Piety and personality
“If the Church is truly the ‘newness of life’ – the world and nature as restored in Christ – it is not, or rather ought not be, a purely religious institution in which to be ‘pious,’ to be a member in ‘good standing,’ means leaving one’s own personality at the entrance – in the ‘check room’ – and replacing it with a worn-out, impersonal, neutral ‘good Christian’ type personality. Piety in fact may be a very dangerous thing, a real opposition to the Holy Spirit who is the Giver of Life – of joy, movement and creativity – and not of the ‘good conscience’ which looks at everything with suspicion, fear and moral indignation.” (Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World)
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