The Life Cycle of the Convert's Beard

This was sent to me via e-mail:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, here's something I thought we might enjoy as bearded ones and those who love us. Actually, it's just fun Orthodox humor....

The Life-Cycle of the Orthodox Convert's Beard

Stage 1. An inkling of an idea -- You have just attended your very first Liturgy, and you're ready. You've bought every book in the parish's book store and you're prepared to arm up for what you're going to tell your fundamentalist baptist family when you decide to convert. And then, in the course of your reading, you notice -- all these guys have really long beards and even longer hair. And you think, dare I? Dare I, who have never sported more than a 5:00 shadow, grow one of those monstrous manes?

Stage 2. No going back -- It's been six months, and it's your baptism/chrismation day. By now, you've got some healthy growth on your chin -- a bit patchy in spots, but that's OK. The important thing is that you've made your commitment, and you're sticking to it. No going back. In fact, to bear eternal witness to your commitment to whiskers, you've chosen to be known forever after in the life of the Church as Onouphrios, and you've bought the full length icon of him, the one that shows the really long beard.

Stage 3. Conundrum -- You're in year three of your Orthodoxy and your second year of seminary. It suddenly starts to dawn on you that the young lady you have your eye on for matushka-hood doesn't seem to like long beards. You wonder, what would St. Onouphrios think of me now? and agonize as you find yourself wishing you'd chosen a chrismation name a little closer to the name mom and dad gave you -- Dave. Your roommate, Barsanuphius, is of no help. When you asked him if he chose his name because of the beard thing, he just rolled his eyes forbearingly and said with disdain, "I'm not named for that Barsanuphius. I'm named for Barsanuphius the Dwarf of Beloozersk", and he pronounces it very precisely as "Varsanofyi", just to emphasize the point. (His pre-conversion name was Donald, by the way, but he had it legally changed.)

Stage 4. A Happy Solution -- It's your wedding day. The young lady in question had no problem with your beard. It was actually your 700-knot prayer rope that was the problem. She had just assumed you were going to be a monk. Once you finally got up the courage to speak to her, all became clear, and you struck a bargain: your prayer rope will be no longer than 100 knots and you can grow your beard as long as you want. You're in all your glory today, looking like Jeremiah Johnson, at your home parish of All Saints of Ascetic Feats, and Barsanuphius is your sponsor. (He's driving everyone, even poor Father Zacharias, crazy with his "Varsanofyi" bit.) Your beloved, Hermione, has even sewn herself a traditional Russian wedding costume for the happy day. (She's not Russian, but what the heck.) All is well. Everyone is happy. Both your parents and your new in-laws are completely mystified, though, and they keep asking, "Who are Onouphrios and Hermione?? We thought we were coming to see Dave and Tina get married."-- Enter Thou, o Lord, into the darkness of my soul and arise Thy dawn within me that alway' may I behold Thee before my face."Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." -Luke 24:29

With hat tip to David Michael Cortez

Local Catholics form Orthodox community

Mary Samandar hails from Palestine. Since coming to Milford 17 years ago, she's practiced her Roman Catholic religion at St. Mary's Church. She's still a St. Mary's parishioner, but today she also celebrates the Greek Orthodox religion at a local church with roots to her homeland.

The Dormition Church of Theotokos Orthodox Church of Jerusalem has been renting space at Trinity Lutheran Church for more than two years, bringing the Greek Orthodox service here once per month.

"I had been looking all the time we were here," said Samandar, whose family owns the Post Road News and Deli in Milford. "When I would talk with my cousin, Somia, we would say we wished we could have our community here. We looked for our community that shares our language, our foods."

She's found that connection to Palestine in the new church, where services are given in English and Arabic, and where the traditional icons of the Greek Orthodox Church grace the altar.Samandar said she believes it is important for her to support the new church, to help it grow and to spread the word that it's here.The Rev. Father Anastasios Majdalani leads the 40-member congregation once a month, traveling from his home in Massachusetts to do so.

Father Majdalani overseas the Greek Orthodox of Patriarchate of Jerusalem assemblies in New England. He began seeking parishioners in Milford several years ago after learning that a substantial number of Christians live here who have immigrated from the Middle East.

Half the parishioners who attend the services at Trinity come from Milford. The other half live in surrounding communities, including New Haven and Woodbridge.

"By calling two houses, each house showed me others," he said, explaining how the church took hold in Milford. Initial services were held in private homes, until arrangements were made with Trinity Lutheran Church to rent space.

The Greek Orthodox Church originally formed in the Holy Land, and members often refer to it as the oldest Christian Church. Much of the Greek Orthodox service is consistent with Christian traditions, but worship traditions differ.

According to a Greek Orthodox website, the church is labeled 'Greek Church' because Greek was the first language of the ancient Christian Church from which the faith was transmitted."Christianity originated in Palestine, spread rapidly throughout the Mediterranean, and by the end of the fourth century was recognized as the official religion of the late Roman or Byzantine Empire," the website explains.

The five major administrative centers of Orthodox Christianity remained essentially whole until about the fifth century, when divisions emerged primarily over the understanding of Christ."After the Great Schism, Orthodox Christianity continued to develop apart from Western Christianity," the website explains. "Tenaciously conservative, relying on its dynamic concept of tradition, it preserves the classical forms of Christianlife and dogma to this very day."

Sam Nosh, a parishioner at the Trinity-based Greek Orthodox Church, was Episcopalian before converting to Greek Orthodox. He said he lived in Beirut several years, and converted while living there.

It was quite coincidental, he said, when he returned to the United States and met Father Anastasios, who grew up in the same Beirut Church in which he was baptized. It was that meeting that led him to the Milford church.

Sasha Treiger, another parishioner, said he was baptized in the Holy Land and had been studying Arabic for a number of years. He teaches the history of Christianity at Southern Connecticut State University, and said he met Father Majdalani at an Easter service in Cambridge, Mass.

"Most of the service was in Greek, and suddenly I heard Arabic being spoken," Treiger said.

He sought out the speaker and found Father Majdalani. That is how he learned of the Milford-based church.

Samia Samander has lived in Milford a number of years. She came here from the Middle East and was looking for cultural ties to her past. Today she is treasurer of the new Greek Orthodox Church here.

"Samia is there at every service," said her cousin, Mary.Father Majdalani's wife, Nissren, said the goal is to establish weekly services here when membership and funding allows, and to eventually secure their own building.

"Our goal is to build our own church," she said. "Everyone wants to have their own home, right?"

For now, the monthly Sunday services are preceded by Bible studies on Saturday evening at Trinity Lutheran Church on Robert Treat Parkway. There is also Sunday school for children. The Sunday worship service starts at 1 p.m.

The next local service will be Dec. 16 and will include a Christmas celebration. Parishioners said they plan to have a Santa Claus and invite parents to bring gifts for their children.At the following service, Jan. 6, the parish will celebrate "the old Christmas," Father Majdalani said.

"In Jerusalem, where Jesus was born, they still celebrate Christmas January 6, the epiphany," he said.

Father Majdalani said he welcomes parishioners. For information, people may contact Mary Samandar, 878-7113, or Father Majdalani at 508-353-4562.

SOURCE:

On Faith: Worship should be full experience, appeal to all senses

The Rev. Philip Rogers
news@theadvertiser.com

One of the questions I am often asked is, "How is the Orthodox church different from other Christian faiths?"

It's tough to answer that concisely, but one of the most striking differences between the Orthodox church and the many Christian denominations in the world is the worship.

On seeing it for the first time, travelers from Russia to Constantinople in the 10th century witnessed the worship in the great church of Hagia Sophia and said, "We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendor or beauty anywhere upon the earth. We cannot describe it to you; only this we know, that God dwells there among men."

As these words suggest, while the worship of the Orthodox Church is different, it is very rich.

Basing the worship on scriptural images taken from passages like Isaiah 6, the worshipper is surrounded by beauty as experienced by all of their five senses.

Their entire beings are involved in the worship.

Looking around they see the icons along the walls that shed light on passages of scripture with their detail and symbolic color; they smell the incense as it wafts to heaven as prayer before God.

They feel their head, chest and shoulders as they make the Sign of the Cross; they hear the hymns and they taste the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

In merely an hour and a half, so much of the Christian faith is expressed in the beautiful worship that is not passive but is very much active.

In the Orthodox understanding, it is not merely the soul that will live beyond this life and be encompassed by God in heaven, but the entire human person - both soul and body.

In declaring a belief in the resurrection of the dead, it is a belief in the resurrection of the body.

In heaven the worship of God will be done in the body using all five senses, why not also on Earth?

By engaging the entire person, the entire person can then be prepared to serve and glorify God out in the "real world" between periods of worship.

Therefore, during the worship of the church that engages every aspect of human life, the faithful are reminded that every single moment, every single action has the ability to be touched by a God who "dwells among men."

The Rev. Philip Rogers is pastor of Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Christian Church on Eraste Landry Road.

SOURCE:

Local Orthodox church follows national growth

Altar boy Jonathan Davis stands at the altar with a candle during Sunday morning service at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Shreveport. (Shane Bevel/The Times)



September 6, 2007
By Diane Haag
dhaag@gannett.com



As many ministers do, Jason Foster was constantly reading and digging into his faith.

One particular pursuit into his Southern Baptist faith started a six-year journey that culminated in him and his family becoming full members of St. George Greek Orthodox Church.

"We felt fulfilled," Ashley Foster said. "It's complete. Everything led us to where we are.

"The Fosters' theological about-face is part of a national trend bringing more converts to Orthodox Christianity.

St. George Greek Orthodox, in Shreveport, has more than doubled its congregation in the past three years — to about 150 families. It has grown so much that it will hold special ceremonies this weekend to begin expanding its sanctuary.

Some new members have moved to town from Slavic countries where Orthodoxy is the predominant faith. Others have married into the church.

And a substantial number are converts from other Christian traditions. A number of cultural and theological issues contribute...Read the rest here

Evangelicals Turn Toward ... the Orthodox Church?

This is a wonderful two page convert story. Like I have said before, I love these stories. They help me see the Church in a differnt way, as that Promised Land people have been searching for all their lives and often knew it not.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Iconoclasts
by Jason Zengerle

The ministry is a calling, but it is also a career, and, in 1987, a Baptist
minister named Wilbur Ellsworth was given the career opportunity of a lifetime.
After nearly two decades of pastoring modest congregations in California and
Ohio, Ellsworth, at the age of 43, was called to lead the First Baptist Church
of Wheaton, Illinois--one of the most prominent evangelical churches in what was
then the most prominent evangelical city in the world. Often called the
"Evangelical Vatican," the leafy Chicago suburb is home to Wheaton College--the
prestigious evangelical college whose most famous graduate is Billy Graham--and
a host of influential evangelical figures, a number of whom worshipped at First
Baptist. "I was now preaching to these people every Sunday," Ellsworth recalls.
"It was all sort of heady and exciting."

From a professional standpoint, Ellsworth thrived. He oversaw the
construction of a majestic new building for First Baptist with a 600-seat
sanctuary and a 100-foot steeple that towered over Wheaton's Main Street. And,
due to the prominent evangelicals he now ministered to, he became something of a
prominent evangelical himself--routinely meeting with the many evangelical
leaders who constantly came through Wheaton. "I was at the very center of the
religious world that I'd been a part of for most of my life," he says. "It was
quite a promotion from where I was before."

From a spiritual perspective, however, Ellsworth was suffering. Over
the past 20 years, a growing number of evangelical churches have joined what is
called the "church growth movement,"....

Read the rest of this two page story here:

Convert from Tibet joins congregation of St. Michael’s

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
BLESSINGS UPON YOU - Noa Hubarau sneaks a peek as Father Nicholas Manikas reads a part of her baptismal service recently at St. Michael’s Orthodox Church in Cotuit. Looking on are godmother Pamela Hitchins and assisting priest Father Antony Gori.

I personally love convert testimonies and stories and this one is no exception.

Noa finds her ark at

Orthodox church in

Cotuit

Convert from Tibet joins

congregation of St.

Michael’s

By Pamela Hitchins

On any given Sunday at St. Michael’s Orthodox Church in Cotuit, you will find people from all over the world, immigrants or first-generation descendants of immigrants along with others whose families have been here for centuries. They worship together using a liturgical service that dates to the early centuries of the first millennium – translated into English – in a New England village church that was once a Grange Hall. That association with farming is an apt one, given the variety of the "harvest" that is regularly gathered there. Noa Hubarau, for example, immigrated to Cape Cod three years ago from Nepal. During the last year, Noa, raised a Buddhist, underwent instruction in the Orthodox Christian faith and was baptized at St. Michael’s on a recent Saturday morning.

"It was a great blessing and honor for me to introduce Noa to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Orthodox Christian faith," said Father Nicholas Manikas, pastor of St. Michael’s. "Tracing her family history back to the mystical lands of Tibet, Nepal, and India, Noa has a natural spiritual bent, and accepting Christ in her heart and mind came after much prayer and study. Her baptism was a source of great joy not only to herself and her husband but to our entire parish."

The baptism was a relatively private affair, witnessed by just four men and four women, most helping with the service in some way – priests, cantor, godmother (which the author of this article has the honor of being). But the makeup of this small group – among the eight were Orthodox Christians from three ethnic designations, and converts from the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Baptist churches – reflects the diversity and fellowship of the parish.
St. Michael’s is "a pan-Orthodox Christian church," Father Manikas said, "comprised of members from many different ethnic backgrounds, including Lebanese, Greek, Russian, Albanian, Ukrainian, Romanian, and many converts from other Christian denominations." And now St. Michael’s is the home of a Buddhist convert as well.

Read the rest here:

Orthodox Christians open doors to brotherhood

Open house invites African Americans to learn about the Eastern church

August 11, 2007

BY DAVID CRUMM

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Later this month, a handful of Orthodox Christians will make a fresh attempt at changing the sad truth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s description of 11 a.m. Sunday as "the most segregated hour in this nation."

They're organizing a first-of-its-kind Orthodox open house for local African Americans who are curious enough to spend a day learning about the domed, icon-decorated Eastern churches sprinkled across southeast Michigan.

"A lot of people would never expect to find African Americans in these churches," said Subdeacon Robert Aaron Mitchell of Detroit, an organizer of the Aug. 25 program. "But we have always been here. Orthodoxy has a huge history and saints of the church in Ethiopia, Egypt and other areas of Africa."

Orthodoxy is the term for the branches of Christianity across Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, most of which have been separated from the Rome-based Catholic Church for about a thousand years.

Read the rest here:

I personally love these kinds of stories of people coming to know the Ancient Faith as a discovery. I personally am fascinated especially by African Americans coming into the Church. Just a real soft spot in my heart .