[Ekrbcbvh]

John (King) makes a point which always troubles me. Orthodoxy, in England at any rate, can appear selfish. We are a tiny little sect. We 'attend to ourselves' and work out our own salvation. Of course, St Seraphim said 'acquire the Holy Spirit and thousands around you will be saved' and we have to try to acquire the Holy Spirit by the resolute practice of our faith in the hope that this may be so. If we here lift up our heads from Monachos and our parishes, we can see that we are largely unknown. There is no mission, no good deeds in the wider community, and certainly no loud voice from the Orthodox Church. For example, there is controversy here over proposals to give cohabitants similar financial rights to the married on relationship breakdown. There are published reports from the RC Church and the C of E. Nothing from the Orthodox Church. It is often said that at the Judgment, we shall not be asked, did you perform all rites correctly etc, but, did you love as I have loved you? Did you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, comfort the broken-hearted? The Protestants seem better at this sort of thing than we. On the other hand, is this view underestimating the power of prayer and the grace that flows into our surroundings from the celebration of the Divine Liturgy? Is the mere presence of Orthodoxy a blessing and a benefit for our respective lands that we perhaps don't appreciate?