The Altar Call 

lol :)

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I haven’t all year

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Perfect! We who love have a merry heart!

Greetings from Holy Russia 🇷🇺

@@robertjarman4261 greetings from California my brother in Christ. ☦️

Here here, dear brother in Christ! Same reality and results for me and my wife of 47 years, both of us raised Roman Catholic and now joyously fulfilled in Orthodoxy! Your faith-filled REFLECTIONS through the last decade are such a blessing to us. Years ago I gave my dear wife your inspirational set of lectures on The Beatitudes for Holy Pascha... and o do we continue to listen to them earnestly, and share them with our 8 children ... and it is now time to have the older of our 15 grandchildren hear them too! You fill us with the joy that Jesus gave to Cleopas and Luke the very first day of His Resurrection as they traveled to Emmaus: INTERPRETING and explaining Scripture pertaining to Jesus. Thank you so much for this gift that keeps on giving, as do all your Reflections. We pray for you each day. Bless you now and always. And o yes ... after 50 years of drinking only fine organic whole bean coffee, preferrably from the Yirgachef Valley in Ethiopia,, I announced to my children that I augmented my range of beverages to alternate with fine teas by the pound. My patient, frugal wife just says with a smile, "Bob can get it for you more expensive." We remain head over heels in love. The greatest of my poems - a gift I asked my patron, the dear Theotokas, to give me when I turned 16 - is my ode to my wife in our holy marriage in Christ.

The time is not the focus. It's what is in your heart

What's mostly wrong about an altar call from my perspective, is that the preachers who make the call usually do so for their own feel good. As in they want to do this and people to call forward in order to boast about how many answered THEIR call (not God's calling). It's also hella awkward to witness when nobody is coming forward lol.

To be fair, having come to belief in charismatic Protestantism before discovering the true Orthodox Church, when you know for sure that God exists, and you seek Him with all earnesty, these types of emotions are the closest that you'll get to experiencing what God is like, when you do not have access to the real Church, and when every presumed follower of Christ that you know is doing the same thing. I think the real test of whether the heart is in the right place comes up when confronted with the truth of Orthodoxy. Will they recognize God and run towards Him, or will they choose to cling to their own, self-centered thing?

Yes its a performative act done in the midst of a crowd. It involves no repentance!

Indeed, the final years before my wife and I converted from Roman Catholicism to Orthodoxy, we saw a similar process in the shallow attempt by priests to ENTERTAIN with their "homilies!" These priests really think that holy reverence is BORING, not realizing that it was an absence of the Holy Spirit that was emptying their pews! So empty ... it helped us see the gap between our fervor for God and the emptiness in this rogue breakaway remnant of the one true Church, Orthodoxy. As an Irish-American history major who had grown up loving Christ, the Blessed Mother, and the Church, I felt a keen betrayal of my faith, and of my heroic ancestors who had fled or died under English persecution. Such a sad irony, being martyred to avoid apostasy to the schismatic church that broke away from Orthodoxy based on the False Decretals! All we can say now that we found and embraced Orthodoxy is "Praise God!" for rescuing us from the unholy scam of the Vatican.

Приветствую Христос воскрес ☦️ God bless Mother Russia 🇷🇺 I am a convert to Orthodox Christianity but nobody in my life knows outside my house. I keep it secret, as I am stuck living in Canada 😭 no social media, and nobody knows I'm learning Russian. One day, I'd love to move to Belarus or Russia. To volunteer in a medical center. And be among other Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters. It is bad here, very bad. I don't feel safe.

As a curious protestant, sorry you had what seems a messy experience with protestantism, trust me theyre not all like that. Nonetheless I do hope you find God even in the orthodox church ☦️ God bless you on your journey 🙏

Blasphemy

lol, I love Fr. Josiah

Yup

are you born again?

I disagree. I heard a Protestant sermon about forgiving my enemies years ago, and that we need to reach out as if we are the woman with the issue of blood, but instead of for healing, to get help in forgiving my enemies. It was a miracle to me. It's very scary to go down front. It's also embarrassing. It's testifying publicly to Christ and admitting our sin publicly. Most of the time people are crying and they are ready to surrender to the Lord and don't care what other people think. Some of the great Orthodox Saints would cry every time they received Holy Communion. If we are doing Orthodoxy correctly, maybe we would be radically changed every time we went to the alter.

@@OrthodoxInquirer doesn't matter what you felt or saw as a miracle, it was emotionalism and underlying social pressure I was a protestant for 30 years and experienced hundreds of altar calls and even participated in several You cannot liken an altar call to the receiving of the eucharist - they are two completely different things both spiritually and metaphysically If you don't understand that and the great chasm between simple emotional conviction and the overwhelming majesty and glory of being able to partake in the eucharist, then perhaps you need to do a bit more learning

@@Metascetic Since I've not been baptized Orthodox yet, I'm just speaking from watching others. Many receive the Eucharist as just a matter of course and don't take it to heart. I'm just observing people from the outside. I've heard testimonies from people like Eric Metaxas who was Orthodox for years and even turned against God after college brainwashing. Stalin even served at the alter. That's not to say the Eucharist is not powerful, but when taken unworthily it would be best not to even take it. Certainly, many of the people taking it don't really prepare or take it seriously. I know what I experienced and if you truly repent and are willing to admit your fault in front of everyone, it's very similar to the confession described in the Bible or Didache - confessing in front of the whole church. It's not the same sacrament but the Holy Spirit is the same. He is everywhere present and fills all things. He even shows up in Baptist churches occasionally to change people's lives. He was in the burning bush, in the tabernacle, the Temple, in the Theotokos and in the chalice. I'm not going to limit Him or judge other people's experience. He somehow led a poor sinner like myself to Orthodoxy and I won't deny His working in my life before as purely emotionalism. I agree that some people are carried away by great singing or frightening sermons but that was not what happened to me that day. He actually took my hatred and anger and removed it from me, just as He takes alcoholism or drug addiction from people sometimes just with one prayer. Just as He received the thief on the cross without any baptism or sacraments. He is so much more merciful than we can imagine. St Symeon the New Theologian thought that people should have a moment when they accept their baptismal vows for themselves. You might be interested in reading his works. I have had some fairly terrible interactions with Orthodox extremists online who called Corrie ten Boom a heretic and other harsh rhetoric. I hope you're not one of those. Fr. Josiah should do a video on how ppl talk to converts and about their previous religious experiences. We should bless the Lord for everything and everyone that led us to the present moment.

My Father was a Baptist preacher and always gave altar calls. As a youth, I felt pressure to set a good example because I was the Preacher's daughter. One Sunday during altar call, the young people of the church were invited to come forward and surrender their life to Christ. At that time, I felt no need to do this, because in my heart I already had! As all the youth came forward, I stayed in my seat and felt guilty for not going forward. I felt it was a manipulation. After church when we arrived home, my parents told me they were disappointed in me...😢 Praise God I have found the Orthodox church, now!

That strong Christianity is Orthodoxy, come and see!

Strong Christianity certainly isn't the heretical Methodist church lol. Return to the Catholic church not Orthodoxy

I’m sure there are good Methodist churches, but honestly Methodism in the modern era is basically church for atheists. Probably some good believers but the institutions are doctrinally courrupt

The first and only church is the Orthodox.

Look into your church heirarchy and what they do with their money

Catechumens that die are given an Orthodox burial. To come into the Church without catechesis and then leave and apostatize it would be better if that person had never heard of Orthodoxy in the first place. Forgive me for being blunt but you are still thinking of salvation in the western legalistic transactional sense which it is not.

It is important to be educated in the faith. Baptism is the beginning of the Christian journey and is the spiritual renewal. You need to understand the mystery and the church well enough to understand what you are receiving. The time spent is time in both preparation and education, and to experience the mysteries of Christ, you must be prepared. Although lengthy, it is imperative to truly believe what you are saying when you denounce all other entities and heresies of this world, and what you believe when you recite the creed. If you are interested in becoming Otthodox, find a parish and talk to the priest. There is so much depth to our faith, and having a priest you can ask questions will help you on your journey. God bless!

What’s the rush? Wouldn’t you rather take much time to pray, carefully discern, learn, ask questions, read, and so on before such a monumental life-altering decision? I’d have to agree with the above commenter that perhaps you are superimposing a Western lens on this process. It’s very much on purpose that it isn’t an immediate decision. Better one faithful catechumen who perseveres in the process, gets baptized, and lives out the rest of her life full of faith and piety in the Church than a thousand baptized souls who then end up deserting the Church. Emphasizing numbers, speed, and “just getting it done” is not traditional nor Orthodox.

You're doing it for all of the descendants you might one day have, remember your sons/daughters will be baptized at birth. Hope you keep at it ❤

These are excellent, thoughtful answers. As i understand it, there used to be an average of 3 years before someone was baptized after being made a catechumen.. That signified the seriousness of the decision. And the hope that one wouldn't get discouraged and fall away because of lack of preparation and gradual change of life so that the new Orthodox life would not be so difficult.. i expect that those who have rushed into things, may often look back and wish they had had more time to grow and prepare. I do know that i can think of a few people who rushed in...and aren't at Church services anymore. A scary thought.

Apparently no one was properly prepared. He'd be condemned if he allowed them to receive

What was the context for your circumstance?

Our priest always reminds everyone right before serving the Eucharist that it is for those Orthodox Christians who are prepared by prayer, fasting, and confession.

@@gizmorazaar I was visiting a very large very beautiful Macedonian cathedral that had very low attendance. The priests turned in the usual manner to serve communion, lifted the holy chalice up in the air brought it down and immediately walked away. In 36 years as an orthodox and having seen orthodoxy on four continents I've never ever seen the chalice not be offered.

Exactly

We do have confession. In my Parish it’s normally done Sat evening at the end of vespers. And for last minute confessions (if needed) Sun morning during Orthros.

Based

Greece is Greece. Macedonia is Macedonia. Greek Macedonia is Greek Macedonia; you can call northern Greece that way or in whatever way you want to. We also call Northern Greece - Greek Macedonia. Macedonia historically was a huge Roman province that involved your part as well, and we can all use that name. Like, why do you panic over a name? Your country is obviously called Greece; nobody is taking that from you. Your people forbade mine to communicate in Macedonian just because we call our language that way(the language that was born in this area) and expelled them for that, and they still forbid the language up to this day. Macedonian is not a recognised language in Greece, although hundreds of thousands speak it. Wherever I go in northern Greece, I openly speak this language, and all the people understand and return with the same. Last time was before two weeks, and an employee in a supermarket in Florina (Lerin in Macedonian since it had a Macedonian name before you renamed it and hundred other historical places) who we had to ask for assistance on something was speaking my language fluently. This language we got from our ancestors, but you don't accept this truth. If we say we didn’t learn this language from our ancestors, we would be liars. My ancestors told me this is the Macedonian language. They spoke the Slavic language from this area and they called themselves Macedonians and the language Macedonian. Most of them were poor people but hard working and honest. None of them had ill intentions towards you and nobody understands your silly argument. It’s not just what they told us; we also have a lot of physical evidence that our ancestors called this Slavic language Macedonian. It’s not Christian to lie. We do not take anything of yours, and for the sake of truth, the Greek people expelled my grandparent and his family from their own home and land and took everything because they declared themselves as Macedonians and spoke Macedonian. The village is still empty to this day. We forgive you. But don’t you think that if you are a Christian, you need to search for and speak for the truth? God will bless you abundantly if you open your heart for us. The truth is that Macedonians who speak one of the Slavic languages existed, exist, and will exist, God willing. Not to mention that Saint Cyril and Methodius were from Thessaloniki (Solun), the city where Old Church Slavonic was invented, and we Macedonians have more similarities to this language than the other Slavic nations. This is obviously not a coincidence, considering the geographical location. It is not really hard to understand if you want, A SLAVIC ALPHABET WAS MADE IN MACEDONIA(HISTORICALLY FAMOUS REGION) AND THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED THERE AND SPOKE ONLY SLAVIC CALLED THEMSELVES MACEDONIAN AND THE LANGUAGE MACEDONIAN. Why you would call that a lie, there is no way around that historical fact? You venerate saints Cyril and Methodius, but if they spoke this language right now and spread the gospel in Slavic, would you expel them as well? Like you persecuted archimandrite Nikodim Tsarknas for decades now because he is preaching in Macedonian? Let us live and call ourselves as we want; call us whatever names you want; and if you don’t want to accept us, well, let it be God’s will. I’m not here to proclaim how we are great people and how our nation is superior than yours, etc. By the Grace od God, I am an orthodox Christian who is trying a little to follow the Commandments of Christ and i just wanted to say that this hatred that you have for us should not exist if you consider yourself an orthodox Christian. I’m sure that you are better in many ways than us, but you overreact with your name, and if we want perfection, we should first call ourselves orthodox Christians and only then we can add if necessary the place where we come from… forgive.

​@@ivansince91Macedonia was an area with native Hellenic population centuries before this area was a province of Roman or Byzantine empire. The core of Macedonia, the birthplace if this Hellenic people, lies within the area of Northern Greece, so this is Macedonia. Regarding the language of the Ancient Macedonians that was a greek dialect. Everything else is a false copy.

Just because the majority were Hellenic, this does not mean that other people didn't live there and still do up to this day. These people also have the right to call themselves Macedonian because they were born there; it doesn't matter if they are black, white, yellow, Christian, Jewish, etc. My city has been inhabited for at least 2300 years, and all this time they have spoken the Macedonian language. We have physical proof, and many Greeks recognize this. It's stupid of some Greeks to ignore this. I mean, I never heard someone get so upset over a name. I could call myself an American, who cares. That would be inaccurate and a bit insane, but calling myself Macedonian as my ancestors did is perfectly normal. My ancestors were killed for this name; we have the obligation to honor them and keep the name because of them. Why would the Greeks get offended because of that? They can be offended all their lives if they want, but this is not healthy and will end in disease. Greek nationalism is known all around the world. Many know that nationalists consider themselves more special than others. But guess what? Nobody cares anymore. People care about true values, care, and compassion, not about Greek history. Although history is important, of course, but giving priority to that over true values is nonsense, and they won't be able to use this famous past anymore to step over the people's heads. It's over.

@@ivansince91 The present day so- called allegedly Macedonian language is not spoken for 2300 years since it is Slavic and Slavs do not exist in the area for so long. It is a mixture of Bulgarian dialects part of the Slavic dialectal Continuum. The original Macedonian language was a greek dialect then the Macedonians along with the rest of the Greeks adopted the Hellenistic koine based on Attican. The problem doesn't lie on whether many different people passed through Macedonia or whether the name was used for political reasons that is for naming territories and provinces but the problem lies on fake irredentism of a people that bases its existence on stealing foreign History, history of another nation at least partially. This is why your referred to the alleged greek nationalism. People care for many different things either for the truth, others for making money and many more for nothing but mere existence and of course the problem is not the Greek history or the Japanese one. But since one is thought to be a truth seeker at least he should be precise enough. Greetings from free Macedonia!

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