Two Churches
I describe everything
exactly as it was experienced by me in those days. Of
course my interpretations were often biased and
sometimes simplistic.
It is easy to conclude that my opinions about the
various churches were determined solely by their
acceptance (or not) of my trousers or the friendliness
of their congregations. It may look this way but it was
not so. It is true that I was stunned with the absurdity
of the clothes-related situations and blind sticking to
Pharisee like rules but it was only a part of the whole
atmosphere which did not feel right to me. I felt very
uneasy in the evidently monarchist and nationalistic
environment in which Russianness was somehow placed
before Orthodoxy. Back in the USSR I was brought up on
the ideals of “equality and internationalism” ideals
(how much they had to do with a real life is another
matter); my major influence, the left-wing Orthodox
priests and theologians were free from the nonsense of
“Orthodox Nationalism” , not to mention anti-Semitism
and Fascism. It is natural then that I felt and still
feel suffocated in the close proximity of “the Orthodox
nationalists”. I am simply a member of the Orthodox
Church of course but it is not just my peculiarity: open
the Gospels and see what Nationalism, anti-Semitism and
other degrading humane dignity “-isms” have to do with
Jesus Christ – nothing apart from the fact that
nationalists and Priests murdered Him.
That was my impression of the ROCOR with its
nationalism, monarchism, glorification of the “patriot”
Vlasov, collaboration with the Nazis (not all the clergy
but a substantial part), hatred for the USSR and
Communism. The ROCOR disapproved the ROC (Moscow
Patriarchate) because of a lengthy story the details of
which would take too long to explain here. In short, the
ROCOR considered the ROC to be an illegitimate daughter
of the whole, undivided until 1917, Russian Orthodox
Church. According to the ROCOR, after the death of
Patriarch Tikhon Metropolitan Sergiy Stargorodsky took
over power in the Church and sold himself and the Church
to the State, receiving (later) the Patriarchal throne
and the very limited freedom of conducting rituals under
the total control of the State (a huge part of the
Church did not approve, broke off and formed so-called
Catacomb Church; it is noteworthy that such a catacomb
priest baptized Fr Alexander Men). This change resulted
in an unprecedented VCHK/…/KGB/FSB infiltration of the
Church and the paralysis of the spiritual life.
I agree that the story is correct but cannot agree with
the conclusion of the ROCOR that as a consequence the
sacraments of the ROC are devoid of grace. I did not
believe it many years ago when I did not know the full
story and I do not believe it now, even after I became
burdened by an extensive knowledge of the scale of
corruption inside the ROC and even after the recent
scandals which exposed the top clergy as cynical
non-believers, some of them not unlike Nazi lunatics
(and very much like ROCOR; there is certain irony in the
fact that with the years each Church began looking more
and more like the image created by its accuser).
Nevertheless, I still maintain that its sacraments are
true because I have experienced them as true and because
I am convinced that God would never abandon those who
believe in Him, even if they were the members of the
most corrupted church in the history of the world.
That does not mean that Orthodox Christians cannot
choose which Orthodox Church they need, or will fight
for. Luckily for us we have options.
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