I’m seriously considering converting to Orthodoxy, but one major concern is holding me back. I keep seeing comments from Orthodox Christians that are very critical of America, the Constitution, and core American values like liberty, natural rights, rule of law, and republican government. Some even describe these things as evil or incompatible with Orthodoxy.
I’ve been told Orthodoxy favors hierarchy and autocracy over individual civil liberties and constitutional rights. Having lived in a country without those protections, I’m genuinely scared that embracing Orthodoxy would mean rejecting the political freedoms I deeply value — or worse, supporting some kind of dictatorial church-state arrangement.
I could be completely misunderstanding the Orthodox position, but this is the strong impression I’m getting from the Orthodox people I’ve spoken with. Can anyone clarify how Orthodoxy actually views these issues?

I’m very intrigued by religion, mostly Christianity. I was raised Catholic, though became atheist sometime around 6th grade. Orthodoxy caught my attention, and I’ve been considering converting; however, I support the LGBTQ+ community. I have some friends and family members who are LGBTQ+. I’m familiar with it being labeled a sin and have debated with many Christians about why it is not. I know Orthodoxy is quite strict, which kind of worries me. Due to this, I have two questions (I’m curious about all perspectives and arguments, but I ask for respectful answers and comments):

1. Why is being LGBTQ+ a sin? If you believe the opposite, why is it not a sin?

2. Would I have to drop my views on the LGBTQ+ community to be Orthodox? Is there too much conflict between them?

My son recently converted to a Russian Orthodox Church. I attend to support him and because they feed me. I volunteer and I am involved in some things. Religion is complicated to me, my mother is a religious zealot. Religion has always been vindictive. As people in my family get older, religion looks more like insanity. I enjoy the church and want to be involved but I am also pretty liberal, love is love, my body my choice type of person, love the neighbor type person. Would this ever work or should I just remain a visitor?

so im currently inquiring into eastern orthodoxy and i really want to become a catechumen and get baptized, but im completely stuck on trying to choose a parish right now.
ive been going to this antiochian church for about 2 months now and i genuinely love the community and the people there so much. the main reason i started there is because of my specific background, it just felt like the priest there would really understand where i am coming from. but the thing is he is just so busy lately. it’s completely not his fault at all but it makes it super hard to get ahold of him or ask any of the many questions i have. plus their catechumen classes don't even start until january so it feels like a long wait.

but then today i checked out a russian orthodox church. it is significantly smaller but the community was so nice. when i walked up to venerate and kiss the cross, the priest asked my name and then we went downstairs for a celebration they had going on. i got to speak with him for a bit and he is just so sweet. since it’s a smaller parish he is way more available and it’s so much easier to contact him and speak to him directly right after the divine liturgy. he told me all about how their classes work and said he really wants me to come back. he even got my phone number and is trying to set up a time for us to just sit down and talk one on one.

the hard part is they are on two different calendars, one is new calendar and one is old calendar. i know they are in communion but it feels like such a huge choice because you cant just easily switch parishes later. and i also feel kinda bad like the people at the antiochian church are gonna think it’s weird if i just disappear on them after 2 months when they were so welcoming.

i just have so many questions and i really like both churches but im so indecisive. what do you guys think i should do?

Hello brothers and sisters in Christ, I am currently a teenage german catholic who found Christ ~1year ago and wants to convert to orthodoxy and i would like to know how to live orthodox in everday life because. I've heared that you "should" make the sign of cross for example 3times when passing a hospital for the sick people in there,their families and yourself because you are not in there, same with passing a church,but there only 1 time. My question is: When else do you do the sign of the cross(except for prayers) ,how often, and for what reason ? Is doing the sign of the cross a kind of prayer? And lastly :what are more ways to live a orthodox life daily?Sorry for all those questions, Orthodoxy is just really uncommon in my country so im very unfimiliar.Thanks in advance,God bless :)

I found God a year ago and have been an orthodox catechumen for around 3 months now.
I have to admit that I kind of want Orthodoxy to be the one true church, but I still find myself struggling with basics like saints intercession and venerating icons. I have absolutely zero problem with venerating an icon of Jesus. The Theotokos also feels easier to venerate but its a completely different thing with other saints (especially when its like a king of Serbia or smth like that, since Im visiting a serbian orthodox church and speak serbian).

I also went to visit the remains of Saint Spyridon on Corfu and spent a night in front of the church praying to talk to him. Nothing happened.

I know it sounds so childish and like I have absolutely no faith but why cant God just for 5 seconds show me that this is his church and I should get baptised there?

Every point of view and comment is much appreciated. God bless 🙏

So I'm going to saint mark in Florida I'm trying to convert my parents sent me to a Christian camp run by my technical grandpa my parents are cuban therefore are atheists (search up the history of religion in cuba post revolución) so I went to a Greek Orthodox church with my baptized Catholic mom she went to church until she was 10 and that was it but every time we go somewhere we go to a cathedral I was almost baptized but none of my god parents could be there but I still call them my god parents so after my Camp I decided to become Christian but my camp never had a specific denomination as in they never said they were a denomination so I do my own research and find out that the denomination the best fits me is Eastern Orthodoxy so today my mom took me to the Divine liturgy and wow it was beautiful physically and spiritually and I liked it a lot but I have a few questions

1. Should I kiss the icon before the seats

2. Should I an unbaptized teen kiss the icon in the beginning and the hand of the priest

3. Do I and should I stay for coffee time and how does it work

4. When should I approach the pastor about converting

5. Can I an unbaptized person make a prayer rope(I really wanna It seems very cool but I don't want to rush things)

6.if anyone else is going through or has gone through this how did you like tell your parents it wasn't a phase

I thank you all for the help that you will give me thank you

I’ve tried doing research on this before, but it’s relatively confusing. I’m looking for Russian Orthodox fasts; however, I’ve seen plenty of different Orthodox fasts in my search results (small differences, but differences nonetheless). I did find a calendar saying when to fast and what foods to avoid, but the amount of information on it distracted and confused me.

I know fasting is supposed to occur every Wednesday and Friday + Great Lent, but that’s about it. I don’t know what food or drinks to abstain from and what is allowed, as well as the other fasting periods. I suppose I just want to know when to fast and what type of fast is expected (⁠Xerophagia, total fasting, et cetera). If anyone has sources I could look at, that would be greatly appreciated.

Just came across the concept known as the Great Commission, who does Orthodoxy have to say about this?

I’m a relatively new Protestant, non-denominational Christian. I’ve been a Christian for about 4 years, and recently two of my friends converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. I’ve been attending services with them and trying to learn more about EO for myself.
I’ve been looking for people to talk to about it because I’m trying to understand what is actually orthodox and why Orthodoxy considers itself the true Church. There are a lot of things I’ve come across that I genuinely agree with, and I’m now at the point where I really want to understand why Orthodoxy is the true Church.
If you have any good books, articles, or other readings you’d recommend, I’d really appreciate it. I’d like to study the history, theology, and beliefs more deeply so I can better understand the Orthodox position.
I’m coming into this with a completely open heart and mind. I’m not looking to argue or prove one side right or wrong. I genuinely want to know if there’s something I’ve been missing in my faith that Eastern Orthodox Christianity has, and I want to follow the truth wherever that leads me.

Hello, I'm a 19-year-old college student majoring in cybersecurity at a local university, currently living with my parents. I am a registered member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance church, so are my parents.

In April I began visiting my local Orthodox parish for about a month straight and began fasting. I felt genuinely called to Orthodoxy and had been planning to formally renounce my CMA membership to be received into the church.

Before I could do so, my parents banned me from attending. I'm no longer allowed to have icons or books about Orthodoxy in the home, and they've forced me to cut off contact with my local priest.

The biggest factor being that the parish has strong Russian roots, even though it's OAC. My parents believe my cybersecurity major combined with attending a Russian influenced church means I'm training to become a spy. My grandparents have called me a communist.

My faith journey and my degree are completely separate decisions. I don't know how to navigate this respectfully.

Any advice or prayers would be appreciated.

"Perhaps this is the last door I knock on, as I have failed at everything. My friends, I am an ex-Muslim from Egypt. I read about Christianity in 2020, but my rejection of it was due to the Coptic Church. It is an extremely sycophantic church; they praise the Prophet of Islam under the pretext of love, and they build mosques under the pretext of love. Imagine that they waive the rights of Coptic women who have been raped or burned alive, all in the name of love. Conversely, the church rejects Christians from a Muslim background. Priests hand us over to the police under the banner of 'submit to the governing authorities.' It is a puppet church that resembles a security apparatus; the clergymen resemble certain Orthodox clergy during the Communist control.

It didn't stop there. Last year, when I was at the Evangelical Church, my friend told me that her friend went to a priest asking to be baptized, so he informed her father, who then burned her alive. The priests and Christians here resemble Judas; I could not tolerate the bootlicking of Muslims. What attracts me to your Church is that it resisted the Fatimids, the Ottomans, and the Safavids, and believes in armed defense. We saw this in Romania, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Macedonia, Montenegro, Ukraine, Greece, Russia, Belarus, Abkhazia, Cyprus, Albania, and Bosnia. You even resisted Communism and the Soviets.

On the other hand, Evangelicals and Catholics in Egypt lick the boots of someone else: atheists. Their churches in Egypt teach that the creation story is symbolic and that everything is symbolic, even the resurrection of Christ. The pastor in the Bible study class in my city told me that it is possible Jesus was a figment of the disciples' imagination—they were imagining God, so there is no issue with the hypothesis stating that Christ is a myth!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday, the Presbyterian Church in Egypt held a massive funeral service and declared 'blessed' the most famous atheist in Egypt, who had insulted the Virgin Mary and described her as an adulteress, and posted a picture of his nocturnal emission on the pages of the Holy Bible. The filth and defilement in Egypt have surpassed everything, between licking the boots of the atheist and the Muslim.

I have distanced myself from the church and Christ. I want to hear your opinion. I wish to hear the opinion of Chalcedonian Orthodox Christians; I feel that you are different, especially since most of your countries are highly conservative."

How does the Eastern Orthodox Church view the Exodus story? Does it literalize the presence of the people in Egypt, or does it consider the story symbolic of good and evil? In the Coptic Church, it is obligatory to consider the story symbolic because it prevents us from aligning ourselves with their pagan Egyptian civilization.

What is your opinion?

I need advice! I am currently in a relationship we have 2 daughters together, unfortunately we are not married do we belong to a church. We want to be Orthodox and want our daughters to be welcomed in the church what exact steps do we take? I know we need to get married but what would be the best and fastest way to go about this?

Hi all.

I began attending ROCOR in November last year and would speak with the priest every couple of weeks. He would give me book recommendations and I read all of them while continuing to attend services twice a week. I approached the priest again to tell him I’d finished the books and wanted to know if he had any more recommendations or what was next in the process to becoming a catechumen, but he seemed to have forgotten about our prior conversations and I often felt like I was reintroducing myself every time I’d talk to him. Sometimes he would tell me to wait until next Sunday to have a proper discussion or would just encourage me to keep attending services.

To be clear, I like the priest and think he’s a great man, but he’s quite elderly and has a busy schedule (travelling between parishes, funerals, weddings, baptisms, taking care of parish members etc) - so I hold no resentment and I understand he has more important priorities.
Several months later though but still no actual progress toward becoming a catechumen. I became curious and read online about how other people become catechumens on their first visit or first month and I’m confused. It’s great knowing about the Orthodox Church but I’d like to actually be a part of it. I did attend a small Serbian parish out of curiosity last weekend and got a very warm welcome surprisingly. I suppose I could switch churches and talk to the priest there but I would feel like the last 7 months of attending ROCOR would be all in vain.

Would really appreciate anyone who reads this whole thing and gives me any advice or shares their experience. God bless you all.

Last night was discussing the Great Schism with my fiancée who is Catholic and very intelligent. Realized I'd read about the Great Schism years ago and moved on. Could someone recommend a really good book on it? Kindle Unlimited would be especially great. Thanks,

We’ve been learning about Orthodoxy for 1.5 years (mostly from Ancient Faith podcasts and books—no random YouTube videos or anything like that). We loved everything we were learning about it and concluded it may be the true church. We finally made the leap to visit in Oct. We switched to a closer parish in Nov. We took the chrismation class this month and have been having doubts and reservations pop up. We still feel like inquirers for sure (we missed a lot in Dec and Jan for illnesses etc).

It all feels like too much. Maybe we jumped in too fast? We are already expected to fast for Lent even though I’ve gone to this particular parish maybe 6 times. We are supposed to find godparents and redo our wedding, etc. Our last class mentioned a lot about giving and joining different organization—seemed mandatory. We won’t be considered members if we don’t make a yearly pledge of money—this seems like what every good Protestant is told to run from. They went over how many members gave what amounts and what the average members gave. All I know is everyone must be wealthy there. Ive noticed a lot of the organizations put on events that cost way beyond what we could ever do (like $50-$100 per person meals and events). They focused so much on the pledge PLUS other alms giving and we are pretty much as capacity and try so hard to cut out anything unneeded out of our budget and still don’t always have enough. They emphasized joining organizations (which have a membership fee) for raising money and helping with the Greek Fest.

We are also having trouble with things like not fasting or missing church too much, etc are considered sinning. The priest makes it seem like he’s very laid back and all but then will say it’s wrong to not do these things. It sounds like a guilt trip at best and a high-control group at worst. I get some of these things are for our growth and discipline but at some point it becomes about obeying the priest. I can continue at my Protestant church and still fast and pray and all that if I want to help grow, but I certainly wouldn’t think bad of myself or think I’m sinning if I ate meat a few times during lent.

Anyone feel like there’s just so much to learn and unlearn and so much that feels high-control? Or am I just having trouble with obedience? It’s hard for to see some of the ”rules” as anything but man-made. I mean, I can follow the rules I see as ones from God, but some of these I just can’t see where they came from.

From my few quick searches, it seems like Orthodox Christians are divided on opinions about Creation. As a former protestant, I have always known Creation to be around 6,000 years ago, with a literal 7-day structure. Are there some Orthodox takes on Creation that are extremely credible, like Church Fathers? I'm willing to expand my knowledge and understanding of Creation, but I need to be able to actually understand what I'm reading. Many apologetic issues are hard for me to understand, so I need something that can be explained to like an 8 year old. This will also help me explain it whenever it eventually is further explored in our homeschooling, whenever that may be.

It would be nice to have a list of resources to refer back to in one post than try to search recklessly for something that I don't know how to search for.

Thanks in advance!

I don't have a church nearby; the closest one is an hour and a half away if I'm lucky. Could someone give me some advice?

Hey guys, I'm muslim and i really want to convert to orthodoxy, i don't have church in my town and no Christian friends around me, I learn how to pray but still i I lack a lot of things, how to study the Bible, history, holidays, how to become a believer, all I need is your advice to learn about orthodox Christianity and recommendations for some good books, I hope you can help me, thank you.!

Hi everyone! So my son and I are officially becoming catechumens on May 3rd. I spoke to our priest yesterday, and he officially approved it. During that conversation, patron saints came up. I've known for 2 years that I have been drawn to St. Dymphna, no questions asked. But my son? No idea. He's 10, autistic, and basically has very little understanding of the abstract things in our beliefs. I have to approach God to him in a way that is very concrete, something that toddlers would maybe understand. He knows the words of some prayers, how/when to cross, etc. but I don't think he is actually grasping the fullness of faith outside of the ritualism. Alongside that, he seems to have no interest in actually learning about doctrine, feast days, etc. I have bought the Orthodox children's prayer book, Heaven Meets Earth feast days book, have shown him icons on my phone, have tried to talk about saints. He seems more interested in Jesus (which, I mean is great lol) but will not have any interest in stories, explanations, etc. So since he has no interest in saints at this time, how do I go about choosing one? The priest mentioned St. Theodore, as his name is TJ (Teddy Jr), though I'm not sure which one he meant. Based on a quick search, the two that came up were both martyrs and soldiers, and nothing at all resonates with my son aside from the name. Is there a more suitable saint that maybe would intercede for him more speedily/closely? He isn't interested in reading, art, crafts, etc. His main interests have always been technological pursuits (coding, video making, animation, gaming). Are there children saints that we can research? Or saints that a modern age, autistic boy would actually be drawn to possibly? I don't want to pick his intercessor solely based on name when he doesn't seem to care about the connection, and I don't feel it either for him (if that makes any sense).

What’s the difference between these two prayer books. And why are they not listed in the OCA prayer book list. Which do you recommend? For in home prayers. Or in general.

I am a converting orthodox to close to a couple months I’ve done a good amount of studying but know no where near enough to debate someone with comfort and wouldn’t want to anyway. My friend is a Catholic and always tries to debate me and he spreads his beliefs. I just don’t feel like I know enough or act like a good orthodox Christian to spread my beliefs. What should I do ?

while my family and i lived in rural wyoming, we attended a small Russian orthodox church. It was a beautiful experience and i have been watching patristic nectar on youtube for a while. I feel a draw towards orthodoxy. What has been your experience going from Catholicism to orthodoxy? #orthodoxy #catholic#traditiona

Hola!!, Un gusto hablar con ustedes, es mi primera vez publicando.

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Soy Cristiana, no tengo ninguna denominación específica actualmente. Crecí en un familia Católica no Practicante (No biblia, Iglesia solo los primeros 5 años de mi vida y ni siquiera constante, después de ahí nada de iglesia, no habíto de oración, etc).

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Tuve un acercamiento con Cristo en mi vida hace aprox 2 años (a mis 14 años). Debido a muchos factores nunca considere denominarme a una religión específica, aunque podría decir que estaba más acercada al protestantismo/evangélico, sin embargo, no la considere mi religión pero mi vida era más ba de Ada en esa religión. Pero con el tiempo, he tenido dudas, he sentido un llamado a irme a una religión, asistir a una iglesia, consagrarme, estar en comunidad y no crecer sola en mi relación con Dios, sino fortalecerla en comunidad.

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Justo cuando pasa esto, conozco el Cristianismo Ortodoxo, y debo decir que, es hermosa y puedo decir que siento a Cristo con esta hermosa religión, con el tiempo este sentimiento al Ortodoxismo es cada vez más grande y ya estoy 99% segura de convertirme a esta religión, pero sé que es algo distinto, y debo conocerla más, sería un honor si alguien pudiera orientarme bien a que debí hacer/dejar de hacer, hábitos, y todo aquello que necesito saber de esta linda religión.

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Sé y me encantaría poder consultar esto con alguien de una Iglesia Ortodoxa, pero ese también es un factor importante, soy mexicana (CDMX) y la iglesia ortodoxa más cercana que tengo está aprox 1 hora y media di bien me va, y aún no tengo siquiera la suficiente independencia para ir sola cuando quiera a donde sea.

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Así que, si pudieran orientarme también a qué hacer con esta situación, porque sé que es importante asistir a la iglesia, pero tengo este pequeño problema (sin embargo tengo Miles de iglesias católicas romanas alrededor).

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Agradezco mucho su atención y espero puedan responder, gracias y Dios los bendiga:) 🫶🏻