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First Conversation

Part 1

A new book by the famous Orthodox publicist, Priest Oleg Stenyaev, is devoted to the author's favorite theme – the theme of repentance and mercy, human repentance and the mercy of the Lord. Whatever the priest writes about: about war and peace, about politics and private life, about power and the Church, about Russia and Orthodoxy, about slavery and freedom, about poverty and wealth, about youth and mass culture, he looks at everything from a strictly Christian point of view, and bases all conclusions on the word of God. Studying the Scriptures (John 5:39) and the most diverse phenomena of modern life, Father Oleg comes to the conclusion that "now is the time to be restored, to be restored spiritually" and that "only with God and in God do we find for ourselves everything that every person needs," who awaits the Heavenly Jerusalem. 1). With these words begins the Conciliar Epistle of the Holy Apostle James.The heresiarch and founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, hated this Epistle most of all in the Bible. Having thrown out eleven books from the Old Testament, he removed the Conciliar Epistle of the Apostle James from the New Testament. Modern critical schools in Protestant biblical studies still dispute the significance of the Epistle of James, presenting it as almost apocryphal. In connection with this, it seems that both Protestants and those who follow them fall under the biblical curse: and if anyone takes away anything from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away from him a part in the book of life, and in the holy city, and in the things that are written in this book (Rev. 22:19). Explaining why the Apostle James in the first verse calls himself a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria says: The Apostles of the Lord proclaim above all worldly dignity that they are servants of Christ [1]. Without a doubt, slavery to God was thought of by the first Christians as freedom from the devil and sin.Modern society, now proclaiming various "freedoms", does not pose the main question: freedom from what does man seek? It is clear that a secularized (secularized) society seeks freedom from the authority of God. And in the Scriptures it is said: "Ye have been called to freedom, brethren, only that your freedom may not be an occasion for pleasing the flesh, but serve one another with love" (Gal. 5:13). Indeed, modern man uses the institutions of modern democracy to please the flesh. In this sense, the basis of modern politics is precisely carnal lust, which stimulates the entire social life. It itself is equally alien to the ideals of democracy, fascism, and communism – these three "hypostases" of the coming Antichrist.By confessing slavery to God, we become truly free – free from the bonds of the devil's temptations – and cease to be responsible for the collective, political sins of our contemporaries.Having witnessed slavery to the Creator, the Apostle James invites the twelve tribes in the diaspora to rejoice. It should be noted here that Paschal joy was inherent in the entire apostolic age. The conversion to Christianity was perceived by the faithful as an escape from the "Egypt of sin." It was a new Exodus. And now it no longer had meaning for one people, but for all the children of God who were in the diaspora. At this time, the ancient prophecy about Shem's tents was being fulfilled: "Let God spread Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem" (Gen. 9:27). This was the great beginning of the conversion of the Gentiles to the true faith, of which the Apostle Peter would later say: "Once not a people, but now the people of God; once without mercy, but now have mercy (1 Pet. 2:10). Therefore, the words of James, addressed to those in the diaspora, should not be perceived as the words of the bishop of Jerusalem, addressed only to his Jewish flock. Yes! He speaks as the patriarch of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem as the apostolic capital, from the walls of which the great call of Christ the Savior sounded: "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen (Matt. 28:19-20).Without a doubt, the universal character of apostolic preaching has never rested on bureaucratic diakonia. Economic issues, so often dominating the life of Orthodox parishes today, were reduced to a minimum. To solve them, even a special hierarchical institution arises and is singled out – deacons. In the Acts of the Holy Apostles it is said: Then the twelve Apostles, having called together a multitude of disciples, said, "It is not good for us, forsaking the word of God, to take care of tables." Therefore, brethren, choose from among you seven men of renown, filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom; let us put them in this service, and we will abide constantly in prayer and in the service of the word (Acts 6:2-4). The preaching of the word of God comes out in the first place, and its fullest expression is the Meal of the Word itself, the messianic feast – the Liturgy. Christians declared: "Cleanse therefore the old leaven, that it may be a new dough for you, for you are unleavened, for our Passover, Christ, was slain for us" (1 Cor. 5:7). From the outside, to the Jews, this could look like a daily celebration of the Passover. This could not but shock. The order of the Old Testament Paschal Haggadah has been destroyed, and even the cycle of celebrating the Sabbaths of the week has been stopped. If the Jews devoted one day of the week to God, resting from worldly affairs, then Christians dealt with the Sabbath as with a constant stay in rest (see: 2 Chron. 36:21; 2 Ezra 1:58). They had no more their works: six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy works (Exodus 20:9). All their deeds were absent, and not only deeds, but also days and deeds. The moral of the New Testament declared: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Col. 3:17). Everything, every act in the life of a believer, was filled with religious content. With this way of life, the ancient Christians entered the glorified Sabbath – the Sabbath. About this the Apostle Paul said: "Therefore for the people of God there is still the Sabbath" (Heb. 4:9). In this sense, neither the Jews nor the other Sabbatarians entered into Christ's rest, the Sabbath. They are only in its vestibule, beyond the threshold... They did not understand and still do not understand the holiness of Sunday, as a symbol of a new way of being, going beyond the boundaries of the sensual, weekly world.Of the ancient Jerusalem Christians it is said: And every day they dwelt with one accord in the temple, and, breaking bread from house to house, they ate with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and being in love with all the people. And the Lord daily added those who were being saved to the Church (Acts 2:46-47). Even those who were set aside to take care of the tables could not remain aloof from the work of the Paschal gospel of rest in Christ, and we see the fiery preaching of Archdeacon Stephen, which is hardly stopped by stones flying at him. At that time, the apostles were "satisfied," if I may say so, even with a pretended sermon. The Apostle Paul exclaims: "Some out of lust preach Christ uncleanly, thinking to increase the weight of my bonds; and others out of love, knowing that I have been appointed to defend the gospel. But what about that? No matter how Christ is preached, feigned or sincere, I rejoice and will rejoice in it (Phil. 1:16-18).The Gospel — precisely as the joyful, and festal Paschal news — possessed the hearts of the first Christians.Further we read:Receive with great joy, my brethren, when you fall into various temptations... (James 1:2) Here we are talking about temptations and we draw our attention to the words from the Book of the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach: "My son! if thou art approaching to serve the Lord God, then prepare thy soul for temptation: straighten thy heart, and be strong, and be not troubled during visitation (Sir. 2:1-2). The very word "temptation" in the Russian (Synodal) edition of the Bible most often means a temptation that comes from the devil. But in the life of a believer, such a temptation can occur only by God's permission, as, for example, in the case of the righteous Job [2]. The word "temptation" is also associated with persecution against those who believe [3]; In this case, it can be assumed that all such persecutions against Christians, from bloody persecutions to persecutions in the press, are sanctioned by Satan.If by various temptations we understand the circumstances that are special for a person, in which he can fall into sin or, overcoming them, emerge victorious from this spiritual battle, then it should be noted that each of us finds himself in such a situation quite often. Consequently, it is not without interest for a religious person to know how we can overcome temptations, since we have found that we cannot do without them. Prepare thy soul for temptation: set thy heart straight, and be firm, and be not troubled, – admonishes the all-wise Jesus, the son of Sirach. But it is precisely in temptations that we discover the lack of firmness in our hearts, when our soul is filled with confusion. The Monk Abba Sisoi taught: Whatever temptation befalls a person, he must say: "This is by the mercy of God" [4]. That is, even in temptation we must see God's Providence, asking ourselves the question: "Why does the Lord send us this trial?" After all, the word of God teaches that even the hairs on our heads are numbered (Matt. 10:30).On the other hand, a Christian very often knows for what and why this or that temptation or punishment befalls him, since temptation is almost always preceded by various pretexts. Therefore, when faced with temptation, we should not panic. We must accept it as God's mercy and gratefully, without sorrow and without malice, endure it. Yes, but it is precisely when we are tempted that we become irritable and angry. How can we overcome this contradiction? St. John Chrysostom explains: God often allows us to fall into temptations, so that we constantly run to Him and do not leave Him [5]. It turns out that temptation is allowed to us first of all so that we understand that creation cannot be saved without its Creator, but cannot exist without Him. In this sense, temptation is something that is meant to strengthen us in faith, a kind of lesson. Therefore, speaking of temptation, the Apostle James speaks at the same time of great joy. God allows us to depart from Him only for the joy of returning to Him. Return, when, having manifested free will in its entirety, the creature can no longer conceive of itself outside of communion with the Creator.It can be said that overcoming temptation is the work of cultivating and preserving Paradise [6], from which man is expelled and to which he must return. That is why when we turn to Him, He immediately ceases to be formidable. If we were the same in the world as we are in temptations, then there would be no need for temptations. And what should we say about ourselves? And the most holy men were often brought to their senses by temptations, explains St. John Chrysostom [7]. And indeed, remember: when we say our most sincere prayers before the Lord, when we make fervent promises, we vow not to sin again? Then, when another temptation awakens us from slumber, and we, frightened by what is happening, sober and awake. Theophylact of Bulgaria. The Evangelist. T. 2. Commentary on the Conciliar Epistle of the Holy Apostle James. Moscow, Sretensky Publ., 2000. P. 57. ^And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in thy hand; only thou shalt not stretch out thy hand against him (Job 1:12). ^And those who fall on a stone are those who, when they hear the word, receive with joy, but who have no root, and believe for a time, and fall away in time of temptation (Luke 8:13). ^Prot. Grigory Dyachenko. Lessons and Examples of Christian Hope. Moscow, Palomnik Publ., 1998. P. 289. ^Ibidem. ^And the Lord God took the man [whom he had created] and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate it and to keep it (Gen. 2:15). ^Prot. Grigory Dyachenko. Lessons and Examples of Christian Hope. P. 289. ^

Part 2

Further we read: ... knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience... (James 1:3).Thus, the Apostle James speaks of temptation, and of trial, and of patience.Trial means temptation, which has shown us our real state. If you like, this is a kind of spiritual exam. And therefore it is appropriate here to recall the words of the Apostle Paul: "Temptation has come upon you no other than that of man; and God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but when you are tempted will also give you relief, so that you may be able to endure (1 Corinthians 10:13). And in this sense, temptation and patience are internal processes that take place in the human soul. Consequently, it is not at all necessary that the contradictions that have arisen as a result of temptation in our soul will end, say, with the fall of our body. A Christian must stop sin in its infantile state, when it is still at the level of thought, which is what is said in the Scriptures: Blessed is he who takes and breaks thy babes against a stone! (Psalm 136:9). Therefore, the presence of even the most terrible thoughts in our hearts is not a reason for despondency. This is a signal that we need to take the matter of our salvation more seriously, that problems really exist. And at the same time, here, in the discovery of thoughts, and most importantly, in their overcoming, lies the beginning of our spiritual victory: Rejoice in this, having now sorrowed a little, if necessary, from various temptations, so that your tested faith may be more precious than the gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:1). There was a case in my life when I was able to test my soul and see its real state. Then I received the obedience to go to Transnistria - it was the height of the military conflict between Moldova and Transnistria. I took humanitarian aid there and ministered to the Black Sea Cossack Army. When I visited Dubossary, a dangerous idea arose to try to cross the dam known there, which was being shelled from both sides. The Cossacks tried to dissuade me in every possible way, but I insisted on my own. When, accompanied by the thunder of shots, with a cross and the Gospel in my hands, I walked to the other side to the Moldavians, whom I wanted to shame for their cruelty, there were all kinds of thoughts in my head. Everything worked out. I visited the Moldovans and came back. Already in the evening of the same day, when I was going to pray, I asked myself: "And if someone shot me, with what thoughts would I leave this world?" And, oh horror, I remembered that then I had one thought in my head: "If I am shot, a big scandal will begin in the press." Poor priest I am! At that moment, I forgot about prayer, about the duty of a pastor, I thought about the political advantages of my possible death. I behaved like a boy. The Lord saw that I was completely unprepared... And I survived. Verily, He is long-suffering, for He is long-suffering towards those who have sinned, as He is His creation. He is generous, for He is ready to give according to need (3 Ezra 7:64-65).Knowing that God always cares for us and never leaves us without His care, the Apostle James prefaces his discourse on temptations, trials, and patience with a call to great joy. He knows that every day of ours is in the hands of the Lord. To him who fears the Lord no evil will befall him, but even in temptation He will deliver him (Sir. 33:1). but patience must have a perfect effect, so that you may be perfect in all its fullness, without any deficiency (James 1:4).In the Christian martyrs, the pagans were struck not by how patiently they endured the tortures, which were the usual procedure of judicial inquiry. The desire to suffer and even die for his religious beliefs was striking. It is difficult to imagine that any of the pagans themselves would dare to suffer and even more so die for faith in Jupiter or Venus. And it was with great joy that Christians went to torture, overcoming temptations and trials, and showing the world a truly perfect patience of faith. Therefore, in the Orthodox understanding of the word "martyr" (Greek "martiros"), martyrdom as a confession of faith comes to the fore. Martyrdom, as Professor V.V. Bolotov notes, is "a feat with a tinge of solemnity" [1]. A martyr is a person who conquers the world not only by his death, but also by his life, and always does it for the sake of Life.One man of about forty years old said to me: "I am also a martyr. I have liver sarcoma and I am constantly in pain." I knew that he had destroyed his liver by drinking too much alcohol. I tried to explain to him that not every person who experiences pain is a martyr. Illness can bring us spiritual fruit only when we go through this field of sorrow and trial in infirmities without murmuring, with unshakable hope in God.When the Apostle James, speaking of patience, adds that it must have a perfect effect, what is meant here is that martyrdom is not only death for the Lord, but first of all life in Christ and with Christ. (However, conversion sometimes meant the beginning of torments, which ended in death.) Therefore, the lives of the martyrs almost always contain a history of their conversion and, if they managed to live for some time after that, their life in Christianity is reported. That is, speaking of a perfect action, the Apostle James also has in mind the way of life. A way of life that matches martyrdom. Our Lord Jesus Christ, sending the Apostles into the world, instructed them with the words: "Behold, I send you as sheep among wolves: therefore be ye wise as serpents, and simple as doves" (Matt. 10:16). Indeed, one must have flexible wisdom in order not only to live, but also to be able to survive, to preserve oneself in the midst of a godless world." I suffer so much among my relatives," an elderly parishioner told me. "When I pray, they deliberately turn on the music louder. They keep asking me, "When are you going to die?" A drunken grandson beats me. I can't do it anymore. Only the Lord gives me the strength to survive..." I remember the face of this poor woman. Now I don't see her in our church: maybe she's still alive, maybe she's not... But the fact that being in such conditions, she retained faith and hope in the Lord, can not be called martyrdom?! Each of us has to face forms of such temptation, trial, patience, when the gray everyday life with its hopelessness of the aggression surrounding us presses on us, tries to overturn, defeat and destroy. But if a Christian, wounded, tired and almost on the verge of despondency, despite his falls, nevertheless tries to follow the path of the holy commandments, is this not martyrdom, not the patience of which it is said: "But he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 10:22)?"It is said in the Scriptures: "For seven times the righteous shall fall, and shall rise; but the wicked will fall into perdition" (Proverbs 24:16). When I first read this Bible verse, I asked myself: Who is this righteous man who is constantly falling? And most importantly: what is his righteousness? He falls, but so do the wicked. He gets up, but then he falls down again. (By the way, the number seven in the Old Testament means a completely indefinite number of times.) Why, unlike the wicked, does the righteous not perish even in his falls? Without a doubt, his difference from those who are lost is that every time he falls into one or another temptation, temptation, and even sin, he feels the desire to rise. It is said of inveterate sinners that after the crime they have committed, they do not feel guilty, and therefore repentant: The expression of their countenances testifies against them, and they speak of their sin openly, like the Sodomites, they do not hide: woe to their souls! (Isaiah 3:9). But if we experience a feeling of dissatisfaction and even disappointment in ourselves, this is a healthy, I would say, normal working state in the matter of the spiritual creation of the temple of our soul.Therefore, brothers and sisters, know that when life in the world becomes not only unbearable, but, as it seems to us, completely impossible, it is precisely in the midst of these sufferings and truly torments that we can have a perfect action... without any flaw. And it is then that the Lord is especially close to each of us.And 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 (James 1:5).What does the Apostle James testify to us here? What does the Lord call us to when He teaches: Blessed are they that mourn... Blessed are the meek... (Matt. 5:4, 5)? What does it mean: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matt. 5:44). What kind of belief is this? Can it be understood by ordinary human wisdom? What rational logic would such ideas about life fit into? Yes! We all need another, not human wisdom, the wisdom of which it is said: from Thee is victory, and from Thee is wisdom, and Thy glory, and I am Thy servant. Blessed are You, Who have given me wisdom, and I thank You, O Lord God of our fathers (2 Ezra 4:59-60). This is what we must ask of God, Who gives to all simply and without reproach.Further, the Apostle James writes in his Epistle:"But let him ask in faith, not doubting in the least, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, tossed up and tossed by the wind (James 1:6).O God! Where is such faith to be found, a faith free from all doubt? How can we find the source of such faith—not faith in God, but faith in God, complete trust in the will of the Creator?One young man said to me: "How I envy believers! How I would like not to be afraid of death, to turn to God with prayers in the morning and evening... But where will I find this faith if there is only sex, money, drugs, grub, and who knows what else in my head, and there is no place for God there? I can't believe in Him." After hearing these and other words of the young man, I advised him: "Know! There is a source of faith and this source of faith is the very word of God, the Holy Scriptures, the Bible."In this book it is said: "Therefore faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17); let not this book of the law depart from your mouth; but learn in it day and night, that thou mayest do exactly all that is written in it: then shalt thou prosper in thy ways, and walk prudently (Joshua 1:8); delve into yourself and into the teaching; do this continually: for by doing this, you will save yourself and those who hear you (1 Tim. 4:16). And one more thing. Once a certain lawyer asked the Lord Jesus Christ: "Teacher! What must I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read? (Luke 10:25-26) This question can be asked to every person who reads the Bible: "How do you read?" And we can also find the answer to it in the Scriptures. In the Acts of the Holy Apostles there is the following narration. And the angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Arise and go at noon, on the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza, on that which is empty." He got up and walked. And behold, an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, a nobleman of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, the keeper of all her treasures, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, "Come and harbor to this chariot." And when Philip came near, and when he heard that he was reading the prophet Isaiah, he said, Do you understand what you read? He said, "How can I understand, unless someone instructs me?" and asked Philip to go up and sit down with him (Acts 8:26-31). The eunuch accepted the instructions of the Apostle Philip and was baptized. The same order of transmission of spiritual knowledge existed in the Old Testament: ... The Levites taught the law of the Lord, and read the law of the Lord before the people, explaining the reading (2 Ezra 9:48). The fact is that a person must communicate with the word of God, and not with his subjective (and therefore incorrect) understanding of the Scriptures. True comprehension of the Bible is possible only in the Church. The Teacher of the Church, Tertullian, said that heretics had no right even to quote the Scriptures, because the Bible was a church book. The Scriptures themselves warn us of the danger of an unecclesiastical study of the word of God: "And consider the long-suffering of our Lord to be salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as he says in all the epistles, in which there is something incomprehensible, which the ignorant and unconfirmed, like the rest of the Scriptures, turn to their own destruction" (2 Pet. 3:3). 15–16). Who are the ignorant and the unapproved? The ignorant are people who, although baptized, have not comprehended the foundations of the holy faith. Those who are not confirmed are not baptized. Both turn the Scriptures to their own destruction. Of the Jews it is said: But their minds are blinded: for the same veil remains unremoved to this day in the reading of the Old Testament, because it is removed by Christ. To this day, when they read Moses, the veil lies on their hearts; but when they turn to the Lord, then this veil is removed (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).Moreover, the Bible teaches that heretics, even when they speak of "Christ" or of the "Holy Spirit," do not speak and commune with Christ or the Spirit of God, but with another "Christ," another "spirit": For if any man were to come, and begin to preach another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you had received another Spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have not received (2 Corinthians 11:4). Tertullian wrote: "The heretics have nothing in common with our teaching. They are strangers to us; This is amply evidenced by the fact that they are deprived of communication. I am not obliged to attribute to them what is prescribed to me. For we and they do not have the same God, and not the same Christ, that is, not the same. And not one baptism, because it is not the same [2]. That is why it is impossible even to read the Lord's Prayer together with heretics, for they have a different "father" than we do.Once, talking with an Adventist, I asked him: "What do you understand by the words, but deliver us from the evil one?" 1907. T. 2. P. 3. ^Quintus Septilius Florentus Tertullian. Selected works. Moscow, Progress Publ., 1994. About baptism. P. 102. ^

Part 3

St. Ephraim the Syrian writes: Cursed be those who read the Scriptures and those who contradict them, (those who read the prophets and reject their words); reading the Apostles and opposing their teaching [1]. The meaning that sectarians attach to their interpretation of the Bible, to their prayers, is opposite and even hostile to our Orthodox faith. It is necessary to adhere to the Church's, that is, the true understanding of the Bible, and then the Scriptures will turn out to be for us not a letter that kills, but a spirit that gives life (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:6). It is not enough to say about something, says St. John Chrysostom, that it is written in the Scriptures, and one should not directly, snatching the words and tearing the members from the body of the divinely inspired Scriptures, take them separately and without their mutual connection, and arbitrarily and unaccountably distort them [2]. And those who doubt the Church's understanding of the Bible, let them more often recall the words from the Scriptures: "The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). A person with double-minded thoughts is not firm in all his ways (James 1:7-8).Here we speak of the "radical" nature of Christianity, which does not tolerate any halftones: it is impossible to serve God, to ask anything of Him, and at the same time to remain completely devoted to the world. The Holy Scriptures teach us: "Do not be conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2). Orthodoxy in this sense is more radical and stands on more fundamentalist, if you will, positions than any other religion. Our religion has no double thoughts or unspoken phrases. But let your word be yes, yes; no, no; and what is more than this is from the evil one (Matt. 5:37).Once I had to make a business trip to France, to Paris. We brought for our émigrés a photo exhibition about the life of the Church in Russia and missionary work in India. When I visited France, it became clearer to me what a person with double thoughts is. One acquaintance who accompanied me on this trip said: "You should have gone to Europe a long time ago, otherwise you go to Asia, to the Far East somewhere... Live in Europe – then you will understand what real civilization is!" ... Well, what did I see there? It is difficult to distinguish Paris at night from Moscow at night: the same lights, the same people, the same drug addicts, the same police (only the uniform is slightly different), the same prostitutes stand... The fuss on the streets is terrible, everyone is rollerblading and skateboarding, even the elderly.. So Paris at night is no different from Moscow at night. It seems to me that any large European cities are now similar to one another. Paris, for example, reminded me of St. Petersburg – it is very similar, especially in some places. Western abundance? We now have the same abundance of goods - just give us money! Climate? The climate there is probably worse than ours. Gas pollution on the streets is perhaps higher than in our country. After all, we still have more greenery, and there are huge highways, and asphalt and asphalt all around... But when I talked to the people there, Western civilization seemed to me to be a civilization with double thoughts. For example, you talk to a person (with any person) about spirituality, about God, and you say to him: "God really exists. God will ask each person how he lived, how he acted in this or that situation. And how do you build your religious life?" And the interlocutor answers: "Well, how... I work day and night, earn money, I have a business, I have a lot of things to do, you know!" He answered: "No, I can't always come to church, but I'm still an exemplary parishioner, I send a check to the church once a month!" Our "new Russians" at least sometimes come to church and light candles, and there they already send money to the church by mail, and the churches are empty! When I was in France, of course, I went to Orthodox churches: they are also almost empty, but Catholic cathedrals are even more empty. Huge Catholic cathedrals! I remember, for example, Notre Dame Cathedral: empty and dead, only tourists are walking, and several parishioners are sitting in front of them – about ten people – and they are all being photographed. I came closer to look at these believers. It turned out that they were very elderly French women, with whom there was another old man. They were reading something and waiting for the service to begin. Double thoughts are when a person, on the one hand, does not renounce Christian ideals, on the other hand, is completely mired in the material side of life. Western European civilization has taken this path, and people there have reached the point where their religious life (where it exists at all) is now built exclusively on a commercial basis. Pay money once a month, send a check where and when it is due, do all this regularly – and you will be a good parishioner! I found out that the most religious people in Paris are the Muslims there, who came there from Africa, from Algeria. There are, however, many Muslims from among the native French. They all walk there in crowds. Once I found myself in the "Arab quarter": strictly dressed women - their heads are covered, no hair is visible - go to prayer with their children. I began to talk to them – the people turned out to be quite religious, trying to observe some principles. I asked: "And how are your relations with French Christians?" And one Muslim replied: "Every month in France, two Christian churches are closed and one new mosque is opened!" However, sometimes this is interconnected: the temple is closed, because no one goes there, and the Muslims take it for themselves.Muslims there already say directly: "Now in Europe the decline of Christianity has come, the triumph of Islam is approaching." One of my Muslim interlocutors told me a story that struck me. "A few years ago, a German scientist, a professor, converted to Islam in Hamburg. Soon he fell ill and ended up in the hospital. When the Muslims learned about this, they immediately hurried to visit him. The professor was in an extremely depressed state and did not even immediately explain to the visitors the reason for his upset. It turned out, however, that his wife and son had visited him shortly before. When they learned that he was terminally ill with cancer, they told him that they had come to say goodbye and that they would not come again, as they knew that he had only a few days to live. The professor was amazed at their heartlessness... The Imam said to him: "Do not pay attention to this. Your family is now Islam. And we believers will come and sit here with you and take care of you until you die and after your death." The sick man soon died, and the Muslim community assumed the costs of his burial. As the procession was heading to the Muslim cemetery, the professor's son suddenly appeared and declared, "You are illegally trying to bury my father, I sold his body for 30 marks to the hospital just a few days before his death." The Muslims categorically refused to return the body to the unbridled "son". When the young man was asked where he worked, he replied: "During the day at the factory, and in the evening in the beauty parlor for dogs."The behavior of Western Christians is seductive not only for Muslims, it strikes even non-believers with its heartlessness and really prevents them from finding the way to God. In the West, it is true that dogs are sometimes more cared for than for people.In Paris, I observed this strange affection for dogs, which is now so characteristic of the so-called civilized world. One woman, when asked if she had children, answered: "I have two dogs." Time Magazine reports: "Some of our major cities are literally like 'dogs' – for example, London, Tokyo, Mexico City. In them, dogs are so numerous that they cause inconvenience and dirt everywhere. They bite children in increasing numbers and create more confusion. There are 280,000 of them in Tokyo, 300 in Los Angeles, 500 in New York, 700 in London, and over a million in Mexico City. Dogs make a mess in this world." The French newspaper Animal reports that American dog owners spend over $300 million annually on cosmetics and clothing for their dogs. (By the way, the first to introduce a dog into his home is considered to be Cain, the first murderer on earth.) In the U.S., more than 75,000 respondents were surveyed about their attitudes toward dogs, with the answers distributed as follows:Approximately two-thirds loved their husband if the husband loved the dog.60,000 said they would give their food to the dog as it would matter less if they starved to death themselves.49,000 have a dog sleeping in the bedroom. "Better him than anyone else," the women wrote.Two-thirds would shed tears if the dog died, and a funeral ceremony would be arranged.Almost everyone claimed that the dog had a "spiritual nature."The general mood of the respondents was expressed in a strange statement: "Of course, our thoughts often turn to our dogs when we are at work or elsewhere. The dog plays too important a role in the life of any of us not to think about it all the time." Some Protestant pastors organize "marriages" in their "churches" for dogs, horses, cats, and other domestic and household animals. It is double thoughts that destroy the fundamental foundations of religion, they erode the soil of church teaching and make the Church vulnerable to various heresies and pagan errors. Therefore, we must banish such thoughts from our hearts. The spirit of ecumenism, humanism (man-god), totemism, modernism must become a thing of the past. The spirit of renovationist heresies, pro-Latin sentiment, Protestant orientation – all this shakes the consciousness and morality of people and throws them into the arms of other, no longer Christian religions. The West has gone so far today that it seems to have lost faith in God altogether. Young anarchists in France ride roller skates and write on the walls with chalk: "God is dead! God is dead!" Indeed, the Lord died in the hearts of these people in the sense that He left their hearts. But our God lives, so those who look for a "Western way" for Russia and consider it acceptable for its development are mistaken. In fact, brothers and sisters, this is a road to nowhere! In the same civilized France, where I visited, a huge number of suicides occur among young people, up to 35,000 attempts are noted annually. But this is not true. Where is the highest percentage of drug addicts in Moscow? At Moscow State University – at the Faculty of Journalism, at the Faculty of Philology, among the "new Russians" – where this Western civilization has already penetrated into the hearts of our youth and put down its roots there. And young people who do not study and do not work do not have money for drugs: they sniff glue, solvents, etc. Therefore, we should not think that if we live better socially, then this will have a beneficial effect on morality, as some democrats often say, saying that crimes are related to social problems: if we live richer, we will also be more moral! Life shows that this is not at all true.In Paris, I had a chance to talk with an elderly priest who was about 90 years old. He literally cried when he told what religiosity used to be in the same Catholic communities and what has become now. How they succumbed to the spirit of modernism, translated the service into colloquial language, spoke to God in newspaper language, and as a result, there was a complete secularization: churches were empty and rented out to artists who arrange their exhibitions there! The old man said: "It seemed to us that if we translated everything into French and shortened the services, then there would be much more people in the churches. But, alas, the people guessed that we, realizing the impossibility of stopping the spirit of secularization, began to secularize ourselves, and now we are left almost without a flock." We should be afraid that there is now a division in Christian communities as well. We cannot turn a blind eye to this! Now in our Orthodox communities there are people who build their spiritual life on modernist positions (on the sand – Matt. 7:26), and there are traditionalists who stand for the fundamental foundations of Orthodoxy. And our foundation is the rock, of which the Saviour said in the Sermon on the Mount: "Whosoever therefore heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, I will liken unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock; and the rain fell, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and rushed upon that house, and it did not fall, because it was founded on a rock (Matt. 7:24-25). And those people who renounce the fundamental foundations of faith build the building of their faith precisely on sand: and it rained, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and they leaned on that house; and he fell, and there was a great fall thereof (Matt. 7:27).And now in Western Europe this fall is very noticeable: the churches there are completely empty and no one needs them, but everyone walks along the street and celebrates something. The churches are silent, deserted, and when you leave them, crowds of people who seem to be satisfied with life are walking, they are dancing, singing, playing. And all around are crime, drug addiction, suicide, and all kinds of perversions. Some people say: "Paris is an endless holiday." So people are celebrating, just now?! For me, for example, all this reminds me very much of a wake. All this joyful frenzy of Western civilization, which is now being imposed on Russia – various carnivals, performances and shows – is aimed at making us forget about God behind these mysteries and extravaganzas. Look, when they try to organize such celebrations in our country? As if by order, usually during fasting or on major church holidays. All this is the spirit of apostasy, the spirit of apostasy from the faith, which begins when we have double thoughts. the so-called "ecclesiastical renewal," ecumenism, and pagan super-ecumenism. Therefore, let us say once again with the Apostle James: Let not such a man think to receive anything from the Lord. A man with double thoughts is not firm in all his ways. Moscow, 1858. Part 1. P. 22. ^Works of St. John Chrysostom. St. Petersburg. Theological Academy, 1898. T. 6. P. 445. ^