ebed melech - the “King’s Servant”
Posted by Gordo (May 12, 2006 at 11:00 pm)
GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST!
My real and blog name is Gordo - aka “ebed melech” (Hebrew for “the King’s servant”) in the byzcath.org world. I’m an Orthodox Christian in union with Rome and I’m committed to finding ways to share the Byzantine Catholic Gospel with others and to help evangelize North America for Jesus Christ and the glory of the Most Holy Trinity!
My interest in Eastern Christianity began in High School while on a retreat with my father at a monastery in Kentucky. While there, I read the book “The Way of a Pilgrim”.
This little text radically changed my understanding of prayer and the Christian walk, and found its way into my life many times in subsequent years. I began the practice of the “prayer of the heart” (aka “the Jesus Prayer”) soon after reading that book, and it has been my constant companion for years. After being introduced to an Eastern Catholic monk in college who gave me my first prayer rope and invited me to attend Divine Liturgy at a Byzantine Catholic parish in Ohio, I attended the service hoping to see before my eyes what I had read about in the Russian Pilgrim’s tale. I went one time, and never wanted to leave! My comments to friends at the time were: “I’ve always believed in the Resurrection, but I never experienced it like this before!”
Ironically, years after becoming a Byzantine Catholic, my father told me he had started an Eastern Catholic club while in seminary. The great priest, Father Joseph Raya (later Archbishop) came and spoke to this group on several occasions. It was Archbishop Jospeh Raya’s book, The Face of God, which later convinced me of the theological basis for belief in Christ as an Eastern Christian and a Catholic. The Byzantine Catholic faith is a tremendous mystery to be lived and celebrated through our rich tradition of worship and common life together in Christ!
Whether you are an evangelical Christian, a Latin Catholic, a “fallen away” or someone who is a religious seeker or has no faith at all, consider a visit to one of our many parishes to see the “ancient faith of the apostles and martyrs” come alive!
Gordo,
Thank you for this testimony. It shows how the books and devotions transformed your life but it also shows how a living testimony can help transform the lives of others.
CDL
Comment posted June 21st, 2006 at 9:27 am
I have attended divine liturgy in only one Eastern Rite Church, a Greek-Melekite Catholic chruch, where the congregation was mostly Christian Arabs, and many of the prayers were in Arabic. Hoowever, I felt the service more personally than I have in the Roman Rite. I would love to attend Eastern Rite liturgy more often, but my wife, who is Colombian, and is a dyed-in-the-wool Roman Rite Catholic objects to the fact that part of the liturgy is done behind the iconostasis, especially the mystery of the consecration of the eucharist. My wife says the likes having the priest face the faithful as the eucharist is consecrated. I actually prefer the “mystery” of the consecration behind the iconostasis
Comment posted December 21st, 2006 at 7:52 pm