I am Orthodox because I was baptized and spiritually raised in the arms of the Orthodox Eastern Church.
In the Orthodox Church, I first got to know God, One in essence and Triune in Dispensations, as revealed to people by the incarnate Son and Logos of God.
In it I got to know the Holy Scriptures, that divinely inspired Christian book, and learned to interpret it correctly, far from the subjective prejudices and various misconceptions into which those who are outside the true Church fall, and far from those who deny its spiritual value and its divine authority.
In the Orthodox Church, I first came into communion with the Holy Fathers, those divine preachers and teachers of the Gospel, secretaries of the divine Truth and Christ’s sacred announcers, holy pillars of virtue and supporters of the faith, top teachers of theology.
In the Orthodox Church, I feel that the mystical atmosphere of its Holy Tradition surrounds me everywhere, and living in it, my soul feels the most pleasant peace and spiritual security and safety. I believe that in it the saving Revelation of God given to people by Christ is preserved pure and uncorrupted, that faith is properly learned, taught and experienced, that the salvation of my soul is objectively assured and secured there, although accompanied by the necessary conditions and factors.
In the Orthodox Church, I deeply feel that I live permanently in the mystical Body of Christ; I feel that my life extends beyond the narrow limits of the present and embraces eternity; I mysteriously experience the incomprehensible-supernatural unity of the Church of Christ on earth with the one glorified in heaven.
In the Orthodox Church, I breathe the peace of holiness, I live in the divine grace of the Lord, which is abundantly given through the holy mysteries. Especially through the holy mystery of the divine Eucharist, I mystically and really embody (join) the human nature of the Savior; my personality is filled and permeated by the incarnate Logos of God; I truly become a Christ-bearer and a God-bearer; I ascend to the heights of the Godhead; I graciously unite with God and receive deification.
In the Orthodox Church, my life is perfectly spiritual. The Holy Spirit, who inspires, animates and sanctifies the Church, is a supernatural principle that guides and directs us all towards salvation. The Holy Spirit, the Divine Comforter of the Church, covers my soul with His grace from everywhere, just as a stone hidden in the bottomless depths of the ocean is covered with water from everywhere. The Holy Spirit is to my soul both mystical bread and spiritual water; He is both my belt and my dress, and my air and my breath, and the inner healer of my soul and body. He directs my spirit as and where He wills; He fills me with various spiritual gifts, enlightens me, sanctifies me and exalts me.
In the Orthodox Church, I pray and serve God all my life, as it should and befits. In that worship, I constantly experience the divine Truth; my life becomes steadfast in the Triune God; I continuously experience the secret of the Divine Plan about man in the world and the saving sanctification in the Divine Spirit. In the service of the Orthodox Church, I feel God coming down to me, and I feel myself lifted up to the throne of God.
In the Orthodox Church, I always live in the light of Eternity. The Kingdom of God is reflected on the spiritual waters of my soul. My present life is not only a vestibule of Eternity, but is mysteriously transplanted and overflows into the Kingdom of Heaven. Time flows into eternity already from the present life. My soul, as the spiritual bride of Christ, perfected and adorned with virtues, foretastes the ineffable joy of the heavenly glory of Christ; still in this world he hears songs from the heavenly chamber of the Lord’s mystical marriage.
My highest eschatological desire is – the gracious union of my entire personality with the Holy Trinity; the fullness of my ethical deification, which will be accomplished by the all-perfecting power of the Holy Spirit, after the resurrection of the dead. That gracious deification illuminates all the horizons of my life here on earth. I, therefore, in my present life live as a man, but my way of life is divine; I live and am, according to the words of the Holy Fathers, like God clothed in flesh.