Christ Talking with His Disciples (Mikhail Botkin, 1867)
I would say that the above painting illustrates what the point of the Orthodox life is all about. It is not reading books, memorising canons, spouting the Fathers ad infinitum, or putting on a long face whilst one is pharisaically keeping one of the Lents. Everything in Orthodoxy points to us having a personal and real encounter with Christ, and that is no small matter, nor is it accessible by the use of the intellect. Christ wishes to speak to all of us, but, it is impossible to hear him if we have a noisy interior conversation going on in our hearts.
Stop reading and start loving, I say. I am no anti-intellectual, but, the amount of sheer wind being produced by relative Orthodox neophytes on the internet is depressing. To meet Christ is serious business; you shall not prepare for it by reading the latest blather. He wishes to speak a good word to you, won’t you listen?
