Generation IΧΘΥΣ

As I stood in the Great Liturgy today I realized by observation the presence of a number of 20 somethings that I refer to as Generation ΙΧΘΥΣ. The young adults of today are heading toward Orthodoxy in numbers that can only be divine. God is drawing these young Westerners out of the quagmire of numerous protestant denominations, christian movements and even Roman Catholicism, to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church- The Eastern Orthodox Church. I shouldn't be amazed at the seemingly simple ease with which these focused Disciples step into the original Church of Christ, but given my 50 year journey, I am always amazed. It is not by entising words of man's wisdom nor by proselitizing, that they are coming, but by the simple drawing of Holy Spirit. Today's Western Youth have felt the void in their lives and Christian experience and yet cannot define it. It is only when they find the Church that they understand what the void was as they first experience the peace of the presence of Christ in the Liturgy and the power of Christ in the Eucharist. They feel whole and at home from the very beginning of their journey. They have hope and their first act within that hope is to tell their friends and family what they have found. Some are met with receptiveness from others whose void has become overwhelming, some are met with with distain from those who will not consider that their void is a product of the environment in which they are bound. ΙΧΘΥΣ, greek for "fish" the acrostic: Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter, or Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior, is the filler of the void and He can only be fully experienced within the doors of His Church which is His body on earth. We are either a connected part of his body or we are dismembered. Generation ΙΧΘΥΣ-ers are becoming members not of an organization but of the organism of the Living Lord Jesus. There is bright hope for the Orthodox Church in America. The brightest hope is Generation ΙΧΘΥΣ.