OBW, I do welcome comments, especially if they are in a friendly manner and help me to see, ponder or understand something that was missing from my point of view.
I’ve just started my rediscovering the Orthodox Christianity. So I am not qualified well enough to answer your question. But I’ll try to do it, though I will have to use my copy and paste approach. (It’s going to be a long post but please bear with me. I need a long start to explain the Orthodox way).
The Orthodox Church is a Christ-centered church. For Orthodox people, Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things. He is our path to Salvation, and the cure for all our sins and weaknesses. If we want to be faithful to Our Lord Jesus Christ, we must be Christians not only by our faith, because we believe in Christ, but also by our actions, by placing Christ Jesus into the center of our life.
The essence of Orthodox life consists in communion with God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. As St. Theophan the Recluse says,
“The chief end of our life is to live in communion with God. To this end the Son of God became incarnate, in order to return us to this divine communion, which was lost by the fall into sin”.
The entire faith of the Church is built on the fact that “God is the Lord and has revealed Himself unto us.” God has revealed Himself! He has not merely told some things about Himself, or communicated some data about His divine existence and purposes. He has shown forth Himself and has given Himself to men for divine communion.
I’ll repeat one more time. According to Orthodoxy, there is no other meaning to the life of man except in communion with God. God is the end of all longing, the fulfillment of all desires, the source and the goal of man’s very humanity made in God’s divine image and likeness.
Through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, man comes to living communion with God the Father Himself. There is no other meaning and purpose to the Church and to life itself.
To have communion with God, we must be filled with nothing less than the Life of God in order to be healed, forgiven and made new. Jesus did not come to make bad men good; He came to make dead men live. And I believe that’s possible only if we place Christ into the center of our life. If we don't take God as the center, then something else will occupy this place.
Stated simply, to have communion with God means to have a share in His Divine Life. He lives in me and I in Him. I come to know God even as I know myself. I come to love even as God loves because it is His love that dwells in me. I come to forgive as God forgives because it is His mercy that dwells within me.
Without such an understanding of communion, these vitally important parts of the Christian life usually become reduced to mere moralism. We are told to love our enemies as though it were a simple moral obligation. Instead, we love our enemies because God loves our enemies, and we want to live in the Life of God. We’re not trying to be good, or to prove anything to God by loving our enemies. It is simply the case that if the Love of God dwells in us, then we will love as God loves.
Of course all of this is the free gift of God, though living daily in communion with God is difficult. The disease of broken communion that was so long at work in us is difficult to cure. It takes time and we must be patient with ourselves and our broken humanity – though never using this as an excuse not to seek the healing that God gives.
But Orthodox believe that God is not an angry and vengeful judge anxious to destroy sinners. Rather, He is the loving and eternally merciful God who created the universe and called it “good.” He made mankind in His own image and likeness for a life of joyful communion with Him. Despite our failings, sins and mistakes, He never ceases to love and freely offer His mercy, forgiveness and grace. However, to be a Christian is a great responsibility. God is our target. And we should not miss it. Therefore, in our daily life, we must try to live in spirit. Our thoughts must be focused on God. Our actions must glorify His name. In other words, we must remember Him through the day and avoid any desires, wishes, and acts that lead us astray or may be an offence to God. It sounds idealistic and maybe impossible but nobody says it’s an easy way. Everything takes practice.
As for our spiritual life (be it worship, prayer or church gatherings), we must also remember the goal of all these things. And it’s again – communion with God. But if “we don’t bear the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, it has no value at all before God. Such things would be like souless statues. Good clocks also work correctly; but who will say that there is life in them? It is the same thing here. Often thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead in reality”. (St. Theophan the Recluse).
Here are some other quotes:
Do not think about or do anything without a spiritual purpose, whereby it is done for God. For If you travel without purpose, you shall labor in vain.
(St. Mark the Ascetic, Homilies, 1.54)
All that you lose in the name of God, you keep. All that you keep for your own sake, you loose. All that you give in the name of God, you will receive with interest. All that you give for the sake of your own glory and pride, you throw into the water. All that you receive from people as from God will bring you joy. All that you receive from people as from people will bring you worries.
(St. Nicholas of Serbia, Thoughts on Good and Evil)
Do not seek earthly glory in any matter, for it is extinguished for him who loves it. In its time it blows on a man like a strong wind, and then quickly, taking from him the fruits of his good works, it goes away from him, laughing at his foolishness.
(St. Gennadius of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, 35)
Christians, have we understood the great responsibility that we have taken on before God through baptism? Have we come to know that we must conduct ourselves as children of God, that we must align our will with the will of God, that we must remain free from sin, that we must love God with all our hearts and always patiently await union with Him? Have we thought about the fact that our heart should be so filled with love that it should overflow to our neighbor? Do we have the feeling that we must become holy and perfect, children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven? We must struggle for this, so that we may not be shown unworthy and rejected. Let none of us lose our boldness, nor neglect our duties, nor be afraid of the difficulties of spiritual struggle. For we have God as a helper, who strengthens us in the difficult path of virtue. (St. Nektarius of Aegina, The Path to Happiness, 2)
St. Theophan the Recluse says,
"From turning all of our works to the glory of God, we obtain a constant remembrance of God, or in other words, walking before God. Walking before God consists of doing nothing without remembering that you are in the presence of God". That’s a key point. Whatever we do, we have to walk before God. I.e. in our daily life and in our spiritual life, we must always remember and feel that we are in the presence of God.
God is with us everywhere. If we were not so distracted, we would have a constant awareness of God's presence — whether we were at home, on the street, in the field, in the forest, on the sea, underground. What may help us to have this constant awareness of God’s presence? Prayer. It is the breath of the Christian life. Through prayer we are able to have communion with God. Always to be with God in our thoughts — this is to be in a state of constant prayer, which is a testimony of the spiritual life.
I believe one of the best books on how to live an authentic spiritual life in the modern world is "The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation" by St. Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894). It’s an old book, indeed, but it’s worth reading.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Path-Salva.../dp/1887904506
http://www.holytrinitymission.org/bo...on_theofan.htm
http://www.scribd.com/doc/114913207/...on-Part-1-Ch-1
In this book and his other books, St. Theophan the Recluse stresses the main goal of the repentant sinner which is total, light-bearing and blessed communion with God, through prayer, through walking before God, and remembering of Him in our daily life:
“From turning all of our works to the glory of God, we obtain a constant remembrance of God, or in other words, walking before God. Walking before God consists of doing nothing without remembering that you are in the presence of God.”
“The principal thing is to walk before God, or under God’s eye, aware that God is looking at you, searching your soul and your heart, seeing all that is there. This awareness is the most powerful lever in the mechanism of the inner spiritual life.”
“You must also maintain prayerful attention toward God throughout the day. For this, as we have already mentioned more than once, there is remembrance of God; and for remembrance of God, there are short prayers. It is good, very good, to memorize several psalms and recite them while you are working or between tasks, doing this instead of short prayers sometimes, with concentration. This is one of the most ancient Christian customs, mentioned by and included in the rules of St. Pachomius and St. Anthony.”
“If now we resolve not only to pray with attention and feeling in the morning and the evening, but also to spend every day in contemplation of God, doing all things to the glory of God, and frequently calling to God from our hearts with short words of prayer, then this long period between morning and evening prayers and from evening to morning prayers will be filled with frequent turnings to God and pure prayerful actions.”
"Our inner lives never get put into the proper order all of a sudden. What is always required and what lies ahead is intensified labor over oneself, over one's inner self, by the assimilation of good intention and the enabling of grace through the Mysteries. This labor is directed toward destroying the disorder that reigns inside; in its place it establishes order and harmony, after which follows inner peace and a continual joyful mood of the heart."
I want to mention one more book by St. Theophan the Recluse, “The Spiritual Life: And How to Be Attuned to It”. (There is another translation of the same title: "The Nature of the Spiritual Life, And How To Adapt Oneself To It" but it’s the same book).
http://www.amazon.com/The-Spiritual-.../dp/0938635360
In this book St. Theophan the Recluse gives his piece of advice to one of his spiritual daughters:
Worldly Cares (from Letter 49)
There is a widely-accepted misconception among us that when one becomes involved in work at home or in business, immediately one steps out of the godly realm and away from God-pleasing activities. From this idea, it follows that once the desire to strive toward God germinates, and talk turns toward the spiritual life, then the idea inevitably surfaces: one must run from society, from the home—to the wilderness, to the forest.
Both premises are erroneous!
Homes and communities depend on concerns of daily life and society. These concerns are God-appointed obligations; fulfilling them is not a step toward the ungodly, but is a walking in the way of the Lord.
All who cleave to these erroneous premises fall into the bad habit of thinking that once they accept worldly obligations, they no longer need strive towards God.
I see that these misconceptions have trapped you also. Cast them aside and grasp the concept that everything you do, in and outside your home, concerning social life, as a daughter, as a sister, as a Muscovite—is godly and God-pleasing. There is an appointed commandment for everything in our lives. How can the fulfillment of commandments be displeasing to God? Your misconceptions truly make them ungodly, because you fulfill your daily tasks with an attitude contrary to the one God intended you to have.
You complete godly deeds in an ungodly manner. They are needlessly lost and tear your mind from God. Correct this and, from now on, approach daily matters with the knowledge that to fulfill them is a commandment. Administer them as administering God's law.
Once you adjust yourself to this outlook, no worldly duty will distract you from God. Instead, it will bring you close to Him. We are all servants of our God. God has assigned to each his place and responsibilities, and He watches to see how each approaches his assignment. He is everywhere. And He watches over you. Keep this in mind and do each deed as if it were assigned to you directly by God, no matter what it is.
Do your housework in this manner: When someone comes to visit, keep in mind that God has sent you this visitor, and is watching. When you have to leave your house, keep in mind that God has sent you out on an errand, and is watching. Will you complete it as He wishes?
By orienting yourself to God at all times, your chores at home and responsibilities outside the house will not distract your attention from God, but, on the contrary, will keep you intent on completing all tasks in a God-pleasing manner. All will be performed with the fear of God, and this fear will keep your attention on God unswervingly.
To determine which duties inside and outside the family are God-pleasing, take the books in which these matters are discussed as your guides. Be careful to distinguish between concerns prompted by frivolity, passions, flattery and worldliness, from those that are correct, appropriate and honorable.
Of course, having expressed the firm determination to live in a God-pleasing manner, you will need no prompting to discriminate between godly tasks and ungodly ones.
http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/theoph_prayer.aspx
Another translation of the same letter:
http://www.monachos.net/conversation...ayer-and-life/
OBW, I am not sure if I have answered your question. But so far I have not read anything more simple as well as profound than St. Theophan’s advice on how to live Christian life in the modern world.
PS
http://glory2godforallthings.com/200...nion-with-god/ about communion with God.