As an Orthodox Convert, I can definitely relate to so many things that Tommy said. Thank you for sharing your story, Tommy! And thank you gentlemen for putting this interview out! There’s more Orthodox Christians in the scene than one may think 😁
I'll second that motion. I was Chrsmated Iakovos Lazarus Saturday, 2003. My wife is not a fan of metal, but LOVES the Holy Name songs and live project. I am 61, she is 65. Yeah. To Christ be the glory.
There are a surprising amount of Orthodox metal bands but unfortunately they're mostly in Eastern Europe. I think the only other Western Orthodox metal group is Hesychast, but they've only released one album. Awesome to listen to Tommy's story and excited to hear more from Holy Name
@@logosdisciple544what’s unfortunate about Orthodox metal bands coming from countries where there is a strong presence of orthodoxy? Also, my favorite Orthodox band is the Unblack Swedish band Crimson Moonlight, whom Green should reverence. Then there is Secret Chiefs 3, the work of Theophan Trey Spruance who has been an Orthodox Christian for nearly 20 years now. He has stated that Orthodox Christianity permeates his music-making. Also, Hesychast is, like the prototype of Unblack Horde, a one-man band project.
Dude I’m so blown away right now 😂 I used to live sleeping giant and just converted to orthodoxy last year and I’m so excited to see Tommy on this journey too
I know I’m a year late on this, but it came to me at a point of my life full of struggle and uncertainty. Praise God I watched this today. Thank y’all for this
Was introduced to Tommy a MILLION years ago by some homies from the SLC HXC, just outside the cafeteria at Salt Lake Community College. Anyhoo, this interview is exactly what I needed where I'm at in my renewed walk with Christ. Thanks to all 3 of you and God bless!
The HolyName album was my #1 for this past year. It is truly a breath of fresh air in the Christian Metal scene, and as someone who is not Eastern Orthodox (and disagrees with them on many points), I see Tommy’s heart for Christ all over it. Like Sean said, it gets your heart in a place of worship.
I’m loving Tommy’s witness and all the love from the community in the comments section. As a hardcore kid that found Orthodoxy 20 years ago it warms my heart to see the passion that was in the scene directed toward Christ and within His Body the Church. Fr. Patrick is a dear friend and I’m grateful that Tommy’s path and his crossed during his time in SLC.
As a catechumen in an Eastern Orthodox church it is such a blessing to see someone come home to Holy Orthodoxy and the fullness of Orthodox Christianity. Everything Mr. Green talks about and his new perspective is so obviously Eastern Orthodox. I hope everyone who watches this video accepts the orthodox invitation to "come and see" at their local Orthodox church. I hope Mr. Green continues his exploration of our ancient church and joins the ranks of the catechumenate.
So I’m not orthodox. However, I’m really grateful for the Lord’s mercy & hearing Tommy share his story. I pray the Lord continues to heal & shape Him further into the image of Christ (as with us all really).
My biggest issue with the Church is how it has become politically driven. Pastors and Priests don't want to preach the darker side of the Word of God because they are afraid they will hurt someone's feelings or insult their political views. Jesus was straight forward about what is right and what is wrong.
Most people don't see the supernatural side of the bible as REAL. They put those stories on the same level as Harry Potter. That makes it safe to read the bible The pastors preach safe messages to their congregations because it's easier. The supernatural is difficult for most folks to wrap their heads around unless it's in a movie or a fictional book.
In seeker-sensitive churches, yes. In our reformed church, no. Lol, just keep searching for a church that preaches the full word unabashedly. Much love.
This is amazing and mind-blowing: Tommy's testimony is absolutely parallel with mine- in every aspect. Every single nuance. Except this: I came to the Orthodox Church 22 years ago. I am soon to be 61, and I love what Holy Name is doing. We were all born for this time. Can you sense it? This is an appointed time.
I've been Orthodox for around 5 years now, and I can relate to a lot of this journey. I don't think I've met any converts who weren't at some kind of serious crossroads in their life. It's fun to see this outside perspective, there's a lot of things I take for granted now that were totally weird to me too at first - it's a different culture and mindset to our modern American culture. The "spiritual but not religious" bit is funny, especially because to a secular person, any kind of Christian, especially one who attends services and bible study, is totally a religious person! Tommy (and Fr. Patrick) explained it well: you attend services and participate in the life of the Church to grow spiritually. We have Tradition for a reason, you aren't cut off from Christians in the past, the last 2000 years of Christianity have been preserved, not just the teachings, but the spiritual life of the Church through the services as well.
Non-denominational Christian here, I just wanted to give Tommy his flowers. I get tired of the same soft music, nothing wrong with it I love it too but my whole church are filled with a lot of Puerto Ricans and they’re extremely careful with what they listen too lol. I found this band while away from God in the deepest part of my addiction, I ended up giving my life back to Jesus last month and just been jamming out to Tommy’s music; when I read the lyrics for ‘My Way’ it impacted me so deeply because that was me. A lot of the stuff Tommy went through, I went through. A lot of rejection, molestation, etc. I’m glad I found this mans music, I feel like the Church is missing different aspects of expression and worship for God. I love you all brothers and sisters in Christ, stay strong with the Lord ✝️🫶🏽
@@JasonDuval-ll2dv I would recommend highly reading "The Religion of the Apostles: Orthodox Christianity in the First Century" by Fr. Stephen de Young :)
Super interesting, I really relate to so much in this interview. I used to be in a StrikeFirst band (Facedown sub label), grew up in the Vineyard movement, very spirit filled youth. Now me and my wife are Orthodox converts and my kids are cradle Orthodox, super unlikely but it was such a Holy Spirit led thing, and the grace I've encountered in the Divine Liturgy is beyond compare to anything I've experienced before in my life. I've often thought of how ready made so much of our church's ancient and otherworldly hymnography, iconography, theology, ethos, etc. is ready made for heavy music. Listening to Holy Name for the first time right now, really enjoying it, I will be cheering you guys on! May the Lord our God remember us all in his kingdom, now and always and forever and ever, amen.
@@ForTheRock I played guitar for Hit The Deck, very small fry in terms of the whole facedown story but I can vouch like everyone else what wonderful guy Jason is and how cool he was to us, we were teenagers and knew nothing and he was so good to us, let us play a few facedown fests and other shows in So Cal, connected us with great people. I got the link to this show from a fellow ortho convert ex hc guy, theres dozens of us! Have you ever heard of Father Turbo Qualls btw? JCHC punk from socal turned priest, would be a cool interview. I enjoy what you guys are doing, God bless!
I was at a non-denominational church yesterday and was moved by The Holy Spirit immensely, the people were beautiful and passionate of course. But, i want a deeper connection to the source, so im gonna dive into Orthodoxy because it's calling me more than any other sect. My God bless everyone, in Jesus mighty name, all glory be to His name. Amen. 🙌✝️🙏☦️
Do not ignore the move of the Holy Spirit in that place. Maybe the Lord wants you to stay in that place where the Holy Spirit moved you because HE HIMSELF is the source. Not the traditions of men.
HolyName is so good. Impactful, inspiring, beautiful and heavy. Much respect to Tommy and being so open with his faith, as Christian and metal musician, it's so refreshing to hear. Love it.
The song "Creed" lyrics peaked my interest concerning Tommy. I've actually met him when he was in Sleeping Giant. My research led me to this interview and it's helped me understand so much! Thank you! Tommy's just such an authentic guy. I can't wait to see where the Lord leads him!
Hey brother's God bless, you know Tommy I'm a 55 year guy who loves all forms of rock music, then Christ saved me from darkness and brought me to He's marvelous light, and brother it was a roller-coaster,could not understand some of the churches behavior that lead me to my downfall, but God is good now in my age I'm grounded in Christ still seeing what's not the truth, and yes still love metal and looking for what's new, a fan of sleeping giant, then i discovered Holy Name 🤯 🤘,but here's what i want to say i understand you i know your experience, and thank you for being open, now i know I'm not crazy, and tired of feeling like a goat in the temple i attend, I have a cousin who spoke about orthodoxy and now really want to look into it and find myself face to face with Christ, be blessed keep the faith, your bro from Puerto Rico 🙏
The past 3 years of my life have been a nightmare and a living hell. I relate with Tommy when he said he saw God everywhere but God being silent and not hearing His voice. The leadership in my church are unhelpful and I had to leave my church family who I love dearly. In a dark spot currently. Pain is part of my days consistently. It’s refreshing hearing an honest person being vulnerable with their feelings about being confused.
@@JasonDuval-ll2dvyes they are. Depending on what background you are from, Rock and Sand is good for protestants looking into Orthodoxy annd pretty much anything by Father Seraphim Rose (he wrote Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future).
Liked, shared, subscribed, got all of those notifications on guys - stoked to hear more stories! Man... I relate to Tommy so much on this here. I am happy to hear a lot of us are towards the same approach. Had this quote from Bible Study this morning, "Instead of searching for all the answers, we need to realize that God is the answer."
That is a powerful story and testimony! Perfect example that Jesus is always there and ready to meet with us. The new album is so refreshing I agree. Preciate you guys doing this interview and love Tommy’s authenticity in all of it
I'm a LDS. But I have great respect for the Orthodox church even though I disagree with it's Theology. I absolutely love the band Holyname, and I particularly love the song " Meet Me in a quiet place." That song hits me hard. I love how you can have hard and ominous music and then intermingle a celestial voice in-between. Christian Metal fills in the needs for a particular group of people that gets tired of the same soft songs played over and over again. Thank you Tommy.
Roman Catholic here, was raised Evangelical by great parents. Was in The Scene and made music, I love hearing about Tommy. Keep moving towards the Apostolic Churches boys!
I grew up in Baptist and Charismatic traditions that were focused on Christian celebrity culture. I’ve found a lot of the same type of healing in a smaller reformed church where we focus on relationships, spiritual, disciplines and liturgy. It’s so simple and no one gets burned out on the “bigger is better” mentality.
Thanks for the great discussion. As Tommy shared his story I thought of Philippians 3:10 and Paul discussing his journey and how in his transformation he wanted “to know Christ.”That focus sounds like the desire Tommy described. I need to be reminded that the focus is on CHRIST and not me.
I love the vulnerability. To continue the race in adversity is a beautiful model for us all. May the Lord continue to bless his mission and his family and may they be a blessing to those in similar situations.
Batyushka (not the satanic one that mocks Orthodoxy). You kind of have to dig for the actual Orthodox band. The real Orthodox one is purely instrumental death metal. Also Skillet and Lacy Sturm are now Orthodox!
One of the things I really notice about guys my age that are Christian hardcore dudes is they kind of come from the non-denom or more charismatic setting and the hardcore scene as well and something about those two things put together reinforces searching out God and His Will through trying to "feel God is there" or "feel God is moving" or "God makes me feel like this is the right way". Men, ya gotta be careful. This world is making us feel hurt, lost, without someone to trust, and leaning too much into how all those things play into whether or not we believe in the truth of the Gospel. In His WORD. Somewhere along the lines we get mixed up into being so reliant on the word of man, rather than the scripture itself to supply hope, to give us a light unto our path, to show us God's will for our life, to see Him in our lives, and to see Him working His authority in our lives. I've gone through some pretty tough times as far as faith, gone down the road of deconstruction, gone down the road of atheism, lost family, lost friends, watched as people lost their faith, their family, their friends. Don't lose yourself in deconstruction so far that emotion becomes your drive to serve the Lord and work out your faith. It will cause loss to the conviction you have pursued the second something painful happens to you in your life. I really do love all of my brothers in Christ so much and I see us with similar struggles and I know the pain of feeling lost. But, my brothers... Let's persevere. Let us be upheld by God's Word and not moments of dopamine release in music and mere philosophy strung together by threads of "well this denomination isn't working out for me, let's go over here".
Dude, I struggled with this in my early faith, I was chasing feeling God and seeking words from those around me to encourage me, which I learned loses it's, let's say fire pretty quickly, I'm slowly coming back and letting God's word and my alone time with Jesus build me up and set me back on the right path. I feel thats the difference between a young Christian feeding off milk and a mature Christian feeding off solid food.
I feel you. But worshipping a book is also a path to destruction, which I see in Protestant communities everywhere. That book was inspired by God, written and assembled by men given authority to do so by Christ himself. Sacred Tradition is as important as Sacred Scripture and sacred music, art, literature, etc sits within that space at times. None of these to be worshipped, as a carpenter shouldn't worship his hammer, but necessary in building the ship we're on. Listen to "Creed", based on the Nicene Creed, the battle cry of Christian warriors in a way, developed during the First Council of Nicaea in the 300s. It predates the assembly of the Bible itself, not making it superior, but demonstrating the need for Sacred Tradition for the everyday Christian, and a continued authority that can battle heresy as we march through time. Enough of my soapbox. IHS.
@@theJBXP You know I'm not talking about worshipping a book and your idea that "Protestant communities worship a book" is hilarious. Sacred tradition outside of God's very will does not exist. I'm very familiar with the different creeds in existence, but it is merely built on the foundation of what Scripture has already stated, not the other way around and you know that. The creeds are great, but Divine Revelation and accounts of God's Will actually taking place must exist before any Sacred Tradition. To say tradition is more important is to undermine the necessity of Scripture, because tradition is merely Lore without Scripture.
I’m an Orthodox convert and a metal head. I knew all this stuff about his story even before I heard him say it. I could hear it in the music and see it in the images. Holy Name is awesome . Been playing Celestial and several others non stop
I highly recommend reading Alisa Childers' book called "Another Gospel?" And even looking up her podcast on RU-vid. She has a testimony about how she struggled with her our deconstruction and how she made it on the other side... A lot of it similar to Tommy and how he went back to the beginning to the root of Christianity and the early creeds and such. I highly recommend listening to Alisa Childers' testimony as well. She was in the band Zoegirl and her dad was in the band Love Song so she grew up in the faith but as an adult she hit a wall that made her question her faith. She had to find out if Christianity was true or not... As Tommy was talking it reminded me a lot of her testimony!
Just found you guys 30 min ago LOVE your sound and Tommy has a great voice! My gosh I am So sorry for all the loss of loved ones around Tommy ,I hope much of it wasn't to do with the 'arm medicine' they nearly forced on some of us? Blessings! Great interview lads! 👍 👍
I appreciate the admission that so much of the Christian hardcore spirit is so often pissed off, and unfortunately irreverent. That's why HolyName has impacted so many so deeply.
Now, at 1:02:04 when Tommy says he was trying to release the album on Easter, does he mean Orthodox Easter or just Easter? Sorry, I couldn't resist 😅. Tommy is a great guy. It's just hard not to like him even if I disagree with some of what he says. His life and ministry left a mark on me and the Lord really used him to minister to me back in the day. I pray he continues to grow and become more like Christ. This new music is 🔥🔥🔥
...i also experienced God's silence in the midst of my storms. but I kept holding on to my faith for I know in the near future He will reveal His heart to me. :)
He did the same for Job. Job is a beautiful story showing that even if we don't feel Him or His presence, He is still with us. He loves us. He is still there, keep praying, keep your head up, He loves you forever, eternally, don't give up on Him. Please don't give up on Him, he hasn't on you. Ill pray for you.
Religion versus relationship! James 1:26-27 don’t be lazy look it up. Your testimony is such a blessing Tommy. Remember an infinite God wants an infinite relationship with you. To seek His face (an infinite face) is to step into eternity with Him while eternally, seeking out all the facets and attributes of His beautiful Glorious countenance. Don’t ever stop. “The Way” is an eternal path get on it and stay on it brothers and sisters. For narrow it is and few there are who find it.
I'm definitely finding difficult to believe tht someone else could be on this same journey of re discovery It's difficult not knowing what's real Shout out to you guys and to Tommy for trying to breakdown (in words) what it is trying to figure it out.....being lost sux
It’s truly sad what has happened to the Catholic Church from inside the Vatican. I am part of the CMRI a sedevecantist traditional Latin congregation and after falling away for a decade I’ve return to Christ. Blessed be God.
What a great testimony ❤ I wish I could find the lyrics for the songs 😊 Jesus Christ WINS! Tommy thank you for your words of support and sharing your truth. May God continue to bless you and keep you. ❤
This is amazing. What a great interview. Tommy is the real deal. I’ve never heard a more passionate case for the Gospel of Christ then I did at a Sleeping Giant concert over a decade ago. It stuck with me. And I truly admired him for it at a time in my life when my faith was not anchored whatsoever. Concerning his drift toward Eastern Orthodoxy, you can tell his heart is still for Christ. And I truly believe that majoring in the main things is what matters. There is a beautiful simplicity found within the Good News of Jesus Christ - a Good News which is often drowned out by our legalism, shouting, traditions of men, and subjective experiences. Our identity becomes what our tradition and label is (reformed, charismatic, etc.) rather than WHO we are and who we are becoming in Christ. Galatians 2:20. May Abba, Father lead Tommy, as well as us all, into a greater understanding of Him and into a deep, life altering faith which is built upon the Rock. God bless you, brothers! Thank you for facilitating this edifying conversation.
I'm hoping that more and more people within our generation will begin to go back to confessional faith. Being a Presbyterian (PCA), our opinions don't align with Orthodox 100%, but I think so many people from evangelical churches have turned from the faith because they're hungry for the Gospel and they're not getting it in the evangelical church of today.
I’m Traditional Catholic but I’ve always liked this guy and thought he seemed really genuine, even before I came back to the faith. So sick to see him convert to Orthodoxy
I didn't do the lock downs 😂 I believe God is calling me into worship music...gave me a vision of Robby Dawkins telling me that I was going to play guitar & I'd love to do worship metal...I love worship metal! I highly recommend everyone watch Todd White & Dan Mohler...changed my christian walk forever
Question: What does Tommy mean when he says the Orthodox Church is 1000 years older than the Catholic Church? My understanding is that there was a schism in the church, resulting in the split of and eventual creation of the Orthodox Church. Meaning by name at least, the Orthodox Church is younger than the Catholic Church, but in practice potentially just as old? Apologies for my ignorance. I'm very new to Christian history and doctrine and don't belong to any denomination currently. Just searching for answers and truth, thank you.
you're right, I'm Catholic so this is what I understand. Sounds like the orthodox make the claim that they are the original. Both have apostolic succession so I would say both are from the beginning.
The Orthodox position is simple. We have maintained the faith passed from Apostles. Rome left that faith and church to do own thing and have stumbled from the main faith.
@@joseonwalking8666 But how does that make the Orthodox Church older than the Catholic Church? Wouldn't that mean they're just as old as one another? The Catholics just strayed away from the path according to the Orthodox, if I'm understanding that correctly?
@warshrike9075 Our position is once you abandoned the faith passed down by the apostles and left the church you became something else at that moment. Rome ceased being Orthodox in praxis and doctrine. So therefore something new entirely.
@@joseonwalking8666 Okay, thank you for the clarification! And do Orthodox believe that there even should be a Pope at all? Or do they just not believe in the Papal Infallibility doctrine?
Interesting, alot there i didnt know. Some proper witchcraft bull**** going on there with that leader. The album is epic and the support has been insane. I loved that he mentioned our rev crew in Birmingham 🖤 lets goooo
Yo i need a way to "give" to the Holy Name channel. I love to give to your channel solely because you hosted this man, but I need to give to theirs also. I've hit their store for some shirts also but tell them they need the "give" tab on their videos, like this one, if they can get them. But hey, this was an awesome interview guys. Thanks a lot. I will follow. I need my people and so do my peers. Much love, In JESUS' name. Thanks fellas and good job.
Eastern Rite is also available, full communion with Rome, without the fracturing politically. Ukrainian Greek Catholic is the largest sect of Catholicism next to the Latin Rite. Beautiful liturgy and robust community. IHS.
I first came in contact with Holy Orthodoxy shortly before the pandemic and reading the lives of the saints many of whom died horrific tortorous martyric deaths was a very big disconnect to how many church leaders basiclaly rolled over and let governments dictated what the faithful were allowed to do when it came to worship all out of fear of losing worldly transient possessions or even worse and more anti Christian fear of death which has been overthrown.
True expression is found in the Church. Not on a stage when u feel like all eyes are on you. The work of christ is working with people where theyre at and helping them be transformed by the Word of God. Its not in the music or any of that. That can be done in every church around the world but people need to surrender themselves to the Living Christ and his Word. Rightly dividing the word of truth and applying it to your life.
If you are wondering about the black logo on the white poster, that is my old logo of For The Rock, but the yellow wall flag is for Meadows on Facedown Records! Hope that helps 🤟
As a Christian and a metalhead I don't like "Praise and Worship" music. It seems to be extremely self serving. My wife and I visited a church in a city that is well known around the country for music. The band played really well written music but the lyrics were nothing but false doctrine and made up things. The music leader was explaining a backstory to the song they were about to play. What she said was completely made up. My wife and I just looked at each other. I just found Holy Name on RU-vid yesterday. I added them to my play list on Spotify with Demon Hunter and Wolves at the Gate. The video I saw was the song with Brian Welch of Korn.
The caricature of the Catholic Church is preety shocking though. Nobody in the world fights rape and molestation more than the Catholic Church. God Bless ya Tommy!
Catholic means Universal. The word itself, not Roman Catholic. The Roman Catholic church tries to use that term exclusively, but the Catholic (Unverisal) meaning one church, the whole church made of all believers.
I appreciate Green’s candor. The abuse he describes is so typically American Evangelical and needs to be exposed for the evil it displays. Christian Culture in America is a total mess and needs to be deconstructed because it’s inherently sick. Disappointment is proof of a spiritual path. But I have an issue with Worship Music as a mode of playing rock music. Since Green is now Orthodox, he must differentiate between the emotional appeal ‘about worship’ being made in his music and the actual liturgical worship which is done in the Church. Rock concerts can be worship experiences by Protestant/Evangelical standards but not Orthodox. I predict that Green will have to decide between Divine Worship and Worship Music. As Jerry Garcia said that ‘psychedelic music’ is music played by musicians while under the influence of psychedelic drugs, Orthodox Metal is just music played by people who are under the influence of the Orthodox Church. The didactic, preachy style of Worship Music doesn’t compliment the Orthodox message. It’s inherently Protestant and must be modified or abandoned by Orthodoxy musicians.
I have a question... why not look at the Book of Act New Testament church as an example rather than the Orthodox church that is significantly younger? I'm not trying to argue but wouldn't the best example be the Biblical one?
@@NavelOrangeGazer they aren't though. The Orthodox Church has different practices than what's reported in Acts. I don't think the disciples of Acts cared about huge cathedrals or the ritualistic things you see Orthodox churches. And it seems as if there is no belief in the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.
@@xsp238There's a small Orthodox mission Church near me that meets in a house. They don't care about a big cathedral. But the day will come when they will build a beautiful building. The believers in Acts also probably didn't care about high-end homes with tall ceilings and beautiful counters and floors, but many Christians nowadays see that as normal, meanwhile their meeting places (churches) are the ugliest building they ever go too. It's just different priorities. Most Orthodox Christians would be far more comfortable living in a dump of a house but have a beautiful place to worship. Most Protestant Christians would rather have a beautiful house but a dump of a house of worship.
The very moment U think, YOU are doing service for God, U are most likely moving by inertia. Since the last time U heard His leading(U R not.) When His Spirit leads U, it is as like your “left hand does not know what your right hand is doing.” And if U are no longer excited about pursuing His will for today, chances are He will move through other people in your city. Which U may not even know)) But if you suddenly want to follow Him further, perhaps one day He will tell you to sell your property and go where no one wants to go.🙏
If I remember the quote you are mentioning, I think in context he meant more like the crap he was going through, all the "hell" around us. Not the literal hell.
Actually the ancient teaching is that hell is to experience God's love eternally and to have rejected it so the love is felt as wrath and burning for eternity. It makes zero sense for a God who is "everywhere and always present" to be absent anywhere then He ceases to be God.
