On monasticism

Sectarians of a rationalistic persuasion deny the institution of Orthodox monasticism. Not understanding the essence of monasticism, they present it as an agnostic contempt for the human body, as a perversion of the God-established relationship between man and woman, as a misanthropic rejection of the family and society.

For some reason, it is precisely monasticism that causes special irritation among atheists and sectarians and becomes a favorite target for attacks, ridicule and irony. The sensual and depraved Renaissance was especially sophisticated in mocking monasticism. The Reformation in Germany, the so-called Great Revolution in France and the October Revolution in Russia began with the pogrom of monasteries. This means that monasticism hindered the development and embodiment in historical forms of the planes of demonic energies and forces. If the saying, "Tell me who your friend is, and I will tell you who you are," is partly true, "Tell me who your enemy is, and I will tell you who you are." Unfortunately, a certain part of the intelligentsia also developed a negative attitude towards monasticism, partly under the influence of secular literature, which did not create a single truthful image of the monk; according to the words of the Apostle Paul, the natural cannot understand the spiritual (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14), partly under the influence of the fashionable modernist philosophy of Rozanov, Merezhkovsky and various sophiologists and "god-builders" who are trying to create a cult of "holy flesh" for which all the desires of the body are sacred. The literary and philosophical decadence of the early 20th century completed the isolation of the Church from society. For the modern intelligentsia (or a significant part of it), the life of a monk has become alien, unfamiliar and incomprehensible, like the life of Robinson Crusoe on a desert island. With regard to the above accusations against monasticism, we note the following. Monasticism is religious maximalism, love for God, which a person does not want to share between God and the world. The Church condemns asceticism based on Gnostic dualism, on the opposition of spirit and body to each other as two principles - Divine and demonic, good and evil. There is a special decree of the Council of Gangra on this [1]. If a monk from the sect of the Gnostics converted to Orthodoxy, then the ancient Church freed him from the vows of monasticism, adopted as a result of incorrect anthropological ideas, and gave him a choice for his future life: to repeat the monastic tonsure in the Orthodox Church or to remain a lay person with the free right to found a family. Christian asceticism does not aim at the destruction of the body, but at its subordination to the spirit. Saints John Cassian, Basil the Great and others warned a monk against excessive asceticism, which can not only harm health, but also develop a sense of pride in an inexperienced ascetic. St. Basil the Great says: "We struggle with the passions, not with the body." Self-torture in the form of scourging, self-wounding, and the like is forbidden in the Orthodox Church. Asceticism aims at abstaining from excesses. The astounding feats of the Holy Fathers were accomplished with the haste of God's grace and therefore surpassed ordinary human strength. The Church considered them a miracle, not a model for copying. It should be remembered, however, that excesses and licentious life do much more harm to the body than abstinence. Mental disorders usually manifest themselves in the form of affects, depressions, hallucinations and exaltations - what is most alien to Orthodox monasticism, which teaches about prudence, sobriety, purification of consciousness from vivid pictures and dreams, about the state of inner peace and tranquility. The works of the ascetic fathers possess clarity of thought, clear composition, prudence - something that is absent in the work of the mentally ill. In their lives, ascetics did not show selfishness, but love, reaching self-sacrifice, respect for people, patience and forgiveness of offenses, while the mentally ill are characterized by egocentrism. The main form of monasticism is not hermitage, but communal life in the form of a monastery or skete. The hermit's life is the next stage; it is needed only by some special ascetics for deep prayerful concentration. To speak of the cave atavism of monks is as strange as to speak of any human community or union as a pack of wolves. We know outstanding public and political figures, commanders and scientists who performed their duties and service for many years without showing any mental deviations, and then became monks as a result of a greater understanding of life. However, it is not only people who stand outside the fence of the Church who deny monasticism. Among the Christians themselves, who call themselves Orthodox, there are critics of monasticism, who consider it something accidental and superficial in the Church. They usually make the following accusations against monasticism: a) a person who accepts monasticism consciously impoverishes his life; b) he deprives himself of the lawful and blessed joys of earthly existence; c) he ceases to be a useful member of society. Does a monk impoverish himself intellectually? The Holy Scriptures and the works of the Holy Fathers are the deepest philosophical truths, which were discovered not by the human mind, but by the Divine Logos. Christian liturgics was called "singing theology" by the rationalists themselves. In this circle of higher truths the thought of the monk is constantly located. The main thing is not the external volume of knowledge, but its height, not the horizontal, but the vertical dimension. Is a mountain of raw ore more expensive than grains of gold? That which the world's philosophical thought could not reach is given in Revelation. Much of what the world considers intellectual value turns out to be an intellectual lie that does not lead to the truth, but leads away from it. The main thing for a person is not mechanical memory, which fixes incoming information, but creative memory, which can solve complex problems in all areas of life and activity on the basis of deep ontological knowledge. Christian teaching, theological knowledge, evangelical morality, anthropological observations of ascetics have passed through thousands of years of testing, through the filter of trials, through the experience of many generations, therefore they are objectively more reliable and stable than the latest philosophical and psychological systems. Does a monk impoverish himself emotionally? Emotional richness is the purity and depth of feeling. Asceticism is the purification of the human heart. Contemporary art and media channels can be compared to a mudflow that, like an avalanche, floods the islands of the former culture, plunging the human imagination into the swamp of sex and blood. Do the enemies of monasticism complain about the impoverishment of such emotions? Emotional richness is the ability to empathize, it is the awakening of the spirit. It is precisely characteristic of monasticism. The Monk Agathon said: "I would like to take from the leper his body and give him my body in return." Passion and sensuality, on the contrary, make a person selfish and cruel. We are told that monasticism deprives a person of the joy of art and literature. Is this true? - And what about church architecture? Liturgical hymns and poetry of the Psalter? Aren't they masterpieces of art even from the formal side? It is not art for art's sake, but art as the embodiment of an idea; art that contains the deepest meaning. It is higher than worldly art in that it communicates with the transcendental world, with eternal spiritual essences, with eternal beauty. As for Christian literature, let's take the Bible, for example. It contains history, poetry, philosophy, ethics, and that which is incomparably greater, Divine revelation. Connoisseurs of world literature usually say that literature helps them to understand a person better and get to know life. Meanwhile, in the works of the Holy Fathers, the soul of man is revealed to such depths where the scalpel of the talent of a worldly writer or poet has not penetrated. What secular writer can be compared with John Chrysostom even in the external beauty and expression of the word? One of the Byzantine scholars writes that Demosthenes for seven centuries before John Chrysostom did not have a successor equal in talent. Chrysostom's works are a whole encyclopedia of moral and theological knowledge, psychological observations, historical and typical characteristics. Let us take another father, Gregory the Theologian, whose syllable is distinguished by virtuoso art and filigree decoration of each phrase. He can be called a poet-philosopher. Another spiritual writer - Ephraim the Syrian stands on the same level with the best poets of the world. In medieval monasteries, many historical and scientific works were copied and preserved. Spiritual literature has everything that secular literature has, except for its passion and filth. Can fashionable detective stories and erotic literature, which, like muddy waves, spilled out onto the modern book market, really enrich a person emotionally? If art is a kind of cognition through empathy, then modern literature gives cognition of sin through contact with it and leaves dirty stains in the human soul. If, according to the proverb, a fly in the ointment spoils a barrel of honey, then we are seriously offered to look for the missing spoonful of honey in the barrel of ointment. Critics of monasticism argue that it deprives a person of the joy of life. Is there a joy in the world that is deeper and purer than spiritual joy? Worldly joy, permeated with sensuality and passion, is replaced by fatigue, emptiness, and often sorrow and disappointment. We are told that there is not only passionate and intoxicating joy, there is also another, bright joy, for example, in communication with nature. But monasteries were most often built in the most beautiful places, where nature itself taught us to think about eternity. Mentally transport yourself to the places where ancient Georgian monasteries were built. Their builders possessed not only aesthetic talent, but also a sense of supreme beauty and harmony. On the contrary, opponents of monasticism, children of modern urbanization, most often see nature in a few days of their lives, and talk about its beauty while being in asphalt concrete captivity. Our opponents talk about the joy of family life, but they themselves, without realizing it, touched the sore point of modern society. Officially, more than half of families fall apart in the first two years after their formation, and there is no guarantee that things are going well in other families. The breakup and disagreement in the family leave traumas and disappointments, sometimes for life. And what about other hard-to-resolve issues of family life? For example, infanticide (abortion), which makes the family a union of murderers marching towards their illusory well-being on the corpses of children. What joy can people have when they are stained with human blood? We are told that there are prosperous families. Unfortunately, there are not more such families, but fewer and fewer. Psychologically unprepared for marriage, spouses turn their home not into an oasis, but into a field of struggle for power and a place to settle scores for mutual grievances. Often such spouses allow themselves in relation to their children what they would not allow in relation to strangers and even to their enemies (as well as children in relation to their parents). Christianity respects marriage, but looks at the family as a difficult, responsible matter that requires a lot of dedication, patience and tact from the spouses, and not as a source of constant pleasure. We are told that there is another kind of joy that monks deprive themselves of, and that is the joy of creativity. But, first, prayer itself is the highest creativity and dynamics of the soul, which includes a person in the field of the transcendental world and in a personal dialogue with the Creator of all that exists. Secondly, church art is a creative activity of a special kind, enclosed within the framework of traditions and firm canons, based not on imagination, as secular art, but on mystical vision and spiritual empathy. This creativity is included not in the sensuous-material world, but in the supramundane sphere of spiritual realities. Religious creativity rejects only fantasy as the realm of falsehood, and considers daydreams (which can become a mental drug) not creativity, but a weak-willed attraction to pleasure. Religious creativity is a volitional synergetic process, where the spiritual world reveals itself through material forms; this process involves the eternal energies operating in the Church. The third accusation of critics of monasticism is that a person, leaving worldly life, ceases to be a useful member of society. In the history of the Church, that institution with centuries-old traditions, which is called spiritual fatherhood and eldership, had great spiritual and moral significance. Its representatives were mainly ascetic monks. Their life in solitude or monastic obedience, struggle with passions, and unceasing prayer made the spiritual world really tangible to the point of obviousness. They saw their souls in various states, now illumined by the light of prayer, now immersed in the black abysses of sin. A terrible picture of the fall of mankind, the struggle of demonic forces for the soul of mankind, a subtle strategy of hell, worked out and polished over thousands of years, opened up before them. They saw the origin and development of sins in their own hearts, as if on an illuminated map of sin, mastered the ability to suppress and destroy it at the very beginning, embodied in their spiritual life the ascetic knowledge of the ancient ascetics, were able to distinguish between the impulses of light and dark spirits, and therefore they themselves became mentors on the path to salvation for hundreds and thousands of people. Without their guidance and guidance, how many people would have perished in the pit of wolves and snares set by the demon on this path; How many would not endure the struggle with sin, how much would pervert their spiritual life, how many would remain in a state of false spirituality, pride, and that self-deception which is called delusion! People's lives are full of tragedy, betrayal, loss of loved ones. The vicissitudes of life put a person on the edge of the abyss, which is called despair. Throughout the history of Christianity, monasteries have been the place where people have found the strength to survive their inner Golgotha, find help and consolation. And this would be enough to testify to the lofty service of monasticism to humanity. But there is another, invisible, mystical service - this is the power of prayer for the whole world. Good and evil do not pass without a trace. Every human sin expands the dark kingdom of hell. The sins of humanity, uniting together, like invisible drops of moisture in clouds, hang over the earth - this is the potential and cause of the catastrophes that humanity is experiencing and will experience. The dark forces are opposed by the forces of light, the restraining force of which the Apostle Paul speaks (see 2 Thess. 2:7), the spirit of piety and prayer. On this mystical plane, monasticism takes upon itself the main podvig of repentance and prayer for humanity, and therefore monks who have departed from the world realize the highest closeness to the world in spiritual love and the highest service in prayer for peace. It is not without reason that the demonic power tries to eradicate and destroy monasticism or to kill it. Critics of monasticism say that the depth of life is the depth of love, and the monk deprives himself of love. On the contrary, the life of a monk is love, and not the attraction of dark instincts and passions, not an affect that easily turns into hatred. The love of a monk is directed to the highest being - God, to the highest goodness and beauty, that is, to the only worthy object of love, in which the human heart can calm down. The depth of love is in its intensity. A monk limits himself in external impressions, avoids unnecessary worries precisely so that his love is concentrated, like light passing through a magnifying glass. Love for the Divine is constant, there are no disappointments, betrayals and changes; there is only an ascent from one step to another. In worldly love, there are so many tragedies, so many bleeding tears, so many broken hearts. How often what is called love in the world is destroyed by the slightest trial, like a fragile vessel by a blow, and turns into cold indifference, disgust, hatred and mockery. A monk loves man, but not empirical man, and that which is eternal in him is the image and likeness of God, that is, he loves man with love reflected from God. Even the happiest friendship and family love is like the flickering light of a lamp that illuminates the corner of a room, and the love of a monk is like the light of a guiding star shining high above the world. The Church is the heart of the world, and monasticism is the heart of the Church. Gangra Cathedral (mid. IV century), recognizing the spiritual value of the monastic path, warned against rampant non-Orthodox asceticism. -Ed. ^

Fasting and TV movies

Many Christians believe that fasting is established only to subordinate the body to the soul. St. Gregory the Theologian called the body "a nocturnal and passionate handmaiden." The soul is the queen, the body is her slave, who must share in the glory of her queen. But this "slave" is capricious, disobedient, prone to rebellion, and therefore she often has to be forced into obedience. However, this is only one side of fasting. There is another, even more important, that which the Holy Fathers called "spiritual fasting."

The main thing in man is the spirit; in the spirit is the image and likeness of God, the spirit separates man as if by a deep abyss from all the other inhabitants of the earth. In the spirit is embedded the goal-oriented idea of man - eternal communion with God. To the extent that a person lives spiritually, he lives worthy of his destiny; This is the only way to have joy and peace in earthly life, in this sea of suffering. For some Christians, this trimetrical view of human nature (spirit, soul, and body) evokes the idea of the soul as something base and unworthy in comparison with the spirit. It's not that. Without spiritual abilities, earthly life would be impossible for man and, consequently, the formation of him as a moral personality for eternal life. In the very nature of man there is nothing bad and base; Bad is the perversion of the will, the destruction of the hierarchy and the correct subordination of human abilities and forces; the base and unworthy are passions and sin. In our present, or rather, fallen state, the body manifests itself as disobedient to the soul, and the soul as disobedient to the spirit. Therefore, fasting is not only the taming of the body, but first of all - the taming of spiritual passions so that the spirit can awaken and act. Bodily fasting implies: restriction in food; eating a special type of food; infrequent meals. Spiritual fasting should also include: limiting external impressions - the food of the soul, the information that a person is accustomed to receiving daily in huge volumes, similar to the "feasts of Gargantua"; control over information, that is, over the quality of food that the soul receives, the exclusion of that which irritates the passions; rare meals, that is, periods of solitude, silence, silence, being with oneself, which give a person the opportunity to know his sins and fulfill the main goal of fasting - repentance. All kinds of entertainment and spectacles are incompatible with fasting, uncontrolled reading, long conversations, joking tones, visits to those places and houses where the worldly, non-ecclesiastical spirit reigns - everything that distracts a person, distracts the mind from prayer, and the heart from repentance. Our passions are closely connected with sensual images. Passion appears in the consciousness in the form of a sinful image; and vice versa, a sinful image, perceived from the outside, arouses passion in our heart (St. Syncliticia called the eyes the windows of death). The stage on which human passions are constantly demonstrated in all their variety, showiness and sophistication is the television in our time. It is like a source of constant radiation that irradiates the psyche of people with deadly strontium. Television keeps a person in passionate tension, as if in the space of its screen there is a clot of all sensual emotions, passions, lust, cruelty, crimes. What a person in past centuries could - and then accidentally - come into contact with several times in his life (say, a picture of a murder), now he sees every day. In wide waves from the TV screen, a muddy stream pours on gray-haired old men, girls and small children. It seems that the TV has caught the globe like a ball in its net. He reached the tops of the mountains, penetrated into the tundra and taiga, entered, like a master, almost every house. Television indulges the basest passions of man; Even in seemingly moral productions, sex scenes are interspersed, perhaps out of fear that the viewer will fall asleep from excessive moralization, and sometimes these scenes are the main content of the entire program. A person, turning on the TV, voluntarily includes himself in the field of spiritual filth. It is said that demons themselves cannot commit fornication, but dwell near those places where abominable sin is committed, mentally enjoying it, according to the expression of ancient writers: "smelling the stench of fornication and blood." Likewise, viewers of television and video films feed on "sex meditation" and at the same time feel shamelessly that they are the most decent people: they would be offended and indignant if someone called them spiritual lechers and fornicators. Some say that they watch erotic films completely dispassionately. This is self-deception: if they were impassive, they would not waste time in such an occupation; It is the soul captivated by passions that chains them to the TV, and they leave unsatisfied, if by chance they do not get the usual "doping". In ancient times, the Church excommunicated fornicators from communion for many years, since this sin saturates all the pores of the soul and body with stinking poison, and it takes a long time for a person to be cleansed and sobered up, to stand back on his feet, as after a serious illness. A fornicator is spiritually dead until he brings sincere repentance and performs penances. After erotic programs on TV, a person comes to church as if a dead person were brought for a funeral service; It is in the church, but it is not there. There his body is like a coffin, and his soul is deaf and blind like a corpse, it does not feel grace, it cannot pray sincerely. Repentance implies a willful desire and determination not to commit a sin again, and here a person usually spends hours in front of the TV after returning home from church (sometimes even after communion). Not only is he spiritually devastated, but the very ability to sincerely repent, that is, the ability to regain lost grace, is gradually dying away in him. Another "injection of evil" that a person receives from television is a series of murders and violence to which he becomes accustomed. In ancient Rome, the fight of gladiators in the circus, the fight of people with wild animals and other similar "entertainments" attracted tens of thousands of spectators. The motto of the Roman crowd was: "bread and circuses," as if these words contained their whole life. And the most exciting sight for the crowd was the flowing blood and death agony. Television makes sadists out of people who calmly and secretly enjoy the scenes of murders. If human love and compassion had remained in them, they would have turned away from this nightmare in horror. Television has made crime and cruelty commonplace. If someone tries to say that he is disgusted and scared to look at scenes of violence and murder, he will be considered hysterical and nervous. If a person says that he considers it beneath the dignity of a Christian to look at sexual pictures, then he will be openly declared that he is a "hypocrite" who has obsolete old-fashioned views. The soul has three faculties: reason, emotion, and will. From inseparable friendship with the TV, a person's will is weakened, like those who often take hypnosis sessions; The feeling is dulled and requires new thrills and "doping", and the mind becomes enslaved by successive images that force it to live in some fantasy world, in an ever-continuing phantasmagoria. Reason has two powers: figurative and verbal thinking. Too abundant, unguided information develops a lower mechanical memory, but suppresses creative power and energy. A person who constantly receives abundant food becomes a shapeless pile of fat, which finds it difficult to move and breathe, which can hardly move its legs under its own weight. Too much, uncontrolled information is similar to chronic overeating, in which muscles degenerate into lard. The mind becomes a flabby and passive dependent on other people's opinions and ideas. The pictures that a person saw on the TV screen rotate in his subconscious, pop up in memory, flash in dreams like ghosts. Thinking becomes superficial, and language becomes chatty. The protective forces of the psyche are exhausted, not being able to cope with the avalanche of impressions. Where is the place for silence, for heartfelt prayer? A person does not see himself, he seems to live not in a house, but in a theater with incessant performances. The Holy Fathers say that there are three types of activity of the mind: contemplation, born in the silence of prayer, reasoning and imagination, while imagination is the lowest type of thinking, combined with sensual passions and fantasy. The Holy Fathers commanded us to remain in prayer, to give place, when necessary in practical life, to rational reflection (while knowing its measure and limits), and to struggle with imagination as with our opponent. And television contributes to the opposite: the development of imagination, the suppression of the creative power of the mind and the loss of prayer. A person who spends his time fasting in front of the television is like a glutton and a drunkard who swallows everything indiscriminately, without even chewing the pieces, and at the same time believes that he is fasting according to all the statutes of the Church.

Sunday afternoon

Some sects, in particular, the Adventists, reproach the Church for having changed the fourth commandment of the Sinai Decalogue - the ontological, unchanging basis of the dogmatics and morals of the Old and New Testaments, which is called in the Bible the "Eternal Law". According to sectarians, the celebration of the first day of the week instead of the seventh is an illegal and unjustified violation of the direct Divine command, which does not allow any deviations or changes. Sectarians are inclined to explain the celebration of Sunday instead of Saturday by the subordination of the Church to state power in the person of Emperor Constantine, who in 324 issued a law ordering the celebration of Sunday throughout the empire. We know that the Old Testament prophecies in the New Testament were not abolished, but fulfilled. The Old Testament symbolism was not destroyed, but was embodied and acquired a new, deeper meaning in the rites, sacred symbols and sacraments of the New Testament Church. In a word, the Old Testament was revealed and realized in the New Testament. The word Sabbath means rest. This day, which completed the cycle of creation, symbolically indicated eternity, but true rest is peace of the soul with God, so the Old Testament Sabbath was only a prototype of the desired heavenly rest. Even the souls of the dead righteous awaited their redemption and salvation. Their peace was the peace of torment, but not the peace of meeting God, when the soul rests in the kingdom of grace, like a child in its mother's arms. It was peace, like rest after long labors. The Old Testament righteous man was not condemned by his conscience and the punitive law, but left himself to himself and was unable to leave his limited created being for metaphysical freedom through communion with the Divine life. The Old Testament forbade to do sin and evil, but did not yet give man the power to do true good, so the Sabbath in the Old Testament was the abolition of all works. The true rest of the soul is the Lord Himself, so the true Sabbath could come only after the Sacrifice of Golgotha, the descent into hell and the Resurrection of Christ the Savior. Thus, the Sabbath gave a form of rest, but it had no inner content, it was an empty alabaster that was not yet filled with myrrh. The Pascha of Suffering and the Pascha of the Resurrection were the center of Holy History, the beginning of the New Testament and the foundation of the Church. The Resurrection gave the content of Sabbath rest: peace with God, the restoration of the image and likeness of God in man, communion with God and rest in the Holy Spirit. The Sabbath was a prophecy of rest, a prophecy of the Resurrection, in this sense an image of eternity. Resurrection is the beginning of eternal life on earth. The Old Testament Passover was incarnated in the New Testament Passover, and the Sabbath was embodied on Sunday. After the resurrection of Christ from the dead, the Old Testament Passover became the Jewish Passover, the Passover of those who did not accept Christ as Savior and Messiah. In the ancient Jewish mind, the Sabbath was an expectation of the Messiah. Now the celebration of the Sabbath, as well as the Old Testament Passover, is mystically a disbelief in Christ and an expectation of the coming of another Messiah. On the day of Great Saturday, when Christ lay in the tomb, the Old Testament ended. With the resurrection of Christ from the dead, a new life began - the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the week ended with the Sabbath, in the New Testament the week begins with Sunday. The Sabbath feast was a thanksgiving to God for the creation of the visible world, an expectation of the Messiah and preparation for eternity. The resurrection of Christ is the pledge of our common resurrection. On Sunday, we thank God for eternal life. The will of God was sufficient for the creation of the world, and the blood and sufferings of the Son of God served for the redemption and salvation of man. If the seed thrown into the ground did not germinate, if the Sabbath is higher than Sunday, then its educational meaning and prophecy have not been fulfilled, it means that the time of the Old Testament has not yet ended. True peace is not the peace of a dead body, it is not the peace of doing nothing and emptiness; True peace of the soul is peace from sins and passions, peace from demonic forces. Some of the Fathers consider Sunday not as the first day of the week, but as the 8th. Eight is an image of eternity. The rhythm of the week remained the same: 6 and 1. Symbolically, the unit (1) is the beginning, eternity, and absolute; 6 - balance, symmetry and harmony between the spiritual and the material; 7 - the action of the Divine forces in the world; 8 - eternal life. The Sabbath was given in the Old Testament, since before the Resurrection of Christ an event that had not yet taken place could not be celebrated. The Sabbath is called the Everlasting Covenant, but the sacrifices in the Old Testament temple are also called "eternal" because they were a prophecy of the Sacrifice of Calvary. Their mysterious meaning was realized in the crucified Christ, in the eternal Sacrifice.

About the Church Calendar

Непрекращающаяся полемика о церковном календаре может превратиться в тавтологию: каждая сторона будет варьировать одни и те же мысли и положения. Поэтому мы считаем, что для каждой культурной и целесообразной дискуссии необходим определенный план. Мы предлагаем сторонникам реформы ответить на ряд принципиальных вопросов, которые, по нашему мнению, были обойдены молчанием, то есть сознательно проигнорированы. Наши оппоненты говорят о прогрессе и цивилизации, о необходимости контактов и сотрудничества, и почему-то одним из условий этого ставят интеграцию культурных и исторических традиций.

Известно ли нашим оппонентам, что в США насчитывается несколько сотен религиозных организаций, конфессий и сект, причем каждая конфессия и община вправе иметь свой ритуальный календарь? Так, например, в Америке существует большая община зороастрийцев-маздеистов с центром в Чикаго, которая пользуется древнеперсидским календарем. В этой стране оберегаются как реликвии ритуальные календари аборигенов. В ряде мистических сект введены древнеиндийские календари; в некоторых ашрамах (монастырях) пользуются древне-китайскими календарями. Если бы в США какая-либо общественная организация или группа людей стала бы требовать отмены культового календаря, то это было бы воспринято как нарушение религиозной свободы - одного из основных прав человека, и дело могло бы быть передано в суд, поскольку это рассматривалось бы как дискриминация религиозного ритуала и психическое насилие. Некоторые из наших оппонентов считают наличие двух календарей опасностью для сельского и промышленного хозяйств, каким-то дестабилизирующим явлением. Известно ли им, что супертехнологическая держава - Япония в 70-х годах нашего столетия решением парламента приравняла к гражданскому календарю синтоистский календарь с 60-летними циклами и эпохами императорских династий? С тех пор государственные и гражданские документы должны иметь две даты. Привело ли это решение к дестабилизации хозяйственной жизни Японии? Наши оппоненты говорят, что существование церковного календаря является преградой или нежелательным фактором в налаживании связей с передовыми государствами.

Мусульманский лунный календарь совершенно не связан с сезонами, каждый год он обгоняет григорианский календарь на 11 дней. Мы предлагаем нашим оппонентам убедиться воочию, что мусульмане получают неплохие урожаи, для этого не обязательно посещать рынки Стамбула или Багдада, достаточно побывать на наших рынках и увидеть, как сторонники лунного календаря бойко торгуют овощами и зеленью, не уступая в этом отношении сторонникам сезонного солнечного календаря. В этом вопросе экспертами могут выступить жены наших оппонентов. Наши оппоненты почему-то повторяют очевидную ошибку, считая, что Рождество Христово приходится на день зимнего солнцестояния, и пытаются этой ошибкой доказать преимущество григорианского календаря. Между тем солнцестояние приходится на 22 декабря, так что для подтверждения их мнения необходима еще одна, уже литургическая реформа: аннулировать праздник Рождества Христова 25 декабря и перенести его на 22 декабря. Нам кажется, что это отголосок антибиблейской школы, так называемой мифологической: Христа старались представить как солярное божество наряду с Амоном и Митрой. Может быть, наши оппоненты считают, что древние астрономы, уже до нашей эры вычислившие длину звездного года с точностью до 20 секунд, не знали точной даты зимнего солнцестояния? Наши оппоненты ссылаются на постановление Константинопольского церковного совещания 1923 года при патриархе Мелетии, которое постановило ввести в Церковь "новый стиль". Знают ли они, что это совещание состояло всего из девяти человек: патриарха, пяти архиереев, одного архимандрита и двух мирян? Поэтому оно не было ни всеправославной конференцией, как оно наименовало себя, ни поместным Собором, как называют его наши оппоненты. Каким образом это совещание могло принимать решения от имени всей полноты Православия? Кто избрал и послал делегатов на это совещание, какие полномочия были им даны? На Соборе обычно присутствуют все архиереи поместной Церкви и представители епархий из мирян. На каком основании наши оппоненты назвали Собором совещание и решение группы из нескольких человек, по численности меньшей, чем Синод Константинопольской Церкви? Известно ли нашим оппонентам, что кроме календарного вопроса там были приняты решения о второбрачии духовенства, вступлении в брак клириков после рукоположения и тому подобные [1]? Наши оппоненты обходят молчанием тот факт, что в 1923 году патриарх Мелетий не пригласил в Константинополь представителей Грузинской Церкви для участия в обсуждении календарной реформы. Поэтому, по нашему мнению, несовместимо с достоинством автокефальной Церкви принимать постановления и рекомендации того церковного собрания, которое игнорировало ее историческое существование. Наши оппоненты ссылаются на Тбилисский Поместный Собор Грузинской Церкви, происходивший в 1928 году. Этот Собор избрал Католикоса - Патриарха всея Грузии Христофора. На заседании под председательством новоизбранного Патриарха архиереи приняли решение ввести в Грузинской Церкви новый стиль. Под этим документом подписались Патриарх и несколько архиереев.

Этот эксперимент еще раз убедительно показал, что православный народ считает юлианский календарь органической частью церковной жизни и литургического предания. В уставе Грузинской Церкви, изданном при патриархе Каллистрате и с незначительными изменениями - при патриархе Мелхиседеке III, содержится указание, что Грузинская Церковь пользуется так называемым старым стилем. Однако наши оппоненты заявляют, что реформа была не отменена, а отложена на неопределенное время. Между тем поместный Собор не обладает компетенцией решать вопросы и утверждать правила на отдаленное и неопределенное будущее; он решает текущие дела Церкви. Из всех поместных Соборов Православной Церкви только десять вошли в Церковную конституцию и названы каноническими. Мы предлагаем нашим оппонентам найти хоть один случай в церковной истории и церковном праве, когда поместный Собор выносил бы постановления на 70 лет вперед. Мы указывали на то, что Церкви, принявшие новый стиль, принуждены пользоваться двумя календарями: григорианским - для непереходящих праздников и юлианским - для Пасхи и связанных с ней праздников. Один из наших оппонентов заявил, что пасхалия вычисляется по звездам, вне какой-либо календарной системы. Обратим его внимание на следующий факт: воскресный день, обязательный для Пасхи, и семидневная неделя не имеют никакого отношения к астрономии и звездной карте; неделя - условный отрезок календаря. Некоторые из оппонентов склонны видеть в настоящем положении дел у новостильников только переходный период к григорианской пасхалии. Напомним им, что постановление I Вселенского Собора о дне Пасхи не соблюдено в системе григорианского календаря. Отменить постановление Вселенского Собора не имеет права никакая инстанция и власть, так как Вселенский Собор является высшим законодательным органом Церкви. Постановление I Вселенского Собора было также подтверждено на последующих Вселенских Соборах. Его нарушение всегда останется антиканоническим действием, а попытка отмены - не только экклезиологической реформой, но и экклезиологической революцией, ломающей самые основы церковного права. Итак, календарная реформа привела к образованию календарного гибрида. Мы будем благодарны сторонникам реформы, если они соизволят ответить на наши вопросы не выборочно, а в том порядке, в каком они поставлены.