My story, Part 1: I grew up in a protestant Christian household. My mother was loosely Pentecostal, and my father loosely Baptist in their moral sensibilities, but we never had a stable church affiliation. My mother stressed the 'gifts of the Spirit', and my father gave me a practical moral and faith foundation. I didn't do well in public school, so my parents sent me to a Catholic school for over 3 years. Since I wasn't Catholic I was often treated as an outcast. My many questions were often dismissed or responded to as if questions were sinful. I found Catholic architecture to be totally amazing and aw-inspiring. But I had a hard time getting along with the adults. Even the priest seemed distant to me. In high school, I attended a methodist church with a woman pastor. It was bland and mostly filled with elderly people but my grandparents and some of my friends attended so it wasn't so bad. It's worth mentioning that all throughout my childhood from the time I was about 8yrs old until my sophomore year of highschool, I periodically was subject to demonic attacks of a physical nature. It was unexplainable and overt and clearly meant to frighten me and harm me. Ironically, these experiences kept me from ever becoming an atheist. In early college, though, on the surface, I read more of the Bible than ever and was trying to figure out whether the Bible supported evolution or not 🤣, inside I had become a Christian agnostic. I fell away in my values and actions and was open to Christianity being false. In later college, I straightened myself out more and decided Christianity was true, but its church was wrong in so many areas. My buddies and I would often grumble about the churches and how they are to cooperate, or the worship isn't reverent enough. I stopped attending church after college except for an occasional invite from a friend. My faith was mine and mine alone. I spent most of my freetime listening to debates and sermons, still investigating where true Christianity was. I was really impacted by Dr Jordan Peterson, Dr Tim Mackie, and Dr Michael Heiser. They all didn't match up with a typical protestant understanding of the Bible, but they hit on elements that rang fundamentally true of reality and who I found God to be like. I found out later those men were teaching many things Orthodoxy had taught regularly, but they were just unfamiliar with Orthodoxy. I became more spiritual minded, slowly leaving materialist protestant type of faith. I started to become skilled at dream interpretations and symbolic understandings. This led me to listen to Jonathan Pageau quite a bit and a friend (who was not Orthodox at the time) introduced me to 'The Lord of Spirits' podcast. I still wasn't interested in Orthodoxy but from what I could see, it's symbolic and spiritual understanding was true. After being directly turned away from a Lutheran church on my first visit, I went to an Evangelical Free church and was warmly received and attended regularly. I became a member and even gave sermons from time to time, stepping in for the lead pastor when he was away. I started a study group over Bible symbolism and joined the worship team and was baptized there. When the pastor retired, drama lama stuff broke out, and my wife and I, along with some friends, swiftly left that church. We ended up attending a Charasmatic Nondenominational church for a few months. It was what we needed at first, being tender loving, but quickly turned uncomfortable with the lack of structure and abundance of prelest. By this time, I was reading Orthodox books, listening to Orthodox podcasts, and listening to Orthodox bands. I found myself surrounded by Orthodox content without meaning to or even having an interest in the Orthodox Church. I realized this and questioned why I didn't visit an Orthodox church sooner. I live in the middle of nowhere, but there ended up being an OCA parish also in the middle of nowhere just down the road a few miles.

@DoopykoopaVA Go to Church

If there is anything over age 16 then for sure some legal action is possible but if it was 15 or younger then a twitter repromanding is all that is going to happen. The CCPS should have been involved with this case at the time it occurred as well as during the time of his own abuse at 11yr old. It seems like his priest is well aware of his sins whether by him or by people on Twitter finding his priest. So it's in his hands now.

@msl_orthodoxy Not prosecuted to the assailant under age 16*

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RT @Carrie_Eileen_: This is all I’ll say on my profile about this (IYKYK). I feel the need to say something bc over the last few years I’ve…

RT @EasternMilk: Soy Milk is the ✡️ of milk.

@HandmaidL 🥛

RT @HandmaidL: Patience has a habit of granting everything to those who possess it. +St. Ephrem the Syrian

Beautiful 🥛

@gimmethatOTR Email a priest and ask for advice.

Freshening up my page a bit. Drawing nearer to my patron St Ephrem the Syrian, who I pray will keep me oriented on being holy in the swamp that is Twitter-X.

@BreenaGracewyn Indeed it is 🧐🥛

Christ will come from the East. Prepare your hearts to receive Him.

RT @OrthoMemeSquad:

@Michaeldudufudu Whatever she wants. My wife is most beautiful when she feels good about herself and that can be with or without makeup.

@jacobandjesus I have a highlighted section of a prayer from my patron St Ephrem the Syrian, that I think relates to this. "I bind myself with the shackles that the enemy places upon me, and I slay myself with the passions that give him pleasure."

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