5 Regrets of an Orthodox Christian Convert

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Over a decade ago I began the process of converting to Orthodox Christianity. I was just over 20-years-old.

Initially, my conversion was marked by a dissatisfaction with what my baptist-leaning, non-denominational upbringing could offer – and I had been the subject of a pastoral abuse that fractured my teenage faith. The pop-Christian literature I could find at the local Christian bookstore was not enough to soothe the cognitive dissonance I was experiencing: how can profession Christians treat their fellow human beings this way? That’s when I started looking for spiritual nourishment elsewhere: first in Christian apologetics (because of my own doubts), then in philosophy, Hinduism, Buddhism, et al. until years later I arrived at the doorstep of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

As I dove into the writings of Frederica Mathewes-Green, Metropolitans Kallistos Ware and Hierotheos Vlachos, Fr. Stephen Freeman, and Peter Gilquist, I was amazed to find that Eastern Orthodox spirituality contained a depth that I had not known in my previous Christian tradition. When I ran out of secondary sources, I began reading down the timeline of patristic literature, starting with the Apostolic Fathers, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and so on. But most importantly, I began praying. (Here I should mention that, back then, the internet was not overrun with content about Orthodoxy.)

I was incredibly well-read by the time of my catechumenate (something that I believe is common these days) but I was still naive; I treated the Church as some sort of perfect institution – which it is at the level of theologia (that is, insofar as it depends on God) but it certainly is not on the human level. This is typical of converts, I think – at least for a time. But it’s not healthy. And I made a lot of mistakes – and was really hurt – by my naïveté.

So, here are five things I wish I had done differently in those early days:

1. Start an online blog or equivalent
2. Quote-mine the Church Fathers
3. Try to convert or argue with others
4. Idealize priests
5. Attend seminary too soon

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Theoria is a YouTube Channel started by an Eastern Orthodox Christian and professional, freelance videographer and animator in 2015. Since that time, we have produced a number of video series' explaining Eastern Orthodox doctrine and practice with the likes of Frederica Matthewes-Green, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, Rod Dreher, and more.

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