…He (St. John the Faster) knew deep down that our lives now, and our eternal life with the King, can be described in one simple sentence:  We are alive when we attend the wedding feast…and we die when we deny it’s invitation…. 

…This life isn’t just about just accepting and being thankful for the gifts that we have been given…it is about bearing the fruit that our predecessors could not….

These words about the Dormition or Falling Asleep of the Mother of God, are well over 1200 years old…and are filled with amazing images of the feast day that we celebrated this past week.  

…We must be careful, brothers and sisters, and pay close attention to the hypocrisy that we find in our own lives.  This is why prayer and vigilance to our soul is so important.  Each and every time we light our candles in our icon corners at home and begin our daily prayers, we take a step out of the Kingdom of Man…and enter into the Kingdom of God.  We remember the scars of our own sins, and we forget about the transgressions of others. We escape from bitterness, and we surround ourselves with understanding.  We turn our backs to hate and enter into a state of love….

…this Church isn’t just another denomination with certain morals, theology, and rules.  Orthodoxy is the Way…the Truth…and perhaps the most important adjective…It is the Life.  When we have our first meeting of catechumens and seekers who are wanting to learn more about the Ancient Christian Church, lesson number one is not to read as many books as possible to understand the history or the creed.  The class that is taken is called “Metanoia”, because the most important thing that is needed is not a change of theology…it is a “change of heart”.  Being a Christian is about learning and experience A LIFE, guided by the Holy Spirit through the Church, moving towards a genuine and unalterable love for God.