The Living God, Who gives Himself in the Church, is the Most Holy Trinity. The dogma of the Trinity is the holy of holies of Orthodox theology, and therefore it alone is theology in the true radiance of the Word. He discovers that the Living God is at once the incomprehensible abyss and the fullness of love, an absolute unity that coincides with absolute diversity. God dwells beyond every image and every concept. However, the whole reality of God is revealed in His love, and man finds meaning only in the image of God imprinted in him, in his participation in the Trinitarian Union. Just as one God exists in the Three "Persons," and the number three is not a cipher here, but a sign of absolute difference, of otherness, completed and overcome at the same time, so man, split by sin but gathered in the Body of Christ, is one in a multitude of personalities inwardly illumined by the flame of Pentecost. Personal salvation coincides with universal salvation. That is why the spiritual life in Orthodoxy at its heights expresses itself in prayer that all may be saved, "even serpents, even demons," in the words of St. Isaac the Syrian.

The immutable certainty that faith reveals to us must also nourish our experience. This experience is fundamentally sacramental and liturgical. The Liturgy, on the other hand, is aimed not only at proclaiming the Kingdom, but also at bringing its very real presence closer in the radiance of beauty. That is why the icon is an integral part of the Liturgy. It bears witness both to the holiness of the person and to the mystery of the world to come. It reminds us that God has become the Face, and man in communion with the Resurrected One acquires his true face.

The richest Byzantine liturgy is woven from biblical texts and patristic reflections on them. In poetry, oversaturated with symbols, it puts into events what the Bible says about God, and from His deeds it lifts us up to His bottomless nature. "Lord, have mercy!" – "Glory to thee, O God!" – this is the balance that lies at the heart of the liturgy: the penitent becomes a concelebrant, a "liturgical person."

Therefore, the liturgy was always served in the local language. The Orthodox Church, being multilingual, has never known the phenomenon of a single language similar to Latin in Catholicism. If there is a clear discrepancy between Church Slavonic and today's Slavic languages, it is only because of historical inertia.

Everyone communes with bread and wine, Body and Blood. Children, starting from infancy, are introduced to Christianity (i.e., they receive baptism and confirmation, or rather chrismation, which are merged in one rite) and are admitted to communion. Communion, which for a long time was very rare, despite the renewal in the spirit of the "Philokalia" at the beginning of the century, in our time is increasingly becoming weekly, especially in Russia, where this trend has become spontaneous and massive, or in other countries, where it is combined with spiritual renewal.

Every person is called to spiritual work, in which he must consciously become a being "liturgical, or, in the words of the Apostle, "for all who give thanks." Orthodox mysticism, the mysticism of sobriety, sustained in an ascetic and monastic spirit, remains a norm for all believers (tonsured, i.e., predestined for "inner monasticism" from the very day of baptism) – even if it is not often achieved. Eternal life begins here, together with the "second birth" at baptism, and it reveals itself in all the deaths-resurrections of our existence. This life cannot be anything other than participation – through the "spiritual" body of Christ – in the very life of God and the revelation of everyday existence in the light emanating from the Face of the Risen One.

The path of Orthodoxy is the path of the "commandments of Christ", the Beatitudes: it is the path of humility, poverty, the path of tears and love for enemies; and our nature, with all its passion, is crucified and transformed here, turning into "warmth" – not only of feelings, but of our entire being. Nepsis – vigilance and sobriety and katanyxis – painful sweetness, warmth – these are the key words of this asceticism.

Orthodoxy does not know the legal or moral concept of merit. A saint is a sinner who sees his sins and recognizes himself as the first among sinners, and thus has become a conductor of the holiness of Christ, our "Liberator," Who is "alone holy." "Fools", "fools for Christ's sake", deliberately challenge the seriousness and heaviness of this world, causing ridicule on its part. One of them kisses the thresholds in the homes of scum and prostitutes, but throws stones at the houses of well-meaning inhabitants.

Another, severely persecuted, claims that he has never met a person who is truly evil. Another in the last century said, dying: "May all be saved. Let the whole earth be saved."

Другой знак святости, особо близкий православной духовности, – любовь к врагам. Православие особо почитает смиренных «страстотерпцев», идущих на смерть с великим страхом, но и с великим упованием, со словами прощения палачам.

Вот почему самая употребительная из личных молитв, сливающаяся с ритмом дыхания – это покаянный возглас, соединяющий нас – благодаря имени Иисусову – с жизнью самой Пресвятой Троицы: «Господи Иисусе Христе, Сыне Божий, помилуй мя грешного!»

По милости Божией молитва эта воспламеняет сердце, делается «спонтанной», приводит человека к блаженному безмолвию (hesychia ) союза с Отцом через Сына в Духе Святом. Человек весь делается молитвой. Он становится «мужем апостольским», который может порой исцелять или пророчествовать или читать в сердцах, «человеком духовным» (pneumaticos ), а в силу этого и подлинным «духовником».

«Жить во Христе», «стать Духом», войти в «Тройческое общение» (koinonia ) – все это лежит в основе тайны Церкви.

Единство Церкви – единство прежде всего евхаристическое, ибо Евхаристия реальнейшим образом включает верных в Тело Христово. И потому поместная Церковь, возглавляемая епископом, заключает в себе всю полноту Церкви единой. Епископ свидетельствует о том, что евхаристическое собрание, на котором председательствует он или священник, его заменяющий, отождествляется с первой Иерусалимской общиной, с той горницей Тайной Вечери, и также через пространство и время – отождествляется оно и со всеми «совершениями» Евхаристии.