> [The Orthodox Faith, Worship, and Life](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38889171-the-orthodox-faith-worship-and-life---orthodox-catechism) by Hieromonk Gregorios caught my eye when I was browsing through the [St. Herman’s Monastery bookstore](https://www.sainthermanmonastery.com/) in California. Since I was baptized as a child, I had never been properly catechized in the Armenian Church, so I figured I could use some additional instruction. (**Note:** *The Armenian Church is in the Oriental Orthodox branching of Orthodoxy which is deemed schismatic by the author and those in Eastern Orthodoxy because of a Christological issue.*) > **What is faith?** >> Faith is the unreserved acceptance of divine revelation and the full conviction that all things preached by the grace of God constitute the only truth. (St. Basil the Great) >> […] >> When man asks something of God, he must do so with unshakeable faith and without hesitation or ambivalence, in other words, without harbouring doubts. According to the Lord’s brother James, let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for let know that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord (Jas. 1: 6-7). Those who ask something from God with faith are always heard, for Christ said: Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive (Matt. 21:22). > **You need to know why you believe what you believe** >> The Apostle Peter urges us: always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you (1 Pet 3:115), in other words, to know how to answer anyone who asks us about our faith. St. John Chrysostom states further: ‘If Christians do not know how to answer non-believers and heretics who question them about their faith, they will say that the Christian faith is a lie.’ It is therefore unjustifiable for an Orthodox Christians not to know what he believes, especially in our own times which are characterized by an excess of diverse information. > I’m not inclined towards theological debates, but oftentimes someone—usually a Protestant—will try to finagle a debate out of me. Since I’m a public witness for Christ, I aim to educate myself on important points of doctrine. > **Atheism** >> The belief that creation happened accidentally is a delusion suffered by modern man who uses scientific achievements only to feed his egotism and distance himself from God, a foolishness worse than idolatry. > Atheism is a form of mental illness. I’ve gone through this stage as a youth along with perhaps most other Westerners, and it’s only when you snap out of atheism can you clearly see how deceived you were. You will wonder what type of state you had to be in to fall for lies that don’t even provide rational answers.