The Humble Method

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All of this is an intro to a video interview of Fr. Strickland by Austin Suggs. The whole interview is beneficial, but I will point to the concluding segment, in which Suggs asks Strickland: For somebody living in the West that feels this tension– that the West does have some sense of decline– this sense that something is wrong, what can Western Christians do to regain that sense of paradise? Is there anything short of

becoming Orthodox or bring back communion? Fr. Strickland responds: As a persuaded Orthodox Christian, I would obviously stress the value of returning to the initial faith of Christianity, however I would not say that the only service to the issue is universal conversion to Orthodoxy. As I pointed out before, I don’t like the word “conversion “in this context, using to

a person baptized in the name of the Daddy, the Child, and the Holy Spirit. However, I agree that the only service is not to be found in a universal return to Orthodox

Christianity. However to continue: Strickland offers that his 4th book will be titled “The Age of Nihilism,”where he will examine the anti-Christian program in the West from the last one-hundred-plus years. The problem is solved as we go back to conventional Christianity. For me, that means Orthodoxy, but I

can certainly recognize that Roman Catholicism and Protestantism also have aspects of standard Christianity within them– there is no question about this to me. Nor to me. And, I think, some Roman Catholics and Protestants can indicate some aspects of conventional Christianity better discovered in these traditions than in Orthodoxy. Returning to those first millennium elements of culture– which we share together whether we are Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Protestant– I believe going back to that experience of paradise, which springs out of the liturgical sacramental life of the

Church– East and West. This indicates going back to their own roots which will take them back to a method to Christianity that is centered upon liturgy, centered upon sacramental communion with God, the experience of God’s existence– of Incredible immanence– that the kingdom of heaven has approached and is

filling this world, and that pessimism starts to dissipate insofar as we experience God’s caring, caring existence in this world. Conclusion None. Strickland stated it best.