Cloud of Witnesses Radio
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Cloud of Witnesses Radio
Protestant Roots to Orthodox Enlightenment | Dominic Alexander’s Journey of Faith | TIO004 CWP072
What happens when a lifelong seeker of God grapples with disillusionment and finds solace in an unexpected place? Join us for a compelling episode featuring Dominic Alexander, who shares his profound journey from an evangelical Calvinist upbringing to embracing Orthodox Christianity. Dominic opens up about his challenging college years and the impacts of the COVID lockdowns, which spurred his deep dive into church history and theology, ultimately leading him to Orthodoxy. The story takes a touching turn as he recounts his first encounter with an Orthodox liturgy, describing the overwhelming sensory experience and the beauty that sparked his spiritual awakening.
Discover the trials and triumphs Dominic faced as he navigated sharing his newfound faith with his evangelical Protestant friends, and how the support of a spiritual father within the Orthodox Church made all the difference. Dominic draws inspiring parallels between the life of Saint Alexander Nevsky and the virtues of Christ-like leadership and servitude, shedding light on the significance of finding a spiritual home and the inspirational role of a patron saint. Listen as he reflects on the community at Saint Anthony's, where even the most introverted find a welcoming and nurturing environment to grow in faith.
In our conversation, Dominic also shares his enriching experience writing and voice acting for "Cloud of Witnesses," bringing the lives of saints closer to modern believers. He underscores the importance of humility and openness to God, highlighting how fully embracing Orthodoxy has transformed his faith journey. This episode is a powerful exploration of community, tradition, and the intercessions of saints, offering profound insights for anyone on a spiritual path. Don’t miss Dominic’s spirited declaration of his Orthodox Christian identity, filled with joy, commitment, and an unwavering sense of triumph.
Thank you, Dominic Alexander, for sharing your story with us.
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Thank you for journeying w/ the Saints with us!
Hi, I'm Dominic Alexander and I'm an Orthodox Christian. Yeah, so before I was Orthodox I grew up evangelical. But even a little bit before that my family was irreligious. My mom was raised culturally Catholic. So was my father too, but by the time I was born they didn't really practice it. A little couple years after I was born my mother was remarried to my stepdad and they became evangelical a little afterwards, and so I grew up evangelical for most of my young life.
Speaker 1:I grew up in different churches, so I know the evangelical world pretty well. I know what different church cultures they are. I've been to megachurches and I've been part of smaller churches too. For a good chunk of my experience too, I identified and associated with Calvinism. A lot Close friends of mine were Calvinists for a very, very long period of my life and, being part of different churches, like I said, I've been exposed to a lot of American Christianity, modern Christianity.
Speaker 1:I was pretty committed and devout. I know a lot of friends of mine had fell out of the faith or fell out of Christianity in general by the time we were in college. But I always sought after God. I always wanted to know Him deeper. But growing up and by the time I had been in college, I did know there was something missing and later on, after a couple of years of looking for what I was missing, I eventually found orthodoxy, so I think my second year of college. So I had like a stage of depression and I think a lot of it. I was becoming disillusioned with the world in general, whether that be like the education system or relationships in my life or some other things, and in those difficulties I was finding the Christianity that I had grown up with was just coming short, christianity that I, that I had grown up with, was just coming short. Um, I don't think I really understood. One, how to suffer well as a Christian and two, to really have that comfort. Besides, you know Christ gives us salvation and you know we get to be in heaven with him in eternity.
Speaker 1:Um, it seemed that that was distant, you know, from the reality that I was having to face at the moment in time, and I didn't really feel that change that the scriptures talk about living a Christian life. I was having a difficulty seeing that in my life and in other people's lives, and the more I struggled with those things and also going from church to church, it seemed like Christianity was, on people's own terms, you know, their picture of God or their picture of Jesus kind of just depended on you know what their flavor was. And I started to find out that really, even the theology at the time that I held on to either wasn't sufficient or wasn't true. It didn't really who I thought God was. It didn't really add up to the reality that I was facing. So there there, there is just. There is just something that I knew was missing.
Speaker 1:Um and like I said, and by the and by the time too, that, uh, that COVID had come and these churches were shutting down again, that was like another thing of disillusionment that I had to face. And so, like in that time of you know, the COVID lockdowns, I started going to rabbit holes more about church history, about, you know, where do I stand as a Christian? You know, like I said, is there something that I'm missing? Do I stand as a Christian? You know, like I said, is there something that I'm missing? And for a good chunk of it, mostly through the internet, is where I found orthodoxy.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I know, for a lot of people, including myself, I mean, we found orthodoxy through the internet, you know, and I'm 25.
Speaker 1:So everyone around my age and younger, not just with religion but anything you know, that's what they, that's how they identify with things and associate with things is mostly through the internet.
Speaker 1:Just because I think that the general culture and you know what we grew up with, just isn't enough for a lot of people, and especially for a lot of young men, obviously the modern American Christianity isn't really sufficient, and so a lot of them have found orthodoxy through the internet or over the last couple of years and, like for me, I wasn't, I didn't even really know what orthodoxy was. There was just interesting topics or or or points you know about orthodoxy. That, you know, engaged my interest at first and you know, like I said, it began with just with rabbit holes of just learning about more about the Trinity or learning about, maybe, an ecumenical councils or or learning about like certain you know figures in history. And yeah, it was just, it was an intellectual process for maybe like a good two years. I definitely learned a lot and you know, things about the church started to make more sense the more I started listening to different people on the internet and but really, I mean Orthodoxy didn't really take root in me until I started visiting a local parish.
Speaker 2:Think of something that you remember, where you were like wait a second. This is a game changer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now I definitely think of one thing. I remember I was listening to something about the saints. I was listening to something about the saints and the person who was explaining the saints to me at the time I don't. I don't really remember what he specifically said, but I do. I'm paraphrasing, I'm going off memory, but basically, since the saints are in Christ, you know they're outside of time, outside of our time, and so they can hear, hear us, they can see us. You know, they can make intercessions for us, you know, and in the same way that we would ask people in this physical life to, you know, to pray for us, you know the saints do the same for us in heaven.
Speaker 1:And I, I this is like two years ago and I remember hearing that and that actually just, I don't know, like a light went on. You know that I, okay, I think I'm beginning to understand, you know, not just like the stuff that might be easy to intellectually grasp in Orthodoxy, but the mystical part of the church, you know, and that was just like a one step, a one step closer to actually like seeing what orthodoxy orthodoxy actually is. And and I remember, I remember I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and um, she's like you don't, you don't really think the saints actually interest, you know, actually intercede for us, and I was like I think they actually do and I even like showed her, like, hey, like the book of Hebrews like kind of shows this, you know, and the book of Revelation shows this. So I just, I just remember, like these, these things about orthodoxy just started clicking, you know, and it got me more curious, you know, to actually start attending an orthodox parish, yeah, attending um, an Orthodox parish, yeah, one of the things missing in modern Christianity is that, um, there's not really like a foundation, um, like the, the, the, the purpose as to why we worship.
Speaker 1:You know, and I feel like most people I don't know, I can't judge people, but a lot of people, I feel, go to go to these, go go to churches, go to evangelical churches or these modern churches, just because people like the pastor, people like these personalities that run the church, and you know, the, the, the, the sermons and the talks given are very on a, on a superficial, you know, basis. They're not. It's more like advice that you can choose to take or not, rather than you know, like I don't know what the apostles and what the saints preach. You know about this life, about Christ, that you know I got to experience, you know, going into an Orthodox church. You know I got to experience, you know, going into an Orthodox church. Another thing too, I mean, as we're on this topic of foundation, I mean a lot of these churches are only found within like the last century. I mean they don't, they don't really have a history and, and in my experience I mean most people just leave the church just out of preference, not because of anything really anything deep per se. You know, yeah, yeah, I mean my experience, you know searching churches is mine was pretty easy, because the first church I visited was the one I stuck with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember I was driving with a friend of mine down Linda Vista Road.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember I was driving with a friend of mine down Linda Vista Road and that's a road I always at the time or I still do now, you know travel up and down. And I remember seeing a sign on the on the road it said St Anthony Antiochian Orthodox Church and I was like, is that really real? You know, because at the time too I was. I was talking to a buddy of mine online about looking for churches and he was going to an Antiochian church in the Midwest and so he said if you do happen to find an Antiochian church where you live, then you should go there. And this is maybe like when I saw that sign, it was probably like two or three days after that conversation and I yeah, I mean after that, maybe like getting out of the car from that, from from whatever I was doing, I just, you know, looked up St Anthony's and probably a couple of weeks after I visited it and this was like like two years ago, may, may, two years ago Excellent May, maybe two years ago.
Speaker 2:Excellent.
Speaker 1:John, what was one of the biggest hurdles for you coming to orthodoxy? You know, in things about the church I didn't really have a difficulty Like a lot of things about the church. I didn't really have a difficulty like, uh, things, like a lot of things about the church I didn't really have a difficult time grasping, especially by the time I started going to liturgy. Uh, the first couple of times. To me I think, everything for the most part about orthodoxy made sense. It was coherent, it was consistent. Um, it just made sense.
Speaker 1:You know, I knew just from meeting it, this is like this is, this is a church, this is what I'm, this is what I'm looking for. And visiting, uh, st Anthony's for the first time, like confirmed that Cause, you know, going into the liturgy it's like, yeah, you're just, you're transported into heaven and like, yeah, this is home. And I think a difficulty for me was like really having to like admit to other people you know the, the people in my life that you know I was gonna. I wanted to go into orthodoxy because, uh, most of my friends were evangelical protestants and for the most part, I don't think any of them had heard about Orthodoxy. I hadn't really shared with a lot of people about the Orthodox Church.
Speaker 2:What made you think, oh, this is different, this is a little different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean attending a liturgy for the first time. I mean there's definitely the part where it's like foreign or exotic, because there's, I don't know. It's like, you know, you hear, you know Byzantine music and all these other things. You know, I'm used to it now. But for someone who's never visited an Orthodox parish, I mean it's, it's pretty foreign.
Speaker 1:But you know, looking at the church, hearing the music, looking at the icons, you know, looking how you know the, the priests and the altar servers, you know, do their thing in the altar, like it's beautiful, like there's not like a lot of words to describe it. You just, you just know that when you're in the liturgy, I mean you're coming into contact with, with the divine right, you know, with, with the transcendent, and it's just, it's there if your heart is open to it. You know, um, and I was, I was open to it the first time, even though, like, I didn't know what to do. You know, I wasn't familiar with some of the word, although a lot with a lot of the words. You know, I didn't know how the liturgy started and ended, but I knew within my heart that, like I said, that this was home.
Speaker 2:This is where I needed to be. In what ways did it feel the most different? What hit you? Was it the sense of sacred? What was it that you were like, oh man, this is exactly what I was looking for, that you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for me, I think I just had never really seen something as beautiful before. I think it was just, yeah, it was just the beauty of the church and the liturgy, that it was just something that I haven't really seen in the world and I think that's like what gravitated me towards it. You know, like when we talk about, you know, really like having an encounter with God, having an encounter with the angels and with the saints, I think, really, liturgies, that really like that special time where, like I said, like you know, heaven meets earth. You know, and, yeah, just how everything in the liturgy from you know, incense, the icons, like you know our priest tells us, these all these things engage our senses, you know, and ultimately, for you know, for the heart to be engaged. Yeah, so my patron is Saint Alexander Nevsky.
Speaker 1:So he's a Russian saint, he's from the 12th or 13th century. He was a prince of Novgorod I hope I pronounced that right, but he was a prince in that city at the time. Um, at the time, the, the russian people didn't really have a czar. They kind of like elected, uh, princes to kind of rule over their, their towns, in their cities and so. But he was, he and his family were kind of the uh, one of the most prominent families, you know, at the at the time. And you know, alexander and his family oftentimes had to fight with the Teutonic Knights and from just Western invasions, you know, coming into Russia. And you know, alexander, he was actually pretty young, I mean, he started serving in the military by the time he was like 18, and he was actually like leading armies, you know, into battle, and he was also just a very devout man and overall in the faith, um, that's just how his parents raised him and pretty soon, by the time I think he was my age, I mean, he was already elected, you know, grand prince um at the time, and this is around the same time too, that that the Mongols had invaded Russia and Alexander thought it was best that, instead of battling the Mongols, that he would submit to them, you know, in order to preserve the Russian people and preserve orthodoxy.
Speaker 1:And there's a, there's a an awesome story of him where he had to meet Bantu Khan and the Khan wanted him to offer sacrifices to his idols, and Alexander told him that he's willing to die, you know, he's willing to be thrown into fire for the sake of his faith, you know, and the Khan just like starts laughing, you know, and paraphrasing, but he says I like you a lot. And you know I'm paraphrasing, but he says I like you a lot. And you know, he saw in Alexander that this was a man that he could trust, you know, as a government official of his. So, yeah, so Alexander, you know, served his people well, served his nation well, and for me at least, why I chose Alexander as a patron is because he's a good example of what a leader and a servant looks like. And you see that in Christ too, I mean, he takes full responsibility for his people, you know, but also, at the same time, he's willing to do anything for the sake of his people, and I mean he even died while doing administrative business. You know, he got sick on a trip coming back from Mongolia. He actually passed away at like 42. You know, and an amazing thing too, I mean, he became a Kuskema monk maybe two weeks before he passed away, became a Kiskema monk maybe two weeks before he passed away. And it just kind of shows, despite his civil responsibilities, ultimately his heart was for Christ and I think that's what preserved him through all the circumstances that he had to deal with in his short life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, since becoming an Orthodox Christian, I visited a couple monasteries nearby where our parish is, and I think it was John Chrysostom. But he said you know, monasteries are hospitals too and they're meant to basically refresh us. You know, in our spiritual walk and I think it was him who said that you know, we should make the effort to visit monasteries as often as we can. I think he even said maybe like three or four times out of the year, and I definitely agree with that. You know, every time I visit the monastery, I always feel refreshed, and that's even saying like you know, because most of the times I go to a monastery, like I'm physically working, you know, besides services, but I do come out of it, you know, with more peace and with more clarity just because being there. You know you do prioritize things like prayer and attending more services and, you know, having more conversations with people, whether it be with monks or just people you're visiting with about, about Christ, about the kingdom.
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Dominic Alexander, I'm an Orthodox Christian and I currently work as a water treatment operator. Yeah, yeah, so Orthodoxy has changed my life because it's brought, ultimately, healing. I think that's something I always empathize with people who come into the church is that you know it's more than just having the right theology. Ultimately it's about you know, finding that healing that only Christ can bring, and that's something that I didn't find really in evangelicalism or Protestantism. I mean, yeah, those the problems that I faced were addressed, you know, and people had their solutions. But you know, when you, when you come into the church and you start doing the practices of the church, um, especially by the time you know you're baptized and you start partaking of the sacraments, like you, you begin to actually heal. You know, and, and especially when you have a spiritual father who cares a lot about you and knows you and helps you, you know you start to see this progression of becoming that the person God intends you to be. You know so things, things from the past. You know passions you're currently struggling with. You know those things. You start to be taken care of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as an evangelical I didn't have a spiritual father. I didn't really know what that meant until I came into the Orthodox Church and I didn't really get to experience that until, like, I actually found a spiritual father earlier last year and really a spiritual father I mean um, earlier last year and and really a spiritual father, I mean he's, he's really like a doctor, I mean he's, he's there to to take care of you, um, to know you, you to know you very deeply and to know, like, what you actually need in order, like I said earlier, for for you to be the person that God intends you to be. So he really takes it upon himself to really you know you to be, so he really takes it upon himself to really, you know, do anything to help you. You know, and I definitely found that, um with my, with my spiritual father awesome how of the community yeah.
Speaker 1:So at saint anthony's, I think the community there is pretty unique overall. I don't think it's something that most people, even at a lot of Orthodox churches, get to experience, just because people are just very involved with each other and it's very open, you know, and a lot of people say like, oh, it's just like an extroverted church. You know people are outgoing, but really I think there's a lot of us who are just introverts, like myself, you know. But I think we just found an environment where, like I said, everyone's just so open, you know, and everyone is genuinely, genuinely cares for one another and people are actually interested in what you know, what each of us do, and yeah, and it's, you know, learning each person there or getting to know each person at the parish. You know there's, it's good, you know there's. There's a lot of talented people, there's a lot of helpful people, resourceful people there's.
Speaker 1:I mean, my friends are awesome, you know, just to get to hang out with them and talk with them and just do different things, whether it's sports during the summer, or you know these recording sessions, you know, uh, in the winter, or you know just all these other you know activities, but you know, really getting to know each other and really um, to help each other and in the faith. Ultimately, you know and this is something you know, our priests always emphasize that you know our salvation isn't divorced from other people. I mean, we're all, you know, we all participate, you know, in the body. You know, and we do all have like a responsibility to help one another grow. And I definitely see that in my life. You know my relationship with other people at my parish and I love them. They're pretty awesome.
Speaker 2:Dom talk about what it's been like to write some scripts and to voice act some Lives of the Saints.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, so for Cloud of Witnesses, I've written a number of scripts for them. Um, it's a pretty unique thing for me. Um, I already have a talent to write. This is something I kind of figured out on my own during high school and it was always a not enough thing for me, even during college. And, you know, ever since cloud of witness witnesses started, you know, going back into that talent, you know has been helpful for me too.
Speaker 1:You know to kind of just, you know, sit down and write something. You know creative, and it's not that I'm adding things to the lives of the saints, but at least for me, it definitely helps me draw closer to the saints that I am writing about. And you know, I get to know them on a deeper level than most people um do, because I'm I'm trying to present their lives in a way that is approachable and that people can understand. And you know, just reading, like I said, reading the lives of these saints and and writing about them, it it's definitely a journey, um, to getting to know them a lot closer. And then, by the time too, you know, we begin to record these episodes and you know we're voice acting and all these things, you know you start to really just envelop yourself in the environment that the saint was in and you know it's history History, you know, isn't is no longer like a thing in the past, like no, you begin to like relive something that actually did happen and like you get to experience a little bit of what this saint has gone through for the faith. And I always feel that way. You know, whatever episode of whatever saint that we happen to record, yeah, so I mean, I had a conversation with a friend of mine earlier today. Um, he's an inquirer into orthodoxy and something that stood out in the conversation was talking about humility and and really being open, being open to god and trusting him.
Speaker 1:You know, and, and I think for a lot of people, I know for myself and this is this is definitely from for me in the beginning of inquiring about orthodoxy but a lot of people get stuck in their head. You know, they try to like rationalize things and they try to make sense of the things in the church and it kind of really prevents them to kind of really experience like the full-on. I don't know the fullness of the church and and it's not just like rationalizing but it's just people holding back. You know, um, that they think it's now, it's not the time, or, you know I can do this on my own or whatever, but really it's it's about, um, like I said, really having an open, soft heart.
Speaker 1:You know, for god, and even the difficult things about the church that a lot of people come into contact with, like the saints, I mean, they don't really begin to be a reality until, like I said, your heart begins to open and you actually ask for their intercessions. You know, or even like, about the liturgy. I mean, you don't really see the liturgy if you're holding back. You know, and so you know I would encourage people who are inquiring about orthodoxy that they would attend a parish but when they're there, that they actually really begin to practice the things in the church with an open heart.
Speaker 2:Amen, that's great. Yeah, that's fantastic. Dom, one more time. Did you guys have anything else in particular? No, I was saying just one more time, just for the sake of it just do the same thing. Hi Start with a smile on your face right in the camera. Hi, I'm Dominic Alexander and I'm an Orthodox Christian. Hi, I'm Dominic Alexander, and singers of victory and victory Amen.