/lit/ - Literature

Gotta love Gogol

>This Church, like a chaste virgin, has alone been preserved from apostolic times in its original, immaculate purity; this Church, which with its profound dogmas and small external rituals has, as it were, been brought down from the heavens to the Russian people, is alone able to undo all the knots of doubt and answer all our questions…And yet we do not know about this Church! We have not yet brought this Church, which was created so that we might live, into our lives! Only one kind of propaganda is possible for us—our own lives. We must defend our Church with our lives, for she is life; and we must proclaim her truth by the fragrance of our souls.

I strongly advise against reading Aquinas (or any other scholastic, although Aquinas is the most damaging since Rome suppported him) unless it's for secular interest. He almost single-handedly redefined theology from being probed by God, to probing God. He also caused a change in the understanding of reason (logos) to mean dianoia, a major foundation of humanism.

Hassling people would drive them away, and it is not what the Apostles. Most people also know Christianity is today, so you don't have to explain. You should witness, but primarily by your life, showing how unusual and beautiful Chtistianity is (Orthodox Christianity, since it is the only beautiful kind), which will provoke questions. You can also invite them to Church