I grew up oneness Pentecostal as well and converted this year. The beauty and the worship is heavenly. It has changed my life and enriched my relationship with the Lord Jesus. I pray you can make your home, God willing 🙏🏼 ☦️
Be cautious as the Orthodox theory of theosis is the same as the sin of adam. To become like God. Not saying the whole faith is wrong. But I've asked soooo many Orthos on line to explain theosis to me and I got 1 reply from a person in thier laity that didn't sound convincing. Peace to you on your journey to God 💙🙏🏾💙🙏🏻💙
@@richardkasper5822 theosis is taught in 2 Peter 1:4. What you are describing of the sin of Adam is to know good and evil and be their own arbiters of truth, that's not theosis.
@@richardkasper5822 No, of course not. John 10:34-36, Ephesians 3:19 and John 17:22-23 are others. But even if it was, the verse says we become partakers of the divine nature. What is your understanding of this verse and theosis?
10:01 cites pentecostal/charismatic extremities whoch are obviously true. -praying to saints when were commanded to "come boldy beofre the throne of Christ in time of need" completely contradicts their notion. But is it required to pray to the saints? I would require my family not to pray saints but i believe the soteriology as req works jme2:19-24 and is not fulfilled until death matt24:13. I need to get these questions answered by a local priest
Here in New Zealand we have very few Orthodox Churches (none within a 7 hour drive of where I live) but I shall continue to pray that I will be able to convert, one day.
Email the nearest and "easiest" church you can visit. Maybe once a month save money to buy a hotel room near it for like 2 days a month and attend service(s).
If anyone has joined the church without their wife, I can sympathize. I did as well. It is really tough. All I know is it was like my soul was ripping apart knowing I needed the Church. Knowing I needed Christ in Holy Communion. Knowing Christ was somewhere and I wasn’t there. At times, I still don’t know if I should have waited for my wife before I joined. I’m moving forward though because there is no where else to go. The Orthodox Church is the transfigured body and life of Christ, the recapitulation of everything, and the eternal life made present now. It is the only place that the Christian life can actually be lived.
My husband has been unwilling to attend any church with me, so I turned to the ONLY one that has never failed me. I prayed to my King, Advocate and God to please place my husband as the spiritual leader of our family. Also, keep in mind I didn’t know ANYthing about the Orthodox Church except that it was a religion from over seas that was somehow related to Christianity. Also keep in mind that I had been taught and decided that the “Catholic” church was paganism and possibly the Antichrist’s tool. So,I was deep in the word trying to understand everything I was reading and reconcile it with what I was taught. I started listening to Bishop Emmanuel and even described him as looking like a cross between a rabbi and a Catholic priest, but spoke like many preachers I had listened and learned from my entire life. The day after I said a deeply heartfelt prayer asking God to make my husband the spiritual leader of our family, he literally walked into our room and simply said we are converting to Orthodoxy and I said ok. I began looking into it and became very conflicted RIGHT away, but because God answered my prayer I was going to follow until something went against the Bible (not what I was taught, but I have read). Longer story cut short, I cannot find ANYthing that conflicts with Gods Word. Orthodoxy enhances His Word and makes it easier to understand. I also don’t feel like anything is missing, unlike the Protestant churches I’ve been to. ALL Glory to God because now I am ready and anxious to become a catechumen. Thank you for reading and God Bless you. Edit: I actually feel like an Orthodox Christian that was not brought up in the Orthodox Church and genuinely feel like my life would’ve been SO much different and better had I been. I wouldn’t have wasted so much time trying to understand everything Biblical and my life in general. I’m scared and excited at the same time and I haven’t felt that way before about anything but a member of the opposite sex.
You should take a trip to visit the old monasteries in România and Bulgaria ❤️ as a new present for you as a new orthodox! Welcome home! I grew up orthodox but went astray because of new age teachings in the west..... I didn't know that I needed to know the darkness in order to appreciate where I come from ❤️ ! Doamne Iisuse Hristoase miluiește pe noi păcătoșii! ❤
I experienced healing at Holy Unction. Not the type of thing where you jump up and down and everyone says hallelujah like what you see on tv. I didn’t know until the next day.
Hello. Are orthodox churches open to outside visitors to attend worship service? I'm technically protestant christian ( but no longer attend church ) and am curious about orthodox christianity. The reason I was intrigued is because I recently start listening to Greek orthodox chants/singing by this orthodox priest ( Father Karbanos ) and find it so peaceful even though I don't understand a word he is singing but it just sound so peaceful. In a world so full of hate and violence, I sometimes just feel even fellow Christians that claim to follow Christ are so devoid of love in their hearts despite witnessing massive suffering and instead turn a blind eye and support the oppressors.
They are open to outside visitors! But orthodox churches do have closed communion so visitors are free to participate in everything but that. I came from a Pentecostal background & am preparing to start my catechism to join the Orthodox Church. “Come & see” ☺️ God bless & best wishes.
Depends on the Church. You can't take communion. Some are very nationalist and not open to outsiders. I have had good and bad experiences in Orthodox parishes. They all also have different rules when it comes to dress and rituals. Just go and watch. Visit different ones tell you find one you like.
@@bl1204 call the local Orthodox Church and let them know about your interest. They will usually want you to arrive 15 minutes beforehand. Just be an observer the first time.
1 Peter 3: 1-6 - Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
Fr. John. I'm really interested in Eastern Orthodoxy and I've come to accept most of the dogmas already. However, I come from a baptist background and the issue of the tribulation and rapture, as well as the interpretation of revelation by the church still isn't clear to me. How does the orthodox church interprets Rev 11:2 and Daniel 7:25? Regarding the time and times and half of a time? When I read it it seems to me really clear that there should be a 7 year tribulation. How else can that be understood? I'm really trying to understand and not debate.
There is an exhaustive study on Revelation done by Presbytera Jeannie Constantinou on Ancient Faith Radio, I believe she started it around November 2020. In addition, there is a not-quite-so-exhaustive on the Lord of Spirits podcast, also on Ancient Faith Radio.
Just FYI, if you Google John Darby and the rapture, you will see that he invented that doctrine in the 1800s, no other church father or council ever taught the rapture before him. The Orthodox wait for the general resurrection of all people at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Also look up Fr Josiah Trenham on his RUclips channel called Patristic Nectar. He has a video on this very topic. However, it seems to me you are focusing on something spurious. The Orthodox view is not pre tribulation rapture. That, as someone else has said here, was invented by J N Darby.
@@malindsell I appreciate the advice. I'm actually trying to learn about the beliefs of the Orthodox Church in general. I think I'm convinced enough about the legitimacy of the Church, but I don't want to make a decision to start my conversion just to find an unknown stumbling block along the way.
@@AnHebrewChild "we're Lutheran. They have those icons and incense." She refuses to even give it a chance. She's worried about hurting the feelings of her fellow Lutherans.
For me, it’s seeing how orthodox friends of mine are in complete despair and utter victimism. Glad I see beyond that and I’m here now, so they’ve done something right.
If there is no ontological separation between the persons of the Trinity, how can there be an ontological separation between God’s essence and energies?
The work of the Nicolaitans (the thing that Jesus hates in book of Revelation) is a pagan sexual rite. Also known as the dionysian or elusinian mystery religion. This was a huge pagan practice in Jesus's time. Its got to do with Kabbalism and kundalini serpant energy ... these works are not of God. Ive heard this same topic discussed on all branches of Christianity except Catholocism...(many Catholic saints experianced this phenomina but most of them recognized it as a thing of the devil) ...But Protestants,pentacostals, and also wicca, and new age pagans are all talking about this as well as buddhists, and especially the artsy jungian people are all experiancing this detestable touching. This is not new but its the original mystery of inequity that St Paul experianced and then wrote about in his epistles....
Who are the church fathers that are considered authoritative? I often hear the fathers are an authority, but which ones? All of them before a certain time?
No church father is infallible. There are many trusted ones, whose teachings shape our traditions. Sts. John Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, John of Damascus, just to name a few.
@@theophanmackey3414 Thank you. I am genuinely asking, not trying to have a “gotcha.” One reason I became a Lutheran instead of Orthodox is that I have a difficult time understanding how the authority works. We of course hold that the Bible is the only thing infallible, but rely heavily on the witness of the church to interpret it. I was under the impression that the orthodox have the Bible, Sacred Tradition, and I thought the fathers were binding on the faithful, but have never heard the required fathers delineated. Also, the 7 ecumenical councils are considered infallible, correct? What is the extent of the tradition that is infallible? Is it all contained in the liturgy, or is it also contained in the fathers as well, and if so, again, which ones?
@@theophanmackey3414 also, we highly value those fathers as well. If I weren’t Lutheran, I would most likely be orthodox, due to having very similar sacramentology, and of course I am unconvinced of the papacy.
The best we can do is the "consensus of the Fathers" which is what they mostly agree on. The councils are authoritative, but we just don't use the word infallible very often, if at all. Even the scriptures need to be interpreted.
@@AmillennialMillenialDogma is infallible. Saint is followed as much as they said truth and or acted upon it. Unlike Papist vision, and to extent Protestant vision, Dogma means Truth than needs no more discussion to clearly see true path. So when we say we follow those saints in that regard - it is because God used them to articulate Truth Your question has many ways or touches many topics. For example A. As I explained what Dogma means and where we follow Saints B. It may also touch the subject that saints' description seems to be contradictory or entirely different - most often because they're describing same reality from different angles or different words (I think good example from the Bible would be names/titles/words describing Jesus, or the afterlife. Jesus is Son of Man, is Christ(Messiah in Hebrew), is Son of God, the Word, the Wisdom, I think Holy Bridegroom too? so so many strange and at a glance somehow contradictory names, but describing the same reality) And there are cases that Church said "We follow that saints' understanding of the topic", e.g II world council - they declared Cappadocian Fathers' understanding to be dogmatic as opposed to any different view, but this is because that view was correct, and in which view those fathers are wrong - they're wrong) And at one point you'll realize ascetic struggle, the spiritual world and the dogma is the same thing, just like many titles of Son of God describing different aspects of 1 reality - so are those words I think this answers your questions, if not - you can ask more!
Don't ask this son about marriage your going to be told no I know WHO I AM My children are young not getting married I'm not getting married And I have friends in northern Ireland Republican army Don't test this son I'm sure your IP address is listed😁 I'm son of Mary
as someone who grew up oneness pentecostal and now wanting to convert to orthodoxy this is really clarifying that im doing the right thing
I grew up oneness Pentecostal as well and converted this year. The beauty and the worship is heavenly. It has changed my life and enriched my relationship with the Lord Jesus. I pray you can make your home, God willing 🙏🏼 ☦️
Be cautious as the Orthodox theory of theosis is the same as the sin of adam. To become like God. Not saying the whole faith is wrong. But I've asked soooo many Orthos on line to explain theosis to me and I got 1 reply from a person in thier laity that didn't sound convincing. Peace to you on your journey to God 💙🙏🏾💙🙏🏻💙
@@richardkasper5822 theosis is taught in 2 Peter 1:4. What you are describing of the sin of Adam is to know good and evil and be their own arbiters of truth, that's not theosis.
@@andys3035 1 verse is what theosis is based upon ?
@@richardkasper5822 No, of course not. John 10:34-36, Ephesians 3:19 and John 17:22-23 are others.
But even if it was, the verse says we become partakers of the divine nature. What is your understanding of this verse and theosis?
Wonderful work, father. Thank you.
Kyrie Eleison Me.
Thank you for everything.
Especially for the precious gift of love ( Agape ) and laughter .
10:01 cites pentecostal/charismatic extremities whoch are obviously true.
-praying to saints when were commanded to "come boldy beofre the throne of Christ in time of need" completely contradicts their notion. But is it required to pray to the saints? I would require my family not to pray saints but i believe the soteriology as req works jme2:19-24 and is not fulfilled until death matt24:13. I need to get these questions answered by a local priest
Here in New Zealand we have very few Orthodox Churches (none within a 7 hour drive of where I live) but I shall continue to pray that I will be able to convert, one day.
We have 3 Orthodox Churches where I live. All within 10-15 minutes away. My wife will not go. Please pray for us. God bless you!
Email the nearest and "easiest" church you can visit. Maybe once a month save money to buy a hotel room near it for like 2 days a month and attend service(s).
Father John is such a gem. We knew him when we lived in Santa Fe in the early 2,000s. He’s the real deal. How incredible to find him on RUclips today!
He is truly a blessing to be around! Thank you for watching 🙏
If anyone has joined the church without their wife, I can sympathize. I did as well.
It is really tough. All I know is it was like my soul was ripping apart knowing I needed the Church. Knowing I needed Christ in Holy Communion. Knowing Christ was somewhere and I wasn’t there.
At times, I still don’t know if I should have waited for my wife before I joined.
I’m moving forward though because there is no where else to go. The Orthodox Church is the transfigured body and life of Christ, the recapitulation of everything, and the eternal life made present now.
It is the only place that the Christian life can actually be lived.
I have heard it is more difficult for the wife to join without the husband, I am going to be facing this 🙏
@@flamechick6My husband was baptized a year after I was received into the church. A friend waited 30 years for her husband to get baptized!
@@ThisCharmingBat she waited as in she didn’t join the church for 30 years?
@@flamechick6 my “motto” is--“say less, and repent.”
@@ThisCharmingBat ???
Fr. John is a gem.
My husband has been unwilling to attend any church with me, so I turned to the ONLY one that has never failed me. I prayed to my King, Advocate and God to please place my husband as the spiritual leader of our family. Also, keep in mind I didn’t know ANYthing about the Orthodox Church except that it was a religion from over seas that was somehow related to Christianity. Also keep in mind that I had been taught and decided that the “Catholic” church was paganism and possibly the Antichrist’s tool.
So,I was deep in the word trying to understand everything I was reading and reconcile it with what I was taught. I started listening to Bishop Emmanuel and even described him as looking like a cross between a rabbi and a Catholic priest, but spoke like many preachers I had listened and learned from my entire life.
The day after I said a deeply heartfelt prayer asking God to make my husband the spiritual leader of our family, he literally walked into our room and simply said we are converting to Orthodoxy and I said ok. I began looking into it and became very conflicted RIGHT away, but because God answered my prayer I was going to follow until something went against the Bible (not what I was taught, but I have read).
Longer story cut short, I cannot find ANYthing that conflicts with Gods Word. Orthodoxy enhances His Word and makes it easier to understand. I also don’t feel like anything is missing, unlike the Protestant churches I’ve been to.
ALL Glory to God because now I am ready and anxious to become a catechumen.
Thank you for reading and God Bless you.
Edit: I actually feel like an Orthodox Christian that was not brought up in the Orthodox Church and genuinely feel like my life would’ve been SO much different and better had I been. I wouldn’t have wasted so much time trying to understand everything Biblical and my life in general. I’m scared and excited at the same time and I haven’t felt that way before about anything but a member of the opposite sex.
Well said, and Glory to God! May God bless you in your journey to His church. Enjoy
You should take a trip to visit the old monasteries in România and Bulgaria ❤️ as a new present for you as a new orthodox! Welcome home! I grew up orthodox but went astray because of new age teachings in the west..... I didn't know that I needed to know the darkness in order to appreciate where I come from ❤️ ! Doamne Iisuse Hristoase miluiește pe noi păcătoșii! ❤
I experienced healing at Holy Unction. Not the type of thing where you jump up and down and everyone says hallelujah like what you see on tv. I didn’t know until the next day.
Hello.
Are orthodox churches open to outside visitors to attend worship service? I'm technically protestant christian ( but no longer attend church ) and am curious about orthodox christianity.
The reason I was intrigued is because I recently start listening to Greek orthodox chants/singing by this orthodox priest ( Father Karbanos ) and find it so peaceful even though I don't understand a word he is singing but it just sound so peaceful.
In a world so full of hate and violence, I sometimes just feel even fellow Christians that claim to follow Christ are so devoid of love in their hearts despite witnessing massive suffering and instead turn a blind eye and support the oppressors.
They are open to outside visitors! But orthodox churches do have closed communion so visitors are free to participate in everything but that. I came from a Pentecostal background & am preparing to start my catechism to join the Orthodox Church. “Come & see” ☺️ God bless & best wishes.
@@MaggieDaleneThanks for your reply. Indeed I will search out an orthodox church to see for myself.
Depends on the Church. You can't take communion. Some are very nationalist and not open to outsiders. I have had good and bad experiences in Orthodox parishes. They all also have different rules when it comes to dress and rituals. Just go and watch. Visit different ones tell you find one you like.
Call the priest and tell him your desire. There are good videos on RUclips for a first-time visitor.
@@bl1204 call the local Orthodox Church and let them know about your interest. They will usually want you to arrive 15 minutes beforehand. Just be an observer the first time.
This was wonderful. We are in dire need of more content like this:
the Spirit and Truth,
represented in honest love.
Glory to Jesus
Thank you very much father for those teaching that nourishes our souls
I'm the wife interested in Orthodoxy, and husband is a devout unbeliever 😢🙏❤️🔥
Pray to the Lord so that your hubby's heart may be touched by Him and instigated to join you.
1 Peter 3: 1-6 - Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
You know he’s going to say something deep when he has to close his eyes to say it
Thank you Father, your words are spirit and life! God bless you and everyone watching. 🙏
Good afternoon from Brazil
I am follow
Deus te guie, irmão. Já é parte da Igreja Ortodoxa?
Really enjoyed this Q&A!
Fr. John. I'm really interested in Eastern Orthodoxy and I've come to accept most of the dogmas already. However, I come from a baptist background and the issue of the tribulation and rapture, as well as the interpretation of revelation by the church still isn't clear to me. How does the orthodox church interprets Rev 11:2 and Daniel 7:25? Regarding the time and times and half of a time? When I read it it seems to me really clear that there should be a 7 year tribulation. How else can that be understood? I'm really trying to understand and not debate.
There is an exhaustive study on Revelation done by Presbytera Jeannie Constantinou on Ancient Faith Radio, I believe she started it around November 2020. In addition, there is a not-quite-so-exhaustive on the Lord of Spirits podcast, also on Ancient Faith Radio.
@@annalynn9325 Thank you very much. I'll try to find these sources!
Just FYI, if you Google John Darby and the rapture, you will see that he invented that doctrine in the 1800s, no other church father or council ever taught the rapture before him. The Orthodox wait for the general resurrection of all people at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Also look up Fr Josiah Trenham on his RUclips channel called Patristic Nectar. He has a video on this very topic. However, it seems to me you are focusing on something spurious. The Orthodox view is not pre tribulation rapture. That, as someone else has said here, was invented by J N Darby.
@@malindsell I appreciate the advice. I'm actually trying to learn about the beliefs of the Orthodox Church in general.
I think I'm convinced enough about the legitimacy of the Church, but I don't want to make a decision to start my conversion just to find an unknown stumbling block along the way.
Wonderful
love this!
I am waiting for my family (wife and three kids) to join me in Orthodoxy-pray to God for us!
Could there be unity if somehow the Pope became Orthodox and laid down power?
God bless everyone
Can you do kid related videos????
Beautiful
Same with me! My wife will not go to an Orthodox Church. Please pray for us 🙏
What are the reasons for her not going? What does she say?
@@AnHebrewChild "we're Lutheran. They have those icons and incense." She refuses to even give it a chance. She's worried about hurting the feelings of her fellow Lutherans.
@@danielgaley9676 I've never heard anyone balk at incense! Incense smells great and is even biblical.
@@AnHebrewChild she believes salvation is in protestantism. She knows nothing about Orthodoxy and refuses to even learn.
@AnHebrewChild yes! Old and New Testament.
Amen
Please speak a victimism dear ones
For me, it’s seeing how orthodox friends of mine are in complete despair and utter victimism. Glad I see beyond that and I’m here now, so they’ve done something right.
❤❤❤ Amin!
If there is no ontological separation between the persons of the Trinity, how can there be an ontological separation between God’s essence and energies?
The work of the Nicolaitans (the thing that Jesus hates in book of Revelation) is a pagan sexual rite. Also known as the dionysian or elusinian mystery religion. This was a huge pagan practice in Jesus's time. Its got to do with Kabbalism and kundalini serpant energy ... these works are not of God. Ive heard this same topic discussed on all branches of Christianity except Catholocism...(many Catholic saints experianced this phenomina but most of them recognized it as a thing of the devil) ...But Protestants,pentacostals, and also wicca, and new age pagans are all talking about this as well as buddhists, and especially the artsy jungian people are all experiancing this detestable touching. This is not new but its the original mystery of inequity that St Paul experianced and then wrote about in his epistles....
Where did you hear this about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans?
🌹🌿❤
Who are the church fathers that are considered authoritative? I often hear the fathers are an authority, but which ones? All of them before a certain time?
No church father is infallible. There are many trusted ones, whose teachings shape our traditions. Sts. John Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, John of Damascus, just to name a few.
@@theophanmackey3414 Thank you. I am genuinely asking, not trying to have a “gotcha.”
One reason I became a Lutheran instead of Orthodox is that I have a difficult time understanding how the authority works. We of course hold that the Bible is the only thing infallible, but rely heavily on the witness of the church to interpret it.
I was under the impression that the orthodox have the Bible, Sacred Tradition, and I thought the fathers were binding on the faithful, but have never heard the required fathers delineated. Also, the 7 ecumenical councils are considered infallible, correct?
What is the extent of the tradition that is infallible? Is it all contained in the liturgy, or is it also contained in the fathers as well, and if so, again, which ones?
@@theophanmackey3414 also, we highly value those fathers as well. If I weren’t Lutheran, I would most likely be orthodox, due to having very similar sacramentology, and of course I am unconvinced of the papacy.
The best we can do is the "consensus of the Fathers" which is what they mostly agree on. The councils are authoritative, but we just don't use the word infallible very often, if at all. Even the scriptures need to be interpreted.
@@AmillennialMillenialDogma is infallible. Saint is followed as much as they said truth and or acted upon it.
Unlike Papist vision, and to extent Protestant vision, Dogma means Truth than needs no more discussion to clearly see true path.
So when we say we follow those saints in that regard - it is because God used them to articulate Truth
Your question has many ways or touches many topics. For example A. As I explained what Dogma means and where we follow Saints
B. It may also touch the subject that saints' description seems to be contradictory or entirely different - most often because they're describing same reality from different angles or different words (I think good example from the Bible would be names/titles/words describing Jesus, or the afterlife. Jesus is Son of Man, is Christ(Messiah in Hebrew), is Son of God, the Word, the Wisdom, I think Holy Bridegroom too? so so many strange and at a glance somehow contradictory names, but describing the same reality)
And there are cases that Church said "We follow that saints' understanding of the topic", e.g II world council - they declared Cappadocian Fathers' understanding to be dogmatic as opposed to any different view, but this is because that view was correct, and in which view those fathers are wrong - they're wrong)
And at one point you'll realize ascetic struggle, the spiritual world and the dogma is the same thing, just like many titles of Son of God describing different aspects of 1 reality - so are those words
I think this answers your questions, if not - you can ask more!
☦️☦️☦️
Eastern or oriental Orthodox ? Schismatic
Orientals are NOT in liturgical union with the Eastern Orthodox since 4th Ecumenical Council when they, sadly, fell into a heresy of Monophysitism.
He talks about orthodoxy like a gym bro talks about his new routine at a new gym.
Except the gym bro toils in the temporary while the Father toils in the eternal 😉
Don't ask this son about marriage your going to be told no
I know WHO I AM
My children are young not getting married
I'm not getting married
And I have friends in northern Ireland
Republican army
Don't test this son
I'm sure your IP address is listed😁
I'm son of Mary