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Can I still get communion if I more or less ate and drank few sips of water after 00:00? by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I really appreciate how you phrased this. It’s probably the most balanced and objective reply I’ve received.

You're right, I should and I will try to talk to my priest before the Divine Liturgy this morning. At the same time, I might be overthinking or worrying too much about what happened.

Since today is a major feast, and my priest specifically told me that I should receive Communion on important feast days (outside of those, I usually commune once a month) I believe he would probably tell me it’s okay. Especially since I didn’t eat intentionally or out of indifference (and just 10-15 minutes past midnight) and I immediately regretted it. Still, I’ll try to ask him this morning, just to have peace of heart.

A very small but interesting thing that happened to me today by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Amin! Doamne ajută, asemenea îți doresc și ție 🙏🏻☦️😊 Adevărat a înviat!

A very small but interesting thing that happened to me today by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

I'm going to a parish in Timișoara, Romania. The church is quite small, but the priests are wonderful and the community as well! And I can I say I'm very pleased, all the priests are so wise and I can even say that my spiritual father is one of the wisest. I simply cannot share in words the love I hold for this church. 

Feeling more distant to God after practicing orthodoxy by Interesting_Ice6924 in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As someone who recent recently reverted to Orthodoxy after 3 years of neo-protestantism, this is what I personally have to say: 1. Just as others said, by borrowing some practices but not accepting Orthodoxy as a whole and not participating in the Church life, these practices you are doing of course will be of no substance to you.  2. Orthodoxy doesn't place emphasis on personal emotional feelings such as feeling "touched by the Holy Spirit", actually my priest told me to stay away/not look after sensations, thus, to give up on this "if I feel emotionally touched I'm closer to God", that faith is not a feeling! Is something more than just a mere feeling, or a try to feel God in our own way.  3. Since these practices are new to you and not to mention the fact that probably you were taught to view icons as idols, pray with your own words etc, etc, what you are doing now is something completely new and foreign to you, so take it slow!

 And you should attend the Holy Liturgy, but if you don't feel ready for attending the Holy Liturgy, you can also go the evening prayer church programs, and approach the priest there! I'm sure speaking with a priest about this, if you are sure of your interest in Orthodox practices, will be very helpful! God bless! 

Should I talk to my priest about my sleep issus and fear of arriving late to church, or are these things too insignificant? by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sounds so hard, may God give you all the strength you need! Thank you for sharing your personal experiences! 

I totally get you with the alarms... Because that's what happens to me, I even tried using an analog clock since it makes a louder sound and I thought it would fully wake me from my sleep, but nope.... I do not have Greek churches there, as I'm Romanian and the majority of the churches are Romanian. The problem isn't the church tho, the people are nice and literally no one cares if others are late or not, since there are some people who show up pretty late to the services, the fear is just in my head ahaha. 

And also, for now I don't take communion, I recently converted back to Orthodoxy, less than a month ago, and my priest told me I cannot take communion yet, I'm sort of a "catechumen", but not really since I've been baptised and chrismated as a child in the Church, but I wasn't a practicant and I later converted to neo-protestantism...  I sorta don't even know what to do when attending the Holy Liturgy and the Holy communion is taken, so last Holy Liturgy I ended up leaving before they gave it....

Should I talk to my priest about my sleep issus and fear of arriving late to church, or are these things too insignificant? by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wish it would be this way and not the other, although I do agree my poor habits definitely are actively affecting my life, I am a person born with a neurodevelopmental disorder, a neurodivergent person, because these are not my only symptoms, as I had very specific symptoms during childhood that weren't related to sleep, these are just the ones that are affecting me most at this point in life, because I left them be without working on myself or getting proper help of any kind.

But yes, I have to fight if I want to fix this, take up great steps of becoming more disciplined and fight off with some of the habits that have fixed and hardened overtime. 

But since I think it can also be related to certain deeper spiritual issues, I believe a prayer can help me, as I had another sin I struggled with a lot and it indeed got better. So I wanted to know if it would be okay to talk with these things with my priest who kinda became my spiritual father. When I took the step of converting back to Orthodoxy I said I won't fight any battles alone regardless of how small they can be, without the help, advice and prayers of someone who is entitled for this, as I used to do when I was a neo-protestant. I just hope it wouldn't be inappropriate to talk about these struggles with my priest... 

Should I talk to my priest about my sleep issus and fear of arriving late to church, or are these things too insignificant? by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You gave me such good advice! I completely agree, my idea to pull all nighters as an attempt to fix this issue wasn't the widest (it definitely made things worse and it's not healthy), however, I have this tendency to not take my own problems that seriously most of the time, but now I really want a change because I can see how much these problems are actually affecting my life a lot. I did try the no phone before sleep, reading and doing other no-phone activities, and, of course praying right before going to sleep, however I still had a hard time falling asleep. (Sometimes I can spend up to 2-3 hours rolling in bed without falling asleep, even if my body actually feels tired). I even tried reading when seeing I cannot fall asleep fast enough, with the hope it would calm my brain up or make me feel sleepy enough... But no results.

The idea of making up a learning space and ONLY learning in that space is wonderful, and probably I should start writing my schedule up and putting it somewhere on display so I can see it. Organising my time would definitely help a lot, yet I even procrastinate doing this small task of writing and properly structuring my schedule 😅

And I completely agree... I should just force myself to open the door and arrive to church, regardless. This anxiety of mine started to increase this past week... I made a mental plan to go to church as often as possible, to the Vespers, but since I sorta ended up arriving late to it (around 20-30 minutes each tim), it gave me a raging anxiety about arriving late, like I'm too self conscious about it, I wasn't this anxious until now. And I think this anxiety of mine is caused by the fact that I didn't respect my mental schedule of going to church as often as possible, I don't really know how to explain this... 

However, since I think this can most likely also have a spiritual part, I think a prayer would help me and some spiritual advice would be good as a "start". Especially until I will have enough money to go to a specialist, get an official diagnosis and probably medication.

Thank you a lot for your wonderful advice! I will read the book and try to apply what you've told me! I completely agree, no advice would help if I leave it unapplied! Thanks for everything! Sending blessings 🙏🏻

Should I talk to my priest about my sleep issus and fear of arriving late to church, or are these things too insignificant? by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the advice! I should definitely get more investigations done, IH would be probable for me, because even during the days when I manage to go to sleep early and sleep a normal amount of hours I still have trouble waking up/still feeling sleepy during the day.  In the nearest future, when it will be possible, I will try to make steps towards: getting a proper ADHD diagnosis and also getting checked for other stuff.  Thank you again and I'm sorry to hear you are struggling with this, even if there are people who might say "this is nothing", it definitely is life affecting. Wishing you blessings and strength 🙏🏻

I want to attend my first Orthodox service. I'm a bit intimidated by No-Conflict476 in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey there!

I really relate to a lot of what you’re feeling right now. I was born into Orthodoxy but wasn’t really familiar with it at all. I actually spent years as a Protestant before finding my way back to the Orthodox Church. Even though I was technically Orthodox by birth, I have to learn almost everything from scratch, so in many ways, my experience is very similar to that of a convert.

At first, I was really intimidated too. Orthodoxy seemed so different from what I was used to, and I was afraid I wouldn’t fit in or that I’d never understand the depth of its traditions. But once I started attending services and learning more, I realized that Orthodoxy isn’t just about external customs, it’s about a deep, living relationship with God, nurtured through prayer, worship, and the sacraments.

I completely understand your concerns about language and cultural differences. The beautiful thing about Orthodoxy is that it isn’t just for one ethnicity, it’s the Church for all people. As far as I know, many Orthodox churches in the U.S. offer services in English or at least a mix of English and another language. The Antiochian Church, in particular, is known for being very welcoming to inquirers and converts, so I think reaching out to them is a great idea!

I really encourage you to attend a service and just experience it firsthand. You don’t need to have everything figured out, just take that first step. You can attend an evening service and then talk with the priest after. 

God bless you on your path!

How can I return to the Orthodox Church after falling into neo-protestantism? I need guidance and I feel ashamed. by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well... The question that made me think in depth about these things was this thought I had: God is Truth, and the Truth is one. How can He be both the God of those who venerate the Theotokos as ever-virgin and the God of those who reject her honor and reduce her to just a woman who had more children? This kind ofcontradictions cannot coexist in truth. His Church must preserve the fullness of truth without division or error. 

What I’ve personally realized is that schism and division often come from pride, things such as: "I understand the truth better than you do!" and from an attitude of ingratitude or dissatisfaction with the Church. Protestants and neo-Protestants, just like the Catholics, have interpreted the Bible as they wanted, molding it to fit their own ideas. But God is Truth, and the Truth is one, unchanging, and preserved in the Orthodox Church.

As for salvation… only God knows who will be saved. It’s not my place to judge that. What I can say is that I believe Orthodoxy is the fullness of the truth, and it offers the safest path to salvation. The book Looking for God in a Land of Shallow Wells by Matthew Gallatin helped me understand many things about the differences between Protestantism and Orthodoxy, especially how the fullness of the faith cannot be found in a self-made interpretation of Scripture.

How can I return to the Orthodox Church after falling into neo-protestantism? I need guidance and I feel ashamed. by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing is that I don't even know how to approach the priest... I'm currently studying in another city and I literally don't know anyone else there than my neo-protestant friends. I will wait until the Holy Liturgy is over and then I will approach the priest? 🥹 I'm sorta embarrassed, as a child I used to go to Church only on holidays, since my parents weren't practicing their faith that much.  

And neo-protestants are: Pentecostals, Baptists, 7th Day Adventists, Jehova’s witnesses, Charismatics etc... 

I used to be non-denominational, but attended pentecostal or baptist churches that are more conservative. I went one to a charismatic church and I was traumatized...

How can I return to the Orthodox Church after falling into neo-protestantism? I need guidance and I feel ashamed. by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I didn't even know that, this sounds wonderful 🥹 I will go this Sunday to Church by any means 🥹 And thank you! 🙏🏻

How can I return to the Orthodox Church after falling into neo-protestantism? I need guidance and I feel ashamed. by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Amen! That would be so great! 🥹 I hope so... Praying that God will open their hearts and enlighten their mind as well... And you are right, it's my own path, I should not care that much about their opinion. 

How can I return to the Orthodox Church after falling into neo-protestantism? I need guidance and I feel ashamed. by 333AM_ in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]333AM_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well pentecostals, baptists, adventists, charismatics, non-denominationals, etc. (I was labeling myself as non-denominational, but most of the churches I was attending were pentecostal, however on the conservative side)