Copyrighted material. For private use only.
Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin on Sunday congratulated the Orthodox Christians of Russia on Easter, the spring feast of the Christian church commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus. Follows the text of the message released to Tass by the press service of the Head of State:
"Easter celebrations have been gaining in scope in Russia over the recent years, imbuing the hearts of millions of Russian citizens with love and joy, good feelings of mercy and sympathy. That is how the fragile spiritual basics are being revived. Development of the country, strengthening of law and efficient state power, peace and welfare are all inconceivable without a strong spiritual foundation.
The Russian Orthodox Church, as well as other traditional for Russia faiths and religions, plays a great role in the process of uniting Russian citizens around moral values. I am convinced of the fact that the state will further develop relations with the religious organizations, especially in what concerns strengthening of social accord, peacemaking, social protection, charity and educational activities.
I believe that in joining efforts we shall achieve a spiritual rehabilitation of strong, prosperous Russia in the coming XXI century."
The Head of State also sent a message of greetings to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II. According to the press service of the Russian president-elect, Putin wrote in the message that "a wide celebration of Easter is clearly indicating to the revival of moral basics in our society." The Russian leader expressed gratitude to Alexy II for his contribution to the holy cause of bringing the peoples of Russia back to their historical roots and real spiritual and cultural values."
(c) 1996-2000 ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved.
PATRIARCH TO TAKE PART IN PUTIN'S INAUGURATION
ITAR-TASS, 25 April 2000
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexiy II will take part in the inauguration of the new president of Russia Vladimir Putin in Moscow on May 7, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church confirmed to Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Patriarch Alexiy II was present at the inauguration of Boris Yeltsin in 1996 and greeted him on the solemn occasion. On December 31, 1999 the patriarch was invited to the Kremlin to see ex-president Boris Yeltsin transferring his presidential powers to Vladimir Putin.
The Russian Orthodox Church "has always been living by the needs of the people sharing its historical fate," Alexiy II said in Tuesday's interview. "Today, our homeland has entered a new era in its history," the patriarch said, assessing the importance of the upcoming inauguration for Russia and its people. "During the recent election of the president of Russia the people voted for statehood, law and order and also in favour of traditional moral values. Our Church is praying for our rulers to have more state wisdom, for their spiritual perfection as well as for the well-being and salvation of the peoples of Russia," Alexiy II stressed.
(c) 1996-2000 ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved.
PUTIN HAILS ORTHODOX CHURCH ON RUSSIAN EASTER
by Elizabeth Piper
MOSCOW, April 30 (Reuters) - Millions of Russians lit candles and held glittering icons as they celebrated Orthodox Easter on Sunday and President-elect Vladimir Putin said the influence of the Orthodox Church would grow.
Putin, a former KGB spy who attended a lavish ceremony in Russia's former imperial capital of St Petersburg, hailed Easter as a time for ``spiritual revival'' and praised the Church's contribution to the country's post-Soviet spiritual rebirth.
``Year by year, Easter celebrations are increasingly becoming part of the life of our society, filling the hearts of millions of Russians with love and joy, with the kind feelings of charity and compassion,'' Putin said in a statement to all Russians.
``The widespread celebration of Easter is visible proof of the rebirth of the spiritual foundations of our society... I believe that together (with the Church) we will achieve the spiritual revival of a strong, prospering Russia in the 21st century.''
Religion has revived in Russia since the fall of the officially atheist Soviet Union, when the KGB was instrumental in suppressing religious belief. Now political leaders of all stripes, including the Communists, strongly back the Church.
Putin, who spent years as an officer in the Soviet KGB, said in a book published last month that he was secretly baptised as a baby and wears a christening crucifix his mother gave to him to have blessed when he visited the Holy Land a few years ago.
"I put it on to avoid losing it," he said in the book, based on interviews with two journalists from the respected Kommersant newspaper. "I haven't removed it since."
YELTSIN GOES TO FAVOURITE CHURCH
Former President Boris Yeltsin, moving slowly and leaning on his wife, visited his local church with his daughter, and was welcomed by the priest with three kisses on his cheeks.
"We celebrated Easter at home, we congratulated each other and then we came here to our favourite church," Yeltsin said outside the church, wishing all Russians a happy Easter.
Early on Sunday, Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov watched a priest waft incense and read liturgies in the ornate St Isaac's Cathedral, where the Tsars used to attend services.
Putin, whose wide popularity with the Russian people gave him clear victory in a presidential election last month, was given a richly-decorated egg by the metropolitan, who unusually broke into the service to wish Putin success as president.
Later on Sunday Putin left for the Black Sea resort of Sochi to spend the rest of Easter day and to take a break over two days of public holidays for Labour Day.
Bells rang out across Moscow from midnight onwards as Russians visited churches and then greeted each other with the words "Christ has risen." "He has risen indeed," is the expected reply. Easter services went on well into the day.
At the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow, crowds queued for hours to attend the service conducted by the patriarch.
"The Holy Church calls us to love and forgive on this day," Patriarch Alexiy II said in a televised address.
"We need to take the first step to reconciliation, to say kind words, to hold out our arms to close ones and to endow them with a part of spiritual warmth."
(posted 30 April 2000)
Sergei Cherepov: Your Holiness, Pascha, Christ's Resurrection, is approaching. How does the Russian Orthodox church intend to celebrate this event? In which events will you participate personally?
Alexis II: It is not by chance that Holy Pascha is the chief feast of the Orthodox church. On this day we recall an event of which the Moscow prelate Filaret said that a single instant changed the face of the world. The Lord's resurrection is not simply a fact of ancient history. It is the foundation of the Christian faith for the Savior conquered our death and opened for humanity the path to liberation from sin and destruction, the path into eternal life. The bimillennial jubilee of the birth of Christ, which we are celebrating this year, is sealed by the paschal celebrations. Thus the day of the Holy Resurrection will be profoundly joyful and will become the final milestone before the all-church jubilee celebrations planned for August.
At midnight of the first day of Pascha, 30 April in the new style, I will join with bishops and clergy to conduct a procession of the cross, matins, and divine liturgy in the cathedral church of the Epiphany of Moscow. In the afternoon, at four o'clock, in the church of Christ the Savior the patriarchal celebration of the great paschal vespers will be served. On the next day I will serve in the Kremlin at the patriarchal cathedral of the Dormition, which will also include a procession of the cross. Bright Week, the first week after Pascha, for me will be filled with liturgies, exchange of greetings with clergy and believers, and ceremonial meetings. On 3 May I plan to make a short trip to Belgorod province, to Prokhorov field, where I will consecrate a belfrey symbolizing the unity of Slavic peoples, Russians, Belorussians, and Ukrainians, whose sons fought in this place during the Great Patriotic War.
S.C: How should an Orthodox person mark this holiday?
Alexis II: On Pascha every Orthodox Christian is obligated to participate in worship, principally in the Divine Liturgy. The most solemn service is celebrated in the night; matins begins at midnight and after it comes the liturgy. In the majority of city churches and generally every place where there are at least two priests, a second liturgy is served in the morning. It can be attended by those for whom it is inconvenient to get to the church at night. After the liturgy, and by no means earlier, comes the breaking of the fast, that is the holiday feast which concludes the lenten period. At the beginning we eat kulich, pascha, and decorated eggs. Incidentally, believers usually exchange Easter eggs, plain and decorated, as gifts.
S.C.: It is known that the church does not approve of the custom of visiting the cemetery on Pascha. Why? How did this tradition arise in Russia?
Alexis II: The tradition of visiting the cemetery on Pascha arose during the soviet period, when the majority of people were afraid to go to church. Of course, it is possible to honor one's departed relatives at any time. But the church has designated a special day for this, Radonitsa, which in the year 2000 comes on 9 May, Victory Day, when those who perished in the war will be especially remembered. On that day one can go down to the cemetery and commemorate the departed with regular food. However the alien tradition of getting drunk at the graves is totally inconsistent with the letter and spirit of church laws.
S.C.: On 26 March citizens of Russia elected Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin president of Russia. It is known that he requested from you a blessing for his activity. Can an agent of the FSB, whose profession requires living a double life, be a genuine believing person?
Alexis II: Vladimir Vladimirovich seems to me to be a person who is responsible and decisive and who possesses a clear mind and good heart. He has lived a complex life. Of course, the work of an agent of the special services entails certain morally ambiguous actions. But that can also be said about law enforcement officers and businessmen and, even for instance, medical personnel. However, in order to provide for the welfare of the individual and the nation in our sinful world sometimes it is necessary to choose between the lesser and greater evil.
I wish the newly elected president success in his upcoming difficult labors. The Russian nation has endured great trials in the past century. And today many of our fellow citizens are suffering from poverty, injustice, and spiritual and moral perplexity. The president whom the Lord has placed as leader of the country at the beginning of a new millennium must recall his own responsibility before the nation, history, and God. I think that Vladimir Vladimirovich is conscious of such responsibility. At the time of our meetings we often have discussed very many aspects of the situation in the country, economic, political, social, and spiritual aspects. I have tried to mention the hard circumstances of the simple people in fulfilment of the church's responsibility for mercy before the state.
S.C. Your Holiness, what is the reaction of the leadership of the church to events in the northern Caucasus? Doesn't the church consider the actions of federal forces in the Caucasus to be too brutal and even cruel?
Alexis II: There is no doubt that the government put an end to the evil design that threatened the integrity of Russia and the peaceful life of its citizens. We cannot forget the victims of the bombings of apartment buildings nor the numerous hostages nor refuges who were expelled from Chechnia and subjected to destitution, violence, and murder. Our church has expressed complete understanding for the antiterrorist goals established by the governmental leadership for the army and law enforcement structures.
However, we have called, and we continue to call, for maximum caution in the conduct of operations. Civilians must not suffer, especially those who have firmly refused to support bandits and terrorists. It is necessary to act humanely with regard to prisoners of war and even more so with regard to persons held under suspicion. These people have families and relatives. It is necessary to restore them to civilian life, even if before that time it is necessary to punish them as they deserve.
S.C. Does the church celebrate requiems for the innocent Chechens who have been killed? Do soldiers and civilians who perish obtain the heavenly kingdom?
Alexis II: The church regrets the victims both among the military and law enforcement personnel and among the Chechens, especially the innocent victims. In praying for the dead we commemorate everybody, asking the Lord that their souls will find rest, but knowing that only he knows their eternal fate.
Today it is important to heal the sufferings of the wounded and sick people who are left without blood and have lost relatives and neighbors. Justice requires an investigation of the charges of illegal and unjustified manifestations of cruelty, especially with regard to women and children. If such took place, the guilty must be punished equally with the military personnel.
S.C. Why does the church require the indication of Orthodox names only in the lists of the living and the dead?
Alexis II: The Orthodox church prays primarily for its own servants, living or dead. There are differences of opinion about whether it is possible to pray for non-Orthodox Christians. There is probably no great sin in doing so, especially if a person belonged to one of the churches whose baptism we acknowledge as a sacrament. However, it is necessary to pray for unbaptized living persons in a particular way, asking the Lord to bring them to the faith, and non-Christians who have died may not be commemorated in the liturgy, even though we entrust their eternal fate to the hands of God. After all, a person who was not part of the church on earth cannot enter the heavenly church.
S.C. What do you think of Maskhadov's appeal for possible negotiations with federal forces?
Alexis II: Dialogue, of course, is necessary, especially with senior religious leaders and other people who enjoy authority within Chechen society. Perhaps it would be worth having contact with Maskhadov, although this person, in my view, must first clearly define his attitude toward the criminal actions of terrorists, past and present.
S.C. Your Holiness, today our society is for some reason suffering from an interest in various kinds of folk healers. To what extent is the harshly negative attitude of the church toward folk healing justified, especially if one takes into account that many of the healers are believers? It is known, for example, that Grigory Rasputin successfully healed Tsarevich Alexis. Many saints possessed the gift of healing. Is it possible today to distinguish Orthodox healers from charlatans?
Alexis II: Indeed, many saints healed, primarily through prayer. They helped the sufferers also with spiritual advice; after all often our ills come from sins or from an incorrect life style. To be sure even now there are pastors and sometimes lay persons who are endowed with the gift of prayer for the sick and the gift of counsel. However one must approach the phenomenon of healing very cautiously. If wizardry occurs or if there is some kind of magical manipulation involving icons, crosses, or photographs, then we usually are dealing with charlatanism which is a misuse of the authority of the Orthodox church, which enjoys unlimited confidence. As a result, people possibly feel at first a certain relief, but afterwards they suffer even more severely both spiritually and physically.
How does one distinguish a person who has the gift of healing from God from a wizard who is motivated by evil forces? "By their fruits you will know them," says the Lord (Mt 7.16). If there is a frenzy surrounding the healer, if greed abounds, if people complain of spiritual emptiness, that means it would be better not to seek that healers help. Incidentally, enmity and animosity accompanied the activity of Grigory Rasputin and the church cannot have a favorable attitude toward him because he set himself against the canonical hierarchy.
The true Christian who wishes health for a loved one recalls at the same time that God often sends illness for our testing, edification, and correction. Thus, in praying for the healing of the sick the church asks the Lord to manifest his will, which brings good to people even when they cannot understand it. And physical death is not always an evil.
When someone tries to program a positive outcome of a disease, promising healing and even giving well supported guarantees, such a healer has nothing in common with the church.
Finally, in Orthodoxy the basic means for healing are considered the sacraments of repentance, Eucharist, and anointing, leading to the cleansing of the soul and a healthy transformation of life. If the healer does not even mention these sacraments, he can hardly be considered a profoundly believing person.
S.C. Your Holiness, has there been an official response from the authorities to the Holy Synod's declaration with regard to the assignment to citizens of Russia of individual tax numbers? Have you had a conversation on this matter with Vladimir Putin?
Alexis II: A dialogue with the governing authorities on this matter has begun. Recently I met with the head of the Moscow tax inspectorate. I think we will discuss this question also with the newly elected president. Again I will explain what is the essence of the problem: believers refuse to sign an application for receipt of an individual tax number since they do not want to request some new name and put their signature alongside the bar code which contains three symbols that graphically coincide to the symbol adopted for the number 6. Probably the solution could be assignment of numbers on the initiative of the authorities themselves, without a request from citizens.
However I remind you that the declaration you mentioned from the Holy Synod dealt with another problem too, which is much more substantial: the attempt to establish electronic control over the private life of the individual. It is proposed, for example, to introduce special cards, even for school children, in which quite varied forms of information are imprinted. It is planned that only upon presentation of such cards will it be possible to receive medical and social aid and in the future to make purchases. From here it is not very far to ideological control: All that it takes is to add a whole system of accounts to these cards and then to require that in exchange for them a person must demonstrate complete loyalty to the regime and agree with one of the one-sided world views incorporated into national or international legislation. Such concerns have been expressed by many people in various countries.
With this in view the church took up the defense of human freedom. We are deeply convinced that the process of collecting and using information about citizens must be open for public control. It is necessary also to protect new informational systems from penetration by persons with evil intent. I hope for understanding of the church's concerns on the part of the government.
S.C. How would you define Russia's place in the spiritual development of civilization? Does the common expression "enigmatic Russian soul" signify any special spirituality of the Russian people?
Alexis II: Our people with their centuries-long unique history and culture have something to give the world. Now, when many are speaking about a crisis of civilization, the consumption by which the golden billion opposes the rest of the population of Earth, the ideals of self-sacrifice, asceticism, and the priority of the spirit over the body could again be of use not only in Russia but also everywhere. I don't want to seem immodest, but I think that our nation, which has been formed by the Orthodox church, has until now preserved in its daily life the evangelical moral ideals. This shows up in proverbs, forms of thought, and in many actions.
Of course, we have much that is sinful. During seventy years of the dominance of state atheism the majority of our fellow citizens lost genuine church training. But the spiritual regeneration that has happened throughout the country and today has grown from being a fad to a profound inner transformation occurring in the souls of many people gives me hope.
God grant that the recreated Holy Rus will not be enigmatic but will clearly recognize its spiritual mission and, opening itself to the world, will facilitate the moral regeneration of humanity.
S.C. What do you think is the sense in all the new sufferings--war, economic difficulties--which have now fallen to Russia's lot?
Alexis II: God does not send to people or nations punishments beyond measure. I see the sense in what has happened in two ways.
First, we ourselves are guilty for what has happened and we have received retribution for our own sins. We would not have these current difficulties and moods if the prerevolutionary state had been more attentive to the needs of the people, if millions of people had not joined in the civil war and the bacchanalia of theomachism, and if we then had not rushed thoughtlessly into breaking up the country that had been created over the centuries in the naive hope that foreign benefactors would lead us to the real shining future.
But, second, I recall the gospel's words of the Lord Jesus, spoken about the man blind from birth, whom he intended to heal. "Neither he nor his parents sinned, but this is so that the work of God may be manifested in him" (Jn 9.3). I think that it is not by chance that our nation has experienced hardships in which its will is tempered and its quest for spiritual life is formed. After all, in thoughtless worldly prosperity it is not easy to achieve the summit of moral perfection which today's hesitant humanity so needs.
S.C. Your wishes for the readers of Profile on the eve of Pascha and the feast of the glorious resurrection of Christ?
Alexis II: I wish to all of you, my dear ones, peace, paschal joy, spiritual growth, success in all good works. May the Lord bless our fatherland with harmony and rebirth and may he make straight the paths of our nation. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 29 April 2000)
"Get us the man and we can come up with a charge." This sinister "recipe of repressions" comes to mind when one reads the article by Fr Valentin Asmus that tries to show to the Orthodox public that Fr Georgy Kochetkov has veered into heresy.
Orthodoxy tolerates broad differences of theological opinions (for example, the years-long debates of Ignaty Brianchaninov with Feofan the Recluse). Difference of opinions does not mean that the one who thinks differently inevitably has fallen from Orthodoxy (the church has recognized both Ignaty Brianchaninov and Feofan the Recluse as saints). But Fr Valentin clearly is inclined to understand his disagreement with Fr Georgy as a sign of the latter's fall from Orthodoxy. He speaks of the difficulties of reintegrating Fr Georgy and the "Kochetkovites" into the Orthodox church, thereby implying that Fr Georgy's congregation was outside the church. But the Kochetkovites often have declared their loyalty to Orthodoxy and nobody has officially excluded their congregation from the Orthodox church.
I am not a fervent supporter of Fr Georgy, but the question transcends the boundaries of the "Kochetkov problem" and pertains to the question of the goals and methods of argument, which is a matter of principle for the church.
An argument can only be a genuinely church one when its goal is to draw to Christ. In such a case there must be the greatest caution in accusations; otherwise one might be unfaithful to Christ's command of love and fall into the sin of judging one's neighbor. But there is an arrogant and unchristian argument, the "argument to the end," whose goal is to slander and crush the opponent. This is the way atheistic propaganda argued against the faith. In the "argument to the end" deceptive approaches often are used: distortion of the views of the opponent, stretching the point, etc. It is sad, but Fr Valentin has conducted against Fr Georgy an "argument to the end" that is unworthy of a Christian.
The attempt to portray Fr Georgy as one who overthrows the resolutions of the ecumenical councils looks bad. In his conciliatory attitude toward the pre-Chalcedonian churches Fr Georgy merely follows to its conclusion the tendency which in the past fifty years has often been manifested by bishops of our church and which has been justified by the internal evolution of the pre-Chalcedonian churches, which emerged in the time of the second through sixth ecumenical councils. Among some contemporary Orthodox people the attitude toward the resolutions of the ecumenical councils really is skeptical. This is explained by a whole number of reasons, for example, that many conciliar decisions have not been followed by our church nor by other Orthodox churches for several centuries and that not all councils claiming to be ecumenical have been recognized by the church. But Fr Georgy, as far as I know, is not characterized by any special "nihilism" with regard to conciliar resolutions; his position on this matter is rather moderate.
The appeal to the ninth anathema of Cyril of Alexandria and the attempt to place Fr Georgy under conciliar anathemas directed against Origenism are obvious stretches. Cyril of Alexandria did not at all have in mind the things about which Fr Georgy has written. There is insufficient basis to equate the teaching of Origen with that interpretation of the concept of "eternal torment" (which is shared by many contemporary theologians) to which Fr Georgy appeals. There also are stretches in the accusations against Fr Georgy about protestant tendencies, rationalism, the "branch theory," and the like. Any examination of the works of any Orthodox theologian of the last three centuries can turn up discussions that coincide with expressions of protestant or Catholic theologians. And many expressions of Orthodox hierarchs approving ecumenism can be stretched to seem to be complete approval of the "branch theory."
Fr Valentin Asmus is upset by the use in Kochetkov's works of the platonic myth of "androgyny." But Christian thought from ancient times has tried to "church" pagan conceptions and to find in them something that is acceptable to Christianity and thereby draw the pagans to Christ. Examples of such "churching" are shown to us by Basil the Great and others of the greatest saints; why should not Fr Georgy try to follow these examples? Fr Valentin does not like it that among the books which Fr Georgy recommends for educated believers there is a "gentlemen's collection of the intellectual." But among educated people the believer, and certainly the catechizer, simply must know those books; otherwise he cannot find his bearings in trying to defend his faith before unbelievers in a rational way.
The "argument to the end," like every form of persecution, often has a provocative character. A hint of provocation is found in the reference to Origen's conviction; after all, he committed an egregious violation of the tradition that had developed earlier. The mention of Cyril of Alexandria is provocative; who does not know of Cyril's attacks upon St. John Chrysostom? The question of "androgyny" and Fr Valentin's mention of the novelist Kazanzakas also has a flavor of provocation. But the greatest provocation of all is in the very "hunt for heretics." The church has called heresies those teachings which seriously threaten its life. Even though they have been condemned, they survived for centuries. But is anyone really able to think that Fr Georgy's statements seriously threaten the life of the church and could have centuries-long consequences? Much greater danger will come from careless "accusers," who show an example of an unchristian argument in the Christian church!
What does the "argument to the end" turn into? Quite often, into disorientation and trouble. Our church does not deny the principle of the possibility of renovation of the liturgy; it has not ceased ecumenical contacts; it does not intend to liquidate the Department for External Church Relations (OVTsS). But several believers with whom I have had occasion to talk have given the impression that they are trying to expel from Orthodoxy the "renovationists," "ecumenists," and even OVTsS. It is a dangerous impression that signifies that the "struggle with the Kochetkovites" has disoriented believers.
Today the "argument to the end" has become, unfortunately, a regular
phenomenon in Russian journalism. But it is unseemly for pastors
of the church to conduct such an argument. Back in the times close
to those of the apostles, a principle was formulated for mutual relations
among Christians: "In essentials, unity; in disputed matters, freedom;
in everything, love." The essential is Christ. Without Christ
even the resolutions of the ecumenical councils mean little. Picking
a fight not with ideas but with people and starting an "argument to the
end" can betray both Christ and freedom and love. We must not follow the
example of the inquisitors. History already has shown what inquisition
leads to: loss of prestige for the church, growth of protestant tendencies,
and acceleration of the secularization of society. (tr. by PDS)
Until recently Fr Georgy Kochetkov called attention to himself not so much for his theoretical discussions as for his church practices. It thus was possible to hope that the discussion of his activity would not transcend the usual circle of discussions about the language of the liturgy. But the elimination of the disorders for which said priest is guilty will depend completely upon his refusal "not to be like other men," and on his rejection of that arrogant, pharisaical position which has evoked conflict in church circles everywhere that followers of Fr Kochetkov have appeared.
However at the end of last year Fr Georgy issued three books and now the conversation about his views inevitably must deal with these publications.
Unfortunately, Fr Kochetkov does not remain within the limits of Orthodoxy and frequently falls into heresy.
In explaining the origins of humanity he abandons the biblical teaching about the creation of the first human pair and for some reason appeals to the platonic myth about "androgyny." According to Kochetkov, humankind was created dualistically and from the start contained not only light but also darkness. The blame for the fall into sin, thus, is placed upon the Trinity.
Fr. Kochetkov calls the story about the childhood of Jesus which we find in two gospels (Matthew and Luke) "mythologized," in the spirit of protestant rationalism. Fr Georgy finds a Nestorian tendency in the doctrine about Christ, dividing the single Christ into the Son of God and the man Jesus. In the text of Mark 1.10 Fr Kochetkov insists on the varian reading "the Holy Spirit descended to him," explaining that "in baptism he received divine power," as if he did not possess this power from the start. Such a view of Christ falls under the ninth anathema of St. Cyril of Alexandria: "Whoever says that the one Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by the Spirit in the sense that he exercised through him some external power and received from him the power to conquer unclean spirits and perform divine signs in people and does not consider that he did miracles through his own spirit, let him be anathema." In a Nestorian spirit Fr Kochetkov speaks of the temptations that the Lord endured.
In the spirit of modernist humanism Father Georgy denied the doctrine of holy scripture and holy tradition regarding the eternal torments of those who reject God to the end, calling this teaching "sadism," a la Berdiaev. In this way he falls under the anathema of the fifth and subsequent ecumenical councils against Origenism.
Father Kochetkov completely shares the protestant ecumenical "branch theory," according to which none of the actually existing churches possesses the entirety of the gracious gifts of God, but each, both Orthodox, Catholic, and protestant, has its own portion of these gifts. Recognizing that among Christian confessions there may be more or less proximity, our author solemnly declares that between the pre-Chaldedonians (monophysites and Nestorians) and Orthodox there are no differences in faith. Then it is not clear why they were condemned by the third through seventh ecumenical councils. Father Kochetkov welcomes "intercommunion," joint eucharists of Orthodox and pre-Chalcedonians as a testimony of liberation from the ballast of the doctrines of the ecumenical councils. For the sake of unity he teaches that it is necessary to sacrifice "secondary traditions," to which, it turns he, he assigns not only the teachings of the holy fathers but also the determinations of the ecumenical councils.
Fr Kochetkov himself has brilliantly demonstrated his readiness to sacrifice "secondary traditions" of the Orthodox church. In order to be persuaded of this one need only review the lists of books that he recommends to catechumens and converts. We scarcely find here any of the holy fathers but we find a whole gentleman's selection of the intellectual: from Berdiaev to the quite prominent novel by Kazanzakas, whose screen version stirred up alarm among both laity and the church hierarchy (not only of the Russian church and not only of Orthodox churches).
We have identified only a few of the many things that must be investigated
in connection with these recent publications. They significantly
complicate and impede the processes of reintegration of Fr Georgy and his
parish into the Orthodox church. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 27 April 2000)
If material is quoted, please give credit to the publication
from which it came.
It is not necessary to credit this Web page. If material
is transmitted electronically, please include reference to the URL, http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.