{"id":307755,"date":"2021-02-15T14:28:31","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T12:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=307755"},"modified":"2021-03-24T20:46:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T18:46:47","slug":"writer-paul-kingsnorth-baptized-in-the-romanian-orthodox-church-says-he-feels-like-arriving-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/writer-paul-kingsnorth-baptized-in-the-romanian-orthodox-church-says-he-feels-like-arriving-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Writer Paul Kingsnorth, baptized in the Romanian Orthodox Church, says he feels like arriving home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Kingsnorth, one of the most important English writers alive, was baptized as a Christian Orthodox at the Romanian Monastery in Shannonbridge, Ireland. \u201cAs a Western newcomer to Orthodoxy, I have a lifetime\u2019s learning journey ahead of me, but I already feel like I have arrived home,\u201d said the writer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI first discovered Christian Orthodoxy four years ago when I walked into a small church in Bucharest. That powerful experience stayed with me, but I could not have known that it would lead me on a journey that would lead to me becoming a member of the Romanian church,\u201d Paul Kingsnorth told Basilica.ro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was baptized on the Epiphany day by his spiritual advisor, Father Tudor Ghi\u021b\u0103, the parish priest of the Romanian community in Galway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt both joyful and peaceful afterwards\u2026 and cold! But a stronger sense that I had arrived somewhere I was meant to be. My receipt into the church has been a great privilege, and the [Romanian] community here in Ireland has been so welcoming to me and my family,\u201d confessed the writer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Photo: Father Tudor Ghi\u021b\u0103<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Father Tudor Ghi\u021b\u0103 told he never tried to convert the writer. They met at the Romanian Orthodox Monastery of Shannonbridge, Ireland, and had some long talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was determined to enter Orthodoxy, but I advised him to moderate his enthusiasm and not to expect to see angels flying through the church,\u201d said the Romanian parish priest of Galway.<\/p>\n

He wanted to make the writer understand that being a Christian is permanent work and the joy you feel is supposed to be one of a spiritual nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an obedient spiritual son,\u201d Father Tudor Ghi\u021b\u0103 added. \u201cHe observes the fasting days, reads the recommended prayers and makes full prostrations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though he had many spiritual searches, Paul Kingsnorth had never been baptized in another Christian denomination. His previous searches took him towards Oriental religions and neopaganism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2020, as the world was turned upside down, so was I. Unexpectedly, and initially against my will, I found myself being pulled determinedly towards Christianity,\u201d he recounted. \u201cI started the year as an eclectic eco-pagan with a long-held, unformed ache in my heart, and ended it a practicing Christian.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then the ache was \u201cgone and replaced by the thing that, all along, I turned out to have been looking for,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn January 2021 I was baptised and received into the Eastern Orthodox Church. I don\u2019t know where the path leads from here, but at last I know how to walk it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Call cards<\/h3>\n
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Photo: Paul Kingsnorth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paul Kingsnorth<\/strong> (photo above, after the baptism) is 49 and has lived for several years in the rural parts of Galway, Ireland. He runs a family farm which he works by using traditional methods, such as cutting hay with a scythe, just like Romanian peasants did formerly.<\/p>\n