Of course, this rejoices and inspires the pastors of the Church, but at the same time they are concerned and concerned about the fact that the majority of newly-baptized, adult people, having received the Holy Sacrament of Baptism and not having assimilated the essence of Christian life, do not consider it their primary necessity to be a living member of the Orthodox Church from now on.

Neophytes, reborn to a new life, need to understand that the church is a living organism, the body of which is Christ Himself, the head and founder of this church, and the Christians who believe in him are members of this body. And he who does not live in the church, has little contact with it, loses its life-giving power, is deprived of grace-filled help and, gradually withering, dies to spiritual life.

Observing today's Christian believers, it is impossible not to notice that their communication with the church is sometimes reduced to lighting candles before an icon or, at best, to ordering prayer services. They believe that in this way they are fulfilling their duty to God. The fact that they deprive themselves of the most important thing - the liturgical life and prayerful communion in the worship of the church - does not cause them concern.

But, as the Holy Fathers tell us, true life is possible only on the condition of union with Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist, communion of the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, only with such unity with Christ is the unity of people with one another accomplished, that is, the one body of the Church is created. From this it follows that Christian life is essentially ecclesiastical. Therefore, according to God's commandment about the veneration of the feast day, every Christian is obliged to be in the temple of the Lord on all Sundays and, of course, on all the great feasts that are honored by Christians all over the world.

There is no salvation outside the Church

If this is so, then how can one neglect going to the temple of God, where our Lord Jesus Christ Himself is invisibly present in His spirit? After all, he came into this world in order to renew and revive to a new life human nature, corrupted by sin, and entrusted this greatest work to his goodness, mercy, truth and wisdom to his Church. "The Holy Spirit, Who has entered into the world and acts in the Church through the clergy, divine services, preaching, and the sacraments, accomplishes this renewal unceasingly. Only in the church does this renewal force relate, outside the church it does not and cannot exist."

Likewise, St. Cyprian of Carthage asserts that there is no life outside the Church, and therefore there is no salvation. But if our immortal soul and the well-being of temporal earthly life are dear to us, we must immediately become a living member of the holy Church of Christ.

After all, our Lord Jesus Christ established a church on earth so that it would lead all people to salvation and eternal life. And if you become a member of this holy society, you are obliged to lovingly obey the holy church and fulfill its statutes and instructions. If you love Christ not in words, but in deeds, then you cannot but love His church, which He Himself built and said: "I will build My church, and no powers of evil will prevail against it," as we who live at the end of the second millennium after the birth of Christ are witnesses. Thus, it is clear that outside the church and without the church there can be no Christian life. Without the church, there is no true Christianity. But Christian teaching alone cannot give salvation to man.

In ancient times, to believe in Christ, to become a Christian, meant to join the church, which is confirmed by the book of the Acts of the Apostles: "The Lord added daily to the church those who were being saved." Therefore, whoever departs from the church departs from Christ; in order to be closer to Him, go to His house, to the Temple of the Lord. There you will hear Christ Himself, who, as if warning everyone, says through the Holy Gospel the following words: "If anyone does not listen to the Church, let him be to you as a heathen and a publican." That is, such a person will be deprived of His saving grace, and therefore of the inheritance of eternal life. The question may arise: what is grace? St. Righteous John of Kronstadt answers this question as follows: "This is a gift of God, given to man for the sake of faith in Christ, for the salvation of man - a Christian; grace is the power that intercedes, has mercy, enlightens, saves, disposes to every virtue."

This great gift of God's grace can be received by everyone who is aware of his sinfulness through heartfelt faith in God, through the celebration of the three holy sacraments: Baptism, Repentance, and Communion of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ. And all this is given in the Church of Christ by His clergy, who have received the sacrament of the Priesthood, i.e. through sacred ordination, inseparably coming from the Holy Apostles and remaining to this day.

The enemy of our salvation, the devil, knowing all the salvific nature of our presence in the bosom of the Mother Church, is trying with all his strength and cunning to break this bond. He has only one goal - to distance man from God, i.e. to destroy him. His means for this are manifold: to lead a person into sin, into temptations through carnal passions, through lies and temptations through worldly addictions.

Therefore, we must hold fast to the Orthodox Church as an anchor of salvation, and then we will not be afraid of the devil's tricks, because, being always within the fence of the church, we will really feel a living connection with God, His protection and help. Understanding how important the church is in our lives, how important its beneficial influence is, many believers, especially those who have been newly baptized, come to the Temple of God, but they feel as if they are shy and not very comfortable there. There are always a lot of people in the church, everything is not clear there: where you can stand up to pray so as not to disturb others, in front of which icon you need to put a candle, especially since there are many of them there. It is often difficult to understand what is being read, what is being sung. In addition, you can't go to church without money: you have to buy a candle, pay for a prosphora, for a memorial service, for a prayer service, put it on a plate as a sacrifice for the church, and so on. Indeed, everything taken together to some extent frightens away people who, although they were baptized, for various reasons were unable to accept churching, i.e. did not pass through the minimum knowledge of church life that contains the rule of behavior of a Christian in church, at home or in society.