I was received into the Orthodox Church in 1993, and, though much humbled by Providence and by my own failures and shortcomings, by God’s great mercy, I am still blessed to stand in the Divine Liturgy and weep with joy, Sunday after Sunday.
I have come to love the humble, hidden Church of Russia — the Church of radiant, loving prayer which I know most in her great Saints. This love joins in my heart with, and completes, the love I learned as a child for the Northern Mysteries that were taught to me first of all by J.R.R. Tolkien and all the myths he baptized, and by the great Breton harpist Alan Stivell. The Church is my home, both the temple and the wide earth, the open sea, the circling stars, the high and clear mountains, the singing forest. “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” Of your charity, please remember Seraphim in your prayers.
