Reading the news about the war, you are convinced that this is actual paganism.
Christ, let me remind you, specially told His disciples in the parable of the good Samaritan, who are our neighbors for them. Our neighbors, as He taught, are specific people whom you can help and do good, regardless of nationality, religion and social status (Lk. 10:25-37). Whether Ukrainian, American, Buddhist, Jew, or Russian. Because if you only do good to “your own”, then how are you different from the pagans who do the same (Matthew 5:38-47)?
Isn’t it true? The priests from the Russian Orthodox Church, who carry on their chests a cross with the Savior of the world crucified for people and at the same time participate in the cause of “helping our soldiers in the war”, demonstrate urbi et orbi that it is morally justified and blessed in the name of Christ to directly violate the oldest commandment “do not kill” (Ex. 20:13). For the Russian Orthodox Church, murder ceases to be murder and a sin, but becomes a feat. Christian virtue even. “Kill a Ukrainian for the glory of God.” And with all this, pastors from the Russian Orthodox Church tempt the parishioners who trust them, work to darken their conscience and mind, making themselves the blind leaders of the blind (Matthew 15:14).
“External” non-believers also see all this: they see it and, being surprised, spit it out. Such things compromise the image of God, the Savior, and His gospel, don’t they? (Rom. 2:23-24)
Some creepy professional dishonesty in many RO”Z” priests. Really: Don’t you fear God? Isn’t it scary to preach and teach people against the background of icons of His Son what is completely contrary to His words?
After all, Christ did not expose and reject anyone like the Pharisees and scribes. Religious teachers and authorities who took upon themselves the responsibility of teaching people to live according to God. They spoke on His behalf. He exposed them for hypocrisy, for lying, for the inconsistency of words and deeds (like mine), for the fact that they “cancelled the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition” (Mt. 15:1-14).
Yes, they canceled the commandment of God for the sake of transmitting yours. Moreover, the Pharisees of that time seemed to water down the not so major commandment: “Honor your father and your mother” (Ex. 20:12). And our Orthodox Pharisees are not afraid to cancel the much more serious commandment “thou shalt not kill” with all kinds of stories about pagan gods and Holy Russia?
More than a year and a half of the war has already passed, which left behind tens of thousands of dead bodies, broken lives, destroyed cities, and hatred towards us for several generations ahead, and how can one believe in the justice and righteousness of this terrible senseless massacre? The war was unleashed by Russia, at the whim of our elderly dictator Vladimir Putin. Moreover, it is not only aggressive, but also directly invasive – the territories were solemnly “annexed”.
And also you have gays, transgenders again, etc. “We have the right to invade your home, kill you and take your lands for ourselves because we hate gays, lesbians, transgenders, and other “God fighters” and do not recognize their rights, and you do the opposite!” Is this so?
It’s easy to get crazy. And how, the question arises, do we, with such logic and, most importantly, practice, differ not even from pagans, but from radical Islamic terrorists? They also hate the Western European liberal world, despise rights and freedoms, and impose their Sharia through violence and terror. The fact that we have our own Orthodox type of Sharia? In the spirit of the sermons of Prof. Andrii Tkachev? And it is allowed to deploy tanks, missiles, and “polite people”? They have holy jihad (in translation: “struggle for the faith”) and the entry of suicide bombers into the Muslim paradise. So will we have a Russian Orthodox jihad with forgiveness of sins and entry into heaven for murders and sacrificial deaths in war?
Moreover, with all their sinful essence, they dare invade their neighbors in an attempt to teach them a lesson. It seems that they have not heard about “gay stories” from the monastic circles, “spicy” cases involving bishops, seminary boys, etc. That’s as if you don’t know about our prison traditions.
His “disciples” got into their tanks, put up banners, icons and state flags, and invaded their neighbors right through the fence. “For our people, for the truth, for the Russian world, and God be with us” – to bomb, kill, destroy, capture, and brutalize… This is all so sad…
Source: Georgian theologian Mamuka Putkaradze
