"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.

- Thank you, Alexei Ilyich, I want to thank you live on our air and present you with these roses. Thank you for being there and, as I said at the beginning, for being us, because my childhood dream was realized: to turn on the TV and hear from there that there is a God...

– Thank you, Father Dimitry. May God help you in your work, because your work is very difficult. I imagine it a little... Difficult from different angles, which I will not voice today. But I think that if you try to do all this in the name of God and for the benefit of the Church, then the Lord will help you.

– Thank you, Alexei Ilyich, thank you, dear viewers. We apologize that the professor was asked only a small part of your questions. We will keep them all until the next meeting, and when the next meeting takes place, Alexei Ilyich and I will agree and we will certainly notify you about it. Thank you, and all the best.

 December 8, 2010 (hosted by Sergey Kirillov)

–Hello! My name is Sergey Kirillov, and today in the studio of the Soyuz TV channel in St. Andrew's Monastery in Moscow I have my second meeting with Professor Alexei Ilyich Osipov of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary.

Hello, Alexey Ilyich!