{"id":8254,"date":"2020-05-24T12:18:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-24T16:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/?p=8254"},"modified":"2020-04-30T20:19:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T00:19:05","slug":"hieroschemamonk-stefan-nusescu-on-being-a-christian-all-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/?p=8254","title":{"rendered":"Hieroschemamonk Stefan Nusescu\u00a0 on Being a Christian All the Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe mentality of today\u2019s Christians is completely distorted. We\u2019re called Christians when we are followers of Christ. That means we should do what Christ did, doesn\u2019t it? Any disciple follows in the footsteps of his teacher. \u201cI\u2019m a disciple of so-and-so,\u201d\u2014\u201cand I\u2019m a disciple of so-and-so.\u201d And whose are we, modern Christians? Some confessors use the expression \u201cnominal Christians,\u201d that is, \u201cChristians in name\u201d\u2014which is exactly what we have become. Because we are called \u201cChristians,\u201d we are called \u201cChrist\u2019s,\u201d but we are not Christ\u2019s, because we don\u2019t do what Christ says. We no longer have the awareness that we are bearing a cross, that we participate in the Cross and Passion of the Savior, and therefore we see a different Christianity.<\/p>\n

This happens even with those Christians who regularly go to Church and confess and commune. Their thoughts are limited to thinking about how to make everything good for themselves: to have healthy children, a good salary, to lack for nothing, to not get sick, to not suffer any harm\u2014and, finally, to think they will receive, on top of everything else, the Kingdom. Some may receive it\u2014we don\u2019t know, it\u2019s the judgment of God\u2014but the problem is that a Christian doesn\u2019t think about the fact that he is Christ\u2019s and that, participating in the life and Passion of Christ, you identify yourself with Christ.<\/p>\n

Many people write us letters asking: \u201cFather, pray for God to help me!\u201d I had a telephone conversation with one girl from Thessaloniki who is tormented by a devil. I asked her: \u201cDo you go to church?\u201d \u201cI do.\u201d \u201cDo you fast?\u201d \u201cWell\u2026 I haven\u2019t dealt with this issue.\u201d \u201cWait a minute\u2014how have you not dealt with it? What, are you sick?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d But Orthodox fasting is the most fundamental thing. It\u2019s a means that leads to salvation; it\u2019s very important on our spiritual path.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n

– Interview in pravoslavie.ru<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

– ***Now and then we include a particularly thought provoking or inspiring excerpt not from one of our regular \u2018Elders\u2019***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe mentality of today\u2019s Christians is completely distorted. We\u2019re called Christians when we are followers of Christ. That means we should do what Christ did, doesn\u2019t it? Any disciple follows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-modern-orthodox-elders","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8256,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8254\/revisions\/8256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}