GREETINGS in the Name of Jesus the Christ! I am Herman Matthew, a recent convert to Greek Orthodoxy. At the age of 14, I told myself, “I am going to find out which religion is the right one!” And thus began a half-century+ “search for the truth.” The age-old path worn by the shoes of so many since the first person got the idea to look.
Mind you, it was 1969; no internet. Just the good ole Library and maybe some magazine articles and book stores. Probably Walden Books was the first chain bookstore, and there was a local shop in my small town, the owner could order any title that he didn’t stock(In my small Southern municipality there were not many titles on the shelves of the subject matters I was investigating.).
So let’s see, I was raised Methodist, went through the Sunday-School-and-church-service-every-Sunday routine, youth group, Boy Scouts and all that. My dad was invested in the church and so we were pretty regular on Sundays. Something just didn’t sit right with me about the Christian religion as offered by the Methodists. What if I would have known that THE answer I was searching for would finally be uncovered just 56-years later?
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As it is, long story short, I delved into the many types and claims of Christian denominations and storefront churches. I looked into Catholicism, Mormonism, atheism, humanism, a truckload of Buddhism, Hare Krishna, bundles of philosophy and tried some of all of these on for size as the spiritual safari bus moved along. It’s been quite a long journey and actually led to a rather unsettled life. That is, no sanctuary for the soul was ever located.
UNTIL…
Orthodoxy. Bear with me; in fact, I challenge you to stay with this story and those to come. Don’t let yourself be satisfied in just automatically ditching this story before your eyes or my account because it’s “Jesus stuff” or I’m just another religious “nut job.” That’s not who/what this little man is about. Beat you over the head with a Bible? No. Tell you that you are going to Hell? Nada. Judge you? Nyet. The Orthodox do not participate in such. We truly are a whole “different animal” compared to the behavior of outsiders(of course, all of us being human, certainly there are Orthodox who misrepresent the Church.
Wow! There is so much to cover. I am not a monk nor a priest, just a little bitty layman taking a ride and inviting you along! ALL ABOARD!
