Youâve been on this Orthodox journey for a while now. Maybe a few months, maybe decades. And sometimes the work of Orthopraxy, of living out this Faith day in, day out, season after season, gets old. Other Christian groups arenât demanding this level of ascesis. Among your Protestant friends, fasting is a personal choice, the dietary rules and length of the fast determined by individual preference. Lent is largely ignored or mightâŚ
Okay, I might get in trouble here. In my last blog post we looked at the spiritual benefits of reading the lives of the saints, both daily short biographical pieces and longer books. But, to be super honest, Iâve gotta admit that a few saintsâ stories leave me scratching my head. Some of the saints seem . . . well, a little weird to my modern mind. Or maybe a lot weird.âŚ
I kept hearing the same tidbit of advice as I began visiting Orthodox churchesâduring the homily, from a guest priest at a Clean Monday retreat, and from a visiting monk (a term that I couldnât have imagined writing just a few years previously). âRead the lives of the saints!â they said. And I thought, âWhy?â I had nothing against the idea, but, since paying attention to saints was new to me,âŚ
