Putting on
Christ
Baptism is
only the beginning of a life in Christ
We must not
allow ourselves to view our ethnic links as assurances that our children will
remain Orthodox Christians into adulthood. It is fine to be proud of one’s
ethnic heritage, and want to preserve one’s ethnic language and ethnic
traditions. But our ethnicity does not save us. Only Christ saves us! Being
Greek or Russian will not save us, for God’s grace has nothing to do with one’s
ethnicity. It is only putting on Christ that will bring about salvation. We
must not link ethnic preservation to our Orthodox Faith, for in Christ there is
“neither Greek nor Jew…”.
If we allow
ourselves to see the parish as the cultural link to our family tree, but do not
instruct our children in the life of prayer and repentance, and the importance
that they bind themselves to Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord, we may
inadvertently deprive them of a faith that will sustain them for the rest of
their lives.
With love and
blessings,
Abbot Tryphon
Photos: Icon
of Saint Mary of Egypt, painted by my friend, Father Deacon Turbo Qualls
(second photograph), of the inner city Serbian mission in Kansas City, MO.
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