Grew up Protestant, just went to my first Divine Liturgy today! And WOW I feel like I’ve found what I’ve been missing. Pray for me as a journey deeper into Christ!
Before you decide look into the Traditional Latin Mass. Also, the Catholic Church has 22 other rites which are all eastern. After the schism in 1054 as word traveled, not all eastern bishops thought it acceptable to be out of communion with Rome. They returned. The Catholic Church looks almost identical to the Church before the schism. God bless you on your journey
I am a black american who grew up Protestant, but am beginning to believe that Orthodox is the true church. I knew I was missing something in the Protestant community.
What you are missing is the truth of the Bible. The manmade cult of orthodoxy has nothing to do with the Bibles Christianity. It is an antigod/antibible/antichrist abomination.
@@StarsBarsAndCheese ,...Catholicism and orthodoxy are sisters, and both are 100% antigod/antibible/antichrist cults. They are the false manmade religions of the accursed of God. Repent!
Too many white people. Orthodox could very well be the true church though. I don't think I'd fit in well with a bunch of Ethiopians even if I did decide that Enoch was canonical etc. Seems weird.
@@Volleyball_Chess_and_Geoguessr ,...Orthodoxy/catholicism has nothing to do with the Christianity of the Bible. They are both 100% apostate, Godless, manmade, abominations. They are the religions of the accursed of God.
Im a Syrian Orthodox Christian living in India. Im so happy that our members are growing in the US. We here have a strong community all thanks to St. Thomas who established the first Christian community in the indian subcontinent. May they grow even stronger and lead our the people into the true path. Amin✝️♥️
@@Banallpitbulls888 ,...You are all completely blind, lost, and deceived. As well as outside of the kingdom of God. Completely steeped in deception. Repent!
Elderly Eastern European immigrants are dying and middle eastern immigrants are flocking to the U.S.. In Eastern Orthodoxy, ethnic parishes are disappearing, while English-speaking parishes are growing, mostly from American converts.
@@wiktorhoffmar1984it's dangerous because many converts refuse to actually convert in the heart and learn the theology so they effectively keep all of their protestant presuppositions with an Orthodox paint job over the top of it, when this happens they are like a hidden tumor in the church only to be revealed during the next apostasy.
I think I've begun to see some pushback against this. While many Slavic and even Greek parishes have declined in membership, the Greeks atleast have created a formula that maximizes youth involvement and prioritizes teaching them the language. For this reason, I think it'll be quite a long time before the Convert parishes can grow large enough to compete with the Greek presence which will likely survive as the predominant and largest American Orthodox group for quite some time.
It will. The stats for Eastern Orthodoxy don't paint the full picture. Ethnic parishes are declining, while english-speaking, "Americanized" parishes are growing rapidly. Weekly attendance at my parish has nearly doubled in 2 years. The ethnic parishes will die off, and what will be left is a growing and thriving brand of uniquely American Orthodoxy.
@methodius--9405Same man, I just started going to this Antiochian western rite church called Saint Patrick’s Orthodox Church in Virginia. It is very nice, there is around 300 people who attend it and man, it’s just amazing. The priest said after three months of attending I can become a catechumen there :D
In the Coptic church there is a lot of immigration and many marry Americans who must be baptized first. This accounts I think for much of the growth. Growth from evangelism that I’ve seen seems to be most in the Antiochian churches.
Appalachian Orthodoxy has been a huge interest of mine lately as an Orthodox myself, I kinda hope one day Appalachian Orthodoxy represents American Orthodoxy as a whole.
@@anluisa9960 it's a term I only just recently started to hear, basically it's a collective of Orthodox churches throughout the Appalachian that were once associated heavily with the Russian Orthodox Church, but for whatever reason seem to be establishing their own American traditions and values within the church. I don't think they have any major theological differences, rather I believe it's just the birth of a true American Orthodox Church that could possibly get accepted by the Bishop of Constantinople, maintaining the Orthodox way while ingraining American culture, allowing people to feel more connected.
@@anluisa9960it’s a nomenclature given to certain Antiochian parishes in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina that uses Appalachian style plainchant instead traditional Byzantine chant during services.
@@KYRonDonTongLongSchlong it doesnt matter whether the Patriarch of Constantinople accepts it, he isnt a supreme pontiff, it just has be be accepted by God and the Church as a whole, America is a difficult one, personally i assume it will have adlest 2 to 4 Orthodox Cultures, that of Alaska which is already firmly established, that of Appalachia, which is being formed and growing, then i assume the coasts will either accept the Appalachian tradition, mould their own, and if they mould their own it will either be together or separate, and God Willing the OCA will get a Patriarch
@@amygdala9857 very well said, perhaps my original comment was a bit ignorant. I do believe those on the coasts will either associate with Alaska or Appalachia Orthodoxy at some point, at least it is my hope. Better to all be united than divided further. The Appalachian culture is so beautiful and in my opinion it's beautifully fit into Orthodox tradition, I just pray it becomes an American beacon and people travel for miles upon miles to find themselves in the mountains.
So curious about Ethiopian orthodoxy. I would love to read the books you guys have that we don’t. But last I checked they’re not translated yet? Is that still the case?
@@jas9friend A lot, if not all of the books in our Bible have been translated already. The book of Enoch is a good example - it has many audiobooks on RU-vid as well. I agree that we have a ton of books that are yet to be translated. I'll try to make a list of the ones that have been translated.
As a Catholic, I wish the best for my Orthodox brethren. An increase in Orthodox Christianity, while we have our disagreements, would be a net benefit for the country in terms of reclaiming a more historic and more apostolic from of Christian faith.
When I was in middle school, our Social Studies class went on a field trip to various local places of worship. One of the churches we visited was a Greek Orthodox (I am in Knoxville TN, so... lots of churches.) It was a very curious and beautiful place. Thanks for the video sir.
@@mikebastiat The word 'cult' is highly disparaged among scholars of religion for several reasons, including its origins in debunked european racial theories, its charged and pejorative nature, and its incredibly vague and subjective definition. We as a society would do well to avoid using it.
@@DylanGames1000 John 16: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He (He? Is this The Same Spirit?) The Spirit Of Truth comes, He will guide you into all The Truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that He will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to The Father is mine. That is why I said The Spirit will receive from me what He will make known to you.” Where exactly does this “prove” the “”filioque””? “I said The Spirit will *receive* from me what He will make known to you.” Receive. Nicene creed’s context states: “Who *proceeds* from The Father” (alone). Procession is not the same as receiving. Procession in the Nicene creed’s *context* equals creation. Theres no excusing or denying this either, Because you arent part of The Church. Quite idiotic of you to call My Faith “”pagan”” while you worship a heart.
@@DylanGames1000your own church now denies no salvation outside the church, btw. It even asserts, blasphemously I might add, that the jews and muslims worship the same God. And no, the filioque is heresy. And again, your own church even acknowledges that the creed was recited without the filioque clause for the first 800+ years.
I bet the disaster of David Platt's takeover of Mclean Bible Church has boosted Orthodox Christianity around D.C. or greatly harmed protestant churches around D.C. People have heard bad things from way out of D.C. about what happened to that mega church.
For decades, the local Greek parish was the only Orthodox community in my area. Now, we also have Serbian, Russian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Coptic congregations. It's a beautiful thing to see.
I´m a Greek Orthodox in South America i really love the Greek cause the bible was written in Greek and Christ is a Greek word, but all my Orthodox brothers are also part of my hearth
@@danvinsontrailor2339 You do not learn Biblical truth nor the Bibles Christianity in the orthodox church, nor in any church. Everything called and known as the church is apostate from God. What the world/church knows as "the church" is not the church of Jesus. Jesus's church is a spiritual church not a physical church. Again, everything known as the church is all made up of those who went out from the apostles who were not of the apostles. "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." 1 John 2:19 KJV All the actual Christians are outside of everything known as the church. They are taught the actual truth of Gods word by the Holy Spirit, and are not deceived by the churches phony priests, pastors, preachers, teachers. If anyone has anything to do with anything known as the church, they are outside of the kingdom of God. "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." 1 John 2:27 KJV
I'm a convert from Protestantism to Eastern Orthodoxy (Greek) and I'm seeing growth in my parish. While its primarily comprised of Greeks and the Liturgy is half Greek and half English, there have been a lot of Protestants coming in. The worship, the people and community are wonderful and there's a good mix of non-Greek parishioners.
@@PatriotSFV1The early Christians weren’t a bunch of Protestants running around with nothing but their Bible and conscience. They had a visible church structure with bishops and deacons, and an oral tradition. Just a thought
5:30 Oh no, even the copts have fallen for the "no beautiful architecture allowed" meme! STOP BUILDING UGLY BUILDINGS THAT COST MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, I BEG OF YOU
When we lived in Oak Ridge, TN we attended the Episcopal Church there. The rector was Fr. Stephen Freeman. A couple of years after we moved to Las Vegas for my work, Fr. Freeman became an Orthodox priest and moved to St. Anne Orthodox Church that was established in Oak Ridge in 1998. I have often thought I would like to have the opportunity to attend a service at St. Anne should I ever get back to Oak Ridge.
Coming from an Episcopal background you might also look into the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter and look for a Parrish near you. The Masses of theirs that I’ve been to are extremely beautiful and valid!
I've been attending a small Antiochinan Orthodox mission for about a year and a half and I'm now a catechumen. I belive in my church with all that is in me, but I had no idea the non chalcedonian orthodox churches were growing so much. There aren't any "Oriental" Orthodox churches near me and I have fallen in love with my church, I wonder if I would have joined a Copic one instead if that was my only option.
Catechumen in a Greek Orthodox church here and have had the joy of attending the liturgy at the Coptic Orthodox Church near me. I have had a few people give me their weak theological arguments as to why the Copts aren't the complete Orthodox Church. Bunch of bologna to me. They are Orthodox! God willing we will reunite in our lifetime.
@@nickdavila94 I've looked into reconciliation efforts between the 2 churches and it seems like many think that the differences between the two are mostly cultural and differences in translation, however some "Eastern" Orthodox Authorities hold that the anathemas proclaimed in later ecumenical councils must be accepted by the "Oriental" Orthodox to reestablish communion. A difficult situation that I thankfully I don't have to play a role in as a catechumen. Glory to our God in all things.
@@microcolonel At the Coptic Church I attended the priests were all hopeful. My brother was baptized in a Greek church and his priests were likewise hopeful.
@eucharistangel4662you come from a background that has polluted the definition of faith. You treat faith as if it is something that is stated and sits there idly. St. Paul’s definition of faith is “faith working through love.” Indeed, St. James agreed with him and taught us that “faith without works is dead.” Faith is kinetic. In Christ’s parable of the talents, the wicked servant could’ve believed in compounding interest all day and night. It is the fact that he did NOT ACT that got him kicked out into the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The church fathers are in agreement that faith is not merely a text message you send a megachurch while sitting cross legged sipping on a latte.
@eucharistangel4662 you continue to bang your head against a wall and misdefine faith. Show me ANY early church father quote and I’ll show you that their definition of faith is KINETIC. Let your cherry-picking quotes commence so that we can save you from the blindness. Throw out good works to your own peril! May the intercessions of St. Paul and St. James heal you of your corruption.
@eucharistangel4662 and no one said that our works were sin cleansing. No amount of works can give us salvation. It is entirely through the grace of our Lord. BUT we still have to do our part and have a FAITH WORKING (Kinetic) through LOVE in order to be considered “good and faithful servants.” Join the demons if you merely want to call Him “Christ”
Eastern Orthodox is much more similar to Catholicism (with both being Chalcedonian) than to Oriental Orthodox (which is non-Chalcedonian). First the Eastern Orthodox and Catholics need to unite before even considering Orientals.
@@RunawayYe they can not unite unless ths catholics denounce their innovations and repent, the orthodox will not allow it, maybe the corrupt Bartholomew will bring his church, but then he would just be eastern catholic and would not be recognized by 80% of other orthodox .
@@RunawayYe not so; though on paper the Oriental churches are "non-Chalcedonian", both Eastern and Oriental have acknowledged officially that their differences at Chalcedon were entirely semantic, and the Orientals are not hostile to the remaining councils. As for the Romans, though in theory the theology is reconcilable, they have decided within themselves many things that Eastern Orthodox would see as heresies. On paper going just by councils, we are much closer; but in practice the political machinations that caused the schism of 1054 have new political machinations to replace them; will Orthodox accept Pope Francis, a communist activist, as Ecumenical Patriarch? Will we change the powers of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (jurisdiction over autocephaly, for example) just in time for Rome to take its seat again?
There's also just a lot of converts from Protestantism. My priest baptized like 2 dozen converts this year into the Coptic church. When I talk to them, they usually say that they find Protestantism to be backwards and more of political movement than a religious framework. My parish here in LA is very ethnically diverse and our liturgy is a mix of Arabic, Coptic, and English
I also live in L.A. and I have yet to meet a protestant who has converted except for those who have become tired of the leftist woke garbage of some "mainline protestant" churches. Evangelical protestantantism is growing rapidly, if you are from L.A. you should know that.
I’m Catholic and while I don’t know what our numbers look like, I do read a lot online about former Protestants converting to either Catholicism or Orthodoxy when they discover the richness of the faiths. I know we have our differences, but I do have a lot of respect for the Orthodox Churches as well.
The video touched on it a bit, but I wonder if Oriental Orthodoxy will see the kind of influx of converts that Eastern Orthodoxy has. I get the impression that Coptic and Malankara (South Indian) churches are open to using English in services, but I get the impression that Ethiopian, Eritrean and Syriac churches are not. Of the Oriental Orthodox churches, I am most familiar with the Armenian Church, and I am aware that their canons require the use of Grabar (Classical Armenian) in worship. If that were not the case, I am sure that Armenian churches would be flooded with converts, since the Armenian liturgy has similarities to both the Byzantine and traditional Roman rites, and this would be very attractive to converts seeking traditional styles of liturgy. As it stands, virtually all of the people that I know of who converted to the Armenian Church did so because they married into an Armenian family.
As a convert to Coptic Orthodoxy, I have met many converts to Coptic orthodoxy both in real life, and online. I have also met many more who converted to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church aswell.
Grabar is a form of Armenian that was spoken a thousand years ago, so most Armenians who are fluent in modern Armenian dialects have trouble understanding it. I have a friend who was recently ordained a priest in the Armenian Catholic Church. He has started to deliver the mass in English once a month and says it is going well.
Thats amazing! Godbless him and his Church. Also understandable they are having trouble understanding the language, Godwilling it can be understood more properly.@@anthonystreeter7808
The Ethiopian and Eritrean churches are supposed to use the language of the people but for cultural reasons that has been very slow, recently our youth have been advocating for it and doing a lot of work in that area. The habesha people in the US and Canada have been pretty "isolationist" from what I've seen
As an EO I am delighted by this news. You may count me firmly in the camp that believes 90% of the alleged communion separating differences between the EOs and the OOs can be attributed to poor communication and prejudice.
Even if you say this, the OOs are in the wrong for denying a council with correct theology and splitting themselves off from the rest of the Church, are they not?
@@The_Ballo perhaps I should, but in my study of history this seems to be the case rather than anything else, I may if the opportunity arises nonetheless if you would do the same for EO
@@The_Ballo maybe he could explain the Coptic icons of Jesus holding up one finger, which symbolizes their claim of one nature of Christ. the doctrine of fully human and fully Devine really isn't subject to nuance.
The Holy Spirit wouldn't allow a schism to exist for 1500 years over a simple language barrier. Some prominent copts have even denounced theosis as demonic even though it is clearly exposited by Saint Athanasius.
@@levitatingpotato109 That's not true at all. Not sure who taught you that but that's totally wrong. Misunderstanding God through no fault of your own does not condemn by itself.
Reminder to all, both Ortho and others Strength in Numbers ≠ Truth (Lest we say Sunni Islam is true because it has more followers than the largest communion of Christians being the Roman Catholic Church)
@@POTATOSOOPS if you are to use the theological schools of Sunmi Islam as a denial of their unity, then we must also consider the theological schools of Catholicism to be an example of division in that communion, and I'm certain no catholic would allow such an accusation to be considered a just one. Sunnis consider themselves united on the key doctrine of Islam, which is to accept Muhammad as prophet and Allah as the one god, and the Shia schism over viewing the hier of Muhammad to be an additional key point in their doctrine. The reality for the situation is that Islam doesn't have as strict bounds of unity as Chrsitianity does, and so Islam is united on different a basis than us, but is united nonetheless and so fits the requirements of this argument (and if not Islam then we can also use the Arian controversy in which it is an accepted historical fact that most Christians of both laity and clergy would have affirmed the incorrect view of Christ before the Council of Nicea I in its nearly unanimous decision, save for 2 bishops, rendered its authority over both the laity and clergy, saving large swaths of Christians with an Arian Christology from their heresy.)
@@Rome_77 the fact you feel the need to run over to a separate comment of mine from the other discussion wherein I demonstrated that you are not worth speaking to about such things due to your internal biases is telling of your own insecurities (as well as you throwing the accusation back at me to no success, as I am not anti-western, I am in fact a proponent of Western Rite Orthodoxy and will be visiting a WR liturgy soon, for your information) and personal fufillment needs to point the flaws of people on the internet (ironic for your pointing to my views as a solely online affair, i do in fact attend church and do all my irl requirements of my faith, and can see the reality of the Faith, whereas you have demonstrated the opposite, being a terminally online trad cath who seeks nothing more than "gotcha" moments on those who disagree with you), as I said before, have a good day, and I will apply the same position of not throwing my pearls to swine who cannot see their value. God bless, please do not respond to any of my comments further as I will have to go through the trouble of explaining this yet again. (And also your lack of knowledge that I was in fact a westerner proves you didn't read or comprehend at least one of my responses in our earlier discussion, wherein i used my position as a westerner to prove a point, which further shows your dishonor in engaging, or rather refusing to engage, with the points I have made)
Orthodoxy has always promoted use of the vernacular in liturgy. But, with the original parishoners not having English as their first language, it ia natural that the old languages (be it Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Coptic, Geez, etc) remained the language used. Their children grew up speaking them, and this lasted for generations. I went to a Ukrainian Catholic church growing up, and we were among the last to have fully Ukrainian (at times, Church Slavonic) liturgies. When I started taking my daughter, it was mostly in English. This is definitely a part of the lack of converts. One of the biggest issues for Luther and the other reformers was the exclusive use of Latin; the common people simply could not understand what was being said, and could not fully grasp what orthodox belief was. If I remember correctly, Tikon, metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church in the early part of the 20th century (under whos authority the Antiochans, Serbians, etc fell because they had no hierarchies of their own) was pushing for a truly American Orthodox Church, to eventually be autocephalous. He was made Patriarch of Moscow, and the idea died out (not to mention a lot of outside influences from other groups). Personally, I still favor the old traditions and language: the Slavic ways were (and are) different than thoughs of the Greeks. Or Arabs. Or Georgians. But, the vernacular is they key.
"Tikhon...was pushing for a truly American Orthodox Church, to eventually be autocephalous." But that is what the OCA is, and it has been autocephalous since I think 1970.
EO ethnic legacy parishes are dying out and their youth don’t care because they were raised to be “Greek” (or other nationality) instead of Orthodox. Convert parishes are growing exponentially. I’d rather see 5 small convert parishes with 10 people each than a big 500 person cathedral with only a few yia yias left
That was the previous generation, those who were raised going to Greek school and in Greek culture tended to stay in the Church, but many of them did not like their Greek cultural education or, more to the point, they didn't like that it marked them as an outsider in American society, so they didn't force the same experience on their children. It's that generation that became thoroughly 'Americanized' and left the Church; it's not that they converted to another religion or sect, they just became irreligious like most of American society, left to the suburbs and stopped going to Church altogether. American culture has had a corrupting and corrosive effect on every people who have migrated here, it's sadly just a matter of time until their cultural identity is subsumed into the greater culture. There was a lot of criticism about those Greeks who seemed to want to be 'Eastern Rite Anglicans' 30 years ago, those Greeks did not raise their children to be Greek or even particularly Orthodox. We're seeing the impact of that today in the once large urban parishes that were built around Greek immigrant communities. Similar effects can be observed in the Russian emigre communities that were very strong in the 20's and 30's, but have declined over the decades as their children became more and more Americanized.
The Greek parishes I've been around appear to have found a way to maximize youth involvement and teach them the language, from where I'm sitting, it'll be a very very long time before the Converts, with less money, less infrastructure, and far less population, can even compete with the Greeks.
@@the_albanian_meme6041 compete in terms of money and stuff sure. But that doesn’t really matter as much as being faithful. I’m not dogging all Greeks by any means
What? You're the same schismatics as the Roman Catholics. Just because one of the five patriarchs have separated doesn't mean that the rest of the four patriarchs are heretics. You still cannot justify nestorianism because it's inherently wrong, as it is a heresy. How do you even know that the nestorianists are "the true orthodox churches" anyway? Because the number goes up? The fastest growing religious cult in the world is mormonism - doesn't mean that it's true.
I am so gld to be home. Christ left the 99 and found me. Pray that rest of us here in America head God’s call to His one Holy Catholic Apostolic Orthodox Church!
I am so gld to be home. Christ left the 99 and found me. Pray that rest of us here in America head God’s call to His one Holy Catholic Apostolic Orthodox Church!
@@josephnugent3065the Lord richly bless you. I long for the day when we don’t have to be just called “Oriental” or “Coptic” but truly what is intended “Followers of Christ and Children of God.” Honestly, the OO preserved the One Faith and One Baptism with the blood of the martyrs, but it is not intended to be kept for the Egyptians or Syrians or Ethiopians or Malankara or Armenians only. It is for the whole world.
I am Armenian who was baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church, however I tend to visit eastern orthodoxy churches because the AAC's outreach program is virtually non-existent. On top of that the services they conduct such as the liturgy is mostly in Armenian and I have hardly ever heard a service in English. They speak in a dialect of Armenian that I cannot understand and it is partly ancient. This is probably why they never get an increase in attendance and I fear that if they don't change with the times they will not be around. And I am talking about churches in SoCal with huge populations and churches everywhere.
I am Coptic Orthodox, I am a white American with no connection to the Coptic Church. Florida has a HUGE growth of Coptic Churches which is amazing to me. I always am happy to see when we have more parishes crop up! Edit: As a convert, I want to state I have NEVER felt like an outsider. I prefer the Arabic liturgy despite not being able to speak it. I am not a fan of the Coptic American style that Abouna Messah has and a lot of people I know have an issue with him being more "protestant" but he adheres to the Coptic theology just fine, I think people are just a bit standoffish about the style he has.
Unfortunately, Coptic Orthodox are not Orthodox. You can only pick one, either you're coptic (a monophysite) or you're Orthodox. So you should learn more about Orthodoxy and the church history, and read more of the teachings of the holy fathers.
What made you want join the Coptic church? I was raised Protestant but I’m currently not attending any church. The southern US is dominated by Baptists, Methodists, and Pentecostals and some non denominational churches. I’ve always disliked how empty and bare their churches look and feel; and their Protestant church culture is more like a social club than being about worshipping God and following the example of Christ. Just mention Matthew 25: 31-46 to a Protestant and they will immediately quote “by grace are ye saved, through faith, not of works lest any man should boast” by Paul. That’s what so many Evangelicals don’t get, Paul did say that but he didn’t mean how Protestant preach it today. Paul completely lived for Christ after his conversion traveling the world spreading the gospel and telling the churches to follow the commands of Christ. They only preach salvation through faith but Christ himself said you have to back up your faith by following the commands of Christ or he will spew you out like lukewarm water on the day of judgement. I’ve not joined the Catholic Church and will not join any church that calls it’s ministers and preachers by the title Father because God and Jesus said not to call any man father because God is the Father. I won’t join any church that prays to saints because Jesus taught us to pray to God directly and to pray to God in the name of Jesus and to do the work of God in Jesus’s name like laying hands on the sick and casting out unclean spirits. He told his disciples “do this in my name.” I want to join a church but I’m not going to join a church that does anything against the direction of Jesus Christ, so I want to know your theological reason for joining the Coptic church.
@@one_step_sideways You need to catch up with Christology. According to *_The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica:_* The churches that until the mid-20th century had been traditionally classified as monophysite, those of the so-called Oriental Orthodox communion, have always disputed the label, preferring the term miaphysite (from the Greek mia, “single,” and physis, “nature”) to identify their shared view that both divinity and humanity are equally present within a single nature in the person of Christ and describing their traditions as “non-Chalcedonian.” These Oriental Orthodox churches-the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Syriac Orthodox Partriachate of Antioch and All the East, the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church- *_have since resolved almost all of their Christological disputes with the Roman Catholic Church, the major Protestant churches, and Eastern Orthodoxy and have been generally accepted by those traditions as essentially orthodox in their doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ._*
In addition to growth by immigration I also wonder about growth from former Protestants. I get more of a sense that Protestant churches are abandoning their roots in the historic Christian faith. Many Evangelical Protestants in the US think of Christianity as merely a set of doctrinal statements. There is little concern to be connected to Christians through the world and throughout history. I wonder if people are becoming more dissatisfied with the individualism in American Christianity and are looking for deeper connections.
Former presbyterian here, God spoke to my heart and called me home the moment I stepped into a Greek Orthodox Church in Phoenix, AZ. The beauty, the engagement of every one of the senses, and the theology embedded into every action and detail is truly the life abundant that Christ promised us.
I think you make a good point but I’ll add that in the most simplistic sense, with no offense intended, the evangelicals are filtering out more and more history and bears zero tradition, it’s been diluted down to simple feel good entertainment with no substance and certainly no sacrifice and therefore no real worship. I’m RC, not EO, and still 100% believe the the RC is more valid but the distinction for me is something like 51%-49% so it’s a net positive when people find themselves in the presence of valid Sacraments.
Very interesting! I’m Antiochian Orthodox and I’m aware that some Copts attended my parish before they got their parish going, years ago before I began attending. My understanding is the Antiochian patriarchate is in communion with the Coptic church. I believe it’s the only Eastern Orthodox Church in communion with the Copts.
We are definitely not in communion with the Monophysites. They would not be allowed to commune with us and we would be excommunicated for communing with them.
No Oriental Orthodox Church is in communion with any Eastern Orthodox Church. You are likely misunderstanding the Patriarchate of Alexandria as the Coptic Church. Same nation, different churches.
I don’t think I’m mistaken. In Antiochian Orthodox we have official limited intercommunion. The dire circumstances of Christians in Syria have provoked great cooperation. They really were Copts that were openly communed at my parish before they got their own parish going. Look into the Orthodox joint commission. This might not apply as much to parishes in North America, I think it depends on the Bishop, but it definitely does apply in some places. orthodoxjointcommission.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/unity-in-antioch/
This nonsense right here is why I will forever firmly remain Catholic. The dissension right here breeds further separation and isolates rather than have one episcopally elected head helping to mend divisions. Orthodoxy has valid Sacraments and means well but is a victim of the blind leading the blind.
I'm an Atheist who likes religion, and I like this trend. There's something special about traditional services that I don't get with uninspired Jesus guitar music on a stage. Also, a lot of the mainline Protestant and even Catholic trends have become degenerate; thankfully, we can generally count on the Orthodox churches to remain steadfast in their beliefs and practices: a counterweight against the insanities of the Postmodern age.
Atheism is a religion same as all other religions. Everything known as and called the church is all 100% apostate from God and from the truth and Christianity of the Bible. Everyone in every church is in reality an atheist just like you, this is why you are not too opposed to it (the churches fake christianity). You all in reality have the very same false manmade atheist religion of scientism as your real religion. Scientism is the one world religion. It is the religion of atheists like you, as well as the real religion of everything called and known as the church. The Bibles Christianity is completely outside of everything called and known as the/a church.
I'm of Roman Catholic background. But I have been going to a Russian Orthodox for the past 2 months. It's home. Nothing in Roman Catholicism compares. Look East to the ancient way!
Yes, the entire church is 100% apostate. Without Gods mercy, no one would be saved. Thankfully, God will save a few. And the few God saves have nothing to do with anything known as the church.
Catechumen in the Eastern Orthodox church in Alabama. Our small mission has quadrupled in size in the past year. Praise God his church is spreading where protestantism has fractured into primarily non denom churches.
I don’t even call them “non-denominational” anymore. I prefer to call then “neo baptist/pentecostal”, depending upon their pastor’s opinion about tongues.
You may need to look at immigration numbers from Egypt to get a more complete picture. And the question of those who convert in order to marry vs “study-in” conversions. The dynamics are perhaps more complex than the limited data being used suggests.
I am a convert to Orthodox Christianity, and I have been seeing a lot of growth in Orthodox churches, just in the last 4 years. There was moderate growth before, but it really began to take off 3-4 years ago. I can imagine people leaving the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and going to another jurisdiction, like the OCA or ROCOR, but I don't think the number of Eastern Orthodox Christians is going down. I hope I'm not wrong. Anyway, the OCA church in Greenville, SC baptized more than 30 people right before Pascha (Orthodox Easter). The Greek Orthodox parish in town seems to be stable. I think they've lost a few people to other Orthodox churches, but their population is slowly growing as far as I can tell. I wouldn't be surprised if demographic changes have something to do with the changing numbers of adherents to different faiths. Since the end of Communism fewer people have moved to America from eastern Europe, and I think more people are moving to America from the Middle East. That will bring some Greek Orthodox, but also more Oriental Orthodox.
As a Roman Catholic who attends both extraordinary and ordinary forms and is feeling effects of the internal rivalry that can exist between the two, I think there is a lot that the Latin Church can learn from what this video says the Oriental Church is doing. I’m happy that the Oriental Church is growing here in the US. The Eastern lung is breathing healthily.
Oriental Orthodoxy is not the Eastern lung Pope John Paul II described. They absolutely deny the Hypostatic Union which is absolutely essential to RC and EO. Their Christology is wildly different. I would argue that Oriental Orthodoxy is significantly further from Roman Catholicism than Eastern Orthodoxy is.
So what we're seeing is that the longer-established Orthodox churches, as their communities become more rooted in America, begin to experience the same erosion as the mainstream Protestant churches, while there are those among the Oriental Orthodox that are boosted by a still active immigrant movement -- notice the high growth of the African-based ones, mostly immigrant in the last generation, vs. the Armenian, here for a hundred years.
The Russian Orthodox churches are also there for 100 years. It's evident that it's not the same reason as with protestantism. And no, ROCOR is not exactly as widespread as it could have been, mostly because Russians didn't simply migrate to the US, they migrated everywhere outside the Russian Empire.
A lot of the evangelical churches are superficial. People wanting to re connect with God want something more deeper and spiritual that speaks to their souls not just their senses. There is a beautiful grace in orthodoxy.
I think that’s a good idea! The eastern Catholic churches tend to get forgotten. Whenever I see the word Catholic as a denomination, it usually has “Roman” in front of it, so I guess most people don’t know about Eastern Catholics. 🙂
These are former Protestants that were left behind by their denominations because they went woke, liberalized their theology, sold out, went into political capture, etc. Then they realize the Church is necessarily apostolic but they can't bring themselves to become Catholic because of the lingering effects of their protestantism so they take the next best thing. This has fueled _a lot_ of the "orthobro" phenomenon online.
Orthodox apologists destroy every one of your catholic champions though, so how are we the next best thing? We are correct and the Alexandria document proves it.
I became Orthodox after a long time away from God. I come from a Protestant so i inivted family to my baptisim and my mom was proud of me and loved the service will she convert? Probably not but she will attend liturgy with me
Praying matters more than convincing, and if you want to convert others work first on purification. You can help your brother and sister when you see clearly.
One big lesson to learn is not to modernize as that will be the start of the decline. I am a Roman Catholic but I prefer to go to the Latin Mass if time permits as it is still a mission church here meaning that their last Sunday Mass is at 9AM. There was a major reconciliation efforts between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church but it has fallen apart when Vatican II started.
Both orthodoxy and catholicism are just sisters of the same false, manmade, Godless religion of scientism. Orthodoxy, catholicism, protestantism, are all false manmade Godless cults (sisters) that all belong to the one world religion of scientism. The actual Christianity of the Bible has nothing whatsoever to do with anything called or known as the church.
Strange to see the Oriental Orthodox of all people growing in popularity. I wonder if their view of Christ’s natures will start to spread to other churches.
I disagree with that comment NO nestorianism preached at our BAPTIST church Sir. Nestorianism: Originally, Nestorianism envisaged the divine Word as having associated with itself at the Incarnation a complete, independently existing man. From the orthodox point of view, Nestorianism therefore denied the reality of the Incarnation and represented Christ as a God-inspired man rather than as God-made-man. We do not teach this if a Baptist church is teaching this then it is not Baptist , may the Father , The Son and The Holy Spirit be with You!@@VincenzoRutiglianoDiaz
Reformed theology certainly has a Nestorian problem with respect to their Calvinistic insistence on penal substitution theory, wherein either the Logos had to depart from Jesus on the cross or else the Trinity would've been divided. (On the other hand, Lutheranism might have a monophysite problem with some peculiar conclusions drawn from the communicatio idiomatum.) It goes too far to say the Evangelical aversion to Theotokos language is "Nestorian" in and of itself, but I understand why many Orthodox and Roman Catholics would raise an eyebrow.
@@Paisios77 ,...I presented you with the truth for your edification. I brought light into your darkness, just as Jesus (Lucifer) brought light (truth) into the Godless world/church/Israel. Orthodoxy is a 100% false, manmade, Godless abomination. Both it, and catholicism are the religions of the accursed of God. At least Protestantism has a couple of things correct.
@@David-yw2lv ,...Read the Bible and find out. Orthodoxy has nothing to do with the truth, the gospel, nor the Christianity of the Bible. It is a manmade abomination. It is the manmade religion of the accursed of God.
@@jeffkardosjr.3825 ,..Orthodoxy has nothing whatsoever to do with the God, the Jesus, the gospel, nor the Christianity of the Bible. It is all a 100% Godless manmade abomination. If anyone does not understand this fact, it is because like all those snared into this ungodly fraud, they are Biblically illiterate, and spiritually dead and blind. They do not belong to Jesus, they belong to the Godless world.
There is a small Orthodox community springing up in my town. I wish them all the best! The only thing that makes me a little sad is that they describe their Church as the oldest and the original church. I get a little upset by that because that is a historical inaccuracy. The original Christian Church was both “Catholic” and “Orthodox”. May we work toward reconciliation on both sides. ❤
The term "catholic" means universal, it doesn't mean "Roman Catholic," which is somewhat of a misnomer to consider oneself universal ("Catholic") and then describe what specific type of universal ("Roman"). There was/is an original Church. It was/is the Orthodox Church, from which the Bishop of Rome split from the other four major Bishops of the Christian world in 1054. The Orthodox Church was there at the beginning for the first 1,000 years of Christianity (there was only one church then), and continued on from there and continues to this day. It was the Orthodox Church that set the dogmas of the faith through seven major ecumenical councils (it was the Orthodox Church, for example, that agreed on the self-describing term, "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church" found in the original Nicene Creed, and still recited in every Divine Liturgy service to this day, in every Orthodox church); fought heresies and false beliefs within and without; agreed on the Canon of Scripture which the whole Christian world uses to this day; and has kept the faith and ancient traditions the original church practiced intact through thick and thin ever since. Your Orthodox community is therefore correct in their assertion that they were indeed "there first," since what they mean is that they're still practicing the exact faith (the Divine Liturgy services, for example, have been served almost verbatim for centuries), although it is definitely not meant with hubris. It is meant in the spirit of, "If you're looking for the genuine article, this is the original, still going strong." Granted, the Orthodox faithful can sometimes show a little human pride in that fact. Forgive them for that. But they are correct.
@@aaronblanco8204 The most unbiased sources point to one Church that split between east and west in 1054, so I want to pay attention to history without Orthodox or Catholic bias here. And I never said “Roman Catholic.” I’m a Catholic, but I know that isn’t the only type of Catholic. Have you heard of Eastern Catholicism? Sure, I like being challenged to look into our Christian history, but when I do I find a lot of evidence that the Church for the first 1000 years did believe in things that Catholics still believe in today (a state of purification before reaching heaven, a belief which dates back to pre-Christian Judaism, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which was celebrated by the Christian Church as early as the 7th century, and the papacy). Sadly, due to corruption of both sides, east and west split and never reunited. I don’t want to pretend that the Roman Catholic Church didn’t have a huge part in this due to centralizing the papacy too much, though, and not including Eastern Christian traditions enough. But I don’t see the evidence to say that the early Church was exclusively “Orthodox” or “Catholic”. Early Christians used both words to describe it. There is a lot that Catholics could be doing better for sure, but I just want to be sure that we have an accurate understanding of our Christian history.
@@aaronblanco8204 Also, when I went to the Orthodox Liturgy, I realized I had experienced the same type of Liturgy already in a Byzantine Catholic Church. We both actually share that type of Liturgy, but I don’t know how many Catholics or Orthodox realize that to be honest.
@@aaronblanco8204 At the end of the day, it’s okay if we agree to disagree. I’ve heard these arguments before, though, and I haven’t found the historical evidence for them. If I don’t reply to you again, please don’t take it personally. I think I get too stressed out by the comment section, so I’m going to mute this for now. One time, I made a comment on a video like this and people kept replying to it months later saying the same things again and again lol. I think it stole away some of my peace, so I just don’t want that to happen again. Peace to you. ❤️
The script overlooked the effect of political unrest, ISIS terrorism and other terroristic organizations in Egypt between 2010 and 2020. It is a cause and effect thing on Egyptian Copts, exactly as once during the Armenian genocide. Also stressing on differences than similarities, while ignoring the fact that Coptic language is written in Greek letters and nips up Greek culture, hymns. Nice statistics however :))
Here is the thing, guys. And I love Orthodoxy more than anyone. I am as Orthodox as you can get while remaining Catholic and have (and still considering) converting but just to be clear, the vast majority of the growth of Oriental Orthodoxy is via immigration. I think it's fantastic what they're doing at STSA, and there are certainly converts coming in. But I really just chalk it up to the fact that these newly-replenished ethnic enclaves remain vibrant while the ones who have been here a long time like the Greeks are declining due mainly to assimilation. The truth is as the video creator mentioned at the start which is that, despite the fanfare, Eastern Orthodoxy is cratering in America and there are no great answers (except more immigration from majority EO countries). Orthodoxy is indeed amazing but most Americans can't be bothered.
@@levitatingpotato109 God Forbid. “What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?” (2 Cor 6:14). Chalcedonian garbage embraces the desire to be on the throne of God making their bed with the filth of Isaiah 14. Melkite godlessness embraces Palamas and his filth of demonic yoga in so called ascetic prayer. Invoking demons! The true Bride of Christ in the faith of the One Holy Apostolic Orthodox Non-Chalcedonian Church will NEVER partake in such wickedness.
I know orientals actually so much growing than eastern, a great movement for orthodox world. First time seeing bohemian rapsody movie led by Rami Malek, he is actually coptic orthodox and for me is first time seeing orientals made it into big screen
Question for the Ethiopians/Eritreans! I attend a Greek Orthodox church, but unfortunately it’s 500km from home. There is an Ethiopian Orthodox church in my hometown, and I believe in miaphysitism. Is there much difference in our worship? Where would I get the white headcloth? Is there anything I should look out for?
Just go there ask anybody you meet and they will tell you where to get the headcloth, it's called 'netela' in Amharic. It is not mandatory for men. May God bless you.
The main difference is in the nature of Christ but you've mentioned in believing in Miaphysitisim so its ok. Other than that there's going to be a language and cultural difference. Most parishes use Ge'ez, an ancient language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church so that might be difficult to understand. But there are some Ethiopian churches that give services in english. A recent one that was planted was the SPOT Church (Saint Paul Orthodox Tewahedo Church). They give services and Liturgy in English. You can look up the Church. Another thing that you might find diffrent is that the use of instruments mentioned in the old testament like drums, harp of David, flute.. during singing hymns. (Ethiopia accepted belief in one God and become jewish and later on converted to Christianity. So you'll find some jewish customs. You can read more about this if ur interested.) And aboit the white head covering, it is worn by both men and women. The difference is that the women cover their hair with it but the men don't. U can look at some Ethiopian Liturgy Videos to see how it's worn or u can ask an Ethiopian.
The main difference is in the nature of Christ but you've mentioned in believing in Miaphysitisim so its ok. Other than that there's going to be a language and cultural difference. Most parishes use Ge'ez, an ancient language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church so that might be difficult to understand. But there are some Ethiopian churches that give services in english. A recent one that was planted was the SPOT Church (Saint Paul Orthodox Tewahedo Church). They give services and Liturgy in English. You can look up the Church. Another thing that you might find diffrent is that the use of instruments mentioned in the old testament like drums, harp of David, flute.. during singing hymns. (Ethiopia accepted belief in one God and become jewish and later on converted to Christianity. So you'll find some jewish customs. You can read more about this if ur interested.) And aboit the white head covering, it is worn by both men and women. The difference is that the women cover their hair with it but the men don't. U can look at some Ethiopian Liturgy Videos to see how it's worn or u can ask an Ethiopian.
1 Timothy 4, 1 to 3 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be