The word on the day of celebration of remembrance is holy. Cyril and Methodius, the first teachers of the Slavs

Regarding the Greek-Bulgarian church dispute. Pronounced in 1872 in the academic church. “John said: Master! We saw a man casting out demons in Your name, and we rebuked him, because he did not walk with us. Jesus said to him: do not forbid, for whoever is not against you is for you” (Luke 9:49-50). The disciples of Christ, probably during their preaching, for which they were deliberately sent by their Divine Mentor, and to reinforce which they received from Him the gift of healing all kinds of illnesses, and also casting out spirits, met a man who did not follow Jesus Christ with them on His travels, did not receive a command from Him to preach the Kingdom of God, but, driven by love for mankind, he himself acted in the name of Jesus in casting out spirits, and, apparently, not without success. For if this had been an unsuccessful attempt, then this matter would not have deserved an explanation on the part of the disciples, and would not have been noticed in the history of the Gospel. And the Lord would not have recognized such an unauthorized figure, in whose mouth His name was mentioned but had no effect, at all useful for His work. – How could a spellcaster act in the name of Jesus without belonging to His society? - One must think that, although he did not go with the disciples, he was, although for some time, a listener to the instructions of the Lord Jesus, and from them he gained the conviction of His Divine power, as the messenger of God, the Christ of the Lord, which is why he decided to use His name against evil spirits. Of course, he could notice the miraculous power of this name in the actions of the Apostles, but if he himself did not have faith in Him in his soul, then no better thing could have happened to him than to the sons of Sceva, to whom the evil spirit responded to their spells: I know Jesus, and I know Paul; and who are you? - and rushed at them (Acts 19:15-16). - So there is no doubt that the exorcist about whom John spoke was, although for some time, a disciple of the Lord, perhaps even before the election of the Apostles, or was not constantly with Jesus Christ like them. The Savior had hidden disciples, like Joseph and Nicodemus (John 19:38–39). The exorcist also belonged to the number of such secret admirers of the Lord Jesus: he did not belong to the society of the Apostles, but in his spirit he was not far from Him. This apparent alienation of him from the society of the Apostles was the reason that one of the most ardent zealots of the cause of Christ, John, decided to forbid him to continue such spells. However, the extraordinary appearance of such a miracle worker deeply occupied the thoughts of the beloved disciple of Christ. And he, taking advantage of the opportunity when the Lord spoke about the power of His name, sincerely by himself, without outside promptings, revealed his act before the Lord. The Lord said: if anyone accepts a child in My name, he accepts Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me (Luke 9:48). Hearing this, John brought himself to trial from His Mentor. We saw, he says, a man casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him - we did not respect the power of Your great name in him. A childishly sincere soul involuntarily expressed itself in this self-accusation! - Perhaps the Apostle was disposed to such a prohibition - fear for the purity of the motives of this special miracle worker, or an insult for some disrespect for the Person of Jesus Christ, Whom he left, or jealousy about his seemingly exclusive rights to work miracles. Be that as it may, only human feeling and reasoning were mixed in here, which did not agree with the highest will of the Divine Mentor Himself. Do not forbid, the Lord answered John: for no one who has performed a miracle in My name can quickly slander Me (Mark 9:39). Your judgment is premature, hasty, based on circumstances that are not yet clear to you. It's still early days. – He who performs miracles in My name cannot help but see the power of this name in its action, and therefore cannot at the same time deny Him, treat Him with unbelief, slander Him, like other unbelievers. By the fact that he uses this name, he already proves that he respects Him as a shrine. – Your society does not accommodate everything that should still belong and partly now already belongs to the Church, although invisible. And this one, who apparently does not walk with you, can invisibly belong to Him. He does not walk with you, but with Me, with the thought of Me, with faith in Me, he walks and acts. And so long as he acts in this spirit, and with such success, there is no reason to fear that he will act to your detriment. – The Church is being formed, but has not yet reached its full structure; and even with its complete structure, external forms alone are not able to contain all its abundant content; they will inevitably break through. The spirit comes and goes, and you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. Divine power manifests itself in miracles: who can stop it? And concluding his instruction, the Lord added: whoever is not against you is for you. Intolerance has no place. Know how to take advantage not only of every expression of affection towards the preachers of the faith, but also of the simple absence of hostile prejudices against them. Why consider as an enemy someone who does not openly go against you, against your cause, against the name for which you work? – On the contrary, the smallest statement of participation in your situation, in your needs, for the sake of the name of Christ, even quenching your thirst with cold water in the name of Christ, will not be forgotten by the Heavenly Father, therefore it should be accepted by a disciple of Christ as an expression of sympathy, with love. “He doesn’t walk with us,” and they forbade him, because he doesn’t walk with us: isn’t this reproachful response heard, isn’t this embarrassing order being repeated now in the dispute between the Greek hierarchy and the Bulgarian Church? - Those who are like-minded in the faith, who cannot in any way reproach each other for damaging their dogmas, do not agree with each other, flare up in hostility against each other only because of the question of independence, and this disagreement turns into a threat of excommunication. They threaten not just one person, society, city, but many millions of people - in the midst of an already impoverished Orthodox Church. “There are ancient patriarchal thrones there, enjoying the independence of government, but over the centuries from heresies, from the false faith of the Mohammedans, they have lost many cities and churches, and are now much more meager in the number of their members than this one people, who are again emerging into spiritual activity - and they are denied that independence, which they themselves in fact cannot use, which this people once enjoyed, but through no fault of their own they lost, - which is still used by the peoples of his tribe, who once bore the same yoke with him, less populous, but happier. Behind the ancient hierarchy, more developed and enlightened, possessing abundant treasures of Orthodoxy in the writings of the great Fathers and teachers of the Church, a fruitful spiritual influence could remain, and with the destruction of the hierarchical connection, or unity of government, through teaching, enlightenment of the new country: no, this is not enough; the habit of management requires power in the same proportions, and not finding satisfaction for itself, it considers itself to have the right to speak and act in the spirit of those whom the Lord did not approve of, who said: they forbade him, because he does not walk with us. – The example of nationalities that had previously freed themselves from their former hierarchical dependence does not show that as a result they fell in their spiritual development. The example of our Russian church, which soon felt the need for self-government and has been using it for a long time, also testifies not to the continuation of the previous order of government. But we did not gather in church to judge the churches, but to pray for peace and unity of all churches. It is our duty to pray to the Head of the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church, may He pacify those at war, may he reassure those in power, with his word: do not forbid. He who is not against you is for you. – In view of the religion of the false prophet, your unanimous action, even with division, will give more triumph to the truth than the current tempting disunity in the spirit. The Bulgarian Church has already lost many hundreds of thousands of its children under your weak action: the current restoration of its former rights can more strongly encourage those who have fallen away to return to the depths of Orthodoxy. He who is not against you is for you. Holy apostles and first teachers of the Slavs! You yourself once fought against the false, self-interested principles of the tripagans, who did not want to give the Slavic language equal importance in the matter of religious service with the ancient languages ​​of the Church: Hebrew, Hellenic and Roman. You, having forgotten all national prejudices, with your labors - solely for the glory of the venerable name of Christ, brought to the light of noon the truth of the Church of God and placed the Slavic peoples, from the very beginning of their conversion, in equal importance, by faith in Christ, with others! – With your prayers and intercession, tame the real storm that is preparing to break out over the Church that you founded. Pray to the Lord Jesus Christ and say now to the successors of the apostolic thrones: do not forbid. He who is not against you is for you. - Amen.