During times of ecclesiastical
disorder, what is of decisive importance for a Christian is the confession of
the right faith and remaining within the bosom of the true Church. This was not
so difficult to maintain in the period of peace and stability in which the
Orthodox Church remained from the Baptism of Rus until the beginning of
the present century. However, the “rebellious” spirit, the spirit of pride,
which has spread everywhere among us, has not only radically changed the social
and economic structure of society, but has also introduced great temptation
into the enclosure of the Church. The Orthodox Christian, contrary to his own
desire, is constantly placed before the choice: where is the true Church?
The widespread division and
fragmentation of the Orthodox Church makes a detailed analysis of each
individual case of such division practically impossible. Nor would such an
analysis lead to any results. The present divisions are not even a dogmatic
question, since no one has invented or professes any new dogmas, but rather a
psychological and, above all, a moral one. The dogmatic height of Orthodox
doctrine, unfortunately, is often not even taken into account in inter-church
disputes. Earthly, “human” arguments come to the fore—national, traditional,
economic, and others. The spirit of the age triumphs today, and it is becoming
ever more difficult for the Orthodox man to preserve his faith without
distorting it under the influence of external forces. And as a consequence of
this, more and more possibilities arise for new schisms and disorders.
It is impossible to explain to
the flock of, for example, the Kiev Patriarchate the uncanonical nature of
their position; still more impossible is it to do this for the flock of the
Moscow Patriarchate. People in our time have ceased to perceive words: the word
has lost all value, having been worn out in matters that are purely earthly,
matters of the flesh—advertising, politics, business, and entertainment. Piety
still remains a weighty argument. Every “church” tries to have as many “saints”
as possible in its ranks. However, “holiness” also cannot be recognized as a
decisive argument. The extreme asceticism of the Egyptian fathers proved to be
convenient soil for the heresy of Monophysitism. And how many “saints,”
astonishing the imagination by their “ascetic feats,” are there in the Catholic
church and even in the Eastern pagan religions? The customary argument in such
cases—“with us the miracles are from God, and with you they are from the
devil”—may be advanced by representatives of any confession, and, gliding along
the surface of consciousness, such arguments do not lead, and cannot lead, to
any positive result. Because in essence this is not an argument but one of the
forms of self-justification or self-defense, suitable for practically any case.
“I do not want to know what you have, because everything you have is from the
devil.” By similar arguments the Pharisees in the time of Jesus Christ tried to
discredit the miracles and deeds of the Savior Himself and of His disciples.
This is already a kind of
psychological barrier, protecting one’s self-consciousness or one’s faith. It
is good for a person who is indeed within the bosom of the true Church. And it
is a catastrophe for those who have erected this barrier in the path of the
grace of God. In our days this barrier has become an insurmountable obstacle at
the entrance into the enclosure of the true Church of Christ. However, we
Orthodox Christians have a powerful means capable of destroying any barriers on
the path to God. It was precisely through this, and not through miracles, that
Christ conquered the world, and it was precisely this that lay at the
foundation of all the Savior’s actions. This sole all-conquering means is love,
which shatters every obstacle in its path—not human, passionate love, which
only maims and destroys the soul, but divine, all-forgiving and triumphant
love, which can exist only among truly believing people. One of the most
characteristic marks of a sect is the absence of love and the extreme malice of
its members, who are literally ready to destroy everyone who does not belong to
it. Another mark of a sect is the imitation of love, as is seen among many
Protestants, who try to wrap emptiness in attractive packaging. In Russia at
first they kept repeating that they had come with good intentions to preach the
word of God, but then it became clear that they were full of hatred for our
history and for our Orthodox faith. Now they are no longer ashamed openly to
mock the Church, while completely failing to understand the spirit and essence
of Orthodoxy, attacking certain outward manifestations or else bringing forward
utterly primitive arguments against the basic Orthodox dogmas, arguments long
ago refuted by the Church.
One can reason in an Orthodox
manner about matters of faith only by having love for God and neighbor. This is
the criterion that does not allow one to slip from the right path. True love,
in the word of the Apostle, does not exalt itself, is long-suffering, is not
malicious. It does not impose itself on all who pass by, and does not
ostentatiously vaunt its pain and its sorrows. It forgives and has mercy on
those who offend it. It demands nothing. It envies no one. Love is
long-suffering... It waits for hearts to gain sight, for souls to thaw, for
thoughts to grow bright. Without this, a man’s conversion to God is impossible.
We all have free will, and it alone determines where we turn our gaze. God
loves us and waits for us—the earthly Church is the threshold of His heavenly
bridal chamber. We fall away from the Church first of all when we turn away
from divine love, when pride and malice enter our hearts, when earthly
calculation obscures eternal truth. All who have fallen away from the Church
are people with hearts grown cold, who have lost the capacity to be bearers of
divine love. Or else they have simply been mercilessly deceived by their
fallen-away pastors, upon whose authority the unfortunate ones have placed all
their hope. It cannot be otherwise—in this case there is no alternative.
Everything else—canonical justifications, various kinds of arguments and
demands attached to them—is already secondary.
Source: Русский Сигор,
nos. 4–6, 2009.
Online:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.