Real Reality

Valaam Monastery

To anyone who has tasted of the true liturgical life–be it only once and however imperfectly–it is almost self-evident that from the moment we hear, “rejoice, O Bethany, home of Lazarus…” and then “…on the morrow Christ is coming…,” the external world becomes slightly unreal, and one almost experiences pain in entering into the necessary daily contact with it. “Reality” is that which is going on in the Church, in that celebration which day after day makes us realize what it means to expect, and why Christianity is above everything else expectation and preparation.
–Alexander Schmemann. Great Lent, p 84.