So, a couple of months ago I've fallen into sin I've never fallen into before in 24 years of my life. I, a woman, fell "in love" with another woman. This was all online and nothing physical ever happened between us but she did send me some very sexual images and messages and I lusted after her very much all the while knowing how wrong it was. Perhaps an even worse sin of mine is that in that situation I couldn't be "either hot or cold" as it says in Revelation. I couldn't fully commit to sin and I couldn't fully commit to God and in this push and pull with this person, in my confusion and struggle with sin, I've hurt her immenesly.

My problem now is that I haven't been to church in months, my attendance has never really been great, but I know I have to confess this and yet I'm so scared. I know how great of a sin this is, but I am truly repentant. I've gone no contact with this woman and I'm already working on getting into a relationship with a man. I don't intend to contact her again. I don't want this to ever happen to me again, I never wanted it in the first place, I've always pursued only men and I still do. I guess I never thought I'd have to deal with this honestly. I dread going to confession even though I know I badly need it. Please give advice and encouragement, this is an awful sin.

Where is it in tradition or bible that When Mary married Joseph. Joseph was older and was married before and had kids from the first marriage. Where does it come from.

In the Old Testament God allowed war and told the Israelites what to do. If now in the present day a country goes to war saying God told them so are they lying or are they telling the truth do how God did something similar in the Old Testament?

I would get a hold of my priest accept for the fact that he’s away at the moment.

Basically, I just moved in with my brother and his wife. Both of whom are not orthodox. She is currently nursing a 1 year old. She likes to cook dinners for us, which is convenient since I work long hours.

I don’t want to make her cook vegan meals for me. She puts a lot of thought into her cooking and I don’t want her to worry and I feel bad telling her I won’t eat what she’s prepared.

We are all usually on our own for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. But dinner is a family thing and I feel like it would offend her if I ignored her cooking and started preparing my own meals.

So what’s worse? Refusing to eat her food or breaking the fast for dinner?

I like Marshall arts and I'm curious is meditation ok with religion?

Not sure how else to title this and also don’t know what I’m trying to accomplish from this post. I just have so many thoughts and none at the same time when it comes to my faith and self.

I am F20. I struggle with my faith not in the sense that I don’t believe or trust in God but more so that I feel so alone even though I know God is with me. The best way I can describe it is that I I have a jacket but still feel cold. I don’t doubt his existence but I feel like something is keeping his warmth away from me and I can’t figure out what or why. There are days where I can read the bible consistently and find enjoyment in the content that I read the way a child likes to read a story book, but then I get faced with long periods of not wanting to bother not for any reason other than my mind feels tired and heavy. The thing that bothers me the most is that God is supposed to speak to us. I know it’s not supposed to be literal but I would like to feel something.

When good things come to me I tell myself it’s from God (getting good grades, scholarships, being in a good university, getting great opportunities and having good friends) but I still feel unfulfilled. I rarely have excitement, joy or motivation. I get sudden bursts of energy that motivate me to go after those feelings but it always fades in the end. I always thank God in the end when I get these things but I don’t feel like I deserve them because I don’t ask him for it through prayers. Honestly I rarely feel motivated to pray and only pray once in a while when I feel shameful for it (I still talk to him in my head before I go to bed every few days, I just don’t do the traditional prayer before bed and before a meal unless my parents are around)

Another thing I don’t understand is that I feel even less connected with God when Im back home with my parents. For them being as religious as they are, I oddly find myself feel far from God when I am home and able to go to church every Sunday. I just don’t understand. Maybe its the security that God is “physically”here through the existence of my parents and parish. When I go to school a few hours from home I am weirdly more religious. Especially around my friends who dont share the same beliefs as me. On one hand I like that my faith is stronger but on the other I doubt myself and feel like I am trying to compensate myself, not to trick God but to ask for his help a bit more when I am away from home.

I will say that my parents frustrate me and have always irritated me since I was younger. In middle/highschool I assumed it was the typical teenager hormone angst but I realized it’s just when I am with them. I don’t know why?? In our language we say “you bring the devil out in us” and sometimes thats what it feels like with them. Whether its through politics, how they say things (my parents can be vulgar in their words, hateful but hypocritical, and just overall feel fake with their own belief in God which I know I don’t have a right to judge but when I see them act a certain way that don’t fall under the rules they instilled in me I get mad.)

I do love my parents but sometimes I would rather talk to them through a phone and call it a day. The worst part is that I overcompensate these personal feelings I have towards them with overwhelmingly loving them. I can’t stand to leave my mom alone without saying I love you a hundred times and my dad not so much with him but telling him once a day is enough (dad doesn’t do well w affection lol) . I do it so that if I were to leave I know they would miss me. Obviously my parents love me but I always fear that they will abandon me one day. My whole thought process with my parents alone is a novel though so I’ll leave it at that.

The last thing I think about is how much I feel home-less. I live in the US and my parents are immigrants from the middle east. I love living in the US and the opportunities it has given me and my family. Unfortunately I feel so out of place. I grew up in a predominantly white area (like… southern redneck white) so being the only “other” in my class was hard. I struggled connecting with friends in middle and high school and often hung out with the outcasts queer kids because they were the nicest towards me and never made me feel like I was weird or different. One of my best friends was a gay kid who always defended me whenever our other friends questioned why I was religious and why my culture is different from theirs (they would make me feel bad about about things like sleepovers, parties, and curfews). It was and is my dream to go back to the country my family came from and see the churches there but I know that religious persecution is why they left in the first place. Idk if it’s my privilege of living a good life at the US, but I don’t think I even care. I want to see where my family and ancestors came from, I want to be closer to where Jesus and his disciples walked. Either to feel something or to just be away from whatever is wrong with the US. I feel so stuck and selfish somehow.

In the end I am making it a part of my career to get me to work internationally for my people in the middle east. I like to think that is why God has given me these opportunities. Maybe it’s his way of speaking to me, and these doubts and painful feelings is his test for me. I don’t doubt I can handle it, I just need to remind myself to keep moving forward. I just hope he doesn’t mind me complaining along the way here and there.

Tldr Big feelings about my self, my future, my feelings towards my parents, and my relationship with God. In the end I’ll be okay. I’m just a little tired of everything and myself.

This thread for requests that users of the subreddit remember names and concerns in their prayers at home, or at the Divine Liturgy on Sunday.

Because we pray by name, it is good to have a name to be prayed for and the need. Feel free to use any saint's name as a pseudonym for privacy. For example, "John" if you're a man or "Maria" for a woman. God knows our intent.

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I got that 2008 version from amazon instead of 2019 one that I heard is better. I never read the Bible so I wanted it for myself too. shoudl I send them back and find the newer version? I live in Norway so there is little options.

1. Are demons capable of transmitting pathogens such as virus/bacteria to us? I know they don’t have corporal bodies so they are limited in some regards, but for example, could a demon have a pathogen on their claws, then scratch a believer to transmit the pathogen?

2. Do Gregorian Chants really ward off demons? If so, is there a certain volume that you have to play the videos at for this to hold true, or is any volume effective?

Two years ago, my father ran away from my mother in hopes of finding a loose woman and the ability to drink and substance abuse as much as he likes. He eventually went to jail for assaulting my mother in the house he ran way to, but is now ironically, trying to get the legal system to prosecute her, a woman who has done nothing illegal or abusive. If you've ever read the Brothers Karamzov, he is much like Fyodor Pavlovitch in his lie of being "an abused husband" about a woman who treated him like a king.

He is now texting me that I "will have to live the rest of my life with my betrayal" of him for trying to defend my mother legally. The other interesting thing is his false claims of my mother abusing me, because in the mind of a Hippie any physical discipline of a son is abuse.

It's also funny to me that he is trying to vilify my mother's care of me, when with his help I self-destructed through medically transitioning. He used to yell at me for refusing to go to a California LGBT center or to pride parades, and would encourage me to be sexually promiscuous with other men. There was even a time where he introduced me to his former jail inmate who tried to pimp me out on a street in a Bay Area inner city. He then introduced me to these two transgender "women" who were trying to sneak me as a teenager into adult nightclubs, and would ply me with hard liquor. He also tried to encourage my relationship with my homosexual rapist, under the guise of gay rights and is now rebuking me for "ruining his life" by reporting him to the police. And through this dark period, he tried his hardest to convince me to stop going to church and instead be fully immersed in gay culture.

I have moved back to my mother, and am trying to correct my behavior in every way, in an effort to live a genuinely Christian life. But he cannot stand the thought of me aiding my mother against his plot to frame her, so I am forbidden from ever seeing him and am blocked on his cell phone. He only ever unblocks me to send one sided texts about how my mother is "brainwashing me", and refuses to see my responses to his appalling lies. How does one honor a father who dishonors both my mother and God?

(Inspired by a recent post)

Do you know good movies to show to an orthodox audience?

I'll start:

Tarkovski (yes, I know he is a man)

The Island (Ostrov)

Moy paren - angel

The confessions of a samurai

Crime and punishment

The Passion of Christ

What else?

This is aimed to those who are cradle Orthodox and are between the ages of 18-30, though feel free to share your perspective regardless.

Do you feel that your faith has been influenced more by what your family taught you, or by a more personal and deeper connection to God? In more basic terms, do you think you would’ve turned out Orthodox even if you were born in a different family? Why or why not?

my gf told me shes been hearing voices telling her to hurt others and things like that but shes never been diagnosed with anything that would cause that and she doesnt seem like shes crazy or anything and it worries me that its demonic because she also struggles with severe depression and suicidal thoughts which are things that demons could be causing just wanna know what you guys think and if theres anything i could do other then have her talk with a priest

she lives in another state with her family so ima try to see if they will take her to a church so she can talk to a priest to find out if its her or demons

I’m trying to convert to eastern Christianity, there’s this question that I want to ask but haven’t. In the view of the Eastern Orthodox Church can Protestant’s and Catholics obtain salvation?

Just a question, I keep seeing that Adam’s First wife was not Eve but Lilith. Is this mentioned at all in orthodox tradition ?

I was coming home from church and I got rear ended by a drunk driver. Had to buy a new car since the old one was beyond repair even though the damage didn’t seem that bad. The drunk driver got out and tried to beat his wife who was with him in the street and then tried to beat up bystanders. Two other cars were hit in the accident.

I don’t know why, but after that day I suddenly switched off. I suddenly lost all of my faith even though nobody was badly injured including me. I can’t really explain it. I was attending church choir, prayed all the time, read the Bible regularly, and was successfully beating my vices and passions, but something snapped. I’m not sure why. Some insight would be helpful.

As the title says, I plan on going to my local greek orthodox church for the first time this Sunday.

I was wondering if you recommend attending both orthros and divine liturgy to get a feel of the place? Is experiencing one service the same as the other one? Thanks in advance to any replies.

In Orthodox a Christology is Jesus above the Father, equal or slightly less? I know the trinity is slightly different in Orthodoxy.

Hello, gentlemen. I realized that the Orthodox Church is the true one, but for family reasons it is not possible for me to attend the Divine Liturgies. I ask for your prayers and if you can give me advice I would be grateful.

I saw someone claiming that St. Clement of Rome believed That the Son and The Holy Spirit were lesser gods to the Father.

Hello, for years i have been confused and lost for which career is right for me, i have been praying about this for GOD to help me find my way or direction in deciding which career i should choose especially under his will but now i’m 37 and still! I am in the same position i was for years. So how do i know what GOD wants me to do as a career?

This seems kinda complicated to me. Given, I'm not the most organized person so a particularly organized calendar is quite alien to my way of lie, but still, how did you enter into fasting when you first became Orthodox?

• "The greatest enemy is our own egoism."
• "The position of the Archbishop is not a throne of power, but a cross of service."
• "The oil of religion should heal, not burn."
• "Religions should not pour the oil of the vigil light on the fire of war."
• "As long as man seeks the glory of God, he will find his inner peace."
• "The Church is not for the perfect, but for those who recognize their weakness and seek help."
• "Our religion calls us to live the truth of the Gospel, not to construct a religion according to our own measures."
• "When hope is lost, the heart becomes dark, and the human face struggles to find the light. Faith in Christ gives us the strength to overcome every difficulty and to see beyond injustice."
• The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which we belong, does not live exclusively for itself. Whatever it is, whatever it possesses, whatever it offers is destined for all of humanity, for the uplifting and renewal of the world. The Church has no right to become a closed religious community of 'devout' people who enjoy exclusively the gifts of God. It remains, throughout time, the Eucharistic community of the faithful in Christ, which, by radiating His light, celebrates the experience of the Resurrection, the victory over death. With this truth, it gives meaning, gives life, and transforms the life of humanity with freedom and love
• "The devil does not stop working, and his specialty is to cause divisions."
• "There is no need to compare our peaks with the ravines of others."
• " (In Albania) We gather the stones thrown at us by those who oppose our work and build with them churches and schools."
• In Palestine, there are two lakes: the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The common characteristic they share is that both receive the waters of the Jordan River. However, the Sea of Galilee receives the waters and lets them flow south. The Dead Sea receives the waters of the Jordan and keeps them for itself. In the Sea of Galilee, there is wonderful life both in the lake and around it. In the Dead Sea, there is no trace of life. The Dead Sea symbolically shows what happens when someone keeps things for themselves. To receive and to offer—that is the secret to having a full life...
• Malaria came before I went to a conference in Geneva, traveling through Addis Ababa. There, one night I had a 41-degree fever and the feeling that it was going to be the last night of my life. I remember my prayer: 'My God, you may have many reservations about me, but you know that I tried to love you.' I slept, and the next day I woke up feeling well.
• I am simply a candle lit in front of an icon.I shine so that people can see the icon. One day, my candle will go out. When that happens, someone else must come and light their own candle in front of the icon. What matters is the icon, not the candle that illuminates it.

So, this is pretty self explanatory, but I'm not sure if I know truly what Oikonomia means. Does it mean the priests/ bishops can (for lack of better words) "change" the canons? I get the feeling from some people that oikonomia is kind of like "yeah, sin if you want, but I'll allow it", and I am quite positive that is not what it actually means, so I was hoping for some help on navigating what it realistically means since my understanding of it is wrong. Thank you all.

Please, everyone, pray for a friend. His mother is dying, and she might not make it through the night. I would be very grateful, especially because he is still very young and in a difficult financial situation. 🙏

My name is Porphyrios(church name not world name) and recently my godfather recommended me to start making friends in other jurisdictions(im from constantinople), if anyone happens to be interested feel free to respond this post or messege me on private.

P.D: I apologize in advance if this post is not in accordance with the rules or any other inconvenience.

P.D.2: My native language is Spanish so please forgive any grammar mistake and feel free to speak to me in Spanish if you also happen to be native in it.

Thank you fir reading and God bless everyone!!