Which church should I attend?

[bmanyugioh]

Mass is the continuing celebration of the 'Last Supper' where Jesus commanded his apostles / disciples " do this in remembrance of Me." It is the gathering of the faithful to pray, give thanks and receive the Body and Blood of Christ as He instructed. I believe it is the same for both Roman and Orthodox Catholics. Orthodox hold the Pope in high esteem with their Patriarch. Also called the 'Eastern' rite because it was established by the apostles that traveled to the area around Greece as opposed to the ones that went to the area around Rome.

Peace
CARZ

Thank you, CARZ. This happens every day? That sounds very convenient for me.
I still haven't been able to make it to the Methodist church yet (and I know I'm going to have to do a little work to get myself in a state where I can start visiting the Orthodox one), so it seems like the Catholic one may be my next visit.

Ah nice!

I myself am Orthodox and I am familiar with this archdiocese and it is legit. It was actually the one I started off at when I first became Orthodox about eight years ago. I was in the Mid-Atlantic Diocese and eventually I wound up at a different Orthodox Parish but this is where I first learned about it.

Marvelous! Thank you, RoosterOnAStick. I'm glad to hear from you.

I'm not sure how much you have read into the Orthodox Church so far, but there are a few good introductory resources if you want to look into it further. In particular, there is an English Bishop, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, who has a lot of good introductory videos and books. There are other theologians as well as the readings from the Ancient and Modern Church fathers of course.

I will definitely be looking into this, thank you.

Though yes, regardless of church, the Bible will always be there to act as a plumb line to help test accuracy. ^-^

Thank you, JOJ650s. I will definitely keep this in mind

[RoosterOnAStick]

(and I know I'm going to have to do a little work to get myself in a state where I can start visiting the Orthodox one),

If it makes you feel any better I have an amusing story about my first time with that. I thought I had done all my homework at first, done enough research, so I decided to just go barreling in to the nearest Orthodox Church I could find. I forget the reasons why I picked the one I did but I figured I had this. I had worked up the courage and boldness and I knew everything there was to know.

First five minutes of the service kind of went like this...



Of course, asking people for help and such did shed a lot of light on not only what was going on in the liturgy but also the reasons behind why things are done that way, and then the confusion was cleared up.

One bit of advice I can give is that nothing is arbitrary in the Orthodox Church, every part of it is there for a reason. Whether it be something doctrinal, something to provide as a spiritual aid or reminder, or perhaps simply a particular cultural expression of one of these items, there's a reason behind everything. It is important to be mindful of that so that one doesn't simply go through the motions or miss out on something.

You'll figure out these meanings and then after that you can decide from there what you wish to do.