Saturday, April 12, 2014
On this eve of Palm Sunday, I am wrestling to define why I am Orthodox Christian. I'm sure no answer I give tonight will be complete, so forgive me while I release my thoughts onto the page.
I am Orthodox. I am Orthodox because for 30 years the world gave me reasons not to be. And for 30 years I had doubts and questions. The Orthodox answers to those questions satisfied my soul. (I was blessed with parents and mentors who lived their faith and understood its doctrine and a husband who is the same.)
I once read that marriage is about choosing to fall in love with one person every day for the rest of your life, choosing to be together anew every day. Being Orthodox is the same. I fall in love with my faith daily. There are many appealing alternatives in the world. But I read in my Bible that the gate is a narrow one, that the Way should be difficult to follow (Matthew 7:13-14, Luke 13:24, Matthew 24:9, John 16:33, James 1:2, 12). If I am not struggling on the way to heaven, then I do not feel that I am on the straight and narrow. Orthodoxy is undoubtedly about struggle.
There are other, more specific reasons, why I am Coptic Orthodox, but I won't get into them tonight.
(To be perfectly clear, this is not an attempt to "evangelize." This is a post for me, about me. I don't consider myself an evangelist. My life goal is this: "I cannot persuade myself that without love to others, and without, as far as rests with me, peaceableness towards all, I can be called a worthy servant of Jesus Christ" St. Basil the Great. May God give me the strength and wisdom to do that well.)
"The Orthodox answers to these questions satisfied my soul" -- yes, this is why I am still Orthodox... I am content rationally and uplifted spiritually, and that's all I really need. And Pascha is Orthodoxy at its best.
ReplyDeleteHi Tasoni,
ReplyDeleteChrist is in our midst. Thank you for this post. Your words remind me of the words of Tasoni Julianna:
"I never stopped trying to exercise my missionary efforts while teaching or talking to or counselling my students. I wasn't bent on having them join my church, but I was trying to be contagious and to instill in them a sense of faith, of trust, of beauty, and finally of joy. My idea always was, and still is, to try to discover what is missing in a person's vision of life, what venue to use in order to reach people on their own ground. Whenever I feel a void, I try to fill it with hope and higher expectations from real life; not career, nor knowledge, but the poetic sacred aspect of life, so often missing from people's lives.I insist that it is our sacred duty as those blessed with such abundant blessings from our life: our faith, our church and its services, Pascha, the beauty of nature, faithful friends, etc., to share these blessings with any and all who come into our lives, who cross our path and who dwell, if even momentarily, in our line of vision...Every one of us, every day has a chance to proclaim one's faith and love in deeds and works, in compassion and love, in bringing peace and being truly grateful. This is mission. Give unto others what we have in abundance." "+ Julianna Schmemann, "The Joy to Serve" (Montreal: Alexander Press, 2009) 78-80. (quote from http://livingorthodoxtheology.blogspot.com/2014/04/matushka-juliana-schmemann-on-mission.html )
Thank you again for the lovely quote by St John Chrysostom. Please remember all your spiritual children during the Holy Week and on the day of Pascha.
What a beautiful thought! I love this so much. Filling voids as needed, sharing the blessings we have been given. Thank you also for introducing me to this blog (http://livingorthodoxtheology.blogspot.com). I look forward to following future posts :). Pray for me.
DeleteP.S. I came across a mauricecyril user on YouTube while looking for Holy Week hymns (assuming it's you), and I see a LOT of good stuff for me to listen to and study :).