Hi, I´m a 33 years old italian male.
English is not my primary language so be patient with me. I got baptized after 1 month in the orthodox church, after I´ve found Jesus after some hardships in my life ( death of both parents and also some jail time ). Initially they were all welcoming, but after I´ve started to study history of the church and asking questions about icons, pointing that veneration is only a concept born around 600/700 a.D., they started to accuse me of pride. I must admit I´ve also joked heavily with some of them, but nothing serious. They took it personal and started to offend me via email, but in person they would smile and apologize. Yesterday I´ve had enough and I bullied both the abbott priest ( fake abbott because they created a virtual monk brotherhood ) and his novice, who happens to be my grandfather. I got blocked and kicked out. I still believe in Jesus and I am noticing that the people who are closest to Christ are the common people, churchgoers are mostly the new pharisees. I am not judging anyone, I´ve found some honest people too in church, but most of them were LARPing as fake monks. Church was part of Moscow Patriarchate.
Now I try to live a life that can be according to Gods will and try to make Jesus known to my street friends. Apparently it is working. I just wanted to share this story with you to see if someone can relate. Thanks for reading.