In this chilly November afternoon I am pleased to announce laureates of the October 2012 Post of the Month voting. I have to betray the secret that many excellent posts had been nominated and we had a problem with choosing the best one. Finally, 2 posts received the equal amount of votes. Surprisingly both of them were written in the beginning of the month. What is more surprising,
they were written by the same person - Fr Spyridon:
Do not fear! All that God wills is right and good. Whatever the "technicalities" of the Judgement of God will be, they will be just and loving and will be right. Don't let anxieties about these kinds of questions rob you of your peace. Trust in God, pray for forgiveness, try to do as little evil as you are capable and pray to be more more capable. Be kind and forgiving to those who annoy you, and know that what feels like a long time to go is only the blink of an eye: all our petty worries are but nothing and death will come soon. Allow your heart to rest in simplicity and above all know that God loves you.
Tristran, I hope you find some peace in this matter. The danger for converts to Orthodoxy is that there are lots of exciting (and inspiring) books about describing incredible events and incredible people. Guess what - most of us are called to be ordinary Christians. Don't chase after extremes of any kind, don't imagine yourself capapable of great feats of ascetiscism. Just fast when the Church calls you to fast, feast when she calls you to feast, and keep saying your prayers. There are millions of faithful "ordinary" Christians around the world living with God. It's enough - don't imagine you have to be an extra special kind of Christian - this thinking will cause you great harm. Take the pressure off yourself, and know that unless you are a monk God doesn't demand more of you than He does of any of those other ordinary Christians you meet in church. Being an ordinary Christian is hard enough for most of us and takes a long time to achieve. Let your priest guide you, befriend people in your parish, and rememeber that those people who do not yet confess Christ are created in God's image and are not evil.
God bless you.
