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<h1 class="title">Religion</h1>
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<b>Note on Mar., 19, 2026:</b><br>
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<center><h3> Dec., 30, 2025 </h3></center>
<a href="/img/icon_wall.jpg"><img src="/img/icon_wall_thumb.jpg" alt="My Icon
Wall" class="image-right" width="220px"></a>
I am a recently baptised Orthodox Christian. After a few years of searching, I
have found my home in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, Orthodox Church. <br>
My religious background is surprising not very eventful, I was raised pretty
secular; As most Americans are raised now, we still had the ghosts of Western
Christian culture, we had Christmas, Easter, and St. Patrick's day. But on
those <i>holy days</i> we didn't celebrate what they were originally created
for. But rather their <i>secular</i> corporate rebranding.<br>
On Easter <i>(Pascha)</i>, it was not about the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
his <i>defeating of death by death</i>,<span class="footnote">The Paschal
Sermon, Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. <a
href="https://www.oca.org/fs/sermons/the-paschal-sermon">https://www.oca.org/fs/sermons/the-paschal-sermon</a>.</span>
nor passover. But rather candy, and an egg-hunt, not saying that those things
were or are bad, but I didn't even
really know what Easter was or why we celebrated it.<br>
Same for St. Patrick's day, but Christmas was always a little bit different. It
was still mostly about Santa Claus and getting / giving gifts, but I think one
due to the name "<b>Christ</b>-mas", and the person of St. Nickolas, there was
still a Christian element to it. Even modern Christmas music still speaks of
the Christ-child and the Virgin Mary. <br>
But, I still didn't know really what the religion of Christianity believed;
Religion wasn't something spoken much about in my house, I did learn the
very-very basics of the world faiths, I learnt of Judaism and their holiday
<i>(Holy-day)</i> Hanukkah, along with the far-eastern religions of Hinduism
and Buddhism, as well as Greco-Roman paganism.<br>
But I was brought up with <i>nothing</i>, however that works... But in my early
teens, I became more interested in religious discussion, but ironically, it
lead me towards Atheism and then <i>Antireligion-ism</i> <span
class=footnote>Also known as <i>"New Atheism"</i>.</span>
which now looking back, it's very sad yet comical to have your belief system be
defined as being
an <u><i>anti</i></u> anything, it is like being a spiritual reactionary.<br>
That was all during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and I basically realised that by
practising what I preached <i>de facto Nihilism</i>, I was just wasting my
short life doing nothing for no reward, and I wasn't happy doing it.<br>
I, like many others were kinda stuck in the Western paradigm of either being
Protestant or Roman Catholic. So when I started my journey into properly
researching Christianity, I first went the protestant route, <i>(mainly due to
issues I had with the papal claims)</i>, I picked up an NIV which was gifted to
my father by my grandfather.
<span class="footnote">I am quite critical of the NIV now, but I do think it is
good for teens and pre-teens, or people with a lower reading level, with proper
guidance of course.</span>
I read the Gospel of Matthew, Revelation, and the first section of Exodus. And
alongside a more scholarly look into things, via online documentaries, I didn't get a
perfect understanding, but a much better one than I had before of the Christian
faith.<br>
After attending a quite low-church evangelical church that some of my family
also attended, I knew something was missing, I could tell there was something
unique about the Christian faith compared to the rest of the world religions,
but modern, Western Christianity felt dead, and a shell of what I knew what the
Christian faith truly was.<br>
And around that time, I was starting to hear of another branch of Christianity
that was neither Catholicism nor Protestantism, <i>Eastern</i> Orthodoxy! I
actually passed an Orthodox almost weekly my whole life, but I never really
gave it thought when I first started looking into Christianity.<br>
But after giving it a good solid look, listening to Orthodox and non-Orthodox
alike, explaining their belief, right then and there, I knew it was the true
Church. I couldn't properly put it into words at the time, but I could see it
had everything good that I liked about Roman Catholicism, but without any of
the errors I saw in Rome either.<br>
I couldn't properly put it into words at the time, but I could see it
had everything good that I liked about Roman Catholicism, but without any of
the errors I saw in Rome either.
<br><br>
That was about two years ago now, and I am finally a member of Christ's Holy
body, I have learnt and changed so much from those two years, and I have to
say, most of it wouldn't be without the Orthodox Church. I am so thankful for
my priest, my godfather, my patron saint Ambrose of Milan, the Theotokos, and
Jesus Christ, for I don't know where I would be without them.<br><br>
<b>-- Ambrose</b>.
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