Fr. Seraphim Rose: His Journey to Orthodoxy Advice to a Beginner

Fr. Seraphim Rose writes to a woman who was baptized as a child, left the faith, and returned to the Church as an adult. Fr. Seraphim rejoices in her return, shares how he too was far from Christ, and some basic tenants of living the Orthodox life. Fr. Seraphim writes: Coming from a Protestant background, I rejected it completely and became an agnostic and atheist, and then started searching for some meaning to life in various philosophies and Eastern religions, until I finally came to the point where I thought there was no meaning to life at all, and I wondered why I should keep on living. And then I went for the first time to a Russian Orthodox Church, and something in my soul responded to this, and I began a gradual but sure recovery from my spiritual disease of despair and lack of faith. Many people today say that God has turned away from us and does not listen to us. But I have found that just the opposite is true: it is we who have turned away from God and followed vain philosop