It may turn out that each of us mean Orthodoxy by completely different things.

For someone, Orthodoxy is a pilgrimage to holy places, adoration of numerous holy things. For others —it’s regular reading of akathists and canons. It seems to someone that Orthodoxy is an intense activity on social networks and beyond, a struggle with external enemies. There are many variations. In addition, a person is not static. His ideas about faith change with age.

But what is Orthodoxy actually?

The main task of our faith is the transfiguration of the spirit, the eradication of all evil from it. The fight against evil in your heart is the main goal of our life.

Everything, that is in the Church, exists exclusively for the solution of this task.

The center of the Orthodox faith is Christ. If a person does not need Christ, then he is definitely not a believer or Orthodox christian. But unfortunately, "Orthodoxy" without Christ is a common phenomenon today.

Let us turn to Church Tradition. We reverently keep the memory of the holy fathers, the desert fathers and their precious experience, and we know from their lives that they often did not conduct any social activities at all.On the contrary, they were very afraid to go beyond the church fence — literally to leave the walls of the church and generally retreat from the Mother Church.

Internal work is the necessary and main work of the soul. And this is the domain not only for monks, but for all believers. Monastics are called to be an example for the world. But everyone is obliged to cultivate their own garden by their own.

We are given the experience of the holy fathers, all the knowledge so that we go forward and do not look back.

We need to get sober all the time. Let's remember the words-guides of St. Silouan the Athonite: «Keep your mind in hell and do not be in despair». This means that no matter what success you achieve, including in the spiritual field, do not even think of being tempted by them.

We should remember that evil that has not yet been eradicated from our own heart and that cannot be etched on its own. There is no power on earth which is ableto fight with evil. Only the Creator has authority to heal the soul.

The higher the achievements in the spiritual field are, the more terrible and dangerous the fall is, the more perfidious the enemy acts.

A skilled warrior is always defeated by pawky tricks and methods. If a person is satisfied with himself and his achievements, this is a very disturbing sign: he deeply lapped up.

Let’s remember that all our achievements are mercy, manifested to us, going beyond our work.

Recorded by Natalia Goroshkova