I am a thirty four year old new born Orthodox Christian. I became aware of God's calling on my life to enter into the priesthood, before I knew about the Orthodox church. I was sure that God wanted me to be a priest in the Roman church, even though I was at the time an evangelical christian. Then I discovered Orthodoxy and was convinced that this is where God wanted me to be. My main concern, somthing that troubles me greatly, is that in order for me to enter into semenary, I must first earn a bachelors degree from the secular church, otherwise known as the Sate university. I am in the Antiochene church and our Bishop wants his priest hood to be educated. I am fully aware of the academic rigors of semenary, but I have recently been questioning the ligitimacy of sending ones sheep into the lions den of secular learning institutions. Where postmodern relevistism is being taught and a new morality is replacing the old Christian world view at a rapid pace.
what I fear most about this is that I will have to sit in class and listen to professors teach people what I know is not true, and then I will have to write paper telling them what I think that they want to here, in order to make the grade. This will go against my concience and against my faith. I would have to lie, to my self and to the professors. For me to stand up and speak out the truth of Christ and his Church, lets say in a sociology class, would go over like a led balloon. I do not think that I am being paranoid or that my concern is unwarented. I spent a good deal of my life running with the devil, I now seek to live a life of repentance and service in His church. If anyone out there has any suggestions please reply.