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When I was an instructor in the USAF I used to tell my students  “No one is totally useless, they can always be a bad example“.

It is difficult to deal with hypocrisy. It is easy to name evil but harder to admit that you embellish in the same evil. Please pray for me.

Please pray for me, I will be visiting an orthodox church for the first time this weekend

No shame in going to a church with an intention in being unnoticed during mass.

Keep your relationship with you and The Lord separate from them. We’re not there for eye-pleasing, lip service, nor people pleasing.

Nasty people point their fingers to good people to cleanse their own nastiness…

I come from an Orthodox country from Eastern Europe and when I was in my 20' I eventually decided to attend a church on a regular basis. There were some American protestant missionaries who were trying to convince me to go to their evangelical church. I payed them a visit and they had very good, American style, customer service. Nice people, always smiling, shaking hands and all that. But regardless of how nice the protestant people were treating me, because I already knew the Orthodox Church being baptized Orthodox as infant, I knew that there's something greater than what those missionaries were offering me. So, on a Sunday I went to my Orthodox Church. The church was packed, I could barely stick my head and half of my body inside the church, the old ladies were giving me the look for wearing pants instead of a skirt as women should, nobody was nice to me, besides nobody cared that I was there...but at the same time it was the most beautiful church I ever saw...the moment I finally found a spot and sneaked inside, I knew that I shouldn't be looking for another church, this is the One, I'm home! Yes, many times I was asking myself why are these old ladies so mean and grumpy...but I guess I'll be old one day and I'll find out... 😅 and hopefully I don't end up like them...

It's  very sad when people think they own a seat at church.  If the usual spot they sit in is occupied by another,  they tell the other person they are in their seat.  Nobody owns a seat. When entering the church, take a seat that's  available without making a scene.

If you’re feeling like leaving, just think to yourself, “I’d rather go to Church with a few hypocrites, than to Hell with all of them”. ❤️

I was raised in an apostolic church. They were very judgmental of any woman who entered with short hair or who was wearing jeans. These were people who didn’t know the “rules” and many of them only came for a few services before they disappeared forever.
They also frowned upon anyone who didn’t “dance as David danced” (meaning they didn’t dance like they were having a seizure). It was all theatrical displays of how “good” they were and it nearly made me lose my faith to be surrounded by such hypocrites. Thank you, merciful Father, for not giving up on me.

There are many who collapse their local church into naught but a social club where status and prestige are maintained, they forget Christ, He becomes a background character, a mere theme to which the club is set.

The babushka is also an example of how too often Orthodox Christians mistake cultural norms for Orthodox norms.  Other examples could be given from Russian culture such as not standing with your hands clasped behind your back (a difficult one for me since I an Army veteran).  Of course, it was inappropriate for her to slap someone like she did.  However, Orthodox Christians who have come to the United States from other parts of the world need to be careful about discerning what is an Orthodox norm and what is simply a cultural norm from their land of origin.  As a convert to Orthodoxy I try to be sensitive about other people's norms and if others do likewise, peace will be the norm.

I'm Greek Orthodox. The worst people I have ever met were very close to the church, here in Cyprus.

Christ has risen!

Oh Father, I’m listening to this the day after the bombing in Syria. My heart is broken for my brothers and sisters. But also rejoicing with them who have received their martyrs crown.

This is an excellent message for all Christians, not just Orthodox.  Thank you, Father Josiah!

From a Catholic brother in Christ.

A wonderful phrase I heard recently (the source eludes me, sorry): "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."

The slap of the poor young man reminds me of an anecdote from years ago: A young man, quite new to Orthodoxy, reverently comes into the church—he’s so thrilled with the sacredness of the space, the smell of incense, and chanting of hours. He stands near the front where he observes a pious old woman with a cane, fervently venerating the icons with whispers prayers.  He is lost in a blissful rapture, when the old lady slowly comes to where he is standing. Whack, he feels her cane strike his legs as she hisses, “Move over; you’re standing in my spot!!!”

I took my wife and daughter to church one day when i first converted and this old man and his wife got in my face and said "thats our seat" i asked him to explain and he said "my family has been sitting there for years. You need to move" i told him he could sit somewhere else this weekend.

Every time we’re in a new church, I’m scared of those people. They’re so unforgiving and cruel.