TL;DR: Orthodox Church keeps frame.

Summary: Learning about the Orthodox Church helped me understand men’s place in the world, and a link below provides a perfect example of this teaching.

Body: An inherently conservative world view

I recently read a blog post which casually mentioned that Orthodox Christianity was one of the last bastions of sanity in the West. Having been raised Catholic, I had always thought of the Orthodox Church as basically Catholicism with some Eastern twists like cool beards, onion domes, and Byzantine art.

But as I began to read about the history of Christianity over the past century or so, it became clear that the Orthodox are the only Christians who have steadfastly resisted Cultural Marxism. In fact, you could almost argue that the modern social justice movement was a natural development out of Western Christianity, which Eastern or Orthodox Christianity viscerally opposes.

This is because the core of their worldview is that their religion is a divine mystery that was handed down to them through the ages and they are merely its custodians for the next generation. This is very different to what’s happened in Western Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), which have increasingly asserted the need for Faith to “adapt”. For example, you have innumerable Protestant sects accepting female and openly gay clergy and gay marriage.

Why the West failed

Even the relatively conservative Catholic Church has changed unbelievably since the 1960s, when the Second Vatican Council opened the doors to modernization. After that, radical reformers went wild “in the Spirit of Vatican II”. I now understand why, growing up, not even the priests seem to believe in what they were teaching. Today, the Catholic Pope is alarming ex-Muslims by praising Islam and a splinter group in the U.S. is ordaining woman priests.

After going down this rabbit-hole, I have acquired a great respect for Orthodox Christianity as an institution. It stands as a bulwark against Western “liberalism” (like in Russia, where the resurgence of the Orthodox Church is related to the rejection of Western “values”). I have seen it myself in the Greek Orthodox friends of mine who seem to draw strength from being part of a cohesive community with firm boundaries and a healthy sense of itself.

How I put this to work

I considered converting for a while. Although not a believer, I agree with the value system and want to affirm my Christian heritage. Even just learning about this alternate world-view has made me more confident at work and with women by providing an alternative (and fertile, ancient, deeply rooted) framework in which being a man is valued. It has also helped me understand the true inherent value of women, which is as bearers of children and essential complements to my masculinity. As a side-note, their eyes tend to light up when I talk about this and one very loud SJW feminist at work came on to me in private after I “came out” about my enthusiasm for Orthodox Christianity and explained my reasons. I have also become more focused on self-improvement (man as a reflection of God) and being a better man (not a nicer man, but a better and more principled one).

Ultimately, I found a traditional Catholic Church that performs Latin masses and adheres to pre-Vatican II values very close to the Orthodox ones (women wear veils in Church, for example). For what it’s worth, this Church is full of young families and the young women are far better looking than the North American average (if only because they all seem to maintain a normal weight, perhaps because Gluttony is a deadly sin). Nonetheless, I remain fascinated with Orthodoxy. Whereas these traditionalist Catholics are renegades taking a stand against the degenerate establishment, the Orthodox church is essentially red-pilled through and through.

Conclusion: Learning about Orthodox Christianity gave me a new (red-pilled) way to see the world.

Example:

I recently stumbled upon a perfect example of this, which I believe might interest the readers here. It’s a response from “Concerned Clergy and Laity” to an article asking the Orthodox Church to start appointing women as “deaconesses” (essentially laymen who do some ritual duties in the Church, a step below a priest). It's a breath of fresh air to see a very public institution unapologetically shutting down feminist nonsense, at least for me (in contrast to Prime Minister Trudeau, for example). I wonder what you think. I included some key excerpts below for convenience.

Link: https://orthodoxethos.com/post/a-public-statement-on-orthodox-deaconesses

Excerpts:

  • “[S]ome blame [our] resistance [… on a …] cultural prejudice against women, but that accusation treats the Church herself unfairly [… by ignoring …] Apostolic respect for the distinction of male and female, to which our post-Christian world is increasingly hostile.”

  • “The liturgists’ most ominous assertion is their subtle note, in anticipation of popular opposition, that ‘adequate preparation and education’ are needed not of the women to be appointed deaconesses but ‘of the people who will be called upon to receive, honor, and respect the deaconesses assigned to their parishes.’”

  • “In sum, the statement’s emphasis on gratifying women, disregarding tradition, and resorting to force gives evidence of a feminist perspective and approach consistent with the faithless western world but not with the Orthodox Church.”

  • “God has made every one of us either male or female and ordained that we live accordingly as either a man or a woman.”

  • “But if laws and canons and precepts are not enough to turn us to repentance, God has given us two distinct models of perfected humanity, one male and one female: Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, and His Most Pure Mother, the Theotokos, whose icons stand always before us in worship as reminders of what we are meant to be as men and women.”

  • “These advocates covet the rank, honor, and authority of the clergy. Some would have deaconesses be just like deacons, only female. They would up-end the natural and economical order of male and female to raise women over men in the hierarchy of the Church.”

  • “We must think generationally. Just as children who grow up in parishes with female readers are more likely to believe as adults that women should be deacons or deaconesses, so children who grow up in parishes with deaconesses will be more likely to believe as adults that women should be priests and bishops.”

(EDIT: list formatting)