When can a person call themselves "Orthodox"
 

Not sure if this is addressed elsewhere, but I'm at a point where I am wondering what I say if someone were to ask me "what is your religion?" I've been attending an OCA Orthodox church since May, and I've stopped attending Mass at the Roman church I was at, and officially let them know I am converting to Orthodoxy.

I do not feel Catholic anymore, but yet I'm not officially received into the Orthodox church yet (I will be received on my 50th birthday next February)...so I'm curious, what do I call myself in the meantime? and what should I have here at my monachos profile?

You might should ask your priest. I would say you are what you are until you no longer are. We are all sinners struggling down the path of repentence to the kingdom of Heaven. You can always side step the question by turning it back on them and say "what is religion?" I am practising the faith our Lord taught us via the Eastern Orthodox manner.

Paul

You are an Orthodox catechumen ;-)

Some of us are catechumens who have been chrismated, some of us are catechumens who havent been chrismated. Dont worry

I understand and endorse the sentiment here, however, it is not really correct to say this. A catechumen has been officially received into the Church by a particular service and series of prayers. This person has a particular place or office in the Church. A catechumen then is baptized and chrismated and becomes a new person in Christ. He is no longer a catechumen but one of the faithful, a member of the Church. To say that he is still a "catechumen who has been chrismated" is like saying a butterfly is still a caterpillar but with wings. Accurate in a manner of speaking, but misleading about the reality of the sacraments.

Fr David Moser

To answer to original question, I'd say you were officially "Orthodox" when you officially became a catechumen.

I understand the motivation for the question, as I was in the military when I converted. What you have on your dog tags when you die is what they'll bury you as. I changed mine to "GO"* as soon as I could.

*In the Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Canadian Forces, they have an official list of what religion, and what abbreviation one may declare oneself to be:

"RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
3. The religious denomination of the member will be abbreviated as follows:
Anglican .....………………………...... ACC
Atheist, Agnostic, or no religion .. NRE
Baptist ..........................…………. BAPT
Christian Science ...........……...... CS
Greek Catholic ..............……...... GC
Greek Orthodox ...........…......... GO
Jewish ........................……...... JEW
Latter-Day Saints .......……..…... LDS
Lutheran ....................…...….... LUTH
Muslim ........................……..…. MUS
New Apostolic Church .............. NAC
Other Protestant Denomination OPD
Pentecostal ......................……. PENT
Presbyterian ....................…….. PRES
Roman Catholic ..................….. RC
Salvation Army ...................….. SA
Unitarian Universalist ...........… UNI
United Church ...................... ..UCC

4. A member claiming a religious affiliation other than those shown above will be classified Other Denomination (OD)."

All of Orthodoxy is grouped under the name "Greek Orthodox". I went so far as to suggest, up through the chain of command, to the Chaplain General himself, to change it to "Eastern Orthodox" in order to more easily include other Orthodox jurisdictions. The official answer I got back was that the denomination itself must request the change. It doesn't seem like the Greeks in Canada are keen on doing that. Oh well. http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png

In the ancient Church, people could call themselves Christians as soon as they were made catechumens. Some priests will make you a catechumen formally and others won't, but I think if you are already receiving instruction with a view to being chrismated or baptized Orthodox, then it is safe to call yourself an Orthodox Christian.

Thanks, everyone. Very good answers there. I've changed my 'affliation/church' here to reflect where I attend services each Sunday, and I look forward to the day when I will be a full 100% Orthodox receiving sacraments and everything. http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png

Oh these armed forces. They need to eliminate the confusion and near GO they need to add, has Food for eternal life. I do believe military personnel will benefit from eliminating confusion and they will know where the Church is.

Sorry if this sounds like carping, but proper English grammar would have us say: when can a person call himself Orthodox? Unfortunately, due to attempts to desex the language, we end up with these kinds of atrocious convolutions of the language. It may not seem like much, but as an Orthodox Christian I prefer not to play along with the nihilists by destroying the language.

I too try to avoid the singular "they"- it often leads to some awkward constructions and generally makes the writing insipid- but I think it's arguable whether there is a solid grammatical rule against it.

BTW, I looked up the name "Sabrina", to see whether any saint bore that name (my wife is considering it if we have were to have a daughter). It is an Arabic name meaning "patience." Now, there are some Orthodox saints bearing the name Ipomoni (Greek for "patience"); would Sabrina be an acceptable variant?

Dear Ryan,

i understand what you are trying to say....I would pray on it, and also ask my spiritual father/mother...

You will find though, that a lot of Orthodox names have a different English name... eg. Dionisios is Dennis and Ioannis is John, Eleftherios is Terry etc etc..

God Bless you,
Despina

By being baptized in the Orthodox Church you become child of God.
By getting Holy Communion to eternal life, you get eternal life.
Once you have both 2, you are orthodox, Child of God inheritor of Heaven.

The anglicization normally used is "Ypomoni"; the only saint I know of by that name is the Byzantine empress Augusta Helen Palaiologos, who was tonsured a nun with the name Ypomoni after her husband's death. On her icon the name Ypomoni is used. I have no idea whether Sabrina would be an acceptable variant of that (you'd need to ask your priest).

There is also a Saint Sabina (no 'r'), who I found listed on the Antiochian website.

@Owen. The pronoun "they" is just as appropriate as "he" or "she." At least that's what I learned about pronouns when I went to grade school. I certainly wasn't intending to be politically correct, a nihilist or appear insipid when I am merely asking a simple question...and I truly don't appreciate any implication of that sort. Sorry if I sound a bit sensitive, but an Orthodox Christian site was the last place I expected this sort of thing. It makes me feel a bit unwelcome here http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/frown.png

@Ryan. I'm not familiar with any Arabic meaning to my name. I understood it to be either of Latin or Celtic origin.

Dear Sabrina,

Don't take offence at the grammar! All other matters aside, the grammatical point stands: the phrase 'when can a person call themselves...' isn't a correct phrase in English grammar, despite the overwhelming number of times one sees it in the vernacular.

In a forum such as this, there is quite a lot of attention to precision -- even on 'little things' (though one recurring theme, in theological discussions, is how important accurate expression is: so in other contexts of discussion here, one can see where an attentiveness to such things has real value in understanding the Church teachings, etc.).

INXC, Fr Irenei

Wouldn't surprise me if you, Owen, and Fr. Irenei are all correct. Every time one of my kids goes through another English grammar class, it seems like something else I learned in school has been changed. Some of them later change back. I can't keep track.

Your comment made me smile, Michael! But the rules of proper English grammar on this point are extremely clear: if the subject is in the singular, so must be the pronoun. So the pronouns applicable to 'a person' (singular) can only be 'himself', 'herself' (not properly 'oneself', since the subject 'a person' is definite, not abstract). 'Themselves' applies only to plural subjects.

But this is all rather a digression from the real question to hand...

INXC, Fr Irenei

You all are, of course neglecting the use of the "royal we" - the reference to one's self in the plural as an indication of elevated social rank.

Fr David