The World knows me as Adrian Keoni Martin, but Christ knows me as John, after St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. I was baptized on December 29, 2007 (NS) under the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. As a newly-illumined Orthodox Christian, I do not have a well-formed Orthodox mindset, so in this blog I will for the most part, instead of giving my own inchoate opinion, be excerpting from the dependable words of the saints both ancient and modern, as well as from my fellow believers whom I find to have more experience in living the Faith.
At first I called this blog “The Impractical Christian” because it certainly is impractical to live a thoroughly Christian life in today’s hypermodern society. But it came to me that this impracticality is much more radical than I previously thought. One definition of impractical is “that which is not based on experience.” Since the World does not know Christ, and refuses to experience His love, by definition the Christian faith is impractical to it. Without Christ, Christianity is reframed in worldly terms of “self-acceptance” and “good conduct” that suck all life from it, making a living relationship with our Creator into a dead letter. Even Christians, in defending their own faith, often couch these defenses in worldly terms, emphasizing the worldly achievements (such as in the arts and sciences) of Christians of various confessions. But we should not go to Church to admire the architecture or enjoy Rachmaninoff’s music. We Orthodox Christians seek Christ’s beauty, which makes that which is created in His name beautiful.
In short, to be an impractical Christian is to be dead to the World and alive to Christ.
δόξα τῷ θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκεν!
2 March 2008 at 9:34 pm
God grant you many years!
I was received into the Church on the Eve of the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee last year.
Nice to find your writings here.