The Orthodox Way

This is a great book by Bishop Kallistos Ware, on Greek Orthodoxy by a convert to it. There are lots of great quotes and general advice for living drawn from the Orthodox tradition. Strangely enough, this is a very grace-ful tradition (not at all what I expected) with insights into the human condition which only come from deep thought and long observation:

Faith is not the supposition that something might be true, but the assurance that someone is there. For faith implies not complacency but taking risks, not shutting ourselves off from the unknown but advancing boldly to meet it.

Between belief that and belief in there is a crucial distinction.

Because this personal relationship is as yet very incomplete in each of us and needs continually to develop further, it is by no means impossible for faith to coexist with doubt.

This is not at all what I expected to hear from an Orthodox bishop! For some reason I had expected a very hidebound, rigid, pedantic approach. Of course (as any good observer of human nature should be) the creed is grace-ful, allowing for human frailty and confusion. In fact, there is more acknowledgement of the limitations of human understanding than is usually found in the Western tradition (especially the Protestant tradition) with its emphasis on cerebral understanding. There is much of value and beauty in "The Way", as he calls it.