Happiness

• Orthodox critiques of secular "happiness":
  • Fr. Alexander Schmemann: Between Utopia and Escape, (1981). The modern world's two great tendencies -- utopian optimism and the pessimist's urge to "drop out" -- are heresies, distorting the Christian view of the world as created good, fallen, and redeemed. "It is for us, Christians, to reconstruct this unique faith, in which there are no illusions ... Our faith is not based on anything except on these two fundamental revelations: God so loved the world, and: The fallen world has been secretly, mysteriously redeemed." --- Schmemann.Org