What is it like to be an Eastern Orthodox Christian?

Any of the Orthodox churches such as Russian, Greek, Armenian, Romanian, Albanian, etc. I am curious because I never attended a service and they pictures and video I have seen look so mysterious and interesting. Lots of dark spaces with candles, incense, icons and chanting. It's almost like it it tailor made for gays with a high drama effect. Is it spiritually satisfying? Do you need to know the language if you go to a service in America? Are those churches typically anti-gay?

• Interesting topic, can't wait to hear what people have to say. I have an idea about their views on gays but will wait for someone more informed than me to talk about it.

• They are all very anti-gay in my experience.

• They're a bunch of heretic Catholics. They all have their flaming purses burning that stinky incense and the priest all wear that rococo drag. They go more heavily for the bearded look and most have wives, but they've been know to consume an alter boy or two for high holy days. They are very anti gay, even worse than the Vanticaneezers.

• OP is Evan Lysacek, most probably.

• My former bf was a member of a congregation affiliated with OCA - Orthodox Church in America, which isn't identified with any particular ethnicity (Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian). Their services are, I believe, largely in English, with some Old Church Slavonic elements.

• Church is great way to waste time. It gives you penis time to heal and you can trip-out without drugs.

• "Is it spiritually satisfying?" What does that even mean?

• I guess it means do you feel closer to God or whatever when attending a service.

• The vicious thugs beating up gays who try to gather in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Belgrade are always accompanied by huge bearded Orthodox priests. An Ethiopian Orthodox friend of mine told me that gays are not permitted to exist in Ethiopia, where the Orthodox church runs everything.

• They celebrate their Christmas in January so they can take advantage of the after-Christmas sales on Dec. 26.

• I was raise Eastern Orthodox. It's basically Catholic without the pope, but so are Anglicans.

• The weddings are really fucking looooong.

• It's the original Christian Church. There are a number of popes and regional churches. They believe the church commissioned the Bible to serve it and that it was written by men, not dictated by God. They believe that the liturgy is the center of the 'church' experience and that the traditions and teachings of the church grow and change over time. The faith is defined by the Nicene Creed and the councils of the church. They have a married clergy. Services have always been in local languages, the Bible has always been translated into them as well.

• There's a LOT of standing during their masses.

• Hah, r11, no true Orthodox would claim that we're like the Catholics! They are the ones who broke away from us! If there are any similarities, it's aspects of our culture/religion that they maintained or took from us. What's it like? It has it's good and it's bad. Generally backward, conservative societies, but the spiritual aspect is rather nice and, if you get a good priest, services can be moving. If you get a bad one, they can be very boring.

• George Stephanopoulos' father is a Greek Orthodox priest.

• Oh who the fuck cares bout eastern europeans. They've proved to be who they are and that is inferior!

• My brother married into a Ukrainian Orthodox family (although not very observant) and as godfather to his daughter my duties at the baptism involved holding my infant niece in one arm while grasping the hem of the priests robe as we circled the altar seven times. I then had to stand on the outside steps of the church,still holding my niece while I shouted, "I denounce thee,Satan" three times. Quite a few startled passersby at that point. There was more,but it's all a blur.