{"id":291650,"date":"2020-09-18T20:39:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T17:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=291650"},"modified":"2020-09-18T23:14:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T20:14:32","slug":"for-actor-jonathan-jackson-embracing-orthodoxy-was-not-just-conversion-it-was-coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/for-actor-jonathan-jackson-embracing-orthodoxy-was-not-just-conversion-it-was-coming-home\/","title":{"rendered":"For actor Jonathan Jackson, embracing Orthodoxy was not just conversion, it was \u201ccoming home\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

American actor Jonathan Jackson granted to TRINITAS, the Television of the Romanian Patriarchate, an interview about his conversion to Orthodoxy and how he lives faith.<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Asked to describe Orthodoxy in three words at most, the actor chose \u201ccoming home\u201d. He added: \u201cto a place we\u2019ve always known. I don\u2019t really look at this like I\u2019m converting. What it feels like to me is that I\u2019ve always been Orthodox and I just didn\u2019t know it\u201d.<\/p>\n

The actor recounted his journey to Orthodoxy, which began in 2007, when he came to Romania for a shooting session. One night, through his hotel window, he saw a crowd of people walking in the street with lit candles in their hands. \u201cIt was amazing. We didn\u2019t really know what they were doing. Then somebody told us: \u2018Christ is risen!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it was just so beautiful [that] for 40 days they would say: \u2018Christ is risen!\u2019 So I think those were the seeds planted inside of us. It\u2019s kind of funny looking back because I still had no idea about Orthodoxy, even though we were right there, in the middle of it!\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Before and after Baptism<\/h3>\n

The next years, he and his wife read a lot and had a lot of spiritual searching. \u201cI\u2019ve been journeying through everything with Elisa\u201d, said the actor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would have conversations late at night for hours. I think the first time I talked to her about it was when I started reading about the Great Schism. I said: \u2018I know this sounds crazy, but I think the Orthodox Church is the actual Church, I think it is the original faith!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The first time he assisted to the Orthodox service of the Divine Liturgy, prayer helped him overcome the wish to run away and start feeling like in Heaven \u2013 in only 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

When he brought his family to the Orthodox church, the easiest was for the children: \u201cThey loved the icons, they just thought it was beautiful. It was harder for me and for my wife, we had all these intellectual issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The whole family at a night liturgy in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2018. Photo: Orthochristian.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From that moment and until the baptism, \u201cit was constant wrestling\u201d. That is why he emphasized: \u201cBecoming Orthodox, for me was not choosing a preference. It was actually challenging my preferences\u201d.<\/p>\n

The actor added that the most difficult part for him was to enter the peaceful and composed atmosphere of the Divine Liturgy, especially as he had not been raised in this spirit. \u201cThe Liturgy brings us into stillness and silence, and stillness and silence is not something modern people are very good at\u201d, he explained.<\/p>\n