I visited a church way back in 2000 that was almost identical to the one described in the Onion Dome September 2008 article. The parish [which shall go unnamed] is legitimate and is part of one of the major jurisdictions of SCOBA.
It appears that some bishops do allow protestants who convert en masse to adapt to Orthodox practices gradually starting with small icons and gradually getting larger ones, etc.
This parish was a member church of a major protestant denomination just one year before my visit. They all started taking chant classes together as part of their catechism instructions. The entire congregation was in the choir too, so many males were readers, subdeacons, and deacons. They had some marvelous voices -- that was a big plus.
When the people sat on the floor during the sermon, my dear sister-in-law looked puzzled until one man showed her where a few chairs were located (on the sides). However, she just about fainted when most of the laity made prostrations just before receiving Holy Communion -- something the usually monastics do, but not the laity. She showed me her cane (I knew she was carrying one) -- all yiayia do
. And then she said, "Are all people expected to make prostrations including me?" I told her, "No, if all did, then they would have to pick me up from the ground too."
When you travel, do visit churches ... you may encounter a church like this as this is not the only parish who has converted from Protestantism.
They really are zealous and bring a love of the Bible too.
Some of these parishioners take Russian, Arabic, and Greek Orthodox chrismation/baptism names, like Haralombos, Nina, Nikos, Xenia, and Seraphim. However, many priests are telling new converts that prelest is something they should avoid and so most are encouraged to adopt the saint name given to them by their parents or to choose normal sounding saints names like John, Joseph, Philip, etc.
