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| Archimandrite Constantine Zaitsev of Blessed Memory |
"Our fatherland has not lost its central position in the Christian universe even in its modern fall, both in its dark reality and in the bright possibilities that lie behind the darkness.
If we peer into this dark reality, we will see that the impact on the world of Moscow is determined not only as the center of militant communism, but also by the appearance of an “angel of light," under the guise of which communism seduces the Christian universe. We have in mind that perversion of ecclesiality, which has received a stable designation: "Soviet Church." This phenomenon, becoming the dark center of modern reality, thus determines the light—central position of our Church Abroad, which, in its standing for Truth, remains the spiritual antipode of the "Soviet Church." In order to remain in this centrally luminous position, our Church does not need to achieve anything, care about anything: you just need to remain yourself. There is not the slightest edge of proud exaltation, there is not the slightest shade of artificiality in the consciousness that determines this centrally luminous position of our Church Abroad: humble confession of one’s Church life in its immutability, in its intactness, in its original truth, this is the only thing that ensures our Church Abroad the nature of the True Orthodox Church — in contrast to the terrible transformation of the Moscow Patriarchate into an instrument of Satan, while maintaining the outward appearance of churchliness.
It is terrible what is happening before our eyes. It is so scary that it is natural for a person to brush aside this nightmare, not to believe the real evidence of reality, to hide behind illusions, pushing away the recognition of reality with all sorts of conjectures and evasions. None of the usual ecclesiastical concepts that characterize deviations from the Truth, such as "illegal assembly," "schism," "heresy," and even the general concept of "apostasy" in its still known forms, do not describe this phenomenon. "The Church of the Evil Ones" is, perhaps, the only concept that is capable of capturing the essence of the "Soviet Church." The Church is and at the same time not the Church: a kind of "anti—church" (with the prefix "anti" as in the word "Antichrist"), which includes two meanings — the struggle against the True Church and its substitution. In other words, we have before us a phenomenon that gives rise to an exact appearance of the True Church, but which has the task of destroying the True Church. What could be scarier?
Our reader is sufficiently aware of the evil that the activity of the "Soviet Church" brings as an instrument of Soviet propaganda and as an agent of communist mastery of the world.
Let us dwell on the arguments that are given by the apologists of the "Soviet Church" to justify the behavior of its leaders, allegedly falling within the framework of "economy," consistent with the nature of the Church.
1. "We must come to an agreement with communism — otherwise the Church would be destroyed." This argument underlies all compromises, the task of which is not to reconcile the differences of a public and personal nature in the name of preserving the integral Truth, but, on the contrary, to remove the "sharp corners" of the Truth, in the name of satisfying the interests of those who do not recognize it or consciously fight it. “Save the Church” — this is the slogan of crafty encroachments supposedly to serve Christ by satisfying the appetites of the theomachists. "Save the Church" — instead of being saved in It! Is it necessary to refute the lies contained in this slogan? The experience of life showed on the Soviet example that while people were "saved in the Church," the Lord kept it under the conditions of the most terrible Soviet terror, and as soon as, in the hope of "legalizing" the Church, the hierarchs took upon themselves the seal of Belial, the object of extermination became church life and for two or three years after the Sergian act of "saving" the Church, almost no trace was left of her throughout our unfortunate fatherland.
2. "Is it such a big price to lie abroad about the position of the Church in the USSR, if this buys the opportunity to celebrate services in Russia?" In other words, is active participation in the campaign of lies carried out by the theomachists, is it permissible for the Church as a price for the opportunity to perform divine services? Evasion with the help of bribes from pagan demands for participation in sacrifices did not free those who paid off from the status of "fallen," and they were reunited with the Church only through repentance. What to say about those participating in the fight against God? Such are all those responsible for the lies of the "Soviet Church" abroad.
3. "The Church has always indulged the authorities — is there such a big difference between the "past" in Tsarist Russia and the "present" in Soviet Russia? This argument has grown into the consciousness of the non-Orthodox world and, in its understanding, does not represent a particular sin, since such an understanding is organically inherent in the psychology of the Apostasy. But when the Orthodox perceive it, they embark on the path of Apostasy, rejecting the historical course of Orthodoxy, and thereby falling away from it.
4. "Soviet power is allowed by God — how can you not recognize it?" The power of Caesar was even blessed by the Savior, and obedience to it was imputed by the apostles as a duty to Christians — did this hinder confession? And how can we "recognize" Soviet power, which God allowed for our sins, if we do not recognize it as a nest of sin? One can "recognize" it in the sense that one does not fight it in a revolutionary way, but, on the contrary, adapt to the order of its life — but does this mean that it is possible to participate with impunity in the sin of theomachism, which constitutes its nature? Bless this incarnate sin? Offer up prayers to God for him? It is enough to pose these questions so that they do not need to be answered.
5. "Soviet power is strong — you have to live with it!" The power of Caesar was not only strong — it was in the mind of the Church, in terms of the historical life of the Church, eternal: did this mean that the Church had to put itself in the service of the Emperor — to the detriment of the service of God? What can we say about the power that overthrew the legitimate Tsar and put a servant of Satan in his place? Can the Church offer prayers for such a ruler?
6. "The service of the hierarchs of the Soviet Church is martyrdom, the severity of which cannot be measured." This argument eliminates the spiritual side of suffering. Both robbers "suffered" on the crosses, but what is their further fate? One can speak of the possibility of the redemptive significance of the sufferings of individual hierarchs of the "Soviet Church," since they have access to a sense of repentance for the terrible sin they commit — and nothing more. But there can also be sufferings that only precede eternal torment, having nothing expiatory in themselves. Both of these possibilities should not, in this case, be excluded.
There are, of course, other arguments as well. Let's not look for them: Lies are inexhaustible inventive. We emphasize only one thing: all these arguments concern only the surface of the phenomenon. The point is not what and how the individual hierarchs are guilty, God be their judge! — but in the fact that their hands introduced the Enemy into the very bowels of the Church. A pure lie is the idea that the Church, by something, albeit the most spiritually insignificant, somehow bought off Satan: no, the "Soviet Church" showed its subordination to him, its belonging to him. Satan entered the altar — in the person of his servants, many of whom are already specially trained, being "new" people, with special training, serving Satan among the believing clergy, undergoing their doom to serve in their midst, as a difficult fate. This is the "new," in all its unspeakable horror, which is the "Soviet Church." May ordinary people who come there with a pure heart find solace in the divine services performed in its temples. Let them also experience the grace-filled consequences of this communion: grace can descend on the pure in heart and in a mysterious way (remember the patristic story about the elder who received the Holy Gifts from the hands of an angel who stood next to an unworthy priest!) The fact remains: the core of the "Soviet Church "constitutes a community of people who are not simply under the control and leadership of the Communist Party (this alone is already a terrible consequence of the destructive Sergian conspiracy with the Bolsheviks, which laid the foundation for the "Soviet Church"), but who are already conscious servants of Evil. Can we expect a more graphic embodiment of what the true Church has long designated as the "Church of the Evil Ones"?
Bishop John Shakhovskoy considers "blasphemous the very idea of the possibility for the Church to undergo such a change." The Church Fathers thought otherwise. And Bishop Theophan the Recluse, who was closest to us, spoke without hesitation about our time: “Although the Christian name will be heard everywhere, and churches and church rites will be seen everywhere, but all this will be only an appearance, but inside the true apostasy." This definition, of course, embraces phenomena on a universal scale, already now finding quite a large and varied factual material, but it is primarily applicable to Orthodoxy — and to the greatest extent precisely to the "Soviet Church." And this is not just an “appearance”: behind it lies a “being," about which the same Bishop Theophan speaks unambiguously: “On the same soil, the Antichrist will be born in the same spirit of appearance without the essence of the matter. Then, having surrendered to Satan, he will clearly depart from the faith..."
Here is the nascent "being" of that dark reality, which, under the guise of an angel of light, the "Soviet Church" manifests, being in the center of phenomena of the same order of universal scale. But let's not lose sight of those bright opportunities that lurk in our country behind this darkness...
This darkness is appreciated by the Church: the anathema weighs upon it, proclaimed by the Patriarch and the Local Council. As the only, freely and openly acting successor of the Russian Local Church, our Church Abroad naturally and necessarily finds itself at the center of phenomena that oppose this Soviet darkness. It is difficult to measure the importance of the obedience that God has entrusted to her. And it is expressed in remaining what it is, not deviating either to the right or to the left, in its following of Christ, Whose Body is the Church.
This is how the Church Abroad fulfills its mission to be the mouthpiece of silent Orthodox Russia, in this silence concealing the bright possibilities of the future..."
1956