Sabrina Messenger

That would be a dream come true for me.

When I turned 50 this past February, I decided I didn’t want to mourn the passing of my youth. To me, there’s much to look forward to in the 2d half of life, and I prefer to embrace my age and do it with grace, dignity and a sense of wonderment and fun! Not interested in trying to look forever 21, but I want to be the best ME at the age I am at the moment. Basically, to be realistic about it and make 50, 60, 70 and beyond just as fulfilling as any of the past years, if not moreso.

Throughout my life I’ve been interested in exploring religion, ethics and spirituality. I feel they are an essential part of being a better and more fulfilled human being.

So when people ask me why I left the Roman Catholic Church, the church in which I was baptized as a baby to embrace Eastern Orthodoxy at the age of 50, they generally ask in terms asking what I felt was ‘wrong’ with the Roman Church. Thing is, there wasn’t anything I found “wrong.” It wasn’t about the wrongness or rightness of either church. I didn’t choose to leave the Roman Catholic Church because I was upset or angry with it. The ‘scandals’ or any sort of so-called ‘recovering Catholicism’ had no bearing on my decision whatsoever.

Rather, I was drawn to the Eastern Orthodox Church because it seemed to be a more fuller and deeper expression of the faith that I already had enjoyed as a Roman Catholic Christian or even during my brief foray into Protestant Christianity. When I discovered Orthodox Christianity, it was as though I had learned what Paul Harvey would’ve called “the Rest Of The Story.”

I’d long been curious about the Orthodox faith but it wasn’t until May 2, 2010 that I finally attended my first Orthodox service. Basically, it was love at first Liturgy. I couldn’t quite describe my emotions re: attending the service right away but two weeks later I was reading about how a Russian prince Vladimir choose Orthodox Christianity, and I could really relate to it. He sent out several emissaries to various countries to learn of their religious practises and asked them to report back, and re: Orthodox Christian services at the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul) Turkey they wrote the following:

”...we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty. Every man, after tasting something sweet, is afterward unwilling to accept that which is bitter, and therefore we cannot dwell longer here.”

I realized that was my EXACT emotion and it blew my mind that more than 1000 years had passed between their experience and mine and how it was still so profound. I knew then that the Orthodox Church was for me. So after nearly a year of instruction, church attendance, counseling and prayers, I was received into the church via the sacrament of Chrismation.

When it comes to the Orthodox Church, it’s not all that helpful to read about it or talk about it with others. Rather, one has to ‘experience’ it…by actually attending a Divine Liturgy or other prayer service. That’s what I recommend first and foremost.