Hello! First of all, I apologise if some parts of my writing are not clear or linguistically correct; my mother tongue is Greek. I would like to offer a brief introduction of myself in order to familiarise you a bit with where I come from and then come to my point.

I have been a reader of the Urantia book (the english version) since 17 years old and I am now 33. I was born and raised in a Greek Orthodox family in Athens where apart from going to church and receiving communion several times a year, religion wasn't a big part of my life. I have a brother and when we were young my mother used to urge us both to pray. Every night she would lit the oil lamp and say her night prayer standing in front of the wall of icons in our home and then she would kiss us goodnight by making the sign of the cross and speaking a prayer for us. My brother never really cared about it, but religion and believing in God did impress my mind from back then.

I went through a very rough period during my teenage years. I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks, I was bullied at school and at home by my brother and I found some degree of consolation in praying whenever I felt overwhelmed by lives' vicissitudes. When I was 16, my cousin whom I was very close to, passed away and this led me to begin my spiritual exploration. I wanted to know what had happened to my cousin so I started googling 'life after death' and reading everything I fell upon. In less than a few months after my cousin's departure I found a copy of the Urantia book lying on my cousin's bed. My aunt had also begun her spiritual search and she had found about the Urantia book online and bought it. I opened it randomly and started reading it and I was immediately hooked.

Since then I have read the Urantia book several times and for more than a decade the book has been my constant companion. Recently, however, my spiritual search has led me back to my roots, my tradition, Greek Orthodox Christianity. The reason for that was, first of all, my need to better understand what it means to do God's will, how to live like that, how to evolve my soul and traverse the psychic circles and really believe and live the fact of my son-ship to God and brotherhood to all men. Secondly, I desired to meet people in person with whom I could share my enthusiasm about God, my love for Him, to not silently believe in Him any more, but to share that with others. I wanted to worship Him together with other people. So I started going again to church, whenever I visited Greece (I live abroad) and also began with the study of religious and patrological texts. So far I have read the first tome of Philokalia (the second tome rests on my bookshelf as well as another book by St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain), two books about the lives of two modern Greek saints, St. Paisios and St. Porphirios and some other diminutive volumes. I have also began learning more about the practice of the Prayer of the Heart, the hesychastic tradition, especially that of Mt. Athos and generally learning more about Orthodox Christianity. What I have discovered so far, is how many similarities the teachings of the fathers of the church, the monks and the saints have with the Urantia book regarding our soul's evolution and alignment with God's will. It is really fascinating to read, for example, St. Porphirios, who died in 1991, if I am not mistaken, urging us again and again to invite Jesus in our hearts, to become one with him, to not fight the darkness in our hearts, but invite the light of Jesus which will illuminate it and dissipate it. St. Porphirios was very fond of the High Priestly Intercessory Prayer of Jesus and he would often recite it. His last words were "Ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν" which is an excerpt from this prayer of Michael and translates as "That they may be one". Reading about these saint's lives and combining it with the knowledge of the Fifth Epochal Revelation, one can easily deduce that these people were already living a morontial life on Earth. They had such a balanced personality, aligned to the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit and the Father fragment that their souls found expression so very often. My study of their lives and teachings has also helped me understand better Jesus' teachings and the Urantia book in general.

And finally to come to my point: I feel blessed in my decision to study patrology and the lives of saints and to start going to church again and participating in its mysteries, however, there is a problem: I feel torn between the old and the new. (Orthodox) Christianity as it currently is could never accept the Urantia book. 2000 years of evolutionary religion, since Michael's bestowal was completed, have produced amazing examples of illuminated personalities and texts of great spiritual truth and value. I see so much potential in marrying the old with the new, the evolved with the revealed, but I cannot see how this can happen with the church's dogmatism and fanatical devotion to tradition so that they can preserve the apostolic truth. I embrace both and deep inside I feel that if the Fifth Epochal Revelation is to ever become worldwide accepted a bridge must be somehow built bringing the old to the new. I feel so lonely in this... how could such a bridge be built? Is it maybe too early? What do you all think?

Alexandros

And finally to come to my point: I feel blessed in my decision to study patrology and the lives of saints and to start going to church again and participating in its mysteries, however, there is a problem: I feel torn between the old and the new. (Orthodox) Christianity as it currently is could never accept the Urantia book. 2000 years of evolutionary religion, since Michael's bestowal was completed, have produced amazing examples of illuminated personalities and texts of great spiritual truth and value. I see so much potential in marrying the old with the new, the evolved with the revealed, but I cannot see how this can happen with the church's dogmatism and fanatical devotion to tradition so that they can preserve the apostolic truth. I embrace both and deep inside I feel that if the Fifth Epochal Revelation is to ever become worldwide accepted a bridge must be somehow built bringing the old to the new. I feel so lonely in this... how could such a bridge be built? Is it maybe too early? What do you all think?

Congrats on finding and recognizing the UB, Alexandros. Good news, most readers I know come out of Christianity. Some day a tipping point will be reached. And that point could come sooner, if say, something revealed is found to be true, like Non-breathers living in our Solar System, Adam and Eve's bones, or the existence of the ultimaton..

Dear Alexandros,

Thanks for your lovely post and these inspiring thoughts. It seems to me that going back to your roots and returning to church is a very positive response to your new-found and solid foundations of spiritual truth that you have found in The Urantia Book. Your desire to build a bridge between the old and the new is likely something that can only be accomplished over time by people just like you, who are willing to re-enter these bastions of crystallized dogma and tradition armed with these new ways of seeing the truth. I think that Jesus IS that bridge, and he will show us the way.

I pray that the Father will provide you with increasing opportunities to be the living conduit for new truth to your fellows. You seem such a willing and humble kingdom worker - so needed in the world today. Thanks again for sharing your story and I look forward to getting to know you better as time goes on.

MaryJo

Thank you Rick! Such an external confirmation would certainly be of value not only for the acceptance of the revelation, but also for the advancement of our knowledge. Imagine discovering/coming into contact with the non-breathers for example. Wouldn't it inevitably cause a profound expansion of our cosmic horizons? Or am I too optimistic in believing that...?

(Orthodox) Christianity as it currently is could never accept the Urantia book.
Alexandros

Christianity is not a person and therefore does not possess any prerogative to accept or reject.