Orthodoxy in the eyes of a person not close to the church

Life is a journey. A journey with the beautiful and the bad moments, the easy times and the hardships, the friends and the people who will treat you badly, the joy and the pain. But what is the point of this journey? Is there a reason behind this journey? What is this thing that matters in our lives?

Many people have been tormented by these questions, have struggled and have wondered what the truth is, what is the purpose of life or what is the right thing to do. In a world full of speed, work and routine, people often don't have time to answer questions that are really important for them. But what is the truth and what are the lies? What is the destination in our lives? Is there hope once this life ends? Is there anything we have to fight for?

Many philosophies and religions have tried to answer these questions, often imperfectly. Orthodox Christianity, however, has a fullness, a perfection, that if presented correctly to a person, there is no way that he will not rest or feel that he has not found the truth.

Unfortunately, not all people were lucky enough to be born into an Orthodox family close to the church. I speak as a person who was born in a house that was not particularly religious. In a house where not many religious books were available and a child was not given many opportunities to repent, go to church, receive communion, or confess. As a person who became more involved in Christianity during her lifetime, I have lived and I know how life is with and without following Christ. That's why I have a very strong desire to say why it is important to follow Jesus and why orthodoxy is the truth.

The light of orthodoxy does not exist anywhere else. Everything that is said about the uncreated light, about sensing God's presence and about the orthodox experience of God and His truth in our lives cannot be found anywhere else. I can confess in front of all the people who read this article that I KNOW that the God in which orthodox Christians believe is the truth. A truth that has enchanted me and for which I must be ready to even die, if necessary.

Anyone who has felt God and His presence, either in the sacraments of the church or at other times in his life, feels that he somehow knows Him. He knows that he is interacting with a person, he feels that what he is living is genuine and he feels strongly that this is the truth. God reveals Himself to us, and reveals Himself to anyone who truly and genuinely seeks to know Him.

Except for being the truth, our God is also love. An everlasting love that is stronger than anything you can imagine. A love that has no limits or conditions. He loves you even if you choose not to love Him. Whatever you do, you cannot escape God's love. You can't run away.

His love will always be there regardless of whether you will be near Him or you will be moving away from Him e.g. by harming your fellow man. You can be sure that God will love you no matter what you do, but that doesn't mean He doesn't ask you to not sin. You may lose heaven and the relationship with Him because of your sin, but that doesn't mean that He doesn't love you. God always loves everyone. His love is infinite and unlimited.

Many of us have often found ourselves with people who did not love us or treated us badly. People disappoint. God is the only one who will never disappoint anyone. Only God can give you the perfect love because no man is perfect. A man will not necessarily hurt you in some way, but you can't expect him to give you the perfect love. You cannot expect that he will never judge you, he will not be vengeful, that he can never disappoint you, or that he will truly love you without any conditions, whatever you do, etc.

People in this life are in search of God, often without realizing it. We want love, justice, truth, perfection... All these are God. But people don't understand it. We are looking for these things elsewhere. We are looking for the everlasting and absolutely real love or perfection in people. We are not able to find what we want. We begin our search with hope and then we get frustrated. Something is going wrong. Something does not work again. But we don't realise what.

We do not know that our separation from God is the cause of all our problems. We have not realised that many times we have the illusion that we do not need God, but the next moment we get crazy seeking for Him. We have not understood that if there is one hope that all our needs will be fully fulfilled, that hope is God and Only Him.

We are disappointed and many times we may believe that there is no hope of ever finding love, perfection, justice, etc. But is there hope? Is there a way to find the love that we dream, as well as all the perfect things that we have been craving since our early years?

I am writing this article to say that there is light in the darkness. A light that I find in orthodoxy. Many of us feel that orthodoxy is the true religion. Yes. We have found the truth. By experiencing the truth, we can also experience the true God. A God who will not only never betray us, but who was also crucified because we betrayed Him!

It is so wonderful to feel the love of God. To feel so much warmth from His love. It is wonderful to find peace and not be in agitation in search of something. It is great to find the perfection that you could not find in people. But do you know what is more wonderful than these? To become perfect! To be united with God through theosis.

Orthodoxy fulfills the deepest psychological needs of humans. All the things that we are crazy to find. Any existential void that you have can be filled by orthodoxy. For the first time in your life, you can have all that you were looking for. I am telling you this from my personal experience, as I also used to be a desperate woman with the 100 psychological problems. There is nothing like orthodoxy though. When you experience it, it can really lead you to everything perfect...