Famous Orthodox Christian Apostates

[Ioannis Climacus]

H. P. Blavatsky

 

[Ikonguru]

H. P. Blavatsky

''The facts of her life, as documented and reconstructed, show Blavatsky to have been at the very least psychologically disturbed and, at times, an outright charlatan and fraud. Today, in our more "tolerant'' age, many prefer to see her as a colorful "eccentric'' who was also a charismatic forerunner of modern "feminism" and the New Age Movement. But from an objective Christian standpoint, however, she was in all likelihood possessed by an unclean spirit who often spoke and dictated through her by means of automatic writing.''
-Fr. Alexey Young
http://www.roca.org/OA/94/94p.htm

 

[mike]

Witold (going pagan-RC-EO back and forth almost 10 times). Not sure what he was when he died.

 

[Ioannis Climacus]

H. P. Blavatsky

''The facts of her life, as documented and reconstructed, show Blavatsky to have been at the very least psychologically disturbed and, at times, an outright charlatan and fraud. Today, in our more "tolerant'' age, many prefer to see her as a colorful "eccentric'' who was also a charismatic forerunner of modern "feminism" and the New Age Movement. But from an objective Christian standpoint, however, she was in all likelihood possessed by an unclean spirit who often spoke and dictated through her by means of automatic writing.''
-Fr. Alexey Young
http://www.roca.org/OA/94/94p.htm

I wouldn't call the writings of Marion Meade (of which Fr. Young uses as his primary source) "documentation". I wouldn't even call it good fiction. Meade never once read Blavatsky's major works or even a significant amount of her letters (concerning the latter, the vast majority were not yet published). She is notorious for fabricating details of Blavatsky's life (or at least she refuses to share these alleged "sources" with the rest of us). As far as biographies go, this is the False Decretals and Braveheart rolled into one.

 

[Jetavan]

Tesla.

Proof?

"For ages this idea [that each of us is only part of a whole] has been proclaimed in the consummately wise teachings of religion, probably not alone as a means of insuring peace and harmony among men, but as a deeply founded truth. The Buddhist expresses it in one way, the Christian in another, but both say the same: We are all one."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Religious_views

That's hardly the statement of an apostate. "We are all one" is true in various, perhaps metaphorical, ways: we all have the image and likeness of God within us, we are all made bodily of the same types of atoms, we all share a common destiny (how we respond to that destiny is another issue), etc.

 

[Iconodule]

Tesla.

Proof?

"For ages this idea [that each of us is only part of a whole] has been proclaimed in the consummately wise teachings of religion, probably not alone as a means of insuring peace and harmony among men, but as a deeply founded truth. The Buddhist expresses it in one way, the Christian in another, but both say the same: We are all one."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Religious_views

That's hardly the statement of an apostate. "We are all one" is true in various, perhaps metaphorical, ways: we all have the image and likeness of God within us, we are all made bodily of the same types of atoms, we all share a common destiny (how we respond to that destiny is another issue), etc.

This nonsense, on the other hand, is certainly anti-Christian:

"There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without."

 

[mike]

Chakrabongse Bhuvanath

 

[Porter ODoran]

Queen Sofia of Spain, the daughter of former King Paul of Greece and sister of Ex-King Constantine II, was an Orthodox Christian prior to her marriage in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Athens, Greece, in 1962, to Prince Juan Carlos, who later became King of Spain; Princess Sophia of Greece converted to Roman Catholicism for her marriage. 

Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, former Prince of Greece, consort of Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, converted from Eastern Orthodoxy to Anglicanism prior to his marriage.

To be fair, the formation of the Greek monarchy and its ostensible conversion to Orthodoxy was purely political in the first place. For all we know, the "Orthodox," "Catholic," or "Anglican" members of that royal house were privately Lutherans all along. (Or Satanists, if you'd rather.)

 

[ialmisry]

Queen Sofia of Spain, the daughter of former King Paul of Greece and sister of Ex-King Constantine II, was an Orthodox Christian prior to her marriage in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Athens, Greece, in 1962, to Prince Juan Carlos, who later became King of Spain; Princess Sophia of Greece converted to Roman Catholicism for her marriage. 

Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, former Prince of Greece, consort of Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, converted from Eastern Orthodoxy to Anglicanism prior to his marriage.

To be fair, the formation of the Greek monarchy and its ostensible conversion to Orthodoxy was purely political in the first place. For all we know, the "Orthodox," "Catholic," or "Anglican" members of that royal house were privately Lutherans all along. (Or Satanists, if you'd rather.)

Hardly. The matriarch, Queen Olga Constantinovna, came from the Russian Imperial family, and was married partly because she was Orthodox. King George remained Lutheran, but their son Constantine I was raised in his mother's faith. On the birth of his heir, Queen Sophia Hohenzollern, over the objections of her brother Kaiser Wilhelm I and the entreaties of his pious Lutheran wife the Empress, sought to be catechized by Queen Olga (but at the insistence of the King George of the Hellenes, was instructed by Met. Germonos of Athens and primate of Greece instead) and received into the Church-for which her brother barred him from her homeland in Germany. The heir married the Orthodox Princess Elizabeth of Romania, and when they were deposed, the next son came with his Greek commoner Orthodox wife (whom he married over objections to her status). Then came the grand-niece of Queen Sophia, Frederica, who followed her example.

 

[ialmisry]

Queen Sofia of Spain, the daughter of former King Paul of Greece and sister of Ex-King Constantine II, was an Orthodox Christian prior to her marriage in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Athens, Greece, in 1962, to Prince Juan Carlos, who later became King of Spain; Princess Sophia of Greece converted to Roman Catholicism for her marriage. 

Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, former Prince of Greece, consort of Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, converted from Eastern Orthodoxy to Anglicanism prior to his marriage.

To be fair, the formation of the Greek monarchy and its ostensible conversion to Orthodoxy was purely political in the first place. For all we know, the "Orthodox," "Catholic," or "Anglican" members of that royal house were privately Lutherans all along. (Or Satanists, if you'd rather.)

Hardly. The matriarch, Queen Olga Constantinovna, came from the Russian Imperial family, and was married partly because she was Orthodox. King George remained Lutheran, but their son Constantine I was raised in his mother's faith. On the birth of his heir, Queen Sophia Hohenzollern, over the objections of her brother Kaiser Wilhelm I and the entreaties of his pious Lutheran wife the Empress, sought to be catechized by Queen Olga (but at the insistence of the King George of the Hellenes, was instructed by Met. Germonos of Athens and primate of Greece instead) and received into the Church-for which her brother barred him from her homeland in Germany. The heir married the Orthodox Princess Elizabeth of Romania, and when they were deposed, the next son came with his Greek commoner Orthodox wife (whom he married over objections to her status). Then came the grand-niece of Queen Sophia, Frederica, who followed her example.

As for Philip, his mother became an Orthodox nun and founded an order in Greece, and insisted on being buried next to her aunt, Grandduchess St. Elizabeth, her godmother, instead of in Windsor Castle. She converted to Orthodoxy, after over 20 years of marriage, when Prince Philip was 7, while in exile.

 

[RaphaCam]

The last two presidents of Brazil are Roman Catholics with Orthodox parents. But I doubt Temer was ever baptised Orthodox and I'm sure Dilma wasn't.

We may count a big part of the Communist leaders of the USSR, too. Except the Old Bolsheviks, these were massively Jewish.

 

[Rohzek]

There's gotta be an Orthodox person from the past century or so who left it for another faith (not denomination) or for atheism, no?

 

[mikeforjesus]

condemning apostates isn't going to get one to heaven.

Please see below link for further explanation
http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,70025.msg1422746.html#msg1422746

 

[Saxon]

Vlad the Impaler deserted Orthodoxy for Catholicism in an attempt to gain favour with the Pope and Western monarchs for his wars against the Ottomans.

 

[Minnesotan]

There's gotta be an Orthodox person from the past century or so who left it for another faith (not denomination) or for atheism, no?

Andrey Markov in 1912 (just a little bit over a century). Markov, of Markov chain fame, was an atheist. He basically said, "Excommunicate me please" to the Russian church, and they did.

 

[Velsigne]

Chakrabongse Bhuvanath

Agreed on Tesla, son of an Orthodox priest.  Though he changed the world as we know it, slept only a few hours every night, walked miles a day, never married.  Very unusual brilliant man.  Have thought recently that if everyone followed the church prescription for either monastic or married life we might never accomplish anything we are set out to do. 

There, I said it.

 

[Minnesotan]

Chakrabongse Bhuvanath

Agreed on Tesla, son of an Orthodox priest.  Though he changed the world as we know it, slept only a few hours every night, walked miles a day, never married.  Very unusual brilliant man.  Have thought recently that if everyone followed the church prescription for either monastic or married life we might never accomplish anything we are set out to do. 

There, I said it.

"I'm married to my job".

 

[Minnesotan]

Savitri Devi apparently was christened Greek Orthodox but ended up becoming an esoteric neo-Nazi Hindu.

 

[biro]

Savitri Devi apparently was christened Greek Orthodox but ended up becoming an esoteric neo-Nazi Hindu.

Whoa there. 

 

[rakovsky]

Tolstoy, Benny Hinn, Stalin, Julian the Apostate, Vlad the Impaler

 

[RaphaCam]

I didn't know Savitri was Greek, I actually planned to read one of her books to know what on Earth she was talking about. The Chilean author Miguel Serrano refers to her a lot. It's worth mentioning Serrano believed Hitler was literally Kalki, the Hindu avatara of Vishnu, and he quoted Savitri extensively to "prove" his point. It's like blue-eyed Rastafarianism...

 

[juliogb]

The last two presidents of Brazil are Roman Catholics with Orthodox parents. But I doubt Temer was ever baptised Orthodox and I'm sure Dilma wasn't.

We may count a big part of the Communist leaders of the USSR, too. Except the Old Bolsheviks, these were massively Jewish.

I thought Roussef's parents were secular jewish and Michel Temer family was maronite, not orthodox.

 

[RaphaCam]

I thought Roussef's parents were secular jewish and Michel Temer family was maronite, not orthodox.

Rousseff's mother was Brazilian, while although there are some people who say her father was Jewish, I searched extensively about it two years ago and found it should be a myth. Temer's parents came from an Orthodox village, with a priest and a bishop in their family, but they became Maronite here, probably influenced by the specific Arabic community they found themselves in.