The authentic Christian is very human. He highlights and honors his human nature; he does not despise it; he is not ashamed of it; he does not wrong it. Therefore, he understands the weaknesses of others and his own capabilities. He is an unfathomable mystery himself but also accommodating to all. His life has truth and love; he has the freedom to accept and the freedom to offer. That is why he is very philanthropic and social. He is not saved alone; he shares salvation. He can empty himself of his egoism, and thus unite with God and his brothers.
Authenticity helps the Christian to constantly operate at the border between God and man, reason and mystery, divine love and human pain, freedom and obedience. It inspires him to move beyond personal space, human measure, worldly time, the ego. It is at these borders that God is hidden; it is beyond these that one meets the brother, eternity, grace, truth, God Himself.
Four lectures by Metropolitan of Mesogaia Nikolaos on pain, unanswered questions, divine encounters, and authentic experience...