If you consider our liturgical books and our liturgical rite to be spoiled, let those who wish to learn the truth go to Holy Athos, to Jerusalem, to Sinai, and they will see that in these holy places, where the ancient rules are most preserved, the liturgical rite is the same as in our Church, and there are no differences that you hold on to and for the sake of which you depart from ecclesiastical unity with us. Judge impartially, then, whether you are doing well that for the sake of such differences you do not want to have, contrary to the apostolic commandment, spiritual unity with us "in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3); and at the same time reflect on what great blessings you deprive yourselves of by avoiding communion with our Holy Church, what dangers you expose your salvation to. You deprive yourselves of the correct hierarchy, which must necessarily be in the true Church of Christ (Titus 1:5), and you do not have it (for it is known from whence and how you acquired your bishops and priests, and by whom your teachers of the faith are appointed). Meanwhile, in our Church, to this day, by the grace of God, it is continuously transmitted from the Apostles through the mysterious episcopal ordination. You deprive yourselves of the grace of God, which is taught in the sacraments of the Church, which can be salvific only when they are performed by holy persons who have lawfully received the authority to do so through successive ordination by the apostles, "builders of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4; 1. James. 5; 14, 15. Acts. 8; 14). Shunning our Holy Church, which alone can be called the true Church of Christ, because it has all the appurtenances of such a Church (namely: the right faith, the Law of God, the correct hierarchy and the lawfully performed Sacraments), you cannot firmly hope for the salvation of your souls, for you know that, according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, "outside the true Church of Christ, as outside a ship on a stormy sea, "There is no salvation."

You are confused by the oaths pronounced at the Moscow Council of 1666, but they were pronounced not on those rites that you adhere to, unlike us, but on those who, for the sake of these rites, have apostatized from our Orthodox Church and dare to pronounce grave blasphemy against her. Abandon your vain dislike for her, do not oppose her motherly desire to be reconciled with you, on the contrary, express your filial readiness to be reunited with her. Then our Holy Church will receive you into its arms with such joy as the merciful father in the well-known parable of the Saviour (Luke 15:11-24) received his son, who had departed from him "to a far country," when this son returned to his house with repentance.

Fraternity! I, an eighty-five-year-old elder, standing with one foot in the grave, and a servant of God, obliged to teach others the truth, cannot deceive you, much less inspire you with anything evil. Listen to me, or rather listen to God Himself, Who calls you through me into communion with our Church, and be reconciled to her. For this she will demand nothing from you except filial obedience to her in spiritual matters, and will allow you those ceremonial features that now distinguish your Divine Service from ours, if you do not want to leave them for complete agreement with her in everything. In this case, what can hinder your reunification with our Holy Church? Absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, how much good you will do by being reconciled to it! You will console this common Mother, who sincerely grieves over your needless alienation from her, and you will enjoy the rights of her faithful children, you will receive what is now lacking for your salvation, and you will cast off the shameful name of "schismatics." Cease your strife and division with the Orthodox, which are very harmful not only to them and to you, but also to our Fatherland, because they disturb the peace and weaken its strength (Matt. 12:25). In doing so, give great pleasure to our good Tsar, who, as truly the most pious, sincerely cares for the advancement of the Orthodox Christian faith in our Fatherland and the peaceful life of all his subjects "in all piety and purity" (Tim. 2:2). This is how much good you can do by your reconciliation with our Church! But if you do not listen to the voice that calls you to peace with her, but persist in an unfriendly distance from her, then, with sorrow, I say, woe to you! I say this because the Holy Fathers gravely condemn those who distance themselves from the Church of God and remain in schism. "He who does not have the Church of God as his Mother," they say, "cannot have God as his Father"; "the sin of those who have apostatized from the Church of Christ, even if they put themselves to death for confessing the name of Christ, will not be washed away even by the blood itself"; "He who has separated himself from the Church, even though his life be worthy of praise, for the mere iniquity that he has been torn away from union with Christ, will not have eternal life, but the wrath of God remains upon him" (St. Cyprian of Carthage "On the Unity of the Church" and Blessed Augustine "Epistle"). Such a terrible fate awaits you, brethren, if you die at a distance from our Holy Church, which is motherly concerned about the salvation of her children. Hasten to be reconciled to it for the salvation of your souls!

476. What the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian Teaches Us

The holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian teaches us much by his life. He was a beloved disciple of Jesus Christ. Why was he beloved? Because John himself loved the Lord deeply. Look, there is not a single one of the apostles at the Cross, but John is here. What more powerful proof of love is needed?

We, brethren, often complain and say: the Lord has forgotten us, He does not give us what we ask of Him. But rather than say such words, it is better to ask ourselves: do we ourselves remember Him? How do we prove our love for Him? Oh, how often we have this love only in words, but in deeds we do no sacrifice, no podvig, no even the easiest good deed in His name. We can't fast, we don't want to pray, we don't have time to go to church, we don't give alms — we ourselves are in need, it's hard to endure offense... We ourselves do not remember the Lord, but we wish that the Lord would remember us; we ourselves are cold to Him, but we want Him to shower us with all earthly blessings. For what? The Lord does so much for us that it is impossible to count His mercies, we are showered with His mercies from head to foot. His long-suffering towards us alone is a powerful proof of His ardent love for us! No, we must not lose heart when it seems to us that God has forgotten us – this is not true – will He forget His creation? We ourselves must take care in order to love Him, our Creator and benefactor, with all our hearts. If we want to hear the truth, then we must say that our first, most important and most common sin is the lack of love for Him in ourselves. For coldness and ingratitude to God, we, so beloved of God, will have to answer much!

John the Theologian was a virgin — and look, what a reward for the observance of virginity! Christ the Savior entrusts His Most-Pure Mother, the Ever-Virgin, to His care. You see, brethren, how pleasing to the Lord is virginity, the observance of purity of soul and body, how pleasing chastity is to Him! But where are these chaste young men now? How few of them! How many of them lost their innocence long ago, defiled the garment of purity that they received in Baptism! What tears are worthy of these young men and maidens, who have lost the most precious thing in themselves, which should adorn them most of all at this age as Christians!

Think about this, all who know the sins of bodily impurity behind you, come to your senses, repent and learn to serve the Holy God in purity and holiness. God! Save our young men. Give them the spirit of chastity, that they may be loved by Thee, as Thy great Apostle, the virgin John, was loved by Thee.

Saint John was one of the most zealous preachers of the Gospel. He devoted his whole life to this work, everywhere he proclaimed Christ: on the ship, and in prison, both chained and free, he knew only one thing – the preaching of the Gospel. But how could it be otherwise? This is his duty, this is his calling, this is his direct duty. Could the Apostle not speak of what filled his soul with the truth of which he was sincerely and deeply convinced? Can he who loves Him not speak of the Beloved? And we, brethren, do not have so little zeal for the spread of the faith in Christ, for the establishment of piety everywhere, that we ourselves have little faith, and are not ourselves imbued with the spirit of piety and Christian love? They call upon us to make all possible sacrifices for the cause of spreading the faith in Christ, and how lazily, slowly, and with what reluctance we respond to this work! We are obliged by our position to be mentors, guides on the path of good for others, and how lazily we instill this good, Christian in others! No, if a father himself is filled with Christian faith and love, he will not tolerate this faith and love not to instill in his children — he will talk to them unceasingly about love for Christ, about living according to His holy commandments, and about the duties of a Christian. If any boss or master, himself a deeply believing and sincerely pious person, he tries by all means to instill this faith and piety in his subordinates, and his conversation with them will be sweetest about life in Christ, and the greatest and most holy joy will be when he sees that his loved ones live in Christ, and his deepest sorrow is that when he sees the decline of faith, the lack of piety and the fear of God in his subjects. Oh, how useful such zeal would be in our time, when faith is so declining, vices and impieties are everywhere increasing!

God! Raise up such zealots for the glory of Thy name, and do not let Thy saints become lacking! Yes, it is a great deed to be zealous and spread of the light of Christ in every place, among people of all kinds, but even higher and more valuable is zeal for the salvation of those who have apostatized from the faith, who perish in schism, heresies, and in various gross vices and passions. And in this case, the Apostle serves as a model for us. Already in his old age, he went to a gathering of robbers in order to save their ataman, his former disciple, and by persuasion in the spirit of meekness, by a promise of forgiveness, and by assurance of God's mercy, he turned him to the good path. Oh, great is the power of zeal, the power of meekness, patience! What cannot be done with this force? And should not every Christian be animated by this power? When we see someone throwing himself into the water, into the fire, under the train, we hasten to save him, how can we not hasten to snatch our neighbor from the abyss of vices to which he has approached? How not to use efforts, all kinds of ways to bring him to reason, to beg, to turn him away from all evil? Do we not feel sorry for those who are perishing? Does not the heart ache, tears do not flow at the thought of their destruction? Why then do we remain immovable for the work of their salvation, and often do not want to say one word for their edification? We are afraid to disturb our usual peace, we are afraid of work, of podvig, we are ready for anything only because of our beloved self-interest, only because of it we are not afraid of any labor, we do not spare any of our efforts. But why do we at least not pray for the salvation of our perishing brethren? But we are often incapable of this either... Lazy to pray for ourselves, we are even lazier to pray for others. And the reason for this, again, is that there is no love in us – only indifference, coldness to the position of another, only concern only for our own peace – we would rather condemn our brother, laugh maliciously at him rather than pity, grieve and pray for him... Ah, brethren, how difficult it is to be saved without having Christian love in one's heart! How often should we remember the zeal for the salvation of the perishing, which was shown by the Apostle of Christ John! Let us do this, and then we will be ashamed of our own coldness towards the miserable spiritual state of our brethren. Brethren! What did John say and repeat most often and always, and especially in the last days of his life? "Children, love one another!" Let us say the same at the end of our conversation: love one another, live for one another's salvation, and love will save us. Amen.

(From the teachings of the priest Fr. P. Shumov)

Troparion:

Apostle, beloved Christ God, hasten to deliver the unanswerable people; Thou hast received thee, Who has fallen on the forehead, and received Him, O theologian, pray and disperse the darkness of tongues (the darkness of pagan errors), asking us for peace and great mercy.

477. What is Unia