What should one do if Old Believers around you, including clergy, behave unchristianly, treat you coldly, and not in the way you would like? How can one cope with this, explain it to oneself, and continue attending this community and interacting with these fellow believers (edinovertsy)? #

Judging by your question, it seems that you (the author of the question) have recently joined the Orthodox Old Believer Church. This is evident from your use of the term “edinovertsy” to refer to Old Believers, which is not customary among us (this term is typically used by clergy and parishioners of the Moscow Patriarchate who practice the so-called “old rite” in their own particular interpretation). I dare to suggest, based on the emotional tone of your question, that you may be a woman.

Why did you come to the Church? Was it to unite with God or to find a good group of people for socializing? In the first case, no one and nothing will hinder you from remaining in the Church. The devil, especially at the beginning, will seek revenge for your choice, stirring up hostility against you from people—relatives, acquaintances, coworkers, supervisors, and, occasionally, even some church parishioners, for as Scripture says, no one is without sin. But God’s grace and your striving toward Him will overcome all of this, and you will be deemed worthy of greater reward from the Lord for enduring these attacks.

However, if you came to the Church merely seeking good people for social interaction, this is neither salvific nor correct in itself. The earthly Church is not paradise on earth but a hospital. And in a hospital are not the healthy but the sick, not saints but sinners. Every person is imperfect, spiritually sick, and sinful to some degree. The Apostle commands us to “bear one another’s burdens,” meaning to endure the sins of those around us and help them, loving them.

Holy Scripture warns us that, as time passes, people will increasingly lose love for their neighbors, becoming self-centered, selfish, and intolerant:

“Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
(Matthew 24:12)

This process occurs not only among unbelievers but also within the earthly Church. When it reaches an extreme in any part of the Church, that part falls into heresy or schism and separates from the Church. Consider how many Orthodox Christians there were in the world a thousand years ago compared to now. Over the centuries, many Western nations (Roman Catholics), Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Georgians, etc., have fallen away from the Church. Later came our Nikonites, then the Priestless factions. This process will continue until the Second Coming of the Lord.

Remember the Lord’s words about how the tares (weeds, i.e., sinners) will be among the wheat (the righteous) until the harvest, that is, until the Last Judgment of the Lord. Therefore, do not be disheartened if you see discord or lack of love among Christians. This is inevitable in our current fallen world.

You should also avoid wearing “rose-colored glasses,” imagining that you have entered a Church community of sinless, love-filled people here on earth. If you do not deceive yourself with such lofty expectations, you will not experience disappointment. We are all sick with sin and all in need of the Physician. Love these sick ones, even if they do not love you in return. This will be part of your struggle for Christ, who so loved sinful people that He delivered Himself into their hands to be torn apart for their salvation. Forgive me, for Christ’s sake, and may the Lord forgive you!

—Archpriest Vadim Korovin.