As far as I know, for all their missionary enthusiasm, the Protestants have not succeeded in incorporating into Christendom a single nation beyond those who were converted by the Orthodox and Catholic missionaries. Those peoples and those countries that are still considered Christian were so even before Luther. Over the past centuries, Protestants have managed to tear several peoples away from Catholicism (but I repeat: these peoples became the Christian efforts of pre-Protestant missionaries). Protestants (to a degree quite comparable, and sometimes inferior to Catholics and Orthodox) managed to create fairly large communities in many previously pagan countries. But they could not convert any country to Christ in its entirety. Protestants do not know successes similar to the mission of Cyril and Methodius or the feat of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, the enlightener of Georgia.

Today, Orthodox Christians make little use of their own experience. But this experience is there. To become a missionary, it is not necessary to leave Orthodoxy for Protestantism.

Moreover, if we put the question of missionary work in a theological perspective, if we think about which of the confessions has the potential richest missionary and "teaching" opportunities, it turns out that it is in Orthodoxy.

Protestantism chose one form of preaching: preaching through speech, appeal, story. Orthodoxy, recognizing and practicing the same verbal preaching, is also able, for example, to preach in colors.

What is the name of the greatest Russian Christian preacher of the twentieth century? Who brought the most hearts to Christ? Who, in the darkest years of state atheism, stirred the souls of thousands of people again and again and turned them to the Gospel? No, this is not Father Alexander Men, not Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich) and not Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh. It is clear that this is not Billy Graham either.

This is Andrei Rublev. His icons, as well as the "black boards" of other ancient iconographers, disturbed souls with their striking eyes, did not allow them to completely drown in the streams of atheistic mockery of the Gospel and Russia. Empirically, in fact, thousands and thousands of fates have proven that an icon can be a sermon. Why do Protestants, who are concerned with preaching, not use this method of addressing people?

And how many cases have there been when a person who could not be convinced by the most intelligent and skillful preachers repentantly changed simply from standing next to the priest, from his one word, from the warmth and depth of his eyes?!

It is not only words that can bear witness to Christ. So much light of the heart can be accumulated in a person that through his goodness and kindness people will recognize the Heavenly Father (cf. Matt. 5:16): "It was the presence of this tangible, obvious gift from above, that is, the super-ordinary human gift, that raised an indescribable agitation around John of Kronstadt: people reached out to him not for help for themselves, not because of their weakness, not in the midst of their suffering, – they reached out to it as a living testimony of the heavenly powers, as a living sign that Heaven is alive, divine and grace-filled" (V. Rozanov).104

As A. Bergson remarked, "the saints only exist, but their existence is a call."105 Here is an example of such a call from the life of Francis of Assisi.

One day Francis said to a novice: "Let's go to the city to preach." They walked and talked quietly among themselves all the way about spiritual matters. We walked through the whole city, turned back and so reached the monastery itself. The young brother asked in surprise, "Father, when are we going to preach?" But Francis said, "Haven't you noticed that we have been preaching all the time? We walked decently, talked about the most worthy subjects, those who met looked at us and received peace and tranquility. After all, preaching consists not only in words, but also in behavior itself."

Monasteries, separated by walls from the world – are they not preaching to the world?

How many people took the step from excursion to pilgrimage when visiting Russian monasteries? We went to the "state museum-reserve", and came to the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra and were surprised to find that it is possible to be a Christian even today.

Isn't the preaching of Christ the ringing of bells? Doesn't an Orthodox church preach Christ – even with a sawed-off cross? Does not the priest who walks through the city in a cassock remind us of Christ? Do not the old Orthodox cemeteries preach the resurrection of Christ?

After all, even children's baptisms and funeral services for old parents, condemned by Protestant dogmatics, are not for many the first contact with the Christian world and the first prayer to Christ? Vladimir Zelinsky has a testimony about the preaching of the Divine Service: "Most often, the educational function in our country is performed only by the divine service, the chant itself, the prayer structure or the warmth radiated by it... No one invites them to the Orthodox Church, they come there themselves."106