Darkening #
–by Viktor Buzhinsky
“Justice, justice shalt thou seek,
that thou mayest live, and inherit the land
which the Lord thy God
giveth thee” (Deut. 16:20).
“And to receive and profess the holy symbol, as the holy and God-bearing fathers at the First Ecumenical Council, which was in Nicaea, and at the Second Ecumenical Council, which was in Constantinople, wrote in Greek: and the other ecumenical and local councils received and affirmed it, as it has now been corrected against the Greek and printed in the Slavonic language, without the addition of anything true and without any change”.
“This is our interpretation and commandment regarding the holy symbol… But if anyone should oppose us and the entire holy council, he opposes God and likens himself to the former accursed heretics. For this reason, he shall inherit, as those heretics, the anathema and curse of the holy God-bearing fathers, of the holy seven ecumenical councils. And on the dreadful judgment, he shall be condemned for this by the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, at His second and terrible coming”.
“And if from henceforth anyone should begin to contradict the matters laid forth at this great council by the most holy ecumenical patriarchs, which they corrected and established by law concerning the alleluia, and the cross, and other matters, which are written in the conciliar exposition of this present council, in the year from the birth of God in the flesh 1666, and in the book The Rule of the Staff, let him, according to the Apostle Paul, be self-condemned in truth and an heir to the curse of this council, written in its conciliar decree, as a transgressor of God and an adversary of the holy fathers’ rules”.
The confession in the Symbol of Faith of the Holy Spirit as true God was counted among the “other matters” of Old Orthodox Christians.
“And if anyone does not heed our commands and does not submit to the holy Eastern Church and this holy council, or begins to contradict and oppose us, then we, by the authority given to us by the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, if he be of the sacred order, cast him out and strip him of every sacred function and deliver him unto a curse. But if he be of the lay order, we cut him off and make him alien from the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and we deliver him to a curse and anathema as a heretic and a rebel, and cut him off from the whole Orthodox body and flock, and from the Church of God, until he comes to understanding and returns to truth by repentance. And if he does not understand and does not return to truth by repentance but persists in his obstinacy until his end, then even after death, let him be cut off, and his portion and soul be with Judas the betrayer, with those who crucified Christ, with Arius, and with the other accursed heretics. Let iron, stone, and wood decay and be destroyed, but let him be neither absolved nor destroyed, and like a tympanum, let him be so forever and ever. Amen”.
It is fitting to recall the brutalities that followed this. Persecutions were carried out for everything together, which meant also for every single letter, including the confession of the Holy Spirit as the true Lord. Beyond deposition, excommunication, and curses, the council decreed that defenders of the ancient piety should also be punished by civil measures:
“Heretics and schismatics shall not only suffer ecclesiastical punishment but also the punishment of the tsar, that is, the city law and execution.”
It was recommended:
“Some had their tongues cut out, others had their hands severed, others their ears and noses, and they were displayed in the marketplace and then exiled to imprisonment until their death”.
In reality, the authorities went even further—death after terrible tortures was increasingly employed. According to F. Melnikov, “in Moscow itself, log structures and pyres were ablaze.” Further:
“At the insistence of Moscow Patriarch Joachim, Tsarevna Sophia issued in 1685 against the people of the ancient piety twelve grim articles, which have justly earned the name ‘draconian’ in history. In them, the followers of the ancient Russian Church, that is, the Old Believers, are called ‘schismatics,’ ’thieves,’ opponents of the church, and are subjected to the most horrific punishments. Those who spread the old faith were ordered to be ’tortured and burned in a log structure, and their ashes scattered.’ Severe punishments also awaited those who gave shelter to Old Believers, hid them, or simply failed to report them to the Nikonian ecclesiastical and civil authorities.”
There are certain sins that are easy to rid oneself of because they are not passions but habits. The Nikonian church has such a sin—one that is easy to abandon, yet unbearably heavy for our Fatherland. This is the distortion of the Symbol of Faith. Yet this sin is remarkably persistent, despite the fact that the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1971 annulled the anathemas against the old rites and adopted the following decision:
To approve the resolution of the Patriarchal Holy Synod of April 23 (10), 1929, recognizing the old Russian rites as salvific, just as the new rites are, and of equal honor with them.
To approve the resolution of the Patriarchal Holy Synod of April 23 (10), 1929, regarding the rejection and consideration, as if they had never been, of derogatory expressions related to the old rites, and especially to the two-finger sign of the cross, wherever they may be found and whoever may have uttered them.
To approve the resolution of the Patriarchal Holy Synod of April 23 (10), 1929, regarding the abolition of the anathemas of the Moscow Council of 1656 and the Great Moscow Council of 1667, imposed by them upon the old Russian rites and upon the Orthodox Christians adhering to them, and to consider these anathemas as if they had never been.
(Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, May 30 – June 2, 1971. Documents, materials, chronicle. Published by the Moscow Patriarchate. Moscow, 1972.)
In the report read at the council, the Nikonian reform was characterized as “a drastic and hasty breaking of Russian ecclesiastical rites,” undertaken due to the mistaken view that ritual differences were differences in faith.
In the year 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) repented for the persecutions against Old Believers.
One must ask: why, then, has the Symbol of Faith still not been restored? Could it be because the new version is considered equivalent to the ancient one?
Let us examine whether the confession of the Symbol of Faith in the Nikonian edition can indeed be considered “equally salvific” and “equally honorable.”
Researchers identify four changes in the Symbol of Faith:
- The written form of the Savior’s name was altered.
- The contrast between begetting and creating was removed.
- The teaching regarding Christ’s Kingdom was changed to refer to a future event.
- The designation of the Holy Spirit as true was omitted.
In his work A Consideration of the Ancient and New-Ritualist Texts of the Symbol of Faith, Deacon Valery Timofeev writes concerning these changes:
“These changes were never justified, and their defenders have limited themselves to vague references to the Greeks and to anathematizing all of Russian Orthodoxy since 988, as expressed in the decree of the Moscow Council of 1666–1667.”
Vladimir Karpets, in his work Time in the Old and New Rite, commenting on the replacement of is (несть) with shall not be (не будет), notes:
“Placing the Kingdom of God in the future tense means having an indirect prayerful connection with the Jews, who still await the coming of the Messiah (Mashiach)—that is, the messianic age, though it has already come. To pronounce the Symbol of Faith ‘in the old way’ means to confess the Second and Glorious Coming of Christ (‘and again He shall come in glory to judge the living and the dead’).”
Let us now examine in more detail the removal of the adjective true as one of the attributes of God the Holy Spirit.
A strange confusion of mind arises when reading the Symbol of Faith in the Nikonian edition with careful attention. According to the Nikonian version, God the Father and God the Son are affirmed as true, yet this attribute is denied to God the Holy Spirit. This denial is striking because, in the Old Orthodox Symbol of Faith, the Holy Spirit is explicitly acknowledged as true, alongside the Father and the Son.
A logical question arises: could the Holy Spirit have been present at a council where His truth was denied? This is not a trivial question. Any Church Council differs from a political congress or any other assembly in that the Holy Spirit must necessarily be present. Only then can the Council’s decisions be correct. This is crucial, for Councils are the means by which the earthly Church is governed. This applies to all Council decisions, even those that might seem insignificant—how much more so when the decisions are of momentous consequence, such as a reform of the Church.
A correct answer to this question would set everything in its proper order. It would clarify many events, not only in our history but in the history of all humanity. It would allow us to find effective remedies for our ailments. It would show us the path to spiritual renewal.
Finding the answer, it seems, is not particularly difficult. There is a reliable, theoretically sound method of discovering truth by reasoning from the consequences: “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:17). The preceding discussion has outlined the consequences of the deeds of the “reformers,” which have nothing in common with love for one’s neighbor.
Furthermore, as a result of these “reforms,” Orthodox worship was desecrated. At the same time, the testimony of St. Ephraim the Syrian concerning the restraining power of divine worship is well known:
“Thus, until the ancient worship, which now restrains, is abolished—through the destruction of the city (Jerusalem), which is already prepared—and until the apostleship, which now preaches, is removed, and another doctrine spreads in its place, the Day of the Lord, about which those false deceivers preach to you as if it were already at hand, shall not come.”
According to St. Ephraim the Syrian, it is worship that restrains. “Before a new service is proclaimed, the old one remains in force”.
As we have noted, St. Ephraim the Syrian does not speak of multiple new services but of one service for all people without exception, for according to the New Testament, all are equal before God—Greeks, Jews, and Russians alike.
From Holy Scripture, we know how meticulously, down to the smallest details, God established the Old Testament worship, and how severely those priests who were negligent in their duties were punished. Under the New Testament, in new conditions, the restraining function had to be transferred to the new worship. The mission of preaching this new Orthodox worship was entrusted to the Greeks. The effectiveness of this restraining worship in practice was fully demonstrated in Kievan Rus’—a testimony to this is the Great Standing of the Kiev Caves Lavra. During the formation of the Muscovite state, this was manifested in the Great Standing in the Faith for the Fatherland, and after the Schism, in the Great Standing in the Faith for Faith itself. These events should be classified as miracles of universal significance.
Old Believer theologians and historians have demonstrated (and not without success) that the innovations of the Nikonian Church are heretical. Certain issues have been thoroughly examined—for example, the distortion of the Symbol of Faith, as well as the absurd formulation regarding the three-finger sign of the cross, in which two unused fingers are said to be “inclined and idle,” an obvious blunder by the “reformers”. Many more examples of successful theological critiques of Nikonian innovations could be given, leading to the unequivocal conclusion that these innovations are not equally salvific. However, despite the particular achievements of critics of the innovations, there was never a unifying idea that could tie all these individual successes together. The testimony of St. Ephraim the Syrian, in a way, provides such a conclusion—it unites all the innovations into one overarching heresy: the destruction of the restraining Orthodox worship.
In light of this, much falls into place.
It becomes clear that God’s allowance of the Schism was a providential necessity, ensuring the preservation of Christ’s Church, Holy Rus’, and the function of restraining the world from anarchy and chaos until all things are fulfilled according to divine will [6].
What, then, prevents the “reformers” and their followers from acknowledging what is obvious to any reasonable person? One cannot help but conclude that those engaged in Nikonian theology fail to see the evident—simply put, they exist in a state of mental obscuration. And they have remained in this state for nearly 350 years. Yet, paradoxically, the Schism has left a saving opportunity even for the Nikonians, for it has prevented them from sliding entirely into Catholicism and Protestantism. In other words, their obscuration remains reversible.
The mental obscuration of the participants of the 1666–1667 council means that it was not the Holy Spirit who guided their decisions and formulations. As the fellow sufferer of Protopope Avvakum, Deacon Fyodor, described that council:
“At their wicked council with the authorities, it was not Christ who sat among them, nor was it the Holy Spirit who taught them that falsehood, but the evil Satan, the enemy of God and murderer of men”.
For this reason, one may and must boldly undertake the demonstration of the fallacy—and more than that, the destructiveness—of all the innovations introduced at that fateful council.
Nevertheless, the primary issue must be seen as the distortion of the Symbol of Faith, since everything that followed appears to have been a consequence of this. It must be recalled that even earlier, at the beginning of his “reforms,” Nikon published the book The Tablet, in which he anathematized those who venerated the Holy Spirit as true.
Thus, the omission of the adjective true in the Nikonian version of the Symbol of Faith constitutes a denial of the truth of God the Holy Spirit—an act of blasphemy against Him. This blasphemy was sealed in brotherly blood and continues to be confirmed daily by the faithful of the Nikonian churches.
The fact that the Nikonians have still not renounced their revised Symbol of Faith speaks volumes about the intellectual deficiency of Nikonian theology. This deficiency does not stem from a lack of education or necessary analytical abilities—such as reasoning, comparison, or synthesis—but from a darkening of the mind. And the darkening of the mind is the result of blasphemy against God.
Strangely enough, the annulment of the anathemas against the old rites should also be counted among the signs of Nikonian theological obscuration. For in this case, the anathemas of the Stoglav Council remain in force for the Nikonians, since the Russian Orthodox Church has always declared—and continues to declare—its spiritual continuity and unity with the pre-reform Church. And since the Stoglav Council anathematized the three-finger sign of the cross and those who do not venerate the Holy Spirit as true, the Nikonians are left with only two options that could bring salvific clarity:
- Either they must acknowledge themselves as a new church, having nothing to do with the pre-reform Orthodox Russian Church,
- Or they must admit that the decisions of the 1666–1667 council were erroneous and that Nikonian worship is not equal in honor to Orthodox worship.
There is no third way for those who care about their own salvation and about the Fatherland. The third option is to leave everything as it is, despite the fact that NATO bases are on the verge of being established on Holy Russian soil. That the people, like somnambulists, await the blessings of Western civilization and the triumph of so-called “universal values,” while those who impose these values by fire and sword across the world have long been planning a radical reduction of the planet’s population. That barcodes encoded with three sixes—the commercial mark of the Antichrist—have already defiled almost all products on our store shelves and will soon appear in passports. They are perhaps absent only from the forests, oil, and gas that God has granted us so that we might hold out a little longer—to remember ourselves and return home.
Only a darkened mind can explain why the Symbol of Faith has not yet been restored. Only a darkening of the intellect can explain how the “reformers” dared to disrupt the harmony of the Old Orthodox Church Slavonic translation of the Symbol of Faith. This is no accident. The Old Orthodox translation of the Symbol of Faith possesses an independent and unique resonance.
Why is this the case? One must ask the holy equal-to-the-apostles enlighteners, Cyril and Methodius, for they were most likely the ones who translated the Symbol of Faith from Greek into Church Slavonic. And for this, they too were cursed by the “reformers.” Yet the great merit of their translation is precisely that the Old Orthodox Symbol of Faith does not allow for ambiguous interpretations and thus more precisely affirms the central teaching of Christianity: the unity, indivisibility, and consubstantiality of the Trinity. Indeed, there can be no better confirmation of the unity of the Trinity than the assertion of the truth of each Hypostasis. For the unity of the Trinity is possible only when each of the three Hypostases is true!
The Old Orthodox—or rather, truly Orthodox—Symbol of Faith is a life-affirming chord in which all notes from every octave are wondrously gathered together. Would such a chord still be life-affirming if even a single note sounded false or dissonant—let alone an entire third of the harmony?
This Orthodox, life-affirming resonance of the Symbol of Faith has been paid for in full with Russian blood—paid for in honor of the Holy, Indivisible, and Consubstantial Trinity. And this, indeed, is the triumph of Orthodoxy!
I wish to conclude with an appeal to those who care for their own salvation in eternity and who grieve for the Fatherland—do what is obvious—take the first step towards returning: CONFESS THE ORTHODOX SYMBOL OF FAITH!
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and all that is visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten of the Father before all ages. Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, but not created, of one essence with the Father, who wrought all things.
For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Ghost, and of the Virgin Mary became man.
Who was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, and arose on the third day, after the scriptures.
And ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
And he shall come again to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom has no end.
And in the Holy Ghost, the True and Life-giving Lord, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together art worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.
And in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins.
I await the resurrection of the dead.
And the life of the age to come. Amen.