The Church is surrounded by the sinful, unenlightened world; however, it itself is a new creation, and it creates a new life. And every member of it (every Orthodox Christian believer) is called to receive and to create in himself this new life. This new life should be preceded by a break on the part of the future member of the Church with the life of "the world." However, when one speaks of the break with "the world," this does not mean to go away totally from life on earth, from the midst of the rest of mankind, which is often unbelieving and corrupt; "for then," writes the Apostle Paul, "must ye needs go out of the world" (1 Corinthians 5:10).

We often think that Christ came into the world to prevent us from going to a place of torment after we die. The emphasis, however, in the Gospels and the Epistles, is that Christ came to save us not simply from the penalty for our sins, but from the sins themselves (see, e.g., Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; Romans 6:10-14).

From the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee to Great and Holy Saturday when our Lord lies in the tomb, our journey to Pascha is a continuous movement of repentance. Great and Holy Lent is often called the school of repentance -- the place where we learn how to repent. What is repentance? It is first and foremost a turning toward Christ even as the journey through Lent is the journey towards Holy Pascha. Repentance is a return even as the Prodigal Son returns to his father's home.

The recorder of the life of this wonderful Saint was Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. A hieromonk, the elder Zossimas, had gone off at one time during the Great Fast a twenty-day's walk into the wilderness (desert) across the Jordan. He suddenly caught sight of a human being with a withered and naked body and with hair as white as snow, who fled in its nakedness from Zossima's sight. The elder (geronda) ran a long way, until this figure stopped at a stream and called: 'Father Zossima, forgive me for the Lord's sake. I cannot turn to you, for I am a naked woman.'

A devout elder lay on his deathbed. His friends gathered around him and mourned him. With that, the elder (geronda) laughed three times. The monks asked him: "What are you laughing at?" The elder (geronda) replied: "I laughed the first time because all of you are afraid of death; the second time, for none of you are prepared for death; the third time because I am going from labor to rest."