Introduction:
Today the Lounge glows gold. The air thickens with incense, and words like “theosis” echo softly in the dome above.
We welcome voices from the East—Orthodox thinkers, poets, and priests who never stopped reaching toward uncreated Light.
Some lived in caves. Some wrote with a fire that still warms hearts today. All of them remind us: salvation is not a transaction—it is transformation.
Moderator: Fathers, we’re honored. How does the East understand salvation?
Gregory Palamas: “It is union—not only with God's will, but with His energies. We do not merely obey Him; we become radiant through Him.”
St. Silouan the Athonite: “Keep your mind in hell—and despair not. It is in humility that we find the gate of joy.”
Alexander Schmemann: “Liturgy is not what we do on Sunday. It is the life of the Kingdom breaking into time. The Eucharist is the world made right.”
David Bentley Hart: “Christ’s victory is not conditional. If death is defeated, then all must rise. No lesser hope is worthy of the Cross.”
“He became what we are that we might become what He is.” —Athanasius (heard nodding silently in the corner)
Moderator: Thank you, Fathers. It’s true—one can breathe differently in the East. You’ve given us not arguments, but icons. And the Light still shines in the darkness... even if we still haven’t agreed on when Pascha is. Or how much incense is too much. (Spoiler: there’s no such thing.)
← Back to Main Lounge