Leaving the Romanian Orthodox Church
Submitted by Silviu-George Pantelimon
My name is Silviu-George Pantelimon, I am an ex-orthodox christian from Romania, currently an atheist and apistevist. It’s been about 8 years since I abandoned all my faith but I am still struggling with some aspects of my former religion and I think sharing my story may help me in some regards.
I grew up in a somewhat religious household, but it wasn’t until my adolescence when I actively pursued orthodox christianity. Many teens rebel against their parents; I on the other hand went the religious route. In Romania, the public school system requires you to take classes in religion. In theory, our constitution states that children can take these classes if a teacher for their faith is provided or they can opt out, however, in practice, that is never the case because people usually don’t care much or are pressured by the community. So I had to take these classes and when I was in high school the teacher who also was the local priest persuaded me to pursue the christian faith more.
The reason why I was pursued by him was not because he was charismatic or was good at manipulating people, but because he genuinely believed in what he taught. He was that kind of person who actually wanted to practice what Jesus said about love and caring about others. However, what he taught in class had, after much…
