/lit/ - Literature

>>20551714

You can already see it, but if you actually compare what that Anon is talking about and how he's talking about it with the actual experiences and testimonies of the 1st millenium Saints (and post-schism Orthodox Saints) then it's blatantly clear that he's going down a dark, self-deceptive spiritual path, using New Age categories & language rather than receiving the tradition from the body of Christ.

Saying "Best thing I ever did was become a Christian Mystic and have a DIY relationship with God" is a pure confession that you have completely missed the point - that you *can't* do it yourself, and you need God. Basic spiritual life is a blood-and-tooth struggle for purification and you can't skip that blood-and-tooth struggle and replace it with having a single psychadelic-style "Ego Death" experience and spend your time after it reading New Age syncretist material LARPing and calling yourself a mystic (which no serious Saint has ever done, especially the ones who have actually become deified).

http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/francis_sarov.aspx If you read this comparison for example, it will show how Francis of Assissi was in a state of pure imaginative self-deception, compared to St. Seraphim of Sarov, who did reach extremely high spiritual levels but never self-aggrandised, and retained his humility in his struggles to overcome his fallen human nature.

>>20246450

>Also I've always thought the different versions of the Orthodox church to be strange: e.g. Greek, Russian, Serbian etc. Surely, the church should be above such profane things as ethnicity?

There are no dogmatic differences between these ethnic Churches, and they are One Church. It's just a matter of practical convenience that the Orthodox Churches have distinct jurisdictional organizations according to ethnicity. There are a few ethnic idiosyncrasies - like the fact that the Greeks spread basil leaves in the Church at Easter, and the Russians have warm wine along with the blessed prosphora after Holy Communion, but these are just local customs that don't have any bearing on dogma. The lives of the Saints of each of the ethnic jurisdictions confirm the same reality between all of them.

For a comparison of the Orthodox and Catholic doctrines at the level of metaphysics, St Gregory Palamas's "Triads" is perfect for this. For other differences, Fr. Peter Heers has a lot of content about the differences between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinVI39Ky4M

For the historical differences that have developed and branched over the past 1000 years since the schism, and how the effects of the schism naturally resulted in the Protestant Reformation, while Orthodoxy never had a reformation of any kind (due to retaining the original unity of the faith), there is this series of transcribed lectures of Fr. Seraphim Rose's "Orthodox Survival Course". http://orthodoxaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/course.pdf

I would also recommend this article comparing the spirituality of Francis of Assissi, and the recent St Seraphim of Sarov. St Seraphim of Sarov exhibits the same spirituality of the first 1000 years of the Church, but Francis of Assissi makes extreme breaks, and falls into spiritual delusion. Here's an article and a video about this. https://orthochristian.com/90893.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra17xm0yn3E

I've been living an agnostic life for 26 years and I've finally taken the steps to go to Church since I was 7-8. I've emailed 2 Orthodox Church Fathers that are located near me for some guidance because I feel very anxious yet excited about how much I will need to learn and for the journey ahead.
Should I read up on certain things beforehand? I don't want to make a fool of myself when I go, and I hope my emails get replies and they aren't put off that I'm so new to Christianity in general.

>>18722840

>evidence that the authors had some kind of direct line to God

The most direct form is pretty much like you said here:

>the divine words that literally came out of Jesus's mouth and then got passed on

If you do read the bible, it's plainly clear that contains accounts where God is talking to people directly - and in the case of Christ's incarnation, it is God himself in the flesh, speaking to many people publicly. This is exactly the same as if I wrote out to you a conversation I've had with the cashier at my local shop - It is my personal testimony of a conversation I have had with a real person.

It is this same God who came down in the burning bush, and was directly experienced by Moses as the fire & light in the burning bush. That's also how we know the Genesis creation history - Moses was shown and told what happened in the past, since only God could have known what history was like prior to the creation of the first human being, Adam.

The other, less direct form of divine inspiration, is when a holy man gives his testimony and experience about how to live a life with God, and how to draw closer to God, and what it is like living a holy life.

In the scriptures, the wisdom of Solomon, and the psalms of David fall into this category moreso, since they are expressing true things, and true summaries of our history and experience with God, and the struggle to fulfill his commandments.

Outside of scripture, we still have divinely inspired words from holy men - for example, in relatively recent history in the 1800s, St. Seraphim of Sarov had this conversation with a man who was asking him about how to live a Christian life. We would consider this divinely inspired, too, since St. Seraphim of Sarov was a clairvoyant, miracle-working man, being a living temple of the Holy Spirit.

Here's a link to that conversation from St. Seraphim of Sarov. http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/wonderful.aspx

Pic related, it's St. Seraphim of Sarov with a bear he made friends with in the forest he lived in.