Exploring Eastern Orthodoxy

I come from a Protestant background of 10 years. Learning about Eastern Orthodoxy has been an exciting path of discovering ancient beliefs. Its also overwhelming because there's so much to this ancient tradition. I’ve been interested in learning about Eastern Orthodoxy for a while but I didn’t make the commitment to explore it seriously until March 31, 2024 when I visited my local Eastern Orthodox church.

Eastern Orthodoxy claims to be the true church established by Christ and continued by his apostles, with unbroken historical continuity. The Orthodoxy claims to have maintained the apostolic faith (neither adding nor subtracting from it). The church claims to faithfully worship God “in spirit and truth”. Finally, the Orthodox church claims to have produced many saints throughout the centuries. The idea of sainthood is something I want to explore further as well, since I don’t know anything about it. Orthodoxy’s central message expressed by St. Athanasius of Alexandria is encapsulated by the statement: “God became man so that man might become God.” Sharing in God’s eternal, divine life, having communion in an intimate relationship with him, having heaven with God here and in our next life is something I want to strive for, so this makes the Orthodoxy appealing to me.

I think the claims listed above are potentially life changing for my walk with God. These bold claims deserve to be looked into, but these claims also require clear evidence to determine their truthfulness. Historical continuity of a faith tradition coupled with a consistent theology throughout the millennia sounds very attractive. The idea of saints and their relevance to someone’s personal walk with God is foreign to my Protestant mind but intriguing and worth exploring. Is there a right and a wrong way of worshipping God in spirit and truth? I think the answer to that question is important to find out! It seems to me that determining the truth value of these claims and finding the answers I’m looking for requires knowledge by second hand experiences (books, videos, podcasts, etc.) and knowledge by personal experience. I don’t think I’ll fully understand all the claims of the Orthodoxy until I start living it.

I’ll be updating this post as I further explore Eastern Orthodoxy.

Resources I have looked into:

Interviews with Archpriest Josiah Trenham on his book Rock and Sand:

Part 1: https://youtu.be/piVdrtgo7Xw?si=3jyroaC_wHmXZ9ak

Part 2: https://youtu.be/xs0ExgnRMqc?si=pXNL3y5tK3kjI6um

Resources I’m currently looking through:

The Rock and Sand (An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformers and Their Teachings

The Faith (An Orthodox Catechism)