In addition, a conversation about the impact of modern computer technologies on people's lives required the formulation of several fundamental theses about our attitude to the computer world. This is what the article "In Defense of the Computer" is about.

ABOUT OUR DEFEAT

Why does history have an end?

Christianity is almost the only worldview on earth that is convinced of the inevitability of its own historical defeat. Christianity ushered in one of its darkest eschatologies: it warned that in the end the forces of evil would be "given ... to wage war with the saints and to conquer them" (Rev. 13:7). The Gospel promises that the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against the Church, that the Church is invincible (cf. Matt. 16:18). But "invincible" does not necessarily mean "victorious": "I have seen this horn wrestling with the saints, and overcoming them" (Dan. 17:21).

From the perspective of earthly history, it is not the world-historical triumph of Christians, but the world-wide dominion of the Antichrist. [4]

Yes, it is time to start a conversation about what is least common today in "intelligent society" and in "modern culture" – about the latter. About the end of the world. About the Antichrist.

The topic of the Antichrist is considered obscene in democratic journalism. Even those publicists who consider themselves Christians find it inconvenient to recall the final book of the Bible – the Apocalypse. I have nothing to lose. After the publication of my brochure on the desirability of restoring the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, people of the "anti-system" (to use Gumilev's term) made a final diagnosis for me: "Ahead of Kuraev, apparently, is simple Black-Hundred nationalism and the most banal great-power chauvinism. His gift for preaching is already disappearing – not a single vivid image, not a single brilliant paradox. He already frightens readers with the "formation of a new world order" – a favorite theme of the fighters against Judeo-Masonry. So far, these are still barely discernible notes, but the speed of falling is greater than the speed of ascent... The bottom is the bottom, and falling there can be endless, but it cannot be unpunished." [5]

So, the "formation of a new world order" is not only "a favorite topic of fighters against Judeo-Masonry." First, the "new world order" is the society predicted by Scripture, in which it will no longer be possible for Christians to live. Secondly, it is a "favorite theme" of all occult movements. Thirdly, it is indeed an undisguised goal of all Masonic movements (as can be seen at least from the apologetics of Freemasonry by Roerich's disciple Klizovsky[6]). Finally, it is simply a historiosophical term that distinguishes between traditionally religious societies and the order of things that were taking shape by the end of the twentieth century. To make sure that it was not the "fighters against Judeo-Masonry" who invented the "new world order", it is enough to read a one-dollar bill: under the pyramid there is a signature - novus ordum seclorum.

Since I am not a political scientist, but a Christian journalist, I write on this topic not because this "new world" will come, not out of futurological excitement. I simply believe that the Holy Scriptures do not need censorship – neither occult, nor "progressive", nor "Christian-democratic". In Scripture, the theme of the "new world order" sounds like a theological topic.

"Here is the Apocalypse... A mysterious book, which burns the tongue when you read it, the heart does not know how to breathe... It opens from the very first lines with the judgment of the churches of Christ... This is a book roaring and moaning..." [7] This is what should be said above all else. The Apocalypse speaks both of the deliverance of Christians from the oppression of "this world" that has become unbearable, and of the fact that the main blame for the triumph of the Antichrist lies not with the "Freemasons", but with the Christians. Christians are tired of being Christians – that's why the light will be weakened. Christians wanted to be something else, they wanted to try the half-forgotten pagan spiritual "exoticism" – that is why darkness will again spread throughout the whole earth "from the sixth hour to the hour... the ninth" (Matt. 27:45). [8] "They will not accept sound doctrine, but according to their own whims they will choose for themselves teachers who will flatter their ears; and they will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn to fables" (2 Tim. 4:3-4). [9]

Perhaps this is the main message of Christian apocalypticism: people themselves will choose a new faith and new masters, they themselves will open the world for the "prince of darkness." The apocalypse does not allow us to hide in cozy formulas: "Everything will work out", "We have nothing to do with it", "It's the enemies' fault". Here it is appropriate to recall the lines of Brodsky:

Why did it all turn out this way? And it will be a lieTo blame the character or the will of God.Was it supposed to be otherwise?We paid for everyone, and there is no need to give up...

But what makes this sad circumstance inevitable: humanity will make its final, final choice in favor of the Antichrist, but not in favor of Christ?

One of the reasons for this is a kind of "asymmetry of armaments" between good and evil. Good cannot choose certain means of earthly policy without ceasing to be good. On the contrary, there are no limits to evil. It can even carry out charitable actions without betraying its own nature (if philanthropic actions are arranged in such a way that, by helping people in one respect, they will strengthen their alliance with evil in other manifestations of their lives, for example, by stirring up the vanity of donors).