It started in Russia celebration of the 70th anniversary of the victory at Stalingrad. On the eve of the anniversaryDiscussion about the possible return of the “Soviet” name to the city was resumed.Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin supported the idea of returning the name Stalingrad to Volgograd.Comments withPriest Alexy Pluzhnikov, rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the city of Volgograd:
When I read in the press that the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, the famous Moscow protodeacon and missionary, the public of St. Petersburg and others are making statements or collecting signatures for renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad, I am perplexed. The most important bewilderment: why are the problems of my city, where I was born and raised, solved by Muscovites and St. Petersburgers?
Let these people who like to shrug off other people's clouds change their residence in the capital to a local one - then you are welcome to speak out, otherwise, please, move over. What if the Tatars or Mongols want to rename the Volga back to Itil, and the Egyptians (or adherents of pseudo-chronologies) even want to rename it Ra, as the river was called in ancient times? Will we nod our heads obediently and pay taxes for someone’s “I want”?
And why should we think that 50 thousand (or at least 100) signatures collected by someone around the country oblige us to do anything? About a million of us live in Volgograd - it’s our opinion that matters. It would be possible (but not necessary) to call a referendum. I am sure that the overwhelming majority of residents would not be in favor of playing with names, but for the authorities to hear the groans of the people and repair the roads along which Batu Khan could roam, and not travel on modern transport.
And if we talk about renaming, the city has a historical name - Tsaritsyn. From 1589 it was glorious until it was replaced by the name of the tyrant of the Russian people. But even the old name is no longer worth returning to: Volgograd - good name, calm, neutral, does not scare anyone with “queens” or “Stalins”.
But seriously propose to rename the city back in honor Battle of Stalingrad- this is simply absurd. Then let Petersburg be renamed again to Leningrad in honor of the lifting of the blockade. But Father Andrei Kuraev is inconsistent in his proposals: I remember that it was he who advocated returning the historical name to the northern capital. But for some reason he had such an illogical incident with our city. Maybe you wanted to Once again seem original?..
We, local residents, are already fed up with all these debates and “initiatives” on the eve of the next anniversary or elections, when every official or politician wants to buy himself extra points in the dirty game for votes and money from voters. I'm tired, gentlemen, bosses.
I don't want to live in Stalin's city. I don’t want to walk along the streets of Lenin, Zemlyachka, Kommunisticheskaya and the like. I’m not afraid of names, but it’s disgusting to regularly mention in the address bar those whose memory, as villains, should live in history books, but not in signs on houses.
The public, rather than play into the hands of the Stalinists and lovers of a “strong hand,” would rather advocate for changes in the names of the “executioner’s” streets to ones that they would no longer want to change. For example, our parish is located on the street named after P.L. Chebyshev, the famous mathematician of the 19th century. If there weren’t a street with that name, I would never have known, to my shame, about the existence of this genius of numbers and mechanics in the world...
Eight years ago I met priest Alexy Pluzhnikov from Volgograd in absentia. A strange review of my book about the elder schema-abbot Jerome appeared on one respected Orthodox website. An unknown priest suddenly began to censor my book, severely reprimand it, and “make it look like” to the old man who had already passed into Eternity. Blame him for allegedly being mistaken in his assessment of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and other spiritual phenomena. I was surprised at such agility of a rather young priest who had not yet proven himself in any way. And I called that site. They promised to weigh everything and make a decision. A day later, the libel was removed from the site. I breathed a sigh of relief. But not for long!
A year later, this review (or rather not a review, but an indictment) appeared on another site, which was also very popular at that time. And so it began... Priest Alexy Pluzhnikov may not have wanted this, but it turned out that for a whole year I had to withstand the “ninth wave” of hatred, rudeness, slander and other things. I will say in parentheses that at some stage I, too, gave vent to my feelings and got into an altercation. You shouldn't have done this! As they say, the dog barks, but the caravan moves on... But we learn this simple truth the hard way. Well, okay, the passions have long subsided. But about. Pluzhnikov did not calm down. Whom did he not “bite” in his frantic desire to censor everyone and everything! Yulia Voznesenskaya, Archpriest Nikolai Agafonov, and Olga Larkina (for her book about the terrible sin of abortion) got it. The list can go on and on! Well, the author of devastating books hasn’t forgotten about me all these years. Every now and then he nibbled in his reviews.
One day, not so much a funny incident occurred as an instructive one. At the Orthodox exhibition in Samara, I saw a book by the same Fr. Pluzhnikov “Illusions of spiritual life”. Something told me: it’s unlikely that the book would have done without my humble person. Right there on the tray, I quickly leafed through it - and sure enough! Once again the author attacked the book about Elder Jerome. I read his offensive, unkind, biting words - our “censors” don’t choose expressions! And suddenly I hear some old man behind me asking the seller of spiritual literature:
Do you happen to have a book about Elder Jerome? I've been looking for her for a long time! They gave it to me to read. I liked it so much that now I want to buy it for myself.
The Lord consoled!
Actually, Father Alexy was neither the main nor the most ardent of my persecutors. But he was the first to brew all this burnt, bad-smelling porridge. It’s up to him to sort it out!
I thought that on Last Judgment, but it turned out even earlier.
Apparently, Father Alexy annoyed many people! And it would be okay to be alive and well. Such is our destiny in the earthly vale - to endure. Including reviews like these. And such reviewers. Where will you go? But, apparently, those who have long been “in Christ’s bosom” were also offended: Elder Jerome, blessed schema-nun Antonia, maybe some other great ones were “reviewed” by the self-appointed censor.
In his desire to annoy the editors of Blagovest (and, of course, to express his understanding of spiritual issues - different from ours), he was not stopped by the fact that in his zeal he had to go even against his Bishop. After all, the book “Elder Jerome” was highly appreciated several years before the scandal and its ruling Bishop even presented a certificate to the author. We thought at least this would stop him. He will not “frame up” his spiritual father. Where there!..
Well, I inform you that there is no such censor anymore. He was all gone.
At the Peter and Paul parish of the city of Volgograd, which he previously headed, the rector is already a different priest. There has not yet been a church trial of Father Alexy; this, apparently, is ahead. But, alas, he is no longer a member of the clergy of the Diocese. And canonical punishments will undoubtedly come. After all, he left his family and went to another city with another woman. Probably, I've read the necessary books...
He is not the first, he is not the last. Many proud people end their lives ingloriously like this. meteoric rise. From the censors - and suddenly so banal into a puddle!
“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” There is too much pride in the very idea of ranking all Orthodox literature. And throw “overboard” everything that is not ruled in your own way (and Father Alexy’s way is weak, strange - from the notorious Harry Potter, mainly). How to stop this? After all, the holy order protects such a would-be critic from any objections from the laity.
There is a golden rule: every cricket know its nest. If Father Alexy had followed this rule, he would have done a lot of good both in the parish and even in literature. But no, - after all, you really want to call a respected priest, a laureate of the Patriarchal Prize, a “graphomaniac” (as he did with Father Nikolai Agafonov) - and how can you deny yourself this pleasure?
The famous ascetic schema-nun Antonia (Kaveshnikova) as a consolation to women who committed terrible sin abortion, amounted prayer rule. For private reading only, of course. What a gift for Father Alexy! He almost wrote a whole book about this “rule”. Left no stone unturned...
If someone greatly honors the Holy King, we should try to label them as “king-gods.” Is anyone against the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and electronic total control? This means schismatics and sectarians. This is how it turns out according to Father Alexy Pluzhnikov. He never chose his expressions and hit backhand, with all his fingers. When you feel strong behind you, when you are published in the best Orthodox publishing houses, why feel sorry for all the “graphomaniacs”, “earth eaters”, “long-lived obscurantists”...
But God endures for a long time, but it hurts. And no one can protect from His blows.
And now, instead of a censor, there is a fugitive, almost a former priest, entangled in “love.” He abandoned both his family and his flock. Which is humanly a pity, of course. But which, apparently, could not be stopped in any other way.
The last book of the censor Pluzhnikov was called symbolically: “Father Online.” Loud. Bright. Or you could call it this: “Father-op-la.”
Yes, it's sad! But let's learn lessons.
In the picture: in this book, Father Alexy Pluzhnikov destroys everyone who does not follow his advice in spiritual life. But it turned out that his own spiritual path led somewhere “to the left” - away from pastoral service...
Priest Alexy Pluzhnikov: "Church enthusiasm"
The theological basis of church enthusiasm is an idea directly opposite to the famous words of St. Seraphim of Sarov: “Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved.”
CHURCH ENTHUSIASM
Introduction.
What is "enthusiasm"?
“Enthusiasm is strong animation, passion, admiration, passionate charm, enthusiasm.” (V. Dal. “ Dictionary living Great Russian language.")
“Enthusiasm – through German, Lat. from Greek "divine inspiration"
Enthusiast – “filled with divinity.” (M. Vasmer. “Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language.”)
IN Ancient Greece there were so-called “Bacchic mysteries” in honor of the god Dionysus (Bacchus), the participants of which worked themselves into a frenzy, a trance through unbridled behavior, wild dancing, sexual debauchery, and drunkenness. Falling into such a mad state, they became “enthusiasts”, “filled with divinity” (i.e. Bacchus).
These mysteries were called “orgies”, “bacchanalia”, and in them repressed erotic passions found an outlet.
Thus, enthusiasm is a way out “outside”, from oneself, towards “God”. (Synonyms for this concept: frenzy, ecstasy.)
This phenomenon, in a modified form, is well known to us from the recent Soviet past, from which we all emerged, but were not able to completely free ourselves from it.
In fact, the entire strength of Soviet power rested on enthusiasts. The revolution was made by enthusiasts who dreamed of “destroying old world to the bottom, and then...” Collective farms were created by enthusiasts by taking away wealth (land, livestock, equipment, grain) from the propertied.
They flew into space, swam in the Arctic Ocean, and BAM was built by the same enthusiasts.
Enthusiasm equals extensive method economy, life “in breadth”, as opposed to intensive, “in depth”. To make it clearer, let’s give a comparison: intensive life means fertilizing your field with manure, improving agricultural machinery, carefully cultivating every centimeter of land.
And extensive means quickly squeezing all the juices out of the earth, depleting it and galloping to the other side of the country to raise virgin soil that for some reason has “stayed.” A familiar story, isn't it?
Soviet enthusiasm is built on the same Eleusinian “intoxication”, access to “god”, whose name is “bright future”, communism. An end that justifies all means (“we will fight for peace in the whole world, even if there is no stone left of the world”).
But, like any ecstasy, enthusiasm quickly exhausts all the strength of a person (and the state) and dies (like a drunkard and drug addict). So the Soviet state couldn’t even stand it for 70 years.
Why all this long backstory? And to the fact that we all “come from childhood,” and in modern church life we also often have to deal with the phenomenon of enthusiasm.
Church enthusiasm.
The theological basis of church enthusiasm is an idea directly opposite to the famous words of St. Seraphim of Sarov: “Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved.” Against, church enthusiasm believes that first of all it is necessary to save others, and my salvation lies in saving my neighbors. The more I save, the higher my place in the Kingdom of Heaven.
This idea is widely diffused in the modern church worldview. Thus, it is believed that the salvation of Russia lies in as many churches as possible built, as many people baptized as possible. In Rus', we have long loved to boast about statistics. They say that 80% of those baptized is not a joke. This means that the logical conclusion follows: we need to introduce the “Fundamentals” Orthodox culture" in schools.
And it doesn’t matter that the built churches stand half-empty, it doesn’t matter that formal baptism, which is performed in many churches, without announcement, without preparation, only pushes these “baptized” away from the Church. (By the way, when people come to me with a question about baptism, I invite them to come on the next Sunday for a public conversation. As a result, I never see 99% of these “neophytes” again. Although I strongly doubt that they were not baptized successfully, without talking, in some other temple.)
And we should not delude ourselves that our people, our youth are suffering without the defense industry. The state is right to resist. After all, there is no demand. We are trying to artificially create demand with our defense industry supply, but there is no demand (at least not to the extent we would like). On the contrary, the opposite effect is often achieved, as in network marketing: among the people there is a disgusted attitude towards the Church as an intrusive organization that is trying to regain in the state structure the prerogatives that existed before 1917, to become a compulsory, state religion.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the defense industry at all. Not at all, I’m only against the aggression with which this idea is often presented: they say, you have one dilemma: either the defense industry - or the lost youth, and all of Russia with it. There is an error in the formulation of the problem: in fact, the presence or absence of this subject in educational institutions will not in any way affect the spiritual situation in the country. The universal Law of God in Tsarist Russia did not stop, but rather contributed to the revolution; Also, mandatory “scientific atheism” did not stop the collapse of the USSR. Therefore, I don’t want enthusiasm for this undoubtedly good cause (teaching military-industrial complex) to destroy the main thing: reasonable measures.
Thanks to immoderate enthusiasm, parallels have already become stable in the public worldview: power - the Church, money - the Church. Golden-domed temples, built with the money of unscrupulous, to put it mildly, rich people, have become “the talk of the town.” Such “extensive Orthodoxy” alarms people, because external splendor sharply overtakes the internal, concentrated attitude towards the development of church life.
People cannot help but be frightened by the political slogans of Orthodox enthusiasts about the restoration of the monarchy, the fight against the INN, globalism, and ecumenism. People see in what painful forms this happens, with what unhealthy fire the eyes and speeches of the “Orthodox rescuers of Russia” burn, offering a new “bright future” - the mythical Orthodox Empire of Russian People, the Third Rome.
Pastoral enthusiasm.
In a pastoral environment, two types of enthusiasm can be distinguished: the “manager” shepherd and the “young old man” shepherd (but there are other types, of course).
It often seems that some enthusiasts became priests in order to be able to realize themselves as “foremen of the Kingdom of God.” The construction of a temple is perceived by such a shepherd as a certain guarantee of salvation (and two churches are two guarantees...). Money for the temple is obtained in dubious ways from dubious individuals, again justified by the principle of N. Machiavelli: “the end justifies the means.” I myself heard how one priest boasted from the pulpit that he participated in the construction of the temple, and his name was written on a capsule that was lowered into the base of the throne. And now the angel of this temple will pray for him until the end of time... Which means that a place THERE is practically guaranteed...
The “young elders” also all came from enthusiasts. The covenant of Elder Alexy Mechev (“become like the sun”) is perceived by them not as the goal of their spiritual life, but as an already existing reality, and he, the “elder,” can only “warm” as many children as possible. And the “pastoral” activity begins, first “for health”, and ends “for peace”...
At the beginning of their journey, the “elders-enthusiasts” indulge in all kinds of external exploits (which, according to the teaching of the holy fathers, set forth by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, are based on vanity and lust for power.) They tell about one such “elder” with admiration that he prays, they say, incessantly (he even had a sofa in the altar, so that he would not be distracted from prayer); and he starts the proskomedia at three in the morning...
Such an elder is ready, for the sake of the salvation of his children, to confess for days and preach for hours and with tears. And he constantly does good: he makes deliveries to prisons, hospitals, and visits parishioners, and gives the last to them... And he is ready to do everything for the salvation of his children... in exchange for complete, unconditional obedience and adoration of his personality.
And then the terrible thing begins: calls for salvation in the forests, for the renunciation of passports and tax identification numbers, for the sale of apartments and mass tonsure as monks; rebaptism in full rank, through immersion, because “pouring is invalid”; absentee “baptism” of aborted babies using the method of “schema nun Antonia”; inciting hostility towards ordinary priests and clergy, and as a result - a schism and the leading of their blinded children to spiritual death.
In his memoirs, Archpriest Gleb Kaleda writes about the famous schism teacher of the 20s. 20th century, renovationist, priest Alexander Vvedensky:
“According to my father, Father Alexander Vvedensky was a living, sincere priest before the revolution, through whose prayers miracles were performed. When my mother was in a difficult spiritual state even before her marriage, my father brought her to confession to Vvedensky; Before this, she said, she had never had such a confession. (p. 112-113)
(..) After the war, when the father returned to the fold Orthodox Church, I asked him what Vvedensky’s secret was. He spoke about the miracles of the young Father Alexander and declared with bitterness that “he, gifted with many talents, was ruined by exorbitant ambition.” Because of him, he squandered everything he had. It was a terrible moral degradation that puzzled and alienated him and his closest assistants.” (Quoted from: Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern). Types of sinners. Archbishop of Prague Sergius (Korolev). Spiritual life in the world. M., OBRAZ, 2005, p. 115.)
It seems surprising: in the beginning there are miracles, and then the miracle worker becomes Judas, a traitor to the Church, who has driven himself to madness. Just look at his “self-enthronement” as patriarch in his apartment, when he sat backwards on the antimins and proclaimed himself the head of the Church!
And the answer is obvious: first – enthusiasm, and then – access to your “god”, the god of madness Dionysus, Satan.
Enthusiasm of the laity.
Enthusiasm among the laity and parishioners is also noticeably developed. The presence of enthusiasts among the laity (demand) causes the emergence of enthusiastic “elders” (supply). Lay enthusiasm, in particular, lies in the strongest resistance to everything “ordinary” in church life.
The usual morning-evening rule? No: Psalter by agreement + akathist to the Martyr Tsar + the Mother of God rule - this is our way!
Regular visits to the parish church on Saturdays and Sundays? Come on! En masse, in Mytishchi, crawl on your knees with repentance for all the regicide ancestors (scoundrels!), thereby saving Russia!
Should you regularly clean the grounds of your temple? There is no time, we are on a religious procession somewhere, for some reason... For salvation, probably.
Enthusiasts have appropriate complaints about “ordinary” priests. “Passion for the elders” results in disdain for non-elders. Either you, father, are Ambrose of Optina No. 2, or you are a nonentity. It has become “normal” to talk to a priest in this tone: “I came to you as a person(?), and not as a priest. When I need you as a priest, I will come to confession, and even then not to you, but to God!” As a result, there is a complete collapse of parish life: the shepherd, in terms of such “sheep,” ceases to be a servant of God, but becomes a servant of the needs of the parishioners, “a man with a censer.”
And these same parishioners start talking about love, about obedience, about spiritual life! Truly, spiritual “intoxication” is becoming the norm - just read some statements on Orthodox forums, where “nicknames”-zealots zealously seek out the sins and heresies of all more or less famous priests and bishops, and “instruct” their shepherds on the true path. As His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said in one of his speeches: “Previously, during confession, the priest asked: “Child! What is your faith?”, now the parishioner asks the priest: “Father, what is your political creed?”
In parish life, unfortunately, the true understanding of hierarchy, the real understanding of who is a priest and who is a layman, is almost universally violated. Familiarity and idolatry are the two most developed extremes in relations in the parish between the laity and the priest. One can draw the following parallel: enthusiasm leads the laity either into a kind of “Protestantism”, when freedom begins to be understood as self-will, and is expressed in disdain for the priesthood, or into a kind of “papalism”, when a parishioner who has read the “Philokalia” looks everywhere for a little “dad” - The elder, to give him the unbearable burden of freedom and become a slave of man, ceasing to be a slave of God.
Conclusion.
What will it lead to? similar situation, and how durable is enthusiasm?
History shows that enthusiasm is short-lived, it arises in moments of crisis, at the breaking point of eras, and quickly fades away, leaving room for another social phenomenon.
Ancient Greek enthusiasm, the cult of Dionysus, arose on the eve of the Greco-Persian wars, in the era of dying ancient culture and the birth of a new, classical culture of antiquity.
Soviet enthusiasm also arose at the turn of the break-up of autocratic Russia and tried to build its own, bacchanalian state, but was defeated and gave way to a new culture, which is still difficult to give a name, since it is still in its infancy (post-Soviet, pseudo-democratic, Western caricature?).
Church enthusiasm arose at the turn of the break Soviet system and revival of church life. He will die with the passing of the old generation that grew up under Soviet rule. What will replace it? Hard to say. It can only be noted that enthusiasm still has one thing positive quality– he is “spiritual”, even if most often falsely spiritual, but still he stands on the idea of achieving a “bright future” (in any variation) through a spiritual path.
The modern generation has grown up in conditions of the dying idea of a “bright future”. He had only one, pragmatic, “idea” left - “the sweet present.” Live in the buzz! - this is the basis of this “idea”. This generation will not build the BAM and march in religious processions. At best, it will build a cottage and go to the bathhouse. It will earn money and settle in this life with maximum comfort. But the soul of a young Russian man resists American pragmatics, and an escape to “Dionysus” is almost inevitable: into drug addiction, sex, the virtual world.
Now Russia, scientifically speaking, is at the point of bifurcation (this is when the ball stands on the top of the mountain, and where it rolls depends not on the strength of the push, but on the direction in which the wind blows). The old enthusiasm is dying, the younger generation is dying due to lack of ideas. Therefore, there are options: either Russia will slide into destruction, like many ancient, aged and corrupted civilizations; or an idea will appear that will push the country towards “rebirth” through new enthusiasm - fascism; or, one would like to hope, the sober idea of Orthodoxy about saving the world by saving oneself from one’s passions will be established. As the Little Prince said: “When you get up in the morning, clean up your planet.”
P.S. I would like to say to myself: are you not the same enthusiast when you are trying to save others from enthusiasm? Well, of course, I was also born in an era of enthusiasm and also wanted to be a pioneer. It’s just that now I don’t want my child to grow up as an enthusiast of other people’s ideas...
In modern church life, the concept of “Orthodox monarchism” has already become familiar. Lively, sometimes heated discussions develop around this concept both in the press and in parishes. Let us think a little about “Orthodox monarchism” and “monarchists” in our local version. Often an idea becomes much clearer when you get to know those who promote it. Who are they, our Volgograd “monarchists”? We can safely say that the social composition of this group consists of two unequal parts. The first is the elite, or rather, those who consider themselves such (and, importantly, really want others to think about them as well). This group includes: some part of the clergy, representatives of the Cossacks, businessmen, journalists, people of culture and science. It is from this environment that the ideas of “Orthodox monarchism” come.
The second part consists of ordinary parishioners of our churches who absorb these ideas through sermons, leaflets, newspaper articles, through participation in various “repentant” religious processions, etc.
What do the main ideas of “Orthodox monarchism” look like?
The main idea is the veneration of “TSAR Nicholas II”. Your “Orthodoxy” is assessed by the diligence in honoring (and promoting) this idea. For example, if there is no icon in the temple royal family, or for some reason the priest does not serve the solemn vigil on July 17, then...
And here an ideological substitution takes place, which the “monarchists” themselves depict graphically: they revere not “Tsar Nicholas”, but “TSING Nicholas”. This is the main thing - “KING”, that is, the formulation of veneration of one’s own idea. This is the banner that flies over politicians “from religion.” Such “monarchism” sometimes even goes to such extremes that sectologists had to introduce a new term: the heresy of “kingdom”.
It’s paradoxical, but no matter how much the king’s admirers shout about the monarchy as the only true, divinely established form of power, about the “restraining”, about the “Third Rome” - in fact, they do not at all want to translate their ideas into reality. On the contrary, they are very happy with the modern liberal system, under which they can safely preach, earn authority, power, popularity (after all, only in our times are penitential religious processions with television cameras possible..). Under the Tsar they will have nothing to shout about...
Another banner that “Orthodox monarchists” proudly carry is “Russianness” in all its guises. We will not analyze this idea for a long time; we will only say that this also includes the desire to canonize everyone “truly Russian” (including I. Grozny, G. Rasputin, I. Talkov). It will not be surprising if the question of canonization of the “true Russian” tsars: Alexander the First, Nicholas the First, Alexander the Third is soon raised...
This is also hatred (far from a Christian phenomenon) towards foreigners, especially Caucasians and Jews. This includes the search for obvious and secret enemies of Rus'. This is also a criticism of any “non-Russian” phenomenon. Moreover, our home-grown “Russophiles” themselves will have difficulty explaining what “Russian” is. In their vague understanding, “Russian” is a synonym for the concepts of “true”, “present”, “sacred”, “God’s chosen”. Still, “non-Russian” is, accordingly, the opposite of these concepts.
"Monarchists" are also trying to take control of the monopoly on the concepts of "national" and "patriotism." By “patriot” they usually mean a person who dreams of a mythical Russian Empire led by the White Orthodox Tsar, before whom the whole world crawls on its knees in fear. And when on the cover of the book (quoted below) it is pathetically written: “RUSSIA is the state of the Russian people,” then this, excuse me, is not nationalism, but rather Nazism...
The saddest thing is that all this is happening inside the church fence, and the peace in the Church is being violated not by Jews, not by Masons, but by supposedly “their own”, who have put political interests above the Church, who adjust quotes from Holy Scripture and from the prophecies of saints to justify their ideas; who criticize the hierarchy, right up to the Patriarch, as soon as they doubt the hierarchs’ firm adherence to the “true Orthodox monarchical” worldview. Don't believe me? Read the ideological book of our Volgograd monarchists, published by the local branch of the Russian People's Council(“What the dismemberment of Russia promises the world.” Volgograd, 2000. Circulation 5 thousand copies). In order not to be unfounded, we will give two quotes from this book, which, according to the authors, “will be useful to a Russian citizen of any nationality who considers our Fatherland to be his only Motherland.” (p.4):
“Quarrels and civil strife have long overwhelmed Orthodoxy. The leading role in this is played by Pope John Paul II, who from the very beginning began to serve not Jesus Christ, but Judaism. Patriarch Alexy II (Ridiger) is a match for him.” (p. 115)
“At the end of 1991, the Patriarch, while in the United States, spoke to members of the American Jewish community, where he called on “the Orthodox to be one with the Jews.” Thus, the highest hierarch in Orthodoxy committed several grave violations of the Testaments of our Lord Jesus Christ, conciliar canons, and the teachings of the great Orthodox saints. Generally speaking, there are no canons that the patriarch would not violate. In confirmation, we will cite only a few from a great many indisputable sources, but those that do not leave the slightest doubt about the patriarch’s apostasy from God’s work. (...) The patriarch's call for fraternization with the Jews can and should be rightfully regarded only as an insidious and treacherous attempt to give Orthodoxy to be devoured by Judaism." (p.124,125-126).
We think that if the members of the Volgograd Russian People's Council subscribe to these quotes, then we are in different Orthodoxies. Those who deplore His Holiness the Patriarch and agree with this - how can they receive communion in churches, where with love we commemorate our “Great Lord and Father”?!
His Holiness said correctly in one of his speeches: “Previously, during confession, the priest asked: “Child! What is your faith?”, now the parishioner asks the priest: “Father, what is your political creed?”
And when the “monarchists” demand nationwide repentance for the sin of regicide, in reality they say: “bow your necks to us.” After all, the guilt complex is the most important lever that suppresses human freedom.
The psychological type of “monarchists” is very painful. These people, for the most part, are completely closed to dialogue. Like those obsessed with their “fad,” they turn any conversation onto their own rails and begin to broadcast the truth. Don’t think about arguing or objecting: you will find yourself in the camp of “Jews”, “Masons”, “Democrats” (this is generally the worst curse).
There is only one consolation: these people are few. They create a lot of noise in order to appear stronger and more numerous, but still they will not be able (yet) to come to power in the Church and society, since there is no internal cohesion in their ranks. But the harm they cause, unfortunately, increases, like inflammation. After all, the majority of our believers are generally inert, do not like to think a lot, but also do not like to simply believe and live, as the Church teaches. After all, the catechism is boring, because there is no time to pray at the Sunday all-night vigil... But to go to procession to the other end of the country - that's great! It’s patriotic to fight for the canonization of Grishka Rasputin! Distributing leaflets in parishes is Orthodox!..
All this is sad, but understandable. Remember the history of the Church - it has always been this way. They always fought for power, rank, influence... And there were fights Ecumenical Councils among hierarchs, and bribery and deception. And how many sorrows the Church has experienced because of disputes: what is higher - the “priesthood” or the “kingdom” (remember Patriarch Nikon and the history of the schism)!
We can only wait and hope that this “childhood disease of rightism” will pass and recovery will come. And recovery lies in soberly following the “royal” path offered by the Lord: “To God what is God’s, to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” And you need to listen to the conciliar voice of the Church, and not the slogans of religious politicians.
So, my young friend (a dear graduate of the Faculty of Philology, a retired former engineer, a venerable archpriest, a nun with a PhD in any sciences - to add as necessary), you have decided to become famous! More precisely, a famous Orthodox writer, whose books the best church publishing houses will be eager to publish. Commendable aspiration! Whoever wishes the glory of Ivan Shmelev (as well as Yulia Voznesenskaya and Archpriest Nikolai Agafonov) wishes well!..
But if you, filled with this good intention, have not yet decided what kind of masterpiece you will delight the waiting public (sorry! - brothers and sisters in the faith) - I offer you this modest but reliable (and patented) guide to help you, on the basis of which dozens of pathetic graphomaniacs in the blink of an eye turned into the most famous and revered (they read them, however) ORTHODOX WRITERS. Believe me, you will be among them if you follow these recommendations exactly! Let's get started, let's hit the road!..
First, remember - you have the main thing: you are Orthodox! Therefore, half of the task is completed. You can easily learn to be a writer, but you already know what to teach the reader (after evening pedagogical courses at a local missionary monastery).
When starting to write a story (story, novel, fairy tale), you need a plot. Pick up a pen (“keyboard”, “mouse”), set wider spacing between lines (by the way, don’t forget to ask the editorial office: they pay line by line, page by page, for “ printed sheet” or “in the Orthodox way”: “say thank you for what you printed”?), and write down after me:
In a certain provincial town (Moscow, an abandoned village, near a monastery being restored) there lived a guy (a girl, a middle-aged man of the same intelligence, an old maid who was a music teacher). Was ours main character(as it should turn out in the course of the action - not so important in terms of grace) an ordinary person the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st centuries: not a monster, not a killer, not a saint, but so-so, with sins, “like everyone else”: well, a couple of divorces (the wife got it, the husband was a drunk), there was a mistress in the next entrance (Verka, former classmate, a stupid but stylish colored girl), tried to make money (make a career in sports, get married successfully), loved to have fun (he dabbled in vodka, girls, sometimes tried weed), lived only for himself - nothing special, in general.
And then (completely unexpectedly, but certainly according to the Providence of God, great-grandmother’s prayers and our recommendations) SOMETHING happens to the main character of the story: he falls ill (this plot twist works best on impressionable readers). Desirable diseases are cancer and tuberculosis. They are good for their sudden appearance and long period of subsequent development, which gives reason and time for spiritual reflection about one’s bitter fate. You can also deprive the hero of his family, his job, and put him in prison for a short time on false charges.
But, nevertheless, crustacean tuberculosis in a twenty-year-old boy, a student-athlete (a girl who is a successful beautiful journalist for a fashionable glossy publication) is the most suitable option. Holding a piece of paper with a diagnosis-sentence in his hands, your character looks around the blooming world with a clouded gaze, which reflects all the frailty of earthly vain aspirations, and understands: it’s all over... Death is inevitable, no one needs him, nothing else will please him, there is only one thing left: to leave with your head held high and return the “ticket to heaven” to fate. But…
Now, my future famous member of the future Union of Orthodox Writers, when you heated up storyline until the peak of Shakespearean tragedies, here, according to our plan, a catharsis-like state bursts into the hero’s fate, metanoia occurs, and spirituality descends. On his way, the poor fellow meets a “guardian angel”: a priest running past a bench on which last time a cancer suicide has settled down, and manages to grab the hand with a raised dagger (the girl Masha, with light brown braids and notes of a Znamenny chant under her arm, working as a night nanny in a hospital, and during the day studying theology and singing at the Orthodox University named after Ivan Ilyin (here is a half-page footnote about the role of this philosopher in the development of the modern Orthodox worldview); if a girl was sick, then, naturally, Dima the seminarian, who was visiting a parishioner of his church with the blessing of the rector, ran past with a bushy beard and the thought of being tonsured in the distant northern desert, as a true mother, a faithful friend and It’s almost impossible to find an assistant at the parish...).
A MEETING is taking place. The perishing sinner is amazed to see before him a novice righteous man, in front of whom pacifying love is spread out, and grace is propped up behind him. They begin to talk about the meaning of life, about the salvation of the soul, about the sins of “your youth.”
By the way, my dear Orthodox writer, remember the important information that guarantees the success of your masterpiece: all the “salt” is in the dialogues (especially in their length). The dialogues should be like this: the sinner bombards the “guardian angel” with eternal questions “a la Ivan Karamazov,” and he deftly directs them into the bed of the deep patristic river, along the way, on several pages, explaining the basics of liturgics, dogmatics, asceticism, iconology, Kuraevology, supplying his missionary speech with quotes from the Old and New Testaments, with the obligatory indication in parentheses: Matt., 13-11, Sirach, 2-15. Of course, for greater effect, these dialogues need to be stretched throughout the work, not forgetting that the “milk” of elementary concepts must gradually be replaced with “solid food” within the framework of the Palamite-Athonitic problematics as spiritual growth neophyte.
Of course, this meeting should change everything inner world sinner and point him in the direction of the light at the end of the tunnel. He (the hero) suddenly remembers that it turns out that he attended Sunday school as a child (saw Vladimir icon Mother of God in the Tretyakov Gallery, a photograph of Tsar Nicholas II, embedded in the book of a favorite history teacher). Blessed images emerge in my memory: here he is, three years old, with his godmother Aunt Nyura at first communion, white doves hovering under the dome of the church; behold, the radiant eyes of Doctor Boris Petrovich, head of the cancer department (as it turned out: a secret schema-monk); here, a small icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, who once saved him from being beaten by a crowd of skinheads... Tears of tenderness wash the cheeks of the convert, and he, having rejected the vale of passions, climbs the ladder of a virtuous life with a firm step. Of course, God’s anger immediately gives way to mercy, Boris Petrovich, using a unique technique invented the day before yesterday, cures his ward. The result is strengthened by the unction performed by the hospital priest (ordered by Masha, who secretly fell in love with the hero, a prayer service with an akathist to the saint, the patron saint of the sick, and cried all over her on her knees).
Further in the plot, as you already guessed, my smart friend, should follow the first trip to the temple, the first conscious confession, the blessing for marriage to the same Masha (marriage to the same Dima), received in the person of the newfound spiritual leader, a 26-year-old hieromonk Dorofey, the fifth in a multi-staff parish, but the first in secret exploits, a former drug addict, and now a novice elder, still inconspicuous for the abbot and his brothers, but already warming his children with the rays of grace-filled nourishment. (Don’t forget to casually explain the essence of the terms “nurturing” and “eldership” in one of the conversations of the novice Christian and experienced sexton Pyotr Petrovich, who went through the Gulag and saw many elders. Be sure to let him read “Father Arseny” with Masha’s gentle hands - let him be “shocked” .).
The plot should be diversified by an unobtrusive elaboration of pressing internal church problems, transformed by your artistic word: it is worth talking about the harmfulness of neo-renovationism, the destructiveness of liberalism, the revival of Holy Rus' and autocracy, the delusions of the sectarian nurse Irina Sergeevna, who puts the “Watchtower” everywhere, but at the same time disdains to endure “duck” and entrusting this thankless task to the fair-haired and meek Mashenka.
There is a lot of choice here, don’t be afraid to repeat yourself: in Orthodoxy repetition is only welcomed. You never know that Solzhenitsyn wrote “Cancer Ward”, and Chekhov and Remarque simply “exhausted” the topic of tuberculosis patients! They didn’t turn their heroes into Orthodox Christians, didn’t save their souls, didn’t inspire readers to a life of repentance, which means they wasted paper in vain, and they weren’t shy about taking fees...
You need to end your masterpiece on a slightly sad but bright note (we don’t recommend ending with a happy ending: it’s not our way, it smacks of Americanism and Protestantism): our schismatics took the path of salvation, but Masha herself fell ill with cancer, and Dima had to become a hieromonk ...
If the hero is a young but energetic priest (and you yourself are a provincial archpriest: this is generally a killer option - get ready for re-releases!), then he needs to be sent into the wilderness, to a village that is not only on the map, but also in a real place behind you won't notice the bump. There were only three rickety huts left with old women, and the drunkard Vasily, who would be the priest’s stoker and an active participant in the plot (in the intervals between binges). Our ascetic father must restore the temple, gather an orphanage from the children of local drunkards, make Vasya a monk Vassian; all achievements must take place despite the machinations of the Baptists, the chairman of the collective farm, who sold off the remains of agricultural equipment, thieves who robbed the sacristy for the fifth time (fortunately, this time the local brothers found the scoundrels and returned the last icon of the letter of the local bogomaz of the 60s of the 20th century) , cold, misunderstanding, broken “six” donated by a generous local farmer. In this case, you should call the book: “Stories of the Old Priest”, “Parish People Were”, “Uninvented Stories” - and compose recklessly, remembering all the sexton and seminary anecdotes, flavoring the text with the holy fool Grisha, the prayer book Baba Glasha, and other parishioners who stand out against the background of the general dullness with his secret exploits and wise sayings in the spirit of the Philokalia...
It's even easier to write fairy tales. You've read Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, haven't you? No, don’t be alarmed, you don’t need to write so thickly, you just need to be able to take notes correctly, keeping in mind the eternal student truth: “copying from one book is plagiarism, copying from two books is a compilation, copying from three books is a doctoral dissertation.” , copying from four books – the fifth book.” And who counts them, these books? They are being read...
The main thing is the Orthodox approach and deep morality, forcing young readers and their parents to go on the next pilgrimage with the hedgehog and Lancelot. Remember: there should be no witchcraft in the book - only magic (or better yet, miracles)! Evil sorcerers should be sprinkled Epiphany water, to reason with the providential manifestation of the holy saint, to defeat sign of the cross and with intensified prayer, scatter to the wind with the heroic attack of the youth Ilyusha, together with his friends from the corps of young Cossacks-Suvorov-Life Guards. Father John's friendship with the local fairy is welcome, especially if the fairy is someone's godmother. The ideas that need to be conveyed to children are: evil is bad, good is beautiful, ours are stronger, because the Orthodox are ours. Amen, hallelujah, Harry Potter is kaput, wait for the continuation.
Asceticism on the basis of spiritual poetry is as easy as shelling pears, but, unfortunately, you won’t earn much popularity from this, it’s unlikely that brothers and sisters will rush to the store to buy your collection of poems (although, if you are a famous abbot or a recluse with a guitar, and you also know Zhanna Bichevskaya , then there is a chance). But regularly publishing in the diocesan newspaper, competing in glory with A.K. Tolstoy, K.R. (Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov), Pasternak, you, my poet, are quite capable. Just memorize (or write in a notebook) the basic spiritual rhymes: “God-road, Father-Creator, Christ-Cross, Mother-grace-tax, suffering-crime-retribution-repentance, save-help-forgive-intercede-with-reason, cherub -Seraphim, pray-fast, Savior-voice-us-you, heed-listen-humble-understand.” If you don’t have enough for a poem, then remember that the verbs rhyme well: came-found-left-went-to-another-world-left and the pronouns: you-me, my-your-your-me, you-you-we -like cherubs.
Do you know what puzzles are?.. You insert the rhyme in the right place, and fill the rest of the space with everything tear-squeezing and spiritually glorifying about Holy Rus', the beloved Elder, the Royal family, the prayerful repentant procession against the drunkenness of traffic cops, your last confession, the first communion of your granddaughter - but not enough or even those poorly rhymed by your predecessors?! You can compose an annual cycle for all holidays, a multi-volume poetic transcription of the lives of Demetrius of Rostov, a spiritual wreath for the grave... ugh! a bouquet for the name day of the dear rector with a list of all his merits and awards, as well as his large family, like: “our priest with his mother and eight children are sitting side by side in the refectory...”.
There are many genres, just know how to properly infuse spirituality into them. Ours is not like in the world: our literature is saving, inspiring and touching, but theirs is Anna Karenina - you yourself know where she ended her sinful life! And we live by the motto: since you managed to become Orthodox, you don’t have to have talent!