You're asking some big questions, and they're good questions, and I'll assume you're asking in good faith and do my best to answer.
Before I became an Orthodox Christian, the best way to describe my worldview and mindset was "scattered and easily distracted". I have always pursued whatever I thought was interesting, but never had a cohesive worldview. I would jump and flit from topic to topic without having any way of incorporating what I learned into a daily practice and worldview. I swore constantly, was careless in my relationships, and frequently offended people around me, including my loved ones.
I was a consumer and was very alienated from the world around me and from my loved ones. I lived a very atomized life where I was convinced that my actions didn't affect anyone but me. Very much an individualist.
Since becoming Christian and realizing there is an objective reality, that my actions affect others, and their actions affect me, and that I will die sooner or later, my life has come into sharper focus. I understand much more clearly now that if you want to change the world and help with the healing process, the best place to start is in your own home, with how you treat your loved ones, and how you take care of your home.
Also, another important perspective from Orthodox Christianity, and one of the main reasons we wear a cross, is to remember to crucify our self, our ego, in the service of others each day. Christ said "No greater love hath a man than this, he is willing to lay his life down for his friends." We believe that is why males and females were created. So they could get married and martyr themselves in the service of another. We believe that is what it means to truly be a human being. Monks also take on this same responsibility, but in the service of God, the church, and their monastic community. (Monasteries are not a refuge from the world, but instead, the bleeding front lines of a spiritual battle.)
Praying for my loved ones (living and dead) daily, praying for my perceived enemies, and praying for God's mercy for the world, has dramatically changed how I see other people, and how I try to live up to role in serving others. I no longer obsess over whether my spouse is filling my chalice of invented "needs". Instead, I try to look for ways to make her life easier, more comfortable. And I'm still working on this part, but I try not to call attention to my efforts or to even call attention to what I've done. God sees my efforts and what is done in secret will be rewarded openly.
We also end each day together as a family by praying, and after prayer, we ask each other for forgiveness if we have done anything to hurt them or offend them today. This has ENORMOUS consequences that are hard to put into words.
My daughter used to be terrified of the dark. She used to have nightmares and insomnia, because my wife and I used to argue and fight in front of her. Our home was filled with trauma and despair. My wife and I were nihilists who were just following our passions (I mean that in the traditional way) and doing whatever we wanted to do/thought was right, and we were in constant conflict.
Now, we pray together, read the Bible together, share our daily frustrations with each other, encourage each other, eat together, listen to each other. We don't watch tv. We rarely go to movies. Last night I read out of the Bible while my wife and daughter worked on a puzzle, and after I read, I joined them and we were just talking and joking with each other and listening to music. This is what I mean by how my life has been healed.
Prayer is my personal way of participating in my relationship with God. Each day includes a review of my day, where I reflect on my sins and shortcomings, pray for forgiveness, and pray for strength in overcoming my weaknesses. I pray for guidance in how I can overcome my old patterns, and I read the scriptures with the intention of finding useful patterns of behavior that I can model in my own life.
Because of my daily prayer habit, I'm much more careful about what I say, and how I treat other people, because I know in the back of my mind that I will be standing before God, my Father and Creator of the universe, that evening in prayer, and I will be answering for how I treat others. I want to burn away the parts of myself that are interfering with my relationship with God and with those around me, and prayer helps serve as that reminder, that connection.
As for your last question, I can only say this: Jordan Peterson's lectures on the Bible series opened my mind and heart to the idea that there's a LOT more going on in the Bible than my old materialist, scientist brain was understanding. I began to study medieval philosophy, and the work of Jonathan Pageau has truly opened my eyes to how reality works, and how I fit into that cosmology, and what my role is in reality. I have also realized just how much effect being with other people in a community in person has on me, and how I only barely understand the power of standing in church together (Orthodox Christians typically stand during the Divine Liturgy service as a form of respect and worship) all worshipping together by standing together, looking in the same direction, hearing hymns and prayers, surrounded by icons, with the smell of incense in the air. There are some things you can only know through experience. Reading a book about Orthodox Christianity is basically like reading a book about martial arts. It won't get you very far in a fight.
Anyway, I pray that my answer has been helpful. Please forgive me if I didn't answer your questions adequately or if I misunderstood what you were asking. God bless you.
That's amazing that you mention St. George. He's my patron saint! I have many icons of him in my home and in my office at work. I even have one of him in my car. Here's a great account of his martyrdom, where they tried many times to kill him, finally decapitating him: https://www.goarch.org/-/feast-of-the-holy-great-martyr-geor...
As for the dragon, it represents Satan, and also monsters who are tyrannical, hybrids that are not easily categorized that live in the forest or wilderness, and the foreign or the strange. It also represents time. I also like your friend's answer. Notice how the serpent's tail is wrapped up in the horse's feet, trying to trip the horse up.
The life of St. George has many interesting elements, and also has bleed-over into Islamic tradition as well.
The way I started learning about the language and symbolism of iconography was through watching videos on symbolism by Jonathan Pageau on youtube. He's an Orthodox iconographer and he uses fairy tales and movie symbolism to talk about symbolism in general and to introduce it to modern audiences, and he also does videos about the symbolism in specific icons.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask here. I don't think HN has a direct message system, unfortunately. If they do and I'm just too boomer to figure it out, feel free to hit me up in DM as well.
Before I became an Orthodox Christian, the best way to describe my worldview and mindset was "scattered and easily distracted". I have always pursued whatever I thought was interesting, but never had a cohesive worldview. I would jump and flit from topic to topic without having any way of incorporating what I learned into a daily practice and worldview. I swore constantly, was careless in my relationships, and frequently offended people around me, including my loved ones.
I was a consumer and was very alienated from the world around me and from my loved ones. I lived a very atomized life where I was convinced that my actions didn't affect anyone but me. Very much an individualist.
Since becoming Christian and realizing there is an objective reality, that my actions affect others, and their actions affect me, and that I will die sooner or later, my life has come into sharper focus. I understand much more clearly now that if you want to change the world and help with the healing process, the best place to start is in your own home, with how you treat your loved ones, and how you take care of your home.
Also, another important perspective from Orthodox Christianity, and one of the main reasons we wear a cross, is to remember to crucify our self, our ego, in the service of others each day. Christ said "No greater love hath a man than this, he is willing to lay his life down for his friends." We believe that is why males and females were created. So they could get married and martyr themselves in the service of another. We believe that is what it means to truly be a human being. Monks also take on this same responsibility, but in the service of God, the church, and their monastic community. (Monasteries are not a refuge from the world, but instead, the bleeding front lines of a spiritual battle.)
Praying for my loved ones (living and dead) daily, praying for my perceived enemies, and praying for God's mercy for the world, has dramatically changed how I see other people, and how I try to live up to role in serving others. I no longer obsess over whether my spouse is filling my chalice of invented "needs". Instead, I try to look for ways to make her life easier, more comfortable. And I'm still working on this part, but I try not to call attention to my efforts or to even call attention to what I've done. God sees my efforts and what is done in secret will be rewarded openly.
We also end each day together as a family by praying, and after prayer, we ask each other for forgiveness if we have done anything to hurt them or offend them today. This has ENORMOUS consequences that are hard to put into words.
My daughter used to be terrified of the dark. She used to have nightmares and insomnia, because my wife and I used to argue and fight in front of her. Our home was filled with trauma and despair. My wife and I were nihilists who were just following our passions (I mean that in the traditional way) and doing whatever we wanted to do/thought was right, and we were in constant conflict.
Now, we pray together, read the Bible together, share our daily frustrations with each other, encourage each other, eat together, listen to each other. We don't watch tv. We rarely go to movies. Last night I read out of the Bible while my wife and daughter worked on a puzzle, and after I read, I joined them and we were just talking and joking with each other and listening to music. This is what I mean by how my life has been healed.
Prayer is my personal way of participating in my relationship with God. Each day includes a review of my day, where I reflect on my sins and shortcomings, pray for forgiveness, and pray for strength in overcoming my weaknesses. I pray for guidance in how I can overcome my old patterns, and I read the scriptures with the intention of finding useful patterns of behavior that I can model in my own life.
Because of my daily prayer habit, I'm much more careful about what I say, and how I treat other people, because I know in the back of my mind that I will be standing before God, my Father and Creator of the universe, that evening in prayer, and I will be answering for how I treat others. I want to burn away the parts of myself that are interfering with my relationship with God and with those around me, and prayer helps serve as that reminder, that connection.
As for your last question, I can only say this: Jordan Peterson's lectures on the Bible series opened my mind and heart to the idea that there's a LOT more going on in the Bible than my old materialist, scientist brain was understanding. I began to study medieval philosophy, and the work of Jonathan Pageau has truly opened my eyes to how reality works, and how I fit into that cosmology, and what my role is in reality. I have also realized just how much effect being with other people in a community in person has on me, and how I only barely understand the power of standing in church together (Orthodox Christians typically stand during the Divine Liturgy service as a form of respect and worship) all worshipping together by standing together, looking in the same direction, hearing hymns and prayers, surrounded by icons, with the smell of incense in the air. There are some things you can only know through experience. Reading a book about Orthodox Christianity is basically like reading a book about martial arts. It won't get you very far in a fight.
Anyway, I pray that my answer has been helpful. Please forgive me if I didn't answer your questions adequately or if I misunderstood what you were asking. God bless you.