The meaning and justification of RSHD circles

What kind of “movement” can we talk about in our Orthodox environment? Of course, about the movement towards the Church for people outside the Church, and about the movement in the Church and for people who have returned to church life. Movement presupposes as a goal something motionless and unconditional, and such is the Church. Joining the life of the Church - this - and only this - can be the quantitative and qualitative success of the “movement”. At the same time, it can involve in itself, have on its periphery people who do not belong to the Church, but who are not hostile to Her, who sincerely and conscientiously strive to know Her and be imbued with Her life. After all, even the Jewish national church knew proselytes; can the universal Church, whose law of life is love, coldly close itself off from them? Hence the inevitable and - we believe - good in its consequences contact of the “movement” with the non-Orthodox Christian world, however, loving and unknown to themselves, seeking Orthodoxy. In the conditions of our life, this is as natural as the fact that we speak the language of the country in which we live, without changing our native language. The “movement” is expressed in our lives in the existence of Christian, in most cases church, circles. Groups of young people - with or without leadership - gather to pray, talk, study together what is possible or accessible to them, and touch on matters of faith. There is diversity in the activities of the circles: some read the Gospel, others the Fathers of the Church, others get acquainted with the lives of saints and liturgics, and accidentally touch upon issues of patristics, iconography, and church history. Due to the difficulty, sometimes downright wretchedness, of general living conditions, such work only in exceptional cases approaches scientific study. In most cases, it is much lower than what our theological seminaries and academies, and professional theological schools in general, had. However, the latter, in their professionalism, did not know in many cases the zeal for religious education that can, as a rule, be observed in these circles. Where to look for the foundations, what is the strength, meaning and true significance of these circles, which by the force of things are doomed to amateurism in the scientific sense? This power is outside them, or rather above them, and it gives them true life, with which they are inspired. This overwhelming power is the Holy Orthodox Church. Living in Her, they learn to cognize Her through mutual help, but to cognize Her not only through abstract study, but also through life experience. Not to seek a truth that has not yet been found by anyone and unknown to anyone (which is the task some philosophical, scientific circles could set themselves), but to learn through life the truth given in the Church, to know the Church - this is the goal of the circles. The Church is the ocean of divine life, immeasurable and unknown, the treasure of “eternal life,” and therefore life in the Church is Her constant knowledge and recognition. And in this knowledge, quality is of great importance, not quantity, namely “movement”. The circles themselves give impetus to such a movement, contribute to the recognition of the life of the Church, and this recognition, this touch is precisely what the seeds of a new life can grow from. For one, the power of the Church will be revealed in the feat of being a saint of God, for another in the sense of icon veneration, for a third through acquaintance with the order of church services, etc. But in each of these cases, the insight that struck him and opened his spiritual eyes is not only an abstract mental knowledge, but an introduction to the life of the Church, the source of immortal life beating in his heart. The Lord leads everyone on their own path. From the lives of the saints we know that the Lord overtakes human hearts in various ways. And it must be testified that now in exile for many souls their spiritual eyes are opened under the influence of impressions received in circles where they learned about one or another feature of churchliness. The immeasurable mercy of God is that we are in the Church, that the Lord has given us the Truth. And therefore, the circles, leaning against the Church, receive the power of being and life, a significance that is completely incommensurate with their natural, human powers. But isn’t this the law of life of the Church? “Look, brethren, who you are called,” the apostle said to his Corinthian community (1 Cor. 1:26-29) - not by the power of a weak nature, but by the power of Christ, the Church is established. So, circles are not sectarian communities, dying in their isolation and self-conceit, they are church cells, church seeds. And only in this capacity can they claim support and sympathy. And only in connection with the Church is what is being studied perceived in a churchly way. In particular, this applies to the so-called “evangelical” circles, which set the goal of studying the Word of God. Such a task, which naturally arises for every Christian, can also receive a perverted formulation: Protestant, sectarian circles. However, in Orthodox circles, the study of the Word of God is a necessary part of church education, which, again, is inextricably linked with the entire life of the Church: thus, the history of the Gospel events, which are read about in the Gospel, is at the same time the highest reality experienced in church holidays. The events of the life of the Lord, His parables and teachings, revered in the Church, are also revealed in the prayers and chants of the church circle. The Gospel for the Orthodox is a Book that resides in the Church and cannot be removed from It. So, there is church life, moved by the Holy Spirit, eternal and inexhaustible. And there is human life, which moves towards the knowledge of church truth. To learn something about the Church means to be enriched disproportionately with this separate knowledge. And it is in this church context that we must understand what is happening in circles. Of course, this participation is not necessary or even useful for everyone, for the gifts are different and the callings are different. It is enough that in the fabric of the church body such formations, ovaries and connections of friends in the Lord have their rightful place. The Lord said: “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20). The Lord established the conciliar nature of the Church, and this conciliarity can manifest different images of collectedness and gathering. And why exclude from them our current circles, which are gathered in His name? They, these “house churches”, which St. loved, along with the vast communities. ap. Paul, scattered to different places and our exile on; Church help and consolation. Conciliarity wants to feel itself, to deepen and expand. Is it surprising if our small councils of youth, who have not yet found a more appropriate name for themselves than circles, also strive for unction and rejoice over it? Those who have been to these congresses or “conferences” and who have not deliberately closed their hearts know what special church and prayerful joy is served there. This is the joy of conciliarity, the joy of churchliness, the breath of the Spirit. Therefore, no matter how modest our Christian student circles are, we must thank the Lord for them, as for His mercy, we must also thank those Christian brethren who help their cause, and we must open our hearts to believing, caring, responsible care for them, without hardening it with suspicion and arrogance.