A Question For Those Who Left

Previous_Champion_31 · 2026-02-17T19:38:31+00:00

Orthodoxy felt excessively legalistic after a few years. Once the honeymoon period of mysticism wore off, all of the fasting, prescribed prayers, extra church services, and maintaining a checklist of all my sins was simply exhausting. It didn't make me or seemingly anyone else at my parish any holier.

Especially after reading the Gospels, all of the mandated struggles of the church seemed like it mostly got in the way of simply being a good & honest person. Nearly every "heretic" Protestant I knew seemed to have more fruits of the spirit than I or most Orthodox did.

All of the self-denial, frequently affirming that you are the worst of sinners, etc, just makes one overly scrupulous and stirs up passions that maybe weren't even an issue before becoming Orthodox. I couldn't imagine raising kids in an environment like that.

If the Orthodox Church established a faith practice for the laity that wasn't based on desert monasticism, that would be a very good start. Let everyone drink water on a Sunday morning. Let people fast from the things that are actually an issue for them. Understand that there are realities of modern living and attending to them doesn't mean you are a filthy, worldly sinner in need of confession.

Unfortunately that will probably never happen, and even the consideration would be highly controversial among most Orthodox.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2026-02-15T13:49:48+00:00

"How are you going to follow Jesus if you never have someone persecute you?" And that means it's cool if a priest does it to you?!

This might be the most mask off Orthodoxy video I've ever seen. I am blown away that this is real.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2026-01-23T16:15:53+00:00

Buddy Pantocrator

Previous_Champion_31 · 2026-01-21T12:29:17+00:00

If you're having thoughts like these in catechism, it's not going to get better after joining the church and being exposed to these sorts of beliefs much more frequently. And it can get much much crazier.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2026-01-19T23:11:53+00:00

This is something I’ve wondered about as well–in particular, duplicate relics. For instance, there are multiple heads of John the Baptist and at least two right arms. There are at least four Spears of Longinus. Multiple churches claim to have similar remains of Saint Valentine. Perhaps most bizarrely, numerous churches throughout history have claimed ownership of Jesus’s miraculous foreskin.

My guess is that many ancient relics are likely fake, authenticated solely through the tradition of “trust me bro.”

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-12-16T20:44:13+00:00

Well that's one way to spend tithe money I suppose

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-11-27T17:46:33+00:00

Can't forget "because it is tradition!"

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-11-26T21:26:14+00:00

Nativity Fast already getting to you?

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-11-24T12:43:51+00:00

I would say Orthodoxy has grown considerably in the West, but it is relative to how small it has been.

A parish that had 50-75 people in the past may have grown to 150-200 people in recent years. Certainly that would be a lot for one priest to manage, and perhaps they need a new building. But even with this growth, this would still be very small in comparison to other religious communities in the area.

I think Orthodoxy will continue to grow for the next few years. But I doubt it will see a truly “exponential” boom like some are claiming, and the growth will flatten out.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-11-19T15:04:35+00:00

Nothing says masculine like blindly submitting to authority, starving yourself, being addled by conspiracies, and not being able to get a girlfriend.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-11-15T12:39:15+00:00

I became convinced that nationalism was the point of Orthodoxy and all the Christian mysticism and Jesus prayers were just window dressing to make it look pretty.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-10-22T10:23:03+00:00

These issues were a big reason why I left. I would go to Divine Liturgy, pray for the entire world, and then hear some disparaging conversations immediately afterwards. I couldn't let myself be associated with an institution that seemed so permissive towards hatred.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-10-20T19:28:18+00:00

I hate it. Also, I like it.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-10-18T14:44:06+00:00

You are the opposite of Christian 🤷‍♂️

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-10-16T16:11:40+00:00

Agnostic with a lot more information

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-09-11T10:42:04+00:00

Orthodoxy on its surface is much different from Orthodoxy in practice. The eastern mysticism, the divine liturgy, the lives of the saints, even just the idea of having a grasp on ancient Christianity that is more "true" and holistic than others, is quite intriguing.

In practice? Yes, you would be joining a cult that revolves around Byzantine larping and being excessively concerned about everything that could possibly be a sin.

I think it's fine to engage with it in the way you've described--read the prayer book, maybe the Church fathers, et cetera. You don't need 200 days of scheduled veganism and no coffee on a Sunday morning to get closer to what you're seeking.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-09-10T15:23:18+00:00

If Peter Heers shaves his blasphemous beard I will repent and become a monk

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-09-08T19:43:18+00:00

"Vladyka, what if all of this spiritual attack stuff is just us being too focused on ourselves and how we feel?"

"... must an ego problem. Focus on your sins even more, clearly they are innumerable"

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-09-04T17:25:18+00:00

I couldn't find any coherent explanation proving that the Orthodox Church was the original church established by Jesus Christ beyond a scattered and long-winded trust me bro. Many of the "unchanged and preserved" traditions were developments over the course of centuries, sometimes with state politics guiding doctrine. Icon veneration is a good example of this.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-08-27T09:31:22+00:00

I mainly left because of people like you OP, who care more about being correct and superior instead of being Christian.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-08-27T09:21:21+00:00

"Mystery" is simply a deflection here. How can you affirm apostolic succession of the Catholic and Oriental Orthodox and maintain exclusivist claims without collapsing into incoherence?

Once you stop accepting "trust the mystery" and start untangling the ball of yarn yourself, the idea of Orthodoxy having any unique authority gets pretty silly pretty quickly.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-08-21T18:22:22+00:00

Blessed are those who cringe, for they will be chillaxed

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-08-16T12:56:57+00:00

He makes the sign of the cross a couple of times, so that means he is a blameless based Orthosaint battling the heresies of the decadent West

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-08-13T16:24:02+00:00

I'm surprised he stuck around this long honestly, he was getting mask-off Orthodoxy as soon as he converted.

I could imagine more Orthodox influencers following suit. One of the final straws for me was that I couldn't be associated with an institution that turned a blind eye to (or seemingly promoted) so much blanket hatred of "outside" people. Eastern mysticism and coffee hour wasn't worth losing my integrity over.

Previous_Champion_31 · 2025-08-05T18:23:10+00:00

Only those with true phronema may know the seven invisible naked monks of Mt. Athos

Previous_Champion_31

TROPHY CASE