Seek God
Look for tears
Look people
Before it's too late!
Search everywhere
Search everyone.
And you will find
Him once.
And there will be joy
Above the sky!
But look like this -
Like a beggar of bread!

A poem written on the wall of a house
Blessed Pasha (Paraskeva) of Sarov in
Seraphim-Diveevo Convent

If you have ever analyzed your life, and most likely this has happened more than once. You've probably noticed that there are special periods or moments that change us very much. And after which we will never remain the same as before. No, I sincerely believe that each of our meetings is far from accidental, moreover, providential. I believe that every person in our life and every situation brings something to us, tells us something. But such things are sometimes simply not noticed in the bustle, and you may not pay attention to them at all. But... there is one, two!!! moments that make us think about a lot and rethink a lot.

What could it be? Whatever! Divorce from the woman you love. Endless loneliness. Serious illness or injury! Perhaps a continuous series of unpleasant events. Losing something dear loved one... Sometimes, this is precisely what shakes us out of the cocoon of self-deception, and the general lie that is so diligently imposed by the world, public opinion, on TV, rumors and the general way of so-called “normal” life.

And maybe at this moment, a person for the first time in his life begins to ask himself the most important questions... “Who is God?” Can a person know this for sure? And does He exist in this world, where misfortune, evil, and injustice sometimes reign almost endlessly? Billions of people have asked themselves this terrible question about the existence of God. And every generation, each of us will not escape the search for an answer to this question.

And if you are not lazy at least a little, try to spend a little time on what concerns our soul... then you might be surprised! How little we know about the world around us. Let's take the Holy Gospel in our hands and open this holy book. Let us discover the Sacred Tradition of our native Church.

Read at least one of the books of Paisius Svyatogorets, Anthony of Sourozh, discover the work of the magnificent writer Carroll Lewis “Simply Christianity”. Read at least a few letters from Abbot Nikon Vorobyov or Russian Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov. You will discover amazing world. Wisdom of all modern psychologists will seem like children's writings to you compared to the simple wisdom and life that will breathe on you from the pages of these books. There are answers to ALL your questions. About the soul, about life, about grief, about joy, about children. Questions about true love, about fidelity. About how to finally become a happy person, to find peace for your soul, your heart already in this earthly life.


Your eyes will be opened to many things. We will really see that sin exists. There is God and angels, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of course the evil one also exists. And that its main task is precisely to destroy the human soul. By hook or by crook, distract from God. To lure a person with anything, with work beyond measure, with some kind of dangerous looking sports, some with alcohol, some with money, some with drugs, some with power, some with carnal passion (including infidelity or love affairs, which have become so normal that it is almost no longer condemned by society ) and there are a lot of “candies” that are so beautiful at first glance. But inside, behind the bright candy wrapper... sometimes it’s not just emptiness, but real poison. And he catches everyone with his own fishing rod and leads them on it. In fact, he doesn’t care what brings a person into the abyss: passion for money, theft, drunkenness, excessive pride or self-esteem. The goal is one - to destroy, to destroy the soul of a person. And without God, a person has no chance. Without leading a spiritual life, even a little, a person develops an emptiness in his chest, which constantly haunts us.

I think everyone has felt this emptiness in their chest. It seems that the most important, the best is somewhere nearby, but even in the brightest romance novels and then, this filling is only temporary, more from emotions than from a real deep feeling. And nothing worldly, no things or pleasures, no riches of the material world can fill this void.

As many unhappy (truly unhappy) people testify to. The so-called already “well-worn” heartthrobs-lovers, for whom one beloved is not enough and they, like obsessed people, are drawn to more and more new sensations, but with each one they are waiting for more and more disappointment. Or the emptiness of the one who thirsts for power goes further and further and over the heads, necks, over people... Or the one who just quietly drinks himself somewhere in a one-room apartment, in fact, is also trying to fill that inexpressible and deepest abyss of our heart, our souls. Trying to find his happiness even in this. And no one, since the time of Adam, has yet managed to do this, without the most important thing. Without God.

But when a person develops faith in God, prayer, first acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, hope in the Orthodox saints who are always near us, all he has to do is turn to them mentally (After all, everyone is alive with God. From Luke, chapter 20. 38 God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for with Him all are alive), then a person can truly be happy, fulfilled, calm inside and confident outside. Can move mountains if necessary. Then a person enters, as it were, a spiritual orbit, he begins
open your eyes and see that this world is far from being so simple, far from being so material.
He begins to notice that there are small miracles and sees how prayer works, he sees what incredible treasures the sacraments of the Church give us. And only here does a real change in a person occur. Cardinal. It’s not superficial when a person seems to be trying to manage everything in his life and himself. Trying to overcome, for example, drunkenness, he is coded and becomes such a bad character that they say “it would be better if he continued drinking.” Have you ever seen this? I do.

Or, for example, he begins to struggle with gluttony and becomes fixated on himself, on health, and excessively, to the point of tyranny. Or someone was promoted, there was a little more money in his pocket and what was left of the humanity in him?.. Are there many examples? And by turning to God, the quality of the soul changes; by faith you can be healed from any passions, from any. You only need one, sincere desire, a request to God and a little of our effort. And then miracles happen, as with the Apostle Paul, who went to Damascus to persecute and execute Christians, and after meeting the Lord, he became a great confessor of the Christian faith, an Apostle. The quality of the soul has changed.

And, as one wise father said, you must be able to live and enjoy life. Be grateful for everything that is given to us. Not only for the joys, but also for the difficulties in our lives, which at least a little sometimes allow us to wake up from the bustle, from oblivion. And this will be our best prayer to God. But, for this we need to figure out once again whether we understand these holy words correctly... “Life”, “Faith”, “Hope” and “Love”.

And I would like to end this conversation with words from the will of Patriarch Alexy II:

“And if in your life you feel that in the depths of your heart there is an emptiness that nothing that you have encountered in the world can fill, remember that there is Christ, that there is a Church that testifies to itself in the words of the Apostle: “... we are considered deceivers, but we are faithful; we are unknown, but we are recognized, we are considered dead, but behold, we are alive; we are punished, but we do not die; We are saddened, but we always rejoice... we have nothing, but we enrich everyone. Our lips are open to you, our heart is enlarged" (2 Cor. 6:8 -11)"

Reading time 8 minutes

How to fill the emptiness in your soul? It happens that life loses its colors, emotions and feelings become dull, energy drops, and nothing interests you anymore. A person begins to feel boredom, apathy, the meaninglessness of existence takes possession of him, and depression sets in. Emptiness in the soul: the reasons for this phenomenon can be different. You need to get rid of emptiness because it affects mental and physical health.

What is the soul

When answering the question: “What to do if there is emptiness in the shower?” It’s worth understanding what the soul is. Religious, philosophical and mythological traditions characterize the feeling of emptiness from different perspectives.

Most often, the concept of soul includes an incorporeal entity that is located in a living being. From a psychological point of view, these are the mind, feelings, character, awareness of reality, human memory, perception and thinking. If one of the components is missing, then it is generally accepted that emptiness settles in life.

Philosophical systems can recognize or deny the immortality of the soul. In Christianity and Judaism, the soul is believed to be immortal. Thomas Aquinas (Catholic theologian) said that the essence of man does not die. He also argued that only humanity had a soul (animals, according to his theory, did not have souls).

In other religions there is a teaching that all organisms have a soul. For example, confirmation of this can be found in Hinduism and Jainism. Some non-biological objects can also be alive - this is evidenced by animism. Therefore, all things can have spiritual emptiness.

Science views the soul as a construct denoting a specific substance. It is located in the human brain. Scientists still cannot prove or disprove the existence of a higher essence in man, the living and inanimate world.

According to biologist Cyril Barrett, soul refers to an idea that was invented and cultivated by humans themselves. They wanted to imagine that existence had a conscience. The expert referred to the fact that the highest essence is a complex organization of matter in human brain. The soul has a biological explanation.

At the beginning of the last century, an experiment was conducted by Duncan McDougall. He measured the weight of patients during their lifetime and after leaving the world. The scientist believed that at the time of death the person was losing weight. The soul weighed 21 grams. Presumably the essence was located in the heart.

Mental emptiness: the reason

There is emptiness in my soul. What to do? Fill your heart with love. This is the simplest answer to a complex question. Usually an emptiness arises inside a person because he has no interests or does not love anyone. It is important to love yourself first.

You can fill the emptiness in your soul with the help of a spiritual source of love. We need to establish connections with him. As soon as a person loves himself, stops ignoring his feelings, trying to overshadow them with drugs or rituals, the feeling of empty space and meaninglessness will disappear.

It is important not to have false ideas about yourself. In this case, wounds remain on the ego. The latter makes a person think that he is unattractive or not good enough. Creation cannot be wrong or bad. It is ideal by nature, and you should always remember this. When you spend a long time feeling a lack of inner love and not knowing how to fill the emptiness in your soul, a feeling of deep loneliness and detachment from the real world arises.

Programmed beliefs about self-destruction have no true basis. They try to control people's lives, constantly make them feel depressed, focus on negative emotions. The individual thinks that he is not good enough, so he turns to drugs and alcohol as a means of escaping reality. This is a defensive reaction that leads nowhere. This way you won’t be able to fill the empty space inside.

False reasons for emptiness in the soul

How to fill the emptiness in your soul? Is it possible to always feel happy? And to be in harmony with yourself and outside world? The answer is clear - yes. One has only to discover the truth that a person has the power to fill his life with positive energy and manage it independently.

The main reason for the feeling of empty space inside oneself lies in false beliefs about the emergence of the process. These are usually considered:

  1. The partner does not give enough affection and does not pay the necessary attention;
  2. There is no reliable life partner;
  3. High ambitions that cannot be satisfied at work;
  4. Expectations from climbing the career ladder, their unjustification;
  5. Lack of funds for a certain standard of living;
  6. Boring and uninteresting everyday life;
  7. Lack of love, attention from a close circle of people;
  8. Life is seen in the form of continuous workdays.

An acute lack of love relationships may also be the cause. Sometimes an individual does not know how to properly cope with problems and minor troubles that develop into serious conflict situations.

The above points can be easily resolved. You shouldn’t take them to heart, much less make them the cause of emptiness in your soul. To cope with this condition, people usually perform rituals:

  1. They consume large number sweets. They're on the move narcotic substances, alcohol, even if there was no craving for it before;
  2. Detachment from the real state of affairs in the world, which contributes to immersion in television, the Internet, shopping, gambling;
  3. At such moments, the emptiness begins to fill, but this is a false feeling;
  4. Inappropriate behavior is another attempt to combat the problem. This attracts the attention of people around you.

How to fill the emptiness in your soul, and what to do if nothing helps? At a minimum, abandon the listed rituals. They do not solve the situation, but only make it worse. These methods only work for a short time. Afterwards the individual returns to a depressed state. Individual symptoms are removed, but the overall picture does not change.

Symptoms

There are certain symptoms when you can understand that a person has emptiness in his soul. The symptoms were formulated by psychologists and psychoanalysts:

  1. The individual thinks that he is not good enough, or that certain people have high expectations of him;
  2. Constant desire to be useful to everyone. Such people have a false sense of guilt before literally everyone;
  3. A person wants to always be ideal in everything;
  4. A person does not want to do anything and not have a conversation with anyone;
  5. Fears prevent you from living a life of complete joy and happiness. Obsessive phobias follow closely behind;
  6. Every day an individual experiences anxiety that he is not smart, beautiful or successful enough. The result is apathy;
  7. There is a feeling of oneself as a victim, as well as the fatality and irrevocability of life;
  8. An understanding of the meaninglessness of existence arises; ideas about how to fill the emptiness in the soul no longer appear.

The owner of this disorder constantly feels helpless and unhappy. Pessimistic thoughts slip through, they may not leave the consciousness for a long time.


It seems to a person that his love and feelings are not important. He doesn’t want to give his love to anyone or appreciate anyone. An individual loses or gains weight for no reason, he develops chronic pain and insomnia. There may also be skin and gastrointestinal diseases.

In rare cases, suicidal thoughts appear. The personality thinks that emptiness can only go away after death. Feeling anxious and depressed. Such people expect that others will discuss their activities and personal lives and constantly envy their success.

When people are looking for an answer to the question of how to fill the emptiness in their souls, they usually lean toward various dependencies. Alcohol and drugs come to the fore. They give a false sense of fullness.

What to do


Conquering the state of emptiness within yourself is not easy, but it is possible. You cannot have a superficial attitude towards such a situation. It must be remembered that such a feeling requires treatment, like any phobia or depression.

In most cases, a person feels internal discomfort. It is important at this moment to seek help from a specialist:

  • psychologist;
  • psychotherapist;
  • psychiatrist;
  • psychoanalyst.

It also happens that additional support is needed from doctors from other areas. Everything is individual and directly depends on the symptoms heartache. Changes without reason in the mental and physical level diagnosed by an endocrinologist and nutritionist. Against the backdrop of spiritual emptiness, a therapist will help you get rid of chronic pain. He usually recommends taking painkillers with a gentle effect.

In addition to medication treatment, you may need serious work on yourself. This eliminates the feeling of empty space. There are times when you need to have the courage to make changes. everyday life. It is important to choose completely unexpected methods, to identify and eradicate sources of internal discomfort. These could be old friends, no interesting work, unsuitable life partner. Sometimes being creative helps, getting rid of unhealthy relationships and old habits.

How to fill the emptiness in your soul? You need to try to love yourself and the world around us. Make changes to the actions that are performed every day, make others your inner world and your guidelines.

First aid

Inner emptiness can develop into deep depression. For this reason, attention is needed both to oneself and from loved ones. Sometimes this phenomenon is difficult to cope with on your own. This requires a lot of willpower. You need to ask the question: who do I want to be, how fulfilling am I living, and what needs to be done to correct the situation.

Emergency measures look like this:

  1. It's worth complaining to everyone, everywhere. This way you can look at yourself from the outside, voice everything that worries you. The main thing is to find a person who is ready to listen to all your aspirations.
  2. Trust people as much as possible. This is often difficult to do, especially after a recent betrayal. You need to take a closer look at your surroundings more often, look for reliable partners and friends.
  3. Look for the cause yourself internal state- another way to combat depression. Self-examination will help. It is important not to get too carried away, try to find rational arguments about what actions were wrong, what you would like to correct.

Psychologists also recommend looking for the cause of your condition. You need to stir up your emotions as soon as possible. It is important not to be indifferent. Adrenaline should rush into the blood. For example, it is recommended to engage in active sports, read a dramatic book or watch a funny movie.


It’s worth finding things that might really interest you and thinking about future events. For example, if you love books, psychologists advise looking into books more often. bookstores. The plot is easily captivating, and the same applies to fans of TV series.

In this condition, it is better to refrain from communicating with advisers; you need to be careful when choosing an interlocutor. Wrong decisions or untimely information plunges a person into deep depression. It is recommended to invite people with a positive outlook on life, a thirst for energy and action. It is desirable that there is laughter and jokes in the company.

Another option is listening to your favorite music. There is no need to be shy to sing along to your favorite artist or dance. In some cases, it is enough to visit an art gallery or exhibition in a museum.

Having pets also helps. They require constant love and care. It is important to pay attention to them. Responsibility for younger brothers distracts from problems and worries, and gradually pulls you out of depression.

A change in image is suitable for a woman. It is best to go to a beauty salon, change your hair color, and do several procedures that will be beneficial for your body and face. This will instill a charge of vigor and confidence in the future.

It is worth remembering that people are almost never alone. Most have a circle of relatives and friends. You can visit them, ask them by phone how they are doing, what they are passionate about. The meaning of life is given by participation in their affairs.

Spiritual methods of protection should be used not so much to protect yourself personally, but to defend higher principles, values, beliefs and help other people.

Spiritual protection is protection that uses the power of the Highest Divine Principle, or the Spiritual World.

A person who resorts to spiritual protection protects his inner spiritual world from blows and attacks. Spiritual protection is a higher protection than psychological and psychoenergetic protection, and therefore it can...

Spiritual life (adhyatma-jivana), religious life (dharma-jivana) and ordinary human life, of which morality is a part, are three completely different things, and you need to know which one you want and not mix the three together. Ordinary life is the life of the average human consciousness, separated from its true Self and from the Divine and guided by the ordinary habits of mind, life and body, which are the laws of Ignorance.

Religious life is the movement of the same ignorant human...

Spiritual light awaits in every soul.

Obstacles on the path of spiritual seekers. They are everywhere. There is darkness of ignorance all around and darkness of ignoramuses around.

And the most terrible ignoramus, the greatest darkness is... IN YOU AND IN ME!

And yet, if there is Darkness, then there is LIGHT in you and in me!

To see this LIGHT and not notice the darkness, this is a testament to spiritual seekers.

Remember.
Covenant.
SEE THE LIGHT IN EVERYTHING and think about darkness that it is outside the light.

Darkness and Light it will always exist, the only question is

WHERE WILL YOU BE?
In the darkness...

It is spiritual light, it shines.. From my soul, it shines for you.... It is spiritual light in me, but it is also for you, your choice is whether to give me this spiritual light, or to remain in a proud self.

The radiance of spiritual light is visible to me and not visible to you. I live by this spiritual light and I share this spiritual light with those who want to understand something in this world.

Only this “something” is the entire world around us, its entire earthly and heavenly essence.

People are born and die, but still want to know this simple...

Spiritual light, however, like God, is not imposed on anyone. However, like me, as some have expressed here, with my spiritual light, I am tired of the order here.

Well then. I'm so tired, so tired. It's their business. Another thing is true friends in spirit, spiritual seekers.

Those who don’t want anything from me and I don’t want anything from them. Not money, not strength, not power. They have all this in stock.

What do people have that I don’t envy?
Let's start from afar, there are things that are true and there are things that are imaginary. And for some reason, all those idealists...

How the small moves the larger. Through energy given by God.

Man makes mistakes and so does humanity. AVM, in its desire to attract attention to its materials, was mistaken, and the author of this academy was also mistaken.

Errors in the material, errors in the spiritual, errors in culture, errors everywhere.

It seems that the enemy of the human race is pursuing and distracting human strength, for CONSTANTLY REPEATING ERRORS.

The problem and trouble of error in the spiritual is that it is experienced by every person, every...

What are the origins of terrorism? What are the causes of modern terrorism? Who are modern terrorists? I will not answer these questions in this single article, wanting the reading public to try to think for themselves on this topic in the comments.

And to spark the topic, I give you information for thought from the history of this issue.

If deception is in the spiritual? Of course there is. The thing is.........

Let's look at spiritual deception using the example of the so-called hashishins that once existed.

Let's see...

Whether these and other words will be written in the sand is not for me to decide, but for someone else. I always remain a friend, for whom the truth is not more valuable than a friend. But the truth makes it so that only friends can be with me and... the Truth.

Everyone wants help, there is no help, not financial, but simply human attention.

And as someone said, “the greatest wealth is the joy of human communication,” which precisely does not exist between people. People were divided by status, wealth, position in society.

And you leave such...

What needs to be done now to revive the Christian faith and the Russian Church on our land? Any answer to such a global question will necessarily be either too incomplete or abstract

This answer, I think, can be heard in the living voice of a man whose life itself was a constant questioning about the fate of Orthodoxy and the Russian people - Protopresbyter Vitaly Borovoy. His word in the early 2000s, in which we tried to carefully preserve everything from beginning to end, even intonation, is brought to the attention of the readers of “The Table”. Better to say "close attention": the published transcript of his speech requires slow and thoughtful reading and reflection. Discussing the tragic (!) issue of modern church enlightenment and education, Father Vitaly succinctly, accurately and sharply raises the related issues of church prayer, the language of worship, relations between church and state, the modern ministry of the priest and the church’s potential for creating a harmonious common life in the country.

Prot. Vitaly (Borovoy)

On Christian enlightenment and theological educationin the modern Russian Orthodox Church

I was asked to talk about my library. I'm a realist. What can I tell you about her? Indeed, I have been collecting all my life. At first, when I came to work in the West, they gave me gifts because of my poverty. Thanks to all these people, of course. Then, when I started earning money myself, they stopped giving gifts, but I bought. I need books now for work, and after me many will also need them. I would like to quote one Belarusian proverb (I am Belarusian): “Once upon a time there lived a monk, he had many books, he collected them all his life, but he did not know what was in them.” Books should be read, not talked about.

We live in vile times, but we must remain as we are

Let me move on to the topic that was stated, because... Christian enlightenment and theological education- a sore and tragic question now. We live in vile times, but we must remain as we are.

I am a wood grouse: it can be difficult to stop, and monologue is bad. Therefore, let me move on to what I outlined in the introductory part, so that after it there will be time for the most interesting part - answering questions.

Once upon a time we (Russia) were proud and believed that we were Holy Rus'. The second half of the 19th century showed the weakness of “Holy Rus'”. The Church - Holy Rus' - could not cope with new problems, remaining, however, faithful to its traditions and faith. The old was preserved, and that’s good, but new problems arose in life. They had to be solved. The Church was not ready to solve them. As a result of this, they first lost the intelligentsia, its middle part, but the masses. The intellectual pinnacle of world culture has been preserved, and the pinnacle of spirituality [in] the intelligentsia has been preserved. But this is the elite! And the ordinary intelligentsia fed on unbelief and Western sources. Then we lost workers and youth. The result is a revolution. The leadership of the revolution was not connected with Russia. They wanted to build a new society, but suppress Russianness. What happened - we know from ourselves. The system spoke for itself: both good and bad. The internal contradictions of the system destroyed it, and that’s good. But there is reality - people who are left from this system. [Therefore] the spiritual task that is urgent now is the enlightenment of the people.

The priests are not ready, they need to be raised and trained. And the task is tragic - to educate the people!

Education cannot be replaced with ersatz ( Sunday schools etc.). [The problem] needs to be solved seriously and deeply. The priests are not ready, they need to be raised and trained. And the task is tragic - to educate the people! We are used to serving God and the people. Previously, when everything was prohibited, my conscience was calmer. Now everything is possible. We rushed to restore the churches, we are triumphant about the numbers (200 bishops, 18 thousand churches, 300 monasteries, etc.). Achievements? Yes. And this must be respected. Not perfect, but they did it. And who [now] is in these churches and monasteries?

Our science has always been at the level, it was taken into account in the West, especially with the fundamental sciences and technology. Lagged behind humanities. I know a lot of specific things from my parishioner, Academician Vinogradov, the creator of the Moscow mathematics school. He often asked me: “Oh. Vitaly, speak more quietly, more modestly...” But the spiritual emptiness must be filled.

We must go to the youth. Walk skillfully, because young people should not “overeat” (neither Orthodoxy nor Marxism)

Our youth are not bad, and have not been bad, [they] are higher than in the West, morally better. In the West, the general flow of spiritual life is lowered, the spiritual level there is lower.

Some of the youth turned to God on their own, without our merit. We must go to the youth. Go skillfully, because young people should not “overeat” (neither Orthodoxy nor Marxism). Young people who have suffered through Orthodoxy become conservative. The bulk of young people came out of interest. But among young people, spiritual relaxation does not last long. We also need food for the mind. Atheism called itself scientific, appealed to intelligence and reflection. And now young people are not only sentimental, but also seek food for thought in religion. The Church is conservative; it does not answer their questions. I speak pessimistically, but it’s better for me to say it myself than for others to tell me the same thing.

The most important thing now is education! Faith and service must be explained. Maybe new things will not be in demand for another 100 years, but they must grow: quietly, without noise, without conflicts.

Education is very valuable and very important. Everything needs to be explained, but explained clearly.

Language! All languages ​​are sacred if thoughts Holy Scripture transmit. There is no need to change anything, you need to explain, and explain clearly. Serve in a way that is clear! Bishops and priests are only primates, but the people of God serve! The primate says only one prayer about himself, the rest are all on behalf of the people of God. And the choir speaks and sings on behalf of the people. But the people themselves must sing, speak, the main thing is to understand what they answer “Amen”. [To do this] you need to speak a language understandable to the people.

I was raised in Old Church Slavonic, it’s mine. When I serve in Old Church Slavonic, my soul sings! And when I had to serve in Greek, I suffered and did not pray, because I was afraid of making a mistake. But for a Greek, on the contrary, his soul probably sings native language. People don't need to change their language right away. I am against modernism of any kind, but it must be made clear.

Any government wants to “have” the church because it is a dangerous organization

The church is not a museum, but a living organism. And since it is a living organism, it develops. It is necessary for the people to accept everything new, but this takes time. For 50 years before the revolution they prepared for the renewal of the church. They asked the bishops, there are several volumes. And who knows them, who read them? Now everyone is afraid of the people. Me too. And the proposals in the volumes that I spoke were different, even to the point of “closing all the seminaries and tearing down the foundations, preparing everything anew.” And this was proposed then.

Any government wants to “have” the church, because it is a dangerous organization. State control over the church is always and everywhere. It's a matter of methods. We act rudely. In the West they manipulate intelligently, politely and intelligently.

By 1980, Khrushchev wanted to “show the last butt.” The revolution of 1917 was a paralysis of power. All sorts of trash always comes out at this time. The renovationists have discredited themselves and the cause [of renewal]. They were manipulated by the state and then imprisoned. The result was confusion and failure of the update. Smart people took power in the revolution. Soviet power won, and the renovationists died in Siberia. Now conservatives are speculating, the very word “renovationists” is alarming, but this is just conservative speculation.

Our crime is that we are not preparing a language update

Now is not the time to introduce the Russian language. There will be time for it, but [it] needs to be prepared. Our crime is that we are not preparing a language update.

It is reasonable that the church is conservative, but we need to prepare an understanding people. We must prepare without shouting, without publicity, so that the people understand the service.

Theological education must prepare new priests who would understand modern problems. You also need to understand scholasticism, you need to know the foundation, but new problems have arisen on the previous foundations. For example, ecology. The West is working in this direction. Not very good, but it works.

The people not only need to learn faith, but also help them cope with the new problems of life. The duty of the church is to help society renew itself and cope with new challenges. The church is not on the sidelines. She serves the people and God, without interfering in politics, and helps people unite as equals into a friendly family, [because] it is easier to live together.

On the eve of the First World War, Russia was moving at such a pace that it was catching up and overtaking the West and the United States. If not for the cataclysm of the revolution, Rus' would have been more advanced than the USA and the West.

If the church fulfills its functions, the friendship of peoples will develop in the right direction

It's clear that life is always better together. If the church fulfills its functions, the friendship of peoples will develop in the right direction. The historical merit of the church is the unification of Russians, the development of culture.

Prayer is not a model, but a duty. In the church, prayer is organized, and we ourselves in the church must be organized. The guardian of the faith is the people of God. The hierarchy leads, teaches, and the people correct!

To the question “Who are the best theologians in the world now?” answered: “Metropolitan John Zizioulas, Yannaras, the late Schmemann, Meyendorff.” “What about Russian theologians?” I thought and thought and didn’t name it.

When asked (already in the corridor) about Fr. Georgiy Kochetkov replied:

“There is nothing to talk about here. O. Georgy is doing a great and necessary job. And it does well. There is nothing to discuss - we need to help. And he was placed in unbearable conditions. We need to create conditions so that he can do the main thing.”

Early 2000s

Reference:

Protopresbyter Vitaly Borovoy (1916–2007). Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, teacher of graduate school at the DECR, rector of the Cathedral of the Epiphany (Elokhovsky) Cathedral in Moscow (1973–1978), since 1984 - honorary rector of the Moscow Church of the Resurrection of the Word. In 1996–2007, Father Vitaly was a member of the Board of Trustees of the St. Philaret Orthodox Christian Institute.

In 1962–1966 and in 1978–1985. he represented the Russian Orthodox Church MP at the World Council of Churches (WCC), served as rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Geneva, participated in the work of all assemblies of the WCC, and was the only observer from the Russian Orthodox Church who was present at all meetings of the Second Vatican Council in 1962–1965. In the memory of his contemporaries, Protopresbyter Vitaly remained one of the most enlightened clergy of his time, who cared about preserving the noble appearance of Russian Orthodoxy.

...All the idols, whom we previously enthusiastically served and whose service made sense of our lives, have lost their charm, cannot attract our soul, no matter how many people around us still give them their strength. We only have a thirst for life - a full, living and deep life, some last, deepest demands and desires of our spirit, which we not only do not know how to satisfy, but we do not even know how to express them.

...I think it can be said about most of us that we are no longer the same... Freedom from everything in the world - why do we need it if we don’t know what are we for free? Will it give us much, are all the pleasures and raptures that the simple unbridledness of elemental desires gives us so great? We have grown old mentally and look skeptically not only at “ideals”, but also at all the so-called “blessings of life”. We know well that every moment of happiness is abundantly redeemed by suffering or the melancholy of satiety; we know that there is immeasurably more sorrow in life than happiness and joys, we have experienced poverty, we clearly see the inevitable end of all life - death, in the face of which everything becomes equally illusory. In a word, we have too vivid a feeling the meaninglessness of life, to get carried away by the bare process of life itself...

We suffer not from an excess, but from a lack of spiritual power. We are exhausted in the desert, our soul is not looking for a meaningless expanse of detachment from everything, but, on the contrary, a close, final merger with something unknown that can fill, strengthen, and saturate it once and for all.

Our soul is poor and hungry. Losing faith is not an easy matter, overthrowing the idols that we and our fathers worshiped so long and passionately is not child's play.

It is good for him who, in this melancholy, in these torments of spiritual hunger and thirst, has a close, kindred soul - it doesn’t matter, friend, mother or wife - to whom he can pour out his languor or with whom he can at least take a breath from him, - because often we cannot fully express what torments us, not only to the person closest to us, but even to ourselves. And woe to the lonely!

However, we all have one dear being: this is our homeland. The more unhappy we are, the more empty our souls are, the more acutely and painfully we love her and yearn for her. Here we, at least, clearly feel: the homeland is not an “idol”, and love for it is not an attraction to a ghost; homeland is a living, real being. We love her not because of the “principle of patriotism”; we do not worship her glory, nor her power, nor any abstract signs and principles of her being. We love her, our dear, ancient, primordial mother...

Our true attitude is revealed not in words, not in conscious reasoning and assessments, but in that melancholy, in those tears of tenderness with which we think about our native fields and forests, about our native customs and listen to the sounds of our native song. Then we know that there is no country in the world sweeter, more beautiful than our homeland.

But, unfortunately, we know very well that you cannot help anyone, including your homeland, if you yourself are helpless, that a beggar cannot enrich anyone and a sick person cannot become anyone’s healer...

...We feel this - without faith in something primary, fundamental, unshakable, without the last, deepest stronghold on which our spirit could lean, no earthly attractions and hobbies, no love and affection can save us.

On these paths, in this hopeless and hopeless wandering of the soul through the vast, endless desert, when longing and spiritual thirst reach the utmost severity and become as if unbearable, the soul meets the living God.

...The easiest way, perhaps, to understand how and why this meeting takes place is if you try to understand what we, in fact, are looking for what we need and what we yearn for...

What we are looking for is... something very real and simple - if you want, even something very rough and imperfect - but genuine. We are looking for real life, vitality and strength….

We cannot rely on any “ideals”, because they turned out to be ghosts... We cannot rely on ourselves, on the thirst for life alone or on the inner strength of life in us, for this is precisely what it means to hang in the air. No, we need genuine ground - a spiritual reality that would be something other than our own “I”...

Only love can save us - but the love of such a being and for such a being that would not be as weak, helpless and poor as ourselves, which itself would already stand firmly on its own feet and would be rich enough to give water and food our spirit.

...Nineteen centuries ago the truth was announced to the world, - moreover, the Living Truth itself was revealed to the world... Christ said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” ...He said: “I came not to judge, but to save the world”... He proclaimed that God is love, that we have There is The Father is the eternal and omnipotent Father who loves his children and will not refuse anything to anyone who asks... We are tired, weary with the heaviness and emptiness of life, and He answers us: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” . We are looking for a ministry that would not kill our soul, but would give us joy and peace, and He gives us “an easy yoke and a light burden.”

...Now that this has been revealed to us, we understand the very meaning of our quest, our longing...

You just need, as Plato said, to be able to “turn the eyes of the soul,” you just need to look carefully into your own soul and be able to feel even only your own melancholy and dissatisfaction like discovering a new deepest ontological reality in the last depths of our own spirit, in order to directly verify that the object of our search is not a ghost, but a true reality...

At the first moment, this meeting with God, this feeling of the soil under our feet and the discovery of inner light does not change anything for us in everything else, in the external world, in our relationships with people and with earthly life. We have only found in our souls a source of inexhaustible joy, a sense of strength and peace.

...We listen to ordinary human conversations, interests and passions, ordinary beggarly concerns human life with a benign and ironic smile of a person who knows about himself a great secret that completely changes life and gives it new meaning and direction... This inner treasure, this gift of immeasurable love initially only opposes, as inner being and inner wealth, all external life and the environment. ...

But this is only a temporary, transient disturbance of spiritual balance from too much strength and brightness of the impression...

And from now on, much of what previously seemed to us to be a dead idol and was really exposed by us as an idol - in a different form and with a completely different meaning begins to resurrect in our soul, as a living force and as smart way and the rule of life. First of all, the entire area of ​​morality... Now we are discovering within ourselves a new living source of morality that is meaningful and understandable to us.

...All morality - we understand this well - is nothing more than this hygiene or technology salvation, preservation of one’s life - self-evidently reasonable rules for protecting that “treasure in heaven”, which is the only source, the only means of our existence and which we so often forget about in our natural blindness and frivolity.

...In the light of the knowledge we have acquired of true existence, it is now gradually revealed to us, or we at least foresee a whole new world- sphere spiritual foundations life... Morality.., being a living, humane morality of love and salvation, at the same time there is a strict morality of asceticism, self-restraint and self-sacrifice, for its basic law precisely says that you cannot save your soul without losing it, and that you cannot gain the kingdom heavenly in any other way than by bearing one’s cross... And we now understand the destructive lie of immoralism, which gives a person the freedom to perish...

...And in the same way, in this gracious light, the lost ideals of human relations and the universal social order are resurrected for us with a different meaning and content... Conscious of the unity of being rooted in God, we clearly see our responsibility for the evil that reigns in it, and just as clearly We understand the impossibility of our salvation apart from general salvation...

We, of course, repulse with disgust the cynicism, arrogance and unprincipled unbelief, which in the forces now ruling in Rus' tramples the truth and mocks it; and we cannot in the slightest degree make spiritual concessions to him, take a spiritually half-hearted, compromise position, arising from the desire to simultaneously fence ourselves off from pure evil, and not lag behind the “spirit of the times”, in which this evil and madness are the dominant force... The unusual nature of life, its looseness and instability, the novelty of living conditions require us to combine the greatest, unshakably persistent devotion to eternal principles, subject to desecration and doubt, with spiritual breadth and freedom, with a sensitive, unbiased attitude to the real structure of life and its needs . This combination of firm fidelity to the truth with complete spiritual freedom, the readiness to martyrdom in the name of truth - with tolerance towards people, with the inclination, without fear of contamination, to enter into living communication with them amidst all the reigning evil - this combination is given only to the religious spirit that has comprehended living life. eternal truth and overshadowed by its gracious spirit.

Now we are grateful to God for the entire path we have traveled, no matter how difficult it may be. The world and our soul had to go through both the worship of idols and the bitterness of gradual disappointment in them in order to be cleansed, freed and gain true fullness and spiritual clarity. The great world turmoil of our time is not happening without reason; it is not the painful trampling of humanity in one place, not a senseless heap of aimless atrocities, abominations and suffering. This is the difficult path of purgatory traversed by modern humanity; and perhaps it will not be conceit to believe that we, Russians, who have already been to the last depths of hell, having tasted, like no one else, all the bitter fruits of worshiping the abomination of Babylon, will be the first to pass through this purgatory and help others to find the path to spiritual resurrection.