Orthodox Word magazine set down here
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Prepare for Temptation
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Prepare thy soul for temptation:
Speech at the Council of the Japanese Orthodox Church (July 1887)
Speech at the Council of the Japanese Orthodox Church (July 1887)
In the Holy Scripture it is said: "Son, when thou comest to serve the Lord God, prepare thy soul for temptation: direct thine heart, and be patient. And be not hasty in time of adversity: cleave thyself unto him, and turn not aside, that thou mayest grow up in thy latter end" (Sir. 2:1-3). All of us here, of course, have begun to serve God, and thus we know well that to serve God means to compel ourselves to labor. But we also know that in this service there is great joy. For God, the all-seeing, not only sees those who serve Him, but also helps them, and the merciful loves them. However, the path of serving God is full of dangers and stumbling blocks, weaknesses and falls, and therefore the Holy Scripture teaches us that if you want to serve the Lord God, then prepare your soul for temptations.
There are two kinds of temptations: the first kind are trials coming from above; the second kind are temptations from below. The Scripture tells us the following about temptations from above: “As gold and silver are tried by fire, so God tries the heart of man” (Proverbs 17:3). Gold can be pure, mixed with alloy, and counterfeit. When tested by fire, pure gold suffers no harm, but on the contrary, becomes even more beautiful; gold with foreign alloys separates its pure part; and counterfeit gold eventually turns into something that has no value. Similarly, a person’s virtues can be real, they can be mixed with conceit and pride or other passions, or they can be completely counterfeit, not real, as was the case with the hypocritical Pharisees. Thus, temptations coming from above determine the quality of a person’s virtues. God knows the heart of man from the very beginning, therefore temptations are not sent so that God may know what our virtues are, but this is done for the sake of man himself, so that if he sees in them an admixture of lies and counterfeiting, he will repent and turn to good. May we not be deprived of such temptations coming from above.
But besides this, there is another kind of temptation, namely, the temptations that come from the devil, who puts darkness into a person’s thoughts, pours various kinds of impurity into his heart, brings him into confusion and, thus, leads a person to evil deeds with the purpose of turning away from God the souls of people who work for Him.
We who have begun to work for God must always remember that we are in the midst of these temptations and enticements. The Scripture says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8-9). All catechists and priests are under the close attention of the devil, who, wanting to defeat them, releases many fiery arrows. The most harmful of these arrows is self-satisfaction and pride. For many catechists go out to preach while still quite young, and people already call them teachers and instructors. It is not surprising that the devil, taking advantage of this, easily instills pride in them; and how many ministers of the Church have already been struck down by this arrow! Every year I graduate many catechists, but many of them fall. What is the reason for this? All this comes from self-satisfaction and pride. If any Christian tries to admonish them, then they are enraged by this. The devil has many other fiery arrows with which he strikes down those who are unable to resist him. Such are all those without exception who were excluded from the list of catechists. And how many, brethren, have begun to work for God, but were unable to pass through temptation and fell.
How sad this is! Therefore it is very important that we always prepare ourselves for temptations, for this is the foundation of our strength. If we do not prepare ourselves, we will always be overcome by temptations. The devil will strike such people with his arrows and kill them. Now, before the beginning of the Council, I, recalling the past and imagining the future, decided that all this must be told to you as the most important and most significant.
The Holy Scripture clearly tells us what methods we must use to prepare ourselves for temptations.
First, “direct your heart” (Sir. 2:2), that is, guard your heart, correct your deeds and acquire virtues, and in this way you will avoid falling into temptation. Just as a ship, if it is well looked after and well managed, will not be afraid of storms or raging waves, but if it is not well looked after, there is danger of its being wrecked; and just as a horse, if it is not well managed, is apt to run away and eventually capsize or fall into a pit, so with the heart of man: if it is not well managed, what will happen to it? Only that the devil, coming to us, will put all sorts of evil designs into our thoughts and will throw our hearts and our actions into disorder.
Secondly, “be patient.” Man is naturally inclined to evil, therefore, in order to overcome temptations, it is necessary to be willing to endure various kinds of labors and sorrows, to restrain ourselves and direct our hearts to the truth. If we do not endure labors and sorrows, we will not be able to overcome anything, for without labors and sorrows who can overcome the enemy?
Thirdly, “Cling to God and do not turn away” (Sir. 2:3). Having clung to God, we will be safe in any temptations, just as a ship that has reached the harbor is no longer afraid of storms.
I wanted to tell you this word, brothers, before the beginning of the Council, and I want you to put this word in your hearts and keep it.
_________________________
Re-posted from our Odessa website
http://odessa.ruschurchabroad.org/ru/ugotovi-dushu-tvoju-vo-iskushenie-slovo-na-sobore-japonskoj-pravoslavnoj-cerkvi-ijul-1887-goda
There are two kinds of temptations: the first kind are trials coming from above; the second kind are temptations from below. The Scripture tells us the following about temptations from above: “As gold and silver are tried by fire, so God tries the heart of man” (Proverbs 17:3). Gold can be pure, mixed with alloy, and counterfeit. When tested by fire, pure gold suffers no harm, but on the contrary, becomes even more beautiful; gold with foreign alloys separates its pure part; and counterfeit gold eventually turns into something that has no value. Similarly, a person’s virtues can be real, they can be mixed with conceit and pride or other passions, or they can be completely counterfeit, not real, as was the case with the hypocritical Pharisees. Thus, temptations coming from above determine the quality of a person’s virtues. God knows the heart of man from the very beginning, therefore temptations are not sent so that God may know what our virtues are, but this is done for the sake of man himself, so that if he sees in them an admixture of lies and counterfeiting, he will repent and turn to good. May we not be deprived of such temptations coming from above.
But besides this, there is another kind of temptation, namely, the temptations that come from the devil, who puts darkness into a person’s thoughts, pours various kinds of impurity into his heart, brings him into confusion and, thus, leads a person to evil deeds with the purpose of turning away from God the souls of people who work for Him.
We who have begun to work for God must always remember that we are in the midst of these temptations and enticements. The Scripture says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8-9). All catechists and priests are under the close attention of the devil, who, wanting to defeat them, releases many fiery arrows. The most harmful of these arrows is self-satisfaction and pride. For many catechists go out to preach while still quite young, and people already call them teachers and instructors. It is not surprising that the devil, taking advantage of this, easily instills pride in them; and how many ministers of the Church have already been struck down by this arrow! Every year I graduate many catechists, but many of them fall. What is the reason for this? All this comes from self-satisfaction and pride. If any Christian tries to admonish them, then they are enraged by this. The devil has many other fiery arrows with which he strikes down those who are unable to resist him. Such are all those without exception who were excluded from the list of catechists. And how many, brethren, have begun to work for God, but were unable to pass through temptation and fell.
How sad this is! Therefore it is very important that we always prepare ourselves for temptations, for this is the foundation of our strength. If we do not prepare ourselves, we will always be overcome by temptations. The devil will strike such people with his arrows and kill them. Now, before the beginning of the Council, I, recalling the past and imagining the future, decided that all this must be told to you as the most important and most significant.
The Holy Scripture clearly tells us what methods we must use to prepare ourselves for temptations.
First, “direct your heart” (Sir. 2:2), that is, guard your heart, correct your deeds and acquire virtues, and in this way you will avoid falling into temptation. Just as a ship, if it is well looked after and well managed, will not be afraid of storms or raging waves, but if it is not well looked after, there is danger of its being wrecked; and just as a horse, if it is not well managed, is apt to run away and eventually capsize or fall into a pit, so with the heart of man: if it is not well managed, what will happen to it? Only that the devil, coming to us, will put all sorts of evil designs into our thoughts and will throw our hearts and our actions into disorder.
Secondly, “be patient.” Man is naturally inclined to evil, therefore, in order to overcome temptations, it is necessary to be willing to endure various kinds of labors and sorrows, to restrain ourselves and direct our hearts to the truth. If we do not endure labors and sorrows, we will not be able to overcome anything, for without labors and sorrows who can overcome the enemy?
Thirdly, “Cling to God and do not turn away” (Sir. 2:3). Having clung to God, we will be safe in any temptations, just as a ship that has reached the harbor is no longer afraid of storms.
I wanted to tell you this word, brothers, before the beginning of the Council, and I want you to put this word in your hearts and keep it.
_________________________
Re-posted from our Odessa website
http://odessa.ruschurchabroad.org/ru/ugotovi-dushu-tvoju-vo-iskushenie-slovo-na-sobore-japonskoj-pravoslavnoj-cerkvi-ijul-1887-goda
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more good articles on this website:
Another Heresy
http://odessa.ruschurchabroad.org/ru/mitropolit-agafangel-eschjo-odna-eres
How ROCOR was formed
http://odessa.ruschurchabroad.org/ru/o-nas/istorija-rpcz/
Another Heresy
http://odessa.ruschurchabroad.org/ru/mitropolit-agafangel-eschjo-odna-eres
How ROCOR was formed
http://odessa.ruschurchabroad.org/ru/o-nas/istorija-rpcz/
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How Did We Know He Was A False Elder?
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.Do you remember Fr. Raphael Berestov?
He was the Mt. Athos hieromonk, who, back in 2017, published an open letter calling ROCOR-MP bishops to remember the ROCOR Anathema of 1983 against ecumenism. He said Pat. Krill Gundychaev was a heretic and refused to commemorate him. Fr. Raphael was also known for being a disciple of a famous confessor of previous Russian Patriarchs, (Pimen, Alexy I and II).
In hindsight we can now see he is/was a false elder.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F1cYkwNVaQ
1 minute
1 minute
August 2024
He surely was a tricky one, wasn't he? But how could we have known back then? How should we have known?
One clue we have to false elders is if they fail to condemn the new calendar. Then we can and should know he is a false elder.
Now, with Fr. Raphael, we can add yet another clue: If they try to "work from within," then you know they are false. The case of Fr. George Calciu should show us clearly that "working from within" is a false path. Surely it is good to stay inside long enough to see if you can convince some others, like Fr. Raphael does with his open letter... and like Metr. Philaret did with his Sorrowful Epistles. Make an effort before giving up completely. BUT, be realistic about how long to wait for others to come around, and realize when you are up against something too big for you.
The ROCOR-MP union is an example. We spent 6+ years trying to convince our friends and family not to do it. But in the end, May 17, 2007, when they signed that paper — THAT is when it is obvious that you should throw in the towel — to stick around after that and "work from within" is fooling yourself. The OCA schism was the same thing. Many priests, for the sake of their flocks, decided to work from within since they knew their parishioners would never understand... The result? They themselves sank into darkness. And they confirmed their parishioners in their folly. See now how with the ROCOR-MP it is the same thing — 20 years ago ROCOR members NEVER would have allowed the crimes of the Soviet regime to be whitewashed and even praised like Metr. Sergius being applauded for"saving the Church."
The new calendar might seem like a little thing. Working from within might seem like a legitimate option. But it's wrong: "give 'em an inch and they take a mile." Don't let that "salesman" get his foot in the door!
How did we know Fr. Raphael was a false elder? Because for all his voice, sense, determination, suffering — he remained in the false Church. This betrays everyone: God, family/friend and self.
Have you come to your senses?
Archdeacon Herman: Have you come to your senses?
No, you lied.
Автор: Митрополит Агафангел. Дата публикации: 23 июня 2025. Категория: Авторская колонка.
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related posts:
1.) https://startingontheroyalpath.blogspot.com/2025/06/could-rocor-mp-be-waking-up.html
2.) https://startingontheroyalpath.blogspot.com/2025/06/let-us-pray-along-with-our-ruling.html
2.) https://startingontheroyalpath.blogspot.com/2025/06/let-us-pray-along-with-our-ruling.html
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So, it took a quarter of a century for the eyes to begin to see clearly. Well, as the proverb says — better late than never. But it is still too early to think that our former brothers of the New York Synod, who consciously betrayed the legacy of the Fathers, voluntarily placed themselves under the "spiritual" authority of the former KGB agents, and accepted the Russian Federation as the Motherland and the Moscow Patriarchate as the Mother Church, have suddenly come to their senses or are close to repenting of their actions. None of this has happened.
And in order to understand what happened, let's take a closer look at what exactly is said in this Statement of June 5 of this year. In fact, you read it and rejoice: in strong words they denounce the return to the false and ungodly ideology of the last century, they denounce the tendency to whitewash the crimes of the godless, they quite rightly condemn, as they write, "the horrific installation of monuments to criminal figures," especially meaning the monument in honor of Stalin at the Taganskaya metro station, which is a restoration of a bas-relief removed several decades ago during the so-called "de-Stalinization." They condemn the restoration of the monument to the Chekist Dzerzhinsky in 2022 to its "historical place" in front of the ominous Lubyanka building. They condemn the decision taken to restore, when it would have been necessary to demolish, the temple on Red Square with the mummy of a fanatic and hater of Russia, whose name is disgusting even to pronounce. In fact, how can one call all this anything other than a spit in the soul and memory of all those tortured by those same monsters, and a mockery of the feelings of believers and descendants of Lenin-Stalin’s victims?
One can only agree with this diagnosis, but it is surprising that in the long list of facts testifying to the “obvious tendency to whitewash the crimes of the godless authorities of the 20th century” there is not the slightest hint about what the leadership of the MP, with which they are spiritually connected, might be thinking. And this should be of primary interest and concern to them. After all, they are subordinate not to state authorities, but to the patriarchal ones. But here there is complete silence. Not a single word about the MP in this incriminating verdict, which cannot but alarm and suggest the sincerity of all this indignation.
Is it possible that this observed regrettable return to the past does not affect the church authorities, bypasses them, and they remain alien to these pernicious influences, which could explain that they remain faithful to the decision that led them to, according to the accepted phraseology, "a God-pleasing reunification of the Churches"? But everyone knows very well that, on the contrary, despite all the "social concepts" it adopted during the euphoric period of the fall of Soviet power, it continues, as in the "good old Soviet times", to be obedient to the general line in everything! And in principle, it demands the same obedience from the structures under its control. And the fact that the MP does not deviate one iota from the line of power, whatever it may be, is a fact that is not disputed by anyone.
For example, in the grand opening ceremony of the monument to Dzerzhinsky — what a thought! — quite naturally and without any shudder of conscience, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church took part. According to a quick count, after several years of crazy liberalism, more than a hundred of such different Bolshevik idols have been restored throughout the country and no one will doubt that such "patriotic events" are always accompanied by the presence and participation of representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate. It is worth recalling here the case that we wrote about in the article Stalin's Patriarchate, a priest in the Pskov region, consecrating an eight-meter-high monument to Stalin by sprinkling it with holy water, accompanying this event with joyful cries of "Christ is Risen!" And in the subsequent pastoral sermon, gratitude was given to the Generalissimo for the fact that now, thanks to him, we are given the opportunity to pray and resort to such a host of holy New Martyrs ...
It is both bitter and funny, but such cases and examples have not disturbed the conscience of our former New York brothers in the least. Why? How to explain?
But this is far from all for the moral characterization of the MP. No one can seriously think that it has been reborn, having thrown off all the past "Sergianism", which always separated the MP from the Church Abroad. This takes us back a quarter of a century to the height of the dispute between those who stood for the legitimate First Hierarch Metropolitan Vitaly and those who followed the treacherous path. They convinced themselves and all of us that all the former barriers existing between us had fallen. All obstacles to the rapprochement of the two Churches had disappeared. Neither Sergianism, nor ecumenism, nor the New Martyrs, nor the holiness of the Tsar-Martyr — all these cardinal questions dividing us have now been finally settled, and whoever does not agree with this and who criticizes and opposes those who are confidently moving towards rapprochement, is deliberately inventing false pretexts. That is what they told us then!
We will not repeat here everything that we had to write twenty-five years ago and that today should be recognized by everyone. The merger with the MP was and remains a betrayal and stupidity. It is symptomatic to read in the Synodal Statement: "Christians should live with open eyes, not to cloud their vision with substitutions." What instructive words and how they remind us of those "rose-colored glasses" through which the main initiator of the betrayal, Bishop Mark Arndt, looked at reality, according to the wise definition of our holy elder Metropolitan Vitaly.
The issue of the New Martyrs, they say, no longer divides us. But is this really so? Can we recognize the obvious Sergians glorified by the Patriarchate, be of one mind and one-minded with those who paint "icons" of Stalin or continue to not recognize or not understand the holiness of the holy Tsar? The Statement speaks of some freak who openly declared on television that he "would have shot Nicholas II himself." This, with your permission, person is presented as "a certain well-known professor respected by many in Russia." At first glance, there is no reason to reproach the Church for such a freak; it is known that many such "professors" have proliferated during Soviet times, but we took the trouble to learn more about him. It turns out that this is a certain Yuri Simonov, a well-known TV presenter, who goes by the flattering name of "Vyazemsky," a journalist, a professor at MGIMO (a well-known breeding ground for spies), and the head of the department of world literature and culture (!) of the faculty of international journalism. All this is as funny as it is characteristic, but the most important thing is the following: in addition to everything else, he is also a member of the Patriarchal Council for Culture and the holder of several church awards. And this characteristic of the impostor Vyazemsky is not indicated in the Synodal Statement. It is clear why. It should be shameful for someone who calls himself a "Zarubezhnik" to be in communication with such a person, who is still among the Patriarch's advisers on cultural issues.
But this, in the end, is not so important. The main reason for the break between the Western and Eastern Churches was the question of filioque. The main reason for the schism in the Russian Church was the question of the Declaration of Loyalty to Soviet Power of Metropolitan Sergius. This shows the full importance of the question of Sergianism, a question as ethical as it is theological. We have been told and are told that it has been finally resolved and no one today, after the adoption of the famous Social Concept, will dare to defend it. So, on the next anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Sergius, May 15, Patriarch Kirill held a memorial service, prefacing it with the following words in memory of his predecessor and founder:
"He managed to lead our Church out of that grave crisis situation. It was necessary to look for ways out of this conflict and His Holiness Patriarch Sergius found such ways out, "He managed to lead our Church out of that grave crisis situation. It was necessary to look for ways out of this conflict and His Holiness Patriarch Sergius found such ways out, taking such a position, but the fact that he had established direct contact with the highest authorities was simply saving meaning for the existence of our Church itself /.../ There are always some critics, which cast doubt positive service of the most holy Sergius, but, by the grace of God, all this criticism has practically disappeared, because Time is the best prover of rightness or the guilt of certain church and government officials, which leave light in History /.../ /.../ That's why the memory of him must be carefully preserved and I call upon all our bishops, clergy, and people to pray for the Patriarch and remember the feat of his life, and they gave thanks to the Lord for the fact that in that most difficult period of our history and the existence of our Church, the leadership was entrusted to this the great saint of our land".
The word speaks for itself. We have underlined in bold the guiding principle of the patriarchal thinking, their basic line of conduct, from which it is clear that the patriarchs have not revised their attitude toward Sergianism one iota and that our synodals have not reached any agreement on this fundamental issue over the past quarter of a century. Or rather, they have either accepted and assimilated the patriarchal interpretation, or do not consider themselves in a position or right to challenge it. In any case, they have suffered a complete defeat in this fundamental issue for the Church Abroad. The Patriarchate will not abandon this line now: Sergius was a great saint of our land, everyone should remember the feat (!) of his life and carefully preserve the memory of him. He is one of those figures who leave light in History, and if there were critics (!) of his policy, then this was mainly among those who went abroad and lived in safety, but time best proves the rightness and today all criticism has practically disappeared.
Patriarch Kirill will finally canonize here patriarchal teaching of lies for salvation. This is now an indisputable patriarchal truth, now imputed to all followers of the MP. Such a "patriarchal credo" is a slap in the face not only to foreign defectors, but to all domestic Martyrs who suffered from the rejection of Sergius' Declaration, unlike Sergius himself, who testified to the church truth until their death.
Vladyka Mark prophesied that in the event of unification with Moscow, we would become the yeast that would make the Russian dough rise. As then, his words sound bitterly ironic today. Alas, the Russian dough did not rise, the first pancake was lumpy. Nevertheless, this does not prevent them from continuing along the same unrealistic line and issuing a brave appeal: “We raise our voices and are ready to offer our help and prayerful support in opposing these tendencies, wherever they manifest themselves.” Unfortunate ones - who will follow you?! What help in your current deplorable state are you capable of bringing to Russia? Do you not hear a healthy answer to your call: Physician, heal thyself! Our holy First Hierarchs preserved the Church Abroad as a pledge of the thousand-year-old Truth of the Russian Church. You have destroyed this monolith and are now capable of conveying no more than a nondescript gruel..
So, it is time to answer the question — what prompted the New York Synod to unexpectedly publish such a Statement. We see the explanation not in their moral sobriety, but in something completely different. The fact is that the instigators of the betrayal pursued different goals, one of them was to get out of the state of isolation in which the uncompromising stand held the Church Abroad. Yes, the Church Abroad was isolated, the official world did not communicate with it, but it was respected, looked upon as a stronghold of Truth. You, on the other hand, thirsted for recognition, communication, a way out of this isolation, which had become burdensome to you.
The world has opened its arms wide to you and you were ready to renounce your previous existence. You had to prove to everyone that you were not at all the diehards that the Abroaders were previously presented as. Explaining why the unification with the MP had not taken place earlier, Vladyka Laurus was not ashamed to say that it was because "the old emigration, to which I do not belong, interfered." Let us clarify what the "old emigration" is. This is the very backbone on which the Abroad Spirit was built. For his part, in order to prove his liberalism, Vladyka Hilarion was not ashamed to be photographed, with an eternal smile on his lips, together with some Freemason master, despite the fact that the Church Abroad, and specifically Saint Metropolitan Anthony, had proclaimed anathema to Freemasonry. One after another, concelebrations began with all sorts of new calendarists, ecumenists, and all sorts of bishops, with whom you would never have thought of talking before. And you sighed — we are recognized by everyone, we can serve with whomever and wherever we want!
And here comes the first quirk: the MP does not collude with the Patriarch of Constantinople and is right to break off prayerful communion with him. In connection with this, your horizons narrow sharply, half of the Orthodox Churches break off communion with you, after all, you are nothing more than the Moscow Patriarchate. Several years pass — the second quirk: a special military operation. Whatever anyone thinks about it, this operation quarantined Putin's Russia, and since the Patriarchate naturally supports the operation, now the entire Western world has turned away from you and stopped communicating. And so, wanting to breathe deeply, enjoy complete freedom, communicate with the entire world, you suddenly turned into some kind of outcasts. Previously, the Church Abroad was isolated, but it was a noble isolation, not a shameful one, as here.
So, how can we get out of this situation? So you came up with the idea of making such a loud statement to show your rejection of Putin's policies, hoping to thereby regain your status as civilized people. A futile attempt: as long as you remain in the Patriarchate, you will share its fate. And here is the key to understanding what prompted you to publish this synodal Statement: you are not at all didn't come to their senses, do not repent of betraying the mission of the Church Abroad, but they lied in the hope of getting out of the situation. The mystery remains — why in your Statement you do not say a word about the MP, despite the fact that it is completely guilty of all the sins that you denounce. This is because you do not intend to break with the Patriarchate at all, for this would mean repentantly admitting your original mistake, but you are in no way ready for this. Let us not forget that your unchangeable slogan is: "Reunification is a God-pleasing deed"!
So, you are watching how the country is leaning back towards Soviet Russia and this naturally saddens you, as it does us. But for us it was even more painful to see how part of the White Church moved to the Soviet Church. You look at the reality around you and are rightfully horrified, but what right do you have to take the position of denouncers of vices? Look quickly at yourselves, remember your deeds, remember all the lies that brought you to where you are today, and which you do not think it is useful to repent of. Your words of denunciation are correct, but it is not for you to utter them, rather think about the deep meaning of the proverb: There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked. .And if you want to be taken seriously, then you know very well what you can do.
Protodeacon Herman Ivanov-Thirteenth
And in order to understand what happened, let's take a closer look at what exactly is said in this Statement of June 5 of this year. In fact, you read it and rejoice: in strong words they denounce the return to the false and ungodly ideology of the last century, they denounce the tendency to whitewash the crimes of the godless, they quite rightly condemn, as they write, "the horrific installation of monuments to criminal figures," especially meaning the monument in honor of Stalin at the Taganskaya metro station, which is a restoration of a bas-relief removed several decades ago during the so-called "de-Stalinization." They condemn the restoration of the monument to the Chekist Dzerzhinsky in 2022 to its "historical place" in front of the ominous Lubyanka building. They condemn the decision taken to restore, when it would have been necessary to demolish, the temple on Red Square with the mummy of a fanatic and hater of Russia, whose name is disgusting even to pronounce. In fact, how can one call all this anything other than a spit in the soul and memory of all those tortured by those same monsters, and a mockery of the feelings of believers and descendants of Lenin-Stalin’s victims?
One can only agree with this diagnosis, but it is surprising that in the long list of facts testifying to the “obvious tendency to whitewash the crimes of the godless authorities of the 20th century” there is not the slightest hint about what the leadership of the MP, with which they are spiritually connected, might be thinking. And this should be of primary interest and concern to them. After all, they are subordinate not to state authorities, but to the patriarchal ones. But here there is complete silence. Not a single word about the MP in this incriminating verdict, which cannot but alarm and suggest the sincerity of all this indignation.
Is it possible that this observed regrettable return to the past does not affect the church authorities, bypasses them, and they remain alien to these pernicious influences, which could explain that they remain faithful to the decision that led them to, according to the accepted phraseology, "a God-pleasing reunification of the Churches"? But everyone knows very well that, on the contrary, despite all the "social concepts" it adopted during the euphoric period of the fall of Soviet power, it continues, as in the "good old Soviet times", to be obedient to the general line in everything! And in principle, it demands the same obedience from the structures under its control. And the fact that the MP does not deviate one iota from the line of power, whatever it may be, is a fact that is not disputed by anyone.
For example, in the grand opening ceremony of the monument to Dzerzhinsky — what a thought! — quite naturally and without any shudder of conscience, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church took part. According to a quick count, after several years of crazy liberalism, more than a hundred of such different Bolshevik idols have been restored throughout the country and no one will doubt that such "patriotic events" are always accompanied by the presence and participation of representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate. It is worth recalling here the case that we wrote about in the article Stalin's Patriarchate, a priest in the Pskov region, consecrating an eight-meter-high monument to Stalin by sprinkling it with holy water, accompanying this event with joyful cries of "Christ is Risen!" And in the subsequent pastoral sermon, gratitude was given to the Generalissimo for the fact that now, thanks to him, we are given the opportunity to pray and resort to such a host of holy New Martyrs ...
It is both bitter and funny, but such cases and examples have not disturbed the conscience of our former New York brothers in the least. Why? How to explain?
But this is far from all for the moral characterization of the MP. No one can seriously think that it has been reborn, having thrown off all the past "Sergianism", which always separated the MP from the Church Abroad. This takes us back a quarter of a century to the height of the dispute between those who stood for the legitimate First Hierarch Metropolitan Vitaly and those who followed the treacherous path. They convinced themselves and all of us that all the former barriers existing between us had fallen. All obstacles to the rapprochement of the two Churches had disappeared. Neither Sergianism, nor ecumenism, nor the New Martyrs, nor the holiness of the Tsar-Martyr — all these cardinal questions dividing us have now been finally settled, and whoever does not agree with this and who criticizes and opposes those who are confidently moving towards rapprochement, is deliberately inventing false pretexts. That is what they told us then!
We will not repeat here everything that we had to write twenty-five years ago and that today should be recognized by everyone. The merger with the MP was and remains a betrayal and stupidity. It is symptomatic to read in the Synodal Statement: "Christians should live with open eyes, not to cloud their vision with substitutions." What instructive words and how they remind us of those "rose-colored glasses" through which the main initiator of the betrayal, Bishop Mark Arndt, looked at reality, according to the wise definition of our holy elder Metropolitan Vitaly.
The issue of the New Martyrs, they say, no longer divides us. But is this really so? Can we recognize the obvious Sergians glorified by the Patriarchate, be of one mind and one-minded with those who paint "icons" of Stalin or continue to not recognize or not understand the holiness of the holy Tsar? The Statement speaks of some freak who openly declared on television that he "would have shot Nicholas II himself." This, with your permission, person is presented as "a certain well-known professor respected by many in Russia." At first glance, there is no reason to reproach the Church for such a freak; it is known that many such "professors" have proliferated during Soviet times, but we took the trouble to learn more about him. It turns out that this is a certain Yuri Simonov, a well-known TV presenter, who goes by the flattering name of "Vyazemsky," a journalist, a professor at MGIMO (a well-known breeding ground for spies), and the head of the department of world literature and culture (!) of the faculty of international journalism. All this is as funny as it is characteristic, but the most important thing is the following: in addition to everything else, he is also a member of the Patriarchal Council for Culture and the holder of several church awards. And this characteristic of the impostor Vyazemsky is not indicated in the Synodal Statement. It is clear why. It should be shameful for someone who calls himself a "Zarubezhnik" to be in communication with such a person, who is still among the Patriarch's advisers on cultural issues.
But this, in the end, is not so important. The main reason for the break between the Western and Eastern Churches was the question of filioque. The main reason for the schism in the Russian Church was the question of the Declaration of Loyalty to Soviet Power of Metropolitan Sergius. This shows the full importance of the question of Sergianism, a question as ethical as it is theological. We have been told and are told that it has been finally resolved and no one today, after the adoption of the famous Social Concept, will dare to defend it. So, on the next anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Sergius, May 15, Patriarch Kirill held a memorial service, prefacing it with the following words in memory of his predecessor and founder:
"He managed to lead our Church out of that grave crisis situation. It was necessary to look for ways out of this conflict and His Holiness Patriarch Sergius found such ways out, "He managed to lead our Church out of that grave crisis situation. It was necessary to look for ways out of this conflict and His Holiness Patriarch Sergius found such ways out, taking such a position, but the fact that he had established direct contact with the highest authorities was simply saving meaning for the existence of our Church itself /.../ There are always some critics, which cast doubt positive service of the most holy Sergius, but, by the grace of God, all this criticism has practically disappeared, because Time is the best prover of rightness or the guilt of certain church and government officials, which leave light in History /.../ /.../ That's why the memory of him must be carefully preserved and I call upon all our bishops, clergy, and people to pray for the Patriarch and remember the feat of his life, and they gave thanks to the Lord for the fact that in that most difficult period of our history and the existence of our Church, the leadership was entrusted to this the great saint of our land".
The word speaks for itself. We have underlined in bold the guiding principle of the patriarchal thinking, their basic line of conduct, from which it is clear that the patriarchs have not revised their attitude toward Sergianism one iota and that our synodals have not reached any agreement on this fundamental issue over the past quarter of a century. Or rather, they have either accepted and assimilated the patriarchal interpretation, or do not consider themselves in a position or right to challenge it. In any case, they have suffered a complete defeat in this fundamental issue for the Church Abroad. The Patriarchate will not abandon this line now: Sergius was a great saint of our land, everyone should remember the feat (!) of his life and carefully preserve the memory of him. He is one of those figures who leave light in History, and if there were critics (!) of his policy, then this was mainly among those who went abroad and lived in safety, but time best proves the rightness and today all criticism has practically disappeared.
Patriarch Kirill will finally canonize here patriarchal teaching of lies for salvation. This is now an indisputable patriarchal truth, now imputed to all followers of the MP. Such a "patriarchal credo" is a slap in the face not only to foreign defectors, but to all domestic Martyrs who suffered from the rejection of Sergius' Declaration, unlike Sergius himself, who testified to the church truth until their death.
Vladyka Mark prophesied that in the event of unification with Moscow, we would become the yeast that would make the Russian dough rise. As then, his words sound bitterly ironic today. Alas, the Russian dough did not rise, the first pancake was lumpy. Nevertheless, this does not prevent them from continuing along the same unrealistic line and issuing a brave appeal: “We raise our voices and are ready to offer our help and prayerful support in opposing these tendencies, wherever they manifest themselves.” Unfortunate ones - who will follow you?! What help in your current deplorable state are you capable of bringing to Russia? Do you not hear a healthy answer to your call: Physician, heal thyself! Our holy First Hierarchs preserved the Church Abroad as a pledge of the thousand-year-old Truth of the Russian Church. You have destroyed this monolith and are now capable of conveying no more than a nondescript gruel..
So, it is time to answer the question — what prompted the New York Synod to unexpectedly publish such a Statement. We see the explanation not in their moral sobriety, but in something completely different. The fact is that the instigators of the betrayal pursued different goals, one of them was to get out of the state of isolation in which the uncompromising stand held the Church Abroad. Yes, the Church Abroad was isolated, the official world did not communicate with it, but it was respected, looked upon as a stronghold of Truth. You, on the other hand, thirsted for recognition, communication, a way out of this isolation, which had become burdensome to you.
The world has opened its arms wide to you and you were ready to renounce your previous existence. You had to prove to everyone that you were not at all the diehards that the Abroaders were previously presented as. Explaining why the unification with the MP had not taken place earlier, Vladyka Laurus was not ashamed to say that it was because "the old emigration, to which I do not belong, interfered." Let us clarify what the "old emigration" is. This is the very backbone on which the Abroad Spirit was built. For his part, in order to prove his liberalism, Vladyka Hilarion was not ashamed to be photographed, with an eternal smile on his lips, together with some Freemason master, despite the fact that the Church Abroad, and specifically Saint Metropolitan Anthony, had proclaimed anathema to Freemasonry. One after another, concelebrations began with all sorts of new calendarists, ecumenists, and all sorts of bishops, with whom you would never have thought of talking before. And you sighed — we are recognized by everyone, we can serve with whomever and wherever we want!
And here comes the first quirk: the MP does not collude with the Patriarch of Constantinople and is right to break off prayerful communion with him. In connection with this, your horizons narrow sharply, half of the Orthodox Churches break off communion with you, after all, you are nothing more than the Moscow Patriarchate. Several years pass — the second quirk: a special military operation. Whatever anyone thinks about it, this operation quarantined Putin's Russia, and since the Patriarchate naturally supports the operation, now the entire Western world has turned away from you and stopped communicating. And so, wanting to breathe deeply, enjoy complete freedom, communicate with the entire world, you suddenly turned into some kind of outcasts. Previously, the Church Abroad was isolated, but it was a noble isolation, not a shameful one, as here.
So, how can we get out of this situation? So you came up with the idea of making such a loud statement to show your rejection of Putin's policies, hoping to thereby regain your status as civilized people. A futile attempt: as long as you remain in the Patriarchate, you will share its fate. And here is the key to understanding what prompted you to publish this synodal Statement: you are not at all didn't come to their senses, do not repent of betraying the mission of the Church Abroad, but they lied in the hope of getting out of the situation. The mystery remains — why in your Statement you do not say a word about the MP, despite the fact that it is completely guilty of all the sins that you denounce. This is because you do not intend to break with the Patriarchate at all, for this would mean repentantly admitting your original mistake, but you are in no way ready for this. Let us not forget that your unchangeable slogan is: "Reunification is a God-pleasing deed"!
So, you are watching how the country is leaning back towards Soviet Russia and this naturally saddens you, as it does us. But for us it was even more painful to see how part of the White Church moved to the Soviet Church. You look at the reality around you and are rightfully horrified, but what right do you have to take the position of denouncers of vices? Look quickly at yourselves, remember your deeds, remember all the lies that brought you to where you are today, and which you do not think it is useful to repent of. Your words of denunciation are correct, but it is not for you to utter them, rather think about the deep meaning of the proverb: There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked. .And if you want to be taken seriously, then you know very well what you can do.
Protodeacon Herman Ivanov-Thirteenth
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Prophetic Words Spoken to the Russian People
PROPHETIC WORDS SPOKEN TO THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE
Vadim Vinogradov
Vadim Vinogradov
From the prophet to the priest - all act falsely; they heal the wounds of My people frivolously, saying, “Peace! Peace!” but there is no peace. Are they ashamed, committing abominations?? No, they are not ashamed at all, nor do they blush. (Jer. 6:13-15)
This prophecy sounds over Russia today as never before, proclaiming the spirit of our time.
Yes, we must say with bitter tears, it is precisely today that the wounds of the people of the Russian Federation are being healed frivolously. It is precisely today that they are not ashamed and do not blush, acting falsely, committing abominations, from the bishop to the priest.
"How cunning and crafty Satan is, in order to destroy Russia, he fanned ignorance and depravity in it through higher and secondary educational institutions, through malicious writers, through the so-called intelligentsia"
(Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt)
But the main trick of Satan in relation to Russia was not revealed even to the holy righteous John of Kronstadt during his earthly life. Only time gives the opportunity, clearly, if not in full, then at least in part, to come closer to a true understanding of what happened.
The main cunning of Satan in relation to Russia was revealed only after the time of the Soviet advisors ended in Russia and Russia plunged into the darkness of liberalism, when after the Soviet destruction of churches, church buildings again shone with the gold of their domes.
It seemed to everyone that the destruction of churches by the Soviet advisors was destroying the Orthodox Faith in Russia. But it was not so at all – with the destruction of churches by the Soviet advisors and the appearance of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, the Orthodox Faith in Russia experienced such a spiritual upsurge that Holy Rus' had never seen in its entire millennium. For: Persecution and oppression are useful to us, for they strengthen the faith (Venerable Nikon of Optina)
And all who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Cor. 3:12). How can we deal with this – They will be persecuted? So, was it not at this moment of terrible waves of God-fighting and terrible persecution of Christianity that the true Church of Christ lived in Russia, and not its substitute, not its ghost, not its double?
What shall we ask of the Lord for persecution? NOTHING!
Because: Not as I will, but as You will. (Matthew 26)
And with the believing Russian people during the Soviet period there was the very thing that was best described by the Apostle Paul:
We are oppressed on every side, but not constrained; we are in desperate circumstances, but we do not despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are cast down, but not destroyed. (2 Cor. 4:8-9)
Here it is, the true church life, and therefore true freedom.
She is all in the patience of sorrows. And there is no other true life of the Church.
Then they will deliver you up to torture and kill you; and you will be hated of all nations for My name's sake. (Matthew 24:9)
And all who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Cor. 3:12)
It seems that these prophetic teachings are today considered by the Sergians to be insignificant, not worthy of attention, otherwise, why is their attitude to the Soviet Union so un-Christian?
And here is the WAR, called the Great Patriotic War.
What else the Russian soul retained by this time was the great Russian self-sacrifice - the readiness to lay down one's life for one's friends. It was precisely thanks to the self-sacrifice of the Russian people that the Lord gave them this Victory.
- 26 million dead - to this day, liberals together with Sergianists are foisting the horrors of this war on today's schoolchildren.
And why don't they talk about the fact that these 26 million souls were the second exodus to the Kingdom of Heaven after the New Martyrs and Confessors of the remnants of Holy Rus', washed in blood at the front and laid down their souls for their friends in the rear?
The schoolchildren of the Russian Federation, confused by liberals, senselessly repeat today:
- Thank you, Grandpa, for the victory!
But a hundred years before that, in Rus', they used to say about the Victory:
- Not to us, not to us, but to Your Name!
This is also an expressive sign of the times, of the century ending - to see the war not in a spiritual light. But in order to understand the Russian soul during this war, it is enough to at least listen attentively to the war songs of that time, first of all to the songs of Bulat Ogudzhava.
But after 1945, self-sacrifice gradually began to leave the Russian soul and be replaced by... concern for the arrangement of one's earthly life, which strengthened fearfulness in the soul – a sin placed by the Lord first in the series of deadly sins (Rev. 21:8). Fearfulness of what?
And the fear of losing one's power, one's earthly advantages.
And by 1991, the thirst for freedom to please the flesh reached such a level that all the prerequisites for the Criminal Revolution, the revolution of universal perversion, appeared, which did happen. In spiritual terms, its significance is explained by the second, more terrible transfer of Job into the hands of Satan: He is in your hand only….. That is, the Russian soul was sent a disease, the essence of which is no longer the belief in lies. [And there will be a bridle in the jaws of the people, leading to error (Isaiah 30:28)], as in the first transfer of the Russian soul to Satan, but the search for lies – Sons of men, why seek you lies? (Psalm 4:4)
This search for lies is especially bright and clear today on countless television talk shows, where the so-called political scientists, convinced that Russia is not governed by the right hand of God, but by earthly calculations, what is called foaming at the mouth, are looking for who is to blame and what to do with them.
And so what was also predicted in the Scripture happened - a person becomes devoted to abomination and lies (Rev. 21:27). Truth is suppressed by unrighteousness. (Rom. 1:18).
The truth of God is replaced by lies. (Rom. 1:25).
And now a person already believes a lie. And then he can no longer live without it and simply begins to look for lies.
And the Sergians, as they say, don't give a damn about all this.
And all this was accomplished by the servants of Satan through temptations to please the flesh, about which the holy apostle Paul warned: You were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for pleasing the flesh, but through love serve one another. (1 Pet. 2:16; 1 Cor. 8:9)
Thus: This prophetic word chastises us even now. (Theodoret)
To sum it up, we conclude: This century ended with the fact that – The thirst for Absolute Truth has disappeared, it has been swallowed up by worldliness. (Hieromonk Seraphim Rose)
So, with the onset of the time of liberalism in Russia, they began to restore church buildings and gild the domes. Now, when the time has come to destroy the very spirit of the Orthodox faith!
And you will never hear in Butovo that anyone would recall here, during the anger poured out on the Boldheviks, the word of the New Martyrs:
- When they blame the Soviet government for taking away churches and religious objects from the Church, then they should not blame it, but themselves.
We were bad Christians, we were believers only in name, and therefore God took away our right to manage churches and their accessories; and the Soviet power is only an instrument of God's wrath.
And therefore we must protest not against the Soviet power, but against ourselves and become true and impartial Christians.
We have lost the main value – God, and therefore He took away from us secondary religious values – churches and so on. (Holy Martyr Roman Medved)
Temples are... a secondary religious value.
And so, today churches have become a value... of primary importance!
The result? The desire to boast, like the Apostle Paul, ... only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14) is not present in the current clergy. The current clergy does not boast in the cross of the Lord Christ, like the Apostle Paul, but only in the restoration of destroyed churches.
This is the essence of this century – a century of general perversion.
And so, old churches are being restored and new ones are being built, and everyone is incredibly happy. But the one who rejoices most of all about this restoration of churches is ... Satan himself!
Why? Because it is precisely through this construction of churches that the Orthodox faith is finally perverted in the Russian people.
How? Well, let us be imbued with the lamentation of the outstanding spiritual writer Sergei Fudel about his father, Archpriest Joseph, who gave his soul to his flock, who were prisoners of the Butyrka prison.
But when he was appointed rector of the church in the center of Moscow, and began to build a parish house and repair the temple itself, then his loving son wrote down with tears: His soul began to dry up in the construction dust.
And the question itself arises: And what about the thousands of current priests who are now restoring churches, that their souls do not dry up in the construction dust, or what?
That's when the terrible persecution began, not of believers, as under the Soviets, but the persecution of the very spirit of the Orthodox faith began – this is how Bishop Ippolit characterized the times of gilding the domes. Here is his authentic text:
"One of the insidious means of our enemies is to give the Church material well-being after persecuting it. This is another persecution, but more sophisticated: persecution of the spirit of the Orthodox faith. The goal is to break the will, and then destroy it."
But it turns out that the revolution was cleansing for the Church – here is the voice of the Church!
And not divisive, as the current Sergianism buzzes about like a wound-up record.
It was not the revolution in 1917 that divided the Russian Orthodox Church into the MP and the ROCOR, but the declaration in 1927.
WHY?
But here it is, the truth that the Sergianists removed from their consciousness, thereby distorting the church's attitude to the state structure: “The Savior of the world established His Kingdom on earth, but a spiritual Kingdom, capable of dwelling in any human society, no matter what this society is called according to its civil structure – a monarchy, or a republic, or something else. Because the Kingdom of Christ, being not of this world (John 18:36), has no relation to the civil form of states.” (Saint Ignatius)
We repeat that the first sin in the series of mortal sins is set by the Lord... timidity. [fear, cowardice]
In connection with this, one cannot help but pay attention to the ever-increasing brainchild of this century... SERGIANISM, through which it was possible to completely distort Orthodoxy by loving the external more than the internal and the ritual more than faith. But the essence of Sergianism is not at all how the Sergians themselves define it.
The triumph of the Sergianist spirit began with the gilding of the domes, when the Moscow Patriarchate, not in words but in deeds, began to rejoice in the joys of the rulers of permissiveness. And now, this secret is forced to be hidden, having declared Sergianism to be an attribute of the Soviet era. The Patriarch of the MP declared: -– No Soviet era – no Sergianism. And this is the greatest deception of the 21st century, which forces us to love the external more than the internal, and the ritual more than the spirit.
Let's give a precise definition of Sergianism right away, in order to close the lie spread by the Sergians themselves, that Sergianism is an alliance of the church with the Soviet advisors. But this is not at all the case, and in fact it is like this:
“It is NOT God’s will that has entered the Church. That’s all. Everything in the Church is guided by God’s will, the Holy Spirit, but here it is not God’s will that has entered, and they obey it, and in order to disguise themselves, they abandon the entire external rite – please, incense, give sermons, adhere to the old style – do everything as it should be. But the will will not be yours. That’s all. We call it Sergianism. When it is not God’s will that guides the Church, then the performance of rituals gradually becomes empty, and ritual worship begins. They abandon rituals – please, as many as you want, and the more magnificent – the better. This is a terrible thing, this is a subtle thing, it goes far, far away. Knowledge – please, know the history of the Church, know all the schisms down to the finest details, know all the philosophical systems, be theologians so that you are revered as doctors of theology – please. But our will will be done. And everything is in the will, freedom or lack of freedom depends on it. The Church does not need anything, only freedom, and that is what they do not have."
(Metropolitan Vitaly, the fourth First Hierarch of the ROCOR)
"Sergianism is not a dogmatic phenomenon, but a spiritual and moral one, however, it is more terrible than any heresy, because, while apparently preserving dogmas and canons, it destroys the very essence of Christianity."
(Hegumen Andrei Erastov)
And Archbishop Averky pronounced the word itself, defining the spirit of this century, and this word is false Orthodoxy: "It is necessary to understand and always remember that Orthodoxy is not only and not always what is officially called "Orthodoxy", because in our evil and deceitful times the appearance of a false "Orthodoxy" everywhere, which is raising its head and establishing itself in the world, is an exceptionally sad, but, unfortunately, already indisputable fact. This false Orthodoxy is furiously trying to impersonate true Orthodoxy, just as in his time the Antichrist will try to take the place of Christ, to replace Him with himself."
And it is absolutely necessary to pay attention to one more brainchild of the century we are living through, 1917-2017, this is ORTHODOX ATHEISM. Which, like Sergianism, is being strenuously hidden by our most cunning century.
The pure childish soul of our beloved TV presenter, academician Sergei Petrovich Kapitsa, simply could not hide it. And when he was asked during a conversation on TV whether he believed in God, he sincerely answered:
I am an Orthodox atheist.
And if Sergei Petrovich directly designated the most subtle phenomenon of our century – Orthodox atheism, then Vladimir Vladimirovich confessed the essence of Orthodox atheism to the whole world in a different way, briefly and clearly answering the question of a foreign correspondent:
- Do you believe in God?
- I believe in man!, - answered Vladimir Vladimirovich.
What, gentlemen - comrades, do we believe in man, and are we standing in the temple for PR?
Faith in man, under the ringing of bells, under the glitter of gilded domes, under the banner chant, under the procession of religious processions and other external actions, has become, noticed by everyone but not discussed by anyone, perhaps the most significant sign of our time, which has led a significant part of the population to play at Orthodoxy.
This century also became the time when the devil was given the opportunity to establish an instrument that absorbs the thirst for Absolute Truth.
The devil managed to force not only the civilized West, but also the entire population of the Russian Federation... THE EARTH TO HAVE HEARTS!
And here it is, an instrument created by the underworld to absorb man's thirst for Absolute Truth - this is Civilization.
"Civilization absorbs the essence of Man, builds it for itself, imposes programs that eat up Man's Time, and he is left with no opportunity to know his True Self. Someone invented such a machine for suppressing free will... but WHO?"
Who is that weapon of execution in the machine of Civilization that falls on the heads of doomed victims without pity or regret?
The pinnacle of vulgarity and impudence, which has bent humanity so that it is no longer able to straighten up, which has a pernicious spirit that most vividly reflects it, the spirit of our time... is... ADVERTISING! Namely, Advertising of the 21st century, deliberately vulgar and vile, without any tension or protests, forms in a person the consciousness that he has no freedom, no rights – just as Advertising is turned on on TV at the most undesirable time for him, so everything else, including elections (If something depended on elections, then we would not be allowed to participate in them. Mark Twain) include only what is needed by the underworld, and not by man.
Of course, Advertising existed in the 19th century, but Advertising became an instrument of the underworld for fooling the population, for turning it into Panurge's herd only in this century, which we are studying. [panurge's refers to "sheeple."]
Advertising can be safely attributed to the victory of the devil. Under the guise of caring for a person, for his well-being (how many medicines alone does Advertising foist on him), it has occupied the niche of a sacred cow, interrupting any thought, spitting on all Human Rights, which are also a "thing" of this century, called to fool people with deception.
So, the century of 1917 - 2017 became:
The time of SOVIETISM,
The time of SERGIANTISM
The time of ORTHODOX ATHEISM*,
The time of ADVERTISING, that is, the time of general SECULARITY.
The time of Television and the Internet, where... The dead bury their dead.
That is, the century 1917 - 2017 became the Time when, finally:
We have made lies our refuge, and covered ourselves with deceit. (Isaiah 28:15)
- Who are these "WE"? – Ah, the servants of Satan, called by the Lord the synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2:9)
William Shakespeare's Revelation: Hell is empty. All the devils are here!, - it, like Lermontov's, is primarily about the time of 1917 - 2017.
As a result, during the time from 1917 to 2017: The thirst for Absolute Truth has dried up, it has been swallowed up by worldliness.
(Hieromonk Seraphim Rose)
And all these innovations, reflecting the spirit of this century, were necessary in order to... make the path of the Antichrist straight. And the admonition of Archbishop Averky (Taushev) today is the first support for those studying the spirit of our time:
Now there is no one left to oppose the appearance of the Antichrist, and therefore it is quite natural to expect his arrival and reign in a world completely mired in all sorts of sins and lawlessness. And not only is no one opposing the arrival of the Antichrist now, but even on the contrary - many have already joined in the most intense work to prepare for his speedy accession to the throne, not excluding - it is terrible to say! - and some Christian clergy, right up to the highest hierarchs of the Church, collaborating with the atheists and the obvious and secret enemies of our Lord and Savior, conducting all kinds of negotiations with them, entering into various compromises and concluding all kinds of agreements, often bordering on betrayal of our holy faith and the Church.
The “apostasy” or “falling away” foretold by the Word of God in the person of the holy Apostle Paul (see 2 Thessalonians 2) is now in full swing, and woe to him who does not see it, or, more accurately, does not want to see it, closing his eyes to everything that is happening in the world with unpardonable frivolity, and reassuring himself and others that “there is nothing special,” that “it is all normal and natural.” But is this only unpardonable frivolity? Is there not something else hidden behind this, a thought that naturally suggests itself when one hears such naive assurances? After all, the Antichrist and his servants are by no means interested in his coming and enthronement being talked about too much and openly proclaimed: after all, he will come as the greatest benefactor of humanity, a benefactor and even a patron of the faith and the Church, and will expect universal recognition and popular worship. And from the patristic predictions we know that not only the completely unbelieving will accept the Antichrist and worship him, but also those who have been deceived by him, as if they were believers, and even Christian clergy, up to those who hold the highest rank. AMEN!
(Archbishop Averky Taushev)
But what prophecy of our spirit-bearing fathers no one ever remembers today? What is taboo in the century that is ending?
And no one has the right today to remind us that before the coming of the Antichrist, the collective Antichrist will reign.
So, the time of 1917 - 2017 is precisely the time of the collective antichrist. But that is why Sergianism was established in the first place, in order to prevent the truth about the collective antichrist from entering the world.
Although this is clearly visible, as they say, to the naked eye, because every single state ruler is now subordinate to it.
MERCENARIES OF THE COLLECTIVE ANTICHRIST
But the hireling, who is not the shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf plunders the sheep and scatters them. But the hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep. (John 10:11)
And, just as the Lord revealed to Lermontov about the black year of Russia, so the Lord revealed to the new martyr of Alapaevsk, Prince Vladimir Paley, what the Antichrist will seek:
And he in blasphemous praise
Will prove to us with arrogant lies,
That happiness on earth
Should be contrasted with the Kingdom of God.
It was precisely the century 1917 – 2017 that proved the correctness of this prophecy!
What, today, at the end of the century 1917 – 2017, all over the world, is not happiness on earth opposed to the Kingdom of God?
And here it is, the spirit of the times, reigning through the efforts of the ending century 1917 – 2017:
Advertising can be safely attributed to the victory of the devil. Under the guise of caring for a person, for his well-being (how many medicines alone does Advertising foist on him), it has occupied the niche of a sacred cow, interrupting any thought, spitting on all Human Rights, which are also a "thing" of this century, called to fool people with deception.
So, the century of 1917 - 2017 became:
The time of SOVIETISM,
The time of SERGIANTISM
The time of ORTHODOX ATHEISM*,
The time of ADVERTISING, that is, the time of general SECULARITY.
The time of Television and the Internet, where... The dead bury their dead.
That is, the century 1917 - 2017 became the Time when, finally:
We have made lies our refuge, and covered ourselves with deceit. (Isaiah 28:15)
- Who are these "WE"? – Ah, the servants of Satan, called by the Lord the synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2:9)
William Shakespeare's Revelation: Hell is empty. All the devils are here!, - it, like Lermontov's, is primarily about the time of 1917 - 2017.
As a result, during the time from 1917 to 2017: The thirst for Absolute Truth has dried up, it has been swallowed up by worldliness.
(Hieromonk Seraphim Rose)
And all these innovations, reflecting the spirit of this century, were necessary in order to... make the path of the Antichrist straight. And the admonition of Archbishop Averky (Taushev) today is the first support for those studying the spirit of our time:
Now there is no one left to oppose the appearance of the Antichrist, and therefore it is quite natural to expect his arrival and reign in a world completely mired in all sorts of sins and lawlessness. And not only is no one opposing the arrival of the Antichrist now, but even on the contrary - many have already joined in the most intense work to prepare for his speedy accession to the throne, not excluding - it is terrible to say! - and some Christian clergy, right up to the highest hierarchs of the Church, collaborating with the atheists and the obvious and secret enemies of our Lord and Savior, conducting all kinds of negotiations with them, entering into various compromises and concluding all kinds of agreements, often bordering on betrayal of our holy faith and the Church.
The “apostasy” or “falling away” foretold by the Word of God in the person of the holy Apostle Paul (see 2 Thessalonians 2) is now in full swing, and woe to him who does not see it, or, more accurately, does not want to see it, closing his eyes to everything that is happening in the world with unpardonable frivolity, and reassuring himself and others that “there is nothing special,” that “it is all normal and natural.” But is this only unpardonable frivolity? Is there not something else hidden behind this, a thought that naturally suggests itself when one hears such naive assurances? After all, the Antichrist and his servants are by no means interested in his coming and enthronement being talked about too much and openly proclaimed: after all, he will come as the greatest benefactor of humanity, a benefactor and even a patron of the faith and the Church, and will expect universal recognition and popular worship. And from the patristic predictions we know that not only the completely unbelieving will accept the Antichrist and worship him, but also those who have been deceived by him, as if they were believers, and even Christian clergy, up to those who hold the highest rank. AMEN!
(Archbishop Averky Taushev)
But what prophecy of our spirit-bearing fathers no one ever remembers today? What is taboo in the century that is ending?
And no one has the right today to remind us that before the coming of the Antichrist, the collective Antichrist will reign.
So, the time of 1917 - 2017 is precisely the time of the collective antichrist. But that is why Sergianism was established in the first place, in order to prevent the truth about the collective antichrist from entering the world.
Although this is clearly visible, as they say, to the naked eye, because every single state ruler is now subordinate to it.
MERCENARIES OF THE COLLECTIVE ANTICHRIST
But the hireling, who is not the shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf plunders the sheep and scatters them. But the hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep. (John 10:11)
And, just as the Lord revealed to Lermontov about the black year of Russia, so the Lord revealed to the new martyr of Alapaevsk, Prince Vladimir Paley, what the Antichrist will seek:
And he in blasphemous praise
Will prove to us with arrogant lies,
That happiness on earth
Should be contrasted with the Kingdom of God.
It was precisely the century 1917 – 2017 that proved the correctness of this prophecy!
What, today, at the end of the century 1917 – 2017, all over the world, is not happiness on earth opposed to the Kingdom of God?
And here it is, the spirit of the times, reigning through the efforts of the ending century 1917 – 2017:
Friendship with the world (James 4:4) - that is what underlies the desire for comfort. As a result, it turns out that if Christ is fearlessness itself, then His present servants in great numbers are fearfulness itself. From the pulpits we ardently glorify martyrs, passion-bearers, confessors, who are not afraid to lose all earthly goods and even life (sometimes - for just one word, as was the case in the era of great dogmatic disputes) - they are glorified by those who themselves are panicky afraid of losing - not life, not freedom, no! - but only a small part of their earthly well-being...
Hence the lack of faith, fearfulness, and confusion among the people.” (Archpriest Lev Lebedev)
And we will conclude with the revelation of Saint John of Shanghai (+ 1966), given to him by God, which in the century under discussion has already been accomplished through the collective antichrist:
"The Antichrist will provide an opportunity for the "life of the Church," will allow it to hold services, promise to build beautiful churches on condition that he is recognized as the supreme ruler and worshiped. He will have a personal hatred of Christ. He will live with this hatred and rejoice at the apostasy of people from Christ and the Church. There will be a mass apostasy from the Orthodox Faith, and many bishops will betray the Faith and will point to the "brilliant position of the Church" as justification. The search for compromise will be the characteristic mood of people. Directness of confession will disappear. People will SOPHISTICATEDLY JUSTIFY their fall, and gentle evil will support such a general mood, and people will have the skill of apostasy from the truth and the sweetness of compromise and sin."
And today all these three qualities have become the principle of life of the entire so-called civilized world. {Having begun his march in 1917 with a clear prediction of his path:}
Hence the lack of faith, fearfulness, and confusion among the people.” (Archpriest Lev Lebedev)
And we will conclude with the revelation of Saint John of Shanghai (+ 1966), given to him by God, which in the century under discussion has already been accomplished through the collective antichrist:
"The Antichrist will provide an opportunity for the "life of the Church," will allow it to hold services, promise to build beautiful churches on condition that he is recognized as the supreme ruler and worshiped. He will have a personal hatred of Christ. He will live with this hatred and rejoice at the apostasy of people from Christ and the Church. There will be a mass apostasy from the Orthodox Faith, and many bishops will betray the Faith and will point to the "brilliant position of the Church" as justification. The search for compromise will be the characteristic mood of people. Directness of confession will disappear. People will SOPHISTICATEDLY JUSTIFY their fall, and gentle evil will support such a general mood, and people will have the skill of apostasy from the truth and the sweetness of compromise and sin."
And today all these three qualities have become the principle of life of the entire so-called civilized world. {Having begun his march in 1917 with a clear prediction of his path:}
There is betrayal and cowardice all around!
And today all these three qualities have become the principle of life of the entire so-called civilized world.
Yes, this is the result of the past century.
So this is what the Lord wants!
What would be good to remember and never forget from this century?
And the New Martyrs and Confessors of our Russia, given to us by the Lord as an example, so that we could follow their path.
And one thing more.
The spirit of this century has also found its screen reflection in the chosen one of God, Alexei Balabanov, all of whose films are one film, and the films themselves are episodes of this unique epic, which even included the essence of the beginning of this century.
Вадим Виноградов
source:
https://metanthonymemorial.org/VernostNo209.html
several articles by same author further expound on this theme.
.
Old RRb post from 2013
"St. Philaret Censored"
RRb Archives folder is uploaded to Joanna's Shared Library
see November 2013
THE LOST PEARL FROM THE TREASURY OF THE THIRD FIRST HIERARCH OF ROCA - MET. PHILARET (Voznesensky)
Discovery of the lost treasured words of Metropolitan Philaret.
by A Concerned Faithful 2008;
Discovery of the lost treasured words of Metropolitan Philaret.
by A Concerned Faithful 2008;
Recently, a cassette found its way into the hands of a faithful member of the former true ROCOR and admirer of Met.Philaret, containing the sermons of this remarkable and memorable prelate. After listening to its contents and comparing them to the text in the books titled, "Sermons and teachings of the Most Eminent Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky)" - published in 1989 - a significant disparity was discovered between the words that were actually articulated by Met. Philaret from the pulpit, and those printed in the books. This disparity can be found in the 2nd tome on page 82, which deals with the sermon on "Love your enemy." As it happened, the significant section uttered by the prelate was mercilessly excised from the book by the editor. The editor of this book was Bishop Hilarion, current Archbishop of Australia and New Zealand!
We now request our God-loving readers to familiarize themselves with the segment, which fell under Bhp. Hilarion's censorship. The text of this spiritual pearl of enormous significance, which was denied to the Orthodox faithful by the imprudent hand of the erudite Orthodox bishop, can be found after the third paragraph in the book with the concluding submission: "With regard to the current comments uttered by those 'intellectual' individuals, I must say that it is not the Church that has lagged behind the times, but it is they that have fled to who knows where!
"To what lengths of lunacy has contemporary mankind gone to! It is not difficult to arrive at this conclusion, if one observes what is transpiring in the world. Recently, there was a press report stating that the organization of the so-called World Council of Churches - which includes nearly all Christian denominations and Orthodox Churches, except one i.e., ROCA - has accepted as a full member, a new religious order that serves satan! Satanism has been embraced by the World Council of Churches!
Consequently, this means that the ill-fated person, which heads this frightening and ungodly teaching - Satanism, will be seated at the same table with representatives of Christian faiths, perhaps assisting in the formulation of ecumenical communion and services that will not displease anyone! This means that the WCC has secured a new brother-in-arms, a new colleague - the leader of this insane Satanism.
Incidentally, in passing, and as I stated before, nearly all Orthodox Churches have joined the World Council of Churches, the most recent being the partial entry of the American Red Sovietonomous Church, which has now existed for a number of years.
All these developments beg the question - where to now? This is to what extent of madness that humanity has reached! Yet they yell that the Church cannot keep up with them. But keep up with what? I reiterate - it's not the Church that has lagged behind the times, but these people that have created their new lifestyle. They are the ones that have fled from the Church to who knows where, and their demise will be frightening!"
Consequently, this means that the ill-fated person, which heads this frightening and ungodly teaching - Satanism, will be seated at the same table with representatives of Christian faiths, perhaps assisting in the formulation of ecumenical communion and services that will not displease anyone! This means that the WCC has secured a new brother-in-arms, a new colleague - the leader of this insane Satanism.
Incidentally, in passing, and as I stated before, nearly all Orthodox Churches have joined the World Council of Churches, the most recent being the partial entry of the American Red Sovietonomous Church, which has now existed for a number of years.
All these developments beg the question - where to now? This is to what extent of madness that humanity has reached! Yet they yell that the Church cannot keep up with them. But keep up with what? I reiterate - it's not the Church that has lagged behind the times, but these people that have created their new lifestyle. They are the ones that have fled from the Church to who knows where, and their demise will be frightening!"
In a later content of the book, Met. Philaret warns: "But we, brothers, must watch ourselves...."
In conclusion, Archbishop Hilarion's action invariably begs the question: "Why did he delete this priceless gem from Metropolitan Philaret's collection of sermons?"
source:
http://metanthonymemorial.org/VernostNo104a.html March 2008
________________________
Why did Hilarion delete this? 1st, there are too many ROCOR-MP members who were in church on St. Michael's day 1998 and who remember the joyous announcement that Metr. Philaret's relics had been found incorrupt at Jordanville. So, ROCOR-MP can not sweep St. Philaret under the rug; they have to pretend they are pleased to accept Metr. Philaret as an honored Church Father (but nothing more). 2nd, today (2025) it's too clear that MP is no way going to withdraw from the WCC; and that used to be a requirement for any reunion to take place:
Originally we said there were 5 conditions that had to be met before re-unification could be possible:
1) admit they lied saying there was no persecution under the Soviet government,
2) glorify the New Martyrs
3) renounce/denounce Sergianism
4) get out of WCC
5) remove all the KGB agents from the clergy
Visions Outside the Church
Visions Outside the Church
Monk Gorazd
1990
This applies not just to the "marion" apparitions, but also to charismatic "gifts" and to false elders in world-orthodoxy promoting new-age ideas ["thoughts determine our lives," "all souls are interconnected," etc.]
What criterion should we use to guide us in testing the truth of visions outside of the Orthodox Church?
Many people have heard that the Mother of God has supposedly appeared to Roman Catholics in various places. They do not know what to think about these events. Some even go so far as to think that since the Mother of God appears to Roman Catholics, it follows that the Roman Catholic Church is a true, grace-filled church, especially since various miracles and healings take place at the locations of the visions. Fatima, in particular, has aroused much interest among Russians living abroad because the apparition allegedly speaks about Russia in strongly anti-communist terms, leading them to overlook the heretical and anti-Orthodox content of the message as a whole. What are we to make of these appearances and the claims made for them? What criterion should we use to guide us in testing the truth of visions outside of the Orthodox Church? Hopefully, what follows will help in understanding such phenomena.
The Holy Fathers, knowing that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, advise us to be cautious and distrustful of all appearances in the visible world. “If you are silent in a good way, desiring to be with God,” says St. Gregory the Sinaite, “never accept any physical or spiritual appearances, either outside or inside yourself, even if it might be an image of Christ, or an angel, or some Saint, or if light should appear, or imprint itself in the mind... Be attentive, that you may not come to believe something, even if it is something good, and be not captivated by it before consulting those who are experienced and are able to analyze the matter, so that you do not suffer harm... God is not displeased with the person who is attentive to himself, even if he, out of fear of deception, does not accept even that which is from Him, without consulting and testing....” We might add that the Lord God could at all times give full assurance to a person, if He is pleased to do so, concerning the truth of a vision. If such caution is necessary concerning visions WITHIN the Orthodox Church, how much more circumspect should we be in relation to apparitions OUTSIDE the one, true Church! The sole criterion for examining these visions should be their Orthodoxy. If in any respect their Orthodoxy is lacking, then they must be rejected: even if 99% of the message is Orthodox and only 1% deviates from the doctrines laid down by the Church, then the whole must be rejected. God cannot deny Himself or preach untruth even in the smallest degree.
FATIMA
Let us examine three well-known cases which have occurred in our own century. First, we will deal with Fatima, which is of special interest, since the apparition there speaks about Russia and its role in the destiny of mankind.
Towards the end of the First World War, at Fatima in Portugal, between May and October, 1917, three shepherd children, two girls and a boy, had a series of visions of someone whom they said was our Lady, the Blessed Virgin.... Throughout the six months of the apparitions, the messages which Lucia was told to make public, at that time or somewhat later, were largely concerned with the need to encourage devotion to the rosary and to our Lady’s immaculate heart, and with the need for mankind to change the direction in which it was moving. Failure to make that change would bring down the wrath of God... (from Studies in Comparative Religion. A Question Concerning the Second Vatican Council, by Verak).
In December, 1940 Sister Lucy (the only one of the three who remained alive and who is now a nun of the Carmelite order) wrote to Pope Pius XII saying, “In 1917 the Most Holy Mother prophesied to us the end of the war which at that darkened the face of Europe; she prophesied another war and said that she would come again. She insisted on the dedication of Russia to her most sacred heart, promising in return to hinder the spread of false teaching from Russia and to convert Russia.” (from News About Fatima, the Greatest Miracle of Our Time, Brussels, 1962 p. 144). It is necessary to remember that Catholics understand “the conversion of Russia” to mean her conversion to Roman Catholicism.
Again we read in the journal The Fatima Crusader (issue #17, April-May, 1985): “So it may well be that the conversion of a few Russians to Catholicism now is part of God’s preparations for the conversion of Russia when the Pope and bishops finally obey the command of our Lady of Fatima to consecrate Russia in the manner prescribed by God... The reason why Jesus gave this specific command to the Pope and bishops is because he wants his whole church to recognize the consecration of Russia as a triumph of the immaculate heart of Mary... Sister Lucy records... in a letter dated May 18, 1936: ‘Intimately I have spoken to our Lord about the subject and not long ago, I asked Him why He would not convert Russia without the Holy Father making the consecration. He replied, “Because I want My whole Church to acknowledge that consecration as a triumph of the immaculate heart of Mary so that it may extend its cult later on and put the devotion to the immaculate heart beside the devotion to My sacred heart”.
Here something should be said about the un-Orthodox forms of devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus and the immaculate heart of Mary which the apparition advocates.
A Roman Catholic nun, Mary Margaret Alacoque (who died in 1690), allegedly had a vision of Jesus Christ who showed her His heart, burning with love, and asked her to spread devotion to it. The revelations she received were first printed in the account of her life by the Jesuit bishop Lanje and caused such a scandal that the edition was destroyed. Due to the fact that these “revelations” were so exposed to the public eye, they were condemned by Pope Clement in 1772. Nonetheless, this cult continued to exist under the auspices of the Jesuits, and finally entered into the mainstream of Catholic religious life (Pastoral Theology, Part II, Archimandrite Constantine, Jordanville, 1961, p. 16). Sacred heart pictures and devotions became a major part of Catholic spirituality, and the popes added their endorsements in encyclicals, granting indulgences for the observance of the devotion. Not to be outdone, other groups, claiming to have seen apparitions of Mary, put forward the idea of devotion to “The Immaculate Heart of Mary.” The heart of Mary was sometimes depicted together with the sacred heart of Jesus motif: a picture with two hearts... and later, the sorrowful heart of Mary, with five or seven swords piercing it, became extremely popular... It would be difficult to accuse Roman Catholicism of denying the divinity of Christ, rather they have split the wholeness of Christ, emphasizing His human nature as a separate devotion, sometimes in a crudely biological way. This violates a central principle of the Councils, that devotion should be given to the devotion of Christ, and not to one of His natures, or parts of His body. Thus, by fragmenting the wholeness of the Son of God, a tendency develops to ‘Nestorianize.’ Parts of the body of Christ should not become parts of isolated objects of adoration, nor should they be pictorially depicted (i.e., a heart on fire, or a heart crowned with thorns surrounding it)” (from Comparative Religion, “Roman Catholicism: Some Devotional Practices,” by Father George Mitchell). We mention these devotions here in order to illustrate the abyss which lies between Orthodox and Roman Catholic spirituality.
GARBANDAL
Yet another series of apparitions took place in a small mountain village called San Sebastian de Garabandal in the north of Spain.
These apparitions took place between June, 1961 and November, 1965. The seers were four young girls. We repeat some of the messages given:
“The Virgin also reminded us very often about visiting the blessed sacrament. As a matter of fact even in her final apparition (November 13, 1965) the Virgin told me, ‘Conchita, why do you not go more often to visit my Son in the tabernacle?’ When I saw the Virgin I said to her, as if there were a spy in the village, ‘You know, there are some Protestants here.’ The Virgin replied, ‘They are all my children.’ The angel came and said, ‘Many cardinals, many bishops and many priests are on the road to perdition and taking many souls with them. Less and less importance is given to the Eucharist.”
It is interesting to note that in 1967 Conchita Gonzales (one of the seers) started to have doubts about the apparitions:
“Yes, in 1967, sometime after the apparitions had taken place, I did have doubts. It happened suddenly on August 15. I will never forget it. There were many people around me and I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I was not honest. I felt I was deceiving all those people and that I ought to confess it. I went to a priest and told him that it was like an illusion or a dream or living a lie, that I had never seen the Virgin and that I had been deceiving everybody all the time... These doubts and denials of the Virgin’s apparitions lasted five or six days. Since then, up to this time, I have confusion and doubt within me” (from Miracle at Garabandal by Conchita Gonzales with Harry Daley, Dubleday and Company, N.Y., 1983).
We mention this apparition here to show that even in a case where the seer herself is ultimately uncertain of the reality of what she saw, the story still seems to find apparently serious believers. They are not even discouraged by such disturbing facts as the following, reported by one of the seers:
“After the apparitions started, we never missed a day of communion. When there wasn’t a priest in town, an angel would come down to give us communion... At one point we were instructed by a priest to ask how it was that, since only a priest could consecrate the hosts, the angel was administering communion to us. We did ask, and the Virgin said that the angel would come down and take the already consecrated hosts from tabernacles on earth.”
Can we not imagine the consternation this would cause in the church from which the hosts were taken! Can it be possible that angels need to take hosts from the tabernacles of churches? In the Orthodox life of St. Onuphrius an angel does, indeed, bring the Holy Communion, but it is quite unthinkable that an angel would need to take the Holy Gifts from an earthly tabernacle.
MEDJUGORJE
The third series of visions we will mention began on June 24, 1981, in the Yugoslavian town of Medjugorje, where a number of young children began to have visions of what they considered to be the Mother of God. The apparition has claimed that these revelations will be the last in the world. In November, 1982 the apparition said, ‘After these revelations finish there will be only some false revelations in the world.” People have flocked to Medjugorje from all over the world even though the local Roman Catholic bishop of Mostar, Pavao Zanic, who denies the verity of the apparitions, made a public declaration in the name of the Yugoslavian Bishops’ Conference to the effect that “It is not permitted for pilgrimages or for other manifestations to be organized which are motivated by the supernatural character supposedly attributed to the events of Medjugorje.”
Already in 1981 the seers were saying: “There will be a visible and lasting sign on the hill of the apparitions; it will come soon, you will see it in a short time. Wait a little longer, be patient.” And again: “The sign will be on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1981, then at Christmas, then at New Year, etc.” Needless to say, no sign has yet appeared on the hill. For an Orthodox reader it is sufficient to know only some of the ecumenical messages given by the apparition to be certain that it is not the Mother of God who is appearing there. For instance:
“All the religions are the same before God. God commands in all these religions as a king in his realm.” (Counter-Reformation-Catholic, 201 Eng. ed. Cf. Fr. Blaise, 500 Messages a Vivre, p. 370, Montreal, 1986.) “In God neither divisions or religions count. It is you in the world who have created the divisions because believers have separated themselves from one another.” (Apparition of the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje, Jan Urban [in Czech]. The Catholic Counter-Reformation in the XX Century, Sept ./Oct;, 1987; Nov./Dec., 1985).
For the uninformed, this message has a seductive appeal and is in keeping with the “one world” thinking. But as Orthodox Christians we know that to say “all the religions are the same before God” is a denial of Christ as the only Truth. Is it not He Himself who says, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6). Therefore, to say that all religions are the same is a denial of Christ!
CONCLUSION
Without attempting to analyze too deeply the meaning of all the messages it is sufficient enough to realize that each one of these apparitions, claiming to be the Mother of God, accepts the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church (Holy Communion, Priesthood, Confession) as true, grace-filled Mysteries. This alone makes these apparitions totally unacceptable for us since we know that grace-filled Mysteries can only be found in the one, true Church of Christ. Since the Western Church separated itself from the one, true Church in the 11th century there can be no question about the existence of true Mysteries in the Roman Catholic Church.
“The Church is one and only she has the fullness of the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit. No matter who, or in what way one has fallen away from the Church, whether in heresy, schism, or in uncanonical gatherings, one loses the communion of the grace of God. Therefore no sacraments performed outside the Church have any grace-filled power.” (Archbishop Hilarion, There Is No Christianity Without the Church, p. 114, San Paulo, Brazil, 1954.) Even the presence of healings is not a proof of the truth of the appearances. Healings might be from God, from natural causes, or if God allows, from the evil one. Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical History (Book II, #5) writes: “The temple of Aesculapius in Aegis, a city of Cilicia, and the temple of Venus at Aphaca, near Mt. Lebanon and the river Adonis, were undermined and entirely destroyed. Both of these temples were highly honored and revered by the ancients... because those among them who were infirm in body were delivered from diseases because the demon manifested himself by night and healed them.” In the Vita Patrum of St. Gregory of Tours we read in the life of St. Friardus the Recluse, “And as they courageously persevered in prayer, the tempter appeared at night to the deacon Secundellus, taking the form of the Lord and saying to him, ‘I am Christ, to whom you pray every day. Already you are holy, and your name is written in the Book of Life. So go out from this island and perform healings among the people.’ Secundellus, taken in by this deception, left the island...and even so as soon as he laid his hand upon the sick in the name of Jesus Christ, they were healed.”
The words of Archpriest Boris Molchanov are very timely here:
“It is very important to be aware of that little-known but remarkable spiritual law by which all false and hypocritical Christianity will inevitably lead its followers to acceptance of the Antichrist or to a movement which will prepare for his appearance. In every false teaching, like in the Pharisee’s attitude towards truth, there is hidden the seeds of eternal damnation. Foolishly and in vain many people do, not accept the importance of dogma. The close union between dogma of the faith, practical, moral activity, and the struggle for salvation has been expounded on by bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninoff) and His Beatitude Metropolitan Anthony (Krapovitsky). According the teaching of the Church, there is nothing as import as confessing divinely-revealed Truth, in the work of The Word of God itself bears witness that God must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23-24). Truth is not some kind of insignificant thing, which one could relate to as one wishes. In the truth, the Spirit of Truth, Who proceeds from the Father, is present in a real way. And correspondingly, in every lie, there is present the father of lies, the devil. Therefore, a person who confesses the truth receives the Spirit of Truth; and the one who confesses a lie will necessarily assimilate the spirit of lies, the fallen spirit. Outside the one, holy Orthodox Church there are not, and there will not appear the means for recognizing the Antichrist, nor is there any grace-filled power to resist him and all his temptations" (Epoch of Apostasy, Jordanville, 1976, p. 18).
We do not need heterodox apparitions to call us to repentance, prayer, and fasting. Further, these apparitions accept Roman Catholic sacraments, the papacy, encourage un-Orthodox forms of piety, and embrace false ecumenism. In our troubled times, times of subtle temptations and sublime deceptions, when false miracles, visions, and apparitions are on the increase, we Orthodox Christians should work out our salvation with fear and trembling, holding firm to our Holy Orthodox Faith and looking for guidance and inspiration to our Holy Orthodox Church alone.
as of June 2025 Jordanville has 8 hardcopies remaining
selling for $1.95 each
The Vatican and Russia & Visions Outside the Church
Dcn. Herman Ivanov-Treednadzaty; Monk Gorazd
Two related articles providing "A View of the Spiritual and Political Trends in Roman Catholicism
Dcn. Herman Ivanov-Treednadzaty; Monk Gorazd
Two related articles providing "A View of the Spiritual and Political Trends in Roman Catholicism
let us pray along with our Ruling Hierarch
.
Announcement from ROPCOR-MP website
https://www.synod.com/synod/2025/20250605_synodstatement.html
From Internet Sobor
http://internetsobor.org/index.php/novosti/mirovoe-pravoslavie/moskovskaya-patriarkhiya/2025
You don't have to be a prophet to see....
http://internetsobor.org/index.php/novosti/mirovoe-pravoslavie/moskovskaya-patriarkhiya/2025
You don't have to be a prophet to see....
"May God grant that at least one from the ROCOR-MP returns to the true ROCOR"
Announcement from ROPCOR-MP website
https://www.synod.com/synod/2025/20250605_synodstatement.html
link not activated on purpose
comments on the announcement from our synod
COMMENTS
# RE: ROCOR-MP raised its voice in 2025 - Alexej 05.06.2025 19:01
Most Veminent Lord, you are absolutely right. Today, studying the materials of the new martyrs of Russia, I met the term in relation to Sergei Starogorodsky - "moral elasticity". I don't think there's anything to add...
+1
# RE: ROCOR-MP raised its voice in 2025 - Metropolitan Agafangel 05.06.2025 16:18
It's even strange to read this today - after all, both the MP and Soviet society in 2007 were the same as it appears today. Here, unfortunately, you don't have to be a prophet to predict how this "exaltation of the voice" will end - they will swallow both Stalin and Dzerzhinsky, as they swallowed and digested "spiritually" ecumenism and Sergianism, from which today's "flowers" grew (not even "berries" yet). They will also swallow the coming greater evil, unfortunately. May God grant that at least one of them returns to the pure source, which was the former, uncompromising to lies, ROCOR.
comments on the announcement from our synod
COMMENTS
# RE: ROCOR-MP raised its voice in 2025 - Alexej 05.06.2025 19:01
Most Veminent Lord, you are absolutely right. Today, studying the materials of the new martyrs of Russia, I met the term in relation to Sergei Starogorodsky - "moral elasticity". I don't think there's anything to add...
+1
# RE: ROCOR-MP raised its voice in 2025 - Metropolitan Agafangel 05.06.2025 16:18
It's even strange to read this today - after all, both the MP and Soviet society in 2007 were the same as it appears today. Here, unfortunately, you don't have to be a prophet to predict how this "exaltation of the voice" will end - they will swallow both Stalin and Dzerzhinsky, as they swallowed and digested "spiritually" ecumenism and Sergianism, from which today's "flowers" grew (not even "berries" yet). They will also swallow the coming greater evil, unfortunately. May God grant that at least one of them returns to the pure source, which was the former, uncompromising to lies, ROCOR.
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Could ROCOR-MP be waking up?
Challenging the Moscow Patriarchate:
Is ROCOR-MP Finally Awakening to Their Sergianist Masters?
Subdeacon Nektarios
June 5, 2025
https://www.orthodoxtraditionalist.com/post/challenging-the-moscow-patriarchate-is-rocor-mp-finally-awakening-to-their-sergianist-masters
On June 5th, 2025, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia – Moscow Patriarchate (ROCOR-MP) released a statement entitled "Statement by the Synod of Bishops on the Renewal of 20th-Century Ideologies in Russia."
In this encyclical, the ROCOR-MP Synod—after seventeen years of silence, cowardice, and betrayal of the true Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), which never submitted to Soviet masters—has finally decided to make a peep. Now, reluctantly, ROCOR-MP acknowledges that the satanic leviathan they entered into Eucharistic communion with—the Soviet-created Moscow Patriarchate—has never truly changed. Early in the text, there is a clear allusion that the Russian Federation is effectively a continuation of the USSR, and that the supposed revival of Orthodoxy in Russia served primarily as a political tool wielded by former Soviet officials turned Federation politicians. In this encyclical, the ROCOR-MP Synod states:
Is ROCOR-MP Finally Awakening to Their Sergianist Masters?
Subdeacon Nektarios
June 5, 2025
https://www.orthodoxtraditionalist.com/post/challenging-the-moscow-patriarchate-is-rocor-mp-finally-awakening-to-their-sergianist-masters
On June 5th, 2025, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia – Moscow Patriarchate (ROCOR-MP) released a statement entitled "Statement by the Synod of Bishops on the Renewal of 20th-Century Ideologies in Russia."
In this encyclical, the ROCOR-MP Synod—after seventeen years of silence, cowardice, and betrayal of the true Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), which never submitted to Soviet masters—has finally decided to make a peep. Now, reluctantly, ROCOR-MP acknowledges that the satanic leviathan they entered into Eucharistic communion with—the Soviet-created Moscow Patriarchate—has never truly changed. Early in the text, there is a clear allusion that the Russian Federation is effectively a continuation of the USSR, and that the supposed revival of Orthodoxy in Russia served primarily as a political tool wielded by former Soviet officials turned Federation politicians. In this encyclical, the ROCOR-MP Synod states:
We find that in a time of crisis and growing confrontation amongst nations, aspects of the Russian state and society are wandering onto an extremely dangerous path: instead of the promulgation of Christian repentance and purification, we observe in certain circles a return to a false, God-opposing ideology that prevailed in the last century. This return is fraught with harmful consequences. Should it continue, we fear that modern Russia risks being considered a dark stain amongst the nations, marked by a revival of spiritual corruption, instead of her being a radiant beacon of Orthodox Truth, which is surely the calling to which her long history of Christian piety directs her.1
What the Synod is referring to here are the apparent changes in the state document titled “The Concept of State Policy on the Commemoration of the Victims of Political Repression,” as well as the numerous public and ecclesiastical revivals and glorifications of various Soviet totalitarian figures—both governmental and ecclesiastical.
Regarding the document “The Concept of State Policy on the Commemoration of the Victims of Political Repression,” the Synod states the following:
The state document, “The Concept of State Policy on the Commemoration of the Victims of Political Repression,” which concerns those condemned under the Communist regime, was revised in 2024, evidencing notable alterations to the previous version (of 2015). These changes cannot but cause alarm amongst Orthodox believers, for they indicate a rising tendency to whitewash the crimes of the God-fighting regime of the twentieth century. When the revised version of this document was mentioned in the context of a report from a government advisor at the last official meeting of the “Ecclesial-Social Council under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the Commemoration of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church,” the representative of the ROCOR [MP] at that meeting already raised questions about the serious problems associated with it and other recent trends. We feel we must now add to this our synodal voice.
Instead of a sober reflection on the essence of the criminal regime that cost Russia countless victims over decades, instead of a deepening of the people’s understanding and memory of the tragedy that befell them (a task actively undertaken by the Ecclesial-Social Council), the new “Concept” document demonstrates a backwards-step and a tendency to curtail this spiritually significant subject. The previous version, on many issues, opened the door of repentance. The new one closes it, precisely through the silencing and distortion of history.2
In addition to this policy shift by the Russian government, both the state and the Church have consistently promoted godless Soviet figures within Russian society—figures who actively persecuted the Church of Christ during the Russian Revolution. After seventeen years of deafening silence, the ROCOR-MP Synod has now acknowledged that, in reality, nothing has changed in Russia. The so-called resurgence of Orthodoxy following the fall of the USSR was, in truth, nothing more than a façade.
Of course, as you might expect, they said as much without actually having the courage to say it plainly. However, what this Synod of Judases did manage to say regarding the public glorification of Soviet propaganda in Russia is the following:
In practical terms, this mentality could be nowhere more visible than in the appalling installation of statues of the criminal figures of Stalin and Dzerzhinsky, which have recently been erected in Moscow, as if in public tribute to individuals whose inhuman and anti-Christian crimes were amongst the worst of the twentieth century; and in the recent announcements that the idolatrous mausoleum on Red Square, rather than being removed, is in fact set to undergo restoration.3
We must ask: where have they been for the last seventeen years, that only now this has become a problem worth addressing? The Soviet-created Moscow Patriarchate has been promoting these satanic figureheads ever since the supposed "collapse" of the Soviet Union in 1991. They have not only glorified Stalin, Lenin, and Dzerzhinsky, but have also persistently venerated betrayers of Christ—such as the pseudo-patriarch Sergius—and Metropolitan Nikodim Rotov, the infamous deathbed Latin Papist of sorry memory.
In reality, these public displays of Soviet propaganda have been ongoing for far longer. What is worse is that this isn’t obscure or hidden knowledge to these bishops. On the well-known YouTube channel of Gregory Decapolite—a staunch supporter of the Russian Catacomb Church and the uncompromised part of the Church Abroad that refused to capitulate in cowardice to the Sergianists in Moscow—there have been videos for over six years exposing this very reality. These videos include footage, photographs, and other media showing Soviet imagery across Russia and in their so-called churches: portraits of the betrayer of Christ, "Patriarch" Sergius; Soviet red stars and symbols embedded in new cathedrals; clergy posing beside statues of Lenin and Stalin; priests blessing these same monuments; and even icons depicting these anti-Christ figures.
Further on in the document, the Synod protests that the Russian government and the Soviet Patriarchate have reneged on their supposed recognition of the many clergy and laity unjustly condemned or martyred during the Soviet era. In a particularly shocking example, the encyclical recounts how a Soviet propagandist professor in Russia openly blamed Tsar-Martyr Saint Nicholas for the destruction of Russia, stating that had he been alive at the time, he would have personally executed the Tsar. The Synod recalls this disturbing episode as follows:
An example of the character of this new activity was revealed when, in the mass media, a well- known professor—respected by many in Russia—recently stated that it was Tsar Nicholas II who in fact destroyed and ruined Russia, who even led it into war. Such may be this individual’s personal opinion, wholly echoing the Bolshevik propaganda of the early twentieth century; but to those who know how the Ekaterinburg murder unfolded, this man’s words about the Tsar, “I would have shot him myself,” sound ominous indeed.4
Where was the Synod when the Soviet Patriarchate, in its supposed canonization of the New Martyrs, deliberately excluded Saint Joseph of Petrograd and many other so-called Josephites from that list? Where were they when Saint Basil of Kineshma was quietly removed from the Church calendar in 2012? At the time, the Soviet Moscow Patriarchate declared: “We have a new, corrected Church calendar. If we are Church people and understand what the Church hierarchy is, then we need to perceive this new calendar as a Church document that guides us,” adding that the removal had “been confirmed and blessed by Patriarch Kirill.”5
Where was the voice of this Synod over all these years, as their Tobacco Patriarch continued to glorify the memory of the Christ-betrayer Sergius? In a recent video, Kirill of Moscow—also known by his KGB codename, Mikhailov—declares in a homily:
Patriarch Sergius was able to carry our church out of that difficult and crisis-ridden position which manifested itself in an open conflict between the church and the state. The conditions of the political system that existed in our country, such an open conflict, could not end in anything prosperous for the church. It was necessary to look for paths to exit out of this conflict. And so, holy Patriarch Sergius, found these exits. Some did not like this, especially those who lived far away [ROCOR], outside of our fatherland, who did not risk anything, took a different position, but that he created a direct contact with the highest authorities of our country, at that time, having a salvific significance for the existence of our church.6
Where was the Synod every time the Christ-denier Sergius was promoted as a holy patriarch who "saved" the Church—as if the Church of Christ required saving through his capitulation to the Jewish Bolsheviks? This Synod of Bishops has, for seventeen years, been flaccid, decadent, indulgent, and weak since entering Eucharistic communion with the Soviet-created leviathan.
They have utterly ignored the legacy of their own forebears, who, in October 1943, declared as a Synod: “The election of Metropolitan Sergius to the See of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia is an act not only uncanonical, but also non-ecclesiastical and purely political—driven by the interests of the Soviet Communist government and its leader, dictator Stalin, who, facing a grave crisis during the war, sought the help of the Orthodox Church, which they had hated and openly persecuted until recently.”7
They have also turned a deaf ear to their own saintly First Hierarch, Metropolitan Philaret of New York, who spoke forcefully and unambiguously concerning the Christ-betrayer Sergius and the Soviet false church, stating:
Moreover, when this shameful declaration was issued, the catacomb, true Orthodox Church separated from the official Soviet false church, and going underground, it anathematized the Soviet official church once again. Consequently, this “church” has been anathematized twice by the legitimate Church authority. We are taught by the Apostle Paul and the Church in general that the Church is the Body of Christ, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and His grace and Truth, who are in Him and with Him, reside in the Church. And tell me, can a believing mind and a believing heart admit that Christ is in this organization that cooperates with his besotted enemies, praises them, blesses them, and even goes hand in hand with them? Of course, this is impossible. Therefore, I think that our Church, I’d say, has never expressed this in the form of global discussion and condemnation, but I am convinced that there is no grace and cannot be in this very Soviet false church, because it has retreated from faithfulness to Christ, and Christ the Savior is not there and cannot be there. This is my earnest conviction. I’m not imposing it on anyone, but I’m speaking frankly, as I think.8
And what did they do to honor the memory of Saint Philaret? Was it to promote his memory, his patristic teachings, or to proclaim the miracle of his incorrupt relics to the faithful? No—of course not. It was under the agenda of Metropolitan Laurus that news of his incorrupt relics was suppressed. Rather than venerate him openly, they chose to hide this holy revelation from the faithful, betraying his legacy entirely. His sacred vestments were sent, not to his spiritual heirs, but to those who venerate Sergius, Stalin, and Lenin.9 So now we must ask: what are they going to do, beyond writing an obscure encyclical that claims to raise their voices and to "call on all to recognize their authentic history, both outside of Russia and within it?”10 Will they break communion with the Sergianist Moscow Patriarchate—the very institution that dragged them into Sergianism, into the pan-heresy of Ecumenism, and into the World Council of Churches?
Will they apologize to the countless clergy and laity they betrayed—those who refused to participate in their demonic false union with the Soviet-created false church, who rejected the thirty pieces of silver that these bishops so willingly accepted? Will there be retractions, acts of repentance, and public confessions for the blasphemous slander of the true Russian Church Abroad? For those faithful, some of whom lived their entire lives in ROCOR, standing firm in truth, only to be branded “schismatics” on May 17th, 2007, the day the Synod signed a deal with the devil? Sadly, we all know the likely answer. The spirit of confession, the courage to stand in the face of adversity, was extinguished in these bishops as early as 2001—when they betrayed yet another confessor of the faith, Saint Vitaly (Ustinov).
Can I be wrong? I hope so. I pray that the clergy of ROCOR-MP awaken—that they open their eyes and see what the Soviet-created Moscow Patriarchate truly is, and what their Synod has entangled them in every Sunday when they commemorate their atheist, KGB agent, and tobacco merchant patriarch. And to the laity: may you heed the apostolic command of Saint Paul, who said, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6, KJV)
Victory Day: glorifying those who slaughtered the Saints
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv6Gn3yIRmQ
"...sons of those who murdered the Prophets" Sergianism and Communism Resurgence in Russia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r52-Y9GURw
References
[1]. “Statement by the Synod of Bishops on the renewal of 20th-century ideologies in Russia,” The Official Website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, accessed June 5th, 2025, https://synod.com/synod/eng2025/20250605_ensynodstatement.html
[2]. Ibid.
[3]. Ibid.
[4]. Ibid.
[5]. Dr. Karin Hyldal Christensen, The Making of the New Martyrs of Russia: Soviet Repression in Orthodox Memory (London: Routledge, 2018), 89-90.
[6]. “The Patriarch of Moscow just said this…” YouTube: Death to Compromise, accessed June 5th, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caQ6JKCI1lY
[7]. “ROCOR's 1943 Synodal Condemnation of the Pseudo-Patriarch Sergius of Moscow,” Orthodox Traditionalist Publications, accessed June 5th, 2025, https://www.orthodoxtraditionalist.com/post/rocor-s-1943-synodal-condemnation-of-the-pseudo-patriarch-sergius-of-moscow
[8] Saint Philaret Voznesensky, Saint Philaret of New York: His Collected Works (Washington DC: Orthodox Traditionalist Publications, 2024), 128.
[9]. “The Vestments and Staff of His Eminence Metropolitan Philaret Are Given to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy,” The Official Website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, accessed June 5th, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20091017090417/https://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2006/11enmphilaretvestments.html
[10]. “Statement by the Synod of Bishops on the renewal of 20th-century ideologies in Russia,” The Official Website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, accessed June 5th, 2025, https://synod.com/synod/eng2025/20250605_ensynodstatement.html
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