Dialectics of the Gospel and of practical everyday life

Various philosophers have emerged throughout the history of mankind and introduced various philosophical streams. These people were remote from everyday life. More often than not their theories, even if put into practice, ran counter to real and natural life. Even the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Corinthians radically condemns these human philosophies, or so-called human wisdom. He calls it foolishness in comparison with the divine Gospel and with the practical following of Christ crucified. “Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified ... the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men ...” (1Cor 1:22-25)

“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’” (1Cor 1:18-19; cf. Psa 33:10; Isa 29:14)

The Apostle Paul further says: “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God.” (1Cor 2:1-7)

“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness.’” (1Cor 3:18-19)

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Col 2:8)

The Word of God takes a clear attitude towards so-called human wisdom which reckons neither with God, nor with God’s judgement, nor with eternal life or eternal damnation. It does not take into consideration the call of Christ: “Be prepared, because you do not know what day your Lord is coming.” (Mt 24:44) True wisdom does not rest in the understanding of Thomist philosophy, the less so of the philosophies of Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche or other deceivers who divert the sincere souls from the sound principles of the Gospel by various half-truths. These principles are founded on the words of Christ: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mt 16:24) They also entail the loss of one’s soul for the sake of Christ and His Gospel: “Whoever desires to save his life (soul) will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it.” (Mk 8:35-37) And this is the condition and part of the first and greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Lk 10:27)

The first of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” says that the innermost in us, i.e. our spirit, is poor if it is not bound by carnal lusts or by the human mind guided by its own views and its own good, that means by lies and egoism. The Beatitudes end with persecution for Christ’s sake, even by one’s own family and by the Church hierarchy (cf. Mt 5:3f; Lk 6:22-23).

True wisdom does not rest in the study of pious literature and its vivid interpretation but in the fact that one is a doer of God’s Word, that means that one embodies God’s Word in one’s life. This is true wisdom. This wisdom is tied with Christ’s cross, which involves dying to one’s self and fully opening up to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and pure love. The words about truth and love in the mouths of liberal theologians or various philosophers and psychologists are just empty phrases. True wisdom means to learn in one’s life to stop and stand before God, repent in earnest, and seek and do His will. At the close of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks of two categories of people. The first one includes the “wise” philosophers who build on the sand of their own human views. The second one is those who build on the rock, and this rock is Christ and His Gospel. At a time of crisis the spiritual building of the first ones will fall but that of the other ones will stand. Jesus speaks about a wise man and a foolish man. So what is true wisdom? It is not enough just to know what I am to do, it is not enough to know God’s Word, I need to put it into practice! Academic Christianity of various theologians or philosophers has caused the current deep crisis. There is no way out of this catastrophic state of the Church unless we start to show true and sincere repentance. Through repentance only can God solve this unsolvable problem. And this is the only way to a reform of the present-day Church.

True wisdom is that I not only know God’s Word and divine principles but that I walk in the Spirit, i.e. discern in every situation what is God’s will for me now and here. One needs a right hierarchy of values, one needs to respect human relations and spiritual laws, and, most importantly, one has to reckon with the reality of corrupted human nature, i.e. with the old self in us. In practical life, one needs to learn to walk in the truth and in pure love at the same time. This walking in God’s Spirit, walking in faith, leads to righteousness. God’s Word says: “The righteous lives by faith.” (Rom 1:17) This applies not only to Abraham but to every Christ’s disciple. Unfortunately, present-day academic Christianity founded on discussion and on philosophical and psychological speculations distorts the reality of life and the fundamental truths of the Gospel, and bears opposite fruits. Instead of being rooted in Christ it strengthens its roots in the exact opposite – in heresy and apostasy.

So true wisdom means that we concentrate our Christian life in several principal truths, which is no pious rhetoric but real spiritual food. These truths lead to a true denial of one’s self and to the true following of Christ. We emphasize: Academic, philosophical and psychological Christianity flatters various proud intellectuals who revel in academism but it has nothing in common either with real life or with the true mysticism of Christ’s cross.

Theologians and philosophizers indulge in speechifying. They can even quote the Holy Scripture very vividly. They flaunt their knowledge of modern psychologies and use lofty mystical phrases which, however, are nothing but big bubbles. True wisdom requires that through personal contact and personal experience we should hand on the living Gospel and a true life in Christ to those who sincerely desire to know the truth. These souls have to find time for true prayer in which they may enter into communion with God by revealing their sins and weaknesses before Him and giving Him all their problems. However, this true following of and life in Christ is endangered by eloquent rhetoric coupled with seemingly good pieces of advice. He who does not live a true life cannot hand it on. The firm foundation is a patient denial of one’s self – that is, a way of truthfulness and humility – and experience of God’s Word and of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Even if one has received the gift of discerning the spirits, one will not have a feeling for it unless one discerns in one’s own life and is deeply rooted in Christ. All gifts without this foundation are either afunctional or may even turn into weapons which we will use against people from among us.

The way of self-denial is not a one-time-only matter. It is a process – that means, a way. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14:6).

We Christians who want to follow Christ in earnest are true realists. Irrealists, however, call us fundamentalists. Indeed, Jesus is the foundation without which no one can be saved. All apostles and all saints are labelled by apostate intellectuals and academic theologians as fundamentalists. And what label will these theologians earn in the hour of death? The label of foolish men who built their houses upon the sand and lost that which is most important – eternal life – only because of so-called human wisdom which did not allow them to bow down before the mystery of God and before Christ’s cross.

We repeat: True wisdom does not rest in the number of books read, in academic theology or in spirituality. True wisdom is built on the reality of God’s Word and on the reality of practical life associated with the powerlessness of Christ. If we are crucified with Christ in this way and immersed in His death through faith, God can grant spiritual resurrection in particular situations.

New formation of priests

The current formation of the future clergy is in fact deformation and the training of Church pharisees and future destroyers of the remains of living Christianity. Self-conceited intellectuals resorting to pious rhetoric are very skilled at psychologically manipulating others and killing the spiritual life of the believers. These so-called theologians have lost the last drop of faith and replaced it with a so-called academic view based on a historical-critical method, i.e. on atheistic philosophy. As the final result, they deny the Divinity of Christ, all miracles of the Scripture, and even Christ’s Resurrection. What is more, they deny even the very divine inspiration of the Holy Scripture. Everything is viewed by them theologically, psychologically or sociologically, but they do not look at the reality from the perspective of eternity and of the living God’s Word. The only solution today is to radically put an end to this whole system of deformation of the future clergy. It is necessary to dismiss apostate professors and to start a sound formation founded on conversion, repentance and the true following of Christ. How to put it into practice? We have already proposed several models (see www.community.org.ua, www.uogcc.org.ua) which emphasize the essence: true conversion and true following of Christ. One also has to reckon with the negative reality in us, i.e. original sin or the old self, and take a biblical attitude towards it – i.e. the old self must be crucified with Christ, that we should no longer live for ourselves but for Christ. Naturally, this too may easily turn into a mere pious phrase if we abandon the way of true repentance.

Let us use an example from the world around us. In the field of technology, lofty theories do not hold true unless and until they are well-tested in practice. Practice shows whether the theory is functional or not. If e.g. a new computer model or a new cure is functional, it can be put into practice. Everyone knows that in case of any new refinement only practice can show its drawbacks. One has to take account of this counterindication, lest e.g. a new effective cure for kidney disorders should affect the heart or other organs. If a medical theorist refined cures or operational methods regardless of practical effect, it would cause mere harm. Unfortunately, philosophy, psychology and theology build castles in the air and abound in theories which are seemingly logical and practical but counterproductive in real life. This is the heresy of academic Christianity which necessarily needs to be eliminated. Academic Christianity has established a monopoly on the key posts in the Church; however, these monopolists have nothing in common with the following of Christ. These religious chatterers and psychological intriguers are leading the present-day Church to self-destruction with pharisaical cunning. They do not allow genuine repentance and conversion. They are the greatest enemies of Christ and His cross and the greatest enemies of the crucified Body of Christ – the Church. Filled with the same spirit as those who crucified Christ, they are crucifying God’s people today. The only solution is to remove these apostates from office, and the Pope himself must appoint new orthodox bishops in their place from among the priests who will be able to carry out the necessary reform of the Church. The first step of this reform shall be a reform of the formation of the future priests, that they may be true disciples of Jesus serving and working on the salvation of the immortal souls.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Bishops of the UOGCC

+ Metod?j OSBMr

+ Markian OSBMr

+ Samuel OSBMr

+ Eliáš OSBMr

Lvov (Ukraine), 12th August 2010

Copies to:

-         The Holy Father Benedict XVI

-         Orthodox Bishops of Ukraine and Russia

Address: Synod of the UOGCC, 3 Sosnova St., Lvov - Bryukhovychi, 79491, Ukraine

www.uogcc.org.ua, www.community.org.ua; pidhirci.community@gmail.com