Crucea.ro

By Archbishop Averky

Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow Me. (Mk 8:34).

The Great Fast is a season of repentance; and repentance is that struggle to
contend against sinful passions and lusts which is so difficult for man that the
Lord, the Judge of the contest Himself, likened it to the bearing of a cross. We
are vividly reminded of this at the very midpoint of the Great Fast, on the
Sunday of the Adoration of the Cross. Just as the Lord bore the Cross for the
sake of our salvation, so each of us must bear “his cross” in order to attain
the salvation prepared for us by the Lord.

Without the cross, without struggle, there can be no salvation! This is what
true Christianity teaches. The teaching on struggle, on the bearing of the
cross, runs like a scarlet thread through all the Sacred Scriptures and all of
the history of the Church; and the lives of those holy ones who were pleasing
unto God, the spiritual athletes of Christian piety, clearly bear witness to
this. The Great Fast is merely an annually repeated exercise in the bearing of
one’s cross in this life, an exercise in spiritual struggle inseparably bound up
with the entire life of the true Christian.

But now, in the twentieth century of the Christian era, “wise men” have
appeared—”neo-Christians,” as some of them refer to themselves—who do not wish
to hear of this. They preach a new sort of saccharine, sentimental, rosy-hued
neo-Christian love and the unrestricted enjoyment of all the delights of this
transitory earthly life. They totally ignore the innumerable passages in Holy
Writ which forcefully and eloquently speak of spiritual struggles, of emulating
Christ the Savior in crucifying oneself, of the many sorrows which await the
Christian in this life, beginning with the words which Christ the Savior Himself
addressed to His disciples at the Mystical Supper: In the world ye shall have
tribulation. (Jn 16:33). And this is because, as the Lord Himself explained,
true Christians are not of the world (Jn 15:19), since the whole world lieth in
wickedness (I Jn 5:19). This is why Christians must not love this world and the
things that are in the world (I Jn 2:15); the friendship of the world is enmity
with God, and whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God. (Jas 4:4).

These modern “wise men” somehow fail to see that the Word of God nowhere
promises Christians full spiritual satisfaction and paradisical blessedness in
this earthly life. Quite the contrary; it emphasizes that life on earth will
move further and further away from the Law of God; that, in respect to morality,
men will fall lower and lower (II Tim 3:1-5); that all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse
and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (II Tim 3:12-13); and that, finally,
the earth also and the works therein shall be burned up. (II Pet 3:10). But
there will appear new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
(II Pet 3:13)—a wondrous New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven (Rev
21:2), which was shown to John, the beholder of mysteries, during the revelation
accorded him.

All of this is not to the liking of the “neo-Christians.” They want blessedness
here in this world, burdened with its multitude of sins and iniquities; and they
await this blessedness with impatience. They consider one of the surest ways of
attaining it to be the “ecumenical movement,” the union and unification of all
peoples in one new “church” which will comprise not only Roman Catholics and
Protestants, but also Jews, Moslems and pagans, each retaining his own
convictions and errors. This imaginary “Christian” love, in the name of the
future blessedness of men on earth, cannot but trample upon the Truth.

The destruction of this earth with everything on it, although clearly foretold
by the Word of God, is considered by them to be something indescribably
horrible, as though it were not consistent with the omnipotence of God and,
apparently, quite undesirable. They reluctantly admit the destruction of earth
(for how can one not accept something prophesied in the Word of God?), but with
the condition that it will take place in the far, far distant, mist-enshrouded
future, not centuries, but millions of years from now.

What is the reason for this? One might say, because they are weak of faith, or
lacking entirely in faith in the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
age to come. For them everything is in this earthly life, and when it ends for
them, everything does.

In a few of its points—especially in the expectation of the blessed life in this
world—such a frame of mind closely resembles the widespread heresy of the first
centuries of Christianity called “chiliasm.” This is the expectation of a
thousand-year reign of Christ on earth; therefore the modern manifestation of
this heresy may be termed “neo-chiliasm.”

One should be aware and keep in mind that chiliasm was condemned by the Second
Ecumenical Council in the year 381; and therefore to believe in it now in the
twentieth century, even in part, is quite unforgivable. Besides which, this
contemporary “neo-chiliasm” is far worse than the ancient chiliastic heresy in
that at its basis indubitably lies a disbelief in the life of the age to come
and the passionate desire to attain blessedness here on earth, using all the
improvements and achievements of the material progress of our times.

This false teaching wreaks terrible harm, lulling to sleep the spiritual
vigilance of the faithful and suggesting to them that the end of the world is
far away (if in fact there will be an end?), and therefore there is no
particular need to watch and pray, to which Christ the Savior constantly called
His followers (cf. Mt 26:41), since everything in the world is gradually getting
better and better, spiritual progress keeping step with materialism. And the
terrible phenomena which we observe at the present time are all temporary; all
has happened before, and all will ultimately pass away, and an extraordinary
flourishing of Christianity will replace it, in which, of course, the ecumenists
will occupy the principal and honored places.

Thus, everything is fine! It is not necessary to labor over oneself, and no
spiritual struggle is required; the fasts may be abolished. Everything will get
better all by itself, until the Kingdom of God is finally established on earth
with universal earthly satisfaction and blessedness.

Brethren! Is it not clear where the ultimate source of this alluring false
teaching is found? Who suggests all these thoughts to contemporary Christians
with the purpose of overthrowing all of Christianity? As an infectious plague,
as fire, must we fear this “neo-chiliasm” which is so profoundly contrary to the
teaching of the Word of God, the teaching of the Holy Fathers and all of the
centuries-old teachings of our Holy Church, by which many, many thousands of the
righteous have been saved.

Without spiritual struggle there is not, and cannot be true Christianity!
Therefore, our path does not lie with all the modern movements, nor with
ecumenists, nor with the new-chiliasts.

Our faith is the faith of the holy ascetics, the apostolic faith, the faith of
the Fathers, the Orthodox Faith which, hath made the whole world steadfast (from
the service for the Sunday of Orthodoxy). This faith and only this faith will we
firmly adhere to in these evil days in which we now live.

Amen

Gheorghe Vanau