Search for the schismatic Bryn faith

Work of St. Dimitri Rostovsky’s “Search for the schismatic Bryn faith” (finished in March 1709) is a polemical work directed against the Old Believer schism that arose in the second half of the 17th century. The name is associated with the Bryn forests (Kaluga province), which were one of the centers of the spread of “ancient piety”. The essay consists of 3 parts: 1. A study of the essence of faith and the statement that the faith of the schismatics is neither right nor ancient (30 chapters). Proving that the Old Believers did not observe the ancient dogmas of the Orthodox Church, the saint points to the blasphemous writings of Habakkuk, which contain teachings about three beings in the Holy Trinity, about the incarnation of the Son of God not by nature, but only by grace-filled power, about the descent of Christ into hell in the flesh, etc. Dissenters do not bow to the Holy Gospel, considering it Tatar custom. They allow even women to perform sacred functions. 2. Refutation of their teaching, including blasphemy against the Sacraments, the Church and the priesthood (33 chapters). For example, the teaching about the “mental” coming of the Antichrist into the world since the correction of the books, the teaching about the cessation of the Holy Sacrifice, the denial of the veneration of holy relics and icons, etc. 3. Criticism of the supposed “good deeds” of schismatics. The moral side of the movement is revealed - hypocrisy, cruelty and crimes committed under the guise of “piety” (23 chapters). The saint uses examples from the Holy Scriptures, the works of the Church Fathers, as well as the testimony of his contemporaries (Metropolitans Ignatius of Tobolsk and Stephen of Yavorsky). He paid attention to even small details, for example, the dispute over shaving beards, in order to show the absurdity of some of the demands of the schismatics. The work is given particular value by the numerous facts collected by the author about the practices of schismatics: self-immolation, ritual killings of infants, perverted forms of “communion” (for example, raisins from the hands of a girl in a colored dress), pseudo-ascetic practices (voluntary fasting to death, seclusion in pits), the creation of blasphemous cults (veneration of a man as “Christ” with the “Virgin Mary” and “apostles”) and moral decomposition within sects. The schismatics gained the trust of rich families, imitated piety, and then seduced people with tearful sermons about the “imminent end of the world” and the “Antichrist in Moscow.” Many sects (priests, bespopovtsy) had their own “monasteries” and “conversations”, where fugitive priests or self-appointed “elders” performed religious services, rebaptized people and even sent out “permissive prayers” in scarves. Saint Demetrius emphasizes that apostasy from the Church leads to spiritual catastrophe. He ends the book with a prayer for the conversion of the lost and humbly submits his work to the judgment of the Church, setting an example of obedience and love for the truth. A search for the schismatic Bryn faith, their teaching, their deeds and the declaration that their faith is wrong, their teaching is harmful to the soul and their deeds are not pleasing to God See also: Search for St. Demetrius A.N. Muravyov To the prudent reader Humble Bishop Dimitri, By the Grace of God, Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl Let us listen: how do imams and schismatic teachers know? From the words in which they extol their faith, From their false blasphemous teaching, and This wretched work of mine, if anyone receives honor from prudent and God-wise readers, I pray, let him not be surprised at the vernacular and dull writing, for it was not for the sake of the wise and skilled in the Divine Scripture that this was written, but for the sake of the simplest people, the power of the Holy Scripture, ignorant, to whom even simple conversation is barely intelligible. To such, the ancient Saints and teachers extended their conversation in common speech, like Saint Chrysostom, who from the beginning was in the habit of composing his words wisely: having been admonished by his wife, put aside wise rhetoric, but there are common speeches. The only way I taught him to the people in the church was when a certain woman cried out from among the people, saying: To the spiritual teacher, let me give a river to John Chrysostom! You have deepened the well of holy teaching, but our minds are too short and cannot be reached. He, having thought to himself that it would be useful to spread a cleverly woven word to the people, was careful not to use sophisticated Vetian words, but simple, moralizing words, to decorate his conversation, as if even the simplest hearer understands and accepts the benefit. In the same way, Bishop of Komansky 1 (as it is written in his life) told the Hieromartyr Alexander: Not worrying about the beauty of words in his spoken teachings to the people, but having diligence about the benefit of souls, and having a lot of conversation in his conversation; It’s a simple verb, but very useful to the soul. And when a certain young Attic philosopher was quick to ridicule the vernacular; that philosopher had a blue vision: He imagined seeing a flock of white doves, beautifully beautiful, shining with a certain wondrous radiance, according to the words of the Psalm: the krill of the dove was silvered, and the space in the glitter of gold 2, and this voice came to the beholder: Behold, these are the words of Alexander the Bishop, at whom you laughed! The philosopher stood up from the vision, ashamed of his sin. But Christ himself is our Savior, always speaking to the people of the book, to the wise teachers of the Jews, extending to them the words of the Divine, filled with wisdom, bringing evidence from the books of the Prophets: when he extended the word to the common people, in simple parables he explained to them his sermon about the kingdom of heaven, saying: for likewise is the kingdom of heaven to the housebroken man, and to man to the man who sowed good seed in his village, and to the merchant man, and the pea grain, and the kvass, which the wife took and hid in three flour mixtures until it was all leavened 3 . And in my humility, since the simple people have put their faith in the flock, it behooves me to extend simple words of admonition to those who deviate into schismatic error. Christ sent in me (and the Apostle the river) to preach the gospel not in the wisdom of the word 4 . Against schismatic stubbornness, two fair books are quite in line, even the most holy Patriarchs of Moscow wrote with the consecrated cathedral, to which the names of the books are this: the Rod of Government and the Spiritual Testament. And you don’t need better answers to the objections of the crazy opponents of the Holy Church; But for now, whether those books are found anywhere in our Rostov diocese is unknown, and they are barely found: the hated schismatic hand is destroying them. For this reason, I wrote this short book according to my position: for those who find themselves as wolves among the flock, it is not fitting for a shepherd to be possessed by sleep. To the most honorable archimandrites, and abbots, and the entire monastic order, And honest priests, and deacons, and clergymen, throughout all the cities and villages of our flock, For the entire Diocese of Rostov, faithful Christian people, of every rank and age, my beloved brethren and spiritual children, Blessing and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ. Our humility towards you, O beloved, is not enough! Conversation can only be carried out through oral words, but useful conversation is also appropriate through writing. Oral conversation can only be heard nearby: and even the writings are given over to, and they happen to the ends of the universe. A word spoken orally is soon taken away from human memory, but what is written remains unforgettable. Even as I speak with my mouth and teach you, the judges will be handed over to the scriptures and sent to the Diocese; It is now impossible for me, for the sake of wine, to pass through our flock, and everywhere to teach the people of God orally and visually. This is my message, instead of me, wake up, passing through the cities and villages of our Diocese, and teaching and exhorting you not to be seduced by schismatic false teachings, but to stand stronger in the Orthodox faith, adhering to our mother, the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church. In the first place, I declare to your love the sorrow and anguish of my soul for you, I hear how heavy wolf wolves are entering into you 5 , coming from the oak groves and deserts of Bryn, and stealing with their false words and secret whispers (like the serpent Eve) the sheep of Christ, not to salvation, but to destruction: and they torment the flock of God, often unorthodoxly, and deceiving ignorant souls, they devour me and consume me with their heresies, and bring me down into the unsatisfied belly of hell. But even from you the same people (as I hear) have risen up, speaking of the corrupted ones, who have torn away the disciples (the simple people, I say) after themselves 6 . For these things I feel sadness and no small sorrow, just like David, who grieves about such people and says: I have received sorrow from the sinners who forsake your law 7 . Having declared this, I say to you with Christ my Savior: take heed from lying prophets, 8 sit down, and beware from lying teachers. In ancient times, the teachers were called prophets. Like the Apostle, in his letter to Titus, I remember the Cretans, saying: a prophet spoke to them from them: The Cretans are always lying 9 . Their prophet was (according to Chrysostom's legend) Epimenides the Cretan, who was also the pyita, and a philosopher, and an idol priest, and a teacher of Hellenic laws of the Cretans. Whenever Christ the Lord exhorts those who follow him to beware of false prophets, he admonishes them to beware of false teachers, who are from the Brand schismatic monasteries, like those coming from demonic nests. Beware of those who are beloved! Beware that they will come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are wolves, predators 10 . But you say: according to human knowledge, who is a wolf or a good man? Christ answers, saying: By their fruits you will know them; Just as a tree is known from its fruit. A good tree produces good fruit, an evil tree bears evil fruit: below the evil tree can create good fruit. Sits and these, I say, are lying teachers, wolves in sheep's clothing, coming from their fruits are known 11, the essence is, according to the Apostle's words: a tree of pine, barren, twice dead 12, deprived of fruit and leaves, faith and salvation of hope, fallen from the church, uprooted from the church, lacking the fruit of good, is fruit like apples evil? Sodomsky. Saint Chrysostom writes that in that country, where ancient times were Sodom, trees grow and bear fruit 13. The fruit of God's wrath is remembrance. The thorns (apple trees) stand as a bright (beauty) phenomenon, possessing, and giving the ignorant much tasteful hope. If they were taken with a broken hand, there would be no fruit, but much dust and ashes would be shown stored inside. Such are the trees of schismatic teachers, and such are their fruits, which from the outside seem to be beautiful and beneficial to the soul by their charming teachings; but having broken their teaching by reasoning and consideration, it will be found, like the Apple of Sodom, full of dust, lies and the stench of mental harm. And by their fruit you will know them. In this reliable news, let us offer here those trees of the Bryn Garden, teachers, I say, schismatics, these three primary fruits: and with a genuine Search, we will break it down by testing, and with sound reasoning and consideration, we will see what is in them. Here the RIGHTNESS OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH will be briefly proposed in the first part. August 32, sheet 661 on the back. St. Zlat. on sent. 1Solun. 4, moral. 8, fox. 2265.