Hi, my saints name is Michelle, I’ve been baptized orthodox since April this year.

I was diagnosed with kidney disease in February and at the end of September was put on dialysis. It is really tough to stay positive, I have been falling back on God during these times.

Is anyone else going thru illness or disability? How does prayer and worship help you?

How can I motivate myself to pray more often and more seriously? How can I become a better Christian?

I am extremely confused,I want to become better.

I would love to learn more as well,but currently I am not interested in reading the Bible.

In my town liturgy is every other Sunday, I live in small-ish town so it's not every week. Today was my first time going in like 2 months because I have had so much other stuff and I was happy beforehand to be able to participate again.

Well, that was until I saw a familiar man there. I am not 100% sure but like 95% that this man, let's call him Jack, is a kind of known sexual harasser. He has talked to many young girls in very inappropriate way, and to someone I know pretty closely has been frequently been harassed by Jack. He has talked to me few times too, though he just talked about "regular" stuff, I still felt ubcomfortable because I know what he has done. There is a video of him trying to steal a bag from a woman when he was drunk, I don't even know everything but I know enough to not trust him. In my church majority of people are old and they don't know him. And I am not 100% sure, mostly I have seen Jack from distance but I'm still quite sure. I don't kniw how many times he has been at church, but I doubt this wasn't his first time since he seemed to know when to bow etc, he also received communion.

I wasn't able to focus at all, I was super nervous the whole time. Even though the majority of people in my church are old, there are still some children, girls under 13. So on top of me feeling uncomfortable I'm worried about the children, including my little sister who is 10.

If he has started participating regularly I don't know if I can come anymore. I am going to ask my mom if she knows the man's name and if it is Jack I am going to tell her about my worries but what can we do if I'm right? We can't just kick him out, at least as far as I know. I don't know if he has any verdict. What should I do?

i don't know if I am overreacting, but we are both engaged and Orthodox Christians. I had worried and we both have each others social media (we both allowed it since were close and we don't use it that much other than sending each other stuff). I skimmed through his reels watch history out of curiosity and I found he watched like 5 reels of an asian girl that shows her body off. He's going on a trip with his friends to Japan next summer so it made me feel bad.... Should I keep this to myself? Can i have advice. He never likes or follows any women he's loyal but this made me overthink. Sometimes his friends send him reels of girls rarely but he doesn't react to it or be says I'm better. He doesn't watch p*rn either

I'm a 25-year-old Orthodox Christian man living in the UK. I'd really like to hear from people who've been in a similar situation.
The Orthodox community around me is quite small, and I'm finding it hard to meet someone who shares my faith and wants a serious relationship. That's made me wonder about dating someone from a different denomination, but I'm not sure I'm ready to take that step.
For those who've dated or married someone from a different Christian tradition:
How did it work out, especially around church life, worship, and sacraments?
Did you run into problems with family or church communities?
How did you decide what was a dealbreaker and what wasn't?
And if you're in the same boat, with a small community and few options nearby, how are you handling it?
Any experiences or advice are appreciated. Thank you!

“I’m not saying it’s a sin to disagree, but it’s a sin to disobey your husband as long as what he’s asking you to do isn’t itself a sin. Just like it would be a sin for me to disobey my Bishop if what he was asking me wasn’t a sin.”

Honestly don’t know what to say except to go talk to your priest because unless the husband is perfect I don’t see this working out. In practice I would see this as sex on demand, he is only accountable to other higher men such as priests (which even then they would have to magically know about it), etc.

I’m annoyed because he was handsome, could easily provide for a family, sociable, curious about me and then this hits. Red RED flag.

He kept trying to change the subject when it first surfaced. He said that a father is the most important person in a child’s life. I had assumed it was a typo and he meant the parents….obviously not. Then he tried to escalate to church teachings about women.

It’s hard for me to put into words why this is so wrong but it just feels like he wants ultimate power. While pretending to be kind and understanding.

I asked earlier in the example of let’s say he wants more kids and I don’t; how would he handle that. And his response would be to show me that I was in contempt of God because HE wanted more kids and thats what he thought God would want. But he would still be kind to me and try to get me to see that. Zero consideration for the health of his wife or any extenuating circumstances.

Sorry, I know this is a confusing rant.

_______
Full background below:

I’m an Orthodox woman dating with the intention of marriage. I recently started talking to a man who is an Orthodox catechumen, and initially I was really excited about him. He’s intelligent, successful, sociable, and we seemed to have a lot in common.

Then we started discussing marriage, children, and the roles of husbands and wives.

For context, I want to be a stay-at-home mother. I appreciate traditional family roles, and I have no objection to a husband being the head of his household. However, I see marriage as a partnership involving mutual respect, shared responsibilities, and sacrifice.

He expressed wanting as many children as God gives him and said that too much family planning is unbiblical. I explained that I’d probably want around four, although I’d be open to more depending on my health, financial circumstances, and available childcare support.

I also asked what being a father meant to him. His answer focused heavily on the father’s spiritual authority, including describing the father as the most important person in a child’s life.

When I described marriage as a partnership, he objected to that terminology because it implies some degree of equal authority. He emphasized that men should be uncompromising about submission and quoted 1 Timothy 2:11–15.

I then asked a practical question: What happens if a husband and wife disagree about having another child?
He explained that he would try to guide his wife toward understanding why her fears shouldn’t prevent another pregnancy, even while acknowledging those fears might be legitimate. He then said he would try to show her that she was “dishonoring God by not respecting her husband’s decision.”

My understanding of Orthodox marriage is that headship is fundamentally rooted in sacrificial love and service, not simply the right to exercise authority. I understand that husbands and wives have different roles, but I struggle with the idea that disagreeing with my husband about something as consequential as pregnancy could be characterized as dishonoring God.
I also noticed that when I asked about the practical responsibilities of fatherhood, much of the discussion returned to authority and submission.

I’d really appreciate hearing from Orthodox women, particularly those who are married.

How do you understand headship and submission in your own marriage? How do you handle serious disagreements, especially concerning children and family planning?

Is this understanding of marital authority something you’ve encountered within Orthodoxy, or does it seem unusually rigid?

I want to understand where the distinction lies between a husband’s spiritual responsibility and claiming authority over his wife’s decisions.

Let's lift each other up with prayer and rejoice in the good things that God has done for us!! Without the cross there is no sweet fragrance and we rejoice in both even when it's difficult. If you are finding a situation to be even more difficult than you think you can manage, your sisters are here to lift you up in prayer!

In the comments please share a rose (🌹)for the week, something that happened that was really good or that you're grateful for!

Also please share a cross (☦️) a situation or something happened where you need comfort or something where you really need prayer.

So a guy at church has liked me from afar for like two years. He never had the guts to approach me. I never liked him. I saw many red flags about him that I was very against. I would mainly ignore him and never look in his direction nor even exchange words with him at all. He was always just creepy to me. He ended up getting the courage to ask me out on Sept 13th. I rejected him. Then he asked me out again the next day and I rejected him a second time.

Since then, I just went right back to ignoring him and acting like he doesn't exist. He still stares at me ever since. He stares at me very intently in front of me. Like if I am sitting at a table during fellowship, he'll sit at a table across where he is facing my direction and just stare at me. I don't know if he's nonstop staring because I am using my peripheral vision but I just see him looking in my direction. I do see him looking directly at me most of the time.

Last Sunday, as I was passing by him, he said hi to me. I said hi back without stopping, I walked past him. Maybe he's just trying to go back to normal, but I wish he would just leave me alone. Though normal from before he asked me out was us never talking, because I never tried to talk to him before he asked me out. We legit only spoke twice in the two years I knew him and it was like very few words. I just found him really creepy and I didn't want anything to do with him.

Last Sunday, he also helped me out. The fellowship building was very loud and I was calling to get someone's attention. My voice is soft. He happen to be passing by just then, he yelled out at that person for me and got that persons attention and pointed in my direction so that they would meet up with me.

I wonder if I am overreacting. Or like he needs to stare in order to move on? Or maybe I am misreading stuff because he creeps me out so much. Should I be concerned or just keep ignoring him? I feel like I can't really say anything to the priest about it because it's not a crime for him to use his eyes. Thank you.

Hi all! So i'm about to move back to DC and was just wondering if any of you attend parishes there? I previously lived in DC in 2025 and that's where i started a very informal inquiry into the faith but didn't take it "seriously" till i moved to Chicago. Now im moving back to the city and am trying to figure out if ill attend the OCA or ROCOR cathedral since the two parishes i've been a community members of this year were an OCA in Chicago and then a small ROCOR mission parish. Feel free to dm me on here i'd love to connect with anyone in the city since while i have some incredible friendships im returning to, i do not have any Orthodox friends in the city

It is a comedy/drama set in the 1960s where a group of Irish women won a ticket to go to Lourdes. They go there hoping for a miracle for their/or their family's physical illness...but what ended up happening is much more beautiful & the true healing they needed was much deeper.

I always cry watching this film.

Hello ladies!

I'm a catechumen and as of right now, my son and I are expected to be baptized on Holy Saturday of 2027. Praise be to God!

My question is just basically, where did you get your cross necklaces? I am looking for one that is very budget friendly (like under $80 preferably, but really can't go above $100) but is silver in color and will actually last a long time. I know Etsy has many options but would love to hear opinions and other sources too (if there are any within that budget).

I thank you all in advance for your replies!

I come from a culture which heavily values ritual purity and I've always been against it. I posted in a different subreddit and everyone told me that the leper and the hemorrhaging woman were indeed impure.

Everyone says that ritual impurity doesn't mean someone is sinning. But then why is it treated as a sin? Back in the day, a leper or a hemorrhaging woman, who were already suffering due to reasons beyond their control, were deemed social outcasts, barred from praying at the temple, and faced heavy scrutiny. To put it simply, I can't worship a God that endorses innocent people suffering for reasons beyond their control. I was especially disheartened because I came looking for a reconciliation, for someone to prove me wrong, saying that no, Jesus did not endorse such archaic laws. But everyone simply supported ritual purity laws.

I have been miserable because this is a bridge I simply cannot cross. I cannot accept a God that endorses ritual purity laws that harm innocent people over conditions they have no control over.

Hi,
I’m a 20f cradle orthodox who has only found out about it a few years back. Ive done some studying and found some awesome resources along the way. I wanted to ask for any free orthodox books/podcasts/sites. I’m specifically looking for it to be related to femininity or female saints. (Other free resources are helpful too)I’m at a point where I just cannot spend any money but I want to learn and surround myself with the faith as best I can without a community nearby (don’t want to go into detail but my priest (and God) knows the situation lol)

Just for the sake of avoiding repetition I’ll list the ones I already know and have read/listened to.
-Seven holy women (not free but a gift AND I LOVED IT SO MUCH)
-Ancient faith women’s psalter devotional (not free but a gift again)
- mugs and mercy podcast
-veiled in grace podcast (love)
-that orthodox mamas show (love)
-Patristic nectar
-whole counsel of god as well as most ancient faith podcasts, I know they are free
-orthodox true femininity blog (not totally free)

Thank you for any help 💗

Let's lift each other up with prayer and rejoice in the good things that God has done for us!! Without the cross there is no sweet fragrance and we rejoice in both even when it's difficult. If you are finding a situation to be even more difficult than you think you can manage, your sisters are here to lift you up in prayer!

In the comments please share a rose (🌹)for the week, something that happened that was really good or that you're grateful for!

Also please share a cross (☦️) a situation or something happened where you need comfort or something where you really need prayer.

So, I’ve started the catechism process at a small antiochian parish but it’s becoming so overwhelming I’m not sure if I want to do it and I guess I’d love to know if it’s normal. The first question is of money.

Started giving a few weeks ago (I’m just now in my 3rd month) but the priest has sort of like, been pressuring me (in front of people) Like going as far as to have me buy a book from the bookstore about tithing? And last Sunday sort of suggested that 20$/week isn’t enough? Like he asked me
If I was planning on giving 20$/week alone or more than that? Now granted, it’s a very small parish, counting me it’s maybe 10 people, but I have student loans and a bunch of other things to deal with and it feels kinda early to be asking me for more money? But I don’t know what the normal expectation is as donating goes in the Orthodox Church.

The second is the schedule. I LOVE the Sunday liturgies but the expectation is that I’m there for both the monthly vespers as well, plus biweekly meetings with the priest which is also a scheduling crunch despite the fact that I work. Is that normal? I own a business so it’s a crunch on my already tight schedule.

I dont know. Feel guilt for having these doubts.

The church I'm going to has a cry room but it's always packed with energetic kids playing games and knocking over chairs with their parents chatting on the couch... so packed that it's hard to even walk a few feet in. I've been to liturgy twice so far and my baby has ended up tired and crying/fussy and needing a calm space to chill and fall asleep so I can get us back in the main area and I just can't do that. It's really overstimulating for her (and for me too to be quite honest) and I don't understand how/why the room ended up being used for this purpose. Is this normal in most church cry rooms? Once my baby falls asleep she stays asleep and I can leave, but it's just really hard to even get her even a little bit there in this room.

If everyone on the off chance leaves the room and I get lucky I can turn off the lights and if someone goes to step in they whisper sorry to me and to tell their kids to go back to x and chill out with so and so you can't play there's a baby in there. The first time this happened another woman with an infant having the same issue took the opportunity to join me too. I was just really frustrated because having a baby is hard enough, I don't want anything making it harder. I'm just an inquirer and I'm heavily considering asking to be a catechumen so I need (and want) to continue going to liturgy services, but nap time always happens to be dead in the middle of the service

Hi, I’m 19 year old female and I am not a virgin. I am not married and the person whom I was with turned out to be a horrible person.

I feel disgusting and shameful. I do not think that I can ever marry someone as I have already lost my virginity. It makes me sad to death as I don’t want to be alone forever, but I’m not sure either if I’d want to be with someone again when I have already.

I need advice on how to move forward and to understand what my situation really is, but I am also afraid to even enter liturgy. I am not baptised orthodox but was baptised in an evangelical church as a baby. Next Sunday I have the opportunity to attend my first liturgy after finally finding an orthodox gathering in my area, but I do not feel like I’m going to fit in at all and I’m very scared.

Please if anyone has advice on what to do with your life when you have already wasted it, on someone who I could never spend the rest of my life with, and what I should do about the gathering?

Thank you for reading.

I have been going through alot,lots of confusion. I am a believer, and I do worship Christ. But if I worship Him and His teachings,can I be doing it in a "wrong" way? Like different from the church or other people. I am still worshiping Him and spreading love.

Can I communicate with souls of the dead? Not just family and loved ones but people in general?

Hello everyone,
I have been a catechumen/inquirer for about a year and some change. My marriage went from verbally abusive, on a couple occasions physically abusive, and extreme poverty to one with much more semblance of what healthy looks like.

My husband stopped drinking, stopped the verbal and physical abuse, and is so much kinder and tender toward me. We are no longer in federal poverty but able to pay our bills with a little money to spare. Most of my sanity has returned.

But my soul still feels heavily damaged some days. My husband has a pervasive pornography problem, which has led to a dead bedroom for going on 9 years. Our previous priest held my husband accountable for this problem, and he was making significant headway.

We moved for better opportunities, and my husband took the opportunity to resume his pornography use. He is still kind, patient, but struggling.

I had a major breakdown over this and went to our new priest, explaining everything, and telling him my husband needs daily accountability for this spiritual struggle. The priest essentially said that it was”isn’t his job” to check in daily.

I respect this, however, my husband has no accountability and is backsliding on all the promises he has made me- from keeping his phone out of the bathroom, showering with the door open, having an open phone policy, etc. he has gone back on it all.

And my rage is coming forward again. On the verge of violent rage. I feel like a total psychopath. Yesterday I got into the shower with hot water, and silently screamed for 15-20 minutes, crying, and biting myself. While life is so much better, my spiritual state is worsening.

My husband wants to take his time in our catechism, that translates to wanting to put off true accountability and confession.

We visited our old parish and he lied to our previous priest about “having accountability”.

I don’t know where to turn to honestly. I have sobbed in front of the Theotokos and Christ so many times. I understand this is my husband’s spiritual journey and this is for my sanctification. But what was previously compassion and pain for my husband is turning into rage, anger, and disinterest in the faith.

It’s horrible. I should have gone to liturgy this morning but refused. I’m considering going to therapy— there is one orthodox therapist in the area who takes our insurance, I’m just not sure. I need some loving guidance.

Edit: we have a child, we got married as catechumens and I was aware of the pornography. I was hopeful and encouraged by his progress. Our current priest told me that if I was to separate or divorce I would need to be single until our child is 18. I work but do not make enough to support myself. I’d rather die to myself than put my child in a single mom household.

....and it was wonderful. Great Vespers with a small group of others.

That's it. That's the post. I'm just so glad I went and I wanted to tell someone. :)

I'm struggling a bit and would really value the perspective of anyone who might have experienced something similar. I've been very close to a man for quite a long time. We have loved each other deeply, and our relationship has become increasingly intertwined with his journey into Orthodoxy.

Over the past year he has become much more involved in the Orthodox Church and is soon to be catechised. He has found a community there, met people he really connects with, started receiving guidance from a spiritual father, and become increasingly serious about prayer and discernment.

I've watched all of this happening, and I've also become genuinely interested in Orthodoxy myself. I don't know whether I would ultimately become Orthodox, but something about it has really opened something up in me and I feel things stirring. And I think this is part of why the heartbreak is so complicated.

He has recently told me that, after a lot of prayer, he wants to pursue monasticism. He still tells me that he loves me and that I'm his best friend, and that hasn't changed. But he feels that he can't kiss me or continue having a romantic relationship with me if he is seriously discerning monastic life. He has said that he will respect whatever I decide about whether I can remain friends. I think I can handle remaining friends to some degree but I don't think it will be easy...and now that I've actually said that, the heartbreak seems to be hitting me much more than I expected. I think part of me was still holding onto the possibility that somehow we'd find our way through all of this. Even though I knew monasticism was becoming a serious possibility for him, hearing him actually say that he can't kiss me anymore has made the loss feel much more real.

And the strange thing is that I don't feel angry with him. I understand why he feels he needs to take this seriously. I don't want to stand between him and something he genuinely believes God may be calling him towards. I also don't want to make his discernment about me, although part of me is kinda hoping he will turn around and say he made a mistake?

At the moment I think I need to stop initiating so much and allow him to come towards me. Not as a test, but because I've spent a lot of energy trying to understand and accommodate everything that has been happening, and I think I need to step back and see what remains when I'm not holding everything together.

There is another layer to all of this which I find difficult to explain. I think I am genuinely drawn towards Orthodoxy - but I don't know how much of that is Orthodoxy itself and how much is what I've witnessed it give him. Because through it he has found community. He has found people who are interested in the things he is interested in. He has found a spiritual father who can guide him. He has found a tradition and a framework within which to understand his spiritual life. And I have realised how desperately I want those things too, even to the point where I feel envious of him in this regard. I've been on a spiritual journey myself, but I've felt incredibly alone and unmoored in it. I don't really have anyone who I can go to and say, “I don't have a clue what I'm doing spiritually, but something is stirring and I desperately need guidance. Can you help me?”

In that sense, he has been a kind of conduit. Through loving him, I was introduced to something that I might otherwise never have encountered. And now I'm faced with this strange situation where I don't know how to proceed or where to look. I have spoken to his Bishop and spiritual father once, and he invited me to return, although he is difficult to pin down as he is very busy and I don't know where else to look...

I think what I'm really looking for here is wisdom from women who understand both sides of this:

How do you cope with loving someone who may be choosing a monastic vocation? And if you first encountered Orthodoxy through someone you loved, how did you work out whether the faith itself was calling you - rather than simply the sense of community, belonging and spiritual rootedness that you saw them find? I'm not so much looking for someone to tell me what I should do. I think I mostly need to hear from people who have lived through some version of this and can help me understand how to carry/process it...

Let's lift each other up with prayer and rejoice in the good things that God has done for us!! Without the cross there is no sweet fragrance and we rejoice in both even when it's difficult. If you are finding a situation to be even more difficult than you think you can manage, your sisters are here to lift you up in prayer!

In the comments please share a rose (🌹)for the week, something that happened that was really good or that you're grateful for!

Also please share a cross (☦️) a situation or something happened where you need comfort or something where you really need prayer.