My wife and I have struggled pretty hard to get some of the most common theological errors to stop being second nature. We asked our priest to delay us another year to baptize us because we know how UN-Orthodox we still are. But, Father Josiah told us straight up,”I’ll be the one who decides.” I guess that’s something else we have to learn...spiritual authority.
“I guess that’s something else we have to learn...spiritual authority.”
Ah, well, AG, having a spiritual father is a great blessing.
As for doing un-Orthodox things, well, becoming an Orthodox Christian and developing an Orthodox phronema is usually a long process. The metanoia you experience, however, is total. Orthodox Christians look at the world differently than other people do. A non-Orthodox culture, like the one we live in here in the West, is in many ways antithetical to an Orthodox mindset and makes the process a hard one. In Orthodox countries, at least in those parts of them which haven’t become seduced by the worst the West has to offer, the people “walk Orthodox”, even the cocks “crow Orthodox” as my wife says. Its easier to think Orthodox there. Orthodoxy is simply part of everything there in a way that Western Christianity simply isn’t around here anymore.
In any event, your priest was undoubtedly right in baptizing you when he did. Likely it was clear to him that you needed to be fully part of the Eucharistic community of The Church and to participate fully in her liturgical/sacramental life to advance further in your theosis. Those flowers you brought home are part of that.
“I guess that’s something else we have to learn...spiritual authority.”
Ah, well, AG, having a spiritual father is a great blessing.
As for doing un-Orthodox things, well, becoming an Orthodox Christian and developing an Orthodox phronema is usually a long process. The metanoia you experience, however, is total. Orthodox Christians look at the world differently than other people do. A non-Orthodox culture, like the one we live in here in the West, is in many ways antithetical to an Orthodox mindset and makes the process a hard one. In Orthodox countries, at least in those parts of them which haven’t become seduced by the worst the West has to offer, the people “walk Orthodox”, even the cocks “crow Orthodox” as my wife says. Its easier to think Orthodox there. Orthodoxy is simply part of everything there in a way that Western Christianity simply isn’t around here anymore.
In any event, your priest was undoubtedly right in baptizing you when he did. Likely it was clear to him that you needed to be fully part of the Eucharistic community of The Church and to participate fully in her liturgical/sacramental life to advance further in your theosis. Those flowers you brought home are part of that.