Without a doubt. We do not know the fate of God, why Christ is not revealed to these religious people (perhaps this is our fault as well...). In general, we must treat people's faith, and even more so if it brings them the fruits of righteousness, with respect (without compromising our faith, of course, but also without making it a reason for enmity with people).

29. Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims have all achieved good results in converting citizens of Christian civilization in recent decades. Why? Of course, I would very much like to answer this new question, offensive to Christians, in the dichotomy "God – demons": those Europeans who do not meet the moral bar of Christianity, those who fall into sins, go to other faiths, where the demons they serve only indulge these sins. And what can be the real explanation of this problem?

It is always necessary to involve demons in our reasoning with great caution: we do not know with certainty the state of affairs in the spiritual world in order to definitely judge the degree of demonic influence on the course of things... We have already said enough on this topic above. The greatest treasure on earth is Orthodox Christianity. The sacraments of the Church, the Orthodox interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, the holistic worldview in its light; the dogmatic and moral teaching of the Church, the experience of prayer, sobriety, and inner struggle to fulfill the commandments of Christ – give the Christian the greatest opportunity to meet Christ, the fullness of existence by Him and in Him. But in our modernity, the essence of Orthodoxy is not revealed in life; Christ does not enter into our everyday life, our encounter with Him does not take place in such a way that we speak not of individual church "private persons" who have come to know God, but of all members of the Orthodox Church. The majority dwells on the external forms of churchliness, which express a very weak and unstable spiritual life.

Therefore, we should not talk about the success of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc., but about the failure of Christianity, about the loss of the inner core of our faith, its spirit and strength. Buddhism, Islam, etc. Only, according to the law of nature, they fill an empty space. If the Church cared first of all for Christians to find life in Christ, and exclusively in this vein would preserve her traditions and determine both the internal and external structure of her life, then she would shine like the sun with the light of Christ, and become for people a living example of true existence in God. Then other religions would not have had the success that we see today.

30. My family has Polish roots, I am Orthodox, but my mother is Catholic, we get along very well. Once, at a sermon after a Sunday service in our church, the priest said that Catholics are heretics, and they will not be saved; I felt very offended. Is it really so?

The preacher from whom you heard such cruel and unjust words took upon himself too much: he raptured God's judgment on a huge number of Christians. Neither the Gospel nor the Orthodox Church authorized him to do so. Indeed, the dogmatic differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism give us reason to reproach the Catholics for departing from the teaching of the Ancient Indivisible Church; Indeed, there is no Eucharistic communion between our Churches. But this is not at all a reason to boldly judge the salvation or non-salvation of people who differ from us. It is best to watch oneself, and since we are talking about the superiority of Orthodoxy over Catholicism, to manifest it by Christian life and deeds of love.

31. What is the irreconcilable difference between Catholicism and Orthodoxy? Why don't they finally unite? There are much more problems in the world now than some petty digging in terms of dogmatics and rituals, we are witnessing the beginning of a war between East and West.

Usually, the main reason for the division of the Churches is considered to be dogmatic, ritual and spiritual differences. But historically we see the following. The final break between the Churches occurred in 1054. The first appearance of the Catholic addition to the dogma of the procession of the Holy Spirit dates back to the sixth century; At the same time, the ritual difference in church life was discussed. Consequently, for five hundred years, the two parts of the one Church have existed, despite such differences. From this we can conclude that it was not dogmatic differences that were the cause of the division; they began to rely on them when this division had to be justified. The real, and very deep, reason for the schism of the Church is rooted in the difference in mentality (which has led to different understandings of dogmas), culture, social skills, political circumstances, and much more between the eastern and western parts of Christendom. For the first ten centuries, the Church covered this difference with the action of the Holy Spirit. But with the weakening of the life of the Spirit in Christians, these natural things began to get out of spiritual control, and over time, gaining strength, they led to the rupture of the one body of Christ's Church. And now the same reasons, only further strengthened in the course of centuries, impede the unification of Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Under no circumstances should it be said that dogmatics is a thing of little importance ("petty digging"); Without agreement in dogmas, it is impossible to achieve unity. But this agreement itself is unlikely because of the above-mentioned difference in mentality. I think that unification will be possible only at the end of time, when, under the influence of apocalyptic events, the life of mankind will cease to flow in the usual historical stream, when, in the face of the end of the world, the socio-cultural barrier separating us will be abolished. Until then, cultural differences will remain and have their significance for both Orthodox and Catholics. But of course you are right that in the face of today's weakening of Christianity, the de-Christianization of the world, our division is becoming more and more counterproductive.

32. Is the difference between the main world religions (in particular, Islam, Judaism, Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, especially the latter) insurmountable? Is unification possible?

Christianity will never be able to unite with Judaism and Islam – these religions do not confess Jesus Christ as God. As for the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, I set forth some considerations about their unification in the answer to the previous question.

33. Tell me, what is the main difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism and Protestantism?

Orthodoxy and Catholicism differ from each other, firstly, dogmatically. In Catholicism, there are "more" dogmas. There are two main dogmatic differences: the first is the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit. Orthodoxy confesses the teaching received from the Gospel and the Early Church that the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father; Catholicism, on the other hand, since the second half of the first millennium, believes that it is not only from the Father, but also from the Son. The second divergence is the teaching on the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome and his primacy in the Church. Such a teaching was also alien to early Christian times. It was officially accepted by the Roman Church only in the 19th century, along with two more dogmas unknown to Orthodoxy – about the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God and about Her bodily assumption into heaven. Second, there are important differences in ways of thinking that affect religious practice. Thus, Catholicism views original sin in terms of "guilt," and the overcoming of sin by each of us in terms of "merits" that propitiate God, who is infinitely angry with fallen man. Orthodoxy understands original sin differently – as a hereditary disease, and the relationship with God – as with the Physician who selflessly heals us. Thirdly, the teaching on the spiritual life, in particular, on prayer, differs: in Orthodoxy it is based on repentant sobriety and humility, in Catholicism prayer is more exalted. It must be said that Orthodoxy is not always free from Catholic influence; although we try to defend the dogmatic purity of our Church, in practical life we have Catholic painting instead of iconography, and a certain tendency of the juridical approach in theology and spiritual practice, and so on.

In the sixteenth century, Protestantism arose in the depths of the Roman Church. His initial impulse was to free church life from the abuses and incorrectness of Latinism and to return to the teaching and life of the Early Church. But rejecting the real errors of Catholicism, Protestantism "threw out the child along with the water," namely, it rejected the Holy Tradition of the Church. The main principle of Protestantism is "Scripture alone." However, in the Church, Scripture is contained in the channel of Holy Tradition, that is, the practical spiritual experience of life with God. The main thing that constitutes the essence of Tradition is the Sacraments; it was they that Protestantism eventually rejected (in early Protestant times, in the Lutheran Church, the teaching on the Sacraments was still preserved, although it was subject to modernization). The practical consequence of this was the fragmentation of Protestantism into a huge number of movements and even sects: having the same Holy Scriptures, Protestant denominations do not have a single core that allows them to be properly maintained, which leads to great differences in teaching and practice not only with traditional churches, but even within Protestantism itself.

34. An acquaintance of mine says that the Orthodox consider the Catholic Church to be apostates unjustifiably, since it is said by Christ: "You are Peter, and in you I will build my Church..." and so on. And Peter was the bishop of Rome, and now Rome is the throne of St. Peter, and hence of the Universal Church. "Is Moscow the third Rome?" says my friend.  From this he concludes that the Russian Orthodox Church is schismatic and, moreover, uncanonical. What should he say to this?