According to Christian doctrine, everything that exists, apart from God Himself, is God’s creation. All that exists has its cause in God and is therefore intimately connected with Him. Unfortunately, rational beings do not always understand this; yet, even if creation does not acknowledge it, it was, is, and will always remain a manifestation of…
To address this, we must first ask: Why did God create humanity? God had no need to create humans. God is the Holy Trinity, and He does not experience loneliness or lack. He created humanity out of the abundance of His love. Like a loving parent, God desires love in return from the beings He created. However,…
By Bishop Mikhail (Semyonov) The Old Believers are most frequently accused of “ritualism,” that is, of stubbornly venerating rituals even more than dogma. Their reverence for ritual is often regarded as little less than idolatry. But is ritual really something insignificant, of little importance in the order of spiritual life? We have already written briefly…
By I.A. Kirillov The journal Church has already noted the sorrowful phenomenon of the younger generation of Old Believers growing indifferent to their native rites and customs. This phenomenon is undoubtedly lamentable, yet entirely understandable in our times, especially among students. From all sides, at every crossroads, this youth is loudly bombarded with talk of all manner…
“Such is the grace of the Spirit — it makes those of one mind to be of equal honor.”— St. Gregory the Theologian\ “For all Christian kingdoms shall come to an end and be gathered into one Russian kingdom for the sake of Orthodoxy.”— Dimitry the Interpreter, Tale of the White Klobuk In recent times, certain…
Bishop Mikhail (Semyonov) We have spoken about the Person of Christ, about the radiance of His countenance. But it is well known that, for Christians, the center of Christ’s life is found in His death. The center of Christianity is the Cross and Redemption. It is not merely the God-Man with the purest teaching whom…
By Kiril Mikhailov In the 17th century, Francis Bacon developed the concept of “pure knowledge,” free from prejudice and superstition—a concept of tremendous importance to world science, and one that, with only minor modifications, still reigns today. With the exception of anti- and irrationalist philosophical schools, which did not significantly influence the development of science,…
By Roman Atorin The past thirty years in Russia have been marked by a growing interest in faith, religion, and spirituality. Old Belief, as one of our traditional and culturally formative confessions, has not remained apart from these developments and is now the subject of extensive study by many researchers. Indeed, the true causes of…
God has revealed to humanity that He is one yet triune in persons. How can we understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity within our limited comprehension? What do the terms person/hypostasis/essence/nature mean? What are the shared and individual properties of the Holy Trinity? Before delving into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, it is…
Before engaging in a polemic against sectarian views on various issues, it is necessary to say at least a few words about the sources of doctrine that they accept and that we accept. As is well known, almost all sectarians regard Holy Scripture as the sole source of faith and reject any references to the…