Orthodox Biz Blog

My family members are Evangelicals of the Pentecostal variety. I was raised in that faith, but being Orthodox for almost 10 years has distanced me quite a bit from the world of megachurches and televangelists. Still, visiting home frequently means coming face-to-face with it, as my retired dad usually watches several hours of televangelism a day. He's good about keeping the TV off when my kids are awake, but after they are in bed, he often turns on programs he's recorded during the day.

We got herded into the room blindfolded. We knew that we had gone down some steps into a basement and that it was cool. Other than that, we weren't sure where we were or what was happening.

We heard chanting. Suddenly, the blindfolds were removed, and robes were hurriedly put on us. As we stood there blinking, we found ourselves in a candlelit room with various symbols on the wall. On the floor, was a great diamond around which we found ourselves arrayed. As we stood there, a ceremony began that would bind us to this brotherhood. The service was intoned by robed men reading from leather-bound service books.

Written by Dianne Tzouras June 19, 2008 Welcome to my blog.

Semper paratus. Always be prepared.

After liturgy and fellowship on the last Sunday in March, I stopped at a red light in the left lane and then, when the light turned green, I crashed into the car in front of me.

My ninety-one-year-old grandmother was in horrible pain. As she lay in the hospital bed, dehydrated and unable to even take her own medicines, she repeatedly cried out to God, "Lord, help me!"

My father and I sat at her bedside watching her struggle. "She's praying for healing," I said to my father, "I don't think God is going to answer that prayer. I think he's already rendered His judgment on this, and she's praying the wrong prayer."

A short time later, she suddenly switched her prayer. She cried out, "Lord, take me on!" She prayed that prayer three times. Then she became very still, as if sleeping. Within five minutes, I noticed she wasn't breathing.

"I guess she finally prayed the prayer that God was willing to answer," I said to my father as we verified that she was gone.

One fall evening in 1954, a car sped through dusky Pennsylvania twilight. Headlights off, it careened recklessly towards a blind intersection in a cornfield. In a sickening split second, it smashed broadside into another car.

There were three people in that second car. When the dust and smoke cleared, two bodies lay among the twisted metal. One was my mother, who would remain in a coma for a month. The other, my aunt, was killed instantly. My father escaped with only scratches. Looking up to the sky, he asked “Why us, God? We were on our way to be missionaries!”

I got to do something really nice last week. As an Orthodox Christian and Web professional, I'm always thrilled whenever I get to help out new ministries get started. That is why being able to help the online presence of a new ministry dedicated to helping our missionary families was such an honor.

The Rise of Wicca!

The journalists look at this process and see a way to write sensational headlines that grab the readers' attention. Many conservative leaders look at this and immediately start denouncing the sorry state of affairs, while asking for our donations to help rectify it immediately. Theologians of all stripes launch into attacks on the foundations of the new mystery cults.

But, I'm a business analyst. I look at this situation and see a really good marketing opportunity for Orthodoxy.

Back in September 2007, a poster on the Website Orthodox Circle wrote an impassioned plea. He and his wife are adult converts to Orthodoxy. They have visited our church in the past, but are now attending a mission closer to their home. The gentleman wanted to know, in regards to growing the Orthodox Church, “How can we inform the masses about our church, so that it doesn't seem so strange to the protestants?”

A few years back I was attending a Greek Orthodox parish. At coffee hour one Sunday, I asked a recently Chrismated couple how their Thanksgiving had been the week before.

"It was good," the husband said, "But it was hard eating vegetarian when my family was having turkey."

I laughed, because I'd just spent Thanksgiving at the home of an Orthodox priest with a big, fat turkey in the deep fryer.