The Narrow Path Bookstore - Icons of Jesus Christ

Is the Orthodox Church
a Missionary Church?

Is the Orthodox Church a Missionary Church? It seems that this question has been bothering Orthodox Christians for the past couple of decades. If we are a Missionary Church, we have to know the field of our mission. If we are not, how can we call ourselves Christians? Every single segment within the life of the Orthodox Church should be nothing other than an attempt to accomplish Christ's Words: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have Commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28: 19-20).

Very often, we Orthodox connect the word "mission" with some far away countries, but we forget that right among us, and especially among our so-called "cradle" Orthodox, there is such a great need for a mission. We don't have to go to far away lands in order to do our mission, but we do have to reach "far away" souls of those who are "traditionally" Orthodox but have never really experienced the beauty of what Orthodoxy is all about.

The Narrow Path Bookstore of St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church is, by God's grace, trying to add one more dimension to the missionary work of the Church. There are many places and many families that cannot be reached by a priest, but the very same people might very well be both reached and touched by the "beautiful pearls" which can be found between the pages of the books written about the fathers of the Orthodox Church. Such books can be found in our bookstore.

We would like very much for every Orthodox Christian home to have its own prayer corner filled with icons and, in time, to build up a small Orthodox library. But our primary wish is for every one of those Orthodox Christians to become a Living Icon; thus fulfilling our main objective for our life here and now.

Everyone who labors for our bookstore is grateful to God's blessings and grace which allowed them to become a missionary of His Church. We pray to St. Archangel Michael to shelter us under the shadow of his wings so that we might, each in his or her own life, find the strength to choose and walk the "Narrow Path" which is our only way to salvation.