We were given a chance to become the Church, but we chose religion
Church or religion? How to distinguish living faith from formal imitation and why the struggle for "truth" in the world leads us away from the salvation of the soul.
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«I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment», – these words of Apostle Paul are heard during the festive Sunday liturgy.
But divisions among us are increasing. They widen the gap between people who seemingly profess the same Orthodox faith and partake from the same Chalice. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is the loss of spiritual unity among Christians around Christ and His Word.
The Gospel has long ceased to be the main meaning and content of life for many believers, including their pastors.
They have invented many reasons to violate the direct and obvious requirements of the Sermon on the Mount.
Lessons of history and the choice between faith and religion
Almost forty years ago, we were given, perhaps, the last chance to become the Orthodox Church, but we preferred to revive the Orthodox religion again – the very one that the Lord destroyed on our land more than a hundred years ago. Hegel was right: «History teaches only that it has never taught nations anything». This means we face one of two options: either God will again wipe this imitation of faith off the face of the earth, or it will gain strength and, with the support of power, grow into a caricature that, along with other monstrosities, will crown the Antichrist.
Meanwhile, God is sifting us through a sieve. The tares are separated from the wheat: supporters of national worlds, political religions, militarists of various stripes and beliefs, idolaters are separated from those Christians for whom Christ is more precious than anything else. These are the faithful who have not drowned in a sea of words, have not suffocated in the dust of political sermons, have not confused the voice of the Good Shepherd with a very similar antithesis.
While the scribes and Pharisees once again crucify Christ and fight against His followers, God gathers His own to Himself.
He gathers them quietly, silently. And they also quietly and silently follow Him. The time has passed when it was necessary to speak. Everything has already been said, everything understood, and everyone has made their choice. Now comes the time of loud darkness and our quiet silence.
The lie of the modern world and the salvation of the soul
When we feel like protesting, let us remember that the world as we see it is just a deception, and everything in it is built on lies. Lies have generally become the air of the modern world. They are breathed by the media, politicians, journalists, sales managers, advertisers, and even some Orthodox preachers.
Anyone who justifies the violation of God's commandments by any expediency, no matter what, even if he quotes the fathers and appeals to common sense, is still lying. True, he does this unconsciously. He really thinks he is telling the truth. But everything that is against the Gospel is always a lie, no matter what it is called.
All we need to protect and liberate in this world is our immortal soul.
There is nothing else in this world worth fighting or dying for. All the wars and cataclysms that are now so numerous on our planet occur because of lies. They are the last remedy for those who have forgotten the truth. God allows us to suffer and endure to expose the deceit and pretended prosperity of this world. God confronts us with the truth that we actually have nothing of our own in this world and never have.
And everything we considered ours is just a dream. One moment, and all our property turns to dust and ashes. The world persecutes the Church because the truth of God lives in it. And lies hate any truth, and by its malice, one can always recognize the mask of lies.
Freedom or submission?
Religion demands submission to the authority of the clergy, even if it seeks to place the mark of Cain on the foreheads of its fanatical followers. The Orthodox faith demands nothing from a person, giving him complete freedom. Everything here depends only on our free consent and desire. Christ compels no one to anything, He only offers. It is the devil who compels, using lies, flattery, and violence for this.
God is the greatest, astonishing, boundless Power and Might, and the same deepest Humility.
Love and Humility are the main content of the personality of the God-man Christ. There is a certain paradox in this. After all, the strong do not need humility, they can defeat everyone. And why does the humble need strength if he does not intend to use it?
God is infinite Life, and each of us, as the image and likeness of God, is also life without end. Love is the main path to knowing God. Since the Lord encompasses everything, in this infinite Divine Life, everything and everywhere is alive not by itself, but alive in God. Therefore, nothing created by the Creator can be killed. Only what is temporary disappears and dies. The human spirit does not know death.
All our soul needs is to gain freedom in God.
People do not need to conquer any nation or any land, raise revolutions, fight for rights and freedoms, demand justice, and so on. All this is needed by people who think they will live on earth forever; by politicians who strive for power because of this; by oligarchs who earn a lot from this. We only need one thing - to free our soul from slavery to this world.
True truth and the path to salvation
People do not understand one simple and obvious thing: no matter whom you kill, no matter what revolution you make, no matter how you try to change this world, whether with a pickaxe or a machine gun, scoundrels and villains will always rule it until the end of its days, the rich will live at the expense of the poor, rulers at the expense of the people, lies will be called truth, and envy and anger will be called justice. It has always been, is, and will be so.
In this world, holiness will never be honored, virtue respected, or nobility valued.
All this can only be in words, but in reality, everyone will live by the law of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This will continue until God burns it all with fire and then brings into being a New Earth and a New Heaven, where truth will dwell. Political instructors in cassocks call on people to fight the world lying in evil, while wise spiritual mentors save themselves from the world lying in evil. And this is the main difference between Orthodox religion and Orthodox faith.
The power of humility and Divine love
We must not forget that everything we see is evaluated by our mind. It also gives names and definitions to everything. If we denied the mind the right to give everything its evaluations, we would surely see the world differently. It seems to us that the world is the same, and everyone sees it the same way. But this is not so. Everyone sees it in their own way. And in this different point of view lies the cause of all wars, conflicts, quarrels, and more.
Every «truth-fighter» has their own truth and their own view of the world. And each of them is ready to go to the end for their truth, no matter what it costs them. But all their little truths will lead to one sad truth, which will be called «And now hell, and this is forever». This is the deceit of all the small aggressive and angry truths.
Only he who can endure to the end, without responding, without killing, without avenging himself or anyone else; who keeps peace and love in his heart, who does not become embittered and does not curse anyone, will be saved.
This is the combination of strength and humility that makes a person godlike. After all, to humble oneself requires enormous strength, it is much easier to take revenge. Christ could have turned to dust, ground to atoms all those who executed and tortured Him. But He said only one phrase about them, addressed to His Heavenly Father: «Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do».
Spiritual joy - in unity with God
True joy for a person is not that everything in the world suits him, but in unity with God. When we are united with Christ, and in Him with each other, this is happiness. But if we hate even one person, not to mention an entire nation, the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven will remain closed to us forever.
Spiritual joy is the incorruptible light of the Holy Spirit descending into our heart abodes.
