The inner work of the spiritual life is the real substance of being an Orthodox Christian. Salvation, eternal life, is about coming to know God. We can live a purely external religious life, go to church, read the prayers, fast a little, partake of the sacraments and be nice to people; this is good and may bring us to heaven. But there is far more. If we remain on the level of simply formal religion, and it does not transform our mind and our heart and does not lead us to a conscious communion with God and the saints, we are missing the full potential of Christianity. We can know all about God, but not know Him. This misses the mark! Read More ...