Friday, January 21, 2011

Eternal Salvation

"The Orthodox faith is salvific; the Orthodox Church possesses everything needed to grant people salvation and eternal life. And salvation awaits us not only in the afterlife but already here, on earth...Many people today do not understand the very word ‘salvation' in the context of Christian message. ‘Why and from what should we be saved?' they ask. Now you know what you need to be saved from in this life. You know why the Orthodox faith is salvific—because the struggle for human souls ensues here on earth, and some come out winners, while others, losers. Losers are those who have failed to find the way to the true God, who have diverged onto a path of delusion, who have entrusted themselves to deceivers, schismatics, sectarians, false teachers, liars and other such people who temp human souls, depriving them of normal life here, on earth, and of eternal salvation in the future life."

- Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk