March 9, 2014 - The collapse of cultures, the hopelessness of the people and the lack of faith

March 9, 2014
Sunday of Orthodoxy

The collapse of cultures, the hopelessness of the people and the lack of faith  

“It is quite usual in our days, and indeed quite fashionable, to say …"We live in the ruins of civilizations, hopes, systems, and souls." Not only do we find ourselves at the cross-roads, at which the right way seems to be uncertain, but many of us would also question whether there is any safe road at all, and any prospect of getting on…

Τhere seems [though] to be considerable agreement that our cultural world has been somehow disoriented and decentralized, spiritually and intellectually disoriented and disorganized, so that no over-arching principle has been left which can keep the shifting elements together… Our age is, first of all, an age of unbelief, and for that reason an age of uncertainty, confusion, and despair. There are so many in our time who have no hope precisely because they lost all faith…

The chief danger in our days is that there are too many conflicting "beliefs." The major tension is not so much between "belief" and "un-belief" as precisely between rival beliefs. Too many "strange Gospels" are preached, and each of them claims total obedience and faithful submission; even science poses sometimes as religion. It may be true that the modern crisis can be formally traced back to the loss of convictions. It would be disastrous, however, if people rallied around a false banner and pledged allegiance to a wrong faith. The real root of the modern tragedy does not lie only in the fact that people lost convictions, but that they deserted Christ.”

Fr. George Florovsky
“Faith and Culture”
From the book Christianity and Culture

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