Oddbean

I don't think you're wrong to be cautious when it comes to the direction of your prayer. Personally, I don't think of myself praying TO the saints. All prayer and focus is on God, but that can be directed to Him through His saints. They are saints because of their devotion to Him and it is Him that shines through them. Orthodoxy can be jarring, from my experience, as externally much resembles some of the Western tradition, but those things are quite different internally. A podcast called "Our Life in Christ" from Ancient Faith Radio helped me explore those differences when I was first discovering Orthodoxy a few years ago. It may interest you

I just don't see the point since Jesus came to restore us to the Father and is our intercessor. I don't need to pray to anyone but God drive Jesus did all the hard work. I don't need a priest to sacrifice things for atonement. I don't need the saints who have gone before us to do anything. Why invent a beauracracy (my goodness, I can't ever spell that word) where none is needed? I've been listening to Lord of Spirits and my goodness is that pretty much overwhelming... But ultra-fascinating. Thank you for the recommendation. I may add that to my podcast rotation.

I'll admit I don't have a sufficient counter-argument as it's just never been an issue for me. Priests and structure have just always made sense to me even though I was raised without religion at all. I will say that priests and bishops are a Biblical, New Testament thing, but you know that. And none of us are the body of Christ, but help make up that body. Everyone has their calling and role so it just makes sense to me to have priests. It's useless to have everyone prophesying if there's no one to interpret. Oh boy, you just dove into the deep end, eh? Lol I love Lord of Spirits, but I don't often suggest it. Fr. Stephen has a Bible study called The Whole Counsel of God. I haven't dove into that yet, but what I've heard is good. A few others I like are Search the Scriptures, Symbolic World, The Arena, and, most importantly, The Path. But really, man, I suggest attending a liturgy if you're interested. Vespers is super beautiful, but liturgy is something special