A Survey Of Christian Caterpillars, Muslim Hookas & Holy Bread

Time, once again, to dig into the big bag of letters from Ancient Faith listeners …

First off, this letter from a listener in Colorado:

Dear Fr Joseph,

I was shocked recently to learn that a new survey was just released which stated the number of Orthodox Christians in the United States is drastically lower than I’d previously been led to believe.

Last I’d heard, there were a couple million American Orthodox Christians. Now I hear that, counting the so-called NonChalcedoneon Christians there’s only a little over a million of us –with only 280,000 regularly attending church.

I write you in hopes that you can clarify the matter for me: Just how many Orthodox Christians ARE there in America?

— Dumbfounded in Denver

The next letter comes from the upper Northwest:

Dear Fr Joseph,

I have just about had it with some of the people in my church! We used to all be “on the same page of music” when it came to pious acts in church. We were mostly Converts; all of us wanting to do the right thing.

I mean, Orthodoxy does mean RIGHT WORSHIP, right?

Now we’ve had a sudden influx of Cradle Orthodox ethnic types – some Palestinians, some Ukrainians, some Greeks and such – and it seems that chaos reigns!

As a Convert, I feel kinda goofy asking, but: How can we teach these life-long Orthodox Christians how to, well, worship RIGHT?

Sincerely,

— Brendan George in Washington State

Our next letter is from Terry in Topeka, who writes:

Dear Fr Joseph,

I recently visited an Orthodox church for the first time and really enjoyed it. However, I’m confused. Although I understand that, not being Orthodox and all, I cannot receive Holy Communion — but, when someone else returned from receiving Communion they gave me a small little block of bread and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Giver of Bread receiving the Evil Eye from some of those nearby.

I wasn’t sure whether to eat it or not.

Not knowing if I did the right thing, I’ll keep my actions to myself.

But, please, what’s the deal with this bread?

In Christ,

— Terry in Topeka

To find the answers (or, at least, some answers) click here:

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

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