We Are Orthodoxy

Natalie is a 30-something who recently graduated with a Master’s Degree in School Counseling. She grew up Orthodox, and she is now married to another woman. Natalie is stuck in the tension of being separated from the Church while also understanding the Church’s uncompromising stance on her marriage.

Sean is 32 years old and is living in New York City with his wife and daughter and attending grad school. Although Sean grew up going to Christian schools, attending church, and converted to Orthodoxy after high school, his life has taken a turn away from the Church. Compelled by social concerns, Sean has turned to other places looking for solutions.

Maggie is a senior in college and is looking for her purpose, but her journey hasn’t been easy. Battling with depression and anxiety has been hard, but she finds the Church to be both exactly what she’s looking for while also being a place where she struggles to find people who understand.

Ben is a 23-year-old dental school student in Detroit. Having moved away from his friends, family, and community, Ben is struggling to find a parish to call his home, and often feels some of the pain of being so far away from the people who know him. This reality has affected his desire to attend church, but it doesn’t define it.

Recorded before he was ordained, 34-year-old Fr. Jacob shares about his movement from Protestantism to Eastern Orthodoxy. As a 22-year-old, he was deeply moved by the liturgical and theological beauty of the Church. As he came to see that God is a God of healing love and mercy, Fr. Jacob realized that the Orthodox Church alone portrayed the vision of God he had been looking for his whole life.

Emilie is a 21-year-old who moved to LA with hopes of being an actor. It wasn’t long before she realized she wanted to be more involved with starting her own brand, promoting healthy living and people’s self-actualization. Emilie considers the Orthodox Church her home, but because she's having a hard time finding a place in the Church, she is also struggling to make sense of its moral and religious teachings, so she’s kind of making her own.

Michael recently graduated from college, where through a series of conversations with his roommates, he began to question the Orthodox Faith. Even though Michael still identifies as Orthodox, he no longer attends church and is on a journey to discover if his own perception of reality is actually true. Finding that some of his life experiences don't exactly match what he was taught in Church, Michael is motivated to find the truth, not just to avoid being wrong.

Mary is now a sophomore in college, but during a gap year, Mary went on a journey of self-discovery that challenged her in unexpected ways. While she comes from a close community of Orthodox Christians, Mary describes feeling like she has struggled with faith largely by herself.

In the first episode of We Are Orthodoxy, Christian Gonzalez sits down with Jasiel to discuss his journey to the Orthodox Church. Jasiel shares his story of being born in the Dominican Republic, moving to New York City as a young boy, and playing piano as a young man for his church. The son of two Pentecostal pastors, Jasiel’s move toward Orthodoxy has not come without a cost. But for him it’s worth it.

Mary is now a sophomore in college, but during a gap year, Mary went on a journey of self-discovery that challenged her in unexpected ways. While she comes from a close community of Orthodox Christians, Mary describes feeling like she has struggled with faith largely by herself.