Заключение

It cannot be denied that historical Orthodoxy is currently experiencing one of its next historical crises. His enemies and detractors already see in him death and decay, but we, Orthodox, must see the beginning of a new era, hope for renewal by the Spirit of God. This crisis is associated with the Russian revolution and the fall of the Russian Orthodox kingdom, and it can be compared in significance only to the fall of Byzantium and the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, when this shock was also experienced throughout the entire Christian and especially Orthodox world. And just as then, to replace the Byzantine one, God erected the Russian kingdom, so now God is able to erect a new stronghold of Orthodoxy. We do not want to say that this is necessarily a new kingdom that is not visible on the horizon of history. Perhaps that era in the history of the Church, which begins with Constantine the Great and is marked by the exceptional importance of the Orthodox Tsar in the life of the Church, has generally ended, at least on a world-historical, and not a provincial scale. However, new opportunities for the Church are not eliminated through this. At the present time the Russian Church, the most significant in size and cultural power, is under the yoke of the most terrible persecution that history has ever seen. If you look through the eyes of faith, she is chosen from all of Christianity, so that, having emerged from her fiery trial, she will reveal herself in spirit, truth and freedom. And in this sense, in the future of the Russian church one cannot help but see the fate of the entire Christian world, and in the mortal struggle that fell to its lot, one cannot help but see the struggle of the entire Christian world with the hordes of the Antichrist. Just as the exclusion of Russia from world communication makes it impossible to restore economic and political life, so without the Russian Church the most pressing issues of inter-church unification cannot be resolved. And an understanding of this global significance of the destinies of Orthodoxy begins to penetrate all Christian humanity, which now faces a new future. However, is there a future for the Church? It does not exist for Catholicism, the building of which is completely completed and ready in its completeness. For Orthodoxy, the past exists as a sacred tradition, but is there any place in it for the future? However, Orthodoxy is not completed, not only in fact, but also in principle; it has no other dome over itself than the heavenly one, it heeds the promises of the Lord Jesus about the Comforter Spirit, that He will “tell you what is coming.” The Church now faces new problems, and therefore, new opportunities for life associated with the spiritual hegemony of Orthodoxy in the world. Orthodoxy has its own apocalypse in history, and it contains not only the end of the accomplishment, but also a creative path of achievement: “your youth is renewed like the eagle” (Ps. 103:5). The creative Spirit of God living in the Church calls for this renewal, about which the Lord himself said: “God does not give the Spirit by measure.” Creative inspiration, which, at the same time, is imbued with religious inspiration, should reveal a new era of Christian creativity in life. History has already known a similar era, this is the so-called “Middle Ages” in the West and in the East. It has given way to the “new time,” which must give way to the “new Middle Ages,” about which the progressive minds of humanity sigh, consciously or unconsciously. This can only happen under the condition of freedom, which cannot be abandoned by humanity reaching adulthood, maturing to the fullness of church life with its grace-filled gifts. This is Orthodoxy, which is the obvious and hidden center and truth of all Christian confessions, now in disarray, but called to unite into a single flock of the One Shepherd. Wake up, wake up!