Two godly men I have been impacted by lately:
The first, Fr. Victor, is the priest at St. Stephen's Orthodox Cathedral in Northeast Philly where my parents used to attend http://www.ststephenscathedral.org/. The church recently commissioned my father to do two icons for the front entry.
The second, Fr. Peter, had a unique journey into Orthodoxy which continues to challenge and enrich me.
It's been an interesting spiritual journey in my family. My dad grew up a preacher's kid in a Baptist upbringing on the west coast. My mom was a pagan {I say pagan in an endearing tone because my mother who was (and still is) the sweetest women, was incredibly lonely and unfulfilled before she met Christ - though she was doing everything "right" in the world's eyes}. We've been Presbyterian, Episcopalian (which then shifted to Anglican when our church, along with many others, could not assent to the bishop), and now Orthodox.
There's a lot I could say about Orthodoxy, but I will discuss it here through the lives of these men.
Fr. Victor grew up Orthodox in the Ukraine... Time passed and he felt called to be a priest while he was in the States. However, he wanted to make sure he could love people enough, so he waited on God for His assurance. Fr. Victor is now one of the most loving priests (or pastors, or whatever) I have ever known. I have never seen anyone stretched as much as he is in terms of time and capacity to minister, yet also so eager and transparent to plunge into ministry. Because he speaks Russian, he is able to minister to the burgeoning population of Russian-speaking immigrants in North Philly. In fact, after every Sunday service he leads a bible study in Russian for a group of people in the fellowship hall. He also runs the Orthodox Christian Fellowhip (OCF) for students at Penn (the University of Pennsylvania). This ministry provides, among many other things, rich, discipleship opportunities for some of the most prestigious students in the region. All this to say...it is deeply encouraging to meet men like this and see the work of God literally transforming church communities, and the bodies of people they touch.
Secondly, Fr. Peter's life is deeply intriguing because he started out in his twenties like me or many other of my college friends - deeply engaged in what God was doing on college campuses and yearning to be a part of that somehow after graduation. After attending seminary, he went on staff with Campus Crusade for ten years... However, there was a growing disconnect between what he saw as the phenomenal response to the gospel by college students and a lack of commitment to fellowship in churches after graduation. He resigned from Campus Crusade, and with the company of several others, began researching the life, liturgy, sacraments, history, and worship of the early church to discover what church really means. What they found astounded them - liturgy and sacraments were some of the main cornerstones of the early church. To make a long story short, they had been researching how to do church like the early church, and discovered orthodoxy (even though they didn't it existed already as a church).
I've never seriously considered Orthdoxy (even though the rest of my family is)... Like many things in the Christian life, it must come as an open door - a door I have not traversed yet (although, I am going to the Holy Land in week - where Orthdoxy and all of Christendom began).
However, the lives of these men continue to lead me and encourage me towards deeper interaction with my faith, further dialogue about what church means, and towards greater fellowship with not only my family, but also with people who are truly seeking "the ancient paths" (Jeremiah 6:16).
"This is what the Lord says:
'Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls... "
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