Sectarianism in Orthodoxy and Orthodoxy in Sectarianism

Author: John (Shakhovsky), archbishop of San Francisco

It is wrong to think that all Orthodox are not in reality sectarians, just as it is wrong to think that all sectarians are not in reality Orthodox. Not everyone who is Orthodox in name is also such in spirit, and not everyone who is a sectarian in name is also such in spirit, and especially in our time one can meet precisely that “Orthodox” who is a true sectarian in spirit: who is fanatical, unable to love and is more rationalistically narrow-minded, who clings to the letter, who does not hunger or thirst for God’s righteousness, but, fed up with his own proud righteousness, strictly judges others from the height of this imaginary righteousness of his – outwardly, dogmatically correct, but devoid of birth in the Holy Spirit. And vice versa – one can also meet that sectarian who clearly does not understand the meaning of the Orthodox service of God in Spirit and in Truth, does not recognize one or another expression of church truth, but in practice conceals in himself much of what is truly God’s, truly loving in Christ, truly brotherly towards people.

The presence of such mixtures in Christian society does not allow us to approach the issue of relations between faiths lightly. Yes, sectarians are wrong in their misunderstanding of Orthodoxy, but we – the Orthodox – do not follow our Orthodoxy, as we do not understand them – the sectarians, who are sometimes amazingly ardently and purely striving to follow the Lord, to live in Him One.

The narrow-minded, proud and sick human mind, which is not transformed in the Spirit of God, strives equally for division and seeks an occasion for division – regardless of who this mind belongs to: an Orthodox or a sectarian.

We, the Orthodox, believe, we see spiritually that we have the fullness of the truth expressed in human terms. However, this does not mean at all that we follow this fullness of truth and that this fullness fills us. Sometimes we have it simply on our tongues or we think that in our eyes it should replace the beam of our spiritual laziness. However, all this is not at all so. We have the truth and this is the full truth, but we do not want or do not know how to live in it, and often we simply do not strive to live in it, since it is too disturbing for the old man in us. However, to be proud, to be exalted with our Orthodoxy – we have nothing against that. And among Christians who profess the faith in a different way, there are many who live in the truth of Orthodoxy – through their spirit. There are sectarians who burn in their spirit and in their love for God and neighbor much more than some Orthodox, and this very spirit of burning love for God and man is also the sign of true, vital Orthodoxy. He who does not have it among the Orthodox is not truly Orthodox, and he who has it among the non-Orthodox is truly Orthodox. Humanly he may be mistaken, humanly he may not understand this or that, he may not see this or that shade in the nature of the world (spiritual color blindness – not to see, for example, the meaning of the icon, of communion with the saints who have passed from this world), but in spirit, in his inner man he is faithful and true, devoted with unhypocritical love to the Living Incarnate God – the Lord Jesus Christ – even to death. The presence of such authentically Orthodox Christians is noticeable both among Orthodox by confession and among Roman Catholics, and also among Protestants of all their possible colors, to which also belong the Russian sectarians, who separated themselves through their mind and experience from the dogmatic confession of the Church partly because of a misunderstanding of this confession in the Spirit, and partly because of bad examples of the implementation of this confession in life. It is clear to every Orthodox that people who are Orthodox by their confession are often not only not an edification for society, but are downright corrupting for this society. Not to mention examples with politicians or public figures – these examples, of course, apply to a large extent to us, the clergy, who do not always stand at the spiritual height of Orthodoxy, regardless of our clear awareness of the truth of our Church. And the monasteries… how much deep non-Orthodoxism sometimes existed under the humble robe of the monk, how much the worldly, corruptible spirit was there. And everything superficial and rotten has surfaced on the surface of church life and has become much more visible in comparison with the truly humble and self-denying work of the multitude of pastors and monks of true Orthodoxy, who with their lives followed Christ and died in Him. The revolution showed, exposed the weak layer of the Orthodox Russian priesthood, but also emphasized the martyred confession of the Orthodox life of many priests. Someone said that the presence of sectarianism is an indicator of the religiosity of the people. It can also be said this way: the presence of sectarianism shows the Orthodoxy of the people – the burning of the spirit in them, their striving for the ideal, their thirst not for external religion, but for an internal, thirst for one’s own heart covenant with God. And this, in essence, is Orthodoxy. For the existence of sectarianism, the Orthodox, and even more so the priest, is always more to blame than the sectarians themselves. To think like this is not to think Orthodoxly, taking upon oneself the guilt and responsibility for the separated brothers? Otherwise, there will be no truth of Christ – if you do not take upon yourself the guilt. Human truth is difficult to realize with the recognition of the sectarians as guilty – the righteousness of Christ is different, “foolish” for the world and wise only for God.

Neither by arguments, nor by disputes, by quarrels or harsh denunciations can this positive power of the Spirit of God, Who lives in Orthodoxy, Who is Orthodoxy itself, be shown – this Spirit can be manifested only in the insane, according to human criteria, denial of one’s own reasonable rights and in the surrender of the judgment to the Spirit.

In the first place in Orthodox apologetics, a clear and firm emphasis must be placed on explaining the meaning of the doctrine and on demonstrating this doctrine in life.

It must be understood that Orthodoxy is a terrible fire – just like the Holy Mysteries. That those who accept the fullness of Orthodoxy will either be transformed by this fire or burned. That Orthodoxy created the spirit of the Russian people, but it has also thrown it into the fire again. That the Orthodox are burned by Orthodoxy, have become unworthy partakers of the holy things of the fullness of faith, that this holy thing not only gives life, but also burns.

Sectancy, on the other hand, is a non-Orthodox search for the paths of Orthodoxy. Due to human weaknesses, it is carried out not inwardly, but around – so to speak, not in dogma, but around dogma. Dogmatic (pure) life around dogma is, of course, greater Orthodoxy than undogmatic (prodigal) life in dogma. And this must be understood with all its clarity, with all the definiteness of the word of God, which shows us this at least in the parable of the two sons, one of whom said that he would not fulfill his father’s will, but fulfilled it, and the other said that he would fulfill it, but did not fulfill it. The confession of the Orthodox Creed is a seal of the Gospel. The Creed must be realized in life, become a reality. In one, it is not at all real in life, although this person pronounces it every day in prayer, and in the other – his faith is manifested in life through his love for the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit, and is reflected in his face, in his words and in all his actions. And which of the two is closer to the Kingdom of God? The answer to this is clear – it is the second, who is not Orthodox in name, but is Orthodox in spirit and truth, having been taught this by the Spirit Himself.

Those who are Orthodox by their confession and because they themselves claim this, are obliged to understand that Orthodoxy is not at all a privilege, nor a reason for condemning others, nor is it pride. Quite the opposite – Orthodoxy is humility; Orthodoxy is a confession of the fullness of the Truth – both of righteousness and of love. Orthodoxy must win only with its radiance – like the Lord Himself, and not at all with the rifle – it doesn’t matter whether it is leaden or verbal. Orthodoxy does not shine in Orthodox society – in that society that is proud of its Orthodoxy. It shines in the one who is humble in his Orthodoxy, who understands the purity of faith not only with his weak mind, but also with his spirit, with his whole life.

The beauty of Orthodoxy was given for the salvation of people, and the Orthodox have begun to turn it into condemnation, for the destruction of people. It can be said that there are no perfectly Orthodox people on this earth, but that both those who call themselves so and those who do not consider themselves Orthodox, but are counted in the Church of Christ and live in Christ, are partially Orthodox. Orthodoxy is sunlight that lies on the earth. It shines for all, but not all are sanctified by it, because one is in the basement, another has closed his windows, and still others – his eyes…

However, the question involuntarily arises: are these thoughts not, even to the smallest extent, a denial of the purity of the Orthodox faith, of that purity for which so much blood and zeal was shed by the holy fathers?

Oh, no – this is not only not a denial of the purity of Orthodoxy, but is also a defense, a confession of precisely this purity.

Let us take as an example the veneration of the saints, prayers to them. The sectarian – not rationally, not in spirit – denies this branch of the life of the spirit. And we affirm its spiritual reality in Christ. Can a person be saved who does not recognize this reality? The question is terrible. Can that which should serve as an aid to our salvation, as one of its means, be considered a pretext for condemning anyone who has renounced this aid, who has chosen another means?

But what do the saints seek – their own glorification or that of God? Of course, of God. And any true glorification of saints is, first of all, the glorification of God: “God is wonderful in His saints…” So, if we glorify God “directly” and glorify Him truly, unhypocritically, the saints and angels, of course, rejoice, rejoice, and spiritually kiss the one who glorifies in such a way. And vice versa – if a person sings glorifications and akathists to the saints, but in his life there is no love for their spirit, the spirit of Christ’s purity and righteousness, and love, is not such a person more a blasphemer of the saints than one who glorifies them? Thanks to him, perhaps, many have stopped to glorify the saints, seduced by the results of this glorification of him… Oh, how routine and crude carnal human wisdom, how the pure Spirit of the Lord is crucified in people!

The establishments of the Orthodox Church are a school of the spirit – the most convenient, as long as it is in the spirit. Everything in the Orthodox Church must come to life and spiritualize. Man is to blame if he becomes earthly. We, the Orthodox pastors, are teachers in Christ. The Teacher is One – the Lord Jesus Christ – and no one, outside of Him, can be a teacher. We teach only to the extent that we obey the One Teacher – we are not teachers in our own name, but in the name of Christ. Here, however, we see that someone has learned to be a disciple of Christ without us. And what? Will we stand up against him, as the apostles wanted to stand up against the one who “does not walk with us” (Luke 9:49), but for this they received from the Master a worthy and sharp rebuke, which is also applicable to us, the Orthodox shepherds.

We should rejoice that by the power of the Almighty Spirit, Who “breathes where He wills,” a person has miraculously transformed his life and is bringing forth fruit to God. Is the path of the Spirit in this person not clear to us? But are we appointed to judge the paths of the Spirit, since the fruits of the Spirit are clear to our eyes? We are told to know by the fruits. The fruits are clearly defined by the apostle (1 Cor. 13:4-8).

Only one sin is unforgivable – against the Holy Spirit, against love for Him. He who loves unrighteousness, glorifies sin, and delights in malice is guilty of this sin, but in no way does he acknowledge or not acknowledge it with his mind, that is, see or not see this or that truth with his soul. If I am spiritually color-blind and do not see one or another color in the nature of the spiritual world, but I see the other colors exactly as everyone else sees them, am I rejected? Rather, I should be the object of special care, of special compassion. A sectarian who believes in the Most Holy Trinity, who believes in the need for spiritual birth, in the need for a conscious attitude towards Baptism, in the need for believers not to be ashamed of their faith among the indifferent, but to confess it before everyone, who believes every word of Holy Scripture and, out of zeal for this faith, considers all other manifestations of the revelation of the Holy Spirit in the Church for nineteen centuries to be superfluous (revelations that do not contradict, but clarify what is hidden in the Gospel) – should such a sectarian be viciously persecuted by us, the Orthodox? What will our Orthodoxy consist of then?

But it is not only the sectarians – these our brothers in faith in the One Savior and Redeemer of the world – that we should viciously, irritably and rudely persecute and condemn. We should not dare to condemn any person viciously and irritably. We can notice the error and weakness, although we ourselves are pure, but we are co-suffering. In a merciless way we must drive out only the coarse spirit of this world from our hearts. And then our Orthodoxy will shine. For it is unthinkable that the means should be justified by the end. It is impossible for Orthodoxy to be defended in a pagan or Jewish way. The purity of the evangelical spirit – holy Orthodoxy – must be defended in an evangelical way, dispassionately, wisely, with great love for every soul for whom the divine and human blood was shed. It is very easy to throw stones. And our old man only looks for permissible pretexts for this. The pretext of zeal for faith is the most convenient. This is the defense of the great sanctuary – the purity of faith and spirit! It is here, in the defense of the sanctuary, that a person must clothe himself in the sanctuary, gird his loins with fasting and alms of the spirit. This will be the Orthodoxy of his life.

It must be openly acknowledged the undeniable fact that among all the confessions of faith in the true Incarnation of God, accomplished on earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ – the Alpha and Omega of salvation – among all who call upon His Holy Name, there are spiritually born people. Both among the Orthodox, and among the Roman Catholics, and among the Protestants of various directions and shades. As well as that among the first, and among the second, and among the third there are people who are not spiritually born in Christ, who have not hated evil, who have not loved God with all their heart and with all their mind.

All those whom the Orthodox Church accepts without Baptism are all Christians – Orthodox brothers in Christ, and the attitude towards them should be especially fraternal, loving. We say especially, because a person should have a fraternal attitude towards all people. How can an Orthodox convert anyone to the faith if he lacks love for them? How will he recognize this faith of love if he does not see love in those who preach it? Pride is an abomination before God, and now we, the Orthodox, are coming to our senses not only for the sins of the flesh, but also of our spirit. “You say: I am rich (read: “Orthodox” – author’s note), I have become rich and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable, poor, blind and naked” – says the Lord to the proud Orthodox person who has no love (Rev. 3:17).

Will that blessed time come when authentic Orthodoxy will shine in those who bear his name?! When will meekness, mercy, purity and unhypocritical love of Christ for every individual person and for every creature shine? In our days, the Orthodox faith shines in the martyrdom of the Russian people. However, true, unhypocritical Orthodoxy is also glorified in some sectarians – martyrs and confessors, as well as in Roman Catholics, persecuted and tortured for their faith in Christ. And it has been glorified much more purely and holy than in the thousands of lukewarm, timid, having only the name – as if they were alive (Rev. 3:1), but are in fact dead followers of our purely dogmatic teaching. Here our Orthodoxy is only a reflection, only an echo of heavenly Orthodoxy, of its eternal truth and eternal perfections. Dogmatically it is reflected purely in the teaching of the Orthodox Church, but it is spirit and life, and has only life as its fruit. Orthodoxy is good fruit, and a tree should be judged only by its fruits, by the results of its flowering. The flower may not be beautiful, the leaves may be prickly and dry, the tree may be low-growing and unattractive, even if it is felled… However, if its fruit is sweet, pure and nutritious, then the tree is Orthodox in its fruitfulness. And vice versa – even if the flowers and leaves are magnificent, even if it is a huge and wonderful tree, if, however, its fruit is inedibly bitter, poisonous or insignificant, this seemingly outstanding tree will not reveal anything of the truth of Orthodoxy. And it would be a pity if it began to stand out and exalt itself above the other trees.

However, what does the spirit of sectarianism actually consist of, against which we must arm ourselves with prayer and sobriety? This spirit is a spirit of spiritual (not spiritual) zeal. This is the rationalization of faith, the preservation of the purity of faith and the loss of its depth. This is the loss of love. Some Orthodox defend their Orthodoxy in a sectarian way, using texts from Scripture or the canons as sticks, defending the sectarians or their Orthodox (examples of this are the ancient and new schisms), defending their faith without hope in God, without love for man. And vice versa – in some sectarians the Orthodox spirit is manifested in relation to one issue or another. For example, regarding the misunderstanding of communion with the heavenly Church (with the saints), all sectarians “will not recognize” this communion and will not want to join its spiritual experience, proudly rejecting this communion, but one of them will denounce the Orthodox for their “idolatry”, and another will “commit the judgment to God” and will only meekly pray for the enlightenment of their Orthodox brothers by the light of truth. Both one and the other will be outside the experience of Orthodox communion with the heavenly Church, but one of the two (the first) will be non-Orthodoxly disposed, and the other – Orthodoxly, and – despite his non-Orthodox profession of faith, – perhaps, will turn out to be more Orthodox before God, in comparison with some Orthodox who communicates with the saints purely externally – ritually, without, however, acting in his life according to the Gospel commandments and without striving with his heart for the spirit of the saints.

We are all guilty. “There is none righteous, not one” (Rom. 3:10) – and this must be understood. And let us not condemn one another, but help one another, let us learn righteousness from one another. How many barriers will fall then!

If the Lord had limited Himself to those laws of salvation that are understandable to our human mind, we would all have perished. With regard to the immeasurable happiness of man, this is not so. The laws of God’s salvation are broader than our understanding, or, more precisely, deeper. For the Savior is the Lord, and we – humans – are insignificant and miserable creatures before God. And “all our righteousness – as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6)… Our entire Orthodoxy is in reality “as filthy rags”… And the awareness of this only shows us, only emphasizes for us the immeasurable truth, depth and greatness of Orthodoxy.

* Originally in Russian: John (Shakhovsky), archbishop of San Francisco. Selected. A collection of works in two volumes, Vol. 1, “Publishing brotherhood in the name of the saint prince Alexander Nevsky”, Nizhny Novgorod, 1999.