Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Encyclical Letter of the 1983 Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia


 

May God’s grace and peace be with and increase among all the clergy and faithful of our Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

In the name of the Council of Bishops we address all our pious flock scattered all over the world. We greet our beloved children and bless them for their further labors in Christian Orthodox living in a world departing ever more and more from all the principles which our Lord Jesus Christ, His apostles, and the holy fathers commanded us to observe.

In our unfortunate homeland, formerly called Holy Russia, there has been established a worldwide center of all-encompassing evil which hopes at the present time to eradicate all traces of former sanctity and piety. For all these decades we have observed the sufferings of our brothers with sorrow, and we have noetically kissed their wounds and glorified as holy martyrs all those millions of faithful who, led by Patriarch Tikhon and the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, have testified to their faithfulness to God even unto death. The Seer prophetically saw them standing “before the Throne and before the Lamb in white robes” (Apoc. 7:9). He was told about them: “These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He Who sits on the throne shall dwell among them” (Apoc. 7:14).

Having assembled together in this Council to consider questions of our church life, we have felt our spiritual unity with them and with those of our brethren who are following their path, being still “in great tribulation.”

Dwelling in freedom, we only spiritually experience with them this “great tribulation,” but we have our own tribulation which is united with theirs and is called forth by the unbelief and apostasy from the true faith even of many who bear the name of Orthodox Christians, and which is spreading more and more in the world. In the world which surrounds us we often feel that the words of the Saviour, “in the world you shall have tribulation” (John 16:33), are coming true for us...

If the Apostle Paul saw that while living in this world it was impossible not to have contact “with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolators” (I Cor. 5:10), then what can we say about our times? Now we are not only obliged to have contact with them, but, more than that, the way of life surrounding us is built on recognition not just of the permissibility, but of the legality of the lowest and crudest forms of sin.

We are especially concerned for our children, our youth, who are growing up in this environment. It is very difficult for them to grow up as “sons of God,” when they are surrounded by a way of life founded on unbelief and a denial of all the basic principles of the Christian faith and of the family. We have therefore indicated to our pastors that they should devote special attention to instructing their flocks in family living. For children to be able to grow up as sons of God’s Kingdom, the parents’ educational efforts must begin from the time their children are still in the mother’s womb. Even unbelieving doctors now recognize that this period is very significant for the child’s future development. Parents should nourish their children from their earliest years with good and holy impressions, themselves providing an example of prayer and virtue, so that sin and immorality will be something foreign to them and will not attract them, but, on the contrary, will repel them. They should remember that their children, when they reach adulthood, will bring them joy and comfort only to the measure of that good which was instilled in their hearts by their family. For this reason pastors should constantly instruct both parents and children, and in conjunction with that be concerned with the establishment of church schools and the attraction of young parishioners from childhood on to active participation in church life.

It is good to attract to oneself young souls, if they are not poisoned by evil exemplified as something permissible and even positive. Let pastors and parents see to it that their children see and know examples of good in the saints and in the efforts of great men. It is especially necessary persistently to teach them to love truth and to turn away from all kinds of falsehood.

Falsehood has now acquired special strength, having deeply penetrated into people’s consciousness. Alas, those who disseminate it are not just political activists, who consider everything permissible to obtain power, but also representatives of various religions. A clear manifestation of this was the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, which met in Vancouver at almost the same time as the sessions of our Council.

In its decision of 28 July/10 August our Council explained that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia does not participate in the World Council of Churches since the latter attempts to represent those assembled in it, representatives of confessions differing in their opinions, as though they had some sort of unity in their faith. In reality, though, this position is a lie, inasmuch as they, members of various confessions and sects, have not given up their points of disagreement with each other, much less with the Orthodox Church, in dogmas and in fundamental attitudes. In the name of unifying formulas these differences of opinion are not removed, but are just set aside. Instead of the unshakable truths of the faith, they try to see only opinions, not obligatory for anyone. In reply to the confession of the one Orthodox Faith they say together with Pilate: “What is truth?” And the nominally Orthodox members of the Ecumenical Movement more and more deserve the reproach to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea: “I know your works.... you are neither hot nor cold; O, if only you were hot or cold” (Apoc. 3:15).

A clear manifestation of such false union was the serving of the so-called Lima liturgy, i.e. a supposed eucharistic service, performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and various Protestant pastors. This liturgy, composed at a conference in Lima, is supposed to return its participants to the beginnings of the ancient Orthodox liturgy, but without the chief thing: unconditional faith in the transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and the necessity of its being performed only by a celebrant having the apostolic succession.

In describing this liturgy, the magazine Newsweek for August 22, 1983 wrote: “Facing the altar was a multi-racial congregation of 3,500 Christians from every corner of the earth, including Roman Catholic priests and bearded Orthodox bishops, who not long ago would have shunned such a service.” According to a report of the Ecumenical Press Service on August 4, during the Archbishop of Canterbury’s celebration of the Lima liturgy, the Orthodox and the Catholics did not receive communion, but did participate in common prayer. Archbishop Kirill (of the Moscow Patriarchate) pronounced a prayer that “we might soon attain visible unity in the Body of Christ by blessing the bread and cup on this same altar.”

The Greek Archbishop Iakovos served a separate liturgy on the day of the Transfiguration (N.S.) at which, according to reports we have received, Communion was given out without sufficient discrimination not only to the Orthodox, but also to others who approached the chalice.

Thus we see with grief that the process of the increase in practice of the heresy of Ecumenism among Orthodox Christians, of which we warned our brethren in our Sorrowful Epistles, has not stopped, but is even growing. The development of an interdenominational understanding of Baptism, the Eucharist, and the Priesthood in recent years has been manifested in various so-called ecumenical services and was especially clearly expressed in the Lima Accord and now in Vancouver. Our Council has decisively condemned this manifestation and has ordered that an anathema of the heresy of Ecumenism be added to the Rite of Orthodoxy.

In addition, any sort of participation by Orthodox in prayer with non-Orthodox, and in particular participation in common prayer at the so-called ecumenical Lima liturgy, is strictly forbidden for Orthodox according to the 45th and 46th canons of the Holy Apostles, and subjects them to excommunication from the Church. The 32nd and 33rd canons of the Council of Laodicea particularly forbid the reception of bread and wine blessed by non-Orthodox clerics and joint prayer with them. The famous Russian canonist, Bishop John of Smolensk, writes in his commentary on the 46th canon of the Holy Apostles, “In general the Apostolic Canons indicate one basis for rejecting heretical religious rites: the fact that in a heresy there cannot be the true priesthood, but only a pseudo-priesthood. This is so because with the separation of the heterodox from the Church, the apostolic succession of their holy orders ceases, for one thing, and along with this the succession of the gifts of grace from the Holy Spirit in the mystery of orders is also cut off; and consequently the ministers of a heresy, as ones not having grace in themselves, cannot convey it to others, and as they have not received a lawful right to perform the mysteries, so they cannot make true and salvific the rites performed by them.”

In all the activities of the Vancouver Assembly a lively part was played by a very large delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate, which extensively uses the World Council of Churches for Soviet propaganda. The latter directs its efforts toward spreading lies about a supposed freedom of the Church in the USSR and, under the guise of defending peace, to hindering the arming of those countries which might be able to prevent the spread of Communism in the West. Moscow church delegates speak out on a large scale in defense of pro-Communist movements, but in no way permit anyone to accuse the Soviets of persecuting religion.

Thus, as a consequence of the opposition of the Moscow delegation, the petition from Deacon Vladimir Rusak, who has written a book about the difficult position of the persecuted Church in the USSR, was not allowed to be read to the Assembly. For his book he was dismissed from church service and called to account by the KGB. In vain did he hope to call the attention of the Assembly to the persecution of the Church in his homeland. While speaking long and loud about the defense of the interests of various leftist political groups, these Assemblies from year to year have remained deaf to the cries of the real and most numerous victims of atheism.

There is no doubt that this occurs in large measure as a result of the fact that they do not want to hear any voice from Russia but that of the Moscow Patriarchate, which, however, says only what it is told to say by the enemies of all religion through the organs of the KGB. A special resolution of the Council of Bishops was also issued on this subject, referring to a scandalous incident: the directions of the Moscow Synod to serve pannychidas for the atheist and persecutor of the Church, Brezhnev, who died last year, and whose actions Patriarch Pimen blasphemously called “pleasing to God.” In the prescription for serving pannykhidas for him it was indicated that he should not be called “servant of God,” which he most certainly was not. However, everyone must have felt uncomfortable in offering any sort of prayers for the repose in the Kingdom of Heaven of a person who denied the very existence of that Kingdom. Thus, violation of church canons to please the atheists unavoidably leads to hypocrisy. This Council observed that whatever Brezhnev might be called, pannykhidas for him contain an internal contradiction, hypocrisy, and falsehood. They are an unforgivable blasphemy.

It would seem that the whole world, especially the Orthodox world, should have trembled with indignation in view of such blasphemy, but, alas, everyone is silent, while an unconditional statement of protest has come only from our Council.

In view of such indifference to the truth and of increasing modernism, a significant number of Orthodox pastors and faithful have turned to our hierarchs in order to preserve genuine Orthodoxy and the course of Church life, sanctified by age-old tradition, in accordance with the Orthodox calendar established by the First Ecumenical Council.

Thus our Church has been enriched by new children and continues to be enriched not only by Greeks devoted to the faith, but also by parishes torn away from the Russian Church in recent decades into the unlawful American autocephaly and now returning to its bosom. For many of them this decision was not easily made and has been associated with great sacrifices. We rejoice in their love for the truth and how we wish that all the children of our Church would conduct their religious life with as much zeal as these new ones who quite recently have come to know the truth and have attached themselves to it.

While those of different nationality and previous culture who have joined our Church may sometimes pose one pastoral problem or another, we view this calmly, remembering that before the face of God there is neither Greek nor Jew, Russian, American, or any other sort of distinction according to origin. All are felt to be our beloved children who have a common goal: to preserve unharmed the faith of the holy fathers and to save their souls, whatever might be the external conditions surrounding us.

We live in the same world, and for all of us there are the same dangers and temptations from the apostasy that has engulfed the whole world, i.e. turning away from God and the Church, about which the Apostle Paul warned the faithful in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.

Many now note signs of the approaching end of the world. Some scientists already are viewing this as a likely possibility for the worn-out and so-to-say “aging” world, guessing when it might happen. Others are studying the prophecies of the Sacred Scriptures and, applying them to the course of current political life, foresee the imminent occurrence of worldwide crises and of the last days. However, the times and seasons are not yet revealed to us. The Lord only warned us about certain manifestations in the world which would precede its end, telling us, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24:4-5).

Now to various obvious false messiahs there are added reports of the birth and preparation of a more serious claimant to the position of Universal King and False Messiah. We still cannot affirm anything positively except that the signs have appeared according to which one can anticipate the appearance of the “Son of Perdition” in a period of history that is very near or even in the next few years, after the unification of the whole world under one world government.

But it is not without cause that in the ways of His Providence the Lord does not reveal them fully to us. For us it is enough to know that we have already entered a period of history when the relatively imminent appearance of the Antichrist is very probable. And this means that we must be spiritually prepared for it.

What does such readiness mean? It means working to strengthen one’s spiritual powers so as to develop the capability of resisting the Antichrist’s temptations. Many of these temptations — in the sense of a weakening of faith, divinization of mankind, betrayal of faith in the one, true Church for the sake of a humanistic religious unity in a pseudo-church — are already before us, preparing even Orthodox Christians for a readiness to follow the ways of the Antichrist.

But what can we do besides just observing the signs of the times? We must develop in ourselves, in our flocks, in all Orthodox families a firm faith in the fact that the Lord has given us the good fortune to belong to the one, true Church, which, as at the very beginning of its existence, is not defined by being a minority of the believers on earth, but which, although a minority, is made up only of people who are faithful and devoted to this true Church. This is not an easy task, and it demands firm faith, spiritual strength, and devotion to the Truth in the midst of a surrounding world which is alien to Christ.

In the face of the temptations which already exist and confront us, we must direct all our spiritual and mental powers to being ready for any trials. We are helped in this preparation by the expectation of the imminent (in five years) celebration of the thousandth anniversary of the Baptism of Russia. By renewing in our minds and hearts those principles of piety which Prince St. Vladimir planted in Russia, we will try to restore them in our daily lives, with the hope that the Lord will permit us to take them back to our homeland so that we can be reunited with that portion of Holy Russia which, despite all deceit and persecution, has continued to exist there in however small a number.

The Lord has granted us so far to live in freedom, in no way externally constrained and in no way restricted in our spiritual life, except by our lack of faith and our laziness. To avoid being contaminated by the swamp of sin and vice which surrounds us, we must spiritually rouse ourselves.

In an inspired and ardent report to the Council on the necessity of a spiritual rebirth, the Most Reverend Archbishop Vitaly wrote: “Our whole flock is already in communion with the grace of the Holy Spirit through all the Mysteries; we need only stir that fire into flame by all the means available for pastoral work, and do everything we possibly can to be, in the words of the Apostle Paul, all things to all men, so that some might be saved. As concrete measures we must persuade the faithful to abandon the old practice of communing of the Holy Mysteries only once a year, if any are still holding to that less-than-praiseworthy custom. We must convince all our pastors themselves to pray before performing the Mystery of Holy Confession that the Lord might grant them the gift of love, wisdom, compassion, and mercy. We must show all our flock the necessity of praying, too, before coming to confession that the Lord would grant them the gift of the Holy Spirit, true repentance, the gift of emotion and contrition for their sins, the gift of tears which wash our souls with the water of a second Baptism, which is what confession should be, and not a passing recitation of one’s sins.”

Along with this, we ask all our spiritual children to refrain from being easily attracted into the sin of judging each other, and especially their pastors. The latter action is often provoked by the many enemies of our Church, who long ago chose the center of our church administration — the Synod of Bishops selected by the whole Council of Bishops — as the object of their especially bitter attacks. In doing this they do not quibble at any sort of falsehood and slander, hoping thereby to undermine the authority and importance of our center which they hate. Do not believe false rumors, remembering that they are often circulated, sometimes even under the appearance of a defense of the truth, by enemies of the Orthodox Church, behind whom stand Soviet agents and secret supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In encouraging us and reminding us of His love and care for us, the Lord has recently sent us a miraculous manifestation: the myrrh-streaming Iveron icon of the Mother of God, before which we also prayed during the Council, observing the miraculous manifestation of an abundant flow of fragrant myrrh from it. Thus the All-pure Theotokos again manifests her care for us, which we have seen in the course of all these years through our marvelous Odigitria as well — her wonder-working Kursk-Root icon.

We recognize that the world stands before an historically unprecedented danger of unbelievable upheavals and misfortunes, and shall draw strength and encouragement for ourselves from this marvelous manifestation and, along with this, prepare ourselves by means of the penitent labor of piety for the joys or trials which it may please God to send us.

Above all, though, let us labor not to let ourselves be swallowed by the evil which is growing in the world around us. The question now is ever more frequently and sharply posed before each person: To whom does he wish to belong: to Christ or to the devil? According to which principles will he live: Christian or anti-Christian?

We ask you, our spiritual children, without wavering or fearing anything, to give within yourselves an Orthodox answer to these questions and to choose the bright way of a virtuous life; and having chosen it, bravely to follow it, so that we might all freely attain the Kingdom of God.

May God’s grace and the prayers and examples of the valiant Russian New Martyrs help us all in this!

Chairman of the Council of Bishops
+Metropolitan Philaret

Members of the Council:

Seraphim, Archbishop of Chicago-Detroit and Middle America
Athanasius, Archbishop of Buenos-Aires and Argentina-Paraguay
Vitaly, Archbishop of Montreal and Canada
Anthony, Archbishop of Los Angeles and Southern California
Anthony, Archbishop of Geneva and Western Europe
Anthony, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America
Seraphim, Archbishop of Caracas and Venezuela
Paul, Archbishop of Sydney and Australia-New Zealand
Laurus, Archbishop of Syracuse and Holy Trinity Monastery
Constantine, Bishop of Richmond and Britain
Gregory, Bishop of Washington and Florida
Mark, Bishop of Berlin and Germany
Alypy, Bishop of Cleveland

 

Source: Orthodox Life, Vol. 33, No. 6, November-December 1983, pp. 11-18.

Archbishop / Metropolitan Vitaly: The Apocalypse of Our Day

Presented at the 1983 Council of Bishops of the ROCOR in Mansonville, Quebec.

 


Our pastors and their flocks currently live under unique conditions, which, without the slightest exaggeration or mystical passion, can be referred to as pre-apocalyptic. Already, throughout the world, there is not a single leader or government that leads its people with any reference to God's mercy or the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Anointed of God has been taken from the world, the epoch of Constantine, of government by God's grace, has come to an end. The last book of Scriptures has opened, that of St. John the Theologian. The power of Orthodox Russia, the heiress of the Byzantine empire, no longer exists. Two forces have divided the world between them: on one side the militant, godless communist, on the other, the so-called democratic, western world, in which the flame of freedom continues to flicker. The latter, for the casual observer, is divided into countless Christian and non-Christian religions and sects, which inwardly are cemented together by an anti-Christian spirit.

We were given rulers and governments graced by God's providence, in order that we could peacefully and responsibly pursue the salvation of our souls. The Anointed One protected us from powerful, fiery temptations, which descended upon us in the form of Communism and Freemasonry. We, in our sinfulness, were taken in: each one of us, involved in our own professions and crafts, doctors, lawyers, engineers, masters of all trades made their work their religion; devoting to it all of their time, strength and heart. For all of these people, there is little if any room left for their Orthodox Faith. Often it takes the shape of "going through the motions," doing what is formally prescribed; for no one wants to go against "the norm."

Almighty God became man in order that He may deify us. Countless men of righteousness, prophets and wonderworkers passed through our great land of Russia. The Lord sent us charismatic preachers; the works of all the Holy Fathers have been published; the Gospel has been printed from small pocket-sized volumes to beautifully ornate liturgical volumes. Millions of brochures, leaflets, prayer books have been given out or sold for a small sum to our people. All sorts of magazines and missionary tracts have been printed within our diocese and all this, true to the prophesies of old, has become immersed in the limitless bustle and vanity which our people have embraced. Our Russian literature, in the apt words of Professor Andreev, being a kind of pulpit for our faith, has reflected the gradual spiritual decline of our people.

What can we do? In our own perhaps bold opinion, it seems that our Lord, in order to lift our people out of [spiritual] emptiness, which has led us to the very depths of hell, has commanded His angelic warriors to break open the gates of hell and release demons to sting first our people then the whole world in order to awaken them from their sinful sleep. With this last desperate effort, the Lord wants to bring us to our senses, to drive His people out into His light. All careless and carefree people will sooner or later be faced with the question: who are you with? Christ or the devil? The question will not be posed by the clergy, from whom we are used to hearing these questions and to whom we no longer listen, but by the devil and his emissaries, from whom proceed all the successes in life, the wealth, and the earthly glory of the masses of people who occupy themselves in such trivia.

What a shock it will be to them! We exclaim, "You have created all in Your wisdom, Lord," and continue to do so. The Lord has willed the demons to bring out the spiritual essence of this egotistical world. The essence is that there is an all-powerful God, as well as demons, the kingdom of heaven, as well as hell and that this earth will pass, like fog. And when those fateful questions are posed, every human soul will tremble. No longer will it be possible to be neutral, noncommittal. There will be no more avoiding the question, no more hiding, no more spiritual diplomacy. Each will be found and asked a simple question: light or darkness? Christ or Satan?

Most revered Bishops! We have already entered into the era of the great question! Right from underneath our pulpits, we are being robbed of souls, they are being eaten away from the inside, leaving only empty, fruitless shells! We must be aware of the actuality of this problem in our day. The temptation is fiery, burning. It is directly in front of us. We must accept God's will. Allowed by Him, we will witness tremendous changes in people. People that we know this very day to be God-fearing and righteous will suddenly become traitors, they will totally transform their spiritual face, others as though awakened from a sleep will become champions of piety and spirituality, even to the death. Those who choose Christ will be the only ones to whom Christ the Savior is their personal provider, in all ways, day and night.

The Lord has allowed all the forces of evil to attain such power, almost omnipotent, that though temporary, the situation demands of us bishops, that we put to use a tried-and-true eternal means, that of bringing our flock to the Grace of God's all-powerful Holy Spirit. No longer do we have helpers in this effort, no longer do we have a genuine Christian society or schools, no longer is there a withholding power an anointed ruler to restrain evil. Even governments which were formerly Christian oriented are changing or being replaced.

We are alone. Before the archangels' trumpets declare “Let us attend!”, before the frightful coming of our Lord, we have yet to declare our own "Let us attend!" We must reveal to them a picture not just of the future but of a temptation already at work, that choice which will not change. Let us not fool ourselves, or create any illusions. A great majority of Orthodox will not withstand such a burning ordeal, and will experience a cataclysmic fall. Before the earth and all human deeds burn, firstly, all that is superficial, empty, dependent on earthly riches will go up in flames. All that will remain will be those who genuinely love Christ, are devoted to Him even to the death... loving only Him, their Savior, and no other.

In the face of such a terrible and menacing scenario of evil currently at work, we Archbishops are required not only to strongly admonish our flock, but to put into action all the riches and strengths of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which abide in the Church of Christ. All the flock has already communed of the Grace of the Holy Spirit through the Mysteries. It is incumbent upon us to re-ignite that flame of righteousness, to do everything within our power according to the words of the Apostle Paul, "To be all to all," to at least save some.

As a baseline to our task, it is imperative that we prevail upon all of the faithful to abandon the old practice of receiving communion but once yearly; if there are any that yet adhere to that unpraiseworthy custom. Also, we must entreat our priests to pray prior to administering the Sacrament of Confession that the Lord will grant them love, wisdom, compassion and mercy. We must point out to our flock the necessity to likewise pray before going to confession, that the Lord will grant them the gifts of the Holy Spirit for true repentance, for the gift of true feeling, grief for one's sins, the gift of tears, washing our souls with the water of second baptism, which is what our confessions must be and not superficial confessions of our sins.

It would be good for all our publications to print only the best, most thought-provoking works about Confession and Communion so that they can be instrumental in the rebirth and renewal of every Christian soul. We must speak of this in our sermons before every Lenten period, give talks, arrange small and large conferences, and not only for the young but for all, big and small, young and old. It is also important, not to mechanically read a lecture, which might be interesting only to the speaker, but to call the attention of the listeners to the spiritual significance of the gathering. We must devote several days to answering those questions that people carry within themselves for many years without getting any real Orthodox answers. In this way a lively exchange will develop between the souls of the attendees and the clergy, the entire gathering will become prayerful, more and more participants will prepare for Communion, and with each day's divine services, it will resemble a pilgrimage rather than a gathering or convention.

The aforementioned burning temptation is already in progress and is presently knocking at the door of every member of the clergy and their flock. For this reason, the clergy must be vigilant and at every opportunity must call on those of their flock that stand at the steps of material success and wealth, for they are the ones that will first be confronted with this spiritual ultimatum. We must indicate, to those we visit, that during their progress from one success to another, they will discover their own watershed, and in so doing will confront the ultimate choice. They will find themselves balancing on a razor's edge. Most reverend Bishops, let us not deceive ourselves; all of our foreknowledge of evil, its convolutions, the corridors of hell, none of it will save us as will a living personal, burning love for Our Savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen before how meticulous investigators of the forces of darkness have pitifully finished their earthly journey in the grips of these forces.

Such are the conditions under which our pastors and flock live in today's modern world.

 

Russian source:

https://sinod.ruschurchabroad.org/Arh%20Sobor%201983%20dokl%20m%20Vitaly%20Apok%20nashih%20dnei.htm

English source:

https://en.afanasiy.net/articles/metropolitan-vitaly-ustinov-the-apocalypse-of-our-day/


Basic Patristic Rules for Healing the Passions

Selections from Healing the Passions, by Archpriest Sergii Filimonov (St. Petersburg: Parish of the Church of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God, 2017)

 

 

1. The Passion of Gluttony

1. Take food as needed, without indulging in over-satiation.

2. Stop eating while you still feel a desire to eat.

3. The measure of restraint in eating should be determined by the judgment of each person's conscience: eat as much as is necessary to maintain the health of the body, not as much as the desire for fullness demands.

4. Each person should set for themselves the level of abstinence required by the intensity of the fleshly struggle, their strength, age, and physical health.

5. Strengthening oneself should be done with reason and moderation.

6. Establish specific times for eating with the guidance of a spiritual father.

7. Do not overfill the belly.

8. Strive to eat inexpensive and simple food and be content with it. Avoid eating expensive, tasty, varied food that fattens and inflames the flesh.

9. Do not drink wine to the point of drunkenness.

10. Avoid idle talk and excessive words during meals.

11. Keep before your eyes the fear of God's punishment for gluttony. Always reproach yourself and repent for overeating.

 

2. The Passion of Fornication (Lust)

1. As much as possible, avoid communication and interactions with persons of the opposite sex, except when absolutely necessary.

2. Guard your eyes and mind from lustful thoughts. Punish such thoughts with scarcity of food, so the mind focuses on hunger rather than fornication.

3. Abstain from indulgence in food; constrain the belly.

4. Practice moderation in sleep; reduce the necessary amount of sleep, keep vigil, and endure sleeplessness.

5. Strictly observe fasting periods.

6. Invoke the grace of God for help.

7. Cut off lustful fantasies that arise in memory.

8. Do not indulge the flesh with comfort, excessive conveniences, pleasant or luxurious clothing, or by wearing provocative attire.

9. When lustful thoughts arise, immediately rise to prayer.

10. Do not despair when the battle against lust intensifies.

11. Avoid corrupt people and their conversations; break off harmful associations.

12. During the stirring of lust, avoid touching your own body or that of another.

13. During arousal, remind yourself of the torment of hell and the Judgment.

14. The root of lust must be uprooted from the heart.

15. Do not trust your perishable body throughout your life, nor rely on it until you stand before Christ.

16. Restraint of the eyes, tongue, and belly are three aids to acquiring purity.

17. Cast your weakness before the Lord, acknowledging your total impotence, and imperceptibly you will receive the gift of chastity.

18. Strive to be strict with every lustful movement in the body so that it does not overpower you.

 

3. The Passion of Avarice (Greed)

1. Do not strive for wealth.

2. Be content with what you have in life.

3. Accumulate money only for a specific purpose, corresponding to planned work or the management of household and family needs.

4. Trust in God, who provides for everyone what is needed and when it is needed, for their benefit.

5. The measure of acquisition should be determined by necessity.

 

4. The Passion of Anger

1. Remember that whatever the cause of anger's arising, it blinds the eyes of the heart.

2. Be righteously angry without sinning, that is, direct your anger at yourself and at the evil thoughts that come, not allowing them to develop.

3. Do not let anger infiltrate your heart even for a moment.

4. Do not seek the cause of your faults in others, nor justify your impatience, lack of restraint, and obsession; instead, repent, cultivate magnanimity toward all, and grow in patience.

5. Struggle against your passion for anger in the community in which you find yourself by God's Providence (family, neighbors, coworkers, or others), enduring everything while remaining in your place, subduing anger and hatred until the Lord Himself changes your circumstances.

6. Strive to uproot the passion from your soul entirely, trusting in God's mercy and calling upon Him: "Lord, deliver me from anger and irritability; grant me meekness, patience, and magnanimity."

7. Seek not your own peace but the peace of others in the Lord – thus, you will learn to live in harmony and overcome anger both in yourself and in your adversary.

8. Keep in your soul the fear of God and the remembrance of the day of death, for these destroy resentment and extinguish anger.

9. In moments of offense, resort to silence; answer nothing to threats, blame yourself, seek your own errors and wrongs, reflect on what God is teaching you through the offense, pray for the one offending you, and justify them in every way.

10. Practice longsuffering and ask the Lord to grant you meekness and love.

11. Quickly seek reconciliation with those you have offended or saddened, and make peace with those angry or hostile toward you.

12. To avoid anger and judgment, focus not on the person but on the demon inciting them.

 

5. The Passion of Despondency

1. The primary remedy (antidote) against despondency is not to give in but to remain engaged in work. Those who love to stay occupied with their tasks have no time to wander, inquire into others' affairs, meddle, or judge them.

2. Avoid curiosity; do not strive to learn about others' affairs, worldly matters, or the behavior and actions of other people.

3. Distance yourself from idlers and loafers, from all those who refuse to work, and cut them off from yourself.

4. Patience, combined with self-discipline motivated by the fear of God, heals despondency. Cultivate self-discipline within yourself.

5. In every task, set a reasonable measure for yourself, so it is neither interrupted due to excessive fervor and overexertion, nor left unfinished due to laziness and slowness. Do not abandon a task before completing it.

6. Frequently seek advice from elders, your spiritual father, and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

 

6. The Passion of Sorrow

1. Bear both dishonor and praise equally.

2. Give thanks to God for life's trials.

3. During temptations, do not lose courage but remain vigilant in prayer and good deeds.

4. In times of sorrow, show patience and anticipate the approach of joy; in grief and distress, expect relief and help from God; in moments of joy, do not forget about tears.

5. In sorrows and sadness, recall the sorrows and sufferings borne for you by the Savior and all His saints.

6. Transform worldly sorrow into godly sorrow.

7. Do not indulge the passions of self-satisfaction.

 

7. The Passion of Vanity

1. Flee from vain human glory: never seek to be glorified yourself, but desire obscurity.

2. Be afraid to show your labors. Learn to practice in secret, so that no one among people knows of them.

3. Learn to conceal your spiritual struggles and virtues; reveal them to no one except your spiritual father.

4. Guard your tongue: speak less about your inner spiritual life, or better yet, do not speak of it at all.

5. Strive to make yourself simple and equal to others in all things.

6. Attribute no good to yourself, but to God alone.

7. At the beginning and during any deed, examine whether vanity has mixed into it, and upon discovering it, immediately cut it off and ask God for forgiveness.

8. Learn to be content with what you have. Humble yourself when you see your weaknesses and your limited physical and spiritual strengths. Know your measure. Do not strive for what is beyond your ability.

 

8. The Passion of Pride

1. Patiently and gratefully accept the rebukes of others.

2. Strive to live in obedience to someone.

3. Do not attribute works or glory to yourself but to God: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory"; "It is not I who work and act, but the grace of God which is with me."

4. Cultivate humility and the fear of God. Despise human praise and glory. Cut off proud thoughts.

5. Combat pride through prayer:

• "When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants" (Luke 17:10).

• "If a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself" (Galatians 6:3).

• "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15).

• "For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends" (2 Corinthians 10:18).

• "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls," says the Lord (Matthew 11:29).

• "In our lowliness, the Lord remembered us: and He delivered us from our enemies" (Psalm 135:23).

• "I was humbled, and He saved me" (Psalm 114:5).

• "Every proud heart is an abomination to the Lord" (Proverbs 16:5).

 

Russian source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/antropologiya-i-asketika/borba-so-strastjami/

KGB Christianity and the Woke Right


 

Part 1:

After the Bolsheviks took power in Russia in 1917, an open campaign of terror was launched against all religions, and particularly against the Russian Orthodox Church.

One of the targeted groups was the clergy, especially those of the Russian Orthodox Church. Priests, monks and nuns were crucified, thrown into cauldrons of boiling tar, scalped, strangled, drowned in holes in the ice, given Communion with melted lead. In the summer of 1918 in one diocese, 47 clergymen were shot, drowned, or axed to death. An estimated 3,000 were put to death in that year alone.

Seven decades later, the situation was different. Soviet communism, unable to compete with the West economically and ideologically bankrupt, was in crisis. In 1991, under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved. The Soviet Union disbanded, but did it disappear, or did it take on a new form?

As described by Charles Glover in his book, Black Wind White Snow, in 1987 the Moscow Communist Party leader, and later Soviet Politburo member, Yuri Prokofiev led a team seeking to rebrand secular communism “by imbuing it with a theological meaning” in order to create a “fusion of communism, nationalism and Orthodox Christianity.” Prokofiev later co-founded the Strategic Culture Foundation and led it until 2015. Still active today, it has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for being a front for the Russian SVR intelligence service.

In 1987 Moscow Communist Party leader Yuri Prokofiev led a team seeking to rebrand secular communism “by imbuing it with a theological meaning” in order to create a “fusion of communism, nationalism and Orthodox Christianity.”

The Soviets had long employed “active measures” to infiltrate and subvert western institutions, especially religious institutions like the World Council of Churches. Yuri Bezmenov, who defected from the KGB in the 1980s, wrote in Love Letter to America that religious leaders affiliated with the World Council of Churches gave an “air of legitimacy and ‘holiness’ to the junta of the Soviet mass murderers and oppressors of religion.”

Father Gleb Yakunin, a former Orthodox priest who was excommunicated in 1997 due to his criticism of what the church had become, states that “the Church was so thoroughly infiltrated by the KGB that ‘virtually the entire episcopate were recruited as informers’.” Glover explains:

Instead of purging the former collaborators, it is those who have raised the issue, like Father Yakunin, who have been purged. Yakunin believes that as a result of the Soviet period, the Church needs ‘a new protestant reformation’, in which the entire episcopate would be replaced. Anything short of that would leave the Church, and its immense moral weight, in the hands of the KGB, which once infiltrated it and now (in its new incarnation) runs it as a bastion of a new version of imperial nationalism – a ‘virus’, as he put it – which is eating Russia from within.

Russia’s Christian Church, as the organization that suffered most from communism, had a chance to be the nation’s conscience. With its moral weight, it could have guided Russia beyond its Soviet nightmare, by helping the country confront its past, accept it and heal itself. Instead, it has become a hive of former collaborators, who see the Orthodox Church not as a way to remember, but as a way to forget.

The 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, Patriarch Kirill, the Primate and supreme spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, was a KGB intelligence officer in Switzerland in the 1970s and officially represented Moscow at the World Council of Churches (WCC). In 2012, Kirill called the 12 years of ex-KGB Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Putin’s rule a “miracle of God” and depicted him as an almost messianic figure.

The Patriarch has preached a doctrine called Russkiy Mir, meaning the “Russian World.” It embodies the idea that Russia has a spiritual duty to unify all Russian populations under its leadership, including those living outside its borders. He broadened the term to include non-Russians who adopt the Russian World’s ideology.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Russian Orthodox Church preached to its 100 million adherents that the West is “Satanic” and that the invasion is a “holy war,” reminiscent of how Islamists declare jihad as a synonym for “holy war.” The Church also mirrors Islamism’s doctrine that dying in “holy war” guarantees entry into heaven. Kirill ruled, “We believe that this sacrifice washes away all the sins they have committed,” referring to Russians who die in the war in Ukraine. 

KGB Christianity’s Alliance with Islamism

Patriarch Kirill said in 2016, “Together we have to defeat the propaganda machine directed against our moral values, and to counter the demonization of Islam.”

Russia’s KGB Christianity sees Islamism as not just an ally of convenience against a common enemy but more as its permanent partner in a joint “holy war” against the West. Putin says the Russian Orthodox Church is closer to Islam than to the Protestant Christianity that prevails in the West.

Alexander Dugin, a top Russian political theorist sometimes referred to as “Putin’s Brain” and advisor to the Iranian regime, preaches that the Christian and Islamic End Times prophecies are compatible. During a 2015 visit to Teheran, Dugin referred to modernity as “Satan,” the West as “the hereditary house of Satan,” and Iran as “the main base of war against modernity.” He said that Russia must follow Iran as “the model for returning to tradition.” He proposed the construction of a “bridge” between Iranian religious thinkers and Russian traditionalists.

This shared vision of returning to “tradition” apparently includes generous portions of state violence against its own population. When the Islamic Republic of Iran murdered an estimated 30,000 protesters in January 2026, with arrests and disappearances of many more, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei did not utter a single word condemning the blood-soaked crackdown. He merely reiterated that nothing could change the fundamentals of the relationship between Russia and Iran.

Dugin has advocated “Russian fascism” as the means to establish a “Russian order of things.” He was an advocate of “Novorossiya,” or a New Russia, that would grow by annexing southern and eastern Ukraine. Following the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of conflict in the Donbas in 2014, he was widely reported to have said, “Kill, kill, and kill again!” regarding officials of the Ukrainian government. This provoked protests in Russia. He was fired from his teaching position at Moscow State University, but was later rehabilitated as a thinker whose ideas were welcomed by Putin’s government. As discussed by BBC News Russian, his 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics:

found an audience among hardliners in power. It was on the reading list at the Military Academy of the Russian General Staff, where the philosopher himself taught, conducted research, and lectured. The textbook on geopolitics recommended by the Russian education ministry also quotes him at length. He called Ukraine’s independence an existential threat to Russia.

Russia’s strategy against the West includes “active measures” to demoralize, divide, and weaken America, the leading defender of the concept of universal, God-given rights. As explained by Dugin in Foundations of Geopolitics:

[Russia must] weaken, demoralize, deceive, and ultimately, defeat the enemy as much as possible. It is especially important to bring geopolitical turmoil into the US domestic reality by encouraging all kinds of separatism, various ethnic, social, and racial conflicts, and actively supporting all dissident movements of extremist, racist, and sectarian groups that destabilize internal political processes in the USA.

Foundations of Geopolitics favorably profiled several geopolitical theorists who had close ties to Nazism, including:

Karl Haushofer, a prominent German general whose geopolitical theories were adapted by the Nazi regime. Dugin adopted his concepts of Grossraum (large space) and land vs. sea power as pillars for his anti-Western worldview.

Julius Evola, an Italian philosopher who espoused “spiritual racism” and worked closely with the Nazi SS. Dugin translated his work into Russian and embraced his vision of a a highly stratified, traditionalist society mobilized against modernity. Evola and French traditionalist René Guénon argued that the world had once been hierarchical and pure. Now, we live not in an age of mythic heroes but rather in the “Kali Yuga”: an age of chaos and mediocrity, that could only be transformed through the power of “secret wisdom” and “purifying bloodshed.”

The natural order of things — in which everyone knew and respected their natural and social function — had been overturned by the false promise of democracy. “Nobody any longer occupies the place that he should,” Guénon lamented. But a secret truth, available to occult initiates and handed down to those spiritual aristocrats wise enough to transcend their era, could re-enchant our alienated modernity through the power of secret wisdom and purifying bloodshed, an apocalypse that presages a return to a more pristine state of being.

Carl Schmitt, a German Nazi jurist, anti-semite, and political theorist whose ideas about “friend/enemy” distinctions and the creation of a conservative, continental international order shaped Dugin’s anti-Atlanticist positions.

Dugin advocated the reconstitution of the Soviet/Russian empire and a new alliance with Japan, Iran and Germany to form a geopolitical ‘axis’ that would eject the United States and its “Atlanticist” minions from the continent.

The key to creating ‘Eurasia’ is to reject a narrow nationalistic agenda which could alienate potential allies. He quoted New Right theorist Jean-François Thiriart, who said ‘the main mistake of Hitler was that he tried to make Europe German. Instead, he should have tried to make it European.’ Russia, it followed, would not be making a Russian Empire, but a Eurasian one. Dugin explained, “The Eurasian Empire will be constructed on the fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism, the strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to dominate us.”

Dugin charges Western modernity with creating slavery and for the devastation and the economic exploitation of millions of people on the planet. His views ignore the following facts:

1) slavery has existed in virtually every society since the beginning of humanity,

2) at the behest of Abolitionist Christians, Great Britain abolished the slave trade in the Commonwealth in 1807 and then slavery in 1833, and used its Navy to fight against the Arab/African slave trade for more than 5 decades. After a bloody Civil War, the United States ended the institution of slavery in 1865.

Regarding his charge of the West’s economic exploitation of millions of people around the world, Dugin ignores the track record of free market capitalism pioneered in Great Britain, Europe and the United States in liberating billions of people around the world from grinding poverty.

In 1820, due to grinding poverty 94% of the world’s population struggled to survive. One hundred seventy years later, in 1990, 35% lived in poverty, and by 2015, that declined to under 10%. During the 70 years, between 1950 and 2020, the average global income per person rose by 307%, something never seen before in all history. These were the consequences of countries adopting aspects of western (Judeo-Christian) concepts of universal human rights, the right to private property, and the rule of law.

* * *

Part 2: 

It’s true that material progress and opportunity, if detached from a sense of meaning and attachment to one’s community, faith or nation, cannot solve the problems of modern alienation. One can see why Russians and those who have lived in the Russian/Soviet sphere could be attracted to Dugin’s/Putin’s ideas for a Eurasian Empire centered on Russian identity and allegiance to the Orthodox Church, but how to explain the promotion of Dugin’s ideas in America by segments of the MAGA Right?

The fact that western conservative influencers like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Alex Jones and others have offered Russian/Eurasian theorist/propagandist Alexander Dugin repeated opportunities to spread his views to millions of Americans, often with little to no pushback, has to be considered one of the great triumphs in Russian information warfare. The strategy of exploiting American conspiracy theorists who echo Russian disinformation is called “narrative laundering” and is a key component of Russia’s cognitive warfare in the 21st century.

Ryan Mauro, senior fellow for counter extremism for the Capital Research Center asks how can these prominent influencers who once espoused an America First patriot narrative now praise a Putin style of repressive government? In June 2026, Candace spoke at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Russia, participating in a “Family Values” panel, where she praised Russian values.

Mauro warns that, “SPIEF is a hotspot for Russian intelligence and is organized by the senior-most levels of the Russian government. Putin’s top advisors and the First Deputy Director of the FSB, the successor to the KGB, are on the Organizing Committee. Investigative documents show that SPIEF activities, specifically including its panels, are “recruitment pipelines” for “state-directed soft power programs” to enlist “foreign influencers” in projects such as “media partnerships.”

Russia’s “comprehensive ecosystem” complements its state-directed media and the media work of those on the panel. RT (formerly Russia Today), for example, frequently amplifies Owens’s content. The network posted over a dozen clips of her interview with Hunter Biden in May, 2026.

Dugin, Owens, Jones and many others refer to the U.S. and Israel as the “Epstein Class” and claim that Jeffrey Epstein’s operations were a front for Israeli intelligence. In reality, Epstein’s ties to the Russian government and China are far more extensive than any evidence linking him to Mossad or the CIA. One of the “Epstein files” available at the U.S. Department of Justice shows that in 2013 Epstein tried to relay a message to Putin offering to help Russia “leapfrog the global community by reinventing the financial system of the 21st century.”

Ryan Mauro has also reported on Epstein’s ties to the above-mentioned St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). His close friend, Sergey Belyakov, an FSB (successor to the KGB) Academy graduate who led SPIEF, spoke at the 2026 forum along with Candace. SPIEF helped Epstein get a Russian visa. In return Epstein helped SPIEF recruit attendees.

Mauro notes that:

The Epstein files revealed that Epstein asked for the SPIEF official’s help in dealing with a Russian model who was blackmailing powerful businessmen in New York. The SPIEF official provided him with information about her. Epstein appears to have threatened her life by warning her that he’d send the FSB after her as an “enemy of the [Russian] people.” SPIEF is widely reported to swarm with Russian models & escorts who target affluent men. Many of them are likely doing so as part of honeypot intel operations to acquire “kompromat.”

The New York Times also reported on Epstein’s connection with Belyakov and commented:

The Kremlin has seized on the latest release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, saying the lurid details of his ties with leading American and European figures in business, politics and culture underscore the moral depravity of the West.

Yet the files also detail Mr. Epstein’s contacts inside similar circles in Russia, where he cultivated officials and traded favors, including with those he hoped might facilitate a meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin.

Another speaker at SPIEF 2026 was Scott Ritter, a former UN inspector and convicted pedophile, who is under FBI investigation for illegally acting as a foreign agent of Russia. He constantly appears on anti-American media platforms to declare that victory is imminent for Russia, Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah. He openly roots for the U.S., Israel and the West to be defeated.

Dugin explicitly explained the important role of “right-wing republican” influencers like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones in his agenda to promote American isolationism and to support dissident movements in the USA when he wrote in Foundations of Geopolitics:

It makes sense to support isolationist tendencies in US politics, the theses of those (often right-wing republican) circles that believe that the US should confine itself to its domestic problems. This state of affairs is highly advantageous to Russia, even if ‘isolationism’ is carried out within the original Monroe doctrine wording, i.e. if the US limits its influence to two Americas. This does not mean that Eurasia should give up on destabilizing the Latin American world by seeking to remove certain regions from US control. All levels of geopolitical pressure on the US must be engaged.

Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Alex Jones repeatedly espouse such isolationist themes, often quoting directly from Kremlin-backed sources, not only arguing against American involvement or support for the wars in Ukraine and Iran, but also expressing outright admiration for Putin’s Russia, which has been ranked by Freedom House as one of the worst nations in the world in terms of abusing human rights, criminalization of anti-war dissent, detention of political prisoners, and heavy restriction of independent media. Their online broadcasts have repeatedly been featured on Russian media outlets. 

Russian state media (@RT_com) has posted about Candace Owens 119 times since the start of 2026. That’s roughly one Candace Owens post every 1.3 days - or 5–6 posts per week, from January through early June.

Carlson has been quoted, clipped or broadcast literally hundreds of times since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Leaked Kremlin memos instructed Russian state media to use his segments as much as possible since his talking points aligned with Moscow’s agenda.

In mid-2024, the Russian state network Rossiya 24 began regularly airing voice-over dubbed versions of Tucker’s internet broadcasts as a dedicated segment called “TUCKER. Rossiya 24,” featuring hundreds of individual episodes. He has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Russia, including multiple broadcasts from that country as well as a fawning 2-hour interview with Putin in 2024.

Other Carson statements about the Russian president and defending Russia’s war in Ukraine include: “Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him?”

So you can only criticize Putin if he personally attacked you or tried to get you fired? What about the Russian dissidents who were not fired, but rather poisoned to death during Putin’s presidency? Several Russian defectors, exiled intelligence officers, journalists and prominent opposition leaders fell victim to state-linked assassinations. Here are brief descriptions of five of them: 

Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent anti-corruption opposition leader survived a 2020 Novichok nerve agent attack. Following that he was imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony where he died in February 2024. An international inquiry and multiple European nations concluded he was killed using the deadly toxin epibatidine.

Boris Nemtsov. The reformist former regional governor and deputy prime minister was a rising political star in the 1990s but became one of Putin’s most vocal opponents was shot dead on February 27, 2015 in a gangland-style killing on a bridge near the Kremlin, at age 55.

A liberal lawmaker early in Putin’s presidency, Nemtsov helped lead protests against stacked parliamentary elections and Putin’s return to the presidency in 2012. He staunchly opposed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014, calling it “despicable,” “impudent,” and “harmful for Russia.” At the time of his killing, he and associates had been working on a report detailing evidence of the extent of Moscow’s interference in the neighboring country.

Natalya Estemirova. On July 16, 2009, the body of the renowned human rights activist, with bullet wounds to her head and chest, was found in Ingushetia, hours after her abduction near her home in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny. Natalya Estemirova had been investigating hundreds of suspected rights abuses in Chechnya, including kidnapping and murder. The rights group she worked for, Memorial, said the initial investigation pointed to the possible involvement of local law enforcement officers.

Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia’s most prominent journalists and a persistent chronicler of rights abuses in Chechnya. On October 7, 2006, Politkovskaya was shot dead in her apartment building, in an execution-style killing. Two men were sentenced to life in prison and three others to long prison terms in 2014 for their involvement, but relatives, colleagues, and Western governments suspect that Russian authorities will never pinpoint or punish the masterminds of her killing because a thorough investigation would lead too close to Putin’s government or the Kremlin-backed leadership in Chechnya.

Alexander Litvenko, a former KGB and FSB officer who defected to the United Kingdom, died in a London hospital in 2006 after ingesting radioactive polonium-210, which was slipped into his green tea at an upscale hotel.

Since Russia’s initiation of war against Ukraine, it has engaged in routine kidnapping, hostage-taking, and violence against civilians. Occupying authorities under orders from the Kremlin have been particularly harsh toward Protestant Christians and institutions, often painting them as agents of the United States.

Russia’s 2016 Yarovaya Law (named for the law’s political champion, Irina Yarovaya) claims to counter terrorism and secure public safety, but the law restricts Christians’ freedom of worship and evangelism. The law and its amendments characterize Christians and churches outside the Russian Orthodox Church as religious extremists, criminalizing the speech and activities of Russian Christians who faithfully witness for Christ.

Russia, which shows little tolerance for independent belief systems within its own borders, has exported its worst practices to the territories it occupies in Ukraine. The Helsinki Commission has documented that Russia has engaged in routine kidnapping, hostage-taking, and violence against Ukrainian civilians. The Commission found that occupying authorities under orders from the Kremlin have been particularly harsh toward Protestant Christians and institutions, often painting them as agents of the United States.

More recently, Dugin has suggested that the apocalyptic final battle will feature a Zionist and Western coalition led by a Jewish Antichrist facing off against a coalition consisting of the Muslim world led by the Mahdi (Islam’s messianic figure) and the Orthodox Christians led by a mysterious figure or entity called Katechon that is prophesied to resist the Antichrist. Dugin believes Russia is Katechon.

Woke Right Dugin/Putin acolytes in the West might want to reflect on what kind of world the Muslim/Orthodox alliance would spread if they were victorious. It would be a world of theocratic dictatorships where government power is used to silence dissent and punish “infidel” religions, precisely what already exists in Iran and Russia today.

Considering Russia’s partnership with the Islamic Republic of Iran, I wonder if Woke Right enthusiasts have considered that, unlike Mohammed and his disciples, Jesus and his disciples did not spread their faith with a sword. History has shown that the embrace of state violence to impose religious beliefs and practices does not lead to a Kingdom of Heaven, but rather to a kingdom of hell.

It’s true that the democratic West is not perfect. Its freedoms have been used to promote self-destructive addictions and lifestyles, but those same freedoms allow citizens to pursue truth as guided by their own conscience. The Russian KGB “Christian” state claims to defend the moral, traditional, and even Godly foundations of civilization, while conducting active measures to exacerbate racial and other social divisions as well as LGBTQ rights including pedophilia in the U.S. Meanwhile it has successfully enlisted leading woke right influencers, who should be defending American founding principles, to launder its narratives.

 

Sources:

Part 1: https://genderwars.substack.com/p/kgb-christianity-and-the-woke-right

Part 2: https://genderwars.substack.com/p/kgb-christianity-and-the-woke-right-b69

 

Shared by https://orthodoxyforall.blogspot.com/2026/06/kgb-christianity-and-woke-right.html

Monday, July 20, 2026

We Cannot Blame God for the Existence of Evil

Compiled and translated by Saint Nektarios Monastery, Roscoe, NY

 

 

From the teachings of St. John Chrysostom

Someone may ask: “Why didn’t God get rid of the devil as soon as he deceived man in Paradise?” This was because of His great concern for us. If the devil had reigned by force, then there would be some grounds for this question. However, since he has been deprived of such power and was left only with the ability to persuade—and it is up to is if we choose to listen to him or not—why do you want to reject the opportunity to prosper and eliminate the cause for crowns? Even if God had allowed the devil to exist, knowing that he would be unbeatable and that he would defeat every single person, this still should not make you skeptical. It would still be up to us whether or not we allow the devil to prevail, and he would be unable to defeat anyone by force—only them who voluntary submit to him.

Additionally, if there are already many people who overcame his power, just as there are many who will defeat him in the future, why do you want to deprive these people (who will advance in virtue and attain a glorious victory) of such great honor? God allowed the devil to remain in order for man, who had been previously defeated by him, to vanquish him in turn. This will constitute the greatest hell possible for the devil and will bring upon him the worst condemnation.

If one continues with this type of reasoning, one will end up blaming and finding fault with God’s providence, and defaming God’s entire creation. One will criticize God for creating mouths and eyes; for human beings use their mouth to curse God and preach corruptive beliefs, and with their eyes they desire things which they shouldn’t and fall into adultery. Does this mean that God should have created people without a tongue and eyes? With this type of logic, we should also cut off people’s legs and sever their hands, since legs are used to race toward a variety of evils and hands are often covered in blood. Not even the ears can be spared from this savage syllogism, since they accept unbeneficial sounds and convey destructive teachings to the soul. Therefore, we should also cut off the ears. If this were to happen, then we must also do away with food, drinks, the sky and the earth, the moon and all the stars, along with all the genera of irrational animals. What would be the need for all these things if man, for whom they were all created, was cut to pieces and so pathetically dismembered?

Do you see how this lethal train of thought necessarily leads to a laughable and absurd conclusion? The devil does evil to and harms himself, not us. On the contrary, if we want, we can harvest innumerable good things on account of the devil—without, of course, him realizing or desiring this.

From the teachings of St. Basil the Great

The person who claims that God is responsible for evil resembles the person who doesn’t believe in the existence of God at all. The latter maintains that He doesn’t exist, whereas the former contends that He is not good. For, if God is the cause of evil, then clearly He is not good. Such people ask: “Why are there illnesses? Why is there death? Why are there natural disasters? Why are there wars? All these things are bad, and they are the works of God.” “Therefore,” they conclude, “who else can we blame for these events other than God?”

God, of course, decides when He will take someone’s life. However, death is not something bad; unless someone is referring to the death of a sinner, for whom departure from this life becomes the beginning of his suffering in Hell. God is not even responsible for the tortures in Hell—we ourselves are! We and our free will are the beginning and root of sin.

There are two types of evil: one is what we ourselves perceive as evil, based on our feelings; the other is indeed an evil in essence. True evil depends on us. Such is injustice, debauchery, hatred, murder, and the like; for these things defile the soul that was created in the image of our Creator. We also label as evil whatever we find difficult and painful. Such are physical illnesses, accidents, lack of the basic necessities, loss of money, and death of family members. Each of these things is permitted by our wise and good Master for our benefit. He takes away the instrument of injustice (that is, wealth) from them who make incorrect use of it. He allows illnesses to come upon people when it is more beneficial to bind their body parts than to have them race unrestricted toward sin. Deaths are permitted to occur when the limit of life is reached, which God’s righteous judgment has appointed from the onset for each person; for He foresees well in advance what is best for each one of us. Famine, draughts, and floods commonly plague cities and nations in order to restrict excessive evil and sinfulness.

A physician is a benefactor, even though he induces pain and suffering to the body—for he battles the illness not the sick person. Similarly, God is good because He uses punishments in part to work out the salvation of the whole. You never blame the doctor when he cuts, cauterizes, or even amputates parts of your body. On the contrary, you pay him and call him your savior because he eradicates the disease while it is still in the early stages, before it spreads to the entire body. However, when you hear of an earthquake or that a ship sunk at sea, without hesitation you open your mouth and blaspheme the true Physician and Savior! Just as the illness itself and not the physician is the cause of surgical procedures and cauterization, in the same manner various calamities that strike cities are the result of the inhabitants’ vast sinfulness, and, thus, release God from any and all blame.

Illnesses, draughts, and infertility of the earth, even the most difficult circumstances in the life of each person, all these prevent evil from increasing and spreading. Hence, all these “bad” things that are permitted by God actually remove the cause of the generation of true evil. Both physical ailments and adversities beyond our control have been permitted to distance us from sin. Therefore, God destroys evil; evil does not come from God. Doctors cure diseases; they do not generate diseases within the body.

Sin is the primary and chief evil, and it is indeed worthy of being called an evil. Sin depends on our own free volition. It is up to us to either stay away from sinfulness or to be wicked. All other evils are permitted either to reveal a person’s courage and virtue, as in the case of Job, or to heal and rectify sins that have been committed in the past, such as with the prophet David, or to render more careful and prudent them who easily slide into sin, such as in the case of Dathan and Abiram (Num. 16:27), who served as a lesson and example for others.

Now that you have come to know the various forms of evil that God allows, now that you have understood well that sin is the only true evil, whereas things that seem evil on account of pain are in fact very beneficial and lead to the eternal salvation of the soul, cease being dissatisfied with God’s decisions and divine interventions. In general, never consider God to be the cause of the existence of evil. Do not even imagine that evil is an entity. Evil is not something that exists like some creature, nor can it be viewed as a living substance. Rather, it appears after the soul is crippled.

God created the soul, but not sin. But then, why is the soul generally capable of becoming evil? This is on account of the free will, which is especially befitting to rational beings. “But why don’t we have sinlessness embedded in our nature,” someone may ask, “so that even if we wanted to, we could not sin?” Because you also do not consider your slaves as friends when you hold them captive by force, but when you see them willingly serving you. Similarly, God is not pleased with things that take place out of necessity, but with what takes place on account of virtue. And virtue takes place through man’s free choice—not through force. Free choice depends on us, and we have our free will. Therefore, he who blames the Creator for not making us sinless by nature prefers to have irrational instead of rational souls, and motionless, inert beings instead of ones who can make voluntary decisions and take actions.

Let us therefore stop correcting the Wise God. Let us stop seeking something better than what He has made. If we are unaware of the reasons behind certain things God has planned, let us at least maintain one dogma in our soul with certainty: there is no evil that comes from the Good God.

From the writings of St. John of Damascus

It is common for the Holy Scriptures to refer to things that God allows as His action and work. Nonetheless, even when it says that “God creates evil” (Isa. 45:7), or that there is no “evil in the city which God has not created” (Amos 3:6), it is not trying to present God as the cause of evil. The word “evil” has two meanings. Sometimes it describes what is inherently evil, that is, whatever is opposed to virtue and God’s will. Other times, it refers to the bad things that we perceive, such as pain, sorrow, and misfortune. All these things seem evil because they cause pain; however, in reality they are good things. For people with understanding, they become the cause of repentance and salvation. These are the “evils” that the Bible describes as taking place through God. Even so, we should realize that we ourselves are the cause of even these evils. Because involuntary evils [i.e. sorrows] result from voluntary evils [i.e. sins].

There is One God Who is the only source of good, and Who is free of all evil. “But then,” some people ask, “where does evil come from? Since it is impossible for evil to be brought forth from good.” Evil is nothing other than the deprivation of good, and the deviation from the natural state to an unnatural state. All things that God created are very good, when they remain as they were created. However, when they voluntarily distance themselves from the natural state and proceed to an unnatural state, they become evil.

In their natural state, all things serve and obey the Creator. When, however, one of these creations willingly flees and becomes disobedient to its Creator, it creates evil within itself. Because evil is neither an entity nor an attribute of any substance. Rather, it is an event; that is, a voluntary turning away from the natural to an unnatural state—which is the same as sin.

From where did sin arise? It is the invention of the devil’s free will. Is then the devil evil? He was not created evil but good. He was created a bright and radiant angel by God; however, as a rational and free being, he willingly distanced himself from the natural state of virtue and entered the darkness of evil after separating himself from God, Who is the only good One and the Creator of light.

God out of goodness created all things out of nothing, and He knows beforehand everything that will occur. If they had not been created, then no one would have become evil...If people who were to come into existence due to God’s goodness were prevented from being created on account that they would become evil as a result of their own choice, then evil would have defeated God’s goodness. And so, everything that God created, He created good and very well. Each person on his own chooses to become good or evil.

From the writings of St. Gregory Palamas

Why then did God initially create people who would end up being punished? He did so not to punish them, but to save them; this is apparent from the fact that He calls and invites them to salvation. Because if He wanted to punish certain people, He would not call all people to salvation…But what type of logic is this? Whoever does not agree with the above, but merely wants to blame God, such a person by extension maintains that rational beings should not have been created at all. What need would there be for logic if it was not up to man’s disposition and free will? How could someone have free will and choice if he was incapable—if he so desired—of also becoming evil? However, if someone cannot become evil, then he certainly is not capable of becoming good either.

Therefore, whoever states that God should not have created all the people who will go to Hell maintains that He should not have created the people who will be saved either, nor any logical and free-willed beings in general. Furthermore, if everything in the universe was created for logical nature [i.e. for man], this argument asserts that God shouldn’t have created anything. Do you see the extent of the nonsense? But since through the rational and free-willed generation of man (whom God created), some people would become evil while others good on account of voluntary choice and different use of the free will, what should the truly good God have done? Should He not have created the good people on account of the people who would become evil? No one would be able to come up with anything more unjust than this. Because even if there was only one person who would become good, even then it would not be proper for God to desist from creating. Because one person who does the will of the Lord is worth more than thousands of transgressors…

But let us ask the people (who blame Him Who wants everyone to be saved) about them who do not desire their own salvation: Since we are mortal and physical beings, it is necessary for us to eat. Our body assimilates and stores one part of the food we digest in order to sustain itself, whereas it excretes the other unusable and foul-smelling constituents. Do you avoid eating food altogether because part of it will be converted into feces, or do you consume food in its entirety on account of the portion that (through the digestive system) is extracted, assimilated, and incorporated to sustain your body? Words are unnecessary because we provide the answer in practice, as we eat daily and accept the fraction of food that is unsuitable for our biology on account of the portion of the food that is necessary for us. Why do we do this? On account of the innate love we have for life. In the same manner, on account of His intrinsic and inherent goodness and benevolence, God would not have avoided bringing into existence good people on account of them who would end up being evil on their own; but on account of the good people, He also created them who would become evil.

Encyclical Letter of the 1983 Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

  May God’s grace and peace be with and increase among all the clergy and faithful of our Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. In...