Old Believers and Contemporary Old Believers. #
By I. Kirillov
1. #
What is Old Belief?
Many people have pondered this question, offering diverse and often contradictory answers.
It is difficult to provide a comprehensive verbal definition of the very essence of Old Belief. In this case, we will attempt to define Old Belief from an external perspective, while not losing sight of the existence of several Old Believer confessions.
Each of these confessions sets as its goal for its members to live “according to faith,” following the teachings of Christ’s Church, and to place its statutes and commandments in the foremost and primary position. This principle is the fundamental and common characteristic of all Old Believer confessions. Among them, an ongoing and unresolved debate continues regarding the marks of the true Church of Christ, the surest paths to approaching it, and the means of remaining within its salvific embrace. Every Old Believer, belonging to one confession or another, is firmly convinced of the truth and salvific nature of the church to which he belongs. He believes unwaveringly that his church is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Such a conviction is the only possible stance for a sincerely believing person, and any doubt requires that he seek necessary clarifications regarding certain actions—if these clarifications convince him that his previous path was erroneous.
Thus, for all Old Believer confessions, the obligation to follow the Church’s decrees and implement them in life is undoubtedly a unifying principle. No one but the Lord knows when the doctrinal disputes within Old Belief—disputes that divide it into various confessions—will come to an end. But if we sincerely pray to God for mutual peace, if we manifest the power of Christ’s love toward our Old Believer brethren, we believe that the time will come when Old Belief, as in the days of its first heroic struggle against Nikonianism, will once again be “one flock and one Shepherd.” Yet, to draw nearer to this blessed time—whose fulfillment depends on the gracious will of Almighty God—we must do what lies within our human power. We must direct our will so that even in division, we remain true sons of the ancient Orthodox Church, faithfully and sincerely observing its statutes and customs, sanctifying our entire lives—both personal and communal—by the traditions of the Holy Fathers.
In fulfilling the requirements of the Church, every Old Believer lives within a particular social environment, in the same turbulent times. He faces similar questions and difficulties and is compelled to overcome the same obstacles as Old Believers of other confessions. In other words, despite the depth of their doctrinal disagreements—about which we will not speak here—Old Believers are united in their practical conclusions, in their everyday life. In relation to the external world, which has taken on a clearly pagan character, all Old Believer confessions form a single distinct body. The times we are living through present the same challenges, the same temptations, and the same stumbling blocks to all Old Believer confessions alike.
Doctrinal questions, undoubtedly and indisputably, hold the primary importance for a believer. However, we believe that, given the impossibility of resolving all these questions at present—which would be the best possible outcome—we should not neglect other issues and challenges that may be of secondary importance. These latter issues have now taken on an acute and troubling significance for the future of Old Belief as a whole, and we consider it necessary to draw the attention of all those who hold Old Belief dear, who cherish its sacred past.
Thus, when speaking of Old Belief, we refer to a community of people who belong to one or another Old Believer confession (or, from the perspective of each individual Old Believer, to the Church) and who consider it a moral obligation to follow the teachings of their Church in their daily lives. Beyond this primary unifying principle, Old Belief is also united by its way of life, its religious rites, and its deeply intertwined history.
Going forward, we will speak of Old Belief as a unified whole in the sense described above.
2. #
We cannot fear for the integrity and life of Christ’s Church, which, according to the words of its Divine Founder, shall not be overcome even by the gates of hell. But we must fear and be concerned for the fate of the Old Believer community, which, like any human society, consists of people who can err, fall into sin, and become negligent. This anxiety should grip the heart of every sincere Old Believer who does not deliberately close his eyes to the world around him. This concern arises from our spiritual laziness, our callousness, and our criminal inaction in the face of the pressing demands of our times.
Since Old Belief emerged from its forced isolation in 1905, much has been accomplished, particularly in the area of church construction. And this is indeed a source of comfort for the soul. Yet, the building of stone walls alone does not complete our labor in God’s field—it merely begins it. If these magnificent churches, which seem to have risen from the very earth, are not to remain empty in the end, we must exert all our strength and the full force of our will to overcome the wicked conditions of contemporary life. We must wrest our future—the young generation of Old Believers—from the grasping claws of worldly corruption. This is our primary and most fundamental task. If we truly value the great spiritual heritage we have received from our glorious ancestors, how can we not strive to ensure that our descendants do not squander it in a “far country,” leading a wretched spiritual existence, feeding on husks prepared for swine? Look closely around you, and you will see countless heaps of these husks, laid out by a malicious hand—they are everywhere. And if we do not provide our posterity with an ample supply of true spiritual nourishment, they will inevitably be drawn to the husks.
And then, what sustained Old Belief—what our holy martyrs died for on the pyres, what they languished for decades in underground and monastic prisons—will be scattered to the wind. For this, not only our descendants will answer, but we ourselves, who failed to raise them properly, who did not teach them true piety.
Will we, through our laziness and spiritual stagnation, add yet another bundle of kindling, throw yet another dozen logs into the fire of Protopriest Avvakum?
The prison warden would bring “little apples” to the noblewoman Morozova on feast days, hoping to bring some small joy to her suffering heart. And we believe that this warden’s “little apples” will not be forgotten at the Last and Righteous Judgment. But we—do we give even such a small gift, a mere “little apple,” to those who will continue the work of Christ’s holy martyr, the noblewoman Morozova?
Alas, no! A kind of icy indifference, like a heavy slumber, has overtaken Old Belief in our time. Before our very eyes, the younger generation is drifting away from our world; it is becoming alien to us in spirit, unable to understand us any longer. This is happening in the cities. And if someone points to the countryside, claiming that the old strength is still preserved there, we must respond that even in the villages, this stronghold cannot endure amid the general decay of the Russian countryside. Let our fathers and grandfathers, into whose hands these lines may fall, examine their conscience and ask themselves: Are their children and grandchildren today as they once were?
There is no longer the former steadfastness, the former spiritual strength. Everything irresistibly pulls people away from a simple, wholesome, truly Christian way of life toward various petty pleasures of the nearby provincial town—or even the capital—especially now, when there is an abundance of excess money.
Here lies the root of our afflictions!
The former respect and reverence for elders have vanished. A person who has read a shallow little book swells with pride over his illiterate father or mother, while the son’s supposed “learning” needlessly troubles the parents. Enemies attack our sacred antiquity and Christian way of life from all sides. The sinful world presses in through windows and doors, rolling in like a thundering serpent to the very graves of our forefathers. The sacred silence of the world is disappearing, and everything is filled with whistles and clamor.
And we cannot fence ourselves off, we cannot ward off modern insolence, nor can we hide our sons and daughters from it. Sooner or later—whether late or early—it will seize them and corrupt them! And they will mock their father and mother, forget the graves of their ancestors, and fail to commemorate them on the Universal Memorial Service. Our lineage will come to an end, and we will all become orphans. Our longevity will be taken away, and their memory will be erased from the earth.
3. #
The Apostle Paul says: “Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father.” (1 Tim. 5:1). With a deep sense of inner sorrow, we take the liberty of addressing our elders and fathers—not with words of reproach, which we ourselves deserve more than others—but with words of exhortation, with an appeal for them to come to our aid in this shared cause.
The time to save our future has not yet passed—but hasten, “for the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:16). Shake off your drowsiness, your negligence—step out of your seclusion, and in your own place, come and lay your hands upon the common work of Old Belief. We know many true Christians, steadfast in faith, who preserve their sacred traditions, yet upon witnessing the present-day pagan way of life, they have decided that it is better to withdraw from all social life and activity. These good and pure people think that such a great calamity cannot be helped anyway. But what is most grievous is that, in taking this path, the most steadfast and strongest Old Believers withdraw from constructive social work. They retreat into their narrow family circles and sever ties with the communal life of Old Belief. This is the bitterest and most tragic circumstance.
It is to these best and strongest people that we now direct our call!
The Lord has made you chosen vessels. The flame of faith burns within you—yet all around you, as you yourselves can see, there is coldness of soul and darkness. Step out of your isolation and give your strength to the common cause. Do not fear staining your white garments in the filth of social life. Remember our folk legend about St. Nicholas and God’s servant Cassian:
The two saints were walking along a muddy country road when they saw a poor peasant standing by his cart, which was stuck in deep, sticky mire. He struggled in vain to pull it free—both he and his feeble horse were exhausted. Seeing this, St. Cassian gathered up his white robes to avoid soiling them and walked around the peasant and his cart. But St. Nicholas approached, grabbed the muddy wheel, and helped the peasant pull the cart onto the road. God’s saint dirtied his tunic in the mud. When both saints came before the throne of God, the Almighty asked why one of them had a dirty tunic while the other’s was clean. And when He learned the reason, He decreed that St. Nicholas should be commemorated twice a year, while St. Cassian only once every four years.
This folk legend beautifully illustrates the thought we have just expressed—the necessity for all to take part in the common work, for truly, “the days are evil.” Do not fear soiling your tunic, for the Lord God, who knows all thoughts of the heart, will not condemn you for this. But for laziness, negligence, and the deadening of the heart—He will condemn you, as He condemns the absence of love for one’s neighbor.
4. #
Modern public life outside of Old Belief is one of the many ongoing attempts to rebuild the ever-collapsing Tower of Babel. How many different—often completely contradictory—academic opinions, ideologies, and schools of thought have gathered around this construction! They all clamor in different tongues, unable to understand one another… How much crude and naive deception lies at its foundation—especially in its economic materialism! And yet, the higher this tower is built toward the heavens, the more insistent becomes the desire to deceive one’s own soul, to deceive even God Himself, to deceive man’s faith in God. It strives to create a counterfeit Christianity—neo-Buddhism—where goodness is proclaimed not in the name of God but in the name of man, who is himself declared to be god (humanism). The love of Christ is replaced by love for man, by the worship of man as a god.
This constructed false church—anti-Christian at its core—seduces people with its many false signs and wonders of modern technology, with its proud dreams of an earthly paradise, of a kingdom of deified man upon this world. The life of this anti-Christian false church is called “progress,” in the sense that our modern society has given to that word.
The wrath of God has already destroyed more than one Tower of Babel:
He scattered the Jews across the face of the earth, depriving them of their kingdom and homeland, because they awaited the Messiah as an earthly king who would subjugate all the nations of the world to them.
He took away the power of the Roman Caesar, who had declared himself to be a god.
He deprived the Roman Pope of his worldly dominions when, in the Middle Ages, the papacy sought to build a Tower of Babel of global dominion—attempting to transform Christ’s Kingdom, which is not of this world, into a kingdom of the Roman pontiff that is of this world.
And finally, the Almighty has poured out His terrible—but just—wrath upon the nations of Europe and even America, who dared to dream of building a Tower of Babel of godless human culture, a world where God could be forgotten and never thought of again.
In the dreadful, unprecedented war that engulfed Europe, humanity’s mad dreams of an earthly paradise have been scattered like smoke. Before our eyes, the idols of foolish nations that have forgotten God are crumbling. Our blood runs cold at the atrocities we, as Russian people, have witnessed in our suffering country. Never since the founding of our state have we endured such disgrace and humiliation! And yet, so recently, we were proud, believing we had attained the longed-for “freedom,” sending proclamations to the entire world! But the Tower of Babel has crumbled, and its ruins have struck terror-stricken humanity with painful blows!
Yet as soon as mankind begins to recover, as soon as it starts to heal its wounds, it returns once more to the ruins, and once again—modifying the blueprint slightly—it resumes its Sisyphean labor.
We do not know what form the next Tower of Babel will take, but that it will be built again is beyond doubt—so long as human history continues.
We Old Believers have no business laboring on this perpetually doomed construction. We must be builders of the Kingdom of God, which Christ Himself laid long ago. This work has never collapsed—it has stood unshaken through all ages. And even if we contribute only the smallest stone to the building of God’s Kingdom, we will have accomplished infinitely more than if we had built an entire Tower of Babel—only for it to be inevitably destroyed.
5. #
Old Belief must build its New Jerusalem, must create its own Christian society.
Over the past twelve years, external conditions have changed so drastically that Old Belief can no longer remain in its former social position without harm to itself.
Previously, when the very existence of church life was threatened by external hostile forces, it was understandable that Old Belief could not take the initiative in defining the tasks of its social life. These tasks were imposed by external adversaries, and Old Believers had no choice but to respond to them as best they could. In the struggle, they had to build the very foundations of both church and social life. For this reason, these foundations had to be strong: for the priestly Old Believers, the question of hierarchy had to be resolved; for the priestless, the question of marriage, and so on. In short, the forms of life were being established.
Before the war, Old Believers had already begun to address the question of filling these forms with meaning, with the fundamental issue being the education and enlightenment of Old Believer youth. But the war brought all of this to a halt, and the revolution—this scourge of God—nearly destroyed the work that had only just begun in the field of education and enlightenment.
Our homeland is experiencing a time of deep shame—both from foreign defeat and from internal national degradation. How long this transitional period will last is unknown—it may be years, or even many years, given the depth of our social and national disintegration—before the time comes to lay the foundation for a truly peaceful and industrious life. Much will be lost, much will burn away and be reforged in this difficult time. But Old Believers must be like the wise virgins and store up oil for their lamps, so that when the time of peace comes, they may be ready to begin erecting the walls of an ancient Orthodox, Old Believer society.
How can we, as Old Believers, influence the national life of our homeland? How can we express our desire to see Russia as a truly Orthodox country—which, I believe, is the wish of every Old Believer? No meetings, pamphlets, journals, or congresses will achieve this. We can accomplish it only by building our own society within the boundaries set by Divine Providence itself.
We must follow the example of our ancestors.
Peter I sought to reshape all of Russian life according to a Western European model and began his reforms. In truth, however, a Western European way of life in the true sense never existed in Russia—and still does not, as even non-Old Believers have come to realize in recent times. But Peter succeeded in freeing Russian life from the moral guidance of the Church, and from there began the gradual dechristianization of the Russian people, turning them into beasts—something we have only now fully seen with our own eyes.
The Old Believers of Peter’s time saw this invasion of paganism and sacrilege into Russia, disguised as so-called Western European culture. Not wishing to live among pagans, they fled to the wilderness, cleared the land, and established their own communities, laying their lives anew upon the ancient foundations of Christian love and brotherly mutual aid. Let us remember the wondrous Vygoretsky Monastery, the glorious Kerzhenets, and the vast Starodub settlements!
Eternal glory to them! Eternal remembrance to their founders and to all who labored within their holy walls!
It was as if the holy city of Kitezh had risen to the surface once more, so that men could find refuge within its walls from the “heretical winter” and save their souls.
And so it is today. Once again, a “winter” of demonic delusions and temptations is approaching. But now we Old Believers are not being driven into the wild forests (or perhaps we are!). Now, we must build our own Kerzhenets, our own Vygoretsky communities, our own Starodub settlements! And we must not build them in isolation from the world, but among people—among pagans—so that by word and, most importantly, by deed, we may convince them of the truth of the ancient Orthodox Christian faith. Every Old Believer home, every village, every community, every parish must become a Kerzhenets or a Starodub.
The Lord demanded a hundredfold more from our ancestors than He does from us, who are sinful and weak. Our forefathers endured such suffering and deprivation that even reading about them makes us tremble with horror! From us, the times demand only labor—only a warm and compassionate heart toward our perishing brethren.
Old Believers must create a Christian society in which every person who has come to know the true faith of Christ and entered the Old Believer fold may find a place to apply his strength for the common good. It is necessary that each person be given work according to his abilities and the inclinations of his soul so that no one remains idle. The time has come to cultivate the vineyard of Christ—there must be no idle and unfaithful servants among us!
Old Believers must preach their faith through their deeds, their rituals, their communal life, their family life, their very way of living, even their outward appearance. Every day, each person must lay at least one stone in the great construction of the New Jerusalem.
6. #
Contemporary Old Believers must not close their eyes to the difficulties that lie ahead in addressing the challenges presented by modern life.
In earlier times, Old Believers could resolve such issues far more simply—by simply fleeing the world that persecuted them. But today, they no longer have that option. No one is pursuing them; on the contrary, they have been granted full civil rights, equal to those of all other citizens. Yet herein lies the danger: that these “rights” might turn out to be the bowl of lentil stew for which Esau sold his birthright.
Old Believers now face all the temptations of the world: false knowledge that, as the Apostle Paul says, “puffs up the mind”; wealth, which was granted to Old Believers in the 18th and 19th centuries and which today opens the door to all manner of pleasures, from the crudest to the most refined. Truly, great are the temptations, and weak is man!
Yet we see that Old Believers of the 18th and 19th centuries overcame the power of money. As scholars have noted, a significant portion of Russian capital came to be concentrated in the hands of Old Believers. They established large-scale textile industries, played an active role in trade, and took part in various fields of industrial life. Numerous examples show that wealth did not enslave them; they understood their higher purpose as people entrusted by Divine Providence with earthly riches for their proper use and distribution, for the betterment of human life.
They were true “leaders of industry,” of whom Thomas Carlyle spoke:
“You have blasted the mountains; you have tamed iron as if it were soft clay. The giants of the forests, the bog’s sluggish beasts, bring forth golden sheaves of grain. Ægir himself, the demon of the sea, bends his back like a smooth highway beneath your feet; you ride upon the horses of fire and the horses of the wind. You are the strongest. Thor the Red-Bearded, with his bright sunlit eyes, his merry heart, and his heavy hammer of thunder—he and you have triumphed. You are the strongest, you, the sons of the frozen North, of the distant East, marching from your austere Eastern deserts, from the pale Dawn of Time, even unto this day!”
With such enthusiastic words, the English thinker, in the mid-19th century, addressed his countrymen—the “leaders of industry”—during the height of the workers’ movement (Chartism), calling upon them to voluntarily meet the working class halfway. Carlyle’s book had a profound influence on the minds of English industrialists, and in England, we see a peaceful, gradual improvement in the lives of workers through the joint efforts of laborers and entrepreneurs. Thus, socialism in England has never taken on the destructive character it has in our country.
We mention Carlyle and Chartism because what is happening before our eyes tells us one thing: our own “leaders of industry” have not fully understood their place. They have not grasped their higher calling, as our Old Believers—the founders of these vast manufactories—so clearly understood. They did not comprehend their duty as did N.A. Bugrov and others like him.
The Old Believer industrialists of the 18th and 19th centuries were servants of Old Belief. They built the very centers of Old Believer life that exist today. They engaged with the authorities of their time, striving to wrest from them even the smallest portion of what we now possess in full!
And what of today? Now that everything has been obtained, now that there are no external obstacles, has there been a great outpouring of effort down an open and free path, directed toward the internal organization and strengthening of Old Belief? Alas, no! Everything proceeds sluggishly, without planning. A few individuals strive to help, to do something, but their efforts remain isolated. These attempts are sometimes rightly criticized—but what can be done?
Why do the living forces not rally around the common cause? Why do they hold themselves apart? In the days of our forefathers and grandfathers, the common cause of Old Belief was a sacred duty, and standing beside it was the highest honor! But now? Have well-furnished European-style apartments, theater seats, foreign travels, and the other opportunities that money provides overshadowed and pushed aside our true purpose?
No, we do not believe it!
“Let the leaders of industry,” Carlyle writes, “retire into their own hearts and solemnly ask themselves: Can they find there anything other than a wolfish hunger for fine things, for flaunting their servants, for gilded carriages? I refuse to believe this of hearts created by Almighty God. Though deeply buried under the vilest hypocrisy, the most godless hedonism, the aping of Sodom’s decadence—though seemingly lost beneath the foulest silt and mire of Lethe’s murky stream—yet in all hearts scattered across God’s world, there still smolders a spark of the Divine. Awaken, you midnight slumberers! Awake, rise up—or remain forever cast down!”
Even in our time, among Old Believers, there are many true lovers of Christ, many generous benefactors. But their sacrifices must be directed toward a clear and defined goal, one that is of the utmost importance for Old Belief in our time. We understand that no donor can be told where to give his alms—but if a necessary movement arises on a broad scale within Old Belief, if a great work is begun, then no one will need to be instructed. All will see for themselves where and how they should lend their aid.
The purpose of earthly wealth, entrusted by God to this or that Christian, undoubtedly lies in the fact that it enables a Christian to help his neighbors and, by resisting its temptations, to attain eternal salvation. Wealth is, without question, a heavy burden for a Christian! And at times, it is a burden that is difficult to bear.
We believe that in every town and village, there are families where wealth has been amassed over generations, accumulated with greed and avarice, only for the heirs of this fortune to squander it recklessly after the death of the one who gathered it. Let every person who has accumulated wealth and intends to pass it on to his children take a moment to reflect impartially on his children’s character and on the future of his treasure. Would not the best safeguard for this wealth be a truly Christian upbringing and education of the children—so that they may resist the corruption of modern life, so that they may use their inheritance for the glory of God and as a good memorial to their parents?
The holy Apostle Paul speaks thus about the rich: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” (1 Tim. 6:17-18).
To those rich and unwise people who set their hearts upon the treasures of this world, the Lord sternly reminds them that they offend God with their behavior, for within each of them dwells a soul, placed there by the Almighty Creator.
“Good Heavens!” cried Thomas Carlyle, observing the Chartist movement—the prototype of Russian Bolshevism. “Was one French Revolution and its reign of terror not enough for us? Must we have two? If necessary, there will be two. If necessary, there will be twenty. There will be as many as are needed.”
Now we ourselves see that truly everything is in the hand of the Lord—people have entirely lost their senses and act against their own interests, punishing themselves! And rightly so!
Will they not come to their senses even now? Will they not understand why wealth is given on this earth?
7. #
Now we turn to you—Old Believer intellectuals—with a call to action.
In Moscow alone, there are nearly three hundred Old Believers enrolled in higher education institutions, and many others have already completed their studies. But where are they? Why are they not visible in the public life of Old Belief? It is bitter and sorrowful to speak about them—but necessary.
Perhaps these children of Old Belief have invested all their energy and all the strength forged over centuries into the pursuit of science? Perhaps in that sphere, they glorify the name of Old Belief? Alas, they are absent there as well. Except for two or three names, we do not know of any notable Old Believer figures in the field of science. And even these individuals devote their efforts not only to science but also to the common cause of Old Belief. Their scientific pursuits have not prevented them from fulfilling their highest filial duty.
Where, then, are the rest?
Have they not all been given the opportunity to reach the heights of higher learning? Have they not all been cured of the affliction of ignorance and spiritual blindness? Why, then, do they not come back to pay homage to their native Old Belief?
By what means did these people find themselves within university walls? Was it not the strength of the Old Faith, burning within their parents, that granted them this opportunity? Why them, and not their neighbor in the village who remained to toil as a plowman, struggling daily for his bread? Were they chosen for a higher calling only so that, upon completing their education, they might “secure a good position,” open their own medical practice, or develop their legal career?
Is that all?
Was it only so that a few more people could be added to the ranks of the well-fed and self-satisfied? No! Not for that!
Think about it—how many generations had to live in hardship, to bear the burdens of life patiently and without complaint, without any visible hope for improvement, struggling against poverty—only for all that labor to culminate in the emergence of some Ivan Ivanovich, a middling lawyer or doctor? Is this not absurd? Is it not a cruel mockery of fate?
This was not how it was meant to be!
Old Believers, who have been granted access to the light of knowledge by Divine Providence, must return to their native Old Belief and repay their debt to it—if possible, repay it a hundredfold. Only then would modern higher education be justified in the eyes of Old Belief. Until now, it has been regarded with rightful suspicion by true Old Believers, as a path leading to the ruin of the soul.
8. #
The tasks facing Old Belief today are heavy and complex! There are few laborers for these great and responsible tasks, but as the Apostle Paul says, we must act “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:16). With even a relative period of stability in our country, we must set to work—otherwise, the wolf will scatter the flock, and we will become squanderers of the ancestral wealth of Old Belief. Otherwise, we will have no one to pass it down to, and before our eyes, it will be scattered to the winds. Is this what modern Old Believers desire?!
We think not! But apart from us, no one will come to labor in our vineyard on our behalf! Let us not be idle and negligent servants, but faithful ones.
To you, our elders, our fathers, and our elder brothers—to you whom the Lord has blessed with purity of heart, strength of soul, and steadfastness in the traditions of the fathers—belongs the foremost place! Do not be afraid to soil your garments in the mire of modern life! God will not condemn you for it!
Come, you “leaders of industry”—be “generous and willing to share” (1 Tim. 6:18), and thus justify the wealth you have been given in this world!
It is not yet too late for you who have wandered into a far country to return to the father’s house of Old Belief. Your fathers will welcome you with open arms and prepare for you the fatted calf! Come and labor! The work is great, but the laborers are few! Old Belief must exert great effort to plant its vineyard, but we must set to work without hesitation, without folding our hands, despite all obstacles!
Our greatest enemy is laziness and indifference! Let us overcome it!
“The Voice of the Church.” Moscow, 1918, No. 2, pp. 54–66.