharist) for justification

So if a beggar can just as easily receive grace directly from God through faith (as the Thief on the Cross did), but God refuses to normally give it unless the beggar performs a specific physical ritual, then that ritual is no longer just "participation", it is a procedural law

In Galatians 5:2-4, the Judaizers weren't trying to "earn" salvation, they believed Circumcision was the God-ordained covenant initiation (Genesis 17). But Paul said if you make this physical rite a mandatory gatekeeper for grace, "Christ will be of no value to you at all... you have fallen away from grace."

The Church admits that God can save a martyr entirely without physical medicine, directly through faith. So this proves the physical element has no actual ontological monopoly on grace. Grace is transported perfectly fine without it. If the physical channel isn't ontologically necessary to transmit grace, making it a "normative mandate" for salvation turns it into an arbitrary legal requirement the exact thing Paul fought against

My question is

If the Judaizers were alienated from Christ for saying "faith isn't enough;, you must physically partake in this God-given rite to receive covenant grace," how does using that exact same conditional logic for the Sacraments not alienate us from Christ today?

2. If the physical channel isn't actually necessary to receive God's grace (as proven by the martyrs), why demand it as a requirement for justification? Doesn't enforcing an unnecessary physical rule as a mandate for salvation make it a "New Law"?

3. If demanding a physical act as a gatekeeper to grace was condemned as a false, Christ-voiding gospel in the 1st Century (Galatians 5), by what logic does it become the definition of orthodoxy today?

4. James 2 says faith without works is dead, but Abraham was justified by faith in Genesis 15, years before he offered Isaac in Genesis 22. If works (and sacraments) are the fruit that prove a living faith, why does the Church make them the root required to receive saving grace in the first place?

Hi, I’m 15 years old. I’m not an Orthodox Christian, but precisely because of that, I’d like to ask Orthodox Christians for some help and guidance. I’ve already contacted two churches and I’m waiting for a response, but in the meantime, I’d like to share my situation here in case I can get some advice.

I’ll try to keep it as short as possible: I’m a trans boy, omnisexual and polyamorous, and I have left-wing and progressive political views. I’m currently an Ásatrúar, I pray to the Norse gods and follow their practices. However, deep down, I feel that Christianity is the truth, and this creates a conflict for me because there are aspects of who I am that I feel don’t fit with the Christian faith.

There isn’t an Orthodox church near me, and I also don’t feel comfortable enough talking to my parents about these subjects, so I’m not really sure how to approach all of this or who I can talk to.

I’m probably forgetting something, but I’m just writing down whatever comes to mind. I would really appreciate any guidance, advice, or personal experiences you could share with me. Thank you for taking the time to read this.