Becoming Orthodox

To become Orthodox is itself a lifelong journey. However, it begins with entry into the Orthodox Church.

Each person’s path will be different according to that person’s unique journey, background, and questions. However, the typical route taken into Orthodoxy looks a little bit like this:

Become an enquirer. We recommend spending some time – at least a few months – regularly attending Orthodox services and speaking with Orthodox people to see whether what you think Orthodox life is and what it actually is are one and the same. See how we pray together, fast together, have disagreements with each other. You might find new and exciting layers of beauty and depth to explore. At the same time, you might have experiences that challenge any romantic ideas that you might hold about what Orthodox Christianity is. This is a time to allow yourself to see the reality of Orthodox life.
Become a catechumen. If you decide that you wish to enter the Orthodox Church, you can request to be made a catechumen. The catechumenate is a period of learning under the guidance of a priest or deacon, adapting to an Orthodox way of life, internalising its teachings and practices, and growing into closer union with the Holy Trinity through participation in prayer, the services, the church feasts and fasts, and in embedding the good that stems from this into your everyday life. In ancient tmes, the catechumenate typically lasted for three years. In modern times this tends to be much shorter, although the exact length and structure can vary from one parish to the next, and according to the spiritual needs of the individual catechumen. At Saint Melangell’s, this usually lasts between 3 and 6 months and will include a 12-week foundational course in Orthodox faith and life.
Be united to the Church. When the time is right, you will be received into the Church as a new Orthodox Christian and be part of the family of God around the world and throughout the ages.

How will I be received into the Orthodox Church?

Our standard practice at Saint Melangell’s church is to receive new Orthodox Christians by the holy mysteries of baptism & chrismation. While we understand that some clergy will customarily receive converts from other Christian confessions by chrismation alone, this is a practice that we follow only in very exceptional circumstances, where there is a strong pastoral need to do so, and only if certain conditions are met. More about this can be read here.

Otherwise, our practice is as follows:

Those who have already received an Orthodox baptism or who have been received into the Orthodox Church by chrismation have already received the one baptism for the remission of sins and cannot be baptised again. If they have fallen away from the Orthodox Church, they will be received back into the Church by confession and absolution.
New converts to Christianity, seeking entry into the Orthodox Church for the first time, will be received as standard through the sacraments of baptism, chrismation, and the Holy Eucharist. This applies to those coming from other Christian confessions, with the exceptions detailed below.
Where there is a compelling pastoral need, Roman and Eastern Catholics, as well as Oriental Orthodox, whose churches are generally faithful to the Apostolic Tradition where baptism is concerned, may be received by economia, i.e. confession of the Orthodox Faith, followed by Chrismation and the Holy Eucharist.
Where there is a compelling pastoral need, Protestant and Anglican Christians whose baptisms can be verified by memory or by a reliable witness or certificate to have been performed by triple application of water (immersion or affusion) “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”, may be received by economia, i.e. confession of the Orthodox Faith, followed by chrismation and the Holy Eucharist.
With reference to points 3 and 4, Holy Baptism remains the standard form of reception into the Church and will not be denied to anybody from these categories who requests it.