Eastern Orthodox Christianity

I have subscribed to the theology of eastern orthodoxy, myself

I am wondering what the order knows or if the order practices any of their beliefs

if you want to know exactly what they believe

http://www.youtube.com/user/yusefaltahir
this guy is a devout orthodox christian who posts videos explaining orthodoxy and other topics

http://www.youtube.com/user/allsaintsmonastery
this is an archbishop of the orthodox church who regularly makes videos

From our discussion on the last post (Schism in Christianity), you probably know that I have a great admiration for Orthodoxy.

I don't have much experience with it, aside from books I have read. If you want to know the view from someone outside of the church who is interested in possibly joining, I'll tell you this: Orthodoxy, at least for me, has been inaccessible. Both of the Orthodox churches in my area are ethnic enclaves. One is a large Greek church downtown, with the big domes and all. It's more friendly and open than the other church (I will get to that next), and they host the annual Greek Fest, and I'm sure a non-Greek wouldn't be asked to leave, but still, it caters to and is composed of the Greek community here, and I would feel like an invader.

Next is a small, nearly dead, Russian Orthodox congregation, that I have heard horror stories about. Supposedly, they are very prejudiced towards non-Russians (I didn't even know we had a single Russian around here...), and the priest won't even give communion to non-members.

That being said, I love the teachings of Orthodoxy, but it's not very accessible to many.

Star Forge wrote: From our discussion on the last post (Schism in Christianity), you probably know that I have a great admiration for Orthodoxy.

I don't have much experience with it, aside from books I have read. If you want to know the view from someone outside of the church who is interested in possibly joining, I'll tell you this: Orthodoxy, at least for me, has been inaccessible. Both of the Orthodox churches in my area are ethnic enclaves. One is a large Greek church downtown, with the big domes and all. It's more friendly and open than the other church (I will get to that next), and they host the annual Greek Fest, and I'm sure a non-Greek wouldn't be asked to leave, but still, it caters to and is composed of the Greek community here, and I would feel like an invader.

Next is a small, nearly dead, Russian Orthodox congregation, that I have heard horror stories about. Supposedly, they are very prejudiced towards non-Russians (I didn't even know we had a single Russian around here...), and the priest won't even give communion to non-members.

That being said, I love the teachings of Orthodoxy, but it's not very accessible to many.

if you are in america, the russians are ROCOR or ROAC

they excommunicated themselves from the communion

so we in no way support their actions, and I am sorry to hear that

My mothers second husband was Russian orthodox and my mother and I had to go through the rituals to be members of the church before they were even married. The SF bay area of California has several Orthodox Churches for Russians, but is not a largely populated religion that I know of any more, Greek seems to be the largest.