History of the Christian Church. Digression from the Bible

"Success" of Orthodoxy in Tsarist Russia was not conditioned:
- Strong Theology,
- The dedicated life of ministers,
- Active evangelistic activities.

AGAINST:
- Union with state power,
- Fear and punishment.

Many “Orthodox” people, for example Mr. Chaplin (not to be confused with Charlie), actively promote “GOOD INITIATIVES”, read below. And at night THEY dream of the good old days, when THEY could quickly destroy the dominance of pro-Western sects and chop into pieces all the Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, and other infidels.

21.11.2008 17:06
Maxim Yaroshevsky

The head of the Moscow branch of the Union of Orthodox Citizens, Kirill Frolov, said that from December 1 Russian cities Orthodox squads will begin to patrol, the Kommersant newspaper writes. The Russian Orthodox Church believes that the creation of such detachments is more relevant today than ever: in the context of the global financial crisis, people left without work may commit a crime out of despair. Human rights activists say that such an initiative by the Russian Orthodox Church will lead to clashes on interreligious grounds. In addition, it is not yet clear how Orthodox squads will cooperate with the police.

The idea of ​​forming Orthodox squads was proposed by the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin. It is planned that the rights of church vigilantes will be the same as those of already existing national vigilantes. That is, they will be able to demand respect for public order, work in cordon at public events and help the police seize instruments for committing crimes.

According to the head of the public relations department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Valery Gribakin, “proposals for the participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the protection of public order will be considered by the leadership of the ministry without fail,” writes Kommersant.

Earlier, participants in the “Russian March”, which took place on November 4 on the Taras Shevchenko embankment in Moscow, spoke about the creation of such squads. However, their proposals were somewhat different, notes Dmitry Taratorin, a representative of the Russian Image movement: “We talked about the fact that the citizens themselves create squads of people who have a license to traumatic weapon. That is, they are obviously law-abiding and mentally normal, because others are not given such a license. Accordingly, armed with traumatic guns go out to patrol their areas in the dark, that is, when the police are not there. These people must somehow register with the police and be held accountable for their actions in the evening. But the meaning was somewhat different: not to walk along bright avenues with the police, but to protect our areas.”

To Dmitry Taratorin, the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church is reminiscent of the people’s squads that operated in the Soviet Union, when “people went for time off or something else, there was some kind of profanity.” Such an initiative can only really be beneficial if it comes from below, Taratorin believes: “No one will force people to protect themselves. People must realize that saving drowning people in today's situation is the work of the drowning people themselves. But don’t interfere with the state’s business. It’s up to the state to control this initiative, not to put a spoke in its wheels and not to dilute it.” According to him, “it’s quite strange to translate this into a confessional plane, when we're talking about about people's life and health."

This is not the first time that human rights activists have stated that the creation of Orthodox squads could provoke clashes. Most of the so-called guest workers who come to work are not Orthodox. Today, everyone talking about the financial crisis reminds us that thousands of illegal immigrants remain unemployed.

The head of the movement “For Human Rights” Lev Ponomarev believes that the scale of the potential threat from labor migrants is far-fetched: “The percentage of crimes among migrant workers is lower than the Moscow average. The migrant workers are intimidated and live in very cramped conditions.”

But the creation of Orthodox squads can lead to unrest, says Lev Ponomarev. If their work is directed against guest workers, clashes will begin on interreligious grounds, he explains. And besides, clashes with the police may arise, Lev Ponomarev continues: “There have already been attempts to create such kind of squads to restore order by the Cossacks, who, by the way, are also mostly Orthodox. And this led to a direct clash with the police, because they were restoring order in their own way. People went to complain to the police. The police were forced to fulfill their duty and punish these most peace-loving Cossacks. If we want our streets to be as safe as possible more peace and order, under no circumstances should these peace-loving Orthodox squads be allowed in.”

Associate Professor at the Center for Comparative Study of Religion at the Russian State University for the Humanities, historian Boris Falikov considers the actions of the Russian Orthodox Church ill-conceived: “The Church has other functions in society. This does not mean at all that the church should be separated from society by a wall. If the church wants us to have less aggression on the streets and less of all sorts of rather scary things that we all know about, in their sermons priests should talk about the fact that it is not violence that is a positive value, but the absence of aggressiveness. How to give such a Christian picture of this situation.”

According to the historian, Orthodox squads will most likely resemble those that were in Soviet times: “People with armbands will come out (only the armbands will not be red, but, say, with an Orthodox cross) and fight with the hooligans. This is in best case scenario. And at worst, it can have a bad impact on the image of the church. Because if she performs such unusual functions on the street, what will people think of her? They will think badly."

It is curious that the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church was simultaneously supported by the pro-Kremlin youth movement “Nashi” and the far-right Movement against Illegal Immigration.

Read more: http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/article/474042.html#ixzz0k9epnCvl
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Good question. It's raised important topic – story christian church . I have already answered your question in the book “Returning to the Origins of Christian Doctrine” in historical information to one of the chapters, which talked about, etc.

In this material I will reflect a little more on the importance of knowing the history of the Christian church. Today there are many Christian denominations in the world, and each of these churches is confident that it is the true one. Each denomination has its own theologians with higher theological education, respected spiritual teachers, its own history of formation and development, some have their own saints, some have ancient traditions, and so on. That is, every denomination has something to be proud of; in their opinion, there are weighty arguments that confirm their difference from their fellow believers in Jesus Christ.

It is absolutely clear that all denominations cannot be equally right at the same time. Naturally, some are closer and some are further from the real truth. How can you find out what the criterion of truth is? The answer to this question is simple: the canons of any church need to be checked with the Holy Scriptures, and then it will be clear who is closer and who is further away from the teachings of the Lord and the apostles, and therefore from Divine truth. This topic is covered in the chapter of the book “Returning to the Origins of Christian Doctrine.” And in order to better understand the teachings of the Bible, you need to know the history of the Christian church. It is the history of the church that shows when and how Christianity departed from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

Today, many rituals and canons that take place in churches are viewed by their parishioners as the fulfillment of the instructions of the apostles and the Lord Himself. However, only the history of the Christian church shows and proves that this or that ministry used today is just a tradition. Even if this custom is 1600 years old or more, in any case, this is a late addition regarding the practice of worship in the first communities, which was established by the apostles, who spoke and acted, as we know, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Even eminent theologians confirm that the so-called “Apostolic Rules” and “Apostolic Decrees” (ancient documents are doctrinal additions beyond Holy Scripture), do not belong to the pen of the apostles, but were written much later. A number of theologians of historically widespread faiths even criticize some of their doctrines.

The books of the New Testament of the 1st century and the correspondence of the first Christians of the 2nd and 3rd centuries - this is the history of the Christian church of the first centuries. These documents clearly show when and how innovations in liturgical practice began to appear. local churches. It is clear from the apostolic letters and archaeological sources that there were no agreed upon rules in the early churches. Each community developed in its own way own path. This is why Paul's letters to different churches differ because they had different, unique problems and deviations. Likewise, Jesus, through John in the book of Revelation, denounces all churches in different ways.

And after the 4th century, when the church gained unity of command in the person of Ecumenical Council and control of the state apparatus of the Roman Church, deviations from the teachings of the apostles are recorded in documents. The history of the Christian church has these documents - these are decisions of various councils, indications of church hierarchs, chronicles, etc. Today they are publicly available on the Internet. Thanks to the analysis of these historical evidence, it is clear when various innovations entered the church that had nothing to do with the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, that is, the Lord and the apostles.

The history of the Christian church in the chronology of deviations from the teachings of the Bible is set out in the work of P. I. Rogozin “Where did all this come from?” I have not double-checked all these dates, but some are familiar to me, some I agree with at first glance, I have corrected a few a little, and many important dates not here (send it and we’ll add it):

• 285–360 - the beginning of monasticism
• 306 – beginning of the veneration of images (prohibited by the Council of Elvira)
• 313–400 - the Christian Church is recognized as the state religion
• IV century – pilgrimage to holy places began
• 342–416 - infant baptism became mandatory
• 431 - Council of Ephesus, after which the worship of Mary became customary
• V century - worship of the holy martyrs and angels began
• V century – Confirmation introduced
• V century - began to bless the water
• 607 - Bishop of Rome calls himself pope for the first time
• 688–787 encouragement of cross worship
• 787 – veneration of icons was legalized, Second Council of Nicaea
• 778–787 – the worship of relics and their division into antimensions was legalized
• 880 – canonization began
• 900 – creation of the sign of the cross
• 978 – introduction of the dogma of prayer for the dead
• 1016 - indulgences were introduced (forgiveness of sins for money)
• 1059 – the dogma of the transubstantiation of gifts appeared
• 1095 – The Crusades began
• 1122 – priests are finally prohibited from marrying
• 1215–1551 - public confession before a priest became mandatory
• 1139 - The seven sacraments are mentioned together for the first time
• 1229 - the Inquisition became law
• XIII century - rosary beads were invented by monk Dominic
• 1545 - the Catholic (Western) Church included the apocrypha into the canon of the Bible, Council of Trent
• 1854 - in western church dogma accepted immaculate conception Virgin Mary
• 1870 - the dogma of papal infallibility was published in the Western Church

I suggest reading the book. From it, believers will learn a lot of new things from the history of the Christian church, they will discover for themselves what they had not even thought about before, but which has always “lay” on the surface. The Bible is not complicated, it was written by God's messengers for people, not just ministers. It is harmonious and simple in its teaching - this is what the book “Returning to the Origins of Christian Faith” shows and proves.

Valery Tatarkin

Other PREFACE    The life of Archbishop Averky, a description of which has recently appeared in Russian and English, does not outwardly resemble the life of a remarkable person. It was, rather, ordinary, and a simple presentation of its events cannot in itself provide an explanation for the exceptional phenomenon that Archbishop Averky actually was.
In big To a certain extent, he was formed spiritually under the influence of Archbishop Theophan of Poltava († 1940), who, in turn, received instructions from the outstanding luminary of our time, St. Theophan the Recluse († 1894). In his eternally important warnings and instructions, Archbishop Averky was able to convey to our generation the spiritual “mercy”, the legacy of his great mentors. And an ordinary person could not be worthy of this “mercy,” which he received in the same way as Elisha and Elijah once did.
Those who knew Archbishop Averky when he was rector and rector of the Holy Trinity Monastery-Seminary in Jordanville (New York) remember his stunning figure. He was tall, with a thick white beard, his long hair flowing in waves. From under amazingly thick eyebrows they looked into the very soul of a person. big eyes. When the Archbishop was in contemplation, his eyes shone. He was hard of hearing and wore a hearing aid: this defect helped him keep his mind clear of worldly talk.
His demeanor was the embodiment of calm and spiritual dignity. He was never in a hurry or fussed. No one saw him in a frivolous mood. This nobility and dignity in behavior, although those who want to appear spiritual often try to imitate it, was completely natural in Vladyka Averky, it was an expression of the purity of his soul.
Naturalness and integrity were actually distinctive features his character. To be a true bearer of the Orthodox Tradition like Archbishop Averky, you must first be a sincere person. The direct opposite of such a person is one who acts prudently. The Archbishop himself never calculated what impression his words or actions might make, how they would affect his “image” (image), since he completely sincerely did not care what people thought of him. He did not flatter anyone or inflict emotional wounds on anyone to show the strength of his personality, he did not try to impress others. This is how anyone who lives, feeling the presence of God, becomes humble thanks to this alone.
Despite the fact that Archbishop Averky had a very good understanding of what governs worldly life, and was very sober and realistic about everything that happened around him, he was clearly far from everything earthly. There was nothing noticeable about him that was worldly.
He was remembered as compassionate, treating everyone like a father, but at the same time almost a child. Not having a high opinion of himself, he was sincerely touched and even surprised when someone showed him even the slightest respect and respect. Then he was like a little boy who grew up in poverty and suddenly receives a wonderful gift. He, the Archbishop, had the appearance of a humble poor man.
Archbishop Averky spoke so beautifully that after his death, in one article he was called Chrysostom of the last times (hieromonk Seraphim (Rose)). Even in everyday conversation, his speech was oratorically smooth and even, to which he made no effort. His gift of oratory, combined with his fiery love for the Truth, made his sermons unforgettable. Often the repentant mood overwhelmed him so much that he began to cry in the middle of the sermon. Only the most insensitive of those listening laughed at this “emotionality,” but it was clear to everyone that these tears were completely natural - they came “from the abundance of the heart” (Luke 6:45).
Archbishop Averky was a true Christian shepherd. He didn’t just say, “do this, don’t do that,” but he gave the “whole picture”—a complete Orthodox understanding, so that people could understand why they should do one thing and not another. Amidst the spiritual devastation of the twentieth century, he did what his times demanded of all pastors. As will be described below, he identified all types of substitutions in his writings and preached the Truth and revealed It to people.

Man in the face of apostasy

"God! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and was it not in Your name that they cast out demons? and didn’t they do many miracles in Your name?” (Matt. 7:22).
This is what the “elect” will say - those who have “paid their debt” and built a reputation for themselves as servants of Christ, performing impressive deeds as if for him. And the Lord will answer: “I never knew you; Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23-24).
What did they do that deserved such scary words? They did their deeds in the name of Christ, but not in His spirit, and therefore did not live according to His commandments. What they did for the sake of this world will disappear with them. Outwardly they followed all the instructions of faith, but inwardly they were not directed towards the Kingdom of Heaven. And so, they find themselves before the Judge empty-handed.
This will be the case during the Last Judgment, which will follow the highest triumph of the Apostasy in the world.
And this is exactly what the Holy Father of our last times, Archbishop of Jordanville Averky (Taushev) proclaimed. A student of Archbishop Theophan of Poltava, he thus became one of the links in an unbroken chain of Orthodox theologians who passed on the living spirit of Tradition from generation to generation. That he was a true keeper of the Tradition of the Fathers is evident from the fact that it never occurred to him to be called a “theologian” or “researcher of the Fathers.” Therefore, it went unnoticed by people that he was a prophet of the coming Retreat. Only out of love for the life-giving Truth of Orthodoxy and for the sake of the flock entrusted to him by Christ, he considered it his duty to warn people about the most subtle and secret signs of the Apostasy, which is spreading more and more rapidly, but as the world approaches its end. Archbishop Averky knew that the Apostasy was not just a disease spreading “somewhere out there,” in a world blinded by godlessness or among apostate Christians, all of whose thoughts were turned to this world. No, the roots of the Retreat are much deeper. They can penetrate into the very heart of a person...
Archbishop Averky understood that, like the works of false teachers rejected by Christ, the outer side of the Church and even the “true,” “traditional” Orthodoxy can be imitated so cunningly, so accurately that it can “deceive even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). The thought of this completely possessed him. He received knowledge of the essence of Orthodoxy directly from the Holy Fathers. And to successfully pass this knowledge on to the next generation, he had to separate it from the surrogates, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Words, both spoken and written, seemed unable to accomplish this task. He often resorted to the caustic phrase of Bishop Theophan the Recluse: Orthodox Christianity is losing its strength. But is it really possible that only those who have tasted what the real “taste” of Orthodoxy is can feel? Yes, after all, someone who does not know the taste of salt will not be able to recognize deception if they give him a taste of a certain substance and say that this is the taste of salt (cf. Matt. 5:13).
Archbishop Averky also often quoted the words of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov: “The retreat was allowed by God: do not try to stop it with your weak hand. Get away, save yourself from him, and that’s enough for you. Get acquainted with the spirit of the time, study it, in order, if possible, to avoid its influence.”
It goes without saying that those who studied with Archbishop Averky, the monks and future shepherds of the Holy Trinity Monastery-Seminary understood the enduring importance of his warnings. However, it was difficult to understand why he constantly develops and addresses such a dark, negative topic. Once, when the Archbishop, as usual, was discussing the signs of falling away from Christ, one of the students asked a question:
- Of course, retreat is a terrible evil, and we must listen to lectures about it, but why so many? In the end, we are protected from this influence because we Orthodox follow Tradition. We belong to the Russian Orthodox Church - we are not ecumenists, we are in no way involved in the betrayal of Orthodoxy that takes place in other jurisdictions. We are in the true Church, the Orthodox. Are we not safe? Christ said that His Church will not be shaken by the gates of hell.
Archbishop Averky, looking shrewdly at the one who asked this question, in turn asked:
- But how can you determine whether you belong to this Church?
Speaking in Russian, he used the singular: “you,” since he addressed each listener personally.
All students present at the lecture were baptized in the Orthodox Church; the person who asked them so much unexpected question, was their hierarch, their connection with the apostles. They all belonged not only to the same Church as him, but also to the same “jurisdiction.” So how could he question their membership of the true Church without questioning his own?
The question asked by Archbishop Averky has deepest meaning. He often repeated to his disciples that having come to world domination, the Antichrist would “recognize” and “legitimize” and thereby take possession of outside The Orthodox Church - Her traditions, art, dogma, canons, knowledge of liturgical purity and apostolic succession. Therefore, external belonging to the Church and loyalty to traditions - although they are necessary for everyone who wants to know the Truth of Orthodoxy and become involved in the fullness of its grace - do not provide, as he put it, “guarantees.” Asking about what determines a person’s belonging to the true Church, he emphasized the need for everyone to develop personally a sense of truth, which will allow them to distinguish the spirit Orthodox Christianity from all his cunning counterfeits.

What is the Church?

Archbishop Averky noted that Orthodox ecclesiology is in greater danger than other sections of Orthodox teaching. As Christianity loses the last remnants of the strength of deep faith, Orthodox Christians, foolishly influenced by the spirit of this age, lose the correct idea of ​​​​what the Church really is. Their gaze, like that of the society in which they live, is external, and therefore they look upon the Church more and more as an organization. Feeling a burning need to respond to this trend, Archbishop Averky wrote:
“Orthodoxy is not just some type of purely earthly organization headed by patriarchs, bishops and priests who perform some service in the Church, which is officially called “Orthodox.” Orthodoxy is the mystical Body of Christ, the Head of which is Christ Himself (see Eph. 1:22-23 and Col. 1:18, 24), and its composition includes not only priests, but also all those who correctly believe in Christ, who have entered legally through holy Baptism into the Church which He founded, both those now living on earth and those who have died in faith and piety.”
Archbishop Averky feared that the spirit of Orthodox ecclesiology would be replaced by the papist concept of the Church, and the heads of churches would become “mini-popes” in the minds of believers and begin to obscure Christ, the true Head of the Church. The Archbishop understood that if the Church was perceived primarily as a secular administrative structure, then the Antichrist would have direct access to the hearts of people and, without much effort, turn them into his faithful servants. Having a distorted idea of ​​the Church, they “for the benefit of the Church” will do things that clearly contradict the commandments and will of Christ.
And again turning our attention from the earthly to the heavenly, Archbishop Averky gives following definition Churches:
“The Orthodox Church is not a “monopoly” of clergy, it is not only their “business,” as the ignorant and alien to the church spirit think. The Church is not the property of this or that hierarch or priest. This is the closest spiritual union of all those who correctly believe in Christ, striving to piously keep the commandments of Christ, with the sole purpose of inheriting the eternal bliss that Christ the Savior has prepared for us; if they sin through weakness, then they sincerely repent and strive to bear “worthy fruits of repentance” (Lk .3:8) .
Those who are primarily concerned about the consolidation of their church organization may feel a danger to their plans in such a definition of the Church as given by Archbishop Averky (and which, it should be noted, coincides with the definition given by Blessed Archbishop John, which shows that both of these hierarchs were of one mind and proceeded from a single Tradition). “Yes,” one can sometimes hear, “the Church has a mystical nature. But you must also take into account the earthly side of the Church, no matter how prosaic it may be.”
Archbishop Averky, in his response to these words, takes into account the earthly side of the Church, but despite this, he leaves no room for justifying any secularization of Her:
“The Church, in fact, cannot completely withdraw from the world, since it includes people who continue to live on earth, and therefore the “earthly” side of Her composition and external organization are necessary; but the less “earthly”, the better for achieving the eternal goals facing the Church. And it is absolutely unacceptable for the “earthly” to obscure or suppress the purely spiritual - the task of saving the soul and eternal life - for which the Church was founded and exists.”
Archbishop Averky realized that the predominance of the earthly over the spiritual in the Church leads to the loss of the ability, necessary for all Christians, to distinguish what is accepted from what is correct. When a person turns all his attention to the external world, he begins to seek “recognition”, “worthy position” - what is right and good in the eyes of other people, and not what is internally right in relation to God and himself. To idealize something universally recognized as “right” and to conform to it is to invite deception, since Satan can very easily - especially in our time - make it so that the outwardly generally accepted coexists with the inner lie.
Archbishop Averky emphasized: “It is necessary to understand and always remember that Orthodoxy is not only and not always what is officially called “Orthodoxy,” because in our evil and deceitful times the appearance of false “Orthodoxy” everywhere, which raises its head and is established in world, this is an extremely sad, but, unfortunately, already undoubted fact. This false Orthodoxy furiously strives to imitate true Orthodoxy, just as in due time the Antichrist will try to take the place of Christ, to replace Him with itself.”

What does Antichrist mean?

Let's say a few words about what Archbishop Averky meant when he spoke about the Antichrist, because his view is distinguished by spirituality and the complete absence of any unhealthy sensationalism. To recognize the Antichrist and what is now preparing his coming, a Christian must look a little deeper than what is believed in modern world good and evil, just and unjust. The Christian must understand the principle that underlies the phenomenon that we call “Antichrist”; this principle is an imitation of Christ and everything that is Christ. His very name means "instead of Christ" or one who looks like Christ. Antichrist is the final, most seductive embodiment of Satan’s ancient aspirations to “imitate” Christianity in order to create its new form that belongs to this world. “The Antichrist will appear,” writes I.M. Kontsevich, - not as an absolute atheist or a follower of Bolshevism, since this latter showed the world all the horrors to which atheism leads.” On the contrary, says St. Ephraim the Syrian, he will come “like a thief to deceive everyone, he will come feigning reverence, humble, meek, hating, as he says about himself, unrighteousness, averting idols, preferring piety, kind, poor-loving, extremely prudent, very constant, to everyone affectionate, respecting especially the Jewish people; because the Jews will wait for his coming. With all this, with great power he will perform signs, wonders and insurance, take cunning measures to please everyone, so that the common people will soon fall in love with him. He will not take gifts, speak angrily, or show a gloomy appearance, but will always be affectionate. And in all this, with a decorous appearance, he will begin to deceive the world until he reigns.
Possessing a patristic view of the essence of the Antichrist, Archbishop Averky understood that in order to be his follower, it is not at all necessary to live during his reign, the Antichrist. A person can come to what the Antichrist embodies, to a counterfeit of Christianity, due to the fact that he, like the Antichrist, does not have Christ inside.
The purpose of everything given by Christ is to prepare people for His Heavenly reign, while the Antichrist binds people by any means to the earthly. This simple and obvious distinction may actually prove very difficult, since the Antichrist, like many of his predecessors, will be very “spiritual”, he will chain people to earth even by the means that are intended to lead them to heaven. This imitation of Christianity can only be detected by those who have retained the instinct to distinguish what is essentially earthly and perishable from what is heavenly and eternal. The “retreat” that Archbishop Averky speaks of is precisely the loss of this sense and aspiration towards the Heavenly. And Rev. Ephraim the Syrian writes that the coming of the Antichrist will not be recognized by those who have a mind for worldly affairs and love earthly things... For he who is always attached to worldly affairs, although he hears, will not believe and will abhor those who speak. And the saints will be strengthened, because they have abandoned all care for this life.
Christianity, which has lost its strength, is filled with worldly things posing as spiritual. The “worldliness” of Christianity makes it vulnerable to the temptations of the Antichrist.

Three levels of retreat

Studying what Archbishop Averky wrote about the retreat, we can distinguish three levels. Moreover, they differ in how much easier or more difficult it is to recognize the Retreat.

Party politics

Archbishop Averky saw that when the power of Orthodoxy is lost, and the Church is treated as primarily an earthly organization, belonging to the mystical Body of Christ begins to be confused in the minds of people with membership in one or another church party. Then it becomes permissible to destroy a person’s life under the pretext of “cleansing in the Church” if this person is not beneficial to this organization. Under these conditions, clergy, laity and monks are set against each other, begin to hate each other, and enmity begins between them in the name of protecting the worldly interests of their church parties. One church group may deviate from another and seek to legitimize its position by any legal and canonical arguments. Different parties can combine into "super parties" in order to feel more canonical; they can talk about their external unity, as if it constitutes the truly spiritual unity of the Church. But they reveal that their unification is purely political when they again break up or engage in polemics with those Orthodox groups that have not joined their organization.
This is “party consciousness”. Those with a "party consciousness" may lose their sense of holiness by glorifying church leaders, who are primarily "recognized" by their particular party or are their most prominent mouthpieces. “Canonicity” (this main weapon in polemics between parties) begins to be arbitrarily manipulated and mistakenly confused with the “recognition” of one party by other parties. As a result, the one who conducts the most effective propaganda becomes the more “canonical”.
At the Archbishop's Averkia was disgusted by this phenomenon, which he called “party politics.” He saw that it was inherently alien to Christianity.
Although party politics really reached the pinnacle of its development during these last times, when love has cooled in many (Matthew 24:12), “party consciousness,” however, is not, of course, absolutely new for our time: it is the result of the general tendency of the fallen carnal side of man. Even St. Paul encountered this when he wrote to the Corinthian church: “...among you they say: “I am Pavlov,” “I am Apollos”; “I am Kifin”; “And I am Christ’s.” Was Christ divided?... For when one says: “I am Paul’s,” and another: “I am Apollos’,” are you not carnal?” (1 Cor. 1:12-13; 1 Cor. 3:4)
To make the Church an instrument of political intrigue, said Archbishop Averky, means “to subordinate the eternal to the transitory, the heavenly to the earthly, the holy to the sinful.” In the article “Holy Jealousy” he wrote the following:
“But there is also false, deceitful jealousy, under the mask of which boiling human passions are hidden - most often pride, love of power and honor, and the interests of party politics similar topics who play a leading role in political struggle and which cannot have a place in spiritual life, in public life Churches, but which, unfortunately, can often be found in our time and which are the main causative agents of all kinds of quarrels and disorder in the Church. Those who incite them and lead “politics” often pretend to be fighters “for an idea,” but in reality they strive to achieve only their personal goals, strive not to please God, but to please their own self-righteousness, and are jealous not of the glory of God, but of their own glory and about the glory of his companions and members of his party. All this, of course, is deeply alien to genuine holy zeal, all this is hostile to it and is sinful and criminal, because it compromises our holy faith and the Church!”
“The Church,” Archbishop Averky emphasizes in another place, “was given to us for the salvation of our souls and for nothing else! We cannot make Her our instrument or turn Her into an arena for the revelry of our passions for the sake of achieving our personal goals.”
According to Archbishop Averky, all politics are useless, no matter what party produces it. She is hardly worth becoming a monk, dedicating her whole life to her, losing the opportunity to get married and have a family. Ironically, it was precisely the fact that Archbishop Averky had nothing in common with the “politicians” that made him their victim. He was stripped of permanent membership of his council of bishops because he refused to be guided by the "party line" rather than by his conscience. Realizing that party politics had infiltrated not only other groups but also his own, he once said to one of his former seminarians: “Does it not follow that the grace of the Holy Spirit is leaving our Synod?”
One can only wonder why Archbishop Averky spoke so openly about this “uninspiring” phenomenon of party politics. Isn’t it better to pretend that other Orthodox groups do not exist at all and focus all attention on your own circle of people? No, for Archbishop Averkia this would be a waiver of the responsibility that lies with him as the successor of the Holy Apostles. Party politics poisons Orthodoxy, interferes with the fulfillment of His mission in the countries of the free world, turns away recent converts from the faith and forces believers to listen not to the words of Christ, but to the whispers of Satan. To remain silent would be a crime, because if we do not speak about it openly, then how can those who are in spiritual search? How can they feel living reality the true Church, which, as Archbishop Averky said, is “the closest spiritual union of all those who correctly believe in Christ”?
“Only holy zeal for God, for Christ,” wrote the Archbishop, “without any admixture of cunning and ambiguously insidious politics, should guide us in all our deeds and actions.”

Acting

Archbishop Averky revealed another sign of how the Orthodox Churches, even if they preserve everything external forms, lose the power of Orthodoxy. This occurs when the leaders of the Orthodox groups and their heralds begin to play “roles.” The reason for this is that spiritually insignificant people, out of worldly ambitions, strive to take a position in the Church intended for people of higher spirituality. In most cases, these “actors,” not actually possessing any spiritual authority, are forced to acquire it by resorting, in the words of Archbishop Averky, to “people-pleasing.” St. spoke about this. The Apostle Paul, who in the first years of Christianity was forced to point out the difference between genuine representatives of Christ and “people-pleasers”: “If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). “But just as God has deigned to entrust us with the gospel, so we speak, pleasing not men, but God, who tests our hearts. For we (before you) never had any words of endearment, as you know, or any form of self-interest: God is my witness! We do not seek human glory, either from you or from others...” (1 Thess. 2:4-6)
“Pleasing”, you have to flatter the “right” people, and, on the contrary, destroy possible opponents at the right moment, you need to “reckon with” influential people, regardless of your beliefs. Finally, you need to give out awards and posts and publicize them, thereby binding yourself to your “allies” by mutual “recognition” rather than by heartfelt love. “Like me, people,” wrote Archbishop Averky, “are madly in love with high positions, titles, orders and awards, and are ready to acquire them in any way, even trampling on the instructions of their conscience.”
Archbishop Averky believed that “acting” could also bring hostility and division into the Church:
“To awaken the fiercest hostility and division that cuts at the very root of the peaceful flow parish life In order to shake and destroy a parish, it is enough for one more such person to appear in it - a person who imagines himself as the “navel of the earth”, who believes that everyone should consider only him and obey him in everything, that all his judgments and assessments are infallible and infallible. .. For these people, it seems, the voice of conscience has completely disappeared, they do not recognize the Law of God: they are capable of any tendentious distortion of the truth, any lie and malicious slander in the fight against those who do not agree with their vain desires, who do not support them self-righteousness and their unbridled desire to play a dominant role anywhere and everywhere, even if these people are legally appointed and truly good shepherds and prayer leaders, who are fewer and fewer in our time, and who should be appreciated, and not persecuted by lies and slander from purely personal vanity motives that are an abomination and a sin in the sight of God. And these people, who are possessed by the insane passion of selfishness, are often taken advantage of dark forces, servants of the coming Antichrist in order to tear apart and destroy the Church, starting with the parishes... These people are truly unscrupulous!”
When playing a role, a person chooses the course of action that the world expects to see from a person in such a “responsible” position. This directly contradicts what is characteristic of people who are actually “links” in the unbroken chain of Orthodox Tradition: perfect naturalness, lack of pretense and freedom of spirit, without any attempt to fall into any of the prescribed “roles”.
About one “acting” church leader, Archbishop Averky said that he wore a “mask.” “There are hypocrites,” he wrote, “who like to seem pious and pious, although in reality they are not at all like that. But they will answer before God because they tried to deceive the believers and did it for their own personal benefit.”
This acting can take various shapes. After all, one can play the role of a person invested with spiritual power, even an “abba” or “elder,” attributing to the weak spirituality of our time what was characteristic of the high examples of the past. Using the expression of the Apostle Paul, Archbishop Averky defined this as “zeal not according to reason - zeal that loses its value due to the absence of the most important Christian virtue: reasoning, and therefore brings harm instead of benefit.”
Another type of acting can be found among the false preachers of Orthodoxy. We have already spoken about the “theologians” of the “purified” Renovationist Orthodoxy. These false teachers can be found not only in “liberal” circles, but also among “fathers experts,” “scholars,” “conservatives,” and “traditionalists.” The heralds of false Orthodoxy can give a person the feeling that he has finally “understood” Orthodoxy, but most often they leave the person’s soul untouched, the same. Archbishop Averky remarked about them:
"Alas! How few people in our time, among the educated, and sometimes among “theologians” and clergy of high rank, who correctly understand what Orthodoxy is and what its essence is. They approach this issue completely externally, formally and solve it too simply, even naively, not noticing the fullness of His spiritual content.”
Once, when some clergy attacked the memory of a saint of the 14th century because he did not correspond to their idea of ​​“traditionality,” Archbishop Averky called them milk-sucking theologians. They were followers (to use the term of Hieromonk Seraphim Rose) of “external wisdom.” For Archbishop Averky, the so-called “liberals” and false “traditionalists” were two sides of the same coin. Both of them are affected by modern criticism, love of external splendor and know-it-all, because they accepted Orthodoxy by studying It and drawing “reasonable” conclusions from their research, and not from His living guardians. Insufficient and simple external contact with the true keeper of Tradition; there must be spiritual kinship, love and “unity of spirit.” Of course, from the outside it is difficult to see whether this relationship exists or not, especially if you do not understand the world of piety in which the true keeper of the tradition was raised. So, for example, one might think, having read the works of Archbishop Averky, written sharply and straightforwardly, that he, too, was influenced by the spirit of know-it-all. But when a person begins to understand what his spiritual teachers, Theophan of Poltava and Theophan the Recluse, were like, it becomes obvious that he is entirely in their tradition, that he accepted everything from them. Like the Fathers of the Church, Archbishop Averky taught others, not because he had too much high opinion about his knowledge, but because he felt his personal responsibility for the priceless wealth that his holy mentors passed on to him.

Lawlessness at the top

The last type of “acting” that Archbishop Averky spoke about is acting among persons vested with church authority. This type is perhaps the most important in the creation of false “Orthodoxy,” since church leaders are called upon to set the tone for all church life. Those among them who do not possess truly apostolic zeal may nevertheless work very zealously for the attainment of their own ends or for the benefit of their party. Archbishop Averky wrote that for them “the Church is nothing more than one of the ordinary human organizations, where they would like to play one of the main roles” ...
In a different In one place he states: “They successfully seized power in the Church into their own hands, striving to become sovereign and uncontrollable leaders of the religious and church life of people and even applied church discipline against those who refused to obey them in order to have power over everyone and prevent the emergence of opposition or indignation."
Having a worldly view of authority, they believe that their main task is to ensure that the work of their external church apparatus runs smoothly, and not to save souls. Unable to shepherd in a fatherly, loving way, they see obedience to themselves as the norm of behavior necessary for the functioning of the organization. Objectively, they are endowed with priestly dignity, they can quote many canons to confirm their right to unlimited power, but they have a form of piety, but deny its power (2 Tim. 3:5). The canons they use, of course, only make sense when applied in the right spirit, with pastoral judgment and in accordance with the teachings of the Church. Many simple believers, who are required to do as they are told without thinking, consider it their duty to obey at all costs. In the words of Archbishop Averky, they “fall under the influence of “unspiritual leaders” and naively and thoughtlessly support them in their vain enterprises, like some kind of “guardians of law and order.” So, the more a church leader tries to play his role, the more he expects his congregation to become imbued with his worldly idea of ​​authority and play the role of the mindless herd. These rulers set a bad example, and people have no opportunity to compare with the truth, since they have never encountered it. They are unable to distinguish between formal shepherding and true Orthodoxy, leading to the salvation of the soul; and therefore they are looking for a shepherd not for spiritual reasons, but in order to “officially” become members of the correct church party. If for some reason these searches end in failure, then because of this excessive attention to “officiality,” bitterness and despair arise because you are not considered “officially Orthodox.”
A certain paralysis may arise among the faithful led by such unspiritual leaders. It manifests itself in the fact that people are afraid to take the initiative and act in accordance with the instructions of their conscience, believing that anyone who violates the current situation has no right to exist. They begin to be ashamed to show by their actions that they love God with all their hearts or love those saints of God who, perhaps, are not yet “recognized” by the Church.
The use of power for worldly purposes is especially dangerous when it is done by hierarchs, since they, the monks, are the shepherds of the laity, i.e. must introduce into the midst of those who live in the world the leaven of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are obliged to inspire, guide and encourage, to support all the godly aspirations of believers to bring good to this fallen earth, and not to try to seize power over these attempts, standardize them and, protecting them from all “risk”, destroy the naturalness, inspiration and purity of these aspirations.
Archbishop Averky often spoke about “lawlessness at the top,” about lawlessness that comes from the “legitimate authorities” and therefore cannot be doubted. While drawing attention to this distortion of the truth, he did not at all defend those who are at war with the church authorities or who are suspicious of any person just because he will occupy a responsible position in the church hierarchy. He only encouraged believers not to mindlessly obey the “letter of the law,” regardless of whether it is used for a good cause or for someone else’s personal benefit. In one work he wrote:
“True Orthodoxy is alien to any dead formalism. There is no blind obedience to the “letter of the law”, because it, Orthodoxy, is “spirit and life” (John 6:63). What seems completely and absolutely correct from an external and purely formal point of view is not necessarily so in reality... Orthodoxy is the only and complete truth, pure Truth, without any admixture and the slightest falsehood, lies, evil and deception.
Anything that stands in the way of Christ's Truth is an idol. Therefore, if a person follows the instructions of a church leader that contradict the commandments of Christ, then this person has created an idol for himself out of “officiality.” Ultimately, this leads to the belief that “if our leaders are wrong, then everything is ruined!” However, as Archbishop Averky explained, a person cannot be considered hopelessly lost for Orthodoxy until he has lost his spiritual understanding of what the Church is. “The gates of hell,” he wrote, “will not overcome the Church, but they can overcome many of those who consider themselves church pillars, as the history of the Church shows us.”
Archbishop Averky’s position was definite: if something is done for unclean reasons, we cannot approve of it, we cannot remain silent under cover official power, for this is “lawlessness above.”
“Meekness and humility are not spinelessness, and they do not bow to obvious evil. True Christian must be uncompromising in relation to evil, must fight it with all means available to him in order to decisively stop the spread and strengthening of this evil among people.”
And further, Archbishop Averky emphasized the danger of playing it safe, seeking support or recognition from any kind of “authorities” just because they are “official” authorities:
“Any attempt on our part to win over these “powers that be” to our side in our time, when “many antichrists” openly or secretly fight Christ and His Church and, obviously, come to power; any attempt to slavishly serve them, to flatter them, to do what they want, and even to seek to obtain “legalization” from them - all this is a betrayal of Christ our Savior and enmity towards Him, even if those who do this wear priestly robes "
In saying this, Archbishop Averky perfectly described and explained the phenomenon of “Sergianism.” Metropolitan Sergius capitulated to the godless Soviet power to maintain loyalty so that church institutions could continue their work, and what forced him to take this step took place not only in Soviet Russia. This is a universal property of the human soul, which was dramatically expressed in the personality of Metropolitan Sergius: “justification of evil and support of lies for the sake of achieving worldly benefits of an “official” position, albeit “for the benefit of the Church.”
“Thus,” wrote Hieromonk Seraphim Rose, “some Christians may find themselves in a position where they will be completely “legal”, but deeply alien to Christ - as if the Christian conscience must obey any command church authority, while these authorities remain “canonical”. This idea of ​​blind obedience was one of the main reasons for the victory of Sergianism in our century - both inside and outside the Moscow Patriarchate.
Eventually, following the principle of Sergianism, even the most “traditional” Christians will voluntarily submit to the Antichrist. They will not be forced to agree with the Antichrist's ideas or methods. They will only be required to recognize his authority, which they will do for the sake of preserving the hierarchy, church organization, worship and the opportunity to openly accept the Mysteries of Christ. The betrayal on their part will not be in excessive attachment to canonical forms, but in the fact that they place loyalty to the form above loyalty to Christ.
“The Holy Fathers teach this quite definitely, based on the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian. The Fathers gave an interpretation that the seal of the Antichrist is placed on the forehead and right hand not at the same time, but either on the forehead or on the hand (Rev. 13:16). According to St. Andrew of Caesarea, those who have the seal of the Antichrist on their forehead will share the way of thinking of the Antichrist, while those who receive the seal on their right hand will only recognize his authority, arguing that this is permissible if “remaining a Christian in soul..." But the Holy Spirit will leave people who have received the mark of the beast, and then their hearts will be filled with the first sign of destruction - fearfulness - which will quickly lead them to the end."
Knowing this patristic teaching, Archbishop Averky could fully foresee how everything church organizations- ecumenical and anti-ecumenical, renovationist and traditionalist - will one day find themselves under the rule of the Antichrist. Those whose fear of worldly power is stronger than the fear of God will use all the powers of their reason to justify this submission to the Antichrist, because the heart and conscience can never do it. They will try to support their church institutions by refusing spiritual freedom and heroic confession of faith, although only this, as Archbishop Averky repeated again and again, is capable of supporting the Body of Christ, invincible through the gates of hell. This is how the prediction of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, who was often quoted by Archbishop Averky, will be fulfilled:
“Judging by the spirit of the times and the ferment of minds, it must be assumed that the building of the Church, which has been shaking for a long time, will shake terribly and quickly. There is no one to stop and resist. The measures of support being taken are borrowed from the elements of the world, hostile to the Church, and will rather accelerate its fall than stop it... May the merciful Lord cover the remnant of those who believe in him. But this remainder is meager: it becomes more and more meager.”

Will

Archbishop Averky warned that if we want to remain faithful to Christ, then we should not trust what may seem “reasonable,” what agrees with the “opinion” of our fallen mind. Instead, we must follow the dictates of conscience and the commandments of our Lord and expect hatred for this from those who are - both in the secular and in the ecclesiastical sphere - under the power of the spirit of this world. He wrote:
“In our time, Truth is quite officially and solemnly declared to be a lie, and a lie to be the truth. And everyone, whether he wants it or not, must believe all this, despite all the evidence and without reason. If not, then woe! Anyone who follows the instructions of conscience and the teachings of the Lord will have to pay dearly for it. And this happens everywhere - sometimes even in religious and church environments... Brothers! Let us not in the slightest degree succumb to the spirit of this world: we know so well from the Word of God that this world is in the power of the cruel prince of darkness - our fierce enemy, a villain, a liar and a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44) - the devil . Let us not be afraid of ridicule, the strife that he creates, oppression and persecution from his faithful servants.”
Looking around him, Archbishop Averky saw how Satan undermines the slightest pious intentions of Christians. Those people whose hearts thirst for love do not receive it from Christians, whom they should recognize by this love (John 13:35) - and their hearts dry up and are filled with bitterness, just like those of everyone around them. When does it “evaporate”? christian love, it is being replaced by surrogates capable of uniting the church only on an external level: formality, established norms of behavior, acting, people-pleasing, political unions- all these substitutions that unite a false church, inside of which there is emptiness. A void that will be filled by the coming Antichrist. This is what Archbishop Averky called “sifting.” Separating the wise and understanding of this world (Luke 10:21) from those who do not pay attention to the “opinions” of the world and simply want to be with Christ in His Kingdom. This sifting out of the false from the real, Archbishop Averky argued, further increases the burden lying on God-loving shepherds, since the basic definitions are blurred due to satanic lies and substitutions:
“Christian life has now become as difficult as never before, for the machinations of the enemy of human salvation have become extremely complicated and refined. The feat of shepherding has become many times more difficult and more responsible... The words of St. Theophan the Recluse about the last times are beginning to come true: “Then, although the name of Christian will be heard everywhere, and churches and church ranks will be visible everywhere, but all this is just an appearance, inside but the retreat is true.” From here, in addition to the always, first of all, necessary example of a personal high spiritual and moral life, for the modern pastor follows the most responsible and the most important task- to teach believers to recognize the true Church among the many false churches, and with a word filled with spiritual power and wisdom, to keep them in its bosom, and to attract the lost.”
Archbishop Averky felt the burden of this responsibility, perhaps more than all the great Orthodox pastors our time. Like his beloved St. For John of Kronstadt, who belonged to the previous generation, he saw that the most difficult thing to reconcile with his pastoral tasks was the undoubted victory of evil in the world.
On the lips of Archbishop Averky there was often the expression of St. Gregory the Theologian: “suffering Orthodoxy.” This expression refers, firstly, to the suffering that Orthodox Christians endure in this “vale of mourning” on their way to the Heavenly Fatherland, and, secondly, to the persecution of the eternal Truth in this fallen world where the devil reigns.
Archbishop Averky knew from his own experience what “suffering Orthodoxy” was. Shortly before his death, he, sick in body but compassionate in spirit with the Church Militant, was asked how he was feeling. “How can I feel,” he answered, “when the glory of Orthodoxy disappears, evil celebrates victory, Christians become hostile and unkind to each other, and Orthodox Christians are no better - probably even worse than them, because the Orthodox have been given more. And who will stand in these terrible last times for poor suffering Orthodoxy?!”
In his last book, Archbishop Averky mentioned how his pastoral concern for “spiritual ruin” affected his long illness, which later ended in his death:
“As a result of all the emotional turmoil that I have experienced due to what is happening these days, I have been stricken (at least according to doctors) with a number of serious illnesses that almost caused death because I could not to come to terms with everything that is happening around me and to be indifferent to it.”
Repose in God in 1967 brought Archbishop Averky liberation from the heaviest burden of being a shepherd. From the world's point of view, he died defeated. On earth, Satan's war against all forms of righteousness continues and must end in his victory. But in heaven, Archbishop Averky is the winner. He lived a godly life, preparing himself to live with all the saints in heaven. He inspires us to do the same with the following words, which he wrote just a year before his death:
“Let only piety and piety be lamps in our hands, like those of Elder Simeon - and in a more mysterious sense - in the depths of our souls and hearts. Then we will be able to cry with all our hearts before we depart from this life: “Now do You let Your servant go, O Master, in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation!”...
In the soul of Archbishop Averky, when he died, there was no despair, no disbelief in Truth and love. He lived in this Truth and love, and knew that Truth would defeat the Antichrist after a short time of his reign.
In the last times, the true apostles of Christ will die or perish as in the first years: the sunset is similar to the sunrise. And until then, we will be protected from subtle temptations and substitutions that are already among us, by the fiery words of Archbishop Averky, one of the last true apostles. He stood in the face of the torrent of world Retreat and did not waver. He revealed the most ingeniously hidden networks of the spirit of malice, showing them to all who have eyes to see. He called not to give up our eternal hope, but not to hope for earthly things, something that could be an imitation. He fulfilled his duty with courage and steadfastness, “not serving in appearance only as people-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God” (Col. 3:22). Therefore, before his departure to the Lord, he wrote, without a shadow of doubt: “I, like everyone else, will be judged by a just God. But I can say one thing: I did everything honestly, in accordance with my conscience, and did not look at faces.”

Celebration in Heaven

On April 14, 1967, Hieromonk Seraphim Rose wrote in his “Chronicle”: “Today we were informed about the death of our spiritual mentor and teacher of theology, Archbishop Averky. We are truly left orphans."
A few months later, on October 22 and November 4, Father Seraphim came to church for morning services and told one of the brothers about a wonderful dream he had at night. He saw his beloved Archbishop Averky. The archbishop stood on steps overgrown with green grass, these steps led upward. There were a lot of people around, as if at a church service. open air, and Father Seraphim was among them. Archbishop Averky looked radiant. He was dressed all in snow-white sparkling clothes and everyone else, including the deacon standing next to him, who stood a little lower than Archbishop Averky, directly opposite him. A solemn service was underway. The deacon was supposed to proclaim the prokeimenon, but suddenly he forgot the words and, embarrassed, tried to remember. Father Seraphim knew what needed to be said and looked at Archbishop Averky. Then the Archbishop gave him a sign to say the prokeimenon instead of the deacon.
“May God rise again,” Father Seraphim loudly proclaimed, “and let His enemies be scattered!” May Rus' rise again! Hallelujah!
As soon as he said this, a huge choir around them picked up the words of the prokeimenon, they thundered everywhere like waves. At this moment, Archbishop Averky smiled joyfully and began to slowly climb the steps, covered in clouds of incense. The thousand-voice choir continued to sing, and Father Seraphim realized that a great, solemn, unheard-of event was being celebrated - the Resurrection of Rus'. And then he woke up.
Father Seraphim was not saying something, but it was clear that Archbishop Averky himself visited him. Finishing his story, he asked:
- I don’t know what this means?
- Don't you know what day it is today? - his brother told him. - Today is the day of remembrance of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Averky, the first name day of Archbishop Averky in heaven! On this day the memory of St. The Seven Youths of Ephesus (prefiguring the General Resurrection) and the Kazan Icon Mother of God, which saved Russia in the past. Your dream is not simple; he must have spiritual meaning.
And so Father Seraphim was honored to be present at the heavenly glorification of Archbishop Averky.

Conclusion

This story about Archbishop Averky’s fierce battle with falsehood of all kinds and the victory over it in the end tells us one very important thing: we must search for and expose the Retreat not somewhere outside the sphere of our activity - in the outside world, in others Christian denominations, V pagan religions, in other Orthodox jurisdictions, among “new converts”, etc... The Spirit of Apostasy - the imitation of Christ - is everywhere, striking primarily those who are trying to remain faithful to Christ.
We are called to repentance and struggle by the unforgettable words of Archbishop Averky, spoken in response to a question from a man who did everything possible from the outside to belong to the true Church of Christ, to the Orthodox Church:
- But how can you determine whether you belong to this Church?...
Nothing other than a deep sense of authenticity and steadfastness in the fight against the most subtle substitutions and deceptions can make us members of “the closest spiritual union of all true believers in Christ,” that Church which the gates of hell cannot overcome.

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LAWELESS AT THE ABOVE

The last type of acting that Archbishop Averky spoke about is acting among persons vested with church authority. This type is perhaps the most important in the creation of false “Orthodoxy,” since church leaders are called upon to set the tone for all church life. Those among them who do not possess genuine apostolic zeal may nevertheless work very zealously for the attainment of their personal ends or for the benefit of their party. Archbishop Averky wrote that for them “The Church is nothing more than one of the ordinary human organizations in which they would like to play one of the main roles...”

Elsewhere he states: “They successfully seized power in the Church into their own hands, striving to become sovereign and uncontrollable leaders of the religious and church life of people, and even applied church discipline against those who refused to obey them, in order to have power over everyone and prevent the emergence of opposition or indignation.”

Having a worldly view of authority, they believe that their main task is to ensure that the work of their external church apparatus runs smoothly, and not to save souls. Unable to shepherd in a fatherly, loving way, they see obedience to themselves as the norm of behavior necessary for functioning. organizations. Objectively, they are endowed with priestly dignity, they can quote many canons to confirm their right to unlimited power, but “They have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it” (2 Tim. 3:5). The canons they use, of course, only make sense when applied in the right spirit, with pastoral judgment and in accordance with the teachings of the Church. Many simple believers, who are required to do as they are told without thinking, consider it their duty to obey at all costs. In the words of Archbishop Averky, they “fall under the influence of unspiritual leaders, and naively and thoughtlessly support them in their vainglorious enterprises, like some kind of “guardians of law and order”.” So, the more a church leader tries to play his role, the more he expects his congregation to become imbued with his worldly idea of ​​authority and play the role of the mindless herd. These rulers set a bad example, and people have no opportunity to compare it with the Truth, since they have never met it. They are unable to distinguish formal shepherding from true Orthodoxy, leading to the salvation of the soul; and therefore they are looking for a shepherd not for spiritual reasons, but in order to “officially” become members of the correct church party. If for some reason these searches end in failure, then because of this excessive attention of officialdom, bitterness and despair arise because you are not considered “officially Orthodox.”

A certain paralysis may arise among the faithful led by such unspiritual leaders. It manifests itself in the fact that people are afraid to take the initiative and act in accordance with the instructions of their conscience, believing that anyone who violates the current situation has no right to exist. They begin to be ashamed to show by their actions that they love God with all their hearts or love those saints of God who, perhaps, are not yet recognized by the Church.

The use of power for worldly purposes is especially dangerous when hierarchs engage in this, since they, monks, are the shepherds of the laity, that is, they must bring into the midst of those who live in the world, the leaven of the Kingdom of Heaven. They have a responsibility to inspire, guide and encourage, to support all the godly endeavors of the believers to bring good to this fallen earth, and not to try to seize power over these endeavors, standardize them and, protecting them from any “risk,” destroy the naturalness, inspiration and purity of these aspirations.

Archbishop Averky often spoke about “lawlessness at the top,” about lawlessness that comes from the “legitimate authorities” and therefore cannot be doubted. While drawing attention to this distortion of the truth, he did not at all defend those who are at war with the church authorities or who are suspicious of any person just because he will occupy a responsible position in the church hierarchy. He only encouraged believers not to mindlessly obey the “letter of the law,” regardless of whether it is used for a good cause or for someone else’s personal benefit. In one work he wrote:

“True Orthodoxy is alien to any dead formalism. There is no blind obedience to the “letter of the law”, because it, Orthodoxy, is “spirit and life” (John 6: 63). What seems completely correct and absolutely from an external and purely formal point of view is not necessarily so in reality... Orthodoxy is the only and complete Truth, pure Truth, without any admixture or the slightest falsehood, lies, evil and deception.”

Anything that stands in the way of Christ's Truth is an idol. Therefore, if a person follows the instructions of a church leader that contradict the commandments of Christ, then this person has created an idol for himself out of “officiality.” Ultimately, this leads to the belief that “if our leaders are wrong, then everything is ruined!” However, as Archbishop Averky explained, a person cannot be considered hopelessly lost for Orthodoxy until he has lost his spiritual understanding of what the Church is. "Hell Gate, - he wrote, - will not defeat the Church, but they can defeat many of those who consider themselves church pillars, as the history of the Church shows us.”

Archbishop Averky’s position was definite: if something is done for unclean reasons, we cannot approve of it, we cannot remain silent under the cover of official power, for this is “lawlessness at the top.”

“Meekness and humility are not spinelessness, and they do not bow to obvious evil. A true Christian must be uncompromising in relation to evil, must fight it with all the means available to him in order to decisively stop the spread and strengthening of this evil among people.”

And yet, Archbishop Averky emphasized the danger of playing it safe, seeking support or recognition from any kind of authorities, just because they are official authorities:

“Any attempt on our part to win over these “powers that be” to our side in our time, when “many antichrists” openly or secretly fight with Christ and His Church and, obviously, come to power; any attempt to slavishly serve them, to flatter them, to do what they want, and even to seek to obtain “legalization” from them - all this is a betrayal of Christ our Savior and enmity towards Him, even if those who do this wear priestly robes "

In saying this, Archbishop Averky perfectly described and explained the phenomenon of “Sergianism.” Metropolitan Sergius capitulated to the godless Soviet authorities in order to maintain legality so that church institutions could continue their work, and what forced him to take this step took place not only in Soviet Russia. This is a universal property of the human soul, which was dramatically expressed in the personality of Metropolitan Sergius: “justifying evil and supporting lies for the sake of achieving worldly benefits of an “official” position, although “for the benefit of the Church.”

"Thus, - wrote Hieromonk Seraphim Rose, - some Christians may find themselves in a position where they are completely “legal”, but deeply alien to Christ - as if the Christian conscience must obey any command of the church authorities as long as these authorities remain “canonical”. This idea of ​​blind obedience was one of the main reasons for the victory of “Sergianism” in our century - both inside and outside the Moscow Patriarchate.”

As a result, following the principle of “Sergianism,” even the most “traditional” Christians will voluntarily submit to the Antichrist. They will not be forced to agree with the Antichrist's ideas or methods. They will only be required to recognize his authority, which they will do for the sake of preserving the hierarchy, church organization, worship and the opportunity to openly accept the Mysteries of Christ. Betrayal on their part will not be in excessive attachment to canonical forms, but in the fact that they place fidelity to form above fidelity to Christ.

“The Holy Fathers teach this quite definitely, based on the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian. The Fathers gave an interpretation that the seal of the Antichrist is not applied to the forehead and right hand at the same time, but either on the forehead or on the hand (Rev. 13:16). According to St. Andrew of Caesarea, those who have the seal of the Antichrist on their foreheads will share the way of thinking of the Antichrist, while those who receive the seal on their right hand will only recognize his power, arguing that this is permissible if “you remain a Christian in your soul... “But the Holy Spirit will leave the people who have received the mark of the beast, and then their hearts will be filled with the first sign of destruction - fearfulness - which will quickly lead them to the end.”

Knowing this patristic teaching, Archbishop Averky could fully foresee how all church organizations - ecumenical and anti-ecumenical, renovationist and traditionalist - would one day find themselves under the rule of the Antichrist. Those whose fear of worldly power is stronger than the fear of God will use all the powers of their minds to justify this submission to the Antichrist, because the heart and conscience will never be able to do this. They will try to support their church institutions by refusing from spiritual freedom and heroic confession of faith, although only this, as Archbishop Averky repeated again and again, is capable of supporting the Body of Christ, invincible through the gates of hell. This is how the prediction of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, which Archbishop Averky often quoted, will be fulfilled:

“Judging by the spirit of the times and the ferment of minds, it must be assumed that the building of the Church, which has been shaking for a long time, will shake terribly and quickly. There is no one to stop and resist. The measures of support being taken are borrowed from the elements of the world, hostile to the Church, and will rather accelerate its fall than stop it... May the merciful Lord cover the remnant of those who believe in him. But this remainder is meager: it becomes more and more meager.”

I. V. Muzychko

The mystery of lawlessness, as already mentioned, began to manifest itself during the lifetime of the Apostles. Satan chose the tactic of gradually introducing apostates into the ranks of the Church of Christ. As is known from the history of the Church, for the first three centuries of its existence the Church was periodically subjected to persecution by the Roman emperors. During these cruel persecutions, Satan found the children of God of little faith, including church ministers, who did not know how to “keep themselves from evil” (1 John 5:18), and pushed them to deviate from the truth of Christ, either in the form of renunciation from Christ, or in the form of a compromise with those in power. Such Christians “were subject to slavery through fear of death” (Heb. 2:15) and fell into the snare of the devil (2 Tim. 2:26). When the persecution stopped, such fallen Christians wanted to return to the Church again and take up their former ministry. The question arose in the Church of what to do with such apostates, especially with apostate ministers. Faithful ministers of the Church took a principled position on this issue, which was that, on the basis of Scripture (Ezek. 44:10-16), apostates after their repentance cannot be ministers of the Church of Christ, they can only be ordinary members. On this basis, disputes arose in the Church. Satan was able to find such “good” ministers, arouse in them a false spirit of mercy, and protect the apostates by insisting on forgiving them and allowing them to serve. Unfortunately, at that time there was no one in the Church like the Apostle Peter who would say to such ministers: “Why have you allowed Satan to put into your heart” (Acts 5:3) a false sense of mercy towards apostates? Thus, the spirit of apostasy penetrated into the Church. Here is how Ernst Pickering writes about it in his book “Biblical Separatism”:

“The period of early persecution is known in the history of the Church as the persecution during the time of Docian (249-250). During these persecutions, a significant number of professing Christians apostatized and did not remain faithful to their beliefs. When the persecution subsided, the question arose as to whether it was possible to restore church membership to these “fallen” Christians. The Roman bishop Novatius (and many supported him in this) took a stricter view of church membership than was customary in his day, and believed that those who had renounced Christ during persecution could no longer be accepted into the church. Novatius rebelled against the lighter attitude to the issue of church membership that was popular in those days. The followers of Novatius believed that they alone preserved the purity of the church, and therefore did not recognize all other church associations that had defiled themselves by admitting into membership those who had renounced Christ or had committed other obvious apostasies.

An acute conflict arose in 312 AD. e. regarding the consecration of Cecilian as bishop of Carthage. Many bishops and other church leaders rebelled against this on the grounds that he departed from the teaching of Scripture during the persecution. They believed that since Cecilian had “stained” himself with apostasy, he was now not worthy to be one of the leading ministers of the church. As a result, an opposition group arose, led by Donatii. The group of separated ones began to grow rapidly, and went down in history under the name of Donatists, when Bishop Donatius became their leader.”

Dr. S. Sannikov in his article “Aurelius Augustine. The Crisis of the Church” writes the following about the Donatists:

“The North African Donatists, named after one of their leaders, Donatus, believed that any sacred act, including ordination, performed by an unworthy bishop or presbyter, “stained by betrayal,” was invalid. “The Holy Spirit does not work through unclean vessels,” which means that communities in which “unworthy” ministers served are only Christian in appearance, but, in essence, are deprived of God’s gracious presence. Therefore, they need to repent and once again accept ordination from ministers who have survived persecution and retained the grace of the priesthood.”

As can be seen from these testimonies, even then there was a spirit of compromise with the world and connivance in sin in many churches. Those who opposed apostasy often found themselves in the minority. Their struggle usually ended with them separating from a church that tolerated apostates, or leaving those church associations that accepted apostate ministers. The question arises, why did those who stood for the truth fail? In the literature on church history, this situation is usually explained by a combination of religious, political, economic, social and other reasons. In response to this question, we can say the following. First, apparent failure in spiritual ministry does not always mean actual failure. If you look from the visible, outside, then the ministry of Christ on earth ended with a great defeat, His crucifixion on a shameful cross, but in fact, it was a great victory over death, over all evil and hell. According to Scripture, the Church of Christ is not universal Christianity, conquering the whole world, but a “little flock” (Luke 12:32) of faithful children of God, following in the footsteps of Christ (1 Peter 2:21), “sent out like sheep among wolves" (Matthew 10:16).

Secondly, if the defenders of purity and truth suffered failures, then, apparently, the main reason for such a sad development of events was that the ministers of the Church who defended the truth may not have known the laws of spiritual warfare and did not use all the weapons of God. They lost sight of the fact that it is necessary to wage a struggle not only with apostate people and those who support them, but most importantly - to wage a spiritual battle “against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6 :12). Usually, in such conflict situations It can be very difficult to remain in a spiritual position and fight a spiritual battle. Satan tries to push even spiritual ministers who know the spiritual struggle to fight according to the flesh and use human methods of struggle.

I. V. Muzychko. Living Christianity and the Mystery of Lawlessness