I do not want to talk about many things that are associated with this juvenile justice; A lot of things are said about it now. But the main idea, its main orientation is clearly visible. It is essentially anti-Christian in nature, it makes parents and children enemies, it destroys the possibility of Christian, and not only Christian, but simply moral education of children. Because it is impossible to raise a child without punishment. The entire history of mankind knows this, it has always been so. And suddenly, in the XXI century, "scientists" discovered that, it turns out, no measures can be taken against a child. What is this? This is the sarcastic smile of the devil...

Of course, this will lead to the most negative phenomena. In particular, when this juvenile justice system believes that a child should be considered a minor until the age of eighteen, then one can imagine what these already adult guys will do, knowing that if not with impunity, then almost with impunity they can do what adults are sent to prison for many years. That is, this destroys the family, destroys morality and the upbringing of children, destroys the social atmosphere of life, because crime will increase. And these officials, especially in our Russian reality – what will they do when they feel full power over their parents, over their families? Unprecedented corruption will begin, parents will pay off by any means, just don't take the children away from me. There is no doubt that it will be.

And the last thing I would like to say. Juvenile justice destroys the main path of social life, the law of social life. What is this law? This is the law of discipline and subordination in society. If you give a soldier the same rights as a general, that's it, the army is over. If you give an employee, an employee of the company, the same rights as the owner – that's it, the company has collapsed. If you give any citizen the rights of the president – that's it, there is no state. If you give a child not only the same rights as the parents, but even greater rights – and this is exactly what juvenile justice says – what will happen? Hear? The basic law of social life is violated. These are obvious things.

The main question arises: who needs it? The ancient Romans said so: who benefits from this? We do not think about this at all. Both the propaganda of immorality, blood and violence, and the introduction of juvenile justice, it seems to me, come from the same source. And this source is really existing Satanism. Because you can't find any other answer. Why show cruelty and violence on television, what respectable person needs to show this debauchery, who will think of it? Nobody. And who would think of violating the foundations of public life, the basic law? Who would think of taking children away from their parents? It is clear to whom: the same source.

And this testimony, very sad, in this respect: it means that we are already approaching the time when the Antichrist, this greatest villain and the greatest evil one, is really to come. The greatest social figure who must come – and darkness will descend on our poor Earth. You know, I am always very afraid when I look in the West (we have been constantly shown this) how the Church is engaged in social work – we are not talking about spiritual life: "Look at how many orphanages, orphanages, nursing homes, what physical education, what sports grounds, what theaters... Look – the Church does everything..."

Church... What are they boasting about?! The task of the Church is the only one – to cure a person of passions. And suddenly, instead of curing a person of selfishness, hatred, deceit, vanity and pride, the Church is engaged in "social activity"... Yes, no one is against this taking place, but everything is good in moderation. Otherwise, the Church will cease to be the Church. And it seems to me that this process of secularization, which has already begun and has now completely absorbed Western Christianity, will undoubtedly have an effect, and a negative effect, on Orthodoxy as well. Therefore, we are now facing a very serious reality of our future life.

– The next question is about this. Of course, we can talk for a very long time, and devote more than one lecture to this, but on the whole, very briefly: what is your idea of the future of Russia, for example, in ten years?

"I have no idea. I'm very afraid to guess, especially since I don't even have coffee grounds at hand... I don't want to guess. I know only one thing, that when Christ Himself was asked when the end of the world would be, He did not answer, refused to answer this question. The reason is quite obvious – the reason is in us, in people. The Ninevites repented, and Nineveh remained, the others did not repent – and everything collapses. So it is here. Therefore, it seems to me that guessing about this is a completely unhealthy phenomenon and not serious. But to think about what we need to do, how we need to behave, and to be church people not in appearance, but in life – this, it seems to me, is what we need to think about most seriously.

Here I would like to draw attention to one very important phenomenon. Unfortunately, we do not understand that each of our good spiritual acts, it turns out, is of great importance for the life of our entire people. When Barsanuphius the Great was asked why we now have such an auspicious time of life and so on, he answered: "There are three men of prayer whose prayers go directly to the Throne of God. And he named them. Remember when Abraham spoke to the Lord before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: if there are fifty righteous men, you will not destroy them? –No. "Forty-five, forty, ten?" The Lord said, "I will not destroy," and departed. There is a limit after which the punishments begin: Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, because there were not even ten righteous ones. This is what we need to think about, this is what we need to take care of. May God grant that people who are now converting to Orthodoxy will become Orthodox not by name, and not only by going to church and "reading" prayers, but by their lives – by life. And the essence of the Christian life is to acquire the vision that I am sick, and I must be healed, and not to condemn anyone for the fact that others do this and that; They are also sick, you need to sympathize (not indulge, but sympathize) and pray for them.

– Ruslan asks: "Alexei Ilyich, what path do you think the Russian Orthodox Church will take in the near future – along the path of preserving the canons or following the path of church reforms?"

– You see, again the question is about the purely external side of church life! Yes, all the canons can be preserved and turn into I don't know what! We must not forget who crucified Christ! The strictest executors of the canons are the Pharisees, they crucified Christ and turned out to be unworthy of the Kingdom of God, they turned out to be Satanists, executors. And who was saved? The first to enter paradise was a bandit who repented. Therefore, in this case, we need to speak of the Church not as some kind of society, some kind of hierarchy that will try to fulfill certain canons – these are the rules of movement, they speak about how our people will go: whether along the path of Orthodox life or along the path of purely external fulfillment of church prescriptions and church norms of life. The gospel should be the foundation of our lives, the commandments that primarily concern my thoughts, desires, and feelings—for they generate all my actions. That's what it turns out to be. Not how to light a candle, not that I go to confession and take communion.

Because if it is only external, it will not give me anything. Did Judas take communion? Yes. St. John Chrysostom writes: "And with this communion Satan entered into him." We forget even that! So we should not talk about the canons – this is the secondary side. And the primary one is in the nature of our life. And if our people really try to fight their sinful desires and moods in their lives, if they begin to change, if they repent of their personal sins, then everything will change. Three days will pass, and Nineveh will remain. Just like that.

– Thank you, Alexei Ilyich, and the last question, perhaps even a request to you. Orthodox television is a fairly new phenomenon in our life. And there is a discussion about what it should be. We receive many letters in which viewers write: "Thank you for being so bright, calm, peaceful, you bring calmness, the spirit of peace." And other viewers say: "Well, what kind of "toothless" Orthodoxy is this – you must be militant, you must fight against this and that..." Since you are an authority for the Soyuz TV channel, we would like to hear from you what we should be like – what should Orthodox television be like, what should it bring to people?

– It should bring to people what the Church exists for in general. All its actions, all its actions, should ultimately be directed towards one goal, for the sake of which the Church exists: to give an understanding of the spiritual life, to help people somehow tune in to this spiritual life, to bring people, to show them various experiences, pages from history, to show how people came to this Church. At the same time, to warn people about those completely false, charming, I would say, things that are increasingly appearing in our world, in particular, in the Orthodox world. Maybe sometimes talk about some books, warn people about the influence of these books – warn and say why; perhaps to recommend something, to talk about patristic literature. I think it would be very good if it were possible. Everyone should have the same goal, there is no difference: Orthodox television, Orthodox radio, Orthodox teacher, priest – and we must strive for this goal.