tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3415815443006499013.post6424864411933618503..comments2023-04-27T04:14:30.583-07:00Comments on Straight from the Heart: The Not So Eastern ChurchDonna Farleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884647995104136193noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3415815443006499013.post-73946552800392458252014-02-25T10:16:18.272-08:002014-02-25T10:16:18.272-08:00I used to hate it when my late father would phone ...I used to hate it when my late father would phone me and Maria on 7 January to wish us a Merry Christmas! Only because he'd been with us for Christmas dinner 13 days earlier! To his credit, he eventually stopped doing that.<br /><br />But yes, I've never twisted my mouth around to saying "Eastern" Orthodox, and the sound of that directional adjective before the word "Orthodox" makes my hair stand on end.<br />To add to your adroit observation that embracing Orthodox Christianity often means choosing new ancestors, let me add that I haven't time to for claims of an Anglo-Saxon or Celtic Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is as foreign to the English Speaking countries as Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam. The Christianity of my Scottish ancestors is that of the Free Presbyterian Church, or the Wee Free Kirk as it's called. It's not a Christianity of icons or liturgy or mysticism; but a dour, miserable faith that led to many in my extended family embracing secularism, and in some cases, the occult. It's only by the grace of God that I am Orthodox (just to break ranks with Calvinism, I'll throw in my co-operation with said grace). While the Anglican elements of my mother's family (what little is left of them), finds my faith unfathomable. <br />While at the same time I meet so many immigrants are our parish who fully accept the existence of an English speaking Orthodoxy, and who are willing to raise their children in such a parish. Reality itself shows that Orthodoxy is getting less and less "eastern" more and more universal.Gavin James Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06363242306824812372noreply@blogger.com