Archpriest Chaplin on the benefits of slavery for a Christian

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The main problem of modern Orthodoxy and, in fact, Russia (because Russia does not exist without Orthodoxy) is that we have forgotten how to be slaves. Christianity is a religion of conscious and voluntary slavery. Slave psychology is not some hidden subtext, but the norm of the worldview for an Orthodox Christian.

The entire modern society worships the idol of social rights and freedoms. And only the Orthodox Church stubbornly insists that man is a powerless servant of God. Therefore, a modern "free-thinking" person feels so uncomfortable in an Orthodox church, where everything is imbued with the archaic of slavery. How discordant for his ear is the appeal to the hierarchy “Holy Vladyka”, “Your Eminence”, “Your Holiness”, “performed these Despot"(Many years to the bishop), and even more so the constant calling by Christians themselves in prayers" servants of God. " The Gospel reveals to us what is behind the concept of "slavery of God". The slave has nothing of his own. He lives only by the mercy of his Master, who, having “reckoned” with him, finds him either a good slave, fulfilling His commands and worthy of even greater mercy from his Master, or crafty and lazy, worthy of strict discipline. The slavery of God deprives Christians even of affection for those closest to them - husband, wife, parents, children. They are not ours - they are also servants of our Lord. And our Master demands to be attached only to Him and to be ready at any moment without regret to be separated not only from the most dear people, but also from life itself, which belongs not to a slave, but entirely to God.

And here the proud modernist assertions cannot help: "the servant of God means nobody's slave." Because in the Christian Tradition, a servant of God means a slave of the Tsar, a slave of the State (from the word Sovereign), a slave of a judge, a slave of his boss, a slave of an official, a slave of a policeman. The supreme apostle Peter instructs Christians in this way “So be submissive to every human rulership, for the Lord: whether to the king, as the supreme power, or to the rulers, as sent from him to punish criminals and to encourage those who do good … like servants of God"And further in the text:" Slavesobey with all fear lords, Not only goodand meek, but also obstinate. For that pleases Godif anyone, for the sake of God’s conscience, endures sorrows, suffering unjustly "(1 Pet. 2, 13-21). He is echoed by the holy Apostle Paul:" Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no power not from God; the existing authorities from God have been established. " And he threatens that everyone “ opposing authority opposes God's ordinance … And those who oppose themselves will incur condemnation”(Rom. 13: 1-2). Elsewhere, the apostle Paul gives the following instruction: “Slaves, obey your masters according to the flesh with fear and awe … as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heartserving with zeal, as the Lord, and not as men”(Eph. 6: 5-6). And this applied not only to those who were slaves by their social status. Our Lord commanded every Christian in earthly life to strive to succeed precisely in slavery, if we want to receive primacy from Him: “and whoever wants to be great among you, let him be your servant; and whoever wants to be the first among you, let him be your slave”(Matthew 20:27).

As for freedom in Christ, it frees Christians not from human slavery, but from sin: “Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him: if you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. They answered him: we are the seed of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone; how do you say: be made free? Jesus answered them: truly, truly, I say to you: everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin (John 8, 31-34). Moreover, this Christian freedom obliges every Christian, not out of fear, but with love, to slave (according to the central word “work”) to his neighbors: “ Brothers are you called to freedom … but work for one another with love ”(Gal. 5:13).

So, our critics are right - we are a very convenient religion for the state. That is why Christianity created great empires. For only Orthodox slaves are capable of the great feat of self-sacrifice in time of war and peace. Even the USSR was able to recover within the Russian Empire, only thanks to the potential of slave psychology, which, by inertia, remained from Orthodoxy at a subconscious level in the Russian people.

Today Russia is dreaming of great power again. But for the Orthodox consciousness, the historical Russian greatness was based exclusively on three pillars: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Narodnost. Saint Theophan the Recluse once prophetically said that "when these beginnings weaken or change, the Russian people will cease to be Russian." However, it should be added that these principles can live exclusively in the people - the servant of God. It is in the slavish service of the Russian people to God, His Church, His anointed sovereigns, tsars and bishops that the secret of the greatness of historical Russia is hidden. But where can you find even crafty slaves today? We, who call ourselves Orthodox, cannot imagine how different we are in worldview from our loyal ancestors. And the difference lies in the fact that the revolutionary democrats have finally squeezed out the slavish consciousness, drop by drop. They have drilled into us so much that we are not slaves and we are not slaves, that the very essence of Christianity has become alien to us. With the renunciation of autocracy, we renounced the principle that all power is from God and proclaimed that power is from the people. With the establishment of "people's" power, we appropriated the land, subsoil and in general all the welfare of our "people's state", realizing that it was not God who gave us the land, but our valiant ancestors won their place in the sun. And then, in the era of perestroika and privatization, we came to the "obvious" thing: the state-people means nobody's and we established the primacy of private property. Everyone felt himself the master of life to the extent that his private property expanded. As a result, the new bourgeois, who proudly began to call themselves the "middle class", advocate "stability" associated with the inviolability of "privatization", and the deprived masses of the proletariat demand nationalization, secretly cherishing the hope of a new redistribution in the spirit of Bulgakov's Sharikov. The cycle of the rebirth of the Russian slave people through the furnaces of Soviet and post-Soviet society into a new "free" man of the market era - a consumer - has come to an end. And this society of those who imagine themselves "not a trembling creature, but having the right", for the most part dare to be called "the Russian people" and "Orthodox Christians."

But a man of the era of universal consumption is not capable of the great power of his ancestors, since he sees in the state not an image of the Kingdom of Heaven, but a guarantor of the realization of his consumer rights to freedom, equality and brotherhood. The state is all the nicer for him the more it allows him to satisfy his consumer demand and the less it binds him with responsibilities and restrictions. The well-being of the state is now determined not by a strong army, but by the number of banks with low interest rates and low taxes. The interests of the state are not the interests of the consumer. The state for him is a necessary evil. Necessary - because it provides a pension and social benefits. Evil - because it takes away his hard-earned - taxes and utility bills. The resources and means of production in the minds of the consumer belong to the people (that is, to him), and the state parasitizes on all this. The human consumer has no patriotism towards the state. What is called patriotism today is a form without content. Our patriotism today is pleasant and not tense. We are united in a patriotic impulse not by the commonality of history and origin, and, moreover, not by the state and faith. All this rather divides us. We are united by sports shows and television. It is considered patriotic for us to root for our football team or worry about the performance of our national team at the Olympic Games. It is easy and pleasant to be a patriot, sitting with a bottle of beer and pop food in front of the TV or in the stands of a stadium.

The only place where a consumer is ready to take risks, sacrifice and kill is in the fight against the enemies of his bright, comfortable future. For this, the crowd of ordinary people is even ready to become revolutionaries, although revolutions in the consumer society are carried out exclusively for money and for promises of the availability of even greater benefits. For the sake of the promised European paradise, Ukrainians rode in a revolutionary frenzy on the Maidan and shot civilians in the Donbass. In Russia, they threaten with a national revolution and smash the nationalities out of fear that they are taking jobs.

This was not how the servants of God treated the state. For them, the state is what belongs to the Sovereign, the Tsar. The royal power from God and the king, as God's anointed one, is the source of the state's welfare: “The king gives you a coin, commemorated by his power … The king gives you law and government … The king gives you justice and righteousness … "(Saint Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov)). Service to the state, service to God. Paying taxes to the state is a commandment of God ("to Caesar of Caesar"). The slave does not live on payment for his service and work, he lives on the grace of the Sovereign and the hope for the Kingdom of Heaven. His duty to God is to give his life for Faith, Tsar and Fatherland, whether in war or in peacetime.

When Western propaganda criticizes modern Russians for their slavish consciousness - do not believe, we are already as democratic to the core as they are, from liberals to Orthodox monarchists. In our society, just like in the West, the “one-dimensional” consumer is reigning supreme.

To do this, it is enough to look at our attitude towards the authorities - from the boss at work to the President in the world, or from the priest to the Patriarch in the Church. It is purely consumer-oriented. Everywhere we grumble, everywhere we are unhappy, everywhere we are offended. If the Gospel King reckons with his slaves as with his debtors, then we present bills to the authorities, as endlessly indebted to us for their power.

If even in words we hate the democratic system of the Russian Federation, then in fact we only agree to it. Because our consumer consciousness can only feel free when it chooses. The choice of goods is our freedom. And democracy for us is a market where we choose power, like a product in a store. And, as in a store, a customer is always right, and in an election, the voter is always right. God forbid anyone to hint that any power is from God, or at least allowed by God for our sins, he will run into a storm of indignation, both on the right and on the left. After all, how can the power of "thieves and bandits" be from God? And it is useless to say that this is the very power of the people. They will immediately announce that no one elected this power, and the elections were fabricated. Otherwise it can not be. Our people are wise. The voice of our people is the voice of God. And the god-people cannot be wrong, they can only be deceived … Therefore, no matter how much they criticize the venality of the authorities, no matter how much they want a “new Stalin” or “tsar father” for Russia, none of the supporters of “strong power” will in fact agree to give up democracy. After all, everyone appeals to the people, which "democratic elections" allow them to constantly feel themselves not a slave of the state, but a master, and always give an answer to the eternal Russian questions "what to do?" (these are more and more new projects in the election programs of parties) and "who is to blame?" (this is the current government that has deceived the people).

Now let us ask ourselves the question: will our people democratically choose our Lord Jesus Christ, who calls everyone to bear his cross, to sorrow and even death for Him? Rather, we will once again hear: "Crucify, crucify Him!" … Because Christian sorrow and the cross are the lot of a slave life. While freedom for the human consumer is the universal right to human comfortable happiness. So modern homo sapiens replaces faith in God with faith in human rights, where he, and not God, is the measure of all things. He does not need God the Tsar - he needs God as a democrat, whom he can choose, like any power in a democratic market.

Slaves don't choose. The Lord's slaves accept. The bishop is not chosen - he is received from God. And the Tsar is not chosen - he is accepted from God (in this sense was the election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom in 1613, who, according to the "Approved Charter", was called "God's Chosen Tsar"). Only for the slave consciousness is the New Testament principle that all power is from God, and only the Christian servile ministry of power can become the soil on which the autocracy will be reborn. Saint Nicholas of Serbia said that a good Tsar is not the one who owes the people, but to whom the people owe. It was not the Tsar who owed the people, but the people, like a slave, felt themselves obligated to the Tsar, who for him was the Image of the Heavenly Tsar (St. Demetrius of Rostov). In Orthodox Russia, welfare was measured not by the consumer's paradise for the layman, but by the state power of the kingdom and the holiness of the Church. The stronger the royal army, the more temples and monasteries in the country, the more prosperous the reign of the monarch is, and the closer to Heaven on earth the loyal servants of God feel themselves. The servant of God is not looking for earthly rewards, he is looking for heavenly blessings. The earthly path for the Christian slave is the path of the Cross and sorrows. And no matter what place the servant of God occupies in society - from the king to the servant and from the patriarch to the monk - all this is just a place of sorrow. They do not enjoy sorrows - they are saved.

Some may argue that "authority from God" is exclusively royal authority. However, our contemporary consumer, who is accustomed to the fact that everyone owes him, will make claims to the monarch, as today he makes these claims to the real God-anointed power - the hierarchy.

When the question of the Church comes up today, the question of finances immediately pops up. Regarding a secular society, where all values are measured today in money, this is understandable. But why are we, modern Christians, so hurt by these questions? Why are we ourselves, Orthodox, so annoyed by the welfare of spiritual fathers? Probably because we call them "fathers" in the old fashioned way, observing etiquette. In reality, we do not want to see them as fathers, but lackeys of our own "spiritual" needs. And lackeys shouldn't ride cars, they need to walk, or at least, for greater importance, ride donkeys. And how many it was said that the temples turned into houses of trade in services, candles, icons and other "spiritual goods" … But it was not the priests who suddenly became merchants. And it is modern Christians who have turned from God's servants into religious consumers. And demand, as you know, determines the supply. A Christian consumer cannot donate, much less give alms. This all contradicts commodity-money relations. To donate is to give credit, but the slaves are the debtors, and the consumer is not a slave. A market man can feel himself a debtor only to the bank, but not to God. To give just alms is to step on the throat of your greed. And greed is the soul and the flesh of the market economy. Whoever tried to remove the price tags in the temple will understand me. Oh, how often I had to hear demands to name the specific cost of a burial or a candle, right up to leaving for another temple. The Christian consumer can only buy or simply borrow for free. This is both easier and more comfortable for him. He paid and now can demand high-quality service, and in which case he can reproach the churchmen with greed and godlessness. Well, the free distribution of icons in the church, for example, is in the eyes of our contemporaries just a super-action to attract buyers, and the Christian consumer here does not feel infringement of his conscience, that he takes it for free and donates anything in return. Well, what can we say about parishioners, when priests are also children of their era and also begin to look at the Church as a source of income. Oh, how many times could one hear from fellow-ministers murmuring against the hierarchy for "taxes" and "extortions." This is also an indicator of God's lack of bondage. After all, the bishop is the owner of the parish, not the priest and parishioners. God teaches us his blessing through bishops. The ordinances are valid by virtue of the ruling bishop, not the personal piety of the priest. It is we who feed on the favors of the Master, and not the Master from our taxes. We are obliged to give everything to him, and gratefully be content with what he will give us from his mercy. When a bishop visits a parish, we must "hasten" to give up the last, in order to worthily meet in the person of the bishop the Savior himself. Like that widow who “hastened” to prepare the latter, to the detriment of herself and her children, in order to receive the prophet of God Elijah. In this "haste" to meet the man of God, and even more so the image of God Himself in the person of the bishop, and according to St. John Chrysostom, our virtue and pleasing to God is manifested. Who will make up for our losses? And who always made up for them? He who nourished the widow who received the prophet Elijah will give us everything we need through the blessing of the bishop. If we do not believe in this truth, are we believers?

If for us Orthodox the hierarchy is the image of God, if we honor the authority of Christ Himself in its power, then how can we demand an account from the bishop, whom we call Vladyka because of the power to “knit and decide” our posthumous fate? Can a slave demand an account from the King? We are always afraid that the hierarchy may deceive or betray us. But does this suspicion not testify to our unbelief that God is in the Church? Just as there cannot be a body without a head, so there cannot be a Church without God. And the episcopal authority for the Church, according to our faith, has the same meaning as “the breath for man and the sun for the world. To see in the hierarchy the source of troubles for the Church means to reproach the Holy Spirit for supplying us with unworthy bishops. The apostles did not dare to reproach the Lord for choosing Judas Iscariot, knowing that he was a thief. We dare to consider ourselves smarter than God, arguing about the unworthiness of our bishops. Formally, none of us will say that we are for the democratic transformation of the church system, but in fact, both liberals and conservatives in the Church act as a united front for the need to control and "limit the arbitrariness" of the high priests. As if we have all forgotten that only Christ determines the limits of the bishop's authority in the Church.

The slave consciousness enables us to correctly relate both to the Patriarch's watches (if such existed at all) and to the expensive foreign cars of the hierarchy. For a slave, the Master's prestige is his personal prestige. It should be humiliating for a Christian that a bishop has a worse car than secular rulers. It is better to walk on your own than to see the Primate of the Church riding a tram (like, for example, the now deceased Patriarch of Serbia Pavel). About the sorrow of Serbia! O humiliation for the whole of Orthodoxy, when the prince of the Church of a country that calls itself Orthodox uses public transport. The essence of the accessibility of the Patriarch and the bishops in general is not that he can be watched on the way to the church or personally write a letter to his e-mail, but in the possibility of participating in the bishop's divine service, where the bishop offers his prayers for all of us.

This should be our attitude towards authorities if we are Christians; this is how we should think, for this is how the true servants of God, the holy saints, with whom we are called to be equal, behaved and thought. It is in the impoverishment of God's slavery that the reason for the decline of our personal faith and the religiosity of our people. Hence there are so many disappointments and unanswered prayers. Hence, there are so few miracles and many false elders …

But weren't there patriarchs and kings of heretics, bishops' false councils, godless modern rulers, as, for example, now in Ukraine? Of course they were, are and will be. How to treat them and obey them slavishly, we can see on the example of the lives of the martyrs. They occupied various social statuses in the empire - from a slave to a military leader and a senator - and conscientiously performed their public duties, respecting each authority in its place. But this lasted as long as the commands of those in charge over them did not concern matters of their faith. Then they threw away all their statuses and privileges and went to martyrdom, denouncing the godlessness of kings and rulers. Likewise, we must obey and honor our rulers, rulers, hierarchs, as long as their commands do not incline us to apostasy, heresy and sin. Because we, as servants of God, show obedience to the authorities for God's sake, and not for the sake of the authorities themselves.

But the catch is that our faith is not a legal religion. Which authorities we should be submissive to, and which not, is determined by God. And His will can only be known by those who have absolutely no will of their own, those who have become a true slave of God. Why, for example, was it necessary to fight against the Hitlerite authorities opening churches, and to defend the atheistic Soviet government at the front at the cost of their lives? After all, the Bolshevik government was also an occupier who overthrew the God-placed tsarist government? The answer can only be in God's message, which only God's servants can feel. At that time, the spark of God had not yet completely died out in the Russian people, and the Orthodox, at the call of their conscience, forgetting the blood grievances inflicted on them by the Soviet regime, began to fight for the USSR as for autocratic Russia.

But modern Christians are unable to hear the voice of God. Because they are not looking for God, they are looking for their own. Who is missing in the Church today? Those who are ready to obey. Obedience is a slave virtue that makes it possible to hear God. Therefore, only a slave who denies himself with his whole life can fight for the truth. We believe that after reading several patristic books, we become able to recognize the truth with our willful disobedient mind. In fact, it often turns out that we are defending only our arrogance, covered by the Holy Fathers, as sectarians hide behind the Bible.

In order to comprehend the truth, we must stop "turning on our brains" and start actually thinking ourselves nothing and calling ourselves nobody. In short, we must cultivate a slave in ourselves. The path to slavery to God lies through slavery to man: children - to parents, wife - to husband, Christian - to the hierarchy, citizen - to the state with all officials and security officials, including the President. To paraphrase the words of the apostle about love, we can say this: "How dare you call yourself a slave of God, when you have not learned to be a slave to man?" Only by cultivating a slave mentality in ourselves will we not only be able to revive that Russia that we have not saved, but also to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, where the doors are closed for all “free” people who are not in Christ.

---------------------------------- "On Lost Slavery and Market Freedom", Archpriest Alexy Chaplin