What is happening with the ROC. Russian and Hellenic parties. What is the reason for the conflict over the Orthodox Church in Ukraine
I.N Now strange events are taking place in the Orthodox Church. Patriarch Bartholomew has declared a division within the church, and the Moscow Patriarchate is taking strange steps that lead to the escalation of the conflict.
At the same time, the Pope of Rome also takes a great part in the affairs of the Orthodox Church. Believers, most likely, understand little about these events, and therefore cannot manifest themselves and their will in them. But according to some statements by Bartholomew, it becomes clear that Ukrainian and Russian believers are being pushed into bloody showdowns because of the property of churches. It turns out that now the church through the church decided to unleash a war between Russia and Ukraine? What is happening, and what is really behind the ongoing split in the churches?
The MM Schism of the Churches is a fake disguise for the ecumenization of the Orthodox Church in line with the New World Order. The schism is a staging that has long been discussed within the Roman Catholic elite, headed by the Pope, as a detonator for the complete collapse of the and so little stable Orthodox Church, headed by Father Cyril.
You need to know that today's Orthodox Church, on its basis, has long been ecumenical, since it preaches the teaching of the false Apostle Paul, who introduced a monstrous distortion into the teaching of Christ in his time. Namely, in the role of the Father of Christ, instead of the Absolute Light, Jehovah appeared, whom Christ the Savior denounced as “the devil, the murderer and the father of lies…”.
The substitution of God the Father - Absolute Light, for the essence of the devil, has remained for centuries within the newly formed religion called Christianity. Catholicism, Orthodoxy and many sects based on Christianity have always arisen precisely because of such a substitution. Bloody wars and the forceful side of religious ideology, which provides aggressive colonial wars, have also always been based on this substitution. Diavolo World - the system of Darkness, gained momentum and captured absolutely all aspects of the life of earthlings in countries under the influence of a perverted biblical concept.
Therefore, it is not surprising that at the end of the times of the system of Darkness, there appeared a tendency towards a mature unification, already realized by the patriarchs, of all religious trends that arose within Judaism, including Islam, which was also split from within by the substitution of the main Deity and His Teachings.
What is now called a split is not. Church hierarchs are in collusion, and they are negotiating outside the flock's field of conduct. And what is characteristic, they perfectly find a common language. The conversation is not at all about the division of the property of churches, but about how it would be more dexterous and imperceptible to bring your flock, already so many times deceived, into complete submission to the devil's essence of the New World Order. Ecumenical ideas conquered the Vatican and Constantinople, and are also quite acceptable for the Russian Orthodox Church, together with the Ukrainian Church. The desire to incite the believing public to a conciliatory policy on this issue will not stop before the bloody events in the performance inside the church showdowns, which have nothing to do with that wrong side of the betrayal of the Holy Synod towards its parishioners, which consists in the fact that their souls will become the prey of the devil essences of the cosmic Bottom finally and irrevocably at the moment when people take up arms to protect the PROPERTY of the churches, which they have collected from the meager possibilities of believing old people and depraved magnates who atone for their sins.
The trade in wine, cigarettes and icons, put on streams, has long ceased to distinguish the church from an ordinary enterprise with limited liability. But, at the same time, it is not subject to taxes and intervention of financial authorities.
In the modern church, that sacred essence of the Teachings of Christ the Savior has long been absent, and therefore it must undergo complete disintegration and destruction of all former foundations, like the rest of the infrastructure of the system of Darkness. People who believe in Christ and know His true Teaching, which is expressed in just one single phrase: “GOD IS LIGHT, AND THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN HIM”, can send their Faith, bypassing church traps, directly to the name of Christ the Savior, and through Him - to God the Father - the Absolute Light of Infinity! And this will save their Souls from the disastrous bacchanalia of church squabbles.
If he speaks of a Church schism, then there is a need to accept the simple truth, which is conscious choice between the devilish essence, which the Church exposes as the father of Christ, and God the Father, whom Jesus Christ himself called his Father - GOD IS LIGHT, AND THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN HIM!
The schismatics in this case will be truly as honest as possible with themselves and with the fate of their Souls. And they will not be touched by the diabolical pandemonium around the property of churches and the names of priests - traitors who lead their Souls to the slaughter to the devil's essence.
The split between the direction to the Outer Darkness and to the Light of Infinity - this is the split that truly must occur in today's religious currents. And the property and composition of the devil's servants should no longer be of interest to anyone.
“God is Light, and there is no Darkness in Him!” It is this symbol of not only Faith, but real Knowledge, that is the key inside the Power of Light, being a complete picture of all aspects of life within the New Formation. Not the Church, but the very structure of all life within the Power of Light, and, thanks to the Higher Horses of Light, which underlie the New Constitution, is a condition for observing the dogma of Christ the Savior. Everything from the beginning of life, including the full composition of the human needs of the physical body, emotional mood and mental orientation, as well as spiritual aspirations, will become embodied in real life through the very device of the Power of Light.
The State - the Temple of Light, the Kingdom of God on Earth - this is what the Power of Light is, and therefore you should not pay attention to the destructive processes inside the rotten religious receptacle of the devil's substitution. Let it collapse. The believers themselves from the Light need to step aside and observe how the false appearance of the “holy” fathers will bubble and burst, exposing the diabolical signs of ghouls and spiritual dead.
The 300-year-old agreements have been abandoned. The goal of the actions taken by Constantinople is to break the back of Orthodoxy and make Ukraine forever hostile to Russia. But this will not be decided by church officials, but with God's help by people on earth - Orthodox Christians of Ukrainian parishes.
Let us briefly recall what the decisions of the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople that ended on Thursday, October 11, say.
1. Confirm the already made decision that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceeds to grant autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine.
2. Restore the stauropegia of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Kyiv.
3. Accept and consider petitions for an appeal by Filaret Denisenko and Makariy Maletich to cancel the anathema imposed on them by the Russian Orthodox Church. The above persons are "canonically restored to their hierarchical or priestly rank, and their followers restored to communion with the Church."
4. Cancel the legal obligation of the Synodal Letter of 1686, which granted the Moscow Patriarch the right to appoint the Metropolitan of Kyiv.
5. Appeal to all parties involved to avoid the appropriation of churches, monasteries and other objects, as well as any other act of violence and retribution, "so that the peace and love of Christ may prevail."
Thus, autocephaly was not given,. It is precisely to determine its subject that the anathema was removed from the schismatics so that they are there in Ukraine, including Onufry, the patriarch of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate,. But it is not a fact that there will be a tomos in this case, because for this, stavropegy has been restored, that is, the direct subordination of specific temples (and not territories) to Bartholomew. Obviously, if the Ukrainian clergy do not come to an agreement, then all their assets, including financial ones, will de facto go to Bartholomew (de jure, they have already, as it were, gone).
Last year's Religious Procession of the Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate showed Poroshenko and his masters that without the elimination of the Orthodox force, its transfer to its subordination, it would not be possible to build a nationalist state, which, in their idea, should forever become hostile to Russia. The plan began to be implemented. Let's hope that with God's help we will be able to fight back.
Smolensk historians commented on the "reshaping" of the church world
17.10.2018 11:24
The Russian Orthodox Church severed relations with Constantinople. The decision was made due to "the anti-canonical actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which entered into communion with schismatics in Ukraine and encroaches on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church." What is behind the actions of the primates of the Orthodox churches, and does the Orthodox world expect a split? The answer to this question is given by Smolensk historians and sociologists engaged in the scientific study of religion.
On October 11, the synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople annulled the decision of 1686, by which Patriarch Dionysius of Constantinople transferred the Metropolis of Kyiv to Moscow. Due to the decision of Constantinople to start granting autocephaly to a non-canonical church in Ukraine, which was called a schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church announced the termination of Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The decision was made yesterday, October 15, at an emergency meeting in Minsk.
According to experts, the gap concerns the entire canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church, including Ukraine and Belarus. The Russian Orthodox Church also stated that the Patriarchate of Constantinople "self-liquidated" as the coordinating center of Orthodoxy.
What does this mean?
In short, bishops and priests of the Patriarchate of Moscow and Constantinople can no longer serve together, and parishioners will not be able to take communion together. The Russian Orthodox Church has compiled a list of temples where you can not pray. We are talking about Istanbul, Antalya, Crete, and also Rhodes. If the prohibition is violated, then you have to repent about it at confession. It is noted that all local churches will be informed about this in the near future.
The hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate - the former secretary of the late Metropolitan of Kyiv Vladimir, Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) - has already declared himself a cleric of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He stated that the territory of Ukraine is the territory of the restored metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
But what about the relics and the Holy Fire?
Bringing to Russia the relics that are kept in the churches and monasteries of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in the near future is unlikely to be possible, said the press secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexander Volkov.
The representative of the Russian Orthodox Church noted that there would most likely be no problems with the shrines that other churches keep. In particular, the arrival of the Holy Fire in Russia will have no effect on the break with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
“As for the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos, Volkov pointed out that so far there is no reason why its inhabitants should leave the monastery, despite the fact that Athos is legally subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” writes RBC.
The Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, Patriarch of Kiev and All Rus'-Ukraine Filaret, in turn, said that a commotion arose in Moscow over the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church and provides for opposition to the unification of the three Ukrainian Orthodox churches into one.
the site turned to experts for comment. The main question is: is it possible to overcome this split? What is really behind it?
Mikhail Kazakov - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of Smolensk State University:
- I'm sorry about that. Any split goes against the notion that people should love each other. The split itself is a very sad and very difficult fact! Moreover, it undermines the concept of the unity of the church. And the unity of the church is one of the main ideas for building the church organism as a whole. There is another side of the coin - the political one. Church and politics tend to be closely intertwined. That's how it happened historically. Therefore, to the latest events (to the split - approx. ed.)
led all the logic of previous events. Understand that there is earthly and there is heavenly. Still, I would like to express the hope that this split will someday be overcome. But, unfortunately, in the historical aspect, such splits sometimes drag on for a very long time ...
Alexey Gavrilenkov - Professor of the Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Youth Work, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of Smolensk State University:
– The schism can be overcome only if the Patriarchate of Constantinople observes the norms of law that exist between Orthodox churches – canonical ones. The second point: if Constantinople does not invade the territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. Imagine if the Russian Orthodox Church would now begin to interfere in the affairs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople! What kind of reaction would this cause? ... The decisions that were made at the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in Minsk are a completely natural phenomenon. I emphasize in the established relationship. Here, of course, there is also a political aspect - from the side of Constantinople. I think that this is an attempt, as they say, if not from one side, then from the other. We are talking about Russia's role in today's world. Like, if it is not stopped... So they are trying to "attack" in Ukraine from all sides - from the point of view of spiritual development, spiritual relations. Political subtext in this sense. It is definitely being observed.
Igor Krasilnikov - Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of Smolensk State University:
- In my opinion, there are several problems here. Number one is interpersonal relationships. The fact is that the Ukrainian Patriarch Filaret and our Cyril (when Kirill was elected patriarch) - they were electoral competitors. Filaret even at one time was the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne. Filaret, when he did not become the Patriarch of All Russia, engaged in, so to speak, schismatic activities. He went to elevate the Ukrainian church. This is about a personality problem.
The second problem is politics. Russia and Ukraine have a very complicated relationship. The Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate remained link, it can be called a thin thread, at least somehow connecting Russia and Ukraine. Some of the Ukrainians that Ukrainian and European media are now showing have long dreamed of breaking this thread. There were seizures of churches in Western Ukraine back in 2004 - during the so-called " orange revolution". Then it all began.
What will happen next? Now this is the main question. I think that if Russia and Ukraine are able to establish an interstate dialogue, then, accordingly, there will be an opportunity for church dialogue. If ties between the two countries are nevertheless improved, then the "Orthodox question" will be resolved. I repeat, the Ukrainian church has been moving towards this (what is happening at the moment) for more than 20 years. It is clear that an independent state should have an independent religious organization. What will they get out of it? So far, this question cannot be unambiguously answered.
Photo: Filaret, Nazar Furik / InA "Ukrainian Photo"
There is one more moment: the Synod took place in Minsk. In my opinion, it is no coincidence. In Belarus, in fact, the same processes are developing as in Ukraine, only 15-20 years behind, or maybe less. So the next independent church may be Belarusian.
Experts emphasize that it is impossible now to unequivocally answer the question of what will happen to the Orthodox world.
The religious situation in Ukraine is again in the center of attention of the world community. The idea of the current president of the country, Petro Poroshenko, about an independent “Kyiv church” seems to be turning into a large-scale confrontation that goes beyond the framework of intra-church relations. One of the main Russian specialists in the history of the Church in Ukraine, historian, professor at St. Tikhon Orthodox University Vladislav Petrushko told TASS about the consequences of an attempt to reshape Ukrainian Orthodoxy according to the rules from outside. What are the causes of the conflict? On September 7, the Patriarchate of Constantinople “in preparation for granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine” appointed its exarchs, that is, envoys who can also be perceived as overseers with power, in Kiev, which is the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate. "Before the appointment of the envoys of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to Kiev, we heard restrained comments from representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian churches. This happened not only because we did not fully believe that Constantinople would move from words to deeds, but also because of the unwillingness of the Russian Church to provoke a rupture relations and cause a split. Now we have seen real steps towards Constantinople, a "trial balloon" - a violation of our canonical space, "Vladislav Petrushko notes. "Even if these 'exarchs' are still just ambassadors, 'legates', their appearance had to be coordinated with both Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev, based on the norms of relations between Orthodox churches," he adds. . What Orthodox organizations are currently operating in Ukraine? The only canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (more than 12,000 parishes and 200 monasteries) is a self-governing Church with broad autonomy within the Moscow Patriarchate. The right of independence and autonomy in governance was given by the definition of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 27, 1990 and expressed in the blessed letter /Tomos/ of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus'. After the collapse of the USSR at the end of 1991, Ukrainian politicians began to take active steps to separate the Ukrainian Church from the Russian one. The then Metropolitan of Kiev Filaret succumbed to their exhortations, declaring the creation of a national church - the so-called Kyiv Patriarchate. This organization (about 5 thousand parishes) still remains schismatic and is not recognized by any church in the world. In the 1990s, the Renovationist organization, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), was also revived in Ukraine, initially created by nationalist-minded priests in the 1920s, and then gradually disbanded. The UAOC is also not recognized by anyone and today has about a thousand parishes. At the moment, the Kyiv Patriarchate and the UAOC enjoy the special favor of the Ukrainian authorities and claim to be legalized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. "A possible scheme for such legalization is as follows: Constantinople disputes decisions made back in the 17th century on the transfer of the Kiev Metropolis to the Moscow Patriarch, seeks the creation of its own church jurisdiction in Ukraine, where all the opposing UOC-MP groups are transferred, and then grants autocephaly (independence) to its" daughter "structure," Petrushko explained. What are possible actions ROC? According to Vladislav Petrushko, the Russian Church will have to give an adequate assessment of the actions that have taken place, not to rush to break off relations, but to call everything by its proper name - to objectively assess the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople from the point of view of the canons of the Church and publish all historical documents confirming the jurisdiction of the ROC over the Kiev Metropolis . The fact is that at the Council of Bishops of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was held in Istanbul on September 1-2, it was announced that the Kiev Metropolis was transferred to Moscow without the sanction of Constantinople, and, accordingly, the rights to manage it were declared. “But, firstly, it was first transferred to Vladimir, in addition, there is a surviving conciliar act of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the official recognition of Vladimir as the second cathedral city of the Russian Church simultaneously with the placement of St. Alexis there in 1354,” commented Petrushko. The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church protested in connection with the appointment of envoys of Constantinople to Kyiv, stating that the actions of the Church of Constantinople "are the grossest violation of church canons" and retaliatory steps will follow in the near future. The Moscow Patriarchate may break off relations with the Church of Constantinople if they legalize Ukrainian schismatics. What is the relationship between the Orthodox Churches and Constantinople? The 15 local Orthodox churches of the world have equality, but it so happened historically that the Patriarch of Constantinople has the so-called primacy of honor, which does not mean supremacy over Orthodox churches. However, at the last Bishops' Council, Patriarch Bartholomew spoke a lot about his "primacy." It is based on the 28th canon of the IV Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon and assigns the patriarch of Constantinople the second honorable status after the Roman see, due to the fact that Constantinople is the imperial city of the king and government. "Now the imperial capital of Constantinople is no more. Why did the Phanariots suddenly decide to control fate Orthodox world where there are now 15 full-fledged local Orthodox churches?” the expert asks. Have there been similar conflicts in history? In the 1920s, Constantinople actively supported the renovationist "Living Church", which was created with the participation of the Bolshevik government and tried to remove the legitimately elected Patriarch Tikhon. This was followed by the granting of autocephaly to the Polish Church and the establishment by Constantinople of its jurisdiction in the Baltic States and Finland - according to the scenario that the current Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is trying to implement in Ukraine. In 1993, with the support of the country's authorities, the Patriarchate of Constantinople granted the schismatic Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC) the rights of autonomous jurisdiction within its composition. At the same time, the EAOC dioceses now have about 7,000 believers, while the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has about 100,000. Now there are two parallel canonical jurisdictions in Estonia, between which there is no communion. “Now in Ukraine, the interests of three parties have ideally converged. Firstly, the Poroshenko regime, for which this is an opportunity to increase the rating or even create such a “hot” situation in the country when it will be possible to postpone the elections. On the other hand, the interests of our “Western partners ", which in this way deal another blow to Russia, and the solution of the applied task is to break the spiritual connection with Ukraine, destroy the last "spiritual bond". and is trying to transform the primacy of honor of the Patriarch of Constantinople into the primacy of power," Vladislav Petrushko notes. What does "autocephaly" mean for Ukraine? For ordinary believers in Ukraine, for 25 years now, the very word "autocephaly" has been associated with a schism, because all this time the so-called Kiev Patriarchate and nationalists have been talking about it. Whether a new autocephalous church will be created or whether it will be a variant of the Constantinople jurisdiction with an indefinite promise to grant autocephaly is still unclear. “The state authorities may begin to drive the believers of the canonical church into a new jurisdiction. But if they encroach on the largest shrines, for example, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, then the people can already more radically express their rejection,” Petrushko is sure. the incumbent president of Ukraine, who, probably, is not fully aware of the scale possible consequences their actions to create an independent Church".
“The other day, a photo from the all-night vigil on the eve of the great twelfth holiday appeared on the network. Pictured is an empty church. And now the wonderful priests are discussing among themselves why this is so. After all, in Soviet times, and in the 90s, and even in the zero, there was no such thing.
What is happening in the Church?
I thought about it. I tried to streamline MY observations and reflections, bring them into a coherent system, but so far this did not work out, I decided to simply write them down point by point.
So:
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE CHURCH
1. Many people in the 90s and 2000s came to the Church for the wrong reason. They thought that they had come for Christ, while they themselves were looking for an ideal human community. Society, people, having escaped from the socialist collective farm, became atomized, individualized. Someone, suffering from this, came to the Church for community and community, for their memories of childhood in pioneer camps, for songs by the fire, for the good old mythologized comfort of communal apartments. Behind your desire to be with someone hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder. For unanimity. They did not find unanimity, they did not find community either, here, with us, it is also every man for himself.
2. The concept of good and evil blurred in the 90s, but in the Church this concept remained unchanged, at least in words. People read books about monks, about saints, and they came to seek the same in the Church. They were looking for kind, good, extraordinary people. Many have been deceived. We did not find such people as in books. They saw that in the ordinary life of the Church, good and evil are as mixed as in the world.
3. Many in the 90s were tired of the lack of instructions on how to live. Therefore, in large numbers, infantile irresponsible people came to the Church, which suddenly proclaimed obedience as the main virtue, trying and trying to shift responsibility onto spirit-bearing elders and far-sighted confessors. Many have been disappointed.
4. Many came, having bought into many years of preaching about the Church as a means to solve all their earthly problems. Failed to cope with earthly means - God will help. They came for health, strong families, faithful husbands and wives, obedient God-fearing children, for help in finding a job, for miracles - it didn’t work.
5. Many came for ideology. Finding no ideological support around them, they decided that the Church is about a strong, mighty, glorious Russia, about the state, continuity and bonds. But having received last years Putin's state, in the form of the most powerful source of such ideas, and even putting these ideas into practice, has ceased to need the Church.
6. The church leadership, which chose for the Church the role of ideological service to the government and unconditional support for all the actions of this government, alienated from itself the intelligentsia, which for the most part turned out to be in opposition to this government, and which, in fact, filled churches in large cities.
7. Several image-destructive campaigns by the leadership of the Church, such as the refusal of merciful intercession for imprisoned members of the Pussy Riot group, the encouragement of radical groups that interfered in the course of avant-garde exhibitions and performances, the interference of local bishops in the cultural life of their dioceses, as well as the stupid company for the capture of St. Isaac's Cathedral, specifically aimed specifically at the St. Petersburg intelligentsia, pushed away and even pushed the intelligentsia out of the Church in many ways. And it simply made the previously non-church creative intelligentsia anti-church. Moreover, even to this day, anti-intellectual conflicts continue to be generated from the church environment, in which representatives of the Church suffer a public defeat, since the intellectual level of their opponents each time turns out to be much higher.
8. The leadership and speakers of the Church have not once over the past decade acted as intercessors before the authorities for public characters that are being abused by this authorities; in general, the leadership of the Church does not consider it necessary to assign the role of an intercessor to the authorities for those in prisons. Which leads to new and new denunciations of him by the intelligentsia. Moreover, the Church asked the state for special criminal articles to protect itself from external enemies. And now this system of persecution operates automatically and independently of the Church. Each criminal case “for insulting the feelings of believers” collects more and more coals on our church heads. And in these criminal cases, the Church also refuses to act as an intercessor before the authorities.
9. In general, it turned out that the non-church intellectual part of society read the Gospel in detail and thoughtfully. Unlike many church people. And all the claims that the intelligentsia makes to the Church, she makes from the point of view of their understanding of the gospel. The Church, in response, is not ready to use this fact to involve the intelligentsia in a discussion around the Word of God, because the position of the Church in these matters suddenly turns out to be weak and anti-evangelical.
10. The Church refused to respond to gay scandals. In Russia, everything is simple: if they are silent, then they are to blame. For example, society reacted unequivocally to the denunciations of “traitors in cassocks” – such denunciations in our free time testify to the internal lack of freedom and totalitarianism of the Church. On the contrary, a loud public cleansing of the field of sexual purity preached by the Church would be evidence that our words are not at odds with deeds. But that doesn't happen.
11. The Church categorically refused to respond to the demand formed in society for a non-possessive, impoverished Church. From Patriarch to Priest. Once, in the Russian outback, a rural priest, having learned that I was an Orthodox publicist, attacked me:
- Why do you, journalists, write all the time that we, priests, should not acquire? By the way, we did not take a vow of non-possession.
The negative effect is multiplied by the fact that the state has taken seriously the transparency of income not only for businesses, but also for citizens. And the Church in its financial activities, which is entirely based on donations, refuses to be transparent even before those very donors.
12. The completion of the restoration of most churches and monasteries, as well as the growth in the welfare of the city priesthood, coincided with a drop in the incomes of the country's citizens after 2014 and to this day. Donors, from large to ordinary parishioners, see that the Church is not the part of society that needs donations the most. Donations are shrinking.
13. Change of generations among the visitors. The visitors are getting smaller. The active economic phase included people born after the USSR. They are practical people, not connected by succession, traditions, very well versed in the sources of information. Not survived the disappointments of the 80-90s, confidently standing on their feet. The church, like a crutch in everyday life, which offers them the religious minimum of “candle-water-water-verbochka”, turns out they do not need it.
14. Change of generations among parishioners. People who are not accustomed to violence against them, to the word "should", who believe that everyone can and should choose for themselves. Practical. Not wasting time. In those cases to which you have to force yourself, they are limited to a minimum. What is all night for? Enough liturgy. Why the liturgy every week? Enough once a month. And in principle, enough for Christmas and Easter.
15. Inflexibility of the calendar and charter. When everyone celebrates and travels in winter, the Church insists on fasting. When everyone eats ice cream in the summer, Orthodox children are served fish soup. More than 200 fast days a year require the average person to be significantly different most of the time. Departure from the external manifestations of religiosity, like fasting, leads many to despondency and the impossibility of returning to a normal liturgical life.
16. The obligatory and salvific nature of the fasts and rules is still preached more than the obligatory nature of the Eucharist. Refusal by a Christian to take communion and even just attend the Sunday Liturgy because a person could not observe several days of fasting before taking communion and proofreading prayer rules acquired a mass character in the church.
17. More about the evening services. In blended families, and there are many of them, if one of the spouses tries to attend the entire Sunday service, there is no time at all for the usual fellowship of the whole family. Not to go on a visit, not to receive guests, not to the cinema, not to the theater, not to take a walk outside the city, not just to sit against each other, to be silent.
18. Incomprehensibility of worship. Now, especially as a practical young generation comes to the Church, one should rather talk about his departure from the Church. They do not understand at all what is happening in the Church. The older generation also does not understand and did not understand, but they are accustomed to the words “must” and “as it should be”. Young people do not want and will not listen to incomprehensible texts. We are simply losing these people.
19. Transparent information world. Thanks to him, among other things, the Church lost its external sacredness. It turned out that it has all the misfortunes of the ordinary world: lies, corruption, acquisitiveness, rudeness, lust for power and sycophancy. No matter how hard we try to close ourselves, the Church, open to all winds, is now open to all eyes and ears. And no one harms the Church more than the church people themselves.
20. Nightmare and horror of political and patriotic sermons. Instead of Christ, one can very often hear from the pulpit about great Russia and the decaying West. If I hadn't heard it many times myself, I wouldn't have written. If I had not seen people who ran away from the Church from such sermons to nowhere, believing that this is Orthodoxy, I would not attach any importance to this either.
21. Mission failure. With the complete freedom of the Church, there is no active mission. No one brings the Word of God into the world. The flock does not increase in number. Should we consider the 1.5-2 percent of the population of the once Orthodox country in our churches to be the norm, or is it still a complete profanity of the apostolic nature of the Church?
22. Infantilism of church communities. Lack of responsibility for the fate of the parish, for the relationship of the community with the rector, for the relationship of the parish with the bishop. Often this infantilism is encouraged by the authoritarianism of the priests themselves. The church, which is not supported by the community, is not needed by the community. It is necessary to serve in the garage, in the apartment, in the gazebo. Situations when a village priest is engaged in maintaining the temple agriculture, sells souvenirs to tourists, with an income of twenty thousand rubles, is looking for sponsors in the capital for an envelope to the bishop in thirty thousand rubles - this is an anomaly, this is not normal, it may even be vicious.
23. Our Church is episcopal and everything depends on our bishops. I think that the turn of our hierarchy to face the people and the problems described above will not come from the fact that the issues of good and evil will begin to worry them with some special force, but from a drop in income. Incomes will decline, it will come to bankruptcy of parishes, the inability to pay diocesan fees in the previous volumes, and the refusal of priests to serve in parishes without income. Or maybe there won't be a turning point. The relics will be transported from Greece not once every two years, but every month, and not in several cities, but throughout the country, and there will be no need to turn to face anyone.
