Emily’s Way to Orthodoxy: A French Tale of Finding the True Church

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Emilie Pez

OCP Exclusive
7/2/2011

Emile Pez in this exclusive article describes her journey from the Roman Catholic Church to Orthodoxy

My name is Emilie and I was born in France. My father is a Roman catholic but my mother is an atheist. At the age of 8, my father decided that I should be baptized as a Roman Catholic and sent me to the church school. I just loved it. I still remember that at this age, I really believed in God, I went to church every day. I had pictures of Jesus all around my room. I read and colored so many books about Jesus and during all my free time. I was just passing my time to pray. I totally loved Jesus and God at this age.

But at the age of 13 my father got sick and left my home, I stayed with my mother, I moved of city, went to a new church. But I did not to like anymore to attend the church, since I did not like what the priest preached and lost my faith. I totally lost faith, I didn’t believe in God at all.

Since the age of 22, I was reading a book about angels, and the angels talked to me during my nights, during one month, every night almost. And after this time, suddenly, in one minute, I was walking in the street, it’s just fall on me, I believed in God again.

I went to the Roman Catholic Church again but I didn’t feel it was for me anymore. I tried meditation, I felt nothing. I read books about Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jew. I read a lot of different things, I fond everything very interesting but not for me.

Until one day, a friend talked to me about Subud, an international spiritual organization. Here all religions worship God together. It’s not a meditation, it’s not a technique, it’s just a receiving. During the “latihan”( it’s an Indonesian word that we use to call what we practice), we receive the power of God directly in us. Immediately, I knew I have found my way. I start to feel really God acting in myself, I was to be able to pray again, I started to change, to get rid off of my bad habits and I just began to be happy.

In Subud, we keep our own religion, the “latihan” practice help us, in a way, to deepen our understanding of our own religion. But for me, even if I was catholic, I didn’t feel like a Romna Catholic. But I really wanted to have a religion.

And one day with my Subud friend called Philippe, we entered in a Russian library in France. I was studying Russian literature. My friend opened a book and he read the sentence “what you were doing Philippe, we were waiting for you”. It was an Orthodox Christian book. My friend was looking for a religion too. So he went to an orthodox church and I followed him. I liked it a lot there. Few months after he got baptized, he was not baptized at all before. I didn’t convert because I didn’t want to just follow him, I wanted to really feel for myself if it was right for me.

But I sometimes accompany him to the church and I started to pray as an orthodox. Its 4 years now I’m praying as an orthodox without being converted yet.

Last year I went to live in Kalimantan, working as a teacher in a Subud community in the “jungle”. In Kalimantan, I felt very happy; it’s a very quiet place, with few people and few entertainments. It’s a good place to be quiet and find your way. But in Kalimantan, there are no orthodox church but it did not bother me, I continue to pray as an orthodox and observe the holy lent.

But this year when I observed the lent, I started to feel lonely in my practice. And just as the lent was starting, I met an orthodox friend on facebook living in Jakarta and I asked him if I could go to the church with him. At this time, I felt finally that I wanted to be converted to orthodoxy. My soul was crying to become an Orthodox Christian; all the words of the prayers became so holy. So now, it’s just obvious I really want to become an orthodox and now I just waiting the good time because I still live in the middle of the jungle and it’s not so easy for me to go to Jakarta and follow catechism. The priest said he will send me some material lesson. So now, I guess I’m on my way.

I ask your forgiveness if I have said anything wrong.
Emilie Pez

OCP