It’s been a considerable space of time since I have deposited myself at the keyboard and have written of anything. I’ve had a lot of ideas, but little enthusiasm. Today, however, it is a wet and chilled day outside, I have a nasty little cold, which simple will not respond to my constant invitations to hit the road, and I do have something I have really wanted to write about for the last two weeks.

I’m the guy in white with the beard. To my right is my sponsor, Fr. Deacon Nicholas.  To my left in the picture, partially hidden, is Fr. David Subu, pastor of Protection of St. Mary Orthodox Church.

Yes. I am now fully Orthodox.

I have had some of my friends from the Catholic Church, which I left on April 23rd when I was chrismated, express various levels of confusion and distress with this decision, especially since they consider the Catholic Church to be the “true church.” Well, of course I beg to differ, but that is another blog piece for another time.  For now, let’s look at the basis of my decision and why I jumped ship.

When as a Protestant I began studying the ancient and apostolic faith of the Early Church, I began to investigate Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy.  The Novus Ordo Mass I found uninteresting. It reminded me too much of the Presbyterianism which was in my rearview mirror. I was enchanted by the beauty of Orthodoxy, but not knowing much ecclesial history, thought that there should be only one head over the Church on earth.

I honestly didn’t know what to do until I was told I was told at one point that I could become “Orthodox in Communion with Rome.” This is known as being an Eastern Catholic. At that time, I thought I was going to get the best of both worlds – the ancient and beautiful Orthodox Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and being under the designated head of the Church – the Apostle Peter. So, following the best information I had at the time, I entered St. Ann Byzantine Catholic Church on April 14th of 2001.

You will find that in the Eastern Catholic churches, there is a great appreciation for Orthodoxy. We read Orthodox authors such as Hopko, Behr, Florensky, Bulgakov, Petrovich, and Patriarch Tikhon. We listen more to Ancient Faith Radio than EWTN. In short, we believe that we are Orthodox and as such, we pursue Orthodox knowledge.  Some don’t. Many are more Roman Catholic in their practices than they are Orthodox, but a lot of us do.

And this is where the problems started for me . . . 

You see, to be “in communion” means a complete acceptance of dogmatic teachings.  I came to understand this in my third year at seminary. Well now, here’s a problem because I had been listening to Ancient Faith Radio and learning the various reasons that Orthodoxy does not accept the Filioque Clause to the Creed, the Immaculate Conception, Indulgences, etc.  [1] Yet being under the authority of and in communion with Rome, I was expected to accept these teachings — teachings which are distinctly not Orthodox.  Do you see the problem? If you believe these things, you are not Orthodox, yet to be “in communion with Rome,” you must believe them.

Let me turn this around. If you were to identify as a Roman Catholic and yet say that you do not believe in the headship of the pope over the church, deny the Immaculate Conception, and say that Indulgences are a worthless invention by men who were out to make a buck, would you really be Roman Catholic? I think not, and there would be members of your church who would make that quite clear to you.

This conflict began to build up over the last three and a half years. During the pandemic my parish was closed, but so were the Orthodox parishes near me.  And when I floated my desire to convert by Elizabeth, my Roman Catholic wife, she . . .  well, let’s just say she was considerably distressed. Finally, I turned to an Orthodox saint, Saint Paisios of Athos, whom I admire, and began to pray for his intercession. 

And the doors opened!

So here I am, now fully Orthodox, and a member of a really wonderful parish in Falls Church, Virginia. I have been warmly greeted, and Fr. Subu is a marvelous priest.  I am one of about eight former members of St. Ann BCC who have “doxed” and “Crossed the Bosphorus.” My old friends who had left before me were delighted to find that I had joined them in Orthodoxy. But what did you expect? You give a man Orthodox books to read, Orthodox radio to listen to, and an Orthodox Liturgy to attend and expect him not to be interested in Orthodoxy?? I’m just surprised that there are not more conversions every year.

A final note. While I disagree with some of the dogmas of the Roman Catholic church, I do not wish my Orthodox identity to be solely based on any sort of animus towards the people in that church. I am sure there are people in the Roman Catholic church who have a deeper and more profound love for Christ than I will ever have this side of the grave. I am just more at home and in agreement with what the Orthodox church teaches. Some of my old friends from the Roman Catholic church have been supportive of my following of my conscience, including my dear friend, Fr. Elias Dorham, my spiritual director. I continue to pray for them and wish them all of God’s best blessings as I enter into the challenge of learning to be Orthodox.

[1] For a more detail explanation of the differences which have to be resolved, you can read Fr. Thomas Hopko’s article ROMAN PRESIDENCY AND CHRISTIAN UNITY IN OUR TIME, found here:

https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/orthodoxy/articles/roman_presidency_christian_unity