Salvation is not simply "going to heaven", but total union with God, not merging but intimacy. That is what man was always meant for, and only happens in Orthodoxy.

Since it was lost in the West, it was replaced with the simpler "positive afterlife" idea, and thus when Orthodox speak of only us experiencing this level of union, it sounds like we're saying all not Orthodox are damned.

Ultimately, God has told us His stance: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

However, it is fair to say also, that it is through the prayers of the Orthodox Church that anyone will be saved (in the broader sense), being the Israel that calls the nations to God. We offer the liturgy "on behalf of all and for all." We don't waste time praying for people who we don't believe can be saved.

So in both the "go to heaven" sense and the union with God sense, we say with St Cyprian "outside the Church there is no salvation." Because of the Church, men can be saved, but only in Orthodoxy does the fullness of salvation and heavenly preparation occur.