The awareness that one is alone and one's existence is unnecessary leads one to search for support in life. Man suffers unbearably when he is forced to live with and in himself alone, with no one to care for, and no one to offer him a helping hand. Where is one to find that which is eternal and to which one could cleave with all one's being?
It is in the Church. The Church frees us from such oppressive suffering. Within the Church we enter into the moral and spiritual communion with persons in whom the Christian life has found its fullness, revealed to such glory. Such Christian people are called the light of the world by the Savior Himself. The wide experience of one member in the Church, the profound wisdom of another member, and the spiritually exalted life of yet another, by serving the Church, serve everyone. Entry into the Church widens the dimensions of of spiritual life, and so the entering Christian can begin the slow process of conversion and sanctification.
The Church strengthens those who by themselves are weak. As living members of the Church, they become rich in the profound experience and understanding handed down through generations and preserved by the Church. To bind one's active life to the Church means to link it closely with the work of those generations before and after us Nothing gives so much joy to the soul as the help we in the Church, succored by divine grace, give each other for the high goal of salvation. Life on earth has real meaning only when thus sanctified by the Church. This Church experience can raise the spirit, supply energy, and guide the weak to great accomplishment and great sacrifice, protecting them from temptation to evil and from all weaknesses in life. Life in the Church and activity devoted to the service of the Church make the light eternal shine upon us. He who distances himself from the Church deprives himself of all these beneficial influences . . .
Archpriest N. Deputatov,
March, 1985