Protestant Bible Expert Converts to Orthodox

Protestant Bible Expert Converts to Orthodox

“I’ve been impacted by the whole idea of knowing Jesus Christ, experiencing Jesus Christ, and partaking of the graces of Jesus Christ through the Eucharist or the Lord’s table,” he said.

“Nothing has changed in my faith.”

@BrianZahnd

Hank Hanegraaff (The Bible Answer Man) has converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. Wow. (A definite improvement.) #TruthIsStrangerThanFiction

Bros Bibles & Beer‏ @brosbiblesbeer

Replying to @BrianZahnd

Love it when people in established ministries are humble enough to change.

i believe the orthodox church really is the one, true church of christ.

There’s a lot that could be said here, but the reason why I believe this is that I examined both the Scriptures and the early history of Christianity, and I became convinced that the only church that matches them both is Orthodoxy. Particularly formative for me were the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John. The church life he described was definitely not what I saw in Evangelicalism. Since he was someone who learned how to be a Christian from the Apostles themselves, I wanted to be in his church.

Orthodoxy takes history seriously and doesn’t gloss over the hard stuff. It also doesn’t pick and choose from early Christian witness to develop a streamlined “system” of theology that is easy to swallow. Rather, because Orthodoxy is truly the community descended from the Apostles, within its theological memory are centuries of dogma, doctrine and theological reflection. Not all of it is totally consistent or easy to sort out, but it is nevertheless one great river of truth with an overall unified direction. One doesn’t see that in the same way in Roman Catholicism (there are several major turns in history), and it is impossible to find that in Protestantism. Most Protestants aren’t even concerned with it.

None of that means I regard non-Orthodox Christians as damned, nor do I even regard all Orthodox Christians as definitely destined for eternal bliss. And Orthodoxy’s truth is no testament to me. Orthodoxy is true, but not because of me.

Many American Christians are unfamiliar with Eastern Orthodoxy, but it’s the second largest Christian church in the world and arguably the oldest, depending on how you tally the thing. It’s technically a collection of 13 separate churches marked by the country they’re based out of (i.e. the Russian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, etc.), with a leadership structure broadly similar to the Roman Catholic papacy.

Each of the 13 Orthodox churches has a head, with the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople acting as universal patriarch. The Eastern Orthodox Church shares core doctrines with Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches, such as affirming the Trinity, venerating the Bible and confessing Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

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The Eastern Orthodox Church emphasizes salvation as an ongoing process called “Deification” in which believers become more and more like Jesus, ultimately leading to “theosis” — the closest of all possible unions with God.

The Eastern Orthodox Church gives much more authority to Church tradition, known as “Holy Tradition,” than the Protestant Church does. The Virgin Mary is venerated (but she is not worshiped, as critics have sometimes accused the Eastern Orthodox Church of doing.)

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Η νοερή και καρδιακή προσευχή

H συγκέντρωσις του ανθρώπινου νού στην καρδιά του κυρίως, και χωρίς να ομιλή με το στόμα, με μόνο τον ενδιάθετο λόγο, ο οποίος ομιλείται μέσα στην καρδιά, να λέγη αυτή τη σύντομη και μονολόγιστη προσευχή δηλαδή το «Κύριε, Ιησού Χριστέ, Υιε του Θεού, ελέησόν με»

Η νοερή και καρδιακή προσευχή

U.S. Actress Shawnee Smith Becomes Orthodox

Shawnee Rebecca Smith (born July 3, 1969)[1] is an American film and television actress and singer. Smith is best known for her roles as Meg Penny in The Blob (1988), Amanda Young in the Saw films, and as Linda in the CBS sitcom Becker. Smith once fronted the metal band Fydolla Ho, with which she toured the US and the UK. She was half of Smith & Pyle, a desert country-rock band, with actress Missi Pyle. She starred as Jennifer Goodson, the ex-wife of Charlie Goodson (Charlie Sheen), on the FX sitcom Anger Management, which ended in 2014 after 100 episodes; Smith appeared in 94 of the episodes.

U.S. Actress Shawnee Smith Becomes Orthodox

Όσιος Πέτρος ο Δαμασκηνός λόγος για την ταπείνωση

Κυρίως ο ταπεινόφρων δεν παύει ποτέ να κατηγορεί τον εαυτό του, ακόμη και αν όλος ο κόσμος τον πολεμά και τον περιφρονεί. Kαι αυτό, για να μη σωθεί μόνο ακούσια, όπως εκείνοι που έχουν υπομονή, αλλά και για να τρέχει εκούσια στα πάθη του Χριστού, από τα οποία έμαθε ο άνθρωπος αυτός την ταπείνωση, τη μεγαλύτερη από όλες τις αρετές, στην οποία κατοικεί το Άγιο Πνεύμα. Αυτή είναι η θύρα της βασιλείας, δηλαδή της απάθειας. Και εκείνος που εισέρχεται απ’ αυτή, φτάνει στο Θεό. Χωρίς αυτήν είναι μάταιος ο κόπος και πολύ κοπιαστικός ο δρόμος. Αυτή χαρίζει κάθε ανάπαυση σ’ εκείνον που την έχει στην καρδιά του, γιατί έχει κάτοικο μέσα της το Χριστό. Με αυτήν παραμένει η χάρη και φυλάγονται τα χαρίσματα. Αυτή γεννιέται από πολλές αρετές, δηλαδή από την υπακοή, την υπομονή, την ακτημοσύνη, τη φτώχεια, το θείο φόβο, τη γνώση και άλλες, και κυριότερα απ’ όποιες προέρχεται η διάκριση που φωτίζει πέρα ως πέρα το νου.

Όσιος Πέτρος ο Δαμασκηνός λόγος για την ταπείνωση

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