My Journey Into The Orthodox Church
I walked into an Orthodox Church for the very first time and gasped: “I’m home!” I never looked back.
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My Journey Into The Orthodox Church
On a winter’s night, in a deep and dark December…
…I walked into an Orthodox Church for the very first time.
Candles glowing, the priest intoning, incense flowing, a divine enclosing lifting me into a dimension beyond space and time.
“I’m home!” I said in a breathless gasp.
Looking back it was a long time coming to this celestial scene in the deep winter of 1987.
It all began in 1971 when I—born in 1950 of two Jewish parents, raised in the synagogue—embraced Jesus Christ as my Messiah.
Finding no trace of spiritual light in the synagogue, my embrace of Jesus Christ filled the empty space.
The ‘salvation prayer’ said, then a friend of mine, told me about a Baptist Church nearby in Van Nuys.
I gave it a try.
It was Sunday evening and a group of “Hebrew-Christians” were speaking.
A spark ignited within me.
“The Old Testament Prophets point to Jesus,” they proclaimed.
“He would crush the head of the serpent…
…“be a prophet like Moses that people would be required to heed…
…“be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem…
…“would come before the destruction of the Second Temple…
…“would be the ‘Suffering Servant’ as foretold by Isaiah…
…“and rise from the dead.”
I was awed, overwhelmed.
I knew those verses, read and heard them in the synagogue, but they never registered.
That night they did.
A sense of destiny came over me.
“A ‘messianic synagogue’ is nearby,” they said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s where Jewish believers in Jesus come together,” they explained, “and worship in a ’messianic way.’
So I went to their Sabbath Service done in a “messianic way.”
It felt great being with fellow Jews who shared my excitement for Jesus as Messiah!
Hymen Spector was the Messianic ‘rabbi.’
His bubbling personality as leader of the “Rock Of Israel Messianic Congregation” incited a hunger in me to learn all I could about Jesus.
I devoured the New Testament which we were forbidden to read growing up Jewish.
I read the Old Testament again.
This time eagerly to see, all the prophecies pointing to Jesus.
I soon got involved in ‘outreach’ with “Jews For Jesus.”
I handed out broadsides like, “Jesus Made Me Kosher.”
And, “If You Don’t Like Being Born Try Being Born Again.”
Clever!
Great merchandising ‘bait’ to bring Jews to Jesus.
For I knew the retail world from my father’s business.
I knew all about merchandising.
Thus began my admiration for the founder of Jews for Jesus, Moishe Rosen, who invited me for dinner in San Francisco.
Decision time!
“Should I be a full-time missionary with Jews for Jesus?”
Or:
“Should I take a job as a straight-commission salesman?”
I was a communicator.
I craved immediate results.
I wanted to prove myself in the business world just like my dad.
So I chose sales.
I sold industrial products to factories and institutions:
Lubricants, adhesives, coatings, water treatment.
I enjoyed bonding with customers, piquing their interest, and closing the sale.
During this time up to 1987, I was part of the ‘messianic synagogue’ scene.
It was sweet, but turned sour.
A renown ‘messianic rabbi’ spoke at a conference in the summer of ‘87.
Topic?
“How to talk to Jews about Jesus.”
“Don’t use the word cross,” he said, “it makes Jews cringe.”
“Keep hammering home that Jesus was a Jew, one of us, who came as messiah, but not as God, for this turns Jewish people off.”
“It’s not a Jewish idea anyways,” he said, “that God should come as a man.”
I asked…
“But God appeared in ‘human form’ many times in the Old Testament, so, He can come as a man.”
“Don’t go there,” he said, “‘cause it opens a whole can of worms of the trinity, a pagan idea.”
I raised my eyebrows, talked to some others, who agreed that the ‘trinity is pagan,’ or at least, ‘a questionable conception.’
I left in disgust.
I left the entire ‘messianic jewish scene’ for good.
Because I saw the Holy Trinity in the Old and New Testament.
Six months pass.
I won’t go anywhere, just stayed home, reading world literature.
A passage in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” struck me.
Natasha goes to an Orthodox Church at night to repent for cheating on Prince Andrew.
Tolstoy expertly paints the scene by the priest giving his homily “in mild tones.”
“I have to check this out,” I say to myself, “never heard a sermon given in ‘mild tones.’”
You see, my experience with “Messianic Judaism” left me with the impression that they were nothing more than, “Baptists with yarmulkes on”…shouting away.
So I hopped on the “T” early that eve, I was living in Boston, and headed for the “Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral.”
It was snowing, stars gleaming, I felt an “epiphany” coming on.
In the vestibule, I see:
Candles glowing, the priest intoning, the incense flowing, and a divine enclosing lifting me into another dimension beyond space and time.
“This is like Temple Worship of the Old Testament!” I exclaimed, “it’s so Hebraic!”
A sense of Jewishness welled up inside of me.
Old Testament scenes frescoed on the walls, the beauty of the liturgy with Old Testament themes, so ordered, so quiet.
The psalms, the prayers, the acapella choir, just like in the Temple that Solomon built.
I was transfixed into an ecstasy of spirit and mind.
In the same moment I was transported into both past and future.
Thus, I was enveloped in a timeless orbit gathering past, present, and future, into one breathless gasp.
I gasped:
“I’m home!”
I never looked back.
Mesmerized I listened to the words flowing like crystals from your mouth.
Very powerful, crystal clear and revealing!!!
i would LOVE to have the same cross you wear on “my Jewish Journey into the Orthodox Church”
i wear a native American cross now—money is not a problem–ive told a 100,s people about you
Your my favorite person–i also like Mike King with the Realhistorychannel
amen brother…support mike and bro nate as i have…read all d’adamo n.d. books for health and “life energy” by john diamond m.d.
god bless brother
dr. k, https://gab.com/truthtellers
Hi Doc. Glad you’re here!
Tell us next about making the decision to join a monastery becoming Brother Nathanael and life at the monastery.
Good idea, but not quite yet.
Hi Brother Nathanael — is there something in Orthodox Christianity that consecrates the land?
Yes, if it’s Church land, or Monastery land, or sometimes specially dedicated land. You can email me if you like: bronathanael{{at}} (yahoo.) {{dot}} (com)
You have tons of fans, probably more than you know that watched your ‘other videos’ that have been taken down. why dont you provide an explanation as to why they came down 1 week before the isreal war??? Was it coincidence? or was it something else. Any response would be appreciated. I am just having a hard time with this since i have been watching your videos for years and now they are gone with no explanation.
They weren’t taken down overnight. For weeks Brother Nathanael had been urging his followers to send donations for the maintenance of those websites and channels. Unfortunately, his pleas fell on deaf ears so in the end he had no choice but to pull the plug. I think BN is ashamed to ask for donations openly. I think only a handful of his viewers are even aware that he receives donations at all since he never brings up this matter in his videos, which is regrettable considering that there are tens of thousands of viewers who appreciate his work and I’m sure many would gladly help him out financially.