“Perhaps the title of the series of talks I intend to give may seem strange. My intention is to contrast what C.S. Lewis calls 'Churchianity', that is 'of the Church', with the true dimension of our Christian identity and to show how much the former element predominates within us and around us, as well as how imperfect we are as Christians. I consider it, indeed, a very important duty of mine. For years now I have been reflecting on the difference between these two, not theoretically but by examining my own life, both external and internal.” (Excerpt from the book)

The Church, as noted by Fr. Antonios, is not a hideout where you escape from life. It is the springboard to go out into the world. You do not chase God here, to creep under His omnipotence’s cloak and receive His high protection. The Church is not a cover; it is a revelation. It is not a place of forgetting problems but a remembrance of God. It is the home of the unwanted, the chased, the mocked Christ, who is pursued and rejected by all and finds rest and dwells where two or three are gathered in His name. In this house, we can touch His love or be embraced by His presence, just as He embraced the forty-year-old, enlisted atheist of the book... (From the Introduction by Fr. Spiridon Vasilakos)

In this new book, Antonios Bloom, Metropolitan of Sourozh, with crystal-clear words, admits that the ecclesiastical event rots if Christians do not emerge from their security and do not enter the world like sheep among wolves, with their only solace being their Lord - not to protect them from death, but to empower them to die the graceful death for the sake of another! Through his words, we understand the power that grows as weakness, as a voluntary renunciation of power. (From the Postscript by Thanasis Papathanasiou)