Only One is worthy

I wrote the following few words to a brother in a private letter, but someone else needs to hear this, so here it is...

Only One is worthy,

and we know it,

and we know Him.

So as we go suffering as He suffers,

rejoicing as He rejoices,

let's keep following Him,

and decide to do now and always

exactly what He asks,

no matter what it looks like,
no matter whom it may offend,

no matter what it feels like,

but without malice,

without superiority,

without resentment.

People sometimes say that Orthodoxy is the hardest form of Christianity. I bet those same people are going to start out the Apostles' Fast with a barbecue, and finish it with another one, and then party in between for all they're worth, and then to show their devotion, pack the church to the doors. They don't know what they're saying or what they're doing.

Orthodoxy is the hardest because it is the Cross,

and it is the lightest because it is Jesus.

And to be at His side,

no matter what happens to us by day or night,
is why we live.