Should the Church and the State be completely independent of each other, or can the Church as an organization interfere in political affairs, and the State in the affairs of the Church?

I think, first of all, that the Church and the state cannot ignore any other people, because the Church not only lives within the boundaries of the state, within its citizens, but it consists of citizens, and the state has some rights to these citizens. People living in a certain state must obey the laws of the state, make some contribution to public life, so in this sense it is impossible to dissociate oneself: "We do not know that you exist, and you forget that we exist." A believer can still do this, and then with a curse, but the state, of course, will not agree to this, he needs a working force.

One of my old friends, I remember, tried to follow this line: he became a monk, now he does not protect anything from the world... He settled in a very cold room. He needed a light, he lit the electricity; He needed water, so he let the water flow, and so on. Then I realized: if I say that I do not take anything from the state and from high society, then I must live without electricity, without water, without heat, without furniture, without masks for writing, without paper and carandas, etc. Of course, the example is very simple, but in fact it is so.

On the other hand, I am convinced that the Church should not interfere in politics and should not be, as it were, a political party of a certain species, because this at once reduces it to the same level as the state, as if the whole point is that it has one ideology and another state. But the Church, on the basis of its faith in God and in the Gospel, has certain moral foundations. And it is these universal moral foundations that the Church has the right to proclaim, saying not: "God will punish you if...", but: "If you want to be a real person, then you cannot act as you do...".

In a society, in a country where there are several political parties, again, the Church should not be part of one of them. But the Church must, on the basis of the Gospel, have an equal judgment about any actions of the state, the parliament or any power structure, and declare that this cannot be done (no matter who acts: right, left, middle). The church must have the courage and courage to say to any party, to any group of people: "This is unacceptable!" And not because the Church belongs to another group, but because the Church is like a sign.

[1988-89], 1993

ON THE UNITY OF CHRISTIANS

"... and let us pray to the Lord for the union of all"

At every service we pray "for the union of all" in the Church of the Living God. What kind of unity do we pray for, and why do we need to pray for it? We pray because the unity that man has destroyed can only be restored by God: his criteria are too high, his standards are not human, but God's. Such unity is a mystery in nature, a miracle in essence. Christian unity cannot be defined in the categories of commonwealth, community. This is not "togetherness," it is "unity": "May they be one, even as we are one," the Lord said in His last prayer to the Father (cf. John 17:22). This is a glorious and trembling call and model, because it contains a sovereign command for the entire human race: to attain the likeness of the Holy Trinity, to be Her image and Her revelation; And this is a promise, but also a responsibility. And we easily forget both. The experience of this glorious and terribly trembling unity is the very being, the essence of the Church, her nature: the Church is this unity itself; The Church is one and indivisible, although the Christian world is broken into parts by our sins. Ask for peace for Jerusalem, a city merged into one... (see Psalm 121).

Too often the Church is thought of as the most sacred community of people united and united by a common faith and a common hope in one and the same God, by their love for one and the same Lord; it seems to many that the unity of God Himself, to whom divided and opposing Christians have recourse, is an exceptional, but sufficient anchor of their unity. Such a criterion is too small; and the underlying experience of the nature and life of the Church is also too shallow. The Church is not simply a human association. It is not an association, but an organism, and its members are not "constituent parts" of a collective whole, but genuine, living members of a complex but unified body (1 Corinthians 12:27): there is no such thing as a Christian individual. And this body is both human and divine. Human, because we are its members; and not only we, but also all the believers who have fallen asleep, because "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Matthew 22:32), and all are alive to Him. But the Church is also Divine: the Lord Himself, true Man and true God, is its Head, the Firstborn among the departed, one of its members; on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit dwelt in it and dwells in each of its convinced members; and our lives are hidden with Christ in God the Father; We are sons and daughters by communion.

The Church is a place and a means, a way of uniting God with His creatures. This is a new creation; A kingdom already come in power; unity re-created with God and in God – in love and freedom. The words that seem so harsh: "There is no salvation outside the Church" are profoundly true, because the Church is salvation: the place where God meets man, but also, in essence, the very mystery of their union. In the Church, God endows His creation with His Divine life, gives Himself freely, in love; man becomes a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and in love, freely accepts God, becomes God by communion, when his human nature is permeated with grace, divine and uncreated, as iron can be pierced by fire. God, accepted by love, is no longer a stranger to His creature, just as man is no longer a stranger in the Kingdom of God. And this new relationship grows into a genuine prayer of unity, which is worshiping love and devotional service.

The Church does not seek unity and fullness; it is the fullness and unity already given and accepted. And this unity is an image of the Holy Trinity, a likeness of the Divine life, a glorious and terrible and life-giving experience, an experience for the Church herself – and also a revelation to all creation: "That they may all be one, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me" (John 17:21), and that they may have eternal life, because this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent (John 17:3).