How does a 19 year old who grew up Catholic, then became non-denominational make a book Orthodox priests want to sell in their parish stores?
Archangel · Co-founder, Unbroken Vine
Hi, I'm Archangel, one of the founders of Unbroken Vine.
We're an Orthodox Christian brand, with the mission of spreading Orthodoxy in the West.
But it's much deeper than that.
I wasn't born Orthodox.
Neither was my family.
I grew up Catholic, went through OCIA, was baptized, and eventually took communion.
But I never felt strongly about it.
I never felt God. I never knew what Catholic teaching really was.
I played violin at my church for 4 years, every Sunday, and I couldn't tell you a single reading or lesson I learned from a sermon.
I started drifting away…
Going into Protestantism, and the non-denominational route.
Even telling my now ex-girlfriend, who I so desperately wanted to bring to Christ, that I didn't really believe in organized religion.
And even telling a stranger at an airport who asked me about Christ, that it's a relationship, not a religion.
That was until my co-founder, Milan, told me about Orthodoxy.
Milan is Serbian Orthodox. We had already built a few brands that failed miserably together.
And he had pitched the idea to do something about Orthodox Christianity.
I was reluctant at first. It felt weird, it felt odd, it felt like exploitation.
I'm not even Orthodox?
Which I later realized was the enemy taking me away from this mission.
I started researching Orthodoxy, and went down a 3 month rabbit hole.
Learning about these concepts, icons, theosis, and the lifelong process of salvation.
If you're like me, none of these things probably ever made sense to you.
And if you've gone down that rabbit hole, they still might not.
It took hours of videos, and research of Church history, to just get a basic idea of theology.
And that's why we made this book.The Orthodox Faith Made Clear
A clear, illustrated introduction to Orthodoxy in simple language.
We made sure to not write anything in a way to try to convince or convert you.
But to give you enough information so you can make your own decision.
“That looks fantastic! Well done! This looks like a great tool for evangelism.”
V. Rev. Fr. Mark Wallace · St. James Orthodox Church, Stillwater, Oklahoma
Because after years of defiling myself, and others, while claiming to believe in God but never knowing what it felt like to love Christ…
Orthodoxy is what brought me closer to God than any church I've been to.
Do I still feel like I'm doing something wrong?
Do I still feel like I am exploiting Christ for money?
Sometimes… I do.
But then I pray.
And I get multiple emails a day from priests who have read the book and loved it.
- Asking to sell it at their parish store.
- Asking to start using it in catechism classes.
- Even a representative from the publishers and writers of the Orthodox Study Bible reaching out to us.
But none of that compares to the messages we get of people loving what we do.
What we stand for.
The 3,000+ readers, from all kinds of denominations, reading our book.
Getting messages of people saying they were truly inspired to go visit an Orthodox Church.
Milan and I, and thousands of others, truly believe we are doing God's will.
Because until now, nothing we tried ever worked.
It's not just about spreading Orthodoxy.
It's about bringing the West back to Christ.
It's about experiencing what Christ truly left us.
And fighting against the temptations, deceit, and evil the world has for us.
So if you're even just a little curious, you can get a copy.
And learn what 3,000+ other U.S. Christians are learning.
And feeling.
“America will be holy.” — St. Paisios