Wednesday, May 15, 2019



EVERY ONE OF US IS A POTENTIAL SAINT

Every one of us is a potential saint, even if we do not believe right now! Metropolitan Nicholas (Khadzhinkolai) of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki, a hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, considers disbelief the most valuable experience in the spiritual life.
"I didn't need someone's stories and arguments about Christ; I was looking to experience His presence"
Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and LavreotikiMetropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and LavreotikiDespota Nicholas, why does disbelief have meaning and value for you? It is, quite frankly, paradoxical to hear from a metropolitan…
—Because the Lord reveals Himself only to those who sincerely doubt His existence. I doubted. When I was seventeen, I straight out said, "I am an atheist."
Did it last long?
—About until I was twenty-two. I still believe it's better to humbly doubt from the sidelines than to boast of being within the Church's enclosure [when you don't actually believe]. My best teachers in the faith were not "savvy" theologians and hereditary clergymen, but those who underwent the novitiate of unbelief. 
It's all the stranger to hear from a Greek—it's more like something from recent Russian history…
—Greece truly perceives itself as being within the two-thousand-year continuous tradition, and with you [Russians—Trans.] everything is indeed being born again! This explains the inexpressible color and freshness of Church life. It is a revolution of the Spirit! It's unique in the history of mankind and indicative for Orthodoxy throughout the world, because our faith is not of this world. That's why I didn't want to believe in my youth simply "because you have to." I didn't need anyone's stories and arguments about Christ, I was looking to experience His presence. But He didn't come. And I confessed: "I don't know anything about Him." The true God is the One without Whom it's impossible to live. The Church lives by Him, because He isn't a certain sum of opinions about Him by certain people; He is Life itself. 
Since you're already physicists… First lessons on Athos