"Let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole lives to Christ, our God."
As Orthodox, we frequently end our Liturgical prayers with this statement, and I have given a great deal of thought as to how we can commit not only ourselves, but also one another! We are all intimately connected, so say the Fathers. The analogy of the Church being the Body of Christ, or the Vine and its Branches possessed an ontological reality for the ancient Church, and I am afraid we here in the west have turned it into another meaningless symbolism because we have a hard time understanding it. (Why do we do that crap all the time!)
Our deeds and even our thoughts are like pebbles tossed into the pond of our collective communion with one another and the concentric waves that result will in some way touch us all. So that what we do in the privacy of our own homes will indeed affect those who come into contact with us for good or for evil.
Another way to look at it: In the Orthodox Tradition (paradosis), sin is viewed as a disease rather than a legality. And what is a very common feature of diseases? Communicability. Sin is infectious. On the flip side, so also is Holiness!
And so perhaps in committing ourselves to Christ, by default we are committing one another?
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