ВЕРНОСТЬ - FIDELITY № 49 - 2006

MAY/МАЙ З

The Editorial Board is glad to inform our Readers that this issue of “FIDELITY” has articles in English, and Russian Languages.

С удовлетворением сообщаем, что в этом номере журнала “ВЕРНОСТЬ” помещены статьи на английском и русском языках.

CONTENTS - ОГЛАВЛЕНИЕ

1.  "НЕО-СИНЕДРИОН". ЕПИСКОП ДИОНИСИЙ НОВГОРОДСКО-ТВЕРСКОЙ

2.  "ОБРАЩЕНИЕ МИРЯН ЮЖНО-АМЕРИКАНСКОЙ ЕПАРХИИ К ОРГАНИЗАЦИОННОЙ КОМИССИИ IV ВСЕЗАРУБЕЖНОГО СОБОРА."

3.   "Russian Orthodox Church in Exile and Mr. Putin"  

4.   "BUT IF THE SALT HAS LOST ITS SAVOUR, WHEREWITH SHALL IT BE SEASONED?". By Igor Borisov. 

5.   "ОБРАЩЕНИЕ - ПРИЗЫВ"  IV-му Всезарубежному Собору РПЦЗ

* * *   

НЕО-СИНЕДРИОН

ЕПИСКОП ДИОНИСИЙ НОВГОРОДСКО-ТВЕРСКОЙ

Сейчас у всех верных идеалам Зарубежной Церкви взгляды устремляются на предстоящий майский Собор. Все, что можно сказать, уже сказано, все аргументы против объединения с Патриархией многократно озвучены. Теперь дело – за волевым решением. Надежды объединителей покоятся на том, что все протесты ограничаться письменными заявлениями, и таким образом, бумажная гора родит мышь.

Как известно, летом 1917 г. проходило немало собраний военных и политических кругов, где довольно резко критиковалась «керенщина», ведущая страну к большевизму. Но никого эти собрания не пугали, и на их резолюции никакого внимания не обращали. Ответом на революционный хаос был отряд добровольцев, маршировавший по улицам Ростова в декабре 1917 года. Малый отряд, но людей вставших в строй и готовых к делу.

Сейчас в Зарубежье наступил тот момент, когда верные исторической Зарубежной Церкви должны встать в единый строй, должны организоваться в нечто единое и цельное. Это должны сделать именно сами зарубежные священники и миряне с учетом особенностей зарубежной жизни. Чужое посторонее вмешательство может нарушить единство верных зарубежников, внести в него разделение и смуту. Впоследствии может быть проведен Собор общий, с участием представителей Зарубежья и России, отвергающих унию с МП.

Важнейшем в нашем отвержении МП является, конечно, вопрос сергианский. Митрополит Лавр в одном из заявлений в прошлом году сказал, что разделил МП и РПЦЗ не 1917, а 1927 год. Прот. В Цыпин (МП) в недавнем интервью тоже заявил, что разделение было чисто по политическим причинам. Для нас 1917 год  - не только политическая катастрофа, но прежде всего духовная, а затем национальная и государственная трагедия русского народа. И духовно-нравственная оценка большевизма, отвержение его христианской совестью – это не политика. Равно как и сотрудничество с ним, одобрение его деяний, предательство в угоду ему братей – это тоже не политика, а именно предательство. И оправдывая политику митрополита Сергия апологеты МП вынуждены оперировать понятиями «советского патриотизма». Историческое сергианство не только не осуждено в МП, но оправдано, а через него косвенно оправдан и советский режим.

Но историческим сергианством дело не исчерпывается. Нынешнеее положение МП правильнее называть нео-сергианством, которое хотя и связано родовой пуповиной со своей матерью, но и отличается от него. Свобода вместо рабства, богатство и имущество системы МП вместо прежних бедности и безправия. Де факто МП является государственной церковью, имеет серьезные льготы и богатство. Но одновременно с этим, окормляемый этой структурой народ невиданными темпами развращается и вымирает.

Власти РФ, с которыми у МП, по её заявлениям, сложились «подлинно симфонические» отношения, «не бывалые даже при царях», бьют мировые рекорды по коррупции и другим видам преступности. Нео-сергианство есть свободное и сознательное сотрудничество и с глобалистскими структурами, и с коррумпированным пост-советским режимом, и потому является углублением сергианского греха, а не его преодолением.

Многие катакомбные и зарубежные авторы сравнивали грех митрополита Сергия с грехом Иуды. Если продолжить эту аналогию, то нынешнее положение верхушки МП можно сравнить с положением синедриона Каиафы: прочное материальное и правовое положение, храмоздательство и внешнее благолепие, обогащение и развращение, связь одновременно с оккупационными властями и с народными зилотами. Но если постыдно оправдывать Иуду, то не тем ли более – восхвалять Каиафу? Желать попасть во двор Каиафы в число его прислужников, из коих одни издевались над Христом, другие доводили до отречения Петра, - что может быть ужаснее? Не эта ли участь уготована людям, пробивающим унию с МП? И даже если на этом пути они приемлют раны, типа отсеченного уха раба Малка, - и это не вменится им в исповедничество. Патриархийный тип православия – это «православие без Христа». Отцы-сергиане спасли внешнее благолепие православного богослужения путем отречения от Христовой правды, путем служения врагам Христовым.

При этом мы не осуждаем всех верующих, пребываюших в МП. Есть действие вездесущного и всемогущего Бога, желающего спасения каждой души человека и устроющего ему пути ко спасению. И есть отклик человеческих душ, имеющих разум и совесть, отвечаюших на призыв своего Спасителя. Здесь глубокая личная тайна обращения души к вере. Этим пробуждением объясняется некоторый  подъем религиозности в России. Но патриархийная система своей глубокой порчей искажает это действие Божие на душу, патриархийная ложь губит людей. Как и фарисеи времен Христовых, патриархийная верхушка затворяет людям Царство Небесное. И для Церкви, желаюшей подлинной духовной помощи страждущему русскому народу необходимо полное размежевание с Патриархией и полная независимость от нее.

 * * *

ОБРАЩЕНИЕ МИРЯН ЮЖНО-АМЕРИКАНСКОЙ ЕПАРХИИ К ОРГАНИЗАЦИОННОЙ КОМИССИИ IV ВСЕЗАРУБЕЖНОГО СОБОРА.

Смотрите братия, чтобы не было в ком из вас сердца лукавого и неверного, дабы вам не отступить от Бога живого. (Евр. 3.12)

Согласно указу Архиерейского Синода РПЗЦ (Л), в связи с  IV Всезарубежным Собором, во всех епархиях должны были быть проведены предварительные акции, состоящие в оповещении клиром о назначенном соборе, объяснeнии его смысла и духовного значения и выборе делегатов на приходских собраниях для участвия в епархиальном собрании, где должны были выбираться делегаты на всезарубежный собор.

Так как в нашей епархии ничего этого не было сделано, естественно получается, что от нас не будут посланы выборные делегаты.

Это не обозначает нашего недоверия к тем лицам, которые может быть решат принять участие в соборе на свой счёт, но они, к сожалению, не могут быть носителями мнения членов нашей епархии и их присутствие не должно приниматься как сознательное участие Южно-Американской епархии в Соборе.

Мы хотим продолжать быть членами православной, т.е. Единой, Соборной и Апостольской Церкви и посему категорически против соединения с МП пока её иерархами не будут исполнены все условия, поставленные давно нашей РПЦЗ.

Опасаясь, что этот собор может стать причиной отщепенства, по неосведомленности, части наших собратьев, предлагаем отсрочить его и:

1. Забыть обиды и, преодолев гордость и самолюбие, приложить все усилия для восстановления единства РПЦЗ и, только после достижения этой цели, созывать истинно-всезарубежный собор.

2. Огласить весь ход переговоров с МП – от начала и до конца, без утаений. Объяснить, что побудило начать переговоры и почему они велись без ведома и полномочия подавляющего большинства членов РПЦЗ.

3. Установить непрерывный контакт клира с мирянами и иерархов с рядовым духовенством.

4. Прислушаться к мнению членов РПЦЗ, духовенства и мирян, не оставляя без ответа их обращений к     начальству и придерживаться соборного начала для созыва и проведения истинно-всезарубежного собора.

5. Изъять навсегда применения противных апостольским учениям мер наказаний духовенства и мирян за их стояние за правду и отменить уже приведенные в исполнение.

Просим не принимать это обращение как противление церковной власти, а как поступок христиан готовых бороться за сохранение веры своих предков.

Л. П. Андреева, К. Н. Баумгартен, А. Дель Солар, А. Г. Бордокова, И. Н. Брусникин, Е. Н. Вазагов, Т. П. Вазагова,  Н. И. Елагина, О. К. Кирий,  М. С. Милютинович, Е. К. Ларионова, Е. А. Ливенцова,  Г. Л. Лукин,  М. Н. Лукина,  П. Г. Лукин,  Г. М. Ракитин,  А. Ф. Шиндлер, А. И. Яблочков,  Л. И. Яблочкова, О. Л. Яблочкова.        Следуют подписи...

                      * * *

Russian Orthodox Church in Exile and Mr. Putin

Council or Sobor in May
This coming 6th May will see a new event called the 4th All-Diaspora Council [or sobor] of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile (most often referred to as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad). The official sobor press releases use terms that imply that the Church in Exile remains part of the official Moscow Patriarchate, which we think is not true at all. Nor does the all-Diaspora sobor include Russian-Diaspora delegates from the “Orthodox Church in America” or the Russian Exarchate in America (also called the Patriarchal Parishes).  The sobor will take place in irony at the San Francisco Cathedral of the Holy Virgin, which his Eminence, the miracle-working St. John of Shanghai, established more than 40 years ago, and who reposes in a special cathedral crypt, and who was recognized and elevated to sainthood by the Church in 1995.  The sobor is a vicarious suicide.

Reunification
This 4th sobor will call for Russian Orthodox reunification of the Church in Exile and the Moscow Patriarchate. Advocates are claiming that the church inside Russia is wholesome now because one can observe much greater freedom of political speech in Russia.  This assumption is not realized in fact. The practice of religion is not much liberalized and persecution of the individual Christians occurs at the hands of their own senior Russian Orthodox Church administration.  Few people in the free world and fewer in the United States (where the Constitution allows no establishment of religion) recognize that no rule against government-church establishment and political manipulation is known in the so-called Russian Federation.  The current Moscow Patriarchate is really a part of the established soviet order, arranged by Stalin in 1943 as an “appendage” of his communist government, something utterly different from the Church in 1917.  This spiritual injustice is now the Moscow Patriarchate, which is calling for a reunification and for whatever political advantages can accrue to the Putin administration.

Immanent Ruin
There can be little room for individual conscience or impartial writing of history supervised by Putin and patriarch in America.  What augurs now, with the likely decisions by sycophants at the 4th All Diaspora Council, is the abolition of the Church “Abroad” and its integration into Moscow’s “mother church.”  No one in his right mind, who fought communists all his life, who hoped to see his Churches so well established in the free United States of America, could want to be overrun and “integrated” into the Moscow Patriarchate by clergy who had their training and education established in the old communist totalitarian soviet state.

Backward Glance
The Russian Orthodox Church in Exile was part of the mother church in Russia, but its titular head, Patriarch Tikhon Belavin was sequestered during the Revolution that ensued with the Civil War of 1917-1921 and was eventually murdered in 1925. Notwithstanding his precarious state while under house arrest, he was able to issue a decree and resolution #362 on November 20th, 1920, allowing the churches outside the borders to exist unilaterally and without any pressure from the barbaric government that was complicit in murdering at least 50 million people before the Second World War.
In 1927, one of the remaining hierarchs, Sergey Stragorodsky, was forced to issue an edict pledging loyal support to the new dictatorial regime, which made it its aim the total eradication of free practice of religion. As once stated by Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the criminal state, religion was the “opium of the masses.”  When they failed to fully subvert the love of God in the simple Russian peasantry, they subverted love from within and countered church regulations with heretical teachings and practices.
During World War II, Joseph Stalin needed the Church’s influence with the masses to help him defeat the German onslaught started by the other dictator, Adolf Hitler.  After a genocidal war which saw another 50 million die and disappear into the Gulags-–or concentration camps 10 times worse than those run by Germans, a totally subjugated church became a tool of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union.
Suffice to say that, even with fall of explicit communism in 1991, nothing really changed in the Russian Federation government structure, even after a pseudo democratic process of elections emerged. The first president, Boris Yeltsin, spent half his time inebriated and ruled by decree.  These decrees were shuffled in front of him for his signature as Russia saw a few robber barons grab state property for themselves.  When one of the editors of Forbes magazine, an American citizen named Paul Klebnikov decided to report it in a book, he was gunned down in broad daylight in Moscow.   To this day, and after pressure by his employer, the lackadaisical Putin's  government has not solved the Klebnikov murder case.

Delusion vs. Our Protest
With all this in mind, the organizers of the 4th Sobor (or 4th Council) saw fit to insist that life had changed for the better and that the church, including the President Vladimir Putin himself, were totally changed entities, deserving praise and respect.   The 2d president of the so-called Russian Federation, a neo-Leninist himself, had made it his task to fully immerse himself in the process of unifying the Moscow Patriarchate with the Free Russian Church “abroad” and proposed that all remembered and bad feelings should be set aside for a new beginning in unity.  But Americans and Europeans and all others will certainly find it strange when bishops and other clergy will start arriving in droves from “mother country” and the “mother church” expecting certain respect and “information” to be shared back home.

We, the laity and a once freedom-loving organization in the West, wish to express our total dissatisfaction with the hierarchs of the Russian Church “Abroad”.  We protest this death wish sobor drive towards “union” with a criminal organization, with a false church establishment in Moscow.

All Orthodox people, not just ROCOR members, should be concerned by reports of violations in the election of delegates to the Sobor, thus affecting the legitimacy of this upcoming Sobor.   It has been reported that many delegates were appointed, not elected in parish meetings. And it was also reported that names of proposed delegates in some cases have been kept secret from those they represent. Not only does the delegate selection process go against the way in which things are traditionally done in the Orthodox Church, but also ROCOR is an American corporation that has to abide by U.S. laws.  The process by which delegates were “elected” violates ROCOR’s bylaws and statutes as well as U.S. laws governing nonprofit corporations.  Should therefore anything decided by this Sobor be legitimate?  Will the process leave the Sobor open to a legal challenge in U.S. courts--or can the church internally police itself?
 
We request that anyone with direct personal knowledge of any irregularities in the selection of delegates or anything else involving the Sobor to write their account, sign it and have it notarized and send it to this Society.
 

Board of Directors of

The Blessed Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) Memorial Society
 

* * *

"BUT IF THE SALT HAS LOST ITS SAVOUR, WHEREWITH SHALL IT BE SEASONED?" (Luke 14:34)

By Igor Borisov.  On behalf of laity of like mind.

(Contemplation on the repentance of the Moscow Patriarchate and about where communism has gone)

On the very doorstep of the All-abroad Sobor, we turn to our hierarch pastors headed by Metropolitan Laurus with our questions, which remain unanswered, despite the multitude of letters and phonecalls to Synod Headquarters and personally to the metropolitan. Our appeals concerned the most essential issues, and therefore we felt entitled to expect attention toward them. However, even during face to face meetings between our clergy with their hierarchical seniors during the All-abroad pastoral conference in Nyack, or the recent diocesan pastoral conferences, they clearly demonstrated their unpreparedness for serious, thoughtful conversation. And even to the contrary, the participants of the quite imposing All-abroad Pastoral meeting of 2004 can bear witness that their speeches were most unceremoniously interrupted, in the event that what was being said was not favoring unification with the MP, and, conversely, statements of the opposite vein were welcomed.

In this appeal we do not intend to pass judgement on the openly biased actions of our church leadership – this is obvious to everyone. But we definitively insist that the apparent lawlessness should not from henceforth become “church” practice and would not cast doubt over the lawfulness of the coming Sobor.

From the outset, we would like to express bewilderment over the unjustifiably short time given by the organizers to prepare and conduct the Sobor. The impression being formed is that this was done intentionally, in order to demonstrate that the opinion of the clergy and laity matters little in deciding the future course of the Church Abroad.

Preparations for the All-abroad Sobor are being conducted by the special Pre-sobor Commission, which consists of individuals who by far do not represent the entire spectrum of opinions of the faithful of our Church. On the contrary – all the members of this responsible Commission are more the open proponents of unification with the MP. With their cooperation, an unobjective, artificial selection of speakers was carried out. The entire, years-long, deliberate preparation for this event of enormous significance, was conducted according to classic principles of world politics – in a clandestine and cunning fashion. Even within the timeframe immediately preceding the Sobor, again a dishonest device was deployed – we were given hope through the promise of a new information website at the end of last year, but it was only launched less than a month ago, when mere days remain before the Sobor. Thus, no time is provided for reaction to the materials posted with such a delay. Just before this site was to be launched, another one surfaced – a bilateral, very promising site named “Let us confess with one mind”, but it is organized according to the principle of any mass media propaganda organ – only articles and interviews from unia proponents appear on it, while statements by opponents of unia are filled across the board with exposing refutations. In this manner a true, honest dialogue is substituted by a sham. Everything has been done so that the “retrograde clique” and future “dissenting sectarians” would have no chance to lawfully defend their views.

Thus, the All-abroad Sobor plans to sum up the 80 year division in 8 days; the reports have been written and will be proof-read in advance. Debates by delegates are limited to a few minutes for all objections and questions. Those violating this time limit will be stopped in a most firm manner, and, as is planned, it is in this artificially created intensity that the spiritual fate of millions will be decided. Millions, for according to our deep conviction, in the event that the Church unites with the MP, not only will all the faithful Abroad suffer, but primarily the Russian (not necessarily Orthodox) people, who will be left to go on living in that accursed country, a country which will no longer have anyone to lift its curse. We intentionally used this word, so harsh to the ear, meaning the Anathema, which The Most Holy Patriarch Tikhon declared in 1918 on the “the disgorged (monster) of the human race” – the Bolsheviks, and which was confirmed that same year by the Pomestny (local – transl) Sobor of the All-Russia Orthodox Church.

“Disgorged” – meaning outcast, thrown out. These outcasts from the human race, the damned, determined the fate of tens of millions; they killed and extolled, they built and blew up, they changed the marvelous face of the country which never belonged to them, brutally killing her lawful Tsar with his entire family. These creatures gathered a few individuals from among the hierarchy which had submitted unto them and devised a new ecclesiastical creation – the current, powerful Moscow Patriarchate. This is the nature of the historical etymology of this organization, which in strange oblivion, many of our blinded brethren call the Mother Church, that is the lawful heir of the pre-revolutionary Russian Church. The absurdity of such an assertion will be revealed as soon as we remember that the Moscow Patriarchate was literally brought out of non-existence by a pack of spiritual degenerates, who were crossed out of the “book of life” by the curse of the Holy Patriarch. Conceived in lawlessness (by metropolitan Sergii, the usurper of church authority – this is a fact of church history which can no longer be abolished by any interpretations) and born in sin (in the critical year of 1943, according to an edict from Stalin, when the party no longer had any other means to lift the “spirit of patriotism” among the people which it was devouring), the Moscow Patriarchate was only able to live according to its inception. All of the spiritual manifestations in recent day Russia which we are seeing and which have been described in a multitude of books published in recent years, as well as the entire totality of the spiritual life of the believing Russian people in its complex diversity, were possible up until now not thanks to, but despite the imprisonment of Russian Orthodoxy of the post-Sergian period. Today’s spiritual revival, erroneously called “rebirth”, we view unconditionally as a sign of the great mercy and love of God to the Russian people, exhausted by suffering. Also, it signifies the overflowing of the cup of the nation’s pain, and that from the depths of the abyss, the Lord has heard the prayer of the living, lacerated Russian soul! Parochial schools, seminaries, spiritual universities, libraries are opening, many people are learning the lofty art of iconography, Orthodox newspapers and already thousands of spiritual books have been published, Orthodox radiostations are broadcasting, churches are being built and decorated, and even given this intense, it would seem undoubtedly spiritual constructive activity – in the country the tempo of fatal decomposition is escalating! It seems that with a monstrous grimace the hellish jaws have shown their teeth, ready to swallow up the Russian land. Necroprocesses are pervasive – in the moral, cultural aspects of life, in the economy and politics. They do not reveal themselves in tourist tours, even in those of a religious format, but their terrible rumble is audible to each person “who hath ears”.

It is painful to watch as countless efforts are being made by all decent, thinking people and merely dignified citizens of their country, to improve the “quality of life”, but nothing seems to work. It’s not necessary to prove this fact, because anyone who lives in Russia endures the proof of this daily. The time has now come when one no longer needs to be a profound mystic in order to cry out “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” (Psalm 127:1). “The Watchman of the House of the Lord” – metropolitan Sergii preserved his church organization, however at the cost of a sacrifice of such an unfathomable spiritual quality and significance, that the mind and heart only grow silent – you want to just drop to your knees and pray to the Lord for forgiveness and mercy.

There are many explanations for the unprecedented headlong pace of the destruction of Russia, but not one of these can be accepted as exhaustive. Only the Christian, eschatologically directed view of most recent Russian history, give answers to painful questions. We will permit ourselves to only touch on the topic of the emergence of so-called sergianism. Why “so-called”? Only because we are accustomed to associating a complicated phenomenon of the latest history of the Russian Church with the name of a specific person (in this case met. Sergii), and by doing so we deviate from the central matter, which is the mystical meaning of past and present occurrences. This is particularly noticeable today, when so many unnecessary disputes revolve around the person of met. Sergii. Also the term “Zarubezhnaya” (Abroad – transl) is confusing and has not been clarified for the basic mass of Russians, as it refers to the Church of Christ, the Russian pre-revolutionary church, which, by God’s Providence ended up outside of Russia’s borders. But let us return to so-called Sergianism. About the origin of its father, communism, probably entire libraries have now been written, and all of us are familiar with the spiritual assessment of the individual “classics” of Marxism-Leninism. We’ll recall only two important facts. Marx was a self-avowed Satanist, one of his poems dedicated to satan has even survived. Lenin, after the execution of his brother Alexander, tore off his cross and stomped it underfoot, declaring war on Christ from that moment on. Lenin was a conscious Christ-hater. Judging from the fruits of communist teaching, its authors and executors could not have been these two pygmies, another “devisor” stood behind them, the same one who told Eve in paradise: “you will be like gods” (Genesis 3:5). These words rang out with unprecedented force in the 20th century and were then heard by countless numbers of Adam’s descendents. However, even the sacrifice of millions was not sufficient evidence of the true nature of communism. Hiding behind a mask of ideology, as if one of many, he continues to this day to make political facial grimaces. Does everyone understand clearly, that the 20th century was the test polygon of Satanism, which no longer feels it necessary these days to hide from mankind which has been tamed? That two world wars are essentially one, directed toward the coming unification of the world, and that “globalization” or “the new world order” are the fulfillment of apocalyptic prophesy.

Many church historians find analogies in the past to the manner in which met. Sergius decided the question of relations between the Church and the state. For us, this approach seems erroneous in essence. The communist regime was essentially the regime of the prince of darkness and only a clear understanding of this characteristic puts the question of the Declaration of met. Sergius in a correct spiritual perspective. This is how it was perceived in those distant years by all who had not yet lost the ability to discern spirits. Nowadays, this quality is found rarely. But in those grievous days, hundreds of people, now glorified among the hosts of holy new martyrs, openly called this regime satanic. Undoubtedly, even earlier on Christians had endured periods of terrible repressions, but what the satanists did to Russia had never before been seen by the Christian world. The subjugation of the church is the fruit of a thousand years of experience of the enemy of our salvation in his relentless advance on Truth. Thus, the soviet regime firmly established itself on the foundation of this victory of evil over good. The compromise with this regime can have no analogy drawn with any historical precedent. “and what communion hath light with darkness?” (II Cor. 6:14). The Church of Christ could not remain His Bride after compromising with such a state. An absolutely foreign spirit of this world, a spirit of falsehood, cunning, a spirit which merges “yes” and “no” into one , antagonistic to the point of total hostility penetrated the organism of the Church. This spirit began to reign invisibly, for “the watchman” - met. Sergius, unlocked the door of the House of the Lord with his Declaration. This is a brief formula of his historic role.

The New Hieromartyr Damascene wrote in those years: “The Truth of the earth has shaken. Falsehood has become the law and foundation of human life. The human word has lost all connection to truth, to the eternal Word, and has lost every claim to trust and respect... People have lost faith in each other and have drowned in the ocean of insincerity, hypocrisy and fakery. But within this cataclysm of pervasive decay, the Church stood unwavering, bulwarked with the rock face of martyrdom and confession, like a pillar and confirmation of Truth. People who had lied to the fullest and had become exhausted by their own lies, knew that there was a place where the murky waters of falsehood could not flow in. There exists an altar on which Truth itself asserts its kingdom... What would they say, what would they feel when from there, from the height of the ambo, words of hypocrisy, subservience to man and slander would ring out. Would it not seem to them that falsehood triumphs in its final victory over the world and instead of where the Image of Truth Incarnate shines with an unwaning light, the face of the father of lies laughs with a disgusting grimace. It is one of two things: either the Church is the pure and undefiled Bride of Christ indeed and the Kingdom of Truth exists, in which case truth is the air without which we cannot breathe; or She lives in falsehood and by lies just like the entire world which abides in evil, and then everything is a lie, every one of our words is a lie, every prayer, every sacrament.” An event has occurred, which in its mystical, dramatic calibre, can only be compared with the fall of our forefathers (Adam and Eve – transl). “The speech of a thousand mouths will carry the terrible words into the very thick of the nation, and with a new wound, it will defeat the much suffering soul of the people, and to all the ends of the earth a rumor will spread that the kingdom of Christ has become the kingdom of the beast. The endlessly burdensome inner consequences of the Declaration are countless, this sale of the primacy of Truth for a lentil soup of false and unattainable benefits.” (Epistle to the flock, by Bishop Damascene of Nezhinsk and Glukhovo).

We, the descendents of Adam, cannot separate ourselves from sin. The state of sin has become such a part of us, so natural for us, that we defend it, since we are not capable of imagining the inner state of the first people and through that receiving a strong impulse toward salvation. Only through God's mercy do we receive the gift of faith. “O Paradise, my Paradise, my beautiful Paradise.” Does our heart echo the lament of exiled Adam? “O Russia, which we have lost”, O Church, which “we saved”! Do we remember what She was like before the “podvig” (spiritual labour – transl) of Metropolitan Sergii? Nowadays, only from books does a feint echo of the past reach us – our Mother, the Russian Church grieving for us. For us, those who stand on the still smoldering rubble of our Fatherland cry out with an optimism worthy of the best application: “communism has collapsed, we are free!!!”. Before us lies a shredded, humiliated, ridiculed, sold-off Russia; we all know full well, that the velocity and intensityof the new form of violence is only escalating, yet we continue to yell - “Freedom!” Freedom from what? Maybe from communism which did “fall”precisely because the time had come for the other “seven spirits”: “Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:26) Do the Holy Scriptures, Holy Tradition, Liturgical texts not teach us about the strength we must deploy in fighting to the last breath, that the devil is “all-cunning”, and temptations from him in the end times will become so keen and subtle, that even the faithful will be enticed. Communism hasn't “gone away”, but simply the time has come for it to cast off its obsolete red skin and to become itself – the spirit of evil, lies, destruction, death and insidiousness. That's not all. We know that the antichrist will come, that the spiritual “leader” will appear at the moment of the culmination of all human suffering, in order to bring a false peace, which will be enthroned, after which evil will receive complete and final freedom. To achieve the total subordination of all mankind the great architect first had to destroy monarchies and the retaining Church – the same one that through the strength of Christ would expose all his deviousness. The same one that stands on the blood of Martyrs and She Herself sings praises to them: “Having Your strength, cast down the tormenters, and defeat the frail audacity of the demons”. (Troparion to a Martyr). We are convinced that communism abandoned its terrible shape as a physical persecutor of the Church for one solitary reason: its goal had been accomplished. A church organization was created, in the very depth of which, permit us to say, on the finest genetic level, its “chromosome” is active. The sinister reminder of the reality of this situation stands in the center of Russia, on Red Square of the oldest capital (throne – transl) Moscow “the seat of satan” (Apoc. 2:13), the church of Pergamos, a sacrificial altar of red brick. Inside the sacrifical altar lies the idol, who trampled on the Cross!

Recently one hears frequently about the Moscow Patriarchate having repented for sergianism.Moreover, this is said in a tired tone, ironically condescending, as it happens when healthy people and adults speak to the ill, and to put it gently, to those underdeveloped of mind. “Tell us, are there still many opponents to the unification?...

Oh no, very few, there are practically no opponents, but if there are, these are mostly demented people of the older generation, and even those are very few. There are also some staunch opponents, but these people can only be pitied.” Infer – spiritual stutterers who only mumble with toothless mouths “sergianism-ecumenism”, or provincials who dwell in the illusion of their “sole truthfulness”, or romantic maidens who fall asleep with a book by Vladika Averky under their cheek. It is sad to read such rude disinformation. It is sad for two reasons. First of all, its promoters are truly to be pitied, because, since they are men of the cloth, they will answer for their words before God. And secondly, a deception of such proportions will inevitably be exposed and its repercussions will turn out to be world-wide mourning, rather than the expected mutual embraces, for God will not be desecrated! “And even if you devise a council, the Lord will destroy it”! The entire conscious part of the clergy and laity of the Russian Church Abroad is for spiritual unity with the faithful Russian people, which has never been severed and can only be realized if ROCOR preserves its primordial spiritual principles – the final security for the salvation of Russia. This assertion sounds bold, and understandably, if it is read unscrupulously, it may be interepreted as proud, therefore we will dwell on it in particular.

It is no secret, that the Church Abroad is enduring critical times. There are many reasons for this and they merit a separate examination, which we cannot accommodate in this essay. Disparity is a natural state in a diaspora; the influx of new faithful from other religions and those arriving from post-communist Russia; the dwindling numbers of the older generation, the loss of the middle generation of the church because of the assimilation of children and grandchildren into the western milieu; finally - a shortage of intellectual and spiritual “resources” to comprehend the rapidly changing “pictures” of Russian and Western life. These points are far from exhaustive in the scope of church difficulties abroad. But despite what was enumerated, we insist that the Church Abroad remains the last hope for Russia. Allegorically speaking, it holds that fairy-tale needle, which lies within the egg, which Ivan Tsarevich should receive, in order to kill the evil sorcerer with the needle. Ivan Tsarevich, undoubtedly is Russia; the evil sorcerer is the incarnation of the forces of evil which hold Russia's soul in prison, while the needle is the living molecule of the Church organism, untouched by the sorcerer, from which finally the Russian Church will be reborn, and will call the Russian Orthodox people to a real rebirth.

It is absolutely understood that the hope for this joyous event is preserved only with the condition that the Moscow Patriarchate condemns sergianism through a sobor, and that its Patriarchate comes in repentance on behalf of the church to the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad – the representative of the Russian Pre-revolutionary Church. A union through compromise between the Church Abroad and the unrepented Moscow Patriarchate will be in truth an “evil fruit”, a crime against the law of Love, the greatest betrayal of the spiritual hopes of the Russian people. In that event the image of unity besides Truth, and a false emotional love will emerge, against which the Holy Fathers forewarned. Such unity and such love will not strengthen, but on the contrary will weaken the resistance of the Orthodox world against the advancing “globalism”.

All of the apologetics for the repentance already taken place for sergianism, published by the website “Let us confess with one mind”, are a most glaring manifestation of sergianism itself. It's embarassing to even list the actions which are posed as the spiritual mystery of repentance: interviews, speeches, commission documents.... What a pity, that we must assume an ironic tone in writing about the revered protopriest and even bishops, who discuss repentance in purely secular categories. We are certain, that those same people call sinners to confession, preaching to them that sin gradually loses its grip on the person who frequently approaches this great Mystery. Must we continue?

From all that was expounded, it seems it is sufficient to realize the entire significance of the forthcoming decision at the Sobor, for it seems appropriate to quote the words from the address of His Eminence Bishop Daniel of Erie, that a matter of such importance “can not be decided by a simple majority of votes. In this case, unanimity is essential, or a nearly unanimous decision by all the members of this Church”.

It is namely now, while we are writing this article, that what was promised for Catholic Easter might have already occurred; the publicizing of the text of the gnostic apocrypha “The Gospel of Judas”. Back in the end of the 2nd century, the Church condemned this apocryph, deeming it to be heretical. Now they are promising to translate it into 18 languages, including Russian. Why was it suddenly necessary to recall to life a manuscript, written in the year 300 in Coptic, and is the interest in it coincidental, given these months portending the destiny of the Russian Church? The text of the apocryph contains an idea which blasts away the traditional understanding of the gospel abou the relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and Judas. Judas is presented as the favorite disciple of Christ, who carried out the betrayal with the blessing of the Lord for the salvation of mankind. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Betrayal, as an act of faith! That means that loyalty to the faith and it's betrayal can be equivalent podvigs! Again, the father of every lie rears his head. Can it be that we will choose his “glad tidings”?

“What will you give me, he says (Judas) and I will deliver Him into your hands; deliver O Lord, our souls from such a judgement”. (sedalen: Matins; Great Tuesday).

* * *

ОБРАЩЕНИЕ - ПРИЗЫВ

IV-му Всезарубежному Собору РПЦЗ.

Запорожская Епархия РПЦЗ

(Начало см. "Верность" № 48)

В центральном Богослужении Православной Церкви – Литургии, есть такой момент, когда участвующие в ней священнослужители по очереди подходят друг к другу, и, обмениваются лобзанием взаимной любви. При этом старший из них произносит фразу: «Христос посреди нас». На что другой отвечает: «И есть, и будет». Вот таким лобзанием и такими словами обменивался и митрополит Сергий при совместном служении с Митрополитами Петром и Кириллом. Так как с высоты этого момента можно оценить деяния митрополита Сергия и всей единомышленной с ним кампании с позволения сказать архиереев и священнослужителей составляющих доныне сергиевскую Московскую «патриархию»?
        Быть может, Вы думаете, что я клевещу на бедную и беззащитную МП? Тогда прошу Вас проследовать по этой ссылке: http://rpcz.rusorthodoxy.net/can_pol_mos_pat.htm.
        Там, вы найдете довольно полное изложение фактов, подтверждающих все то, о чем я здесь говорю. Изложены они в хронологическом порядке, аргументировано, и со ссылками на архивные материалы, опубликованные самой МП. Стиль этого изложения может вначале показаться скучным и академическим, но так только в самом начале. Потом Вам понравится.
        Далее.
        14(27) декабря 1936 г. в Москве митрополитом Сергием, сотоварищи, был составлен «Акт о переходе прав и обязанностей Местоблюстителя Патриаршего Престола Православной Российской Церкви к Заместителю Патриаршего Местоблюстителя Блаженнейшему митрополиту Московскому и Коломенскому Сергию [Страгородскому] в связи с последовавшей 29 августа (11 сентября) 1936 г. кончиною в ссылке Патриаршего Местоблюстителя митрополита Крутицкого Петра [Полянского]».
        С этого момента имя Патриаршего Местоблюстителя митрополита Петра перестает возносится как имя Первоиерарха Церкви за богослужениями сергиевской Московской «патриархии». И этим своим «деянием» сергиевский раскол теперь уже и де-юре нарушил 14 и 15 правила Двукратного Константинопольского Собора. При живом Первоиерархе Церкви, отменил возношение его имени за Богослужениями, прежде соборного осуждения
        С этого момента, и де-юре и де-факто МП становится полноценным расколом. Могут пометить этот день в календаре красной датой и ежегодно начинать его праздновать.
        Произошло это событие за 9 месяцев до действительной, мученической смерти законного Патриаршего Местоблюстителя митрополита Петра, т.е. еще при его жизни. Что, в дополнение к тому, что этот акт был составлен «самочинным сборищем» раскольников, свидетельствует об абсолютной антиканоничности как самого этого акта, так и того положения в Церкви в которое его составители, в дополнение ко всему уже совершенному, этим своим действием себя поставили. И все это, вне зависимости от того, известно ли было, составлявшим сей акт лицам, действительное положение дел или нет.
        Более того, о какой каноничности самого факта составления этого акта могла идти речь, когда на тот момент был жив законный преемник Местоблюстительства, в случае смерти митрополита Петра, – митрополит Кирилл (Смирнов), – первый кандидат на восприятие Патриарших прав и обязанностей, по завещательному распоряжению Святейшего Патриарха Тихона. Каковое завещательное распоряжение, в случае смерти Митрополита Петра, автоматически возбуждалось к действию и являлось единственной, действительно канонической основой, для передачи Высшей Церковной Власти в Церкви. Но что взять с «самочинного сборища»? Раскол – и есть раскол.
        А то, что учиненный митрополитом Сергием раскол не был плодом простого его заблуждения, либо неумышленного непонимания сути производимого им, свидетельствуют строки письма самого митрополита Сергия от 3(16) мая 1926 г. митрополиту Агафангелу (Преображенскому), написанные по иному поводу: «Впрочем, завещание Святейшего, хотя оно уже и использовано для своей цели (Местоблюстителя мы имеем) и теперь не утратило для нас своей нравственно, а пожалуй, и канонически обязательной силы. И если почему-либо митрополит Петр оставит должность Местоблюстителя, наши взоры, естественно, обратятся к кандидатам, указанным в завещании, т. е. к митрополиту Кириллу [Смирнову], а потом и к Вашему Высокопреосвященству. Это свое мнение я выражал уже письменно и раньше. Могу сказать, что таково же указание и митрополита Петра».
        Таким образом, митрополит Сергий вполне сознательно действовал вопреки своим же аргументам, приведенным им в полемике с митрополитом Агафангелом с целью воспрепятствовать вступлению последнего в отправление должности Патриаршего Местоблюстителя в 1926 г..
        Когда дело касалось вступления митрополита Агафангела в отправление должности Патриаршего Местоблюстителя, «если почему-либо митрополит Петр оставит должность Местоблюстителя», то по мнению митрополита Сергия «наши взоры, естественно, обратятся к кандидатам, указанным в завещании, т. е. к митрополиту Кириллу [Смирнову]». Но, когда создалась ситуация когда «митрополит Петр оставил должность Местоблюстителя», то взоры митрополита Сеl