Perhaps one of the most salient questions I’ve been asked as loved-ones struggle with my decision to “convert” to Orthodoxy was posed in a rather interesting way.
“I just don’t understand the difference between Orthodoxy and Christianity.”
Honestly, my initial reaction: “that’s funny, because neither do I.” While it may be a smart-alec response for a very serious issue, I think it hits at a the key answer to the question: Orthodoxy IS Christianity.
While it can look like a completely different religion to many Protestants who are experiencing it (or other forms of liturgical Christianity) for the first time, Orthodoxy has the same basic theology: Jesus Christ, only begotten son of God, born of a Virgin, crucified, buried and resurrected.
I admit that the faith is much more complex than the abbreviated version seen above. However, I believe it points out the key answer to the question:
Orthodoxy is Christianity.
I have not departed from the religion of my youth. I have forsaken none of the Truth I have been taught in my childhood by my parents and numerous others. If anything, I have found my home: a place where my faith has been fleshed out over the course of 2,000 years.
In my few brief encounters with Orthodoxy (mostly at St Athanasius’), I find it seductive. The aesthetics of beauty and the liturgy being the dogma are so simple and apparent. I loved getting safely lost in the “Lord, have mercies”– enough room to wonder without getting off course.
Being somewhat out of touch with the goings on in Kentucky of late, I am very happy to hear you have finally made a decision on this front. There is nothing worse than being in between.
Are you being chrismated on Holy Saturday, or are you just at the beginning of your time in catechism?