What Has Happened to Us and What Should We Do?

By Andrey Shcheglov.

In what follows below, there will be no direct reference to the modern “heroes” of Old Ritualism. Considering their intellectual and spiritual level, it is shameful to speak of them en masse, and even more so to subject them to analysis. Those who understand what is being discussed need no explanation; accordingly, those who need an explanation are better off not receiving one. For the uncomprehending, as well as for the important people “in the Old Believer cause,” this is empty noise.

Our task, in the most general terms, is to survey the contemporary spiritual ruins of what was once justly and proudly called “ancient Orthodoxy” (“Old Belief,” “Old Ritualism”).

Let us begin, perhaps, by saying that we must stop deluding ourselves with optimistic illusions. All this apparent—and now grown to indecent proportions—“successful” external bustle: the restoration of what was previously destroyed, the gilding of domes, the countless and meaningless inter-confessional and scholarly “meetings” where “Christians” appear as ridiculous caricatures at someone else’s merry farce—all of this is utterly worthless from the point of view of Christ’s Faith.

It must be understood that the pompous, delirious statements of the same professional “Old Believers,” constantly scurrying across television and radio channels, proclaiming “the opening of the treasures of Old Belief to the world,” evoke nothing but rejection and contempt. In reality, these pompous incantations serve as a cover for inner spiritual emptiness and their own material interests, which they alternately pass off with varying success as some sort of “Old Believer spirituality.”

The issue here is not the usual reproaches and discussions of the base deeds of these people (Who among us is without sin?), but rather that for these figures, God has either remained somewhere in the inaccessible, radiant past, or at best is supposed to appear at the end of time, in some indefinite future—while in the present, they can easily go about their petty dealings. And it is this stillborn, mundane, and vulgar notion of theirs that they attempt to present as a still-living phenomenon, which for them has already ceased to be the greatest mystery.

All their discourse about Faith resembles the attempt of animals that have suddenly taken it upon themselves to judge the essence of Man. No amount of their cunning, vindictiveness, malice, or desire to put themselves on display will help here. But let us leave them be—they have already found their happiness in the form of material well-being and satiated tranquility. And it is utterly uninteresting what dark winds howl in their empty heads!

The main difficulty lies in the fact that the majority views the current state of affairs “from the outside,” as indifferent external observers, whereas the problem itself can only be understood “from within.” The majority of “ancient Orthodox” people completely fail to see the avalanche of destructive processes taking place before their eyes, when the normal, lawful Christian order is being destroyed, and the current spiritual “leaders” falsify the highest understanding of life, its actions, and true knowledge.

This spiritual “ignorance,” in the final analysis, leads to the refusal of any internal or external spiritual struggle. Only a few are capable of seeing the full vertigo of the fall. These “pastors,” administrative leaders, and the passive “flock” sing hymns to their own past, choking on the vomit of their own exceptionalism, while trying to deceive themselves and others with the phantom of a spirituality that no longer exists. For them it is already unknown that they have descended from the spiritual heights attained by former Christians into the world of materialistic reality and have become an integral part of it.

The very phenomenon of “ancient Orthodoxy” was an attempt, under the banner of Christ, to organize resistance to humanity’s unrestrained slide into the yawning abyss. Outwardly turned toward the past, “ancient” Christianity became a new concept of spiritual ideals of courage and dignity in the stale atmosphere of various purely human ideologies that gave birth to the modern world.

Against the backdrop of the faceless mass-man, this phenomenon signified a spiritual feat of fidelity to the Christian duty. In the “Old Believers” there was always the ability to clearly and sharply distinguish the essential from the secondary—unlike the mechanical (worldly) man, who represents the extreme form of degeneration.

We now find ourselves in a world of ruins. And here there is only one question: are there still people who have held firm amid these ruins? And what must they do—what can they still do today? Has that spiritual state been preserved in these “remnants” which could serve as an example for resistance to the Antichrist? Are there still people who prefer a harsh and dangerous life, who continue to wage spiritual battle even knowing that the external struggle has already been lost?

One would like to hope that there remain people in whom fidelity to Christ is stronger than material fire, who by their very existence affirm the idea that it is precisely the sense of honor—not vulgar moralizing—that defines the essential difference between human beings and mere physiological creatures. What matters is not the quantitative unification of people bound by ritual, but the qualitative state. Yet this state can be achieved only through quiet transformation taking place in the depths of the human soul. First of all, this change occurs within oneself; then it manifests in a few individuals; and only in this case can the prerequisites of true order be established outwardly, in opposition to the destructive forces of the modern world.

We must reach such a state that the type of Christian we are describing becomes immediately recognizable—so unmistakable that one cannot confuse him with others—so that at first glance it can be said: “This is one of ours,” a person who refuses any compromise with the world of things.

Today we find ourselves in far worse conditions than previous Christians, when everything was clear and definite: here are “ours,” and there are “the others.” Now everything is intertwined, and at times it is extremely difficult to distinguish what ought not to be from what is true. Our own spiritually formless “leaders” live by the principle: “First fill your belly, preserve your own hide, and only then seek the truth”; or: “These are not the times when one can afford to hold an opinion different from the currently dominant principle”; and finally: “Who’s forcing you…?”

And it is precisely to this mentality that we must firmly oppose a different principle—this is not our path! Our existence does not depend on bustling, scheming quasi-ecclesiastical operators and spiritual politicians, but on people capable of living and acting according to Christian principles. Such people may be poor or rich, workers or entrepreneurs, theologians, engineers, peasants, or even politicians. But such a person must necessarily understand the inner differences between a clear, courageous, ordered world and the standardized, conformist, vulgar gray life in which empty “morality” reigns supreme.

We must attain such a spiritual state that we can look with contempt upon the stupefying bonds of the collectivist and mechanical system, upon any ideology that establishes false “social” values in place of spiritual values that reside solely in the divine order.

It is important to see in life the interconnection of causes and effects, the essential ideal foundation hidden beneath the chaotic movement of various opinions and temptations. We must grasp that all of this is merely diverse levels of one and the same spiritual disease, each of which inevitably leads to the next in the general cycle of decomposition. The beginning of this process was the rupture with authentic Christian tradition and its replacement with false surrogates that lead to empty and ghostly individual freedom. This is the path to fragmentation and disunity instead of the conscious desire to be part of a genuine and hierarchical spiritual unity.

The Christian personality finds itself confronted by countless “multitudes” of opposing individuals drawn into the kingdom of quantity, the natural series of numbers, the world of quantitative masses that have no other god besides all-consuming spiritual and material consumption. To stand firm in this chaos, it is necessary to understand that one cannot make a deal with the forces of destruction. Any attempt to settle matters peacefully with these forces is equivalent to surrender—defeat today and final annihilation tomorrow. Spiritual principledness is the readiness, when the time requires it, to step forward outwardly with all the uncorrupted forces still remaining.

We see how our society is gradually being squeezed, as if by iron tongs, in the grip of an alien and hostile force. This force is no longer the one that once confronted us with visor raised; the attack no longer proceeds by violent and coercive means. A Christian society that has lost the high Christian ideals within itself opens its gaping spiritual void to consumption and profit—and from this comes all our present primitivism, mechanicity, mustiness, and bestiality, which explains the appearance of scurrying clowns who now determine the direction of our church institutions. This danger is far more serious than direct violence; it is akin to the Trojan Horse. Evil now acts more cunningly, and changes in our customs and general worldview occur imperceptibly—and thus the situation is completely different from what it once was. In the name of this spiritual “relaxation” we have already practically abandoned all our ideals, so that perhaps no external intervention will even be necessary to seize the abandoned and discarded pearl of Truth and finally place it in a stinking cesspool.

It is from this spiritual blindness that our entire material demonism arises, because the worldly factor has become primary and decisive. The gathering of all interests and values revolves around the level of consumption, which with its last strength covers the Christian rite. Is there a way out of this gloomy circle? But this is a question no longer addressed to people.

Given such weakness in both internal and external forces, it is unlikely that we will quickly rid ourselves of the smug, senile swindlers in our church institutions. Our task is to overcome our isolation and fragmentation, to create a special spiritual atmosphere under whose influence we can acquire a new life characterized by fidelity, devotion, and service. This will help us surmount the grayness and insincerity of our present condition. What unites us is not the rite, but the power of our hidden intentions on the path to Truth. This is the foundation, the point of departure that unites people who remain faithful to Christian principles and are therefore capable of bearing witness to the Supreme Authority and the Supreme Law born of Truth.

There is now no other way: among our “ancient Orthodox” ruins, a movement must begin toward the restoration of the original principles and ideas. We must resist the slide toward the animal, primitive principle within us that seeks to reduce our entire existence to the biological level. We know that our true Self opposes this, desiring to remain conscious and independent. For this, first of all, we must become aware of that dark and lowest part of our soul that is increasingly gaining the upper hand over us. What is needed is an exact and impartial assessment of our decrepit state—and this, in turn, will help us reject our own seductive mask, reflected in the mirror of distorted being. In this case we will not merely seem, but truly exist; at the same time we must silently do our work in harmony with the command resounding from the heavenly heights. Only then will empty, sluggish, and false existence vanish into non-being.

The spirituality of which we speak has no need for the cheap and worthless, deceitful moralizing imposed upon us, through which the “domestication” of the Christian as an animal takes place. It is in the creation of this spineless “flock” that the hypocritical essence and goal of the modern modernist “church” lie—the very embrace into which we are striving with all our might. In this case, what is sufficient for us is a pure turning to the Holy Ghost and to Christ as the unclouded evident reality of Divine Reality, while any genuine church “institutions” may vanish into desolation and emptiness. Inner cohesion and correct awareness will make it possible to withstand the final victory of chaos and destruction masquerading as practical materialism, which is thriving comfortably in the “church” milieu.

In the form in which our “administrative” puppets offer us “Christianity,” it is dead and cannot serve as a point of departure upon which genuine spiritual freedom can be attained. All they can offer is aesthetically wretched ritualism and primitive piety, at best reducing the Church to social and charitable service. All of this turns the Church into something insipid and dull, deforming the personality and giving birth to intolerance toward any form of life. The people who have created this state of affairs are not titanic villains, but petty, cynical, bastard ecclesiastical politicians possessed of the simplest drives and interests tied to the satisfaction of purely physical needs and the pursuit of sensual pleasures. These “characters” do not even realize that they are easily manipulated by global forces of destruction that clearly understand their actions and goals. All the “correct” words of our “spiritual leaders” are pure verbal fornication. They do not care about any “noble ideal”; they are immersed in worldly routine and delirious with their own importance. Their actions are logical absurdity from the standpoint of the Christian Church and Christian Canons; therefore they are heralds of the final decline and degeneration.

On the other side stands an infinitesimally small number of people who differ from the former as witnesses to a different inner disposition, to other orders of lawfulness and authority granted by the Christian Idea and firm devotion to it. For such people, only the Kingdom of Heaven can be the true homeland. Whether they will succeed in withstanding final destruction and remaining unshaken in Truth—this is again a question not addressed to people. It will become possible only when we preserve God; only then will He be always and everywhere, here and now. Sensing the living presence of God within ourselves, we find in Him a point of support, the center of the world, and as a result we see the only path worth following. Only the sacred fire blazing within us is capable of incinerating the phantom, motley world that plays false images around us. Having embarked on this most difficult path, a person takes a great risk: if he proves unequal to his original intention, that flame will consume him to the foundations—he will simply dissolve into the general mass and become tame. But if he endures, he will acquire the greatest strength, for he will be able to discern divine meanings in the fleeting, senseless world.

Our Faith gives us the understanding that earthly life is a trial, an interconnected battlefield not only of human but also of spiritual forces, which can very conditionally be designated as the forces of Good and the forces of Delusion, of Chaos. And here each person possesses the freedom to make his personal choice—on whose side he will stand. In either case he steps beyond the mere physiological animal state. In the first case, the path leads upward to the Divine Principle that transcends every human measure; conversely, the other path drags downward to the subhuman. In everything, what matters is precisely our inner predisposition, not the construction of ideological schemes or the donning of pious masks upon foul visages. In reality, the right of choice confirms the dominion of the sacred principle of justice, which establishes—“To each his own” (Suum cuique).