The Orthodox branch of Christianity is the third largest and is composed of the Greek, Russian, and Serbian Orthodox churches. The Orthodox religion first came about in the 4th century when Constantine was converted to Christianity by a vision of the cross. From that point on, differences grew between the Rome's version of Catholicism and Constantinople's version of Orthodox Christianity.

The largest difference was based on the wording of the Creed. The Orthodox Church adheres to the original version which states that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father" while the Catholic church added "and the Son." In addition, Rome decreed that priests must be celibate whereas the in the Orthodox Church priests could marry before becoming ordained.

In 1054 the differences between the two branches became irreconcilable and the pope and patriarch excommunicated one another. Since then Catholics and Orthodox have gone their separate ways.

The Greek Orthodox religion is the national religion and is practiced by 98 percent of the population. Indeed, in most cases it is the institution responsible for carrying on Greek culture, especially during the time in which what is now known as Greece was under Ottoman rule.

Outside of the large cities it is common to see old women wearing all black. This is a sign of a woman in mourning the loss of a family member. Depending on who is deceased she will wear all black every day for anywhere from several years to the rest of her life.

On islands and in the countryside you will see many small churches. Local families normally build these for their local saint.

In the younger generations the church does not seem to be as strong of a part of their life. Young people tend not to go to church, although they will cross themselves when passing a church or graveyard. Even though religion is less important now than before, it is still rare to find a Greek who is not baptized or that does not get married or buried with Greek Orthodox traditions.

really interesting topic wog..

and very informative as i did not know much of the history... Greek orthodox is a beautiful religion and i love it. i went to a private catholic school and so i attended their catholic procedings and in my eyes it is nothing like the wat we have.. the psaltes its beautiful and i love going to church...

and unfortunetly ur right about the younger generations... which is sad, and all the traditions that come with being greek orthodox are the best.. and i will get married orthodox christen my kids orthodox and die the orthodox way.. church every sunday is good and i will do till i die.

i have a question wog.. do u know what Orthodox means?

It means the right, or correct way. The orthodox way to score a goal is by kicking it in the goal, the orthodox way to walk is by putting one foot in front of the other

1 - Adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion


2 - Adhering to the Christian faith as expressed in the early Christian ecumenical creeds.



3 - Orthodox A member of an Eastern Orthodox church.


Middle English orthodoxe, from Old French, from Late Latin orthodoxus, from Late Greek orthodoxos : Greek ortho-, ortho- + Greek doxa, opinion (from dokein, to think. See dek- in Indo-European Roots).

Hope That Answers Your Question.

~ Woggy

hey thanks.. i had an idea i new it ment that was just double checking
spanks boys

i remember in primary school we had to go to church once a year at christmas and the church we went to was seriously like a hall with a few chairs and a table up the front...no ikones no crosses no nothing, since i was about 10 iv been going to church nearly every sunday cos my mum is the sunday school teacher...but orthodoxy is so rich with history and tradition and everything.

lol shorty same as my catholic school no ikones tipota... and wenever everyone would get up to kinonisi their style i would have to go get blessed bcos i wouldnt take their bread and wine.. and re i would look at wat they put in their mouth, looked like bloody card board and then i thought god greeks love their carbs shove a whole loaf of bread in the wine lol...

everything about our religion is beautiul!

has anyone been to the 'palamakia' it falls on megalo sabbato... every single time i see it i sit at church and i anatrixiazo kai klew it is sooooo beautiful...

Orthodoxy, Free Masonry And The Revelations

Part 1: Orthodoxy

Simplified History Of Orthodoxy:

Christianity first spread in the predominantly Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire.
Orthodoxy dates back to 33 A.D, fifty days after the Lord’s Resurrection. This was the day of the first established Church. The Holy Spirit anointed the Holy Apostles, and the Apostles went out to set up Churches throughout the Middle East, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Greece and Rome. Saint Paul, one of the most blessed Saints filled with the Holy Spirit headed west, founding Churches in Asia Minor, Cyprus, Greece and Rome.
Later, Emperor Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium which he renamed Constantinople (after himself) in 323 A.D and declared Christianity the religion of the Holy Byzantine Empire.
Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome each had a diocese. This made up five autocephalous (self-governing) dioceses. Their Bishops was considered first among equals. The dioceses cooperated as one faith until the Great Schism of 1054 A.D. when Rome separated from the four eastern dioceses, which remained united as the Eastern Orthodox Church.

What Is Orthodoxy? :
Orthodoxy are Christians whose origins go back to the date of Jesus and his Apostles through unbroken Apostolic Succession. The strongest influences of Orthodoxy lies with Greece, Russia, Serbia, Ethiopia, Armenia and Georgia. However there are large communities of people belonging to the Orthodox faith in America and Australia. Why?
This is because of the large Serbian, Greek, Armenian, Georgian and Russian communities within America and Australia who have immigrated but still maintain there faith with the true Christian teachings.
Orthodoxy means something as “true belief “.

Simplified History Of Russian Orthodoxy:
The Russian Orthodox followers are united as one by the Patriarch of Moscow but have respect and maintain communion with the other Orthodox Communities. It was not until finally in 988 the Russians adopted the religion of the Byzantinians and had its Patriarch the one of Constantinople. The event of Russias baptism to the Holy Spirit is known as the Baptism of Kiev (which is modern day capital of Ukraine), where Prince Vladimir I made the official religion of Russia, Orthodoxy.
Although Kiev was the original Holy Capital of the Russian Empire it was Moscow that would soon gain and keep the title of the Capital of Russia in 1326 after Kiev’s destruction from the Mongol invaders.
After 460 years of Russia being under the Patriarchate of Constantinople the Russians became independent. This was five years before the fall of Constantinople (in 1453) because of Ottoman invasion. Moscow was soon to be known as the third Rome.
In 1652 Patriarch Nikon, (the Orthodox leader of Russia in this point of their history) had changed Russian rites to the same of the Greek Orthodox rites. A change he introduced to Russia was for Russians to cross themselves using three fingers instead of two.
In 1914 there were in Russia 55 173 Russian Orthodox churches and 29 593 chapels, 112 629 priests and deacons, 550 monasteries and 475 nunneries with a total of 95 259 inmates.
During most of the 20th Century the Orthodox Church of Russia struggled to deal and maintain there position in the country after the government of the Soviet Union took position and control of the empire. The Sovier Union was the first communist state in the world and was deeply athiest.
Many Russian hierarchs fled Russia in fear of being prosecuted and estbalished their own Church and organisation known as Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
Fifty thousand priests in this newly established United Socialist Soviet Republic (U.S.S.R) were executed or sent to Siberian labour camps. However during WW2 relationships between the Church and the Socialist strengthened due to the fact of defence reasons. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, relations between the Church and the state started to deteriorate again.
Whoever attended university had to take a compulsary course in Scientific Atheism. But the KGB’s (Soviet Secret Service) had other plans and secretly employed priests part of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 1988 (still under Communist rule) the Soviet Union celebrated its 1000th anniversary on being part of the Orthodox Christian Church. After the Socialist government finally realised it could not defeat religion, it decided to promote rleigion on a way to gain much needed public support.
Many Churches and Monasteries were re-opened throughot the Union and since the collapse of the U.S.S.R in 1989 many of the ethinic Russians have rediscovered their spirituality with Holy Orthodoxy and the One true God. Now 90% of the ethnic Russians identify themselves as Russian Orthodox.
The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Orthodox Churches with most of its population belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Simplified Serbian Orthodox History:
The Serbian Orthodox number in about 11 million followers. They are led by a Serb Patriarch which includes Archbishop of Peć and Metropolitan of Belgrade (Capital City Of Serbia) and Karlovci.
The Serbs like the rest of the Slavic tribes migrated to the Balkans from Mongolia. By 874 A.D most of the Serbs had been converted to the Church of Constantinople.
During WW2, the Jewish genocide by the Nazi’s was not the only genocide taking place. The Croatians in Croatia had laid out their own genocide against the Serbian Orthodox followers living in Croatia. These murders were laid out by the Ustashi Croatians. Their violent genocide resulted in the death of 1.2 to 1.5 million Serbian Orthodox and Jews. More than 250,000 Serbs bacame refugee’s.
Part of this horrific genocide laid out by the Ustashi was the be-heading of a Serbian Orthodox Priest. This atrocity occurred on the 7th of February 1942 in the village of Drakulic near Banja Luka.
The Croatians celebrated their millennia of Christianity by torturing and then be-heading of a Christian (Orthodox) Priest.
Even Croatian Catholic priests and monks took part in the genocide against Serbian Orthodox Christians. Utashi’s, along with Monk Ambrozije Novak, surrounded the village of Mosanica. The priest then said to the Serbians "You Serbs are condemned to death, and you can only escape that sentence by accepting Catholicism.”
Those that resisted the forceful conversion into Catholicism from Orthodoxy were executed on the spot. Hundreds of Serbians died on this day, dieing as martyrs defending the Orthodox faith.
During August of 1941, the Ustashi captured 2000 Serbs. They forced them into the local Orthodox Church where at night the Ustashi came back to slaughter the defenceless Serbs inside a Christian Church. One man survived to tell the atrocity that was commited by the Croats.
During the Yugoslav war, many Catholic Churches in Croatia were damaged or destroyed in the hands of the Serbians. Most of the priests and monks, especially in Zagreb has become refugee’s so that they could avoid massacre from the Serbians.
However also the same was done to the Serbians from the Croatians. A lot of the Orthodox Churches were also damaged or destroyed by Croatians. In 1998 when everything stablized between the two countries, many Serbian Priests and Bishops returned to there place of worship. All the Churches were restored to how it originally was.
In Serbia today 65% of people living in Serbia are Orthodox.


Simplified Ethiopian Orthodox History:

It was in the 4th century that the Ethiopians become blessed and adopted Orthodoxy. A sailor named Meropius came from Tyre and was shipwrecked while on his way to India. Meropius died but his two wards, Frumentius and Aedesius were washed ashore and survived. They were then taken to the Royal Palace.
They became King Ella Amida’s private secretary. Eventually Frementius and Aedesius went to Egypt and told the Bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius to send missionaries to Aksum (Modern Day Ethiopia) so that they could be blessed by the teachings and worshipping of Jesus, and thus be saved.
The Bishop of Alexandria agreed and immediately decided and appointed Frumentius to lead the missionary as he was able to speak the language of Aksum fluently and understood of there customs and traditions.
Athanasius ordained Frumentius the first bishop (in Ethiopia, known as Abuna) of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. King Ezana (King of Ethiopia in this point of history) supported Frumentius and Ethiopia became a Christian Orthodox nation.
Athanasius agreed that the need was urgent, and immediately appointed Frumentius to the task, which needed someone fluent in the language and sensitive to the customs of Aksum. He ordained Frumentius the first abuna or bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Frumentius has since come to be known as the Abuna Salama or bishop of peace. His mission was successful and, with the support of king Ezana, Ethiopia became a Christian nation.
Today, 35%-40% follow the teachings of Ethiopian Orthodox.
Simplified Greek Orthodox History:
Orthodoxy had become officially the main religion of Greece in 1864 years after Greece had won its battles for independent Greece. A majority of Greeks however continued to believe in Holy Orthodoxy even while it was suppressed under Turkish Muslim occupation.
Turks forced children into the teaching of Islam but secret underground Churches and Monasteries throughout Greece kept the Orthodox faith and religion alive in Greece.
The dating of the first Church of Greece dates back to the Byzantine Empire. The Greek part of the Roman Empire, which split from the Western Catholic side because of barbaric Germanic pressure, was the first Church for the Greek people. In the Byzantine era they spoke classical Greek and they continue to speak classical Greek in the Modern Greek Orthodox Church.
The first official Orthodox Church of the newly established country of Greece was created in 1864. This was the first official Orthodox Church Greeks could freely worship God in since the sacking of Constantinople from the Turks.

A split occurred within the Church in 1923 when the Holy Synod decided to replace the Old Style (Julian) Calendar with the New Style (Gregorian) calendar. The schismatics are known as Old Style Calendarists and still follow the Old Style Calendar, but most of the Greek Orthodox population use the Gregorian style calender.
98% of Greeks today follow the teachings of the Greek Orthodox religion.

Turkish Genocide On The Orthodox Christian Population:

The Pontian Genocide:

For the Pontian Greeks all ended in tragedy in the years 1914-22. Of the 700,000 Greeks living in Pontus in 1914, 300,000 were killed as a result of Turkish government policy and the remainder became refugees. Three millenia of the Greek presence was wiped out by a deliberate policy of creating a Turkey for the Turks. The Pontian people were denied the right to exist, the right of respect for their national and cultural identity, and the right to remain on land they had lived on for countless generations.

"The Turk is the only master in his country. Those who are not pure Turks have one right in this country: The right to be servants, the right to be slaves"
Turkish Minister of Justice. Newspaper Milliet, September 30, 1930.

yeh lol i remember their communion stuff its like wafer biscuts cept they never let me have it they always made the greek kids sit at the bak and wait.

i cant say iv ever heard of the 'palamakia'...care to explain it?

well it falls on megalo sabbato morning.. it is about the day mary magdelen went to the tomb that had xristo and saw that the rock at the entrance had opened and that christ had risen.. so on this day at church the little alter boys run through the isles of the church ringing bells and the priest is walking around throwing louloudia and he is yelling ANESTITHIKE and the church erupts with clapping and it is just so beautiful... now not all priests do it that way, as 99% of the darwin greek population is kalymnian thats how we celebrate it.. it is soooooooooooo beautiful and it gives u goose bumps and every year that i attend it i cry it is really touching... ever want to spend easter some where different come to darwin u will feel like ur still on the mainland..

soccer i think its something we must do

because here, easter is about

-what ur wearing
-how many girls u r going to pick up
-"starving" for a week and eating on sunday like u've never eaten before while really u've been cheating during the week and just telling everyone, oh im fasting, thats an amartia
-complaining that you have to go to church at midnight, and standing there for five minutes saying xristos anesti probably not even knowing what it means thinking about the food on the table at home

i wont go on, i have a feeling im going ot cause trouble, so i'll just say what is this world coming to? i was going to say dropi mas, but i know not everyone is like this, but a majority, yeah

GLYKS, deary there is people like that in all states... whats my word again.. afstralopimeni, they dont appreciate it for wat it really is... i member few years back we went to the gold coast for christmas, we werent planning on going to church as we had no idea were they were etc etc come christmas night we were all so cut bcos we are so use to going to church we hunted down a church and went... guess how many people were in church... my family being 5, and 6 others.. i was like

i have never been to a church in syd or melbourne but the way we do it here is still so traditional its beautiful and on Xristos Anesti all the wogs let of their dynamites, causing damage to the church windows but we dont care it is all in the moment

Glyks i agree with you, i find it so disrespectful and i get so angry when guys find Easter the perfect opportunity to pick up!!!

mini u think its frustrating for a girl to walk into church and feel like she's being looked at and or judged by the guys, thats nothing, the girls are worse, the red carpet that leads up to the altar has somehow turned into a fashion runway over the years, like theres a best dressed award at anastasi

yeh glyks i totaly agree about the whole red carpet thing. its like a fashion parade to see whos best dressed. its ridiculouse. and Soccer now i know what it is, iv never been but my mum goes every year she tells me its good. there a church near me my favourite one St Andrews and the priest there is fab hes sooo cute he trys to get the younger generation into it all hes a funny guy too, anyways my mum tells me he like fully runs down the aisle throwing those leaves around and there ladys (its a massive kypriako area there) they bang on the chairs. it sounds awesome but iv never actually been.

I also love holy friday with the epitafio at my chuch we walk around the whole block like cops come and close the roads and theres randoms looking from there housese its a great feeling being there. but i hate all the people who go to chuch once a year (the priest calls them touristes) and they just try picking up the girls and checkin them all out.

i love easter its such an amazing time. its illigal for us to have firecrackers n stuff tho, it used to be so good with them, but now its annoying thres like undercover cops n stuff.

Fashion show de lete tipota.. and my biggest biggest hate about our generation is seeing these girls who have spent saturday night rubbing their ass and tits against any guy that will let them in a club drinking, smoking etc etc in church on sunday morning doing their stavro as big as their amarties... i hate it!!!!

yeh i hate that. i also hate it when people come to church they dont even go in and just hang around the outside to be Seen. like whats the point of going if your not gonna go in.

an even bigger amartia

say you go to church to show off and seem better than other people
same goes as when you actualy tell people that ur fasting, don't say it, just do it, ur not doing it for anyone else so why tell them? to show off for something like that is an amartia

shorty i agree, but here, easter is big, at anastasi we have to close off the entire road, and u look at the street and it is just packd out with people, u cannot move, it goes outside the church gates and just all over the street, it really is a site to see, especially when everyone is driving hime with their little candles, u can see all these little candles in the cars driving home, it really is a site, and this is the only reason i can think of as to why people would not go into the church, simply because you can't get in, and most people make the effort anyways, so im really confusd as to why someone would show up to church, go all the ay there just to stand outside when theres plenty of room in there and thats rally the reason u came for...to go into church...does this really happen? if u don't want to go in then just don't show up, whats the point? u think ur doing good cos u actually turned up at all? no ur just showing off, ur actually committing a sin.

im glad ot see us younglings are posting in this thread too

hahaha all 3 of u's r good girls, love u all

nai glyks katalaveno its the same here the roads are packed the church is opposite a shopping centre so theres HEAPs of parking and its all packed out the roads are also packed, they have those massive tent things n everything, but they always leave a path way so tha people can get through go to the epitafio and go back out, but u dont even see them do that.

also its not only at easter like other days on mnimosina people just hang around the outside for 5 mins then leave they come at the end anyway.
easter is understandable but on other days when the church is no where near as packd?

its the exact same here! i mean on easter, panayias and christmas we have to block of the roads bcos we have so many people turning up they dont all fit in one ekklisia. but i hate it wen people dont even walk in light their candle and filisi the ikones arrrggghhh it makes me soooooo mad wen bimbos dont appreciate it seriously!!! Inside my head i think "I WISH THE LITTLE GIRL BEHIND U BURNS UR HAIR WITH THE CANDLE SHE IS HOLDING BIMBO" mind u thats not a nice thing to do but wen u get chicks rocking up to church in kolita kolita with the visyia hanging out u think wtf has happened to ppl these days absolutely no respect.. i mean i am not saying dress like a kaloyria, but ffs ur in church respect it and dress decently!!!!! there is different times and places were u dress like that!

axxxxx the epitafio is soooo beautiful and walking around the block seeing all the litle kerakia and just how even if it is for one day everyone is together celebrating together! i love it i member wen i was a mikroula i would spend a week before megali paraskevi fixing the perfect little keraki to carry ribbons and a little chicken tied to the front sooo cute...

easter is by far the best week to attend church although people shouldnt only go on easter and christmas or on their onamstiki yiorti.... as often as u can u should go.. doesnt have to be every sunday i mean it is difficult specially down south with travelling to get there watever but people shouldnt only appreciate being greek orthodox on pasxa!

as for the fasting glyks asta! we have kati ksekarfomenes here that eat milk and eggs the day before they metalavi and think its ok bcos they did a week.. i do 40 days at easter and christmas and it seriously doesnt bother me i dnt care that i miss out nothing better then knowing u did it the right way and wen u kinonisi u just feel so i dunno clean.. my cousin passed away i fasted for 40 days till his saranta meres mnimosino and then continued on for easter as he passed in march... big frikken woop i am sure i wont die if i dont eat meat.. appreciate missing out on something that isnt of big value in ur life, after all jesus gave his life for US.. all u are giving up is meat..

okies i think i have bored u guys enough for one night

Love saint **Soccer Chick**

soccer mou

I LOVE YOU

do the sydney girls a favour and come down here and bring them back down to earth

mwa

ps. to anyone who chooses to attack me for saying that, i gladly admit im not one to be seen in church ever sunday for whatever reason, either being none of ur business or personal etc, but i think the attitude soccer has is quite right with certain people and alot should think twice about the next time they turn up to church and treat it as a steki...

ta ipes poli orea soccer, come to melb too na ftiaksis aftes this kopeles. at my school its FULL of greeks, but its so hard to find one that is acctually respects things like the church. (the ones i hang out with arnt so bad) but the other man i see them at easter at church n stuff and they just act as though there out at a club or something.

as for the fasting, i try to do it for 40 days but i do cheat a bit and eat when im at school cos the canteen doesnt have many things to offer. but at school esspecially the week before easter all the greeks are fasting and its like impossible to be seen in the canteen with some greek you know comming upto you saying "eh ti kanis edo. nisteia einai" but i guess its a good feeling at school when everyones doing it together.

i do it for a week, i admit, i did attempt doing it for 40 days one year but we wont go there thats a long story lol

i do it in a school surrounded by australians, and they don't get it, but ah well tough luck

me loves ya to glyks... i am going to come down do GREEK GIRL CHURCH BOOT CAMP...

Its not about going every week its about going and being there for the right reasons...

i love this thread

ohh something else i hate at church is when they come with like FULLY bright red lipstik and kiss the ikones and leave lipstick marks everywhere its soooo grose. like i wear lip gloss but its not so bad doesnt leave grose marks all ova the ikones.

axx re shorty i know what u mean!!! i hate it to...

haha this one time my mum forced me to go to youth group cos my friend was going anyways when we got there...all it was was all this girls me ta visia tous hanging out trying to hook up with the boys. i was just like OoooohKKK!!!

lol shorty i bet u were thinking were is the brain... but u know how we say some guys think with their "ahem" Well some chicks think with their visyia lol

as for ur mum making u go lol my mum did too kale i rock up their with my best mate and its all kids younger then us and it was held by the priest and he was talking about not to give into the temptation of sex and to stay clean and pure... and that harry potter is the devil lol

haha thats a classic. yeh one ime my greek school teacher was giving us a sunday school lesson and thats wat she was telling us she also told us that "einai poli megali amartia na kanneis sex mesa stin ekklisia" the whole class was just trying to not erupt with laughter it was so funny, who would have sex in a church

lol classic shorty...

i am going to do nistia this week so i can kinonisi before i start uni, have god on my side lol

i usually nistepsi from thursday till sunday, i was gonna go today but then got 'thinggy'

yeh thats cool shorty and as for the 'thingys' i know what u mean and how u feel... the worst thing is doing it for 40days and then thingying the night before u intend on kinonising!!! yes it has happened to me.... twice... lol... hopefully i will be good to go this week

axx ti na kanoume.

going back to the lipstick, what is even more ridiculous, is when you see girls going to kinonisi wearing lipstick and they wonder why the papa refuses it

i hear ya glyks... our papa is really really strict...

no lipstick fair enough...
no singlets...
no tops that dont have sleeves basically..
no pants...
skirts must be knee length or down... etc etc he fully put a little sign at the door too

but i guess thats how it should be

omg i know. you know how your not sposed to wear pants in the church, one priest at one of the churches near my house refuses to kinonisi those girls that come in pants with their visia hanging out wearing sooo much make up you could chizzle it off their face, n then they get really pissed off and like swear at the priest n stuf. i bet they dont even know what the kinonia is. lol
some of those people i hear them also being pissed off that the priest has that basket for ppl to put money in and how he "takes the money and it never goes to charity"

about the little sign..lol theres one at out church that just says "this place is a place of god it is sacred and should be respected, you must dress respectuflly" or somthing like that
HMMMM

they get the shits? omg what fkn airheads (how very christian of me to swear :tongue: ) lol

i can understand the make up especially the lipstick and also u should dress appropriately, i dnt mean look nt ur yiayias wardrobe but beleive it or not skirts that go down to the knee do exist, what i have always thought though, ok we know its not right to wear pants to church (for girls that is of course) but i don't think they should be refused kinonia, especially kids aswell, like at easter when u get up early to kinonisi and its freezing here, the little ones could get cold, ok it might b just another excuse, but i don't see it as an amartia, i think they should pay more attention the the people (not only kids, but adults) who sit there in the que kai varionte pou zoune and sit there laughing cos they dind't really fast or they ate breakfast.

theres no problems about kids wearing pants, i admit i used to wear pants to church when i was little, but its more so the teenages and older ones they should know better...and how cold can u get wearing skirt put some stockings on and some sxc lookin boots and u'll be fine.

axx i love this thread

i love this thread to heaps

we dont have the cold problem here hehe so i cn understand were u girlies are coming from.. it can get mippy down there...

sometimes they should bend the rules abit

Ok I want to know if God loves us all and we are all his children, why does he judge women who wear pants. I dont find it disrespectful at all and Im sure that these so called rules were not made by Jesus or God but some idiotic, chauvanistic man who finds pants disrespectful.

I agree that while going to church, you must dress respectfully and not made up like you are doing a photo shoot for vogue, and I too find church nothing but a fashion parade, but pants, for heavens sake thats pushing it too far. How disrespectful can pants be. I find this so stupid.

What I find more disrespectful is priests wearing so much gold and driving expensive mercedes benz, when they are supposed to live a humble life serving god.

Our church is losing alot of people because of these stupid laws. Laws made by man, not god.

I was at a cemetery once and I was wearing pants. This trago of a priest came up to me and started cursing me for wearing pants and told me that my children will end up in the gutter. For gods sake what a malaka. It was winter and I was going to visit my 12 yo cousin who had died a few years earlier. He, with his idiotic malakies turned me off our religion and made me start thinking about what the hell has me wearing pants got to do with wanting to visit my cousin and my children ending up in the gutter.

Well I have learnt one thing, I believe in God, I dont have to go to church to prove it to anyone, and I find the whole thing a farce. Our churches have become so rich yet when someone needs help in their community they do nothing about it. I have not seen the church help a family with 4 small children after their father died and had no means of supporting themselves. The priest refused to kinonisi at a funeral for a local family whose baby had died b4 being baptised. Why, because it wasnt christened. So bloody what. Its still a child of god it hadnt commited any sins why not bless it? Yet a lowlife criminal dies and they are there first to bless these sinners, and with the best logia. Not to mention the biggest sinner of all who had donated so much money to church to show what a good citizen he was, that when he died he had not one but eight priests and the archbishop there too, all of them preaching about what a good man he was etc etc. Yet that poor little baby was rejected. Why they didnt make any money out it?

I dont care what anyone thinks of what I have to say, it is what Ive seen and thats what I base my life on. I try to be the best person I can and judge all ppl equally and fairly. I believe in god and I always try to do the right thing. If I am judged by idiots for wearing pants, then Id rather stay at home and pray to god there. I refused to be judged by fools.

Everyone is entitled to believe what they want. I believe in god. I do not believe in the business that has become our church. jesus did not judge mary magdalene, so why should some malaka judge me for wearing pants.

elli i do agree with u about the pants, i dont see how it can be disrespectful it covers more then skirts do so why should they care...

Hey girls,

I agree with you guys on most part but not on the pants in church.... if its is cold wear a skirt, stockings and boots as shorty said, siga your only going to be there for a few hours your not gonna die from frost bite...

about the panteloni at yous cousins tafo... Elli i agree with you... ok make rules about what is worn in church... but who is he to tell you to wear a skirt outside church and to say those things to you.... last year two of my cousins past away within 6 months and the preist came to there houses, and i went and kissed his hand and said thank you for coming and sorry im wearing a panteloni and he said 'pou na skeftis se'afti to katastasi ti rouxa foras, einai entaxi'.... it all depends on the priest.... ours is strict i have to say... but he has brought back the traditions we lost.... i want to go to church now and i try to go as often as i can and i go and i take my book and i read along with him.... i stand up and say the pistebo when its time and i respect the priests decision with the rules because that made me go back to church....

we look at the girls that dress skanky and say thats why he did it... coz you know that the night before these girls were clubbing until 4am and stand at the front of church like virgins trying to pick up.... its ridiculous

i agree Elli, the priest shouldnt have said anything, its not like you were at church or anything. my giagia once told me that at church we arnt supposed to wear pants because its a sign of respect for panagia, becuse she never worse pants or something like that. im not too sure if thats the real reason or just some tradition from the homeland.

i can understand ur yiayias theory to shorty... as for being in the cemetary thats bullshit... seriously wen ur not in church there should be no thing to say u cant were pants.. i know our priest doesnt care if we were them out of church.. we he comes around a few times a year to bless the houses and watever we were pants he doesnt say anything, thats so stupid

axx kapioi papades to parakanoun nomizo.

Great post, but one big mistake. Orthodoxy traces its roots back to the Apostles and is every bit as old as the Roman Catholics. The way the paragraph was written, it sounds as if Orthodoxy seperated from the Catholics. That isn't how it happened. Divisions did indeed grow, but no way did Orthodoxy begin with Constantine, it began from ground zero. The braches grew apart, but we did not seperate, that is important to remember. That is what happened with Protestants, not Orthodox people.

yes Alexander you are right, i noticed that but was to lazy to comment on it. some people think that catholics are the very first, when indeed it was the catholics who seperated from the Orthodox.

Be free ppl....thats all im saying.

as in what???