2. Worship in "spirit and truth" among sectarians

3. Veneration of the Cross of Christ

4. On the veneration of icons

5. On the "sin" of blood transfusion

6. On holidays

7. On Prayer through Jesus Christ

Section XVI. On War and Military Rank

Chapter III: The Present State of Jehovism

Section I. A Brief Historical Sketch of the Sect of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia

Title II: Jehovah's Witnesses Today

Be always ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give an account of your hope, with meekness and reverence. (1 Peter 3:15)

Preface

The book by Priest Igor Efimov, devoted to the analysis of the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses, pleases first of all with its thoroughness. We have already become accustomed to the fact that anti-sectarian publications are for the most part either polemical pamphlets, or reprints of pre-revolutionary works, or compilations of foreign authors. The work of Priest Igor Efimov, which is now offered to the pious attention of readers, is strikingly different from such publications - one of the first experiments in our time to analyze the doctrine, history and current state of an influential, financially and politically active anti-Christian sect from the standpoint of the Christian Orthodox worldview.

This book, I am sure, will find its interested reader in the person of students of theological and secular universities, the clergy and, especially, teachers of Sunday and general education schools, whose students are periodically attacked by "fighters for the truth" from the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses. I hope that this work will facilitate the work of teachers and help them and everyone who wants to deal with the organized "love" of the persistent "brothers" of the "World Anti-Christian Brotherhood" who keep their fingers on the bells of our apartments, hang on the hands of parishioners of churches and warm themselves by bonfires made of Orthodox icons. It will save the time of all those interested in the elegant "theological riddles and mysteries" of the sect, its history, and save them from the painful reading of various "priceless" Brooklyn "watchtowers and watchtowers." The work of Fr. Igor Efimov is not an Orthodox catechism, however, reading it, one is constantly convinced that it is precisely the appeal to the catechism and its application that is very relevant when meeting with the "ambassadors of Christ" not for the sake of saving the "ambassadors", but for the sake of preserving and affirming oneself in the truth of the salvation of one's soul and pleasing God. It was very important to demonstrate by the example of this sect that the knowledge and understanding of the catechism is not the tedious conservatism of the Orthodox traditionalists with their dogmas, but a reliable weapon of "truth in the right and left hand" (2 Corinthians 6:7), which protects the soul of the Christian from various "fighters" who for twenty centuries have been vainly trying to crush the indestructible – the Church of Christ.

This book is intended to warn our contemporaries, who shout "Hurrah!" at everything "from the USA" and strive to put their inquisitive heads into the mouth of the "human-loving lion" in order to check whether he has teeth, forgetting, obviously, that this ancient "roaring lion", hiding under a bush of sheep's clothing, goes everywhere "seeking whom to devour" (1 Peter 5) "with various and alien teachings..." (Ephesians 4:4-6).

Священник Игорь Ефимов пытается приподнять эту "шкуру" и разглядеть автора этого учения, тем более, что это обличение должно вызвать одну лишь радость у членов секты, так как "все ненавидят обличения, а Служители Иеговы должны их приветствовать" ("Сторожевая башня", 15.12.1995, с.18).

Священник Максим Козлов,

доцент Московской Духовной Академии

От автора