Being called to the priestly vocation is a serious responsibility not to be taken lightly. The first thing to know is that simply a desire to serve our Lord is not a call to the sacred vocation of the priesthood. It would indeed be wise to discern and discover the will of God, and sometimes, the patience to wait for Him. The Lord does not want numbers, but true disciples. Also, there are many ways to serve our Lord outside the priesthood.
How do you discern God's call?
1. Silence. Only in silence and contemplation can you truly find our Lord's voice and His calling. Even as He calls, take extended time to pray and reflect if this is truly His call.
2. Direction. Talk to someone, such as a spiritual director or an ordained priest, to help you understand yourself better, and perhaps your relationship with God.
3. Learning. Besides the Bible, read up on the vocation and what such a life means. Read a wide spectrum of the life in vocation, from all facets of Christian life. Ideally, you can consider joining a seminary to study about the foundations you will need for such a vocation.
4. Communication. Write and talk to the religious communities of the consecrated life, and perhaps those in pastoral roles, and explain your interest and learn more from them. Remember that being a priest is hard work, and is not meant for the faint hearted.
5. Patience. The most important thing of all, is to allow our Lord, at His time, to give you an answer. You may not necessarily find the answer you want, but if our Lord answers, it will ALWAYS be the best and right answer. You may learn more about what you need to do, rather than just want you imagine you like to do.
Having done all that, including the all important task of studying, and having received the Lord's call to vocation, you would be ready to join fellow laborers for His work.
Formation Program
If you are certain after serious discernment that our Lord has called you to be His laborer in the field, and you feel that you would like to join in apostolic work, here is the program.
1. Candidacy. We will invite you to submit your full personal particulars, curriculum vitae, your professional and academic background, theological and seminary training details, pastoral and lay ministry history. If you are currently already ordained as priest/pastor with another church/denomination, you should send us your full pastoral credentials as well as a dispensation from your bishop. Depending on your prior theological studies and pastoral history, we will discern and assess how best to help you transfer to our communion. Not all ministers will be incardinated to our communion.
2. Novitiate. Having satisfied all the documentary submissions, you may be invited to the novitiate, to begin a short course of introduction to theology and philosophy of the Early Church fathers and the Orthodoxy, as well as sacred liturgy. If you have not been through a seminary program, more learning will be required at this stage and may take a far longer time.
3. Ordination. Having completed the studies under the novitiate, you may be ordained as a Deacon to serve the community at large, in pastoral and apostolic roles, as a representative of our communion. After a period of 1 year or more, you may be ordained to the priesthood. If you join our communion already ordained as a priest, you may be considered for incardination into the communion, if you can identify with Orthodox theology and the Holy Tradition.
If you are truly called to vocation without ANY other reason, we will be happy for you join in our Lord's labor in the fields. The administrator will oversee your spiritual formation and eventual ordination to the diaconate or priesthood if found suitable.
Note: Currently our province is a closed communion and so we will restrict to the spiritual formation of our faithful believers, and some of them may be vested to the subdeacon and reader (minor orders). Those with a distinct call to the priesthood (priest and deacon) are urged to be patient. The Lord's call will come when it comes.