Orthodox Spirituality and the Saints

“Never has there been such an age of false teachers as this pitiful 20th century, so rich in material gadgets and so poor in mind and soul. Every conceivable opinion, even the most absurd, even those hitherto rejected by the universal consent of all civilized peoples—now has its platform and its own ‘teacher.’ A few of these teachers come with demonstration or promise of ‘spiritual power’ and false miracles, as do some occultists and ‘charismatics’; but most of the contemporary teachers offer no more than a weak concoction of undigested ideas which they received ‘out of the air,’ as it were, or from some modern self-appointed ‘wise man’ (or woman) who knows more than all the ancients merely by living in our

‘enlightened’ modern times. As a result, philosophy has a thousand schools and ‘Christianity’ a thousand sects. Where is the truth to be found in all this, if indeed it is to be found at all in our most misguided times? In only one place is there to be found the fount of true teaching, coming from God Himself, not diminished over the centuries but ever fresh, being one and the same in all those who truly teach it, leading those who follow it to eternal salvation. This place is the Orthodox Church of Christ, the fount is the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, and the true teachers of the Divine doctrine that issues from this fountain are the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church.” — The Inspiration and Sure Guide to True Christianity Today, by Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina