St. Augustine - A Model of Repentance

In the late fourth century in North Africa, a boy who would one day become a saint was born. The path of sanctity, however, was not paved with simplicity or virtue for St. Augustine in the beginning.

Born in a Roman family of moderate standing, St. Augustine's parents highly valued education for their son. They did everything within their means to make sure that he went to the best schools and was able to receive the training he needed to be a highly successful rhetorician when he graduated. Though St. Augustine wasn't terribly interested in his education, he did what his parents required of him. 

Image from Orthodoxwiki

What Augustine was interested in doing during his "college years" was getting by and having a good time with his friends. In his Confessions, Augustine admits that he felt that his parents were willing to turn a blind eye to his social and moral decisions so long as he completed his education. So while he was completing his studies, Augustine was also spending his time partying with his friends, satisfying his lusts, and pulling mindless pranks. When his mother finally realized a little of what was going on and warned him against certain behaviors, especially with women, Augustine scoffed at her reprimands and continued on his destructive path.

As a student and citizen of Rome, Augustine was also exposed to a variety of philosophies and religions. It was around the time of his late-teens and early-twenties when Augustine joined the ranks of the Gnostic sect, the Manicheans, turning away from the little bit of Christian upbringing that he had been given. He also dabbled in astrology for many years and later when he had abandoned Manicheaism, was interested in the philosophy of Neoplatonism.

Being Orthodox in a Non-Orthodox Family

This is a guest post from Eddie Ryan. Eddie is a second-year Master’s student at the University of Connecticut studying Biomedical Engineering. He serves as the Social Media Student Leader on the 2013-2014 Student Advisory Board and as the Event Coordinator for UCONN’s OCF chapter.

“So… how did you become Orthodox?”

For a lot of Orthodox college students, this may seem like a silly question; they have always been Orthodox. Their family is Orthodox, they grew up in an Orthodox church, and so it felt only natural to identify themselves as an Orthodox Christian during college. However, there are also a growing number of converts, people who did not grow up in the Faith. Their responses can vary widely, with people coming from a myriad of different religious backgrounds (or lack thereof).