†† Catholic editions of the Bible place this episode under the heading of "church discipline," hinting that Christ's saying "that ye shall bind" does not refer to the reader personally, but only to the church authorities.

** Glossolalia is shouting in a state of ecstasy meaningless words, ridiculous sound combinations, perceived by sectarians as "proclamation of God." –Red.

‡‡ Italicized words in quotations from the Epistles of the Apostles Paul and James are highlighted by the author. –Red.

§§ Exegesis – here: explanation and interpretation. –Red.

** St. John Chrysostom, for example, emphasizes that the past should not be judged by the standards of the present. Elijah was right in bringing down fire from heaven on sinners, for this punishment was necessary in order to strike the imagination of the people who had not yet left the time of childhood, but James and John, wishing to imitate the prophet, were condemned by the Savior. "Now that they have been abolished, do not ask how the precepts of the Old Testament could be good. Ask only whether they were good for the time for which they were created. If they did not make us capable of receiving better precepts, we would not attain what they lack. Do you see how one and the same thing, according to the time, is good, and afterwards is given to those who are not like that?" (St. John Chrysostom)14.

In the words of the contemporary dissident Catholic theologian Hans Küng, "it is undeniable that Catholics have sometimes overestimated the Pastoral Epistles (the pastoral epistles of the Apostle Paul, which affirm the hierarchical principle of church life), as a result of which Ecclesiology has been largely transformed into hierarchology."

** "Having served absolutism with truth and falsehood, Latinism decided to be liberal."22

Secularization – emancipation from religion and church institutions; secularization. –Red.

††† Church life is not reduced to theological formulas. And although the style of thought of the Orthodox world after the fall of Constantinople until the end of the nineteenth century became completely Western, far from the theology of the Fathers, the liturgical life, the experience of prayer and spiritual life remained unchanged. And the revival of the eldership at the end of the eighteenth century naturally led to a revival of interest in patristic theology and to a deepening of its understanding. The "Babylonian captivity" of Orthodox (already predominantly Russian) theology came to an end at the end of the nineteenth century.

‡‡‡ V. Zelinsky's expression from his work "Thy Dwelling Places"31.

§§§ Once I took an exam at a Moscow university. The young man who answered best in the group asked for a separate conversation after the end of the exam. His question was: "Tell me, how can I wash off my baptism? I was baptized as a child, when I didn't understand anything, and now I feel how much it hinders me." Then it became clear that this young man was a conscious Satanist. I suggested that he write a petition addressed to the Patriarch: "I ask you not to consider me an Orthodox Christian anymore." He refused, saying that it would be too easy, that something really had to be done to wash away the traces of baptism... In this way I received direct confirmation of the efficacy of the Orthodox sacraments (and the most contested of them – infant baptism) on the part of the opposing force.

The religious feeling of the Romans, wrote A.F. Losev, "is very cautious, distrustful. The Roman does not so much believe as distrust. Mood and state of mind in general played an insignificant role in this religion. It was necessary to perform the form of a cult – and God could not help but help, he was legally obliged to help."34

†††† The same law that the "first president of the USSR" wanted to revive by initiating the adoption of the act "On the Protection of the Honor and Dignity of the President".

‡‡‡‡ The Haggadah is a collection of Jewish legends that developed at the beginning of the first millennium AD. –Red.