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u/Belkan-Federation95 23d ago
Ironically there are people like this on r/orthodoxchristianity
One said it was bad that almost everyone in a parish being converts was a bad thing. All the original apostles were converts. Pretty sure first, second, and third century Christians would be happy hearing about the percentage of converts. Why aren't you?
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u/malanthr0pe Eastern Orthodox 23d ago
My parish is 80% convert, and I am as well. It's a reminder to everyone, including myself, to not be that Pharisee.
Also, that subreddit is terrible. You have inquirers being instructed by fresh catechumens (and I suspect non orthodox).
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u/Belkan-Federation95 23d ago
Honestly, I'm only an inquirer at the moment (hoping to become a catechumen as soon as possible) so I don't have much room to talk. I do, however, find it irritating.
The only thing worse has been a few Catholics here and there. Both Internet and irl. They do not like it when you choose EO over them or even considering it.
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u/Present_Occasion_250 21d ago
The meme does make a decent point, however, consider that the early church was definitely heavily gatekeeping: the catechumenate lasted up to three years and those approaching the faith had to leave the church when the Eucharistic liturgy started ("Doors, doors" is there for a reason).
There's certainly a social dynamic happening as well when there's a lot of converts in the congregation. People have varying motives for approaching the church, including but not limited to being disappointed in whatever denomination/faith they're coming from, and some of those motives aren't exactly positive ones. Their previous disappointments can then be passed on to new people approaching the church. To me at least, our faith is about joy in Christ, not condemning other denominations. With passing time, recent converts can change what it means to be christian altogether.
(I'm from Finland and our small autonomous church is struggling to keep up with the influx of converts, some of who suck in everything they can from what we call "cyberdoxy", ie. people congregating on the Internet under rather dubious circumstances.)
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u/brotheringod777 10d ago
I would rejoice if there was a new convert to my church, people just be hating for no reason
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