My wife and I discovered that the Orthodox Church was the original church prior to visiting. We had researched, seen pictures and the like, but we knew that the actual experience would be foreign to our senses and to our Western Religious Culture, because it was the un-Americanized original Church of Christ established in 33AD. We knew that some of the outward shapes and forms such as vestments and Liturgies had evolved in the life and tradition of the Church, but we knew that even those evolutions were hundreds of years old if not over a thousand years old. Becoming convinced that this was indeed the real church established by Christ and handed down from the Apostles, we decided the best thing to do would be to attend for two months before we "decided whether or not we 'liked' anything." I wish we had read the article "12 Things I Wish I Knew" before stepping into the church. Not that we didn't adapt. In fact, things started to make sense and we started to feel at home even before our self-imposed time-frame was up. If you are thinking about visiting an Orthodox Church for the first time, take time to read this short article. It will make your first experience more meaningful and understandable. CLICK HERE
If only I had seen that before my first visit. Outsiders literally need someone to guide them through it, at least I did.
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