The thing about the Orthodox Church is, that among all of the various ‘denominations’ of Christianity, it is the only one that promises to provide for us the means of being restored entirely to the state that Adam and Eve were in before the Fall of Man and of being raised up from there into the state that God would have raised Adam and Eve had they not fallen in the first place.

Other denominations are primarily focused on helping us to become better people and on hopefully making the world a better place to live in. And, although there is certainly nothing wrong with that, the Orthodox Church sees these things as being the natural result of our reconciliation with God and not as separate goals to strive after, (at the expense of our Prime Directive of being rendered God-like.)

The Orthodox Church sees this world, not as something to be perfected by our own efforts, or even with the help of God, but as a ‘Staging ground' and as a ‘Stepping off place' into another kind of reality altogether where whatever we Intend comes into being instantaneously, where Time/Space and the Laws of Physics are the loosest of frameworks, if at all applicable.

Now, if this sort of vision is just too ‘far out’ for you, then I suggest that you just stick with whatever else you have that is already working for you!

However, if the above sounds at all interesting to you, I recommend reading the lives of the Saints who have been connected to the Orthodox Church down through the ages; the Apostles, the Apostolic Fathers, the desert Fathers, (St Anthony, etc…), the first Christian Martyrs, St Thecla, the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Counsels, so on and so forth, and especially the lives of the Sanctified Men and Women of recent times such as, Elder Porphyrios, Elder Paisios the Athonite, Elders Joseph the Hesychast and Elder Ephraim, Archbishop John of Shanghai and San Francisco, Elderess Macrina, St Iakavos of Evia, etc.

Their lives are the ‘proof of the pudding' that what Orthodoxy claims to be able to do for us, it does in fact accomplish.

All the very best to you in the New Year!