General information
Thomas, an Orthodox magazine for doubters, was founded in 1996 and has evolved from a black-and-white almanac to a monthly cultural and educational publication, a major Internet portal, and many other satellite projects.
Our main mission is to tell a story about the Orthodox faith and the Church in the life of modern people and society. We strive to appeal personally to each reader and be interesting to different people, regardless of their religious, political and other views. "Thomas" is not an official project of the Russian Orthodox Church. At the same time, we actively cooperate with representatives of the clergy and various church structures. The magazine has been awarded the stamp “Approved by the Synodal Information Department of the Russian Orthodox Church” .
The creators of “Foma” are journalists Vladimir Legoyda and Vladimir Gurbolikov . Many famous journalists and experts have collaborated with the publication over the years.
On the Internet, the Foma website is read by an average of 2.5 million unique visitors monthly; “Foma” has hundreds of thousands of subscribers on social networks.
The printed edition of the magazine is published every month with a circulation of 25,000 copies. and is distributed in churches of the Russian Orthodox Church. You can also purchase it from newsstands or subscribe to it. The Foma magazine is included in the list of socially significant publications for a subscription campaign (from 2021).
The Thomas Center Foundation, which works on the content of our projects, is also a co-founder of Radio VERA, the largest Orthodox broadcaster in the FM range.
FOMA, MAGAZINE
"Thomas", an Orthodox magazine for doubters
- Address: 105318 Moscow PO Box 99 - for mail; 105318 Moscow, Izmailovskoe sh., no. 28, room. 217 - for couriers
- Telephone
- Official site:
- Circulation: 16,000 copies, 1 time per month.
Published since 1996. Editor-in-Chief: Vladimir Legoyda. Publisher - Foundation for the Promotion of Cultural and Educational Activities "Foma-Center", founders - V.A. Gurbolikov, V.R. Legoida.
Approved by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The magazine "Foma" is an independent non-profit cultural and educational publication. The main topic is current problems of modern society from the point of view of Orthodoxy, the Orthodox faith in all its aspects (spiritual, historical, cultural, etc.) Having begun in 1996 with the format of a black and white “samizdat” magazine, “Thomas” is currently a modern a high-quality national periodical, comparable in terms of formal consumer characteristics (frequency, format, color, paper quality, etc.) with the so-called. "glossy" publications.
It is printed in Finland, published monthly, sold in churches and secular retail chains, and has subscribers in Russia, the CIS countries and abroad.
The magazine adheres to the positions of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, but is not a church publication.
The target audience of the magazine is modern, dynamic, thinking people, both believing Orthodox Christians and “doubting” people who ask themselves the “main” questions. Formally, these are working men and women aged 25 to 50 years with higher education, living in large cities with average and above average income.
Despite the relatively large number of printed media on Orthodox topics, the Thomas magazine has no analogues among them, since the target audience of almost all religious publications is the community itself, in this case the Orthodox. The audience of “Thomas” is not only and not so much the community, but people who are undecided and doubtful. The magazine also has no analogues in the secular print media market, since the basis of the content of none of them is a worldview, that is, a view of the world from a specific and clearly defined point of view. The substantive concept of the Thomas magazine is precisely this - to talk about any topical problems, but from the point of view of the Orthodox faith.
Output
Magazine "Foma" Founder: Foundation for the Promotion of Cultural and Educational Activities "Foma Center" Editor-in-Chief: V.R. Legoida. Age category: 12+ Media registration body - Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) Media registration certificate: PI No. FS 77 - 37757 dated 10/12/2009
Portal foma.ru (foma.ru) Extract from the register of registered mass media as of September 11, 2019 Registration number and date of the decision on registration: series El No. FS77-76758 dated September 06, 2021 Mass media status: Active Name (name) media: foma.ru Language(s): Russian Translation of the name (name) into the state language of the Russian Federation: foma.ru Editorial address: 125009, Moscow, st. Tverskaya, 12, building 9, room. II Domain name of the site in the information and telecommunications network "Internet" (for online publication): FOMA.RU Approximate topic and (or) specialization: Cultural and educational, advertising in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on advertising Form of periodic distribution: online publication Territory of distribution : Russian Federation, foreign countries Founder (co-founders): Foundation for Assistance to the Development of Cultural and Educational Activities “Foma Center” (OGRN 1047796888490)
Financial reports of the Foma Center Foundation
Audit report of the Foma Center Foundation 2021
Audit report of the Foma Center Foundation 2021
Audit report of the Foma Center Foundation 2021
Audit report of the Foma Center Foundation 2021
Audit report of the Foma Center Foundation 2021
Details of the Foma Center Foundation
Fund for Assistance to the Development of Cultural and Educational Activities "Foma Center" INN: 7701568370 Checkpoint: 771001001 PJSC "SBERBANK", Moscow account: 40703810638170002526 BIC 044525225 c/s 30101810400000000225 Appointment payment: Donation for the maintenance and conduct of statutory activities.
Contacts
E-mail address: You can write to us at the distribution department or to the editor
Postal address: For letters: 123242, Moscow, PO Box 46 We strive to read as much as possible all mail we receive, but, unfortunately, due to the large volume of incoming mail correspondence, the editors do not have the opportunity to enter into regular correspondence with readers and respond to all incoming letters with proposals for publication.
You can also call us: tel.: +7 (800) 2000899 (calls from Russia are free)
Part III. Spiritual life
The Church teaches that spiritual life is not only the experiences of the human spirit and mind, but our entire daily life, in the integrity of its communion with God. Every act of a Christian, every thought, every word and every deed, every manifestation of his personality must be spiritual, that is, inspired and led by the Holy Spirit, so that the will of God the Father can be fulfilled as it was revealed in His Son. “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).
In the Old Testament Law it is written: I am the Lord your God: sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. (Lev.11:44)
In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter returns to this basic commandment of God: ...follow the example of the Holy One who called you, and be holy in all your actions. For it is written: “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15–16)
People become saints through participation in the holiness of God Himself; this is the meaning of unity with Him. All are “called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7), becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). This is exactly what Jesus Christ meant when He declared in His Sermon on the Mount: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
The path to union with the perfection and holiness of God is “in Christ.” He who sees and knows Jesus Christ sees and knows God the Father (John 8:19, 14:7–9). He who is in communion with the Son is in indissoluble unity with the Father (John 17; Eph. 2; Rom. 8.). All this can be accomplished only by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life.
If you love Me (says Christ), keep My commandments. And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; and you know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:15–17)
As St. Seraphim of Sarov said, the essence of Christian spiritual life and, moreover, the meaning of life as such is “the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God.”
The grace of the Holy Spirit, bestowed at baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, despite the fall of man, despite the darkness around our soul, still shines in the heart, which from time immemorial was the divine light of the priceless merits of Christ... And then, when the sinner turns to the path repentance, completely erases the traces of the crimes committed, clothing the former criminal again with the clothing of incorruptibility, woven from the grace of the Holy Spirit, the acquisition of which, as the goal of Christian life, is what I am talking about...
(St. Seraphim of Sarov, “Conversation with Motovilov”)
Thus, without the Spirit of God, a person cannot be truly “human”, be himself. Orthodox authors often quote the expression of St. Irenaeus of Lyons (III century): “man is body, soul and Holy Spirit”
. This means that in order to achieve the image and likeness of God, in which man was created, that is, to become like Christ - the perfect, uncreated image of God, man must be a temple of the Spirit of God. If it is not, then it becomes a temple of the evil spirit of evil. There cannot be a third. Man is either in an endless process of life and growth, in unity with God by the power of the Holy Spirit, or in an endless process of decay and death, by the power of the destructive power of the devil, returning to the dust and nothingness from which he was called. This is exactly how the Orthodox Tradition understands the “two ways” of the Law of Moses: I call heaven and earth as witnesses before you today: I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and cleave to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days. (Deut. 30:19–20)
The Apostle Paul says the same thing about the “two laws” operating in human life: For according to the inward man I delight in the law of God; But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members... For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death... For those who live in the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live in spirit - about the spiritual. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Rom.7:22, 8:6)
Everyone faces these two paths of human existence: either choose life - “life in abundance”, “eternal life” given by God in creation and salvation through Jesus Christ, or choose death. The whole drama of our human existence lies in this choice, even if it is unconscious.
To tell a lie and to be unrighteous is to sin. It should be noted that when describing sin, Holy Scripture uses words in the context of which the original state of righteousness and goodness is always meant. For example, the word “fall” indicates a downward movement away from an initial high state. The word “defilement” makes it clear that the originally former purity has been polluted. And the word “sin” means a violation of what was originally true. The words “break” and “alienation” indicate the unity that existed. And finally, the word “deviation” indicates leaving the right path.
There is no word denoting sin, which in its very sound would not reveal to us that sin is an unnatural state for a person, that all evil acts only as a “parasite” on what was originally good. Therefore, in the Orthodox Tradition, sin is in no way considered a natural part of existence. To be human and at the same time to be a sinner is a contradiction. And, conversely, to be a true person means to be righteous, pure, faithful and kind. In this sense, we can say that spiritual life consists of not sinning. And not to sin - to be like God and His Son Jesus Christ.
Whoever commits sin also commits iniquity; and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared to take away our sins, and that in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. Children! Let no one deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. Whoever commits sin is of the devil, because the devil sinned first. For this reason the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:5–8)
The apostles and saints, based on their own experience, knew the power of the devil directed against man in order to destroy him. But they knew no less well the impotence of the devil, leading to his own ultimate destruction if he fights against a person full of the Holy Spirit of God. Orthodox teaching here also asserts that there is no middle path between God and Satan. Ultimately, at any given moment, we are either with God or with the devil, serving either one or the other.
The final victory belongs to God and those with Him, and Satan and his hordes will be destroyed in the end. But until a person recognizes, and most importantly, feels the full reality of this cosmic spiritual struggle (God and Satan, good and evil angels), he cannot truly be called a Christian, because the goal of his spiritual life is victory over deceptive and false temptations temptations of the devil.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, then He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, then we represent Him as a liar, and His word is not in us. My children! I write this to you so that you will not sin; and if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world... (1 John 1:8, 2:2)
Here it should be noted that, both in Holy Scripture and in the spiritual Tradition of the Church, the word “world” (i.e., universe) is used in two different meanings. In the one case, "the world" is the expression of God's entire creation, the result of His good will and the object of His love.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16–17)
But, as we have already said, in addition to this positive vision of the “world,” there is also a negative one, when the word “world” does not mean the object of God’s love, but a creation that has rebelled against its Creator. Thus, in the words of Christ:
If the world hates you, know that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18–19)
And the Apostle John, in his first Epistle, continuing to talk about the enmity between Christ and the “world,” gives Christians the following commandment: Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father. For everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but from this world. And the world passes away, and its lusts, but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)
The same dichotomy exists in the use of the word “flesh.” On the one hand, “flesh” means the fullness of human existence, man himself. Therefore, about the incarnation of Christ it is written: “And the Word became flesh...”, or that on the day of Pentecost God poured out His Holy Spirit “on all flesh” (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28). On the other hand, the word “flesh” is also used as an epithet of a godless and unspiritual existence: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the spiritual. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace: for the carnal mind is enmity against God; for they do not obey the law of God, and indeed cannot. Therefore those who live according to the flesh cannot please God. (Rom.8:5–8)
It should be emphasized that when speaking about “flesh,” the Apostle Paul does not mean the human body; he makes it clear: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?.. Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit? Which you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God's. (1 Cor. 6:13–20)
This observed duality in the meanings of the words “world” and “flesh” is explained by the spiritual teachers of the Church and clearly demarcated in its sacraments. God's creation is good. Physical existence in itself is not evil. The fleshly body of man is not evil. Only sinful passions and inclinations are evil, for they use the created world and the fleshly body of man as an end in itself, as objects of idolatry and godless lusts, which, according to Bl. Augustine, expresses “worship of the creature, not the Creator.”
The soul is dispassionate by nature. Passions are something additional - and the soul itself is to blame for them... the nature of the soul is light and pure, due to its acceptance of the divine light... Its unnatural state occurs in passionate people who work for passions.
Hearing that you must withdraw from the world, cleanse yourself from everything that is in the world, you must first understand and find out... what the very name “world” means... The world is a collective name, embracing what is called passions. When we want to name the passions collectively, we call them the world... The world is carnal living and the wisdom of the flesh
. (St. Isaac the Syrian, IV century, “Spiritual Instructions”)
The new life of the world, created, redeemed and given to man by God through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, is the Church. It concentrates what God originally wanted for man.
But we should not think that it is some kind of special “religious existence”, different from the existence that we received from God who created us. Two lives - “natural” and “religious” - do not exist, there is only one - true, authentic, real life, life with God, the life of the Church, everything else is death.
Consequently, people who are not aware of their belonging to the Church of Christ live truly and authentically only to the extent that they follow God's law, “written in their hearts.” And those people who consider themselves members of the Church are so to the extent that they truly share its life. Unfortunately, it happens that a person is formally considered a member of the Church, but at the same time continues to live according to the law of the flesh, the law of sin and death.
So, summing up all of the above, we can formulate that the only content of a person’s spiritual life is “acquiring the Holy Spirit” in “seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). It is for this, and only for this, that man was created by God.
I say: walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh, for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They oppose each other... The works of the flesh are known; they are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, quarrels, envy, anger, strife, discord, temptations, heresies, hatred, murder, drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and the like. ...those who do this will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. (Gal.5:16–21)
A brief history of the magazine "Foma"
Preparations for the publication of the magazine began after a meeting between Vladimir Legoyda and Vladimir Gurbolikov in 1994. They wanted to make a magazine that would tell people, regardless of their attitude to faith, about the beauty of Orthodox Christianity. The name and final image of the magazine took shape in 1995. The first issue was published in 1996 - it was blessed and supported by Archpriest Arkady Shatov (now Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Panteleimon, vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus').
At first, the magazine existed as a black and white almanac, the audience of which began to grow rapidly. In parallel, from 1998 to 2003, the newspaper “Foma” was published monthly with a circulation of 10,000 copies. Since 2004, Foma has become a color illustrated magazine and began to be published regularly - once every two months. And since 2005 it has been published monthly.
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The magazine enjoyed the attention of a wide ordinary audience and at the same time was respected among many cultural, scientific and artistic figures. MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov joined the Foma board of trustees.
A significant point was 2012, when the magazine “Foma in Ukraine” began to be published. Now the total number of Ukrainian issues of “Foma” is more than one hundred, and Russian ones – more than two hundred.
“Foma” has been present on the Internet since the early 2000s, and in 2006 a website appeared with the address foma.ru. In 2013, its audience was 100,000 readers per month, and already in 2019 it reached 2.5 million unique users monthly.
Foma has platforms on all popular social networks. The largest of them are Vkontakte - 127,000 people and Instagram - 90,000 people. There are also several tens of thousands of readers on pages on Facebook, YouTube, Odnoklassniki and the Telegram messenger.
The publisher of the magazine, the Thomas Center Foundation, together with its partners, co-founded radio Vera, which currently reaches 50 million people.
Now “Thomas” is one of the most famous and widely read Orthodox media in Russia and neighboring countries.
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Was the Apostle Thomas truly an “unbeliever”?
Assurance of Thomas, stamp from a retablo by Bernat Solet
This Sunday we celebrate the assurance of St. Thomas the Apostle when the risen Christ showed him His wounds and commanded: “Be not unbelievers, but believers” (John 20:27). Many have a stereotype: the Apostle Thomas is an insensitive, inveterate unbeliever who is able to believe only due to extraordinary circumstances. Even such an expression has developed - “Doubting Thomas.” And for some reason, many people strive to make this holiday the day of a scientist, as if science pre-programs a person to disbelief! But is it?
What do we know about Saint Thomas the Apostle? Little. It is known that his Hebrew name means "Twin", for which interpreters have given different explanations; one of them is that this is what they called a person who doubts. He came from the Palestinian city of Paneada. In the Gospels he is listed along with the other apostles.
For the first time we hear his voice when the disciples persuade Christ not to go to Judea to resurrect Lazarus of the Four Days: “Rabbi! How long have the Jews sought to stone You, and You are going there again?” (John 11:8). But the Savior rejects their persuasion, and then Thomas says: “Let us also go and die with Him” (John 11:16). Here before us is not an insensitive man of little faith, but a selfless man, ready to go to death together with His Teacher and for the sake of his friend. Thomas was at the Last Supper and after it fled with everyone. And when on the day of the Resurrection the joyful disciples said to him: “We have seen the Lord,” he replied: “Unless I see in His hands the marks of the nails, and put my finger into the marks of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not I will believe” (John 20:25).
But the question is: who does the Apostle Thomas not trust? Was it not those disciples who abandoned their Teacher, fled and, with the exception of the holy Evangelist John the Theologian, were not even present at His death on the cross? And isn’t the memory of Christ’s wounds a reproach, first of all, to one’s conscience, and also to the conscience of the other apostles for abandoning the Savior at the most difficult hour? In these few words we see both Thomas’s torment of conscience and a fiery desire to meet the Risen One, but face to face, and not through someone else’s stories.
The words about the wounds of Christ are a reproach both to themselves and to the other apostles: they abandoned the Savior at the most difficult hour
This was well understood by interpreters, in particular Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos, who wrote that it was no coincidence that Christ delayed eight days so that Thomas’s ardent desire would increase to the highest degree.
“After eight days His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came when the doors were locked, stood in the midst of them and said: Peace be with you! Then he says to Thomas: put your finger here and see my hands; give me your hand and place it in my side; and do not be an unbeliever, but a believer. Thomas answered Him: My Lord and my God! Jesus says to him: You believed because you saw Me; Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:26–29).
Let us note in this Gospel passage, firstly, Christ’s gift of peace, which is possible with the fullness of faith and at the same time marks a response to the ardent aspiration of the Holy Apostle Thomas. Further, the Savior exactly repeats the words of Thomas, signifying His omniscience. And thirdly, it is not said whether Thomas put his finger into the wounds of Christ. However, the liturgical tradition of the Church gives an affirmative answer. Let us at least listen to the words of the Venerable Roman the Sweet Singer:
Who will keep the disciple’s hand unscorched when he approaches the Lord’s fiery edge? Who gave her the desire and strengthened her to touch the fiery bone? If a rib that is not touched is given the power of rings to the right hand, how can one touch the one who has been shaken by the suffering above and below?[1]
(Kontakion for St. Thomas' week)
And here we get an answer to the main question: what is the meaning of Thomas’ “unbelief”? It consists in the search for God Himself, in the desire to touch the Divine fire, to his grace and to partake of it.
Thomas sought to touch the Divine fire, to his grace and to partake of it
Therefore, such searching “unbelief” is commendable, because it is fundamentally connected with faith and does not carry inertia or entropy, but, on the contrary, movement and boldness:
O truly praised Thomas's terrible undertaking! Boldly touching the ribs, shining with divine fire.
(Canon of St. Thomas' week. 5th canticle)
And from such “disbelief” the fullness of deep faith is born:
Fomino’s unbelief, the parent of faith, you showed us, for you provide all of your wisdom with benefit, O Christ, as a Lover of Mankind.
(Canon of St. Thomas' week. 5th canticle)
Thomas did not doubt Thy rise in vain, and did not give up, but rather strive to demonstrate this, O Christ, with all his tongue. Having convinced them with unbelief, teach everyone to say: Thou art the exalted Lord, blessed art thou of the fathers and our God.
(Canon of St. Thomas' week. 7th canticle)
A similar understanding was present in the great Russian scientist Sergei Sergeevich Averintsev. He expressed it in his verse about the Apostle Thomas:
Poem about Thomas' Assurance
Reveal to me the depth of Your wounds, show me your pierced hands, through wounds on your palms, gaps of love and pain. I will believe until blood is shed, but You strengthen my weakness; Blessed are those who believe without seeing, but You must prepare me. Let me touch Your heart, let me feel Your mystery, reveal the torment of Your heart, the heart of Your heart. You were dead - and now you are alive forever, in Your hand are the keys of hell and death; blessed are those who believe without seeing, but I will not change with anyone. What I saw, I saw, and what I touched, I know: the spear passes to the heart and opens it forever. Blood for Blood, and body for Body, and we will drink of the Cup; Blessed are the witnesses of the truth, but You must prepare me. In the foreign land of India, which my fathers did not know, in the foreign land of India, far from my native home, in the foreign land of India, a spear will enter my body, a spear will pass through my body, a spear will tear my heart to pieces. You have called us Your friends, and we will drink from the Cup, and my path is to the east of the sun, to the alien land of India. And all that I can remember in the weakness of the last torment: the through wounds of the palms, and the immortal - pierced - Heart.
