In fact Jesus even said that eternal life is to know the only true God, God as God really is-of course because there are many gods and many lords, and not all of them are the real one. To know God and to know Jesus Christ who He has really sent.

For us Orthodox Christians, the way of knowing God is the way of the Cross. We contemplate the whole of reality through the crucified Jesus. And what we see through the crucified Christ who is raised and glorified-and that's the center of our faith-is that there is indeed one God, creator of heaven and earth. That He reveals Himself in the creation of the world. That He made human beings in His image and likeness to know Him and to share His life. In fact the Holy Fathers even say that we're created to be by grace everything that God Himself is just by being God. That's what God wants from us.

But to know God-which is really possible-the most fundamental, essential thing that is needed is the desire to know. The belief that we can know, and the desire to know. In the Bible, it's clearly said that the most basic thing is to seek God. If we're really, honestly seeking God, then that means that we will find God. Or even more accurately, God will find us. But if we're not seeking God, we can read the Bible back and forth, we can go to church every Sunday, we can do all kinds of things, but we will remain in our darkness.

But if we really are seeking God, that means we have to be ready to do all the things that God has asked us to do to know Him. And that is to believe in Him, to seek Him, to pray to Him. Even if we're not sure who God is, we can pray "to whom it may concern." We can ask God to enlighten our darkness.

And then of course, according to the Scriptures, we have to try to keep the commandments that at least the Bible and Christians claim we have to keep. So if we try to be honest people; loving people; kind people; pure people; chaste people; seeking people-people trying not to do any harm to anyone while at the same time calling on God, however we know how-then according to Christ and the Gospel and the saints and the Scriptures, God will reveal Himself to us, and we will come to know Him.

But that also means that we'll have to take up our crosses too. That means we'll have to suffer with Him. Because to know God in this fallen world is to suffer. There's no doubt about it. But if we're willing to seek and to suffer and to sacrifice, and to struggle, then it's an absolute guarantee that we will come to know God and God will know us. It's not magic. It's not mechanical. It's not automatic. It's not mechanistic. But it is certainly true and real. So if you want to know God, pray to God, try to keep what you believe is God's will one day at a time, and open your heart to it, and beg to have that heart be purified. Christ said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they and they alone will see God."

Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko is Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York. He has authored numerous works on all aspects of the Orthodox Church's faith and practice. His writings have been translated into 15 languages. Fr. Hopko is a world-renowned lecturer at various Orthodox and ecumenical forums. He and his wife of 43 years, Anne Schmemann, have five children and fourteen grandchildren. He is currently completing his forty-third year of service as a priest, professor and pastor in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Fr. Hopko is a regular contributer to OCN.