How to Survive as an Orthodox Christian in the World Lecture<\/p>\n
A. Introd.: pilgrims will go back to world\u2014here we are protected, have our rhythm, segregated community, oneness of mind, services, Lit. to inspire and recharge\u2014but how to continue inspired in world and remain Orth (w ones children)?<\/p>\n
B. This question arises bee. our way of life is so diff. from worlds. Not just a matter of evils + temptations in world, esp. for children, but diff. fr. everyday consciousness. Our aim and way of life totally diff from world’s. Forming Orth corns no answer either\u2014no com. can help but feel pressure of surrounding world. Bec. of times, impression is created that \u201creal world\u201d is everyday pagan world, and Orth, world fights losing battle against it. Then how can one survive as Ortho Chr.?<\/p>\n
C. Let us take a warning fr. a characteristic phen of our times\u2014fruitless fig trees. Person can be very zealous as Orth Chr., read much, go to sem. or mon.\u2014 + then cool off, get bored, + even when he remains as Ortho Chr., is in a state of constant dissatisfaction or boredom. Same th. can happen to a person who was never too zealous, but has simply learned to take Chr ty for granted. This is t. sickness of one who has becomes too familiar w. t. Faith, + bee. of outward familiarity loses inward meaning of it. Such people are worldly, self-satisfied, and \u201cknow better\u201d\u2014they have been conquered by world around them, are formally Orth but without t fruits of true Chr’ty. This is quenched spirit of wh Apostle Paul speaks, symbolizing absence of H. Sp.<\/p>\n
D. How do we avoid this pitfall and remain zealous Chrs.?<\/p>\n
1. It helps, of course, to have spir. fr. for confession + guidance, regular attendance at ch. services, reception of Holy Mysteries, regular prayer at home. But one can do all this + still be fruitless.<\/p>\n
2. A hint: St. John Chry.: \u201cHe who doesn\u2019t read spir. bks. can\u2019t save his soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. What is function of reading spir. bks? They put us in contact w age-old spir. trad., give us spir. formation of cons., develop our mind in Chr. path. Attraction of surrounding world is one of different consciousness, that wh \u201ceveryone believes\u201d\u2014we must be in constant contact w. what Ch. believes.<\/p>\n
4. Once one gets used to spir. reading, new world opens up\u2014one is constantly learning, no room for boredom (that is only for those who already \u201cknow everyth\u201d).<\/p>\n
a. Lives of Sts.\u2014constantly new discoveries in how men have pleased God. We meet those w. whom we hope to be in paradise. Vlad. John encouraged knowl + ven. of W. Sts.\u2014as source of inspir. Sts. Romulus and Lepucinus\u2014spir. of Rus. Thebaid in 5th c. Gaul.<\/p>\n
b. Spir. writings\u2014to learn ABC\u2019s of spir. life wh. we constantly forget. Can be read again + again as we gain in exper. If we are always learning, these bks are always fresh.<\/p>\n
1. St. John of Kron.<\/p>\n
2. Unseen Warfare, + others of Bp. Theophan (most not in Engl.)<\/p>\n
3. Desert Frs.\u2014among monks, but t passions + virtues described are universally Chr., Lausiac Hist. Para, Dialogues<\/p>\n
3a. St. Macar. Great.<\/p>\n
4. Ladder\u2014esp. for Lent.<\/p>\n
5. Coms, on Scriptures.\u2014St. Greg. Diog has excellent ones. Vlad. Aver.<\/p>\n
6. Many more not transl.\u2014but these are beg.<\/p>\n
A person reading such bks, preferably keeping journal of extracts fr. them, is bldg a world of his own\u2014not private world, but t real world of Orth Chr\u2019ty thru t ages. This perhaps our main weapon against worldliness wh surrounds us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How to Survive as an Orthodox Christian in the World Lecture A. Introd.: pilgrims will go back to world\u2014here we are protected, have our rhythm, segregated community, oneness of mind, services, Lit. to inspire and recharge\u2014but how to continue inspired in world and remain Orth (w ones children)? B. This question arises bee. our way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}