Why I Chose Orthodox Christianity Over Roman Catholicism - Fr. Paul Truebenbach

Greetings from Serbia! As you may know, Serbia is an Orthodox country, which has paid a high price for this many times in history. Anyway, as an Orthodox, I already know some of this, but I'm trying to improve my English, and this channel is so helpful in explaining Orthodoxy, but also for learning English for me :)

I love how literally everything in Orthodoxy has a clear reason and purpose.

Baptism on May 12th! All Glory and thanks be to our King and God, Jesus Christ! ☦️

I am a Roman Catholic, but respect our brothers. Thank you for your videos and meditations.

I'm glad Father brought up the consistency between ancient saints and modern. As a former roman catholic I could see zero continuity between the desert fathers and modern roman catholic saints it was very troubling. The first time I read the lives of Ss. Seraphim of Sarov and Xenia of St. Petersburg it all clicked.

Saint Xenia helped me found the work that i always dreamed off. Glory be to God ❤

I really appreciate Father Paul. He has a civil tongue, never putting anyone down, never is condescending to anyone; even when he substantiates and easily rebukes counterpoints to what he believes in. Father Paul is extremely welcoming, and never makes anyone feel uncomfortable at any point of his discussion. It reminds me of the Orthodox monk who went to a village to help and show them how to improve their agriculture, their irrigation, their farming and their overall quality of life. Each time being asked who does he worship; never telling them he was Eastern Russian Orthodox. Finally when the altruistic monk took his leave of the village, they found out the humble monk was Orthodox. The end result, the entire village converted to Orthodoxy.

This channel has been so helpful in explaining Orthodoxy 🙏🏻

Fr. Truebenbach helped me greatly through his ministry on YouTube and I eventually found St. Seraphim of Sarov. It was through St. Seraphim’s prayers that I found my way into the Orthodox Church. I thank Christ for you, Father!

So, as a Roman Catholic, it is my understanding that in order for a mortal sin to be absolved and washed away, you must undergo a deep self-evaluation, one that makes you ponder why you committed the sin in the first place. Without the self-evaluation phase, and if you are not truly sorrowful for your transgression(s), then your sin will not be absolved. So, like the Orthodox, the RCC takes sin very seriously, especially one that is mortal in nature. I have found my home in Roman Catholicism. However, I think I would be just as comfortable in the Orthodox Church as well!

This was a wonderful video! And I very much so enjoyed that miniature tour of the church and the short biographies of some of the more modern saints ☦️

Im gonna try your experiment. Read lives of ancient saints. Then lives of modern Catholic saints and Orthodox saints. And see which ones line up with the ancient saints. As someone going through a bit of a Catholic vs Orthodox crisis, this is a brilliant idea.

بصلوات وشفاعة والدة الاله تي ثيؤطوكوس والقديس باييسيوس الاثوسي وجميع القديسين الارثوذكسين يا مخلص خلصنا امين صوما مقبول ومبارك يارب

I was praying about this today. Thank you Lord.

I grew up with purely secular, emotionally distant parents and often had borderline demonic episodes of emotional turmoil, but throughout my life I've never been able to escape from Christians - no matter where I go, they're the ones who appear drawn to me, and vice-versa. After my parents died at 18, I became a spiritual seeker on-and-off and Christianity was the LAST religion I thought could possibly be truthful. I stepped foot in a Greek Orthodox church only because I had already gone unsatisfactorily through the list of every other religion out there, and because some orthodox guy was nice to me online once. I loved the people there and the service, but I ended up being drawn to Catholicism simply because of its greater presence and the abundance of "extra-curricular opportunities" I could involve myself with. However, a year later I'm really regretting it because I've been introduced to all of the seemingly man-made superstitions like indulgences, the immaculate conception (and the borderline worship of Mary in general), the idea that if I miss Mass once and die without confessing it I will literally go to inescapable Hell, and the hundreds of schizophrenic episodes where people "see Mary" talking heresy yet the church officially believes it to be true and from God. Most Catholics don't even believe half the Catholic-specific dogma of the church - the apparent unity of the Catholic church, which is another reason I chose it, is all show. There are great Catholics, and the parish I converted in was especially abundant in Spirit, but the over-emphasis on these Catholic-originating superstitions has been atrocious in helping me grow in faith and I basically just stopped attending Mass after a few months because of how much I was disgusted and troubled over these things. Instead of an emphasis on growing in the Spirit, becoming more like Christ, and learning to properly love and worship the Father, Catholicism in practice ends up being more about "how many rosaries can I pray each day" (and half the words of the rosary are heresy imo), "what obligatory thing can I do to lessen my time in purgatory instead of actually repenting," and in general is more about mindless action and speech rather than sincerely trying to please God. Having grown up in the environment I did where hard scientific facts are what is worshipped and seen as highest truth, I CONSTANTLY struggle with having lasting belief that Jesus really was in fact more than a well-meaning apocalyptic prophet whose honorable but merely earthly vision of Israel never came to be. The only reason I believed in the church enough to convert at all (and I really shouldn't have with my doubts), and remained despite these doubts, was the spirit of the people who really love God in the church. I had an STE (Spiritually Transformative Experience) in High School where I felt the unconditional love of God, which I've felt at various times throughout my life - and it is only because good Christians I have met give off the same "spiritual" feeling as that Spirit I felt (more powerfully and more reliably than other religious people), that I have been willing to be around Christianity and even consider it at all. If it were just the books and the tradition that was there, I don't think I could believe at all because of how it has been challenged by historical-critical scholars and archaeology. Anyway, I'm ranting now, thank you to anyone who read all of this. :) I've decided to resume my inquiry into the Orthodox church again, hoping it will fix the problems I'm having in Catholicism.

Cause it is the only Eastern Church. Not liberal not westernized not soft christianity but real and strong Church ☦️❤️‍🔥

Thank you so much for this fantastic video! It directly answered the questions I have about choosing between Catholicism and Orthodoxy.

God bless from HT Salt Lake City

That was a huge part of my “decision”. You speak to an Orthodox monk, and a Catholic priest you will see the difference in spirit. Compare a Divine Liturgy with mass. I asked myself who I would rather reflect, who would I want to BE like. Being a philosopher isn’t my goal. Being like the God-man is my goal. And so far too go.. May God have mercy on us all and save us.

Choosing a denomination between saints is an interesting idea. When you look at a Catholic saint of the 20th century, St. Padre Pio, and you study the gifts he had: the stigmata, bilocation, reading of souls in confession, etc., and then you take into account other miracles attributed to him even since his physical death, you realize the gifts the God gave him. Many blessings from this Catholic to my Orthodox brothers and sisters.