When I served as an Orthodox priest, I often got strange phone calls, which was rather similar to the situation when I worked at a law firm in my early 20s. People love to call up priests and lawyers randomly to get advice. I was going through some old Facebook posts and found this post that I made in May 2012. I thought I would share it because on the one hand, it is kind of funny, but on the other hand, it does demonstrate the state that many people are in and where their concerns are. A priest tries to use such contacts to segue into an invitation to visit the Church, but sometimes the conversations just get…strange and confusing… I did pray for this individual for some time, but I never got a chance to meet him in person, unfortunately.
Today’s random phone call I received went like this:
“Father, this is so-and-so; we met a few months ago. My daughter wants to get a tattoo of her son’s name, but in Greek letters since we are of Greek descent. Can you tell me if there is a Greek version of the name such-and-such?”
“As a priest, I must advise you that getting a tattoo is not a good idea; God made you a certain way, so why would you want to alter your body?”
“I can respect that position. It was either Chinese or Greek letters though, so I suggested Greek letters at least.”
“While I can’t recommend she get a tattoo for the previously-mentioned reasons, I would point out that there is no Greek equivalent to the name you mention.”
“So we should go with Timotheos, then?” (he never mentioned who Timotheos/Timothy is).
“Again, I don’t think getting a tattoo is right at all, but Timotheos is a saint’s name, yes. That being said, I highly recommend against your daughter getting a tattoo.”
“Thank you Father. I can see where you are coming from, and I can respect that.”