It is easy to refute my words with hypocritical arguments. But a deep understanding of the truth and people's real intentions will not deceive anyone. February 26, 1901 Countess Sophia Tolstaya. This letter is widely known. It was also cited by Alexandra Tolstaya, Tolstoy's daughter, in her two-volume work "The Father", ed. Chekhov, New York, 1953 And the wise, calm, correct, profound, and spiritually tactful answer of Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) is usually not given anywhere. Alexandra Lvovna did not bring him either. This lies on her conscience. It is necessary to listen to the other side, i.e. the judgment of the Orthodox Church through the mouth of its First Hierarch. Therefore, we cite the answer of Metropolitan Anthony. "Gracious Empress, Countess Sophia Andreevna! Not what the Synod did when it announced your husband's falling away from the Church, but what he did to himself by renouncing faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, our Redeemer and Savior. It was to this renunciation that your sorrowful indignation should have been poured out long ago. And it is not from a scrap of printed paper, of course, that your husband dies, but from the fact that he has turned away from the Source of eternal life. For a Christian, life is inconceivable without Christ, according to Whom "he who believes in Him has eternal life and passes from death to life, but he who does not believe will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him" (John 3:15-16; 36:5-24), and therefore only one can say about the one who denies Christ that he has passed from life to death. This is the death of your husband, but he alone is to blame for this death, and no one else.

And therefore, from the point of view of this Church, the location of the Synod is quite comprehensible, understandable and clear, like God's day. And the law of love and forgiveness is not violated by this in the least. God's love is infinite, but it does not forgive everyone and not for everything. "Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not forgiven, neither in this life nor in the life to come" (Matt. 12:32). The Lord always seeks with His love, but sometimes a person does not want to meet this love and flees from the face of God, and therefore perishes. Christ prayed on the cross for His enemies, but in His high-priestly prayer He uttered a word bitter for His love, that "the son of perdition is lost" (John 17:12). Of your husband, while he is alive, it cannot yet be said that he is dead, but the perfect truth has been said of him, that he has fallen away from the Church and is not a member of it until he repents and reunites with it. In its epistle, speaking of this, the Synod testified only to existing facts, and therefore only those who do not understand what they are doing can be indignant at it. You receive expressions of sympathy from all over the world. I am not surprised at this, but I think you have nothing to console yourself with. There is the glory of man and the glory of God. "The glory of man is like a flower on the grass: the grass is withered, and its flower is gone; but the word of the Lord endures forever" (1 Pet. 1:24-25). When last year the newspapers carried the news of the count's illness, the question arose for the clergy in all its force: should he, who had fallen away from the faith and the Church, be honored with a Christian burial and prayers? Appeals to the Synod followed, and in the guidance of the clergy it secretly gave and could give only one answer: it should not be if he dies without restoring his communion with the Church. There is no threat to anyone here, and there could be no other answer. And I do not think that there is any priest, even a dishonest one, who would dare to perform a Christian burial on a count, and even if he performed such a burial on an unbeliever, it would be a criminal profanation of the rite. And why do violence to your husband? After all, without a doubt, he himself does not want to perform a Christian burial over him. Since you, a living person, want to consider yourself a member of the Church, and it is really a union of living rational beings in the name of the Living God, then your statement that the Church is an abstract concept for you falls by itself. And in vain do you reproach the servants of the Church for malice and violation of the higher law of love, commanded by Christ. There is no violation of this law in the Synodal Act. This, on the contrary, is an act of love; The pastors of the Church are ordained by the Lord, and they themselves proudly, as you say, have acknowledged themselves at the head of it. Diamond mitres and stars are worn, but this is not essential in their ministry. They remained pastors, dressed and in rags, persecuted and persecuted, and will remain so forever, even if they are blasphemed and called contemptuous words. In conclusion, I apologize for not answering you right away. I waited for the first sharp outburst of your grief to pass. God bless you and protect you, and have mercy on your count, your husband! Anthony, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg. A year after his excommunication (1902), Tolstoy wrote the legend "The Destruction and Restoration of Hell." And then in the same year the even more mocking and blasphemous "Appeal to the Clergy". Fr. John of Kronstadt responded to this "Appeal." "Tolstoy thinks, speaks and writes on the basis of godlessness and complete denial of the saint who bears the seal of God's revelation. Pride, self-conceit, self-deification, contempt for God Himself and the Church — this is its primary foundation; He has no other grounds. Before us is a sophist and ignorant of the truths of the faith, who has not experienced the saving faith of Christ, and he can easily distract from the true faith and lead into pernicious unbelief... Under the vivid impression of excommunication from the Church, he decided to throw mud at it as much as possible, and he conveys all the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and distorted events in a mocking tone, undermining in those who read all respect for the Holy Scriptures; over everything that is dear to a Christian, which he has been accustomed to look at since childhood with deep reverence and love, like the Word of God... He mocks impudently. Tolstoy transfers his insults to the clergy, to the Church, to the Holy Scriptures and to the Lord Himself, and says: "... whether there was such a harmful book in the world, which has done so much evil, as the book of the Old and New Testaments." This is directly related to Tolstoy's works, it was not more harmful than them. The Renans, the Büchners, the Schopenhauers, the Voltaires are nothing in comparison with our godless Russian Tolstoy. Tolstoy's writing in the "Conversion" from the Christian point of view is only madness" ("Father of Kronstadt and Count Leo Tolstoy", Jordanville, 1960). Only the leader of the proletarian revolution, who, by the way, immediately saw in the heretic Tolstoy "the mirror of the Russian revolution," can compete in such attacks against the Church and her followers, in mockery of the sacred. On November 7, 1910, at 7:10 a.m., Hegumen Varsonofy telegraphed to Bishop Veniamin of Kaluga: "Count Tolstoy has died... He died without repentance. I was not invited." When Elder Barsanuphius was asked by correspondents for an interview on the occasion of the death of Count Tolstoy, he replied: "Here is my interview: although he is a Leo, he could not break the rings of the chain with which Satan had bound him."

What is the mistake and tragedy of the Russian writer?

In the long history of literature, no writer has been able to surpass Leo Tolstoy in his ability to depict the truth of the world as it is. His works are of the greatest importance, in them one can feel the inexorable skill in conveying the unadorned reality of every day of life. How real are the feelings and impulses of Anna Karenina in her sincere love for Vronsky, or the dignity and honor of Russian officers in War and Peace! But again, it is only necessary to return to the religious and philosophical work of the writer, then in his essays, explanations to the Gospel and treatises, one can trace the tossing and turning of a broad rebellious mind, which cannot find peace in anything and fix its gaze on anything. The ideals of the Gospel that Tolstoy encountered beckoned him like fire, and his inability to live up to these high principles eventually consumed all the writer's spiritual and physical strength. Like a salmon going to spawn, it went against the tide all its life and eventually died of moral exhaustion. The writer literally sought to follow the teachings of Jesus, and this desire was so strong that members of his family often raised murmurs because it directly affected their interests. For example, after reading the Gospel appeal to the rich man, Tolstoy wanted to free his serfs, renounce the copyright to the publication, and transfer the estate to the peasant community. His wife Sofia Andreevna had the greatest difficulty in convincing her husband of the inadmissibility of such a decision, and even then she was forced to hire a detachment of armed Chechens to guard the estate. Lev Nikolayevich continued to walk in peasant clothes, ploughed the land with a plow, wove bast shoes, refused hunting, meat, eggs, wine and tobacco, did not wear leather clothes. He compiled for himself "Rules for the development of moral willpower, lofty feelings and the elimination of base ones". However, he was never able to achieve the self-discipline he had set out for himself. More than once, Tolstoy, without shame, publicly in front of guests solemnly took a vow of conjugal abstinence and even divided bedrooms, but he could not hold out in this vow for long, because of which he felt burning shame in front of his loved ones. (Sofia Andreevna was pregnant from her husband 16 times.) Tolstoy wrote his last novel, Resurrection, in support of the Doukhobors. The entire fee was transferred to pay for their emigration to Canada. Tolstoy's philosophy of non-resistance to evil by violence, which greatly interested the writer, and had its roots in the Sermon on the Mount, had a noticeable influence on Mahatma Gandhi, M. Luther King and other major political figures. And yet Tolstoy's search for holiness ended in disappointment. He failed to put into practice what he himself preached. His wife, Sophia, wrote about this: "There is little true warmth in him; His kindness does not come from the heart, but from principles." She recalls that Lyova, gritting his teeth, could bring a tub of cucumbers to a peasant, but not once in the 32 years of their married life did he bring his child or her a glass of water. Attempts to passionately advance towards perfection did not lead the writer to peace and tranquility. He was proud even in his apparent humility. He refused the Church, the sacraments, and Communion. He challenged its hierarchical structure, forgetting that if someone, knowing the way home, walks along it drunk, then this path will not become less true and correct because the person going home staggers from side to side. Until his death, his diaries and letters preserve the writer's return to the sad theme of failure, which reveals the abyss between the ideals of the Gospel and his personal life. Tolstoy's biographer A.N. Wilson notes that the writer suffered from "a fundamental theological inability to understand the meaning of the Divine Incarnation; his religion was entirely based on law and not grace, was a scheme for the improvement of human nature, and not an insight from the Lord descending into the fallen world." Hence his great digression, as a logical finality, the denial of His Resurrection from the dead, which brought to naught all of Tolstoy's Christianity, for "if Christ is not risen, then your faith is in vain." Graceless holiness is graceless because it is built on the rationalistic principle of improving human nature. Tolstoy seemed to legally substantiate and sanction such a "good". The absolute nightmare of communism is precisely that it wants to forcibly organize good, it wants to force virtue. All reactionary and revolutionary inquisitors, from Torquemado to Robespierre and Dzerzhinsky, considered themselves to be the bearers of absolute good (i.e., holiness, but not Divine). They killed in the name of good, sincerely considering it the right decision. Man is above the Sabbath. Man is above abstract good. This is the essence of grace-filled holiness, completely polar to Tolstoy's morality.

Bogorodichny Center

The history of the emergence of ecclesiological heresies can be divided into three periods. In the first period, divisive tendencies prevailed, when independent heretical societies were formed, which considered themselves to be the Church, and all others to have fallen away from it. (This process continues in the West even now.) At the second stage, unifying tendencies began to prevail in Christianity, where one wing of this movement called for the external unification of all confessions, ignoring all dividing factors, and the other wing called for unification on an internal basis. At the beginning of the 20th century, there appeared a teaching about a new coming Universal Church, the Church of the so-called Third Testament and the approaching era of the Holy Spirit. In the last third of the 20th century, this teaching embraced a number of sectarian groups. Even some of those who officially called themselves "Orthodox" began to declare that a "new Pentecost" was approaching. It was then that they declared that the Church, founded by Christ, had already lost its salvific significance, and the so-called "New Church" – the Mother of God – had accepted succession from the "old" Church for the salvation of its children. The disseminator of this false teaching was a public organization formed in 1986, calling itself the "Mother of God Center." Despite the direct testimony of St. The Theotokos, however, assert that this is not so, attributing their fabrications to the Mother of God, who supposedly proclaimed through their prophets that She is the head of the Church. Where does this "church" have a hierarchy? Everything is simple to the point of banality: "Those who are ordained in the church are those on whom the Right Hand that supplies the seals has been." The question arises: how to determine on whom the Hand has been? The answer is as follows: according to the charismatic gift of the Spirit. Here we see a typical case of self-sanctification followed by the manipulation of the credulity of their parishioners. The founder of this sect was "Archbishop" Ioann Bereslavsky, who at one time graduated from the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, studied philosophy and sociology. Later, as he admits in his articles, he immersed himself in esotericism, even specially went to the Kabbalah school for his initiation, studied the ancient Hebrew language. The rush for the truth continued for years and years. Of course, these searches were sincere, but in no way justifies him the fact that having completely lost his way, Bereslavsky, like Ivan Susanin, although in sincere error, took a lot of people with him. Bereslavsky is not a traditional iconographic saint, although he is broad and handsome; He is a modern educated man, a philologist with great erudition. The starting point for the creation of the center was 1984, when in Smolensk, as he claims, he was seized with extraordinary fear at the icon "Hodegetria", because "it seemed that fiery lightning would immediately incinerate the sinner before the face of the Most Pure One..." In recent years, "Archbishop" John has developed a new genre of spiritual journalism – the small so-called "intimate conversations". So far, about a hundred of them have only been published. The Bereslavsky Center works closely with clubs, schools, universities and other secular organizations. Now the adherents of the "Center" are stationed in 50 cities of Russia, not counting the near abroad. They created the "Institute of the Wisdom of God", opened theological (?) faculties in people's universities and schools of piety for children. "Vladyka" often speaks to a wide audience, travels abroad at the expense of the "Center", ordains priests for himself. In the near Moscow region, he opened a convent. It has several monasteries in other areas.

Teaching on the Church, the Sacraments and the Eucharist

They are distinguished by a sharply intolerant attitude towards the Orthodox Church. They recognize the Catholic Church with all its institutions, hierarchy and dogmas. However, they themselves develop the teaching of the Paracletic Church of the New Testament. Since, they assert, the traditional forms of confession have become a thing of the past and have been "sealed," it is in Russia that a new great movement for the glory of the Mother of God will be revived. The true Church has passed "into the seclusion of the heart," so woe will be to those who, even for a short time, hold on to Orthodoxy. They do not call the Orthodox Church anything other than a harlot, a priestess, or a false church. Their own "Center" is designated as the "Mystery Church". Moreover, the Theotokos themselves belong to the membership of the "World Catholic Movement of Priests of the Mother of God". Thus, the church as such is absent among the Theotokos – they have no succession (although the priesthood, as Bereslavsky claims, he received from the TOC, but his further hierarchical growth is shrouded in darkness), therefore, there can be no sacraments. "Ordination" through a subjective charismatic experience leaves no illusions about hierarchy. As for the sacraments, in the opinion of the Mother of God, baptism in the Orthodox Church has degenerated into a formal rite and in general does not mean anything. There is one detail in the teaching of water baptism that is absent in other sectarian formations. They teach about the inadequacy of baptism performed during life. It is also necessary to baptize the soul after its separation from the body. Here we can trace something close in teaching to the Mormons. Moreover, in their opinion, there are three types of baptism: the first is performed in heaven before the incarnation (the Mormon doctrine of the pre-existence of souls); the second is baptism on earth, and, finally, the third is heavenly baptism after earthly life. With the first, which is carried out in heaven, the Theotokos cannot explain anything intelligible – this is God's work and is hidden from us. But in the second, earthly, baptism with water, there are three important points. These elements are as follows. The first point is the water font, it protects the body from diseases. The second moment is the baptism of the Spirit, i.e. the acceptance of faith and repentance. The third moment is the fiery baptism for the "elect", where there is "a crisis, a riot of faith, a sacrifice of life" (20:19). During the sacrament of repentance, the Theotokos assert that sins are forgiven all at once or none, and with insincere repentance, only 377 sins are forgiven (?). In the sacrament of marriage, it should be noted that it is forbidden to marry in the community. Bereslavsky teaches: "God forbid that we unite carnally! You think to delight and give birth, but you are like two bulls in a slaughterhouse..." If you are married, it is recommended to live as brother and sister. But, soberly speaking, not everyone can bear such a feat, and even in marriage the consent of the other party is necessary for this. Otherwise, it will be a desecration of marriage, and the party who dares to do so will be guilty of incontinence of the opposite. Here it is necessary to remind the Theotokos of a passage from St. Scriptures: "In the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits... forbidding marriage..." And in Apostolic Canon 51 it is said: "If anyone ... he shuns marriage and wine and meat, not for the sake of the feat of abstinence, but because of abhorrence, forgetting that all good things are evil and that God, creating man, husband and wife, created them, and thus, blasphemy, slanders the creation, either let it be corrected, or let it be expelled from the holy order and rejected from the Church. The same is true of the layman." I will not dwell the reader's attention on other absurdities that accompany the so-called "sacraments" of the Mother of God, for we have before us that surrogate of heresies, when, hiding behind Christian phraseology, they speculate on the reverent attitude of the faithful to the Mother of God; preaching a sermon about mutual love with their lips, they destroy family relationships; Distorting Orthodox teaching, they resort to open blasphemy of clergy and bishops. Let us dwell only on the unusual elements of their Eucharist. An integral part of the Liturgy of the Theotokos is the so-called rite of sprinkling the blood of the Mother of God. Such blood, according to their teaching, is pre-consecrated water, dissolved by the Holy Gifts. (Question: Where did the Theotokos get them?) In the picture, you just see this moment of the sprinkling of the faithful from a bucket by the "Bishop of Moscow" Peter from the stage in the hall. There is also the teaching about communion with the tears of the Mother of God. There are also significant differences in vestments from legitimate clergymen. Their cassocks, as a rule, are blue, on the left side of each has the emblem of a prostrate dove-Spirit, enclosed in a cross embroidered with lurex. The vestments contain capes, scarves, homemade emblems, etc. Prayers, for the most part, are improvised, similar to Baptist ones.

Moon Unification Church

Sun Myung Moon was born in 1920 in Korea. From a young age, he was interested in religious issues. In 1936, he had a vision when he explained to his household that Christ had appeared and told Moon about His unfinished work of saving mankind. Moon must take on this mission. Before the outbreak of World War II, Moon attended the university and soon married. He leaves his wife and goes to North Korea in search of the truth. Under the influence of a certain Park Moon Kim, who then proclaimed himself the new messiah, Moon built his religious doctrine and his first temple from empty beer cans. This contributed to his excommunication from the Presbyterian Church, to which Moon formally belonged. In 1948, Moon was imprisoned during the communist showdown in North Korea, but escaped from it, which later brought him moral dividends when he claimed that his imprisonment was due to religious activity. It is difficult to judge now whether this is true or not, but in periodicals there are materials in a certain rite of "blood purification" associated with the sin of a sect with followers of the teaching. Soon Sun Myung Moon adopted and added the title "Reverend" to his name, and in 1954 he established the "Society of the Holy Spirit for the Unification of World Christianity". In 1955, he was arrested again on charges of immoral behavior. Sun Moon is a very sociable person and a master of establishing the necessary connections. In addition, he is a successful businessman. He personally developed a method for his followers to work with new people, especially students. On the streets, members of the sect sell postcards, souvenirs, ginseng tea, but this is not the main income of the organization. Moon invites scientists, politicians, public figures to special conferences on scientific and social issues; at the same time, the "Unification Church" spends colossal funds on this, paying for the travel of those invited in both directions, covers all the costs of accommodation in fashionable hotels and the obligatory souvenirs as a keepsake. By doing so, the Moonies hope to build a reputation for themselves as a respected philanthropic society. The cult of Moon himself in the organization is so high that whatever he uses and touches is then divided among his adherents who served him. These things in their eyes became sacred relics, they tried to preserve them for their offspring. One former follower of the Korean mission recalled: "Moon had something majestic in his bearing. When he entered the room, we felt as if we were blown by the wind against the wall. He spread an invisible force around him, it was felt that if someone shot him, the bullet would turn to the side. He had some kind of mystical power." Moon's basic doctrine is set forth in two books in Korean (which is why many of his followers tend to learn Korean in order to read Moon in the original): Explanation of the Principle (1957) and Explanation of the Principle (1966) A principle is a teaching that is supposedly transmitted to Moon from above from God. The main goal is to unite all world religions in order to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. What, in the final analysis, do the doctrinal concepts of the Moonies boil down to? In a cursory enumeration they are as follows: Doctrine of the Trinity. St. The Trinity does not exist, but God is one. Teaching about Christ. Nor is the Creator equal in dignity to His Father. The teaching on the Holy Scriptures. Spirit. Feminine or Mother Spirit. The birth of Jesus by the Virgin. Jesus was the perfect embodiment of the ideal of creation. The meaning of Christ's atoning blood. Jesus did not come to die on the cross. His death was not God's will. Salvation. Your deeds can save you and others who have died before. Resurrection. Jesus was not resurrected physically. In the spiritual world, He lives as a spiritual man. The Second Coming of Christ. The followers of Sun Moon point out that he is the Lord of the Second Coming. Heaven and hell. Ultimately, all of humanity will be saved. Bible. The period of time of the New Testament mission expired with the advent of Moon. Now we see that this is a typical cult. The term is used to refer to groups that call themselves Christians but whose basic tenets differ from true Christianity in that they deny the Trinity and the divinity of Christ and recognize salvation through good works. They are also characterized by the deification of leaders, which, however, is also observed in a number of mystical sects. So, in Moon's opinion, Christ was not able to fulfill His mission to the end, because He did not have children. Therefore, salvation lies through the creation of a new "ideal family", the beginning of which was laid by Sun Moon and his dearest wife. In addition to the numerous direct descendants of Moon, he personally selects couples and then "marries" them 600-700 couples at a time at the stadium, and who are also representatives of the new "ideal families". Until recently, Moon only hinted at his special mission on earth, fearing to scare people away by directly revealing his cards. Hints pointed to Korea, from where a new messiah would appear (Rev. 7:2-4), and the main enemy of all religions – communism – was also indicated, on which, in fact, the new Führer of religion made the main bet and grew. In Moon's opinion, Jesus was supposed to destroy the sinful world and force the devil to surrender voluntarily. But who then will populate the planet, if the whole world, "which lies in evil", is destroyed? After all, Jesus had no heirs left in the flesh with pure holy blood. In doing so, He supposedly introduced dissonance into God's plan of salvation. God left Him and He, dying, spoke about His new, but only symbolic Second Coming to earth, meaning by this the coming of Moon himself. Christ was not resurrected among the Moonies, and could not have been resurrected by a just God, because he failed to cope with his main task – to destroy the world of Satan and restore it in purity by direct heirs. The "Principle" therefore teaches that Moon is the promised second Christ (the Second Coming has already come to pass; and even the first goal has been defeated: communism as a satanic value system has been destroyed on the planet, with the exception of North Korea and Cuba, which will not be in the clutches of Satan for long). Moon, as it were, helps the discouraged and confused Creator to defeat the forces of evil. We quote: "God lives in loneliness and despair, feeling the incompleteness of creation and watching how generation after generation of people destroy their lives and the lives of descendants. This is because we do not know the heart of God at all" (God and We, Sun Myung Moon. 1992. p. 246). The principle states: "By humbling ourselves before Moon, serving Moon, obeying Moon, and loving Moon, we achieve salvation through him." Salvation in the sect is understood as domination over Satan in the material world. Over time, the followers of the Korean rise to the position of "ideal individuals", i.e. they undergo initiation into Moon's army in order to marry at the age of 24 to create an "ideal family". The children of such a marriage will be the glorious material that will take upon themselves the battle with Satan and his servants. All this is achieved through complete submission to Moon and the rules of his paramilitary organization with iron discipline. The Moonies claim that the Third World War with the forces of Satan is also inevitable, after which an ideal order with heavenly laws will be established on the planet. Money plays a big role in the Unification Church. Moon fundamentally asserts that Christ should not have given up earthly power and should have turned not to poor semi-literate fishermen, but to kings and magnates, to convert them, if necessary, by miracle and persuasion, to collect capital, to establish himself as King of the Jews and to destroy by force the Roman Empire, the center of evil and paganism. Therefore, Moon does not renounce capital, financial power (he has factories, shipyards, hotels, banks, roads, industrial infrastructure, where Moonies work for a nominal fee and civilian workers for good wages). In addition, at the first stage of initiation, the neophyte must undergo a course of begging (to break pride and replenish the sect's treasury) in fundraising teams, young men and women begging or selling postcards on the streets. After three years, the "schools of poverty" or "fundraising" receive the first "blessing" and permission to start a family, followed by promotion. Now Moon's adepts become full members of the sect. In Russia, the Moonies have chosen St. Petersburg. In Moscow, their adaptation was more difficult. Therefore, a fundraising group of about a hundred people settled in St. Petersburg in 1993. The guys work for the Korean on the street for 12 hours a day (trade), where they collect proceeds of 150 thousand rubles each per day. Neophyte constantly lives in the Center, does not visit his family, refuses to study at universities and technical schools. Moon has a term called "love bombing". A person who comes to a meeting out of curiosity or by invitation hears the flattery of others: what an extraordinary, wonderful person he is, what smart eyes he has. And few people will not like it, because everything is taken at face value - and the bait is almost swallowed. It's nice when nice neat young people - your age, including girls, quite sincerely say compliments and smile. The atmosphere itself is conducive to further contacts. Coming back to the community gives more grounded hope. It is proposed to go to a country residence for a few days in order to live there for free in comfort and isolation from this vain and cruel world, listen to lectures, pray together, sing... If you like it, you can stay for a while. The organization takes care of all bills for meals, service, lectures. It is alarming that now the Moonies are buying suburban plots, building houses (near Kiev in the Koncha-Zaspa district), where they are creating children's health camps for children of financially insolvent parents. The children of such parents live free of charge from 1 to 3 summer months on the full board of the organization and where, accordingly, the doctrinal basics of Moon's doctrines are taught. What future awaits these children? So, the climax has come – you are in the Moonie Center. A relaxed atmosphere, muffled music of religious hymns, an abundance of flowers, smiles, cordiality, compliments with a few cups of good coffee and cakes. You have gradually become one of your own people here, but no one is yet demanding that you change your worldview system of values – you are it... You change it yourself. A person suddenly realizes that he really misses these nice people, and the person gradually cuts off ties with the outside world and turns into a moonie. Brainwashing is almost irreversible: lectures, conversations, hymns, work for the good of the sect, prayers, fasts, minimal sleep. And again all over again. This is the danger of totalitarianism. It is possible in reality only in closed religious sects, where a person does not belong to himself. His will will be suppressed methodically and systematically, day after day. Even if such a person is forcibly torn out of the sect, he will not listen to any arguments and arguments, but will look for an opportunity to return to his usual circle, as drug addicts return to their own – "to the needle". There are also punishments for offenses in the sect: cold showers, hunger strikes for up to 4 days, or sleep deprivation for up to 3. Girls and boys live in the same Center, but in different rooms. Intimate relations are excluded - otherwise expulsion from the organization. Couples for creating families are made by a computer according to only Moon's known characteristics. The family is the nucleus for the creation of new Moon soldiers. Moonism at one time seriously claimed to become the state religion of Russia. Kalmykia adopted this idea closer than other autonomous regions. And already in 1993, in 80 St. Petersburg schools, the course "My World and Me", completely built on the Moon doctrine, was included in the curriculum. In 1992, Sun Moon declared: "In three of the fifteen republics of the former Soviet Union, a movement is now developing to proclaim the religion of Unification as the state religion" (Document 6: Moon, Textbook of World Peace, p. 50). He met with M.S. Gorbachev, then the first President of the Union, with many influential persons of the state to push through his educational program and strengthen his position in the economically ruined sick country. At the same time, any meeting between Moon and a manager of any level always ends with an expensive gift from a guest. This is Moon's tactics and style of work for the Soul Market. Indeed, what is there to regret - an entertaining expensive trinket, a Rolex watch in a gold case, or even a brand new Toyota - if this is the key to the stability of its position and support in this country. Moonism opposes any state borders, national and religious characteristics (couples are often made up of representatives of different countries of the world), seeks to exhaust and abolish any individuality, history, stereotypes — because this is what makes the army strong. Future pastors of the Orthodox Church, in case of problems that have arisen related to the activities of totalitarian sects, should know the following (and, accordingly, give advice to those who ask): Under no circumstances should you buy postcards, sweets, tea from the Moonies when you meet, so as not to provoke the recruiter to systematically deal with you. Do not give their adherents money (everything to the penny will be spent on the intended purpose of the organization), for this will be regarded as a weighty confirmation of the truth of the doctrines of the "reverend". Having expressed your principled rejection of Moon's ideology, nevertheless, be friendly, gentle with the adept of the sect, knowing that you are dealing with a lost person who does not even know how to assess the desperation of his situation. In a polite way, refuse to visit their Center, even out of simple curiosity. Out of curiosity, many people began... The processes of your psyche will gradually become poorly controlled by will and consciousness. As there are a number of mantras in Krishnaism, from the chanting of which, even in jest, it is extremely difficult to free oneself later. This obsession is surprising and rationally inexplicable. Write down all the names, addresses, phone numbers associated with the involvement of your parishioners or acquaintances in the "Moon family". This will help to identify the problem more comprehensively and meaningfully, if necessary, to a consultant or law enforcement agencies.

Mormons

Sun Myung Moon was born in 1920 in Korea. From a young age, he was interested in religious issues. In 1936, he had a vision when he explained to his household that Christ had appeared and told Moon about His unfinished work of saving mankind. Moon must take on this mission. Before the outbreak of World War II, Moon attended the university and soon married. He leaves his wife and goes to North Korea in search of the truth. Under the influence of a certain Park Moon Kim, who then proclaimed himself the new messiah, Moon built his religious doctrine and his first temple from empty beer cans. This contributed to his excommunication from the Presbyterian Church, to which Moon formally belonged. In 1948, Moon was imprisoned during the communist showdown in North Korea, but escaped from it, which later brought him moral dividends when he claimed that his imprisonment was due to religious activity. It is difficult to judge now whether this is true or not, but in periodicals there are materials in a certain rite of "blood purification" associated with the sin of a sect with followers of the teaching. Soon Sun Myung Moon adopted and added the title "Reverend" to his name, and in 1954 he established the "Society of the Holy Spirit for the Unification of World Christianity". In 1955, he was arrested again on charges of immoral behavior. Sun Moon is a very sociable person and a master of establishing the necessary connections. In addition, he is a successful businessman. He personally developed a method for his followers to work with new people, especially students. On the streets, members of the sect sell postcards, souvenirs, ginseng tea, but this is not the main income of the organization. Moon invites scientists, politicians, public figures to special conferences on scientific and social issues; at the same time, the "Unification Church" spends colossal funds on this, paying for the travel of those invited in both directions, covers all the costs of accommodation in fashionable hotels and the obligatory souvenirs as a keepsake. By doing so, the Moonies hope to build a reputation for themselves as a respected philanthropic society. The cult of Moon himself in the organization is so high that whatever he uses and touches is then divided among his adherents who served him. These things in their eyes became sacred relics, they tried to preserve them for their offspring. One former follower of the Korean mission recalled: "Moon had something majestic in his bearing. When he entered the room, we felt as if we were blown by the wind against the wall. He spread an invisible force around him, it was felt that if someone shot him, the bullet would turn to the side. He had some kind of mystical power." Moon's basic doctrine is set forth in two books in Korean (which is why many of his followers tend to learn Korean in order to read Moon in the original): Explanation of the Principle (1957) and Explanation of the Principle (1966) A principle is a teaching that is supposedly transmitted to Moon from above from God. The main goal is to unite all world religions in order to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. What, in the final analysis, do the doctrinal concepts of the Moonies boil down to? In a cursory enumeration they are as follows: Doctrine of the Trinity. St. The Trinity does not exist, but God is one. Teaching about Christ. Nor is the Creator equal in dignity to His Father. The teaching on the Holy Scriptures. Spirit. Feminine or Mother Spirit. The birth of Jesus by the Virgin. Jesus was the perfect embodiment of the ideal of creation. The meaning of Christ's atoning blood. Jesus did not come to die on the cross. His death was not God's will. Salvation. Your deeds can save you and others who have died before. Resurrection. Jesus was not resurrected physically. In the spiritual world, He lives as a spiritual man. The Second Coming of Christ. The followers of Sun Moon point out that he is the Lord of the Second Coming. Heaven and hell. Ultimately, all of humanity will be saved. Bible. The period of time of the New Testament mission expired with the advent of Moon. Now we see that this is a typical cult. The term is used to refer to groups that call themselves Christians but whose basic tenets differ from true Christianity in that they deny the Trinity and the divinity of Christ and recognize salvation through good works. They are also characterized by the deification of leaders, which, however, is also observed in a number of mystical sects. So, in Moon's opinion, Christ was not able to fulfill His mission to the end, because He did not have children. Therefore, salvation lies through the creation of a new "ideal family", the beginning of which was laid by Sun Moon and his dearest wife. In addition to the numerous direct descendants of Moon, he personally selects couples and then "marries" them 600-700 couples at a time at the stadium, and who are also representatives of the new "ideal families". Until recently, Moon only hinted at his special mission on earth, fearing to scare people away by directly revealing his cards. Hints pointed to Korea, from where a new messiah would appear (Rev. 7:2-4), and the main enemy of all religions – communism – was also indicated, on which, in fact, the new Führer of religion made the main bet and grew. In Moon's opinion, Jesus was supposed to destroy the sinful world and force the devil to surrender voluntarily. But who then will populate the planet, if the whole world, "which lies in evil", is destroyed? After all, Jesus had no heirs left in the flesh with pure holy blood. In doing so, He supposedly introduced dissonance into God's plan of salvation. God left Him and He, dying, spoke about His new, but only symbolic Second Coming to earth, meaning by this the coming of Moon himself. Christ was not resurrected among the Moonies, and could not have been resurrected by a just God, because he failed to cope with his main task – to destroy the world of Satan and restore it in purity by direct heirs. The "Principle" therefore teaches that Moon is the promised second Christ (the Second Coming has already come to pass; and even the first goal has been defeated: communism as a satanic value system has been destroyed on the planet, with the exception of North Korea and Cuba, which will not be in the clutches of Satan for long). Moon, as it were, helps the discouraged and confused Creator to defeat the forces of evil. We quote: "God lives in loneliness and despair, feeling the incompleteness of creation and watching how generation after generation of people destroy their lives and the lives of descendants. This is because we do not know the heart of God at all" (God and We, Sun Myung Moon. 1992. p. 246). The principle states: "By humbling ourselves before Moon, serving Moon, obeying Moon, and loving Moon, we achieve salvation through him." Salvation in the sect is understood as domination over Satan in the material world. Over time, the followers of the Korean rise to the position of "ideal individuals", i.e. they undergo initiation into Moon's army in order to marry at the age of 24 to create an "ideal family". The children of such a marriage will be the glorious material that will take upon themselves the battle with Satan and his servants. All this is achieved through complete submission to Moon and the rules of his paramilitary organization with iron discipline. The Moonies claim that the Third World War with the forces of Satan is also inevitable, after which an ideal order with heavenly laws will be established on the planet. Money plays a big role in the Unification Church. Moon fundamentally asserts that Christ should not have given up earthly power and should have turned not to poor semi-literate fishermen, but to kings and magnates, to convert them, if necessary, by miracle and persuasion, to collect capital, to establish himself as King of the Jews and to destroy by force the Roman Empire, the center of evil and paganism. Therefore, Moon does not renounce capital, financial power (he has factories, shipyards, hotels, banks, roads, industrial infrastructure, where Moonies work for a nominal fee and civilian workers for good wages). In addition, at the first stage of initiation, the neophyte must undergo a course of begging (to break pride and replenish the sect's treasury) in fundraising teams, young men and women begging or selling postcards on the streets. After three years, the "schools of poverty" or "fundraising" receive the first "blessing" and permission to start a family, followed by promotion. Now Moon's adepts become full members of the sect. In Russia, the Moonies have chosen St. Petersburg. In Moscow, their adaptation was more difficult. Therefore, a fundraising group of about a hundred people settled in St. Petersburg in 1993. The guys work for the Korean on the street for 12 hours a day (trade), where they collect proceeds of 150 thousand rubles each per day. Neophyte constantly lives in the Center, does not visit his family, refuses to study at universities and technical schools. Moon has a term called "love bombing". A person who comes to a meeting out of curiosity or by invitation hears the flattery of others: what an extraordinary, wonderful person he is, what smart eyes he has. And few people will not like it, because everything is taken at face value - and the bait is almost swallowed. It's nice when nice neat young people - your age, including girls, quite sincerely say compliments and smile. The atmosphere itself is conducive to further contacts. Coming back to the community gives more grounded hope. It is proposed to go to a country residence for a few days in order to live there for free in comfort and isolation from this vain and cruel world, listen to lectures, pray together, sing... If you like it, you can stay for a while. The organization takes care of all bills for meals, service, lectures. It is alarming that now the Moonies are buying suburban plots, building houses (near Kiev in the Koncha-Zaspa district), where they are creating children's health camps for children of financially insolvent parents. The children of such parents live free of charge from 1 to 3 summer months on the full board of the organization and where, accordingly, the doctrinal basics of Moon's doctrines are taught. What future awaits these children? So, the climax has come – you are in the Moonie Center. A relaxed atmosphere, muffled music of religious hymns, an abundance of flowers, smiles, cordiality, compliments with a few cups of good coffee and cakes. You have gradually become one of your own people here, but no one is yet demanding that you change your worldview system of values – you are it... You change it yourself. A person suddenly realizes that he really misses these nice people, and the person gradually cuts off ties with the outside world and turns into a moonie. Brainwashing is almost irreversible: lectures, conversations, hymns, work for the good of the sect, prayers, fasts, minimal sleep. And again all over again. This is the danger of totalitarianism. It is possible in reality only in closed religious sects, where a person does not belong to himself. His will will be suppressed methodically and systematically, day after day. Even if such a person is forcibly torn out of the sect, he will not listen to any arguments and arguments, but will look for an opportunity to return to his usual circle, as drug addicts return to their own – "to the needle". There are also punishments for offenses in the sect: cold showers, hunger strikes for up to 4 days, or sleep deprivation for up to 3. Girls and boys live in the same Center, but in different rooms. Intimate relations are excluded - otherwise expulsion from the organization. Couples for creating families are made by a computer according to only Moon's known characteristics. The family is the nucleus for the creation of new Moon soldiers. Moonism at one time seriously claimed to become the state religion of Russia. Kalmykia adopted this idea closer than other autonomous regions. And already in 1993, in 80 St. Petersburg schools, the course "My World and Me", completely built on the Moon doctrine, was included in the curriculum. In 1992, Sun Moon declared: "In three of the fifteen republics of the former Soviet Union, a movement is now developing to proclaim the religion of Unification as the state religion" (Document 6: Moon, Textbook of World Peace, p. 50). He met with M.S. Gorbachev, then the first President of the Union, with many influential persons of the state to push through his educational program and strengthen his position in the economically ruined sick country. At the same time, any meeting between Moon and a manager of any level always ends with an expensive gift from a guest. This is Moon's tactics and style of work for the Soul Market. Indeed, what is there to regret - an entertaining expensive trinket, a Rolex watch in a gold case, or even a brand new Toyota - if this is the key to the stability of its position and support in this country. Moonism opposes any state borders, national and religious characteristics (couples are often made up of representatives of different countries of the world), seeks to exhaust and abolish any individuality, history, stereotypes — because this is what makes the army strong. Future pastors of the Orthodox Church, in case of problems that have arisen related to the activities of totalitarian sects, should know the following (and, accordingly, give advice to those who ask): Under no circumstances should you buy postcards, sweets, tea from the Moonies when you meet, so as not to provoke the recruiter to systematically deal with you. Do not give their adherents money (everything to the penny will be spent on the intended purpose of the organization), for this will be regarded as a weighty confirmation of the truth of the doctrines of the "reverend". Having expressed your principled rejection of Moon's ideology, nevertheless, be friendly, gentle with the adept of the sect, knowing that you are dealing with a lost person who does not even know how to assess the desperation of his situation. In a polite way, refuse to visit their Center, even out of simple curiosity. Out of curiosity, many people began... The processes of your psyche will gradually become poorly controlled by will and consciousness. As there are a number of mantras in Krishnaism, from the chanting of which, even in jest, it is extremely difficult to free oneself later. This obsession is surprising and rationally inexplicable. Write down all the names, addresses, phone numbers associated with the involvement of your parishioners or acquaintances in the "Moon family". This will help to identify the problem more comprehensively and meaningfully, if necessary, to a consultant or law enforcement agencies.

From the history of the emergence

In 1805, Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, USA. In 1815-1820, great religious unrest began to occur throughout the continent. Beginning in the Methodist sect, they soon spread to other religious sects. Some supported the Methodists, others defended the Prosbyterians, and still others argued that only the Baptists would be saved. As a teenager, I. Smith observed such a situation in the religious life of parishioners. Who to join? Which of them is right? As he later described this period of time, the period of inner torments and doubts, was for him also a period of turning to the Holy Scriptures, in particular, to verse 5 of chapter 1 of the Epistle of Ap. St. James, where it is said: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all simply and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Subsequently, this quotation from the Holy Scriptures. Scripture became the most popular in the Mormon sect and the most popular in their sermons. And so, the young man began to seclude himself in order to comprehend the will of God in this chaos of religious confrontation. One day he retired to the forest to once again ask God about the question that tormented him. At the same time, he experienced an extraordinary state of spiritual uplift and prayerful ecstasy. This state, however, was accompanied by fear. This is how he himself described this state: "As soon as I opened my mouth, suddenly some force, having seized and completely weakened me, produced such a striking effect on me that my tongue became numb, and I could not speak. A terrible darkness enveloped me, and it seemed to me that I was doomed to eternal death..." (The Narrative of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Church of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah). Then in the forest, according to Smith, it was said that he should not join any of the religious communities, because they are all in error. The young man mentally compares his vision with the vision of the Apostle Paul, about which the latter told King Agrippa (Acts 26:13). In 1823, Joseph Smith had a second vision in which the heavenly messenger Moroni informed him that he was God's chosen one and that he would be entrusted with a great mystery and his name would be known throughout the world, but it would be proclaimed to some for evil and for good to others. Further in this vision Joseph was informed of a certain hidden book, written on gold plates, containing the history of the former inhabitants of this continent and the source of their origin. The messenger also reported that the fullness of the eternal Gospel is contained in this hidden book, since it was given by the Savior Himself to the ancient inhabitants of this land. But together with the book, it was further said, two stones in silver frames were also hidden, and that it was these stones, once attached to the breastplate, that constituted what is called in the Old Testament the Urim and Thummim (See note on p. 283). And since the ancient Jewish high priests used these stones to be "seers," God prepared these stones in order to translate the secret writings from the book. Then, in a vision, Moroni (that was the name of the heavenly messenger) began to quote prophecies from the Old Testament, quoting the following passages from the Bible: Malachi 3:5, although he read the verse differently than in the book: "Behold, I will reveal unto you the priesthood by the hand of Elijah the prophet, until the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes." Then the 3rd chapter of the Book of Acts, the 11th chapter of Isaiah, the 2nd chapter of the prophet Joel were read. In addition, Moroni explained in the vision that only upon receipt of the plates he mentioned would stones be obtained, but neither was to be shown to the people on pain of death, except in a small circle of persons to whom Moroni himself would point. And so, happy with his chosenness and stunned by the vision, Smith told his father about it. Joseph's father believed and commanded him to fulfill Moroni's words, and recognized the vision itself as a divine revelation. Thus, his first followers were close relatives. Not far from the village of Manchester, in the county of Ontario, New York, rises a large mountain - the highest in the surrounding area. "On the western side, not far from the top of the mountain, under a rather large stone, lay sheets laid in a stone box," the Mormon chronicle says about the location of the future source of their faith. As a result of the translation from these plates, the Book of Mormon was born. The translation was made by Smith with the help of the Urim and Thummim, as he later asserted. The Book of Mormon. The first English edition was published in 1830 and the Russian edition in 1980. A book was written to the Lamanites, the remnant of the house of Israel, and also "to the Jew and to the Gentiles." Here is also an abridged chronicle, taken from the Book of Ether, which contains the history of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time when the Lord confused the language of the people during the construction of the Tower of Babel. The record was written on gold leaves by the hand of Mormon, who was the last leader of the people. The book consists of 15 main parts. These records span from 600 B.C. to 421 A.D. About the last year, Moroni, the last of the Nephite historians, recorded the Sacred Record and hid it for the purposes of the Lord. In 1827, this same Moroni, then raised from the dead, gave the engraved plates to Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon consists of the following books: First Book of Nephi, Second Book of Nephi, Book of Jacob, Book of Enos, Book of Jarom, Book of Omni, Words of Mormon, Book of Mosiah, Book of Alma, Book of Helaman, Third Book of Nephi, Fourth Book of Nephi, Book of Mormon, Book of Ether, Book of Moroni. Of the other doctrinal books, in addition to the Book of Mormon, there are two more: the Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price.