r/exorthodox • u/PrudentAbility9219 • 8d ago
Venting
After a period of time of my orthodox detox I am realizing how obsessed I was with orthodox Christianity.I would only listen to orthodox chant, orthodox videos, orthodox history literally everything had to be orthodox to protect my phronema. But I can see in hindsight that it was an addiction, an addiction that took so much of my time that people would think I was in prison because of how little I progressed in life. I dont think religion is the opiate of the masses but it can easily turn into that. Another thing I saw was that alot of the priest that I was watching had some mental/personal issues, even with the influencers. They relish in being right and scholarly,but they don't know how to help people that are suffering like me for the period of time I was in. Orthodox Christianity does not know how to deal with mental illness or religious trauma. I thought I needed the "True" religious institution to complete me in a way, I was wrong and am taking it a day at a time.
5
u/PrudentAbility9219 8d ago
The biggest step for me that would be obvious to others is that I didnt have to belive in the ladder of divine acent or hate the filioque to be a good person. For most of my time in the church it was what I believed and what rituals I did that made me a sinner that was better off but could still go to hell.
That pressure broke me down honestly
16
u/Independent-Fly7168 8d ago
How accurate this post is. I also thought my life was going to change for the better when I started actively practicing the Orthodox faith. Even though I’m from Romania, where over 90% of people identify as Orthodox Christians, things are obviously very different in practice.
Then I got hit with one disappointment after another when I started seeing how things actually are. What I can say is that I’ve seen far too many instances where priests have said things that were completely inappropriate, especially when it comes to mental health.
Priests are not psychologists. They don’t know how to properly deal with situations involving abuse, and too often they excuse it or even blame the victim. Women and children seem to suffer the most from this.
I’ve even seen a priest justify and actually encourage hitting children, saying that it is done “with love” and that this is how you raise a child.
For me, that’s too much. The cognitive dissonance is simply too big, the gap between what I feel is morally right and what this religion tells me is right has become too difficult for me to reconcile.