In September 1965, he was a "guest" at a series of sessions of the 4th session of the Second Vatican Council.

A few introductory remarks

This book contains articles written at different times. They are united by one common theme: Man before the immeasurable greatness of the Supreme from which he lives. There is an invisible Center of our spiritual eyes. To Him, to our search for Him, to our contemplation of Him, even if it is vague and distant, to our longing for Him, and, finally, to His touch with us, to His pre-existent and life-giving power, which nourishes and regenerates our soul, this book is dedicated, both in its individual parts and in its entirety.

Nikolay Arseniev January 1966

God and Us

1

In our days there are many reasons for religious and moral confusion and perplexity, which stir and painfully strike the soul. How, for example, can we explain that inhuman and godless forces, which may have no equal in the world in terms of inhumanity, trampling on all the foundations of truth and justice, trampling on all the deepest foundations of human life, continue to develop and spread on earth by deception or violence? Is it not also embarrassing that the adherents of this trend comment on all scientific discoveries and achievements: the mysteries of the world are no more, they say, or rather, they will soon be gone, if one advances at this pace? Therefore, there is no God, or "we have not seen Him anywhere" – this is how the representatives of aggressive atheism try to convince themselves and us during the interval. And a number of simple souls are confused, and they are not alone. Is it true that man is great in his extra-divine and anti-divine autonomy, that there are no limits to the growth of his collective mind and knowledge—and that he has no need of God?

It does not take many words and complex proofs to see that this is not so, that there is, that there is still a mystery, that we are surrounded on all sides by mystery, despite the development and progress of human knowledge, that this mystery breaks into, tragically and decisively, the life of each of us.

There is a veil, there is a barrier against which all the efforts of human pride and human self-aggrandizement are shattered: death. And this has not changed for many millennia of history: death has always been and will always be an obstacle throughout the history of mankind. Many, I repeat, are confused and tempted in our time: people behave as if there is no God, moreover, they try to prove it. And here is death! The conquest of air, the exploration of interplanetary space, and — the limit: death. Do not be afraid, faint-hearted: human pride cannot develop indefinitely: death and the vision of death set limits. Death puts the conceited person back in his place – creation. Tyrannies collapse (but often also powerful states that were not tyrannies), the greatest villains, no matter how powerful and great they may be, perish. Not to buy off death at the cost of the greatest, wrongly appropriated wealth. And in general, there is a limit to every person, and on the other side of it is the Mystery. Moreover, the Most Basic, the Nourishing, the Bearer of all, the primordial, eternal forces that create worlds are beyond the limit. A new dynamic sense of the world, characteristic of modern science, leads to the threshold, and beyond the threshold is the Mystery, the Creative Mystery [1].

2

Недосягаемость истинной Сущности вещей, величайшей Тайны, Сокровенной Реальности и Святыни, для дерзкой (и детской!) самоуверенности и самохвальства этих бедных, ничтожных людей — это нам в достаточной степени ясно.

Но есть другой источник смущения и даже соблазна и глубокой депрессии для души: то самое, что является решающим ответом на дерзновенные, ребяческие выходки самодовольных недоучек и пропагандистов безбожия: недосягаемость Бога. Страшны не выкрики неумных агитаторов, а именно эта недосягаемая отдаленность Бога, как люди часто ее ощущают, особенно в наше время. Бог есть, конечно — бесконечно превыше всего Сущий, совсем, совсем Другой по сравнению с нашей тварностью и малостью, Недосягаемый, Премудрый Источник и Основа бытия — но как все это далеко и, именно,… недосягаемо! А в мире нам страшно. И пути Его — не наши пути, и «мысли Его — не наши мысли», и мы постичь их не можем. Эта отдаленность Бога, не значит ли это, что мы часто живем без Бога, не чувствуем руки Его, а чувствуем только страх перед страшным, неведомым нам в своей основе процессом жизни и умирания (недаром — «боязнь» наш современник философ Heidegger считает основой нашего мироощущения)? [2]

Поразителен этот глубокий пессимизм, господствующий в современной литературе: и у американца Hemmingway, и у Камю (Camus) и других французов, и у ряда современных немецких писателей, и в лирике, например, Георгия Иванова.

Крик души «скорбящей и озлобленной» — вот характерная черта этих настроений ; «и помощи требующей» — добавим от себя. Где Бог? Где рука Его? Где милосердие Его и помощь Его?