Resources for learning about Orthodoxy

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Comments

  • The responses to the litanies are easy enough: "Lord, have mercy" many times, ending with "To you, O Lord."

    There will be parts that vary each day and week (the "Propers" or "Variables") that you will not find in the standard text of the Liturgy.

    Best to do as Forthview recommends: just take it in as a whole. No-one will expect more of a visitor than reverent attention.
  • SpinozasParrotSpinozasParrot Shipmate
    edited December 2019
    Not sure if these count as resources, or even orthodoxy, but...

    If you've never seen them before I highly recommend the movies of Andrei Tarkovsky. Andrei Rublev may just be the best movie about faith, culture and creativity ever made.

    The Master and Margarita, a classic of demonic fiction and Russia's favourite novel, features a fair amount of Christian philosophy. The author, Mikhail Bulgakov, was the son of a prominent Orthodox minister.
  • Forthview wrote: »
    Whenever I go to a Divine Liturgy celebration in an Orthodox church I just listen to what is being said or sung. Anyone who knows the format of a Catholic Mass or an Anglican eucharist is well placed to understand all that one needs to understand. It is better simply to take in the liturgy as a whole rather than bother about each individual word.

    I think this is very good advice.
  • Cyprian wrote: »
    It is better simply to take in the liturgy as a whole rather than bother about each individual word.

    I think this is very good advice.[/quote]

    Especially if you have succeeded in finding a church where the Liturgy is in English (or your first language if that's not English). Far harder than it should be in some countries - e.g. Australia.

  • This thread has prompted me to get The Way of a Pilgrim for my Kindle. I've been meaning to read it for years; I'll start it tonight.
  • Currently I am about halfway through "The Way of a Pilgrim" and finding it helpful but odd. Little things like the Pilgrim begins by reciting the Jesus Prayer 3000 times a day, and then does more, may explain why it has not yet become heart-prayer to me, valuable though I find it.

    Where I'm struggling is that it all feels a bit too good to be true. Everywhere the Pilgrim goes he finds people who welcome his message, or are already in receipt of amazing blessings. Even hunger and cold are held at bay by the Jesus Prayer. It reminds me of the books I devoured in the 70s, on the charismatic movement, where every problem was solved once you were "baptised in the Spirit". As with those works, I'm not saying deliberate lying is going on, but careful editing, or even selective remembering seems likely. I've read the Wikipedia article, but didn't find it very helpful. Does anyone know much about the background of the book?
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