The beginning of the 20th century brought tragedy in the lives of Russian writers, politicians, priests and many other people who could not bear the destructive changes.
One of these people is Averky Taushev. He left his homeland with a difficult heart and, like many emigrants, he was very homesick for his dear lands.
But still, God did not abandon the future Bishop Averky and helped his soul find consolation in Orthodoxy. Christianity is just like a home for a person, which no one can take away.
And therefore Averky Taushev found the strength to serve the Lord in the countries that sheltered him: Bulgaria, Germany, the USA.
Alexander Taushev traveled a lot from an early age and read spiritual books
Taushev Alexander Pavlovich came into our world on October 19, 1906. He traveled a lot from a young age, as his father held a government position that required constant movement.
Averky Taushev
Young Alexander managed to look at different parts of Russia, compare them, learn traditions, customs, and peculiarities of life. He revealed his gift of observation.
But it was not only people and the peculiarities of their way of life that interested the boy. He always and everywhere paid attention to temples. There was something attractive about them, awakening imagination and some kind of pleasant inner feeling.
Among young Sasha’s favorite books was “The Invisible Warfare” by St. Nicodemus.
However, it was not only works of Orthodox architecture that aroused in young Alexander an interest in spiritual life. He became interested in spiritual literature. For example, one of the books that attracted him was “The Invisible Warfare” by St. Nicodemus.
This is a work about how a person moves step by step towards salvation and about the obstacles that may arise along this path.
After becoming a monk, Father Averky taught spiritual subjects
In 1931, in Transcarpathian Rus', Alexander Taushev became a monk and became Father Averky. In 1932 he already became a hieromonk, which is not surprising, because life experience, erudition and excellent education helped significantly along this path.
1932
this year Alexander became a hieromonk, in 1940 he fled to Belgrade
He helped the rector, edited publications of the diocese, and taught catechism in schools. And who knows, perhaps he would have been content with this if not for the war, which in 1940 forced him to flee to Belgrade.
A place was found for Father Averky in the Holy Trinity Church in Belgrade. He also undertook to teach several subjects:
- Pastoral Theology;
- homiletics (the science of preaching).
Father Averky also taught a whole course for the laity, where he told what life should be like in the light of the Word of God.
In 1944, the merits of Father Averky allowed the leadership to elevate him to the rank of archimandrite. And until 1951, Bishop Averky selflessly served in Russian parishes in Germany and Austria.
Praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Discussion: 2 comments
- Henry:
04/14/2008 at 00:00Opium for the people is all your canoe! All churches were built thanks to duty-free trade in tobacco and alcohol during the perestroika period. You killed millions of people with alcohol and tobacco in order to build a cemetery for them in Rus'.
You are liars and hypocrites.
- * * *:
04/14/2008 at 00:00
Yes, dear Heinrich, you are, of course, right and very insightful: before perestroika, churches were not built in Rus'. It all started with Gorbachev, who appointed Ridiger to trade in tobacco and alcohol. As a result of this, churches appeared in our country.
In the USA, Father Averky became an archbishop
In 1951, Bishop Averky was invited to move to the USA. There he taught at Holy Trinity Seminary. Its main disciplines:
- homiletics;
- liturgics;
- New Testament.
1951
this year Averky Taushev was invited to the USA
Knowledge again came to the rescue of Bishop Averky. Accustomed to moving since childhood, he successfully adapted to new conditions and continued to teach Christian knowledge to audiences in an accessible manner. Students showed interest in his lectures, the administration noted the merits of the bishop.
Finally, the seminary administration appointed him rector. And here, Bishop Averky continued to enthusiastically fulfill the duties assigned to him, and attracted other respected specialists to the academy.
Father Averky
In 1953, Bishop Averky was ordained Bishop of Syracuse and Trinity. Seven years later he became rector of the Holy Trinity Monastery, and a year later he received the rank of archbishop.
1953
this year Father Averky was ordained to the rank of archbishop
In 1964, he was included in the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, where the bishop continued his honest work for the good of the Orthodox Church.
Archbishop Averky died on April 13, 1976. He was buried at Trinity Church in Jordanville.
Life in exile
During the civil war that broke out after the October Revolution, the Taushev family was forced to leave the Fatherland. The danger of possible reprisals and disagreement with the atheistic policy of the Bolsheviks also had an impact.
After much thought and regret, the family settled in Bulgaria, in Varna. Here Alexander continued his studies.
During this period, he was under the spiritual influence of the rector of the local church, Father John Slunin. In addition, the meeting with Archbishop Theophan of Poltava had a great influence on the formation of the religious disposition of Alexander’s soul.
He visited Varna in 1925. After meeting with the bishop, who was distinguished by the severity of his life and virtue, who had the gift of heartfelt words, Alexander was inflamed with a desire to join monasticism and devote himself to God.
With the blessing of the bishop, he entered the theological faculty of the State University in Sofia. He studied theological disciplines with keen interest. It happened that he would not look up from his books for hours.
Contemporaries noted the personal qualities and oratorical talent of Father Averky
The activities of Bishop Averky have always been highly appreciated. For example, Hieromonk Damascene (Christensen) called him one of the best preachers that modern times have known:
“Archbishop Averky spoke so beautifully that after his death in one article they called him “Chrysostom of the last times.”
Even in everyday conversation, his speech was oratorically smooth and even, to which he made no effort.
His gift of oratory, combined with his fiery love for the Truth, made his sermons unforgettable.
Often the repentant mood overwhelmed him so much that he began to cry in the middle of the sermon.
Only the most insensitive of those listening laughed at this “emotionality”; it was clear to everyone that these tears were completely natural - they came from the excess of the heart.”
Damascene (Christensen)
hieromonk
Archpriest Andrei Papkov recalls the sermons of Bishop Averky:
“He walked out onto the pulpit, staff in his left hand, closed his eyes and spoke...
After this, the sermon, as a rule, ended up in the newspaper “Orthodox Rus'”, and if you recorded this sermon on a tape recorder and then looked at it in printed form, even the commas were in place.
He apparently thought through the sermon, delivered it, then wrote it down, or vice versa - in any case, he had a photographic memory.
We just kept an eye on it sometimes. But he spoke for a long time, at least 20 minutes, and sometimes it was a little tiring.”
Andrey Papkov
archpriest
Vladyka Averky was a reliable support for others, a person you could always rely on, because he would never betray his convictions.
He never had any illusions and always looked at things objectively. In particular, Bishop Averky understood perfectly well that the level of piety among the emigrating Orthodox Christians was declining. But no less sorrow for him was the fate of those believers who remained in Russia. He always remembered them with great regret.
God, be merciful to us sinners!
We have already lived to see that truly terrible and terrible time when almost everyone has already capitulated to the victoriously marching God-fighting Satanism into the world, which in some places is still camouflaged in one way or another, for the sake of the most convenient preparation for the kingdom of Antichrist, when an undisguised bloody struggle in everything should begin peace with the true faith and the Church of Christ.
It's scary to think about! Not only all Orthodox local Churches, but even heterodox Christian denominations, which so far enjoy seemingly complete external freedom, have actually already capitulated to the atheistic Soviet government, since they recognize the Moscow Patriarchate
, which is its instrument, enter into relations with it, greet its hierarchs, go to them themselves and invite them to themselves and maintain friendly relations with them, as if with representatives of the genuine Russian Church.
Only our Russian Church Abroad still stands
in the way of this godless Satanism.
This is where lies the reason for the terrible anger that is currently ready to fall upon her with all its might! Everything possible is being done to break the position of the Russian Church Abroad. Recently, even an entire book has been published with the aim of proving the “non-canonical nature” of its existence. Probably, the Antichrist himself, when he appears, will also skillfully wield the canons. Previously, other masters in our country were famous for such treatment of laws, which is why a witty and poisonous saying appeared among our people: “The law is like a pole: wherever you turn, that’s where it comes out.” Now, in exactly the same way, unscrupulous people who have sold their conscience to the enemies of the Christian faith are now wielding church canons. But all their constructions collapse on their own, because they are based on the vicious premise that does not withstand any criticism from the point of view of both common sense and the teachings of the true Church, that “Soviet power is power from God.”
Indeed. Is it possible that the atheistic Soviet power, which forcibly established itself in our unfortunate Motherland, can be considered a God-established power and attribute the words of St. Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans ch. 13, verses 1-5: “There is no authority except from God”?
For a clear solution to this question, it is necessary to carefully read all these words of St. Apostle from beginning to end completely, think about their deep meaning, questioning your conscience to what extent what was said by St. An apostle can go to Soviet power, and then turn to our ancient church authorities in order to find out how they understood and interpreted these words. After all, both the Roman Catholics and all the countless sectarians, to justify their errors, resort to texts from the Holy Scriptures, taking individual phrases out of context and interpreting them where it suits them, too literalistically, without comparison and coordination with the rest of the text.
So, what does St. say? Apostle Paul:
“Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities have been established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority resists God's decree
.
And those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves. For those in authority are not a terror to good deeds, but to evil deeds
.
Do you want to not be afraid of power? Do good and you will receive praise from her;
for the ruler is God's servant, for your good. If you do evil, be afraid, for
he does not bear the sword in vain: he is God's servant
, an avenger to punish those who do evil. And therefore one must obey not only out of fear of punishment, but also out of conscience.”
Now, having quoted these words and carefully thought about them, let us ask the most elementary, untwisted human conscience - the conscience of a person at least slightly familiar with the godless essence of the communist Soviet government, which not only denies the very existence of God, but also consciously and fiercely fights against the belief in God, with every religion - can these words be attributed to Soviet power?
Of course not!
How can the “power from God” be the power that fights with God, while making its fight with God for the eradication of all religion one of the main goals of its activities?
Don’t we know how much evil the godless Soviet government caused to the Russian Land, how much innocent blood it shed, how many Russian people it made the most miserable of mortals, how many great historical shrines of the Russian people it destroyed and desecrated, how it outraged the soul of an Orthodox Russian person, how much all sorts of abomination , brought baseness, vileness and the most unbridled rudeness into Russian people's life, artificially evoking and inflating in souls all kinds of vicious and criminal instincts, arousing the beast in man, in that same Russian man who was previously so famous for his humility, meekness, mercy and the kindest true Christian qualities of the soul?
Is it possible, after all this and knowing all this, to decide to say about the leaders of the Soviet government that they are “terrible not for good deeds, but for evil ones”?
Is it possible to say about Soviet power: “Do you want not to be afraid of it? “Do good and you will receive praise from her”?
Doesn't all this sound like the most evil irony?
Is it possible to say about the Soviet “boss,” who must certainly be an atheist, because the “Communist Party” demands this from his fellow members, that he “is God’s servant, for your good,” that he “carries a sword” as “an avenger in punishment of the one who does it?” evil"?
Wouldn't this be blasphemy - a mockery of the sacred title of “God's servant”?
This is what a healthy, not yet “burnt” human conscience, a conscience not yet accustomed to various casuistic twists, cannot fail to answer the question we posed at the very beginning about the Divine establishment of Soviet power.
But how and why is St. The Apostle Paul puts it this way: “There is no authority except from God; Are the existing authorities established by God? Doesn't this mean that Soviet power, in spite of everything, should still be considered as “power from God”?
Let us turn to the highly authoritative interpretation of these words of the Apostle by the Holy Fathers of the Church. What do they say about this?
This is how, for example, the great universal teacher and saint St. interprets these words. John Chrysostom:
“Authorities are instituted by God... How is this? Is every ruler really appointed by God? That’s not what I’m saying, answers the Apostle. Now I’m not talking about each boss individually, but about power itself
.
The existence of authorities, whereby some are in charge and others are subordinate, and the fact that everything does not happen by chance and arbitrarily, so that peoples rush to and fro like waves - I call all this the work of God's wisdom
.
That is why the Apostle did not say that there is no leader who has not been appointed by God, but talks in general about the essence of authority... Since equality often leads to quarrels, God established many types of authority and subordination, such as: between husband and wife , between a son and a father, between an old man and a young man, a slave and a free man, between a boss and a subordinate, between a teacher and a student... And anarchy is evil everywhere and is the cause of disorder...
After all, the authorities provide countless benefits to states: if they are abolished, everything will perish and neither the city, nor the village, nor the house, nor the marketplace, nor anything else will stand, but everything will be overthrown, since the stronger will swallow up the weaker...” (Creations, vol. IX, pp. 774-77).
Both from the above words of Saint Chrysostom, and from his further reasoning, it is absolutely clear that St. The Apostle speaks here not about “all” power, in the sense of the indifference of the one in whose hands the power is, but about the institution of power itself, as such - that the very institution of power was established by God
for the sake of ordering the lives of people, that
state power, in its idea, is a Divine institution necessary to prevent anarchy, or anarchy,
which threatens unwanted shocks and destruction for human society.
This idea is strongly confirmed by another great and very authoritative Father of the Church for us, Ven. Isidore Pelusiot. Having indicated in advance the order of subordination of some to others, established by God everywhere in the life of verbal and wordless beings, he then concludes:
“Therefore, we have the right to say that the matter itself, I mean power, that is, the leadership and royal power are established by God. But if any lawless villain delights
this power, we do not claim that he was appointed by God, but we say that
he was allowed to
vomit this wickedness, like Pharaoh, and in this case, suffer extreme punishment, or to bring chastity to those for whom cruelty is needed, as the king of Babylon brought chastity to the Jews" (Creations , part II, letter 6).
It seems to be stated quite clearly. And from here it should be clear that the atheistic Soviet power, which fully falls under the concept of “a lawless villain who has captured this power,” as a power that is not legal, but aggressive and violent and maintained by bloody terror, cannot in any case be considered “power from God.” ”, which must be obeyed “not only out of fear of punishment, but also out of conscience”: to her, in the words of the Rev. Isidora, only “ allowed
vomit this wickedness,” but no more.
Is it possible, after all of the above, to attribute the commandment of St. to the Soviet government? Apostle Paul: “Therefore, first of all, I urge that prayers, petitions, supplications, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and for all those in authority, that we may lead a quiet and serene life in all godliness and purity, for this is good and pleasing to God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to attain the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:1-4), as does the modern Moscow Patriarchate
and all her supporters?
We have already seen with sufficient certainty that the Soviet government, as the power of a “lawless villain,” cannot be considered as a legitimate, God-established power, for which Christians should offer “prayers, petitions, supplications and thanksgiving.” There is no comparison here between Soviet power and the power of the pagan emperor, within whose Empire the saints lived and acted. Apostles and first Christians. The power of the pagan Roman emperor was a completely legitimate, legal power
, which truly ensured the order and well-being of the human society of that time (let us recall, for example, the famous “Roman Law”, which formed the basis of all modern jurisprudence and is hitherto unsurpassed!).
And if Christians were nevertheless subjected to persecution at that time by this pagan power, it was not at all because this power was anti-God in its very essence, like the modern Soviet government, but only because this pagan power did not know Christianity
new
, unheard of, incomprehensible phenomenon in the then pagan world At the same time, the most unfavorable rumors circulated about Christianity: Christians were accused of atheism because they did not want to make sacrifices to the pagan gods; they were suspected of secret debauchery, of killing children, and in general of various kinds of criminal and reprehensible actions, considering them to be misanthropes.
The modern Soviet government is a completely different matter. She knows perfectly well what Christianity is, and consciously
persecutes him precisely for that beautiful,
for that sublime, for that good
that he is. Let us at least recall such a characteristic statement of the official Soviet organ “Atheist”, timed to coincide with the feast of St. Easter:
“The Christian Church teaches that Easter is a holiday of love and brotherhood... Christian priests on Easter days say to believers: “Forgive each other’s insults, hug each other, forgive your enemies.” The Party considers this teaching completely unacceptable
for the nations: Christian Easter sows harmful ideas among the masses” (April 1).
And this is understandable, because communism, as is known, deliberately opposes class hatred
, and therefore he is so irreconcilable towards true Christianity, embodied in the true Church.
If there can be any comparisons, then Soviet power can most likely be compared with the power of Julian the Apostate, for it too is an apostate
.
And, as is well known, Christians of the 4th century prayed to God not for the well-being of Julian the Apostate, but for his speedy death
. Such an illustrious Father of the Church as the Ecumenical Teacher and Saint St. Basil the Great also prayed about this. We read about this in the “Lives of the Saints” under November 24 (“The Suffering of the Holy Great Martyr Mercury”) the following significant lines:
“This warrior, the holy Great Martyr Mercury, whose soul was already triumphant in heaven, was used by the Chosen Voivode, the Most Holy Theotokos, after a considerable time, for her next military service. When St. Basil the Great prayed before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, which had an image of the holy Great Martyr Mercury with a spear, like a warrior, so that the evil Tsar Julian the Apostate, the great persecutor and destroyer of faithful Christians, would not return from the Persian War to exterminate the Christian faith, then I saw that there, next to the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, was the image of St. Mercury became invisible for some time, then appeared with a bloody spear: And at that very time, Julian the Apostate was pierced in the Persian War by the spear of an unknown warrior, who immediately after that became invisible. The accursed Julian, spewing up the blood gushing from his wound, turning to heaven with such blasphemous words against Christ: “You have won, Galilean!” - died with anger on his lips. This miracle then became obvious, for, through the prayers of St. Basil the Great, the Most Holy Theotokos herself sent this saint of God and her holy victorious great martyr Mercury from the triumphant church to the militant church to execute the godless Apostate Julian, to defend the holy faith and Orthodox Christians" (" Lives of the Saints" in Russian for the month of November).
But didn’t the modern persecutors of the faith of Christ, the Bolshevik apostates, surpass Julian the Apostate many, many times over? And this is the only prayer they are worthy of - prayer for the speedy destruction of their godless rule and the end of their frantic torment.
Any other prayer for them sounds simply blasphemous.
But how crafty the present age is and how often imaginary ideological justifications are now given to suit one’s own base passions and selfish interests! Here lies the main source of our disagreements in this seemingly so clear question, as in many others of the same kind.
Lent is approaching again - the time of repentance. We must repent of all our sins, but most of all we must repent of the sin of apostasy - the most terrible and seductive sin of our time, completely depriving us of hope for salvation, for it deprives us of the very possibility of repentance and of all other sins of ordinary human weakness, if Only after carefully examining our conscience will we discover that we are sinning at least to the smallest degree, succumbing to the spirit of the times. And realizing how numerous the enemy’s networks are now spread all around us, let us cry out more diligently in the publican’s voice: “God, be merciful to us sinners!”
(Archbishop Averky (Taushev). Modernity in the light of the Word of God. Words and speeches. Vol. II.)
+ + +
From the editor. This is the meaning of the current union of the ROCOR and the MP: capitulation and absorption of the Russian Church Abroad in order to strangle this resistance to the Antichrist.
Permanent page address:
Leave your comment
« Previous entry
Bishop Averky wrote works on the Four Gospels, spiritual life, saints and divine services
Vladyka Aversky was a learned man by the sweetness of his mind. With his love of reading books, it is natural that he wrote many of his own essays on a variety of topics related to Christianity.
The spiritual works of Father Averky are distinguished by a scientific approach. Among his texts there is a manual on homiletics, and there is a book whose task is to help the believer study the Bible. He mentored both experienced shepherds and newcomers who had just come to faith.
Despite the vast number of issues that had to be addressed, Bishop Averky found time to write about individual saints. He has a work on Mark of Ephesus.
Buy a book in the online store Sterenie.ru
The book of Father Averky (Taushev) “The Four Gospels. Apostle"
Although the author of the texts is a representative of the clergy, and the audience is believers, Bishop Averky always put the scientific approach at the forefront of everything, not being afraid to challenge traditions that contradict him:
“Who was the organizer of the Roman Church?
Presumably - disciples of St. Apostle Paul.
At the end of the Epistle to the Romans, the Holy Apostle Paul sends greetings to a number of persons, apparently very close and well known to him.
Who are these persons and how could Saint Apostle Paul, who had not yet been to Rome before, get to know them?
All of them are undoubtedly exiles from Rome<...>
The legend is that the Roman Church was founded by St. Peter
can be explained by the fact that the first believers in Rome
were among the converts on the day of Pentecost,
who heard the speech of the Holy Apostle Peter
and naturally considered him their spiritual father.
Added to this was
that in Rome the holy Apostle Peter suffered a martyr’s death.”
Akverii Taushev
priest
One of the most important and famous works of Bishop Averky is the “Four Gospels”.
In the tradition of the Church, the four gospels are all four texts of the canonical gospels. Of course, history knows more biographies of Christ, but they are not included in the Bible.
In his work of the same name, Averky Taushev analyzes in detail the content of the gospels, explains the difficult passages and tasks of its authors:
“As can be seen from this preface by St. Luke, he took up the task of compiling his Gospel because by that time quite a lot of works of this kind had already appeared, but they were not sufficiently authoritative and unsatisfactory in content; and he considered it his duty (out of a desire to confirm a certain “sovereign Theophilus” in the faith, and with him all Christians in general) to write a narrative about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, carefully checking all the data from the words of “eyewitnesses and servants of the Word.”
Akverii Taushev
priest
The analysis of texts is based not only on theology, but also on philosophy, linguistics, and philosophy, which allows one to draw succinct conclusions:
“John calls the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, “the Word.”
Here it is important to know and remember that the Greek “logos” means not only the word already spoken, as in the Russian language, but also the thought, reason, wisdom expressed by the word.
Therefore, calling the Son of God “Word” means the same as calling him with the title “Wisdom.”
Akverii Taushev
priest
As a church figure, Averky Taushev is of little significance for the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, but these and other works of his will be useful to read and study in detail for any Christian believer.
Books by Father Averky can be purchased in the Sretenie online store.
By leaving a comment, you accept the user agreement
The spirit of antichrist and the forerunners of the antichrist
The doctrine of the Antichrist was part of the original apostolic gospel, which is clearly seen from the 2nd chapter of the Second Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to Thessalonians. Having given the characteristics of the Antichrist in verses 3-4 of this chapter, St. The Apostle writes further to the Thessalonians: “Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I told you this? (v. 5).” – One cannot help but consider it very remarkable that during the short period of his stay in Thessaloniki, St. Ap. Paul not only did not pass over in silence the teaching about the Antichrist, as secondary and unimportant, but considered it necessary to present this teaching in full detail. And in this second letter of his, he only repeats what he said before about the Antichrist verbally.
Why is it so important to know this teaching?
Because, as the Holy Fathers warn us, whoever neglects this teaching, considering it unimportant and insignificant in Christianity, will not recognize the Antichrist and will worship him.
Is it really possible not to recognize the Antichrist?
Yes, you can! This is how Ignatius (Brianchaninov), who collected together everything said about the Antichrist by the ancient Holy Fathers, speaks about this:
“The Antichrist will call himself a preacher and restorer of the true knowledge of God: those who do not understand Christianity will see in him a representative and champion of the true religion and will join him
.
The Antichrist will reveal himself meek, merciful, full of love, full of every virtue: will recognize him as such and submit to him
because of his most sublime virtue... The Antichrist will offer humanity the creation of the highest earthly well-being and prosperity, will offer honors, wealth, splendor , carnal comforts and pleasures:
seekers of earthly things will accept the Antichrist and call him their ruler
.
The Antichrist will reveal before humanity a disgrace of amazing miracles similar to the cunning performances of the theater... He will instill fear with the thunder and wonder of his miracles, will satisfy with them reckless curiosity and gross ignorance, will satisfy human vanity and pride, will satisfy carnal wisdom, will satisfy superstition, will lead to bewilderment of human learning: all people “, guided by the light of their fallen nature, alienated from the guidance of the light of God, will be carried away into obedience to the seducer
” (Volume IV, p. 297).
The Antichrist will be received with delight by apostates from Christianity, but it is worthy of deep attention and lamentation, as the Holy Fathers note, that the chosen ones themselves will be perplexed about the identity of the Antichrist, so skillfully will he be able to hide the satanic evil nesting in him from external eyes. “Opponents of the Antichrist will be considered troublemakers, enemies of the public good and order, will be subject to both covert and open persecution, will be subjected to torture and execution” (ibid.). All who refuse to bow to the Antichrist will find themselves in the most painful and difficult situation: “ a small number of them will seem insignificant before all of humanity and their opinion will be given special weakness, general contempt, hatred, slander, oppression, violent death will be their lot
” (there same).
Devout reader, don't you find that the picture painted above is somewhat reminiscent of what is already happening in the world?
Yes! but where is the Antichrist? has he already arrived?
We do not yet see the Antichrist himself, but his spirit is clearly taking root and beginning to dominate the world
.
Numerous forerunners of the Antichrist
are preparing with enormous energy his coming, his triumph, his enthronement in humanity.
In order for the Antichrist to be accepted among Christian humanity, of course, very long and intense preparation is needed. It has been and is being carried out since apostolic times, with more and more intensity. So also St. The Apostle John the Theologian wrote in his First Catholic Epistle: “Every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ who has come in the flesh is not from God, but it is the spirit of the Antichrist, about whom you have heard that he will come and
is now already in the world ” ( 4:3);
“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist
, denying the Father and the Son” (2:22), and finally, “
You have heard that the Antichrist will come, and
now
many antichrists
have appeared ” (2:18).
Scientific interpreter St. Scriptures of Ep. Michael notes that in the Greek original the name “Antichrist”
stands with a definite index member, completely separating this name as a well-known specific person, while other “Antichrists” do not stand with a definite member and, therefore, like “many”, differ from him .
These “ many antichrists
” are only the forerunners of that
antichrist
who will appear before the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world: they are, as it were, “prototypes” of their “Prototype” - the coming individual antichrist.
They are carriers of the spirit of the Antichrist
, and their task is to prepare suitable soil for the coming of the Antichrist, to create conditions favorable to his appearance in the world.
These “forerunners” of the Antichrist lead the world process that St. Ap. Paul called it a "falling away"
(2 Solun. 2: 3).
The essence of this process lies in the greater and greater departure of Christian humanity from the genuine
, intact Gospel teaching and in
the replacement
of the Gospel covenants
with other
ideals.
The destructiveness of these ideals, offered to humanity by the “forerunners” of the Antichrist, is that they seem
acceptable to a Christian, compatible with Christianity, but in reality they are deeply contrary to him, as flattering human passions and lusts and confirming the fallen nature of man in its fall.
Is it possible to trace this process of “retreat” in history and in life?
And it can and should! It must be in order to protect yourself and your neighbors from being drawn into this process, in order to get away from it, in order to save yourself from being infected by the spirit of Antichrist that is increasingly establishing itself in the world.
The devil, of course, could not come to terms with the appearance of Christianity in the world, and therefore we see the “spirit of Antichrist” operating in Christian humanity already in apostolic times. The first “forerunners of the Antichrist” were Simon the Magus, Cerinthos, and the Nicolaitans, with whom the saints had to fight. Apostles. Then - the Gnostics and whole crowds of all kinds of heretics, with whom the Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church fought for a number of centuries. In the first ten centuries of the Christian era, the spirit of true faith and piety was, however, still so strong in Christians that each time it won a brilliant victory over the “spirit of Antichrist” and the Church of Christ, despite all the difficult trials that befell it, triumphed over its enemies.
But by the middle of the 11th century, the “spirit of Antichrist” had become so entrenched in the West that it was able to completely tear away an entire half of Christian humanity from unity with the entire Universal Church. The result of this was “papacy” with its various deviations from the true Christian teaching about faith and piety - with newly invented dogmas, with damaged morality, with indulgences, the “Holy Inquisition” and similar perversions.
This was the first decisive victory won by the “forerunners” of the Antichrist.
Others soon followed.
At the turn of the Middle Ages, in order to completely eradicate the remnants of Christianity, the same “spirit of Antichrist” gave birth to those who had broken away from the true Orthodox Church
the faiths of the “papacy” are already completely opposite movements to Christianity - unrestrained freethinking, “humanism”, which put man himself in the place of God, and, finally, “atheism”, or complete atheism. Not without the strong influence of these movements, in the 16th century a split occurred within the papal church organization itself, which received the name “Protestantism,” which supposedly undertook to “reform” the Church, but in reality went even further along the path of “retreat” and rejected the very essence of the Church. Protestantism, in turn, began to fragment more and more into small parts - “sects”, of which many have now moved so far from Christianity that they rejected its most important dogmas and even faith in the Divinity of the Founder of Christianity - the Lord Jesus Christ. This process of the emergence of more and more new sects, the most savage and absurd, does not stop even now. It is extremely characteristic how clearly the “spirit of Antichrist” reveals itself in all these sects. If not all of them, then most of them talk a lot about the Second Coming of Christ, await it with special impatience and fervor (for example, Adventists), but are silent about the preliminary coming of the Antichrist or claim that the Antichrist already exists in the person of... the Pope. Characteristic in this regard is the recent Evanston Conference, organized by Protestants and sectarians and held under the slogan: “Christ is the hope of the world.” Much, much was said at this conference about the “Second Coming of Christ” and what benefits this promises for humanity on earth (!?), but there was complete silence about the Antichrist! Doesn't this naturally lead to the idea that Protestants and sectarians are gradually preparing their leaders to accept the Antichrist, when he appears, as Christ Himself?
At the same time, clearly anti-Christian teachings of materialism, socialism and Marxism-communism appear in the West and are persistently propagated, and socio-political organizations with the secret cult of Satan are spreading their networks wider and wider. Acting in exactly the same way as the Antichrist himself will act, “with hellish cunning and hypocrisy” (in the words of Bishop Ignatius), the leaders of these organizations, these true “foxes at heart and wolves at heart” (in the words of St. Nile the Myrrh-Streaming Athos) They are gradually taking over the leadership of not only the socio-political, but also the religious life of people all over the world, directing everything towards one goal - to prepare conditions favorable for humanity to accept the Antichrist and worship him as their king and god.
The most important obstacle to achieving this goal was Orthodox Russia
- the only powerful stronghold of the true Christian Orthodox faith in the world - with its Sovereign, the sovereign Defender and Patron of the entire Orthodox Church. For more than two centuries, the “forerunners” of the Antichrist carried out systematic and persistent work in order to turn the Orthodox Russian Empire into a godless Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. When this was achieved, new work was carried out with the goal of destroying the Orthodox Church itself, simultaneously in two directions: through terrible, unheard-of persecutions, which almost surpassed the persecutions of the first centuries of Christianity, and through corruption from within with the help of living churchism, renovationism and the planting of all sorts of free-thinking modernist movements in the spirit of Protestantism. In the end, in most Orthodox countries, the remnants of the local Churches that survived the defeat were turned into pitiful instruments of the atheistic power. However, the “spirit of Antichrist” also reaped abundant fruits in the Orthodox Churches that remained free. They are heavily infected with the poison of free-thinking liberalism and modernism, which leads them to merge with Protestantism. Thank God, there is still a small remnant among them who have not bowed the knee to the “spirit of Antichrist” that is increasingly raising its head! Our Russian Church Abroad is also holding out for now, in which the fans of the coming Antichrist have caused a disastrous schism, and now they are trying to completely destroy it, wipe it out from the face of the earth, using all possible means for this, and most importantly - lies and slander, the natural weapon of the father of lies and the slanderer from the beginning is the devil.
The spectacle in the world in general is very bleak, and there would be reason to lose heart and fall into despair if we did not know that “this is what is written”
in the Word of God and all this
is how it should be.
What should we do and what should we do?
“The retreat is allowed by God,” this is how one of the great mentors of the spiritual life of our time, His Eminence Ignatius (Brianchaninov), instructs us: “do not try to stop his weak one with your hand. Stay away, protect yourself from him, and that’s enough for you. avoid its influence if possible
...
The retreat began to take place for some time quickly, freely and openly. The consequences must be the most tragic. God's will be done! The matter of the Orthodox faith can be recognized as approaching a decisive denouement...
One special mercy of God can stop the all-destroying moral epidemic, stop it for a while, because what is predicted by Scripture must be fulfilled.
Judging by the spirit of the times and the ferment of minds, it must be assumed that the building of the Church, which has been shaking for a long time, will shake terribly and quickly. There is no one to stop and resist. The measures of support being taken are borrowed from the elements of a world hostile to the Church, and are more likely to accelerate its fall than to stop it. – There is no one to expect the restoration of Christianity from. Vessels of St. The spirit has completely dried up everywhere, even in monasteries, these treasuries of piety and grace... Salt is overwhelming. Among the highest pastors of the Church there remains a weak, dark, confused, incorrect understanding of the letter, which is killing spiritual life in Christian society, destroying Christianity, which is a deed, not a letter. It is hard to see who is entrusted with the sheep of Christ, who is given their guidance and salvation.
But this is God’s permission... God’s merciful patience prolongs and delays the decisive outcome
for the small remnant of those who are being saved
, while those who are rotting or rotten reach the fullness of corruption.
Those who are being saved must understand this and
use the time given for salvation...
May the Merciful Lord cover the remnant of those who believe in Him! But this remnant is meager: it becomes poorer and poorer... “He who saves may save his soul
,” is said to the remnant of Christians by the Spirit of God.” (From Volume IV and Fatherland).
Since the time Bishop wrote this. Ignatius, the situation in the world has not improved, but worsened. “As the Antichrist, his main task will be to distract everyone from Christ,” says another great spiritual mentor of our time, Bp. Theophan the Recluse: “then he will not appear while the royal power is in force. She will not allow him to turn around, will prevent him from acting in his spirit. This is what “holds”
(2 Thessalonians 2:7).
When the tsarist power falls, and people everywhere establish arbitrariness (republics, democracies), then the Antichrist will have room to act.
It will not be difficult for Satan to prepare votes in favor of the renunciation of Christ, as experience showed during the French Revolution.
There will be no one to say: “veto”
is powerful.
So, when such orders are established everywhere that are favorable to the revelation of Antichrist’s aspirations,
then the Antichrist will appear.
(Interpretation of the letter of St. Apostle Paul to Thessalonians, 2nd chapter 2: 6, p. 504).
What was predicted by Bishop Theophan came true: the “forerunners” of the Antichrist did their job - the “spirit of the Antichrist” settled everywhere, establishing everywhere “orders favorable to the revelation of the Antichrist’s aspirations.” Remembering the words of Bishop Ignatius that “the Antichrist will be a logical, fair, natural consequence of the general moral and spiritual direction of people” (Vol. IV), we leave it to readers who are attentive to the life around them to draw their own conclusions from all of the above, and, for their part, We can only repeat:
“He who saves may save his soul!”
(Archbishop Averky (Taushev). Modernity in the light of the Word of God. Words and speeches. Vol. I.)
