Father John Breck on his first encounter with Orthodoxy: I finally got hometranslated

Father John Breck, cleric within the Orthodox Church of America (OCA), evoked, in an interview given to the magazine Word to the youth of the Putna Monastery, his first encounter with Orthodoxy. "I had a very deep feeling and conviction that I had finally arrived home," the priest testified.

The American cleric reported that the meeting that changed his life took place in 1966, during a seminar on Orthodoxy organized by the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches.

After a few days of study, he and his wife, Lyn Breck, arrived at the Church of St. Sergius in Paris, where they attended an Orthodox service for the first time. Describing the atmosphere in the church, the American theologian recalled the icons, the smell of incense and the beauty of the chants.

"Immediately, both Lyn and I were deeply moved by what was truly a sacred space. The walls and pillars were adorned with the faces of saints, the smell of incense filled the room, and in the middle of the church, Father Alexis Kniazeff was reading the Gospel of St. John."

"I reacted to all this with a deep sense of gratitude and even tears. For decades, in the churches…