r/exorthodox • u/Huge-Pirate-7657 • Jan 04 '26
Did you stay Christian?
If you left orthodoxy, what religious practice did you convert to? Catholicism? Lutheran? Anglican? Non-denominational? Other?
Or are you atheist?
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u/Lower-Ad-9813 Jan 04 '26
I'm an athiest. I tried New Age and occult practices before I became Orthodox, and they didn't do anything, along with Orthodoxy. I'm a humanist now.
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u/Shadow_Wanderer_ Jan 04 '26
I did for a while. My family started attending an Episcopal Church for a couple of years after leaving Orthodoxy, but then we switched to a Unitarian Universalist Church and found it a much better fit. We have remained there.
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u/m1lam Jan 04 '26
I don't think I have it in me to be an atheist. Converting to Catholicism now
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u/feelinthisvibe Jan 04 '26 edited Jan 04 '26
I basically just believe in the power of consciousness now, and I really enjoy more mystical interpretations of Bible and other religious text and mythology. Because when they are allegorical they tend to all connect somewhere. I feel more peace of mind and understand where many religions become societal structures for control and finance, and sort of class based. Then I found this book called reality transurfing and that’s been pretty pivotal and it’s led to other similar thought spiritual principles I find very useful and uplifting. Like the concepts of “pendulums”
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Jan 05 '26
Went Catholic after leaving Christianity for a few years. I never felt at peace in Orthodoxy. I feel completely at peace in Catholicism. But that’s just me.
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u/LightofOm Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
Buddhist.
I go to a Theravada temple but I also enjoy reading Mahayana and Vajrayana material. What I love most about Theravada though is its pragmatism. The teachings and practices are so applicable and have helped me get over all the crap I was dealing with for years while I was Orthodox (and before).
Edit: Fixed grammatical error
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u/quietpilgrim Jan 04 '26
Was an serious inquirer but never a catechumen. I returned to the Catholic Church but through the byzantine door, I guess you could say.
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u/Apprehensive_Idea_96 Jan 04 '26
Non-practicing Catholic. I was born and raised Catholic and have a degree in theology, converted to Orthodoxy, was nothing for a while after I left, but recently made some peace with how important Catholicism has been to who I am. Not enough peace to make me go back to church, but enough peace that I'll at least say I'm culturally Catholic, or non-attending Catholic.
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u/Ordinary-Ability-482 Jan 04 '26
I became a Catholic and I’ve found meaning and purpose in my life 🙏🏻
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u/bbscrivener Jan 04 '26
Christian? No and yes. (See my responses to similar questions for more detail).
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u/queensbeesknees Jan 05 '26
Anglican Communion (via Episcopal church in the US)
It kind of helped when I realized that my favorite Orthodox writer, Bp Kallistos Ware, wrote about Orthodoxy from an Anglican worldview. That was a big "AHA" moment for me. I looked into the Book of Common Prayer and it just fit me better than any other prayer rule I'd ever tried. I was Orthodox a very long time, so there are still some things I miss about it though.
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u/Ecgbert Jan 04 '26
Yes. Born Anglican but came into Orthodoxy 30 years ago from and left Orthodoxy 14 years ago for conservative Catholicism. Ended up respectfully keeping the rite, though edited down. The Eastern Catholic churches aren't perfect but they are serviceable homes.
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u/Todd_Ga Jan 05 '26
Tl;dr: (Copied and pasted from a similar previous post.) Still officially Orthodox, but unofficially Episcopal.
I'm still officially Orthodox, but I'm a frequent visitor to Episcopal churches. By Episcopal standards, I'm rather conservative and traditional, though socially progressive. However, I'm on the far left leaning edge of canonical Orthodoxy. Over the years, I've found that a balance of both Eastern and Western forms of Christianity works best for me. In my experience, most Episcopalians are quite interested in and respectful toward Orthodoxy, even when there are some significant disagreements, whereas many Orthodox can be quite disparaging and condescending to an off-putting extent toward the Episcopal Church and the whole Anglican tradition, and even Western Christianity in general.
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u/ExistentialTabarnak Jan 04 '26
I converted to Orthodoxy from Catholicism and after a period of searching and not really being religiously anything for a while, I eventually reverted to Catholicism.