It's one of the bigger paradoxes in Orthodoxy, that we are called to be perfect and holy, but must resist artificial means of achieving and striving for this encounter and union with the Holy Trinity.
"Don't try to create the perfect parish...you'll eventually be the only one left!"
+ Student Quoting Fr. Stephen Belonick, Pastoral Theology, St Vladimir's Seminary
“Whoever loves their dream of Christian community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, no matter how honest, earnest and sacrificial their personal intentions may be."
+ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"We shouldn't seek the ideal community. It is a question of loving those whom God has set beside us today. They are signs of God. We might have chosen different people, people who were more cheerful and intelligent. But these are the ones God has given us, the ones he has chosen for us. It is with them that we are called to create unity and live a covenant. We choose our own friends; but in our families, we do not choose our brothers and sisters; they are given to us. So it is in community life."
+ Jean Vanier, Community and Growth
