im new to both this site and the faith.

welcome to the circle.

Or, as the priest of an online pal of mine said to her at her Chrismation, \"Welcome to the struggle.\" We\'re glad you\'re here!

Welcome! You join many, many other converts to Orthodoxy who came through a variety of paths to wind up here, so don\'t feel you\'re the odd one out!

Oh Nick, WELCOME HOME TWICE! First, WELCOME HOME to the Holy Orthodox Church! Second, Welcome to OrthodoXCircle! I feel immediately a special bond with you and your family. I was an Episcopalian from age 20 (1967) until 1995 In the U.S. Navy I made a point of visiting every Anglican church I could find. I think there were two, one in France and the Cathedral at Gibralter. I\'m sure I left the Episcopal Church for many of the same reasons your father and the rest of you did. For me it began with the endless revisions to the Book of Common Prayer in the 1970\'s. The ink wasn\'t even dry when local parishes started \"tweaking\" it to fit the demands of extremely liberal social groups. I think the first thing they did was remove all gender specific nouns. Then they stopped teaching that homosexuality was wrong. My best friend from college, the organist/choir director, died of AIDS because of that blunder. Meanwhile, individual parish tweakings of the services became unbearable. Things were so casual it no longer felt like church. Also, the great music we used to sing was put aside for some pretty bad stuff. I first encountered the Orthodox Church on the Internet. It\'s a long story but a graduate student and her professor, both from Russia, had a profound effect on me. Once my curiosity was aroused I read everything I could about the Orthodox Church. The more I read, they more I knew it was my spiritual home! My wife and I were baptized at the local Serbian Orthodox Church in Columbus. There is too much to fill in here, but in the end the priest who baptized us and many other converts and Russians from the Serbian parish founded a new parish which ended up being part of the OCA. I was choir director there for about ten years. What jurisdiction do you belong to now? I suppose this is all on your profile page. Does your father plan to join O.C.? He would be warmly welcomed here! Reader Michael Malloy, Columbus OH St. Nicholas parish

Hello, brother. I too am a convert. Formerly a Methodist pastor, now a priest. Welcome and give my regards to your dad.

Welcome Nicholas! Thank you for posting, and letting us know a little about you! We try our best to be both genuine and to build up each other, with the help of God. Remind us when we fall short sometimes!

wow! thats how it happened with me as well~! my father wants to become orthodox sooo badly, but he only has theology degrees and is our family\'s only financial support so we\'re in a bind. also the bishop of our diocese says that he has more preists than he really needs right now so .... : ( id really appreciate it if everyone could pray for my father, that he could find a way to resolve this soon, so he can join us in the true church. : )

this site is a blessing! it is so great to be able to talk to other Orthodox Christians ! ^__^

Welcome to the circle. Glad to have you here. Look around, check out the groups. It\'s a good way to find people who have the same interest as you do and then make friend requests.

I\'m completing catechesis at St. George in Wichita, KS. I\'m a former Evangelical/Presbyterian who was orbiting the Church for about 10 years. I have found my home.

As a convert, Amen!