In fact, for reasons of religious tolerance, the authors of such statements make a radical revision of the Orthodox faith. This approach to other religions appeared a long time ago. Since the time of Peter the Great, a distinction between heterodoxy and heterodoxy has appeared in theological works, according to which the mission should extend only to those of other faiths, and the heterodox should be perceived as Christians, even if they are mistaken in something, but who have hope for eternal salvation.

It got to the point that the government banned the publication of works refuting Protestant and false mystical errors. And all this in the name of a falsely understood "love" and "religious tolerance". However, it must be remembered that such definitions are alien to patristic writing. If we turn to the classical hereseological works of the Fathers, for example, to the "Panarius" of St.

Epiphanius of Cyprus and the chapter "On Heresies" in the "Source of Knowledge" of St. According to St. John of Damascus, we will see that they refer to heresies not only Arianism and other pseudo-Christian trends, but also paganism, Judaism, and Islam (in Damascene). Perhaps this distinction is justified in the sense that it is necessary in order to define the boundaries of the oikonomia of the Church, which is necessary to determine the possibility of a heretic joining in one way or another.

But it is not at all possible to think that there is any soteriological significance behind this distinction. Any person who distorts Revelation and rejects the apostolic faith cannot become a participant in the Eucharist, which means that he will perish. The point here is not in our love or hatred, but in the fact that any heresy is a mortal sin. And if a person does it, then he "will not inherit the Kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:21). How remarkably accurately St.

St. John of Damascus: "If anything is contrary to the truth, it is a dark invention of satanic error and an invention of an unfortunate mind"[6]. And finally, it is necessary to say something about how to receive into the Church those who have fallen away from her into heresy or wish to enter her salvific fence from the pernicious pit of error. In accordance with the sacred canons (

Canon 7 of the Second Ecumenical Council, Canon 95 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, Canon 1 of St. Basil the Great) there are three rites of reception into the Church. The first is the renunciation of heresy and holy Baptism. In this way, those heretics who have distorted the teaching about God are added to the Church. These include Jehovah's Witnesses. The second method is the renunciation of heresy and Holy Chrismation.

Through this rite of reception, those renegades enter the Body of Christ who adhere to heresies that do not affect the Trinitarian dogma and who have been baptized through triple immersion in the name of the Holy Trinity, as well as schismatics who have lost apostolic succession. The third way is a public renunciation of one's errors, and receiving forgiveness through the Sacrament of Repentance.

Among those saved are schismatics who have preserved apostolic succession, and some heretics (for example, Monophysites and Nestorians). Thus, those Jehovah's Witnesses who have not received the bath of life in the Church, but have been defiled by false baptism only in the bosom of their society, enter the Church in this way. First, like Jews and Muslims, they publicly renounce their errors and confess the Orthodox faith, and then, having previously confessed their sins, they accept worshipful Baptism through triple immersion in the name of the Holy Trinity.

Those members of the sect who were baptized in the Church, but went into heresy, return back through public renunciation of their errors and holy Chrismation, in accordance with the rule of St. Methodius of Constantinople on apostates. This practice of receiving these sectarians was blessed, with the consent of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei, by His Eminence Arseny, Archbishop of Istra, who annually conducts such rites in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Joy of All Who Sorrow) on Bolshaya Ordynka.

In the same way, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, the rite of accession in the Church of the Resurrection of the Word in Krutitsy is performed by the hieromonk Anatoly (Berestov).   Priest Daniel Sysoev. Candidate of Theology. Foreword   "Brethren! If any of you deviate from the truth, and any one converts him, let him know that he who turns a sinner from his false way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins" (James 5:19-20).   St.

St. John Chrysostom taught: "Heretical teachings that do not agree with those we have accepted must be cursed and impious dogmas denounced, but people must be spared in every possible way and prayed for their salvation" (St. John Chrysostom, vol. 1, p. 766). In our time, a huge number of different sects have spread in the country. But, unfortunately, many Orthodox Christians turned out to be unprepared for the challenge that the sectarians threw at us.

Some say that this problem should be solved at the level of legislation, in the presidential administration, parliament and courts, with the involvement of law enforcement agencies of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Such would-be missionaries push aside the Bible and take up the Civil or Criminal Code, hoping for "telephone law". In general, supporters of such repressive methods are engaged only in collecting compromising evidence on sect leaders and even on ordinary sectarians.

They do everything in order to create for heretics a halo of persecuted and "martyrs." From a religious point of view, their research seems to be obviously useless, and their activities play into the hands of the opponents of Orthodoxy. Sometimes it seems to me that communion with non-Orthodox Christians is dangerous for me, and then the truly diabolical egoism of subjective soteriology begins to be exalted above the faith of Him "who wills that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4)

, and I decisively banish this temptation from my heart. In the moral sense, the sectarians themselves sometimes stand much higher than such immoderate zealots of patristic traditions. Many of the accusations they make against heretics can be used against them. Of those like them it is said in the Gospel: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven to men, for you yourselves do not enter in, and those who would enter in you do not admit" (Matt. 23:13).