From church life: The fight against sectarianism

In the persistence of the schism of the “Old Believers” in all its forms, in the emergence and wide dissemination of new, mostly “rationalistic” sects and in the ineffective struggle of Orthodox missionaries against them, one cannot help but see such a major fact of the modern mood of Russian religious self-consciousness, which should be considered with deep attention. How stable and significant in the number of followers the schism of the Old Believers has hitherto is, it is easy to verify this by picking up a diary or the report of any diocesan missionary. For example: some excerpts from the diary of a missionary of the Saratov diocese: “Lopukhovka is a nest of schismatics of the priestless sect... There are 1,781 souls in the parish, of which 1,123 are schismatics, traces. There are only 658 Orthodox souls left – and that’s only nominally. Two villages are assigned to the parish: Novaya Lopukhovka and Agarevka; in the village itself there are no Orthodox Christians, in Novaya Lopukhovka there are not many, but in Agarevka almost everyone is Orthodox... The village of Lopasteika. There are 3,329 souls in the parish here: of these, about 3,000 are schismatics. About 40 years ago the parish was entirely Orthodox and the peasants were diligent to the church of God and respectful to the clergy 1 . In the Ufa diocese, according to statistical data, there are more than 17,500 schismatics, but in reality there are much more than 2. – The number of sectarians in the Tauride province. according to the report of the diocesan missionary, it is presented (for 1891) in the following figures: “there are 13,449 sectarians and schismatics in the Tauride diocese; including schismatics 1939. The majority of sectarians are Molokans of various persuasions - 11,254. Moreover, in the diocese in 1891 new sects of “separatists” and “anti-quietists of the seventh day” 3 appeared. – According to the data available to the 2nd Missionary Congress in Moscow in 1891, Stundism, together with Baptism and Pashkovism, penetrated into the following provinces: Astrakhan, Vladikavkaz, Don, Ekaterinoslav, Kyiv, Mogilev, Kursk, Minsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod, Oryol, Orenburg, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Podolsk, Polotsk, Poltava, Ryazan, Samara, Saratov, Stavropol, Tambov, Tver, Tauride, Kharkov, Kherson. – The approximate number of Stundists by dioceses is determined as follows: in Astrakhan - about 2500, in Chisinau - about 3000; in Kievskaya - about 5000; in Mogilevskaya up to 200; in Podolsk about 300; in Samara - up to 400; in Tverskaya (Pashkovtsev) 60; in Kherson region - about 5000 4. The Second Congress of Missionaries in Moscow in 1891 classified Stunda as one of the most harmful sects, and newspapers reported that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was developing a restrictive bill regarding Stundism, the main principle of which was the categorical recognition of Stundism as an anti-state and anti-religious sect 5 . The figures presented, the conclusion of the missionary congress and the government measure being prepared speak convincingly about the strength and significance of the fact under consideration. Without a doubt, it is the duty and right of the state to take measures to eradicate phenomena hostile to it by all means of state power. One of these means is the criminal police prosecution of those responsible, the cessation and prevention of criminal activity. But is it enough to limit ourselves to this one tool? Far away, no! True, it is assumed that, along with this measure, the church will continue, perhaps even on an intensified scale, its activities in the fight against sectarianism and its missionary means. Thus, the police will look for sectarians, prevent their meetings and propaganda, the prosecutor will bring those caught to court and seek the strongest possible punishment, and the Orthodox missionary will expose the inconsistency of the teachings of the sectarians and exhort them to join their mother, the Orthodox Church. But if the state and church governments limit themselves to only these measures, then one can predict in advance their result, which is very insignificant and in some respects even undesirable, namely the following: 1) the weak and cowardly of the sectarians will surrender and join the church; 2) those who are cowardly, but devoted to the sect, will pretend to join the church; 3) people with a strong character will become hardened (according to the principle: “persecution hardens the minds of men”) and will close closer together in secret societies hostile to the church and the state; 4) for Orthodox missionaries, if not the doors, then the hearts of the sectarians will be closed forever. Our confidence in this finds justification in the actual results that have already been obtained from the application of almost these measures in the Kherson province, as the one most affected by the shtunda. “The main body - we read in the report of the Odessa St. St. Andrew's Brotherhood for 1890/91, in order to fight the shtunda, the brotherhood had at its disposal special missionaries, specially appointed to combat sectarianism, of whom in the past year there were the same number as in the previous year, namely: 5 district missionaries from the priests of the diocese: 2 traveling missionaries from the laity and 1 missionary priest authorized to act in one deanery district only... In addition, the 3rd The priests of the diocese, who have demonstrated their special experience and zeal in the matter of admonishing the lost, are entrusted with conducting missionary conversations, in addition to their own conversations, also in neighboring parishes infected with sectarianism. In addition, at the request of the Kherson Diocesan School Council, a certificate for the right to carry books (sic!) was issued to the teacher of the Omelnytsky parochial school, Ilya Tertatsky, with the obligation to distribute books and sacred images published by the Brotherhood. All missionaries of the Brotherhood - the report testifies - showed themselves to be fully worthy of their high service for the benefit of the Orthodox Church and the state and carried out the work entrusted to them with high Christian zeal for the salvation of the lost and love for them.” The missionaries did not act alone in their fight against the sectarians: the Brotherhood Council considered it its duty to express deep gratitude to the Kherson Governor, the Odessa Mayor, the Military Governor of Nikolaev, the head of the Nikolaev port and some police officers “for their administrative orders aimed at limiting and admonishing sectarianism.” The council expresses, however. complaint that the police, unfortunately, did not everywhere assist the missionaries in their activities and assures that “in those areas where pastors diligently teach their parishioners and where there is strict police supervision over the actions of sectarians, the Orthodox firmly adhere to the teachings of their church and treat the Stundists with indignant regret,” etc. 6. What were the results of this intensified missionary activity with the assistance of citizens? bosses? - “In 1891, more than 200 persons were annexed to the Orthodox Church - the Report testifies - in different localities of the Kherson diocese” 7. The number is very insignificant if you take into account that in Kherson. There are more than 5,000 Stundists in the diocese alone. But at the same time, the Report does not hide (and for this, of course, it is worthy of gratitude) some very undesirable phenomena. For example, “in the village. In Dymovka, the Stundists, after a long conversation between the missionary and the parish priest, promised to become Orthodox and fulfill all the instructions of the Orthodox Church, which they actually did, although, according to the testimony of the parish priest, not everything was sincere” 8. “According to the testimony of the missionaries - Gov. elsewhere Report - the Stundists have recently become very hypocritical and in order to give their children civil rights, many began to baptize them in the Orthodox Church, hypocritically issuing subscriptions with the obligation to raise their children in the Orthodox faith. So in the village. In Novogrigorievka, many of the Stundists baptized their children, meanwhile, from the missionary’s conversation with them, it became clear that they not only do not recognize the baptism of children, but even deny baptism for adults, saying that only without faith one cannot be saved, but without baptism it is possible: the prudent thief was saved on the cross without baptism” 9 . The report provides the following information about the attitude of sectarians to missionary interviews: “As for the sectarians, despite all their malicious prejudice against the Orthodox missionaries, those of them who had not yet become rigid and not completely hardened in their stubborn devotion to sectarian errors, quite willingly appeared at the interviews of the missionaries and offered them their questions and perplexities for resolution. (But is it sincere?). Those who were extremely rigid and hardened in their delusions, having cultivated in their hearts a fierce fanatical hatred of Orthodoxy, always tried to avoid public discussions with missionaries and, if sometimes they appeared at them, it was only to use their influence to keep the unstable members of their community in sectarianism and in general to hinder in every possible way the success of missionary conversations. In general, the leaders of the Stundists are either very impudent and angry during conversations with missionaries, or, on the contrary, they show secrecy and maintain stubborn silence, especially in public conversations 10. The Stundists sometimes express their hatred of missionaries with delicate, but generally poisonous irony. Eg. “at the end of one conversation, the Stundists thanked the missionary, and the Stundist Sh. said that, in his opinion, the result of the missionary’s conversations would be that many of the Stundists would become Orthodox again; We are afraid of one thing - added Sh. - lest the youth, having returned to Orthodoxy, become accustomed to drunkenness 11. In Elizavetgrad, even the famous leader of the Stundists, B-v, after numerous interviews with the missionary priest, told him that he was close to Orthodoxy, that he would eventually return to the fold of the Orthodox Church, but in view of the strong mental struggle he experienced as a result of his 20-year stay in Stunda, he asked the missionary to wait, and noted that a good Stundist would be good and Orthodox 12. In one conversation, the Stundists, among other things, explained this to the missionaries: “holy baptism is a simple teaching of the word of God; at the Last Supper the Savior did not break bread, but only offered spiritual teaching; with a net thrown into the water at the command of the Savior, they caught not fish, but people... and you, the Stundists added, turning to the missionary and parish priest, “the Savior wanted to catch you with his net, but did not have time” 13. In general, to what extent missionary competitions taught the Stundists tactfulness and caution, and appeals for assistance to the civil authorities managed to arouse hatred and distrust of their Orthodox interlocutors, this is clearly demonstrated by the following phenomena that took place in the past year in Odessa and its district cities. Last year, in addition to the native missionaries, to compete with the Stundists, he arrived in Odessa at the special invitation of the Rev. Archbishop Sergius, the famous blind missionary A.E. Shashin. On February 7, he arrived in Odessa and the Odessa St. Andrew's Brotherhood immediately upon his arrival sent out to the residents of Odessa on special sheets an invitation to conversations “a message to those who had separated from St. Church of God: 1 the verb Old Believers, 2 calling themselves Baptists, brothers, etc., to whom they were invited to “listen to the conversations of A.E. Shashin, “the blind man wise by God” and to talk with him about questions of faith that cause bewilderment” 14. – Then, on February 9, a series of “conversations” began in Odessa itself. The 1st conversation on February 9 took place in the assembly hall of the Theological Seminary. Such a huge mass of people had gathered that the modest-sized hall of the theological seminary was absolutely unable to accommodate all those who came, so that the people standing in thick rows around the entire seminary building had to disperse in sorrow. The conversation was about the eternity of the Church of Christ. The blind orator spoke for a long time and beautifully, and after his speech several times he addressed his request to the sectarians “to speak out without any fear,” but none of them responded to the challenge. The 2nd conversation took place on February 10 in the audience of public readings, which accommodated more than 1000 people and, however, did not accommodate everyone. And again the missionary spoke well and for a long time and made repeated calls to the sectarians, but “this time they were silent.” The 3rd conversation took place on February 11th in the same audience and with the same crowd of people. The missionary spoke especially eloquently and meaningfully, and again, in response to his most earnest request to talk, no one responded to the missionary’s call to talk. Only during the conversation, one unknown woman publicly announced that she had been to a church and a German church, but there is no better Orthodox service and therefore she prefers the Orthodox faith to all other faiths, and thanks the defender of the Orthodox faith, Mr. Shashin, for clarifying the truth and asks to accept bread and salt from her, which was then given to Shashin.” The 4th conversation took place on February 12 and was directed specifically against the so-called Old Believers; Counting on the fact that this time there would be co-questionnaires, Shashin also prepared books for the interview: The Helmsman, the Great Catechism, Kirill’s Book, etc. However, this time there were no co-questionnaires and Shashin ended the conversation with only gratitude “for attending his conversations.” Only at the 5th conversation, which took place in the Romanovka settlement, the Stundists declared themselves and declared themselves extremely hostile to the missionary: so before the start of the conversation, while singing “Heavenly King” and “Quiet Light,” the Orthodox stood with their faces turned to the icons, “and the Stundists turned their backs to them.” After that, and during the conversation, one of the Stundists, V., found himself to join the competition. With the Gospel in his hands, he declared that he agreed to enter into an interview, but only on the basis of Holy Scripture, and not St. a tradition that the Stundists do not recognize.” The interview passed without much excitement and the interlocutors each remained with their own convictions. The 6th conversation took place again without co-questionnaires; On the 7th, some Stundists competed, but again, the competition ended without any results. During Shashin’s 8th and last conversation in Odessa, one young Old Believer entered into an interview with us and started talking about the formation of fingers, but his explanations were extremely unsatisfactory and were interrupted by two boys who handed Shashin a case with a grateful address from the Odessa youths for his conversations. This is how E. A. Shashin’s mission in Odessa ended 15. Naturally, the question arises: what does this stubborn avoidance of the Stundists from talking with Shashin mean? From the further description of his conversations conducted in different places of the Kherson diocese, this question is partly clarified: the Stundists were afraid of Shashin, suspecting him, if not directly as a police detective, then in any case they feared that the consequences of interviews with him would be trouble for them. Thus, in the village of Lyubomirka, the Stundists avoided objections, citing the fact that they were in danger from a frank conversation. In vain did the missionaries (who accompanied Shashin) persuade the Stundists to talk, assuring them that they were not gathered here to later be exiled somewhere, as the Stundists imagined, but were convened solely for the mutual exchange of thoughts. The Stundists stood their ground.” The Stundists said this feignedly or not, but since they considered it possible to put this reproach in the eyes of the missionaries, and these latter decided to assure that the Stundists would not be sent somewhere for their frank conversation - this circumstance clearly shows that the missionary cause has already suffered a lot from the assistance of the police power. But this is not enough; From the description of the Stundists’ conversations with other Misssoners, one gets the impression that the Stundists are incomparably more tactful than the so-called. verb Old Believers. They did not go to compete with Shashin because they very thoroughly realized that their position was among the majority of Orthodox Christians, in the presence of the authorities. after all, it is not profitable, and their competition with a blind orator who impressed the Orthodox, and an experienced debater at that, would only humiliate them in their own eyes. Stubborn silence, despite the most convincing requests of the missionaries, on the contrary, rather humiliated these latter than them, who were being asked and courted. Stundists conduct their competitions very smartly and tactfully; They say little, but with great dignity and in an hour they accurately attack the garrulous missionary who has missed his target. Noteworthy in this regard are the conversations with the Stundists of missionary Fr. F. Stamatyev, described by himself. Like A.E. Shashin and Fr. F. Stamatyev is the main character in the conversation; he speaks a lot and clearly; Stundists listen and only occasionally express their opinions; but how do they express it? Briefly, categorically, or in the form of a question that represents a real objection, and not at all bewilderment, a desire to find out something that interests the co-questioner; so from reading the conversation one gets the impression that it is generally unfavorable for the missionary. He seems to be guilty of the truths he professes, defends them, and asks that his defense be considered satisfactory, but his opponents do not agree to this. Here are some episodes from conversations about. F. Stamatyeva. The subject of the conversation was infant baptism. O. F. Stamatyev explained and proved the need for infant baptism; the Stundists certainly rejected this need. Both the first and the latter relied exclusively on the New Testament. The starting point for the conversation about. Stamatyev took the words of the Lord to Nicodemus: unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Birth by water and spirit is baptism. But Christ expressed this truth in an unconditional form, making no exception for infants. This means that baptism is also necessary for an infant. The Stundists responded to this by pointing to the words of the Lord: go and teach all tongues to baptize... those who have faith and are baptized... and the words of the Ap. Peter: repent and let everyone be baptized, and from this they concluded that baptism must be preceded by conscious faith and repentance, but infants cannot learn, and have no need for repentance, traces. they cannot and should not be baptized. To this, the missionary began to say that the words cited by the Stundists applied to adults, and not to infants, and therefore the Lord preceded the commandment of baptism with the commandment of learning and repentance. - But the Stundists demanded that the scripture indicate the baptism of infants. Realizing this, the missionary began to cite passages from the Acts of the Apostles. and last Ap. Paul, which talks about the baptism of all the household of a famous person (Acts XVI, 14-55; XVI, 33; 1 Cor. I, 16), and concluded that among these household there were probably babies, to which he was met, however, with the following remark: “maybe they were, but maybe they weren’t.” The missionary spoke a lot after this, but in response he received only a categorical statement made several times: “infants do not need to be baptized, because even without baptism they will enter the kingdom of heaven, as our Lord Jesus Christ Himself assured us of this, saying: “of such is the kingdom of heaven”; or: “there is no need to baptize babies, because they are innocent, pure, holy, they have not committed any sins yet.” The last statement gave the missionary an excellent opportunity to talk about the depravity and weakness of human nature, which persistently requires grace-filled assistance, which is given by baptism; The missionary really grasped the idea of ​​original sin and in the next conversation he talked about it, explaining that it was necessary to baptize children in order to wash away this original sin. And again the missionary spoke a lot and well, developing the idea that what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit. “Born of the spirit,” he says among other things, “that is, a person born in the sacrament of St. baptism of water and the Spirit, becomes a saint and in his life after baptism he is more inclined to do works of the spirit,” and so on. – And how did the missionary’s long speech end? - The Stundists, after listening to her, objected: “If the parents were washed from original sin in the sacrament of baptism, then it means that it is not in them, and if there is no original sin in the parents, then where does it come from in the children just born from them?” – And in response to this objection, the missionary had to stipulate that although through baptism a person is cleansed of the sinfulness of his nature, the consequences of original sin still remain 16. The unfruitful results of the conversations and competitions we have indicated are not a unique phenomenon, but should be assumed to be universal, as it should be. The reason for this lies in their false statement. Really, who goes to a public competition? Without a doubt, among the sectarians, first of all and only those who have not only already become stronger in their convictions, but also have the skill to compete. They come not to learn, but to win; Therefore, they either really take advantage of the moment to catch their opponent at his word, or they remain stubbornly silent, or they realize that their position for the fight is in some way unfavorable. The listeners also go to the competition; Why are these last ones coming? For edification, to strengthen wavering convictions? – It is courageous to answer yes to this question; in the majority, they look at the competition simply as a tournament, as a baiting of fighters. Interesting information in this regard is reported by the Penza Eparchs. Vedomosti in the articles “essay on the development of literacy in the village of Mordovian Kachim” 17. “Anti-schismatic conversations - we read here - have become a fashion, or rather some kind of mania among the literati of the village. Kachima. On Sundays and holidays, competitions with schismatics often took place in several houses. Sometimes from the battlefield itself they would send to the parish priest for some kind of book. And in the morning, the hoarse soldiers came themselves and spoke in detail about the course of yesterday’s “conversation.” I attended these conversations more than once and always took home a heavy impression after them. They - it’s strange to say - always seemed like fist fights, which Russian people are always a big fan of. At the very least, it is absolutely impossible to call them conversations in the proper sense. A conversation is a completely calm exchange of thoughts. An example of a conversation is presented to us by the conversation of Jesus Christ with Nicodemus, which, as we know, took place secretly at night. The so-called conversations with schismatics, which are carried out publicly, even if they are conducted by educated and experienced people, do not do without extreme excitement of the parties and always have the nature of a dispute, polemic. That’s why so many curious people always flock to them, with the majority understanding absolutely nothing about the subject of the dispute and only watching how who “snatched” and “cut” whom, and how one or the other became a dead end. This majority looks at the schismatic lecturer and the Orthodox missionary in exactly the same way as they looked at fist fighters in the old days; They are sometimes called for a lot of money from hundreds of miles away; it happens that during the conversation itself, the defeated party telegraphs to a famous reader or missionary to come to the next conversation to save the brethren. With such a formulation of the matter, even properly organized public competitions with schismatics cannot produce good results: the dispute in itself is already something opposite to peace and therefore inciting an artificial dispute in order to reconcile the disputants is, at the very least, inappropriate. As for the impromptu conversations that are conducted by poorly developed rural literates, these conversations can only be conducted due to the extreme bitterness of the talkers. In order not to be unfounded, I will point here to one of these conversations, which took place in the village. Kachime. During the Great Lent of the past year (1892), after this conversation, the Orthodox filed a denunciation against the schismatics, accusing them of blasphemy, and one of the schismatics filed a complaint against the Orthodox in the volost court for public insult to honor. The missionaries of the Kherson diocese do not think so: they are working hard to increase the frequency of competitions with the Stundists; they themselves ask for these competitions, looking for an opportunity to talk with them; they write letters of petition to the leaders of Stundism asking them to organize a meeting of Stundists for a conversation, that is, for a competition - and they do this in the hope that with their competitions they will sway the hardened Stundists, strengthen the wavering Orthodox and attract new Stundists to their side. If there were cases of a favorable outcome of the competition for the missionary, then the reason for them was not in the victory over the enemy, won by the power of dialectics and arguments, but in the positive content of the conversation, in the entertaining nature of its content, in the cordiality of relations with those in error, in one’s own sincerity and warmth of inner conviction. The word of a missionary should be in the proper sense the word of an evangelist, a word of consolation, which itself attracts, i.e., produces a pleasant, joyful impression and involuntarily captivates 18 into obedience. When going to the Stundists, let the missionary leave the thought of the objects that constitute their stumbling block, and choose his own subject, his own topic for a word of consolation. And if it is heard, and if the listeners themselves turn to him with their objections, then the missionary can satisfy them. But then his position will be incomparably more advantageous - because then he is the party repelling the attack and not the attacker, obliged to defend the attack with arguments. How much a simple word of sympathy means for someone who is lost - we find the proof in the following. a beautiful scene described in No. 17 of the Kherson diocesan bulletins: “In the spring of this year, while surveying, on behalf of His Eminence Sergius, some districts of the Kherson diocese, the vicar of the Kherson diocese, His Eminence Memnon, in the village of Karlyugovka, the Right Reverend was met by residents who had recently converted from Stundism to Orthodoxy; they approached the Vladyka for blessing; However, between them there was one Stundist, an old man of 70 years old, Gerasim Florenko, who did not want to accept the blessing. Vladyka noticed him and entered into a conversation with him: “Aren’t you a Stundist, old man? - asked the Lord. “I don’t believe in the German way, but as the Gospel teaches,” answered the embarrassed old man. – “But don’t the Orthodox Church and its shepherds teach according to the Gospel and not what Jesus Christ and His Apostles teach? “I myself am an illiterate person,” the old man answered, “and listening to others, I think that you only need to act as it is written in the Gospel.” “Yes,” said the Bishop, Christians should live as the Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches, but what exactly it teaches, we should listen to legitimate teachers, and not those who, without any morals, impostorly, undertake to teach dark people, being themselves blind.” - How old are you? asked the Lord. “Yes, over 70 years,” Florenko answered. “Then the Reverend approached Florenko and, placing his hand on his head, said: “It’s time, it’s time for you, old man, to repent. Look, death is behind you, and behind death is God’s judgment and reward for your deeds... Why should you, an old man, and even an illiterate one, listen to empty people and evade the truth! Your fellow villagers have all repented and returned to the true path, but you persist, even being illiterate. You shouldn't, old man, resist the truth. May the Lord save you!” “With deep feeling, Florenko listened to the Bishop and in his soul there was a revolution of convictions, and perhaps a consciousness of error, since Florenko was crying at that time.” Soon afterwards he joined the church 19. “Talking to Stundists with a missionary purpose,” notes one Stundist observer, is to immediately arm them against everything that the missionary is talking about. If the conversation is created by itself, moving from extraneous subjects, the Stundists are only listeners, without entering into passionate bickering” 20. Forcing a missionary to admonish him is not tactful and humiliating, and is not at all required by his title. The Apostle bequeathed: a person who is a heretic shall deny the first and second punishment. This commandment, of course, is not only obligatory for the modern missionary, but also a very wise commandment. Competitive interviews undoubtedly brought and continue to bring significant benefits in the special environment of the so-called Old Believers, but of course, provided that they are conducted in good order. However. and the Kachim competitions described above, for all their external unattractiveness, are far from fruitless: they awaken a thought, in the dark mass of the bookish Old Belief, a completely dormant thought; for here the main foundation of perseverance rests on blind faith in old books. But in the opinion of sectarians of this kind, books (precisely old ones) are not subject to criticism and interpretation: “read it as it lies” and you will find out the truth. “Here, read the book and you’ll see.” To all the arguments and long explanations, the schismatic will say with imperturbable calm and with full consciousness of his dignity: “That’s all so. We know this ourselves too. Show us all this in ink!” 21 Intelligent competitions of missionaries with such fanatical book-worshippers, in the presence of semi-literate or completely illiterate schismatics and Orthodox Christians, but possessing common sense, really produce good fruits: difficult times have come - one schismatic said about the awakening inquisitiveness in the dark mass of schism - and the illiterate began to argue about faith; This didn’t happen before” 22. For this reason, interviews with schismatics in Moscow, Saratov, and Nizhny are undoubtedly beneficial. But what is good for Saratov is not good in Odessa. A.E. Shashin is a godsend for Moscow, but in Odessa he found himself alone - without competitors. But how to deal with the stunda? The missionaries claim that the Stunda is “the most harmful sect,” that it is dangerous for the church and the state, and that, therefore, both the church and the state need to vigorously fight against it. Reality, that is, those facts from the life of sectarians that the missionaries themselves present to justify such an opinion, says otherwise. What is Stundism and how is it harmful to the church? It is noteworthy that in response to this question we hear, on the one hand, that until now Stundism has not yet clearly elucidated its dogmatic side and has not created a definite cult, on the other hand, that it has already managed to divide into sects - Old Stundism, Young Stundism, New Stundism. This is clear evidence of the internal failure of Stundism as a religious sect. The whole essence of this sect lies in the fact that its members are taught some external decency, such as: sobriety, frugality, external good behavior; they form meetings at which they read the New Testament of the London edition with a tendentiously composed symphony 23, under the guidance of which their mentors interpret the passages of St. writings that serve as the basis for the Orthodox Church of institutions denied by the Stundists. At first, while polemics with Orthodox missionaries are interesting and have a stimulating effect on sectarians, their interpretation of scripture and reading it still have some vitality: but this is also a matter of time. The Stundists, further, sing some psalms and poems: but their sacred poetry is poor in both content and inspiration and sometimes has only one merit - extreme pessimism, desperate sadness 24: but you must agree, this is insufficient food for religious feeling. The only thing that the Stunda is still strong with is its hatred of the Orthodox hierarchy, of external church rituals, which the Stundists consider an invention of the clergy, as a means of profit. As can be seen from here, Stundism is, on the religious side, a kind of church nihilism, but still a very weak religious sect. Stundism, the missionaries say, is very harmful for the state. But what harmful things have been noticed about the Stundists in this regard? “Facts have been noticed that the Stundists dream of some kind of southern Stund tsar, of a war between Russia and this tsar, from whom they expect both the division of lands and better times for their sect. Places of St. The Stundists interpret the Scriptures, which talk about obedience to authorities, about taxes to Caesar, as follows: the Apostle wrote this to the Romans, and the Romans were holy Stundists - Anabaptists, Germans; and Christ commanded to give to Caesar, and this Caesar was a holy Anabaptist, a Stund German. From this it is clear that this word of God refers to the fact that we should honor the Stundian Anabaptist kings and leaders who will yet be. And since now they (i.e. Orthodox tsars) there is still time and the region is dark, and the Shtundo-Anabaptist brethren still have little strength against the Orthodox, then it is necessary to try to pay taxes against the Orthodox as regularly as possible and fulfill all government duties so that they cannot notice that all of us who have apostatized from Orthodoxy have become infidels to the Orthodox government and so that they, seeing such our correct execution of government duties, would not forbid to retreat from Orthodoxy and multiply – our Stundo-Anabaptist brethren.” With the advent of this Stundist kingdom, expected by the sectarians, the land from the Orthodox landowners will be taken away and divided among the Stundists; then all the common people who just join the holy Stundists and Anabaptists will have great good: freedom for everything and luxury; everything will be common: shops with silk and other goods will be open to everyone - whatever anyone needs, take it for free; there will be no money, everything will be done through mutual agreement and fraternally. Further, the Stundist, separating from Orthodoxy, becomes an enemy of everything Russian and gives his sympathy entirely to the Germans: “The Germans are richer and smarter than us,” say the Stundists, “they have a purer faith, better order, so we must obey them more than our synod.” Blindly submitting to German influence, the Stundists try to imitate the Germans in their external life. Becoming a Stundist, a Russian peasant first of all changes his appearance, shaves his mustache and beard in the manner of a German colonist, dresses in the typical costume of this colonist - a shirt with a turn-down collar, set into trousers, a jacket and very high boots, gets himself a short German pipe and then strives to arrange his whole life in the German way. The very speech of the Stundists changes dramatically, forming some kind of meaningless mixture of Little Russian and German” 25. No matter how sad it is to hear the news of this betrayal of the South Russian Stundists to their homeland and nationality; no matter how sinful these dreams of future land holdings and shops with silk goods are, all this is too stupid and naive to be considered a dangerous phenomenon for the state and to be charged as a criminal and political crime requiring the strictest prosecution and punishment. But there can be no doubt that behind these funny figures of proletarians, half-German crests, there are hidden some evil geniuses who dressed the crests in this funny costume. The Congress of Missionaries, discussing the conditions and reasons that favored the spread of Stundism, established as a fact the economic dependence in which the population of the southern region was on the German colonists. Even at the beginning of the colonization of the Novorossiysk region, all kinds of fugitives, vagabonds, etc. were invited to its population, who settled wherever they pleased; often changing the places of their settlements for the sake of agricultural benefits, they did not form rural communities, remaining free tenants. Having not received land plots after liberation from serfdom, they formed the so-called class. bourgeois tithes, whose number is equal to 1/4 of the total peasant population of the Kherson province. By renting plots of land from the Germans, in whose hands there was a lot of land, they naturally became economically dependent on them, and being a morally unstable element, these bourgeois tithes easily succumbed to the influence of the Germans and made up 3/4 of the total number of Stundists in the Kherson province. But this economic dependence on the Germans extends not only to the indigenous population of the Kherson province. but also for the past. The Kherson steppes in the summer, during haymaking time, attract a lot of workers from adjacent provinces, who come here to earn money and are mostly hired by German colonists. If you ask any of these workers how he lived there, the influence that the German colonists have on our peasant farm laborers will become clear. Few of them will tell you how he had to either get into arguments with his German owner or listen to his judgments about our faith. Yes, there are many occasions for this: holidays, fasting, the sign of the cross during prayer, a cross on the chest, icons in the house - all this usually serves as the starting point in conversations about the Orthodox faith between a peasant and a German, and joint summer field work represents the most convenient time and place for this. Let’s imagine that on a hot summer afternoon, exhausted mowers sit down to refresh their strength with crackers and water, or something like that; skinny mower's bag; his food is meager - he works during Peter's Fast. The Germans also sit next to the mowers: sausage is taken out of their carts instead of crackers, and beer instead of water. The contrast of food evokes the most innocent conversation about fasting. Taking this opportunity, the Germans begin to develop their ideas, illustrating them with examples that deeply penetrate the souls of the common people, and the poison of doubt imperceptibly pours into the believing hearts of the peasants. The rest is over; the scythe buzzes; The grass is rustling, and the mower is haunted by the thoughts inspired by him: “After torturing the German, he thinks, what would be better than a job - a kind of vise, or a kind of straw? And is it easier to cope with cola? That’s why it seemed to be the same with the people: in order for them to cope more easily, the priests invented posts. Can it really be that way?“ Similar thoughts are conveyed to listeners today, and tomorrow, and throughout all work. So our commoner, squeezed by material shortcomings into the mainstream of German life, working for the Germans, first looked closely at new products that were incomprehensible to him and was very surprised how the Germans managed the service without a “priest.” But time has taken its toll... In addition to private propaganda, the congress also turned its attention to systematic propaganda, to the intrusive, annoying, cunning and free dissemination of the Shtunda by the enemies of Orthodoxy, who go around cities and villages to guide, benefit and support local Stunda figures. The outstanding activity in this regard of the Baptist missionary V. Pavlov, who freely travels around Southern Russia for the purpose of propaganda, is known, the agents of the British Bible Society: Miller, Ivanov, the Tiflis merchant Voronin, the main leaders of the Shtunda: Ryaboshapka, Ratushny, Balaban, etc. Propaganda is carried out not only through the living, oral, but also the printed word: in these types the leaders Stunds are delivering and distributing famous brochures of Gr. Tolstoy, Pashkov, the company “Posrednik”, and foreign underground religious leaflets from Hamburg and Frankfurt by a certain Perk. All the leaders of the Russian Shtunda are in correspondence with this foreigner, an agent of the international missionary publishing society, and have the closest fraternal ties 26. This is the situation of sectarianism in the Kherson diocese. Almost the same thing in Tauride lips. For example: description of the village of Astrakhanka, Berdyansk district in everyday life and religious relations: “Being the center of Molokan settlements in the Tauride province. Astrakhan at the same time serves as the capital of all Evangelical Molokans scattered throughout all Russian provinces. Every year conferences or meetings are held there, and matters concerning the state and spread of the sect are considered and decided. In addition to the Evangelical Molokans of the Don persuasion, there are Molokans of the Tambov, Old and New Vladimir persuasion; there are Molokans who have degenerated into Pashkovism, Tolstoyism, Baptism and Stundism; There are also Molokans-Judaizers here, i.e. Subbotniks. And all these sectarians, with all their hostility towards each other, conduct active propaganda among the many Orthodox workers who live in their service. These workers, mostly illiterate or semi-literate simpletons, having hired themselves out to sectarians, are deprived of the opportunity to have communion with the Orthodox Church in prayer and the sacraments, do not hear the teachings of Orthodox pastors and, cut off from the Orthodox family, little by little weaken in the convictions of Orthodoxy, wean themselves from its rituals and finally succumb to the suggestions of their sectarian masters. And only God knows how many annual defections of Orthodox Christians into sectarianism happen in Astrakhan! For hitherto there was no way to keep track of the constantly arriving and departing workers. But confirmation of the expressed judgment can be the fact of the discovery in this one year of 1892 of 16 families who fell away from Orthodoxy to Molokanism in Astrakhan (All these renegades, as it turns out, fell away from Orthodoxy 5, 8, 10 or more years ago...) In 1890, according to the thoughts of the diocesan authorities, it was decided to build an Orthodox church here and assign a permanent missionary to it. But the residents of Astrakhan, not wanting to have an Orthodox church in their village, passionately rebelled against the decision of the diocesan authorities and never wanted to give up a small piece of land for a church and for clergy houses. And only after the communication of His Eminence Martinian with the Tauride governor, the Berdyansk district police officer was ordered at the beginning of 1891 to alienate the land plot - 1.5, - 2 dessiatines. But even at this, the Molokans took their toll: they did not give up the place in the center of the village, chosen by the construction commission, but allocated a place almost in the outskirts, at the end of the village, on a small hill, where only Molokan windmills are located. Subsequently, however. this place turned out to be the most suitable for an Orthodox church, which, towering above the entire village, seems to float above numerous sectarian prayer houses 27. And here is another picture of the same kind: “Of the Russian preachers of Baptistism, the most famous are: Vasily Ivanov, brothers Diy and Gabriel Mozaev. Vasily Ivanov is a peasant from the Elizavetpol province. was seduced into Baptism from Molokanism by Pavlov. Ivanov made his travels to promote Baptistism as a book-carrier for the Bible Society, although in reality he was never one. Apart from Transcaucasia, Ivanov’s place of activity was: Don region, Mogilev, Shevsk, Tambov and other provinces. Of the Mozaev brothers, Diy Mozaev is the most famous among Baptists. He is distinguished by a good gift of speech and sufficient reading in the word of God, he quotes by heart texts from the Holy Scriptures, the rules of the Apostle. and cathedrals, I know a little about church history. Another brother, Gabriel, although less well-read than Diya, was also not without the gift of words; he also memorized many texts of St. Scriptures that he tries to bombard the common listener with. But the main basis for the fame and authority of the Mozaev brothers is their colossal wealth, which they do not spare in promoting Baptistism. Father Ivan Mazaev (Molokan) has up to 20 thousand acres of his own land in the Don and partly in the Kuban regions; in addition, in the Kuban region he holds up to 40 thousand dessiatinas in rent. The Mozaevs employ up to 200 people all year round, and in the summer up to 2000 people of the Orthodox faith. Among these workers, first of all, double propaganda is carried out: by the father - Molokan, and by the sons - Baptist. Both in the field, through the workers, and at the place of rest after a hard day, the most absurd and most offensive thoughts for Orthodoxy are instilled in the workers, and all these absurdities are supposedly confirmed by the texts of Holy Scripture. The result of such work is that many of them return either with a broken heart or outright sectarians. Not content with this t.sk. Promoting Baptistism at home, the Mozaev brothers extend their activities far beyond their homes. Diy almost gave up farming and devoted himself exclusively to the work of preaching, and therefore in the Baptist community he is called a “preacher and elder” 28. In view of such circumstances, the question of rationalistic sects becomes significantly more complicated and ceases to be a purely ecclesiastical issue. Here we are talking about means of struggle against the Germanization of the South Russian proletarians - a question of great political importance. Simple criminal prosecution of a sect as extremely harmful and missionary competition in this case is a palliative that, if it brings benefit, will be relatively insignificant. The pressure from the police and criminal authorities will fall on those who are already materially and morally depressed and downtrodden, and meanwhile the main perpetrators of evil will remain on the sidelines, calmly contemplating the death of their victims and laughing at the measures taken against the sect. The eradication of evil, the radical struggle against it is a matter of the highest internal state policy... Finally, both according to the instructions of the congress of missionaries and according to the testimony of private observers of the population affected by the shtunda, favorable conditions for the latter also lie in the internal life of our parishes. In this regard, the following are indicated: the lack of timely and proper satisfaction of the thirst for religious thought and the inquisitiveness of the people on the part of the shepherds, the poverty of the religious knowledge of the people, reaching the point of ignorance, insufficient vigilance on the part of the shepherds in accepting and reflecting propaganda, the dry and arrogant attitude of the shepherds towards the common people, and finally - the insufficient number of churches when scattered into separate settlements across the vast steppes: according to statistics from Of the 167 settlements of the Kherson diocese infected with Stundism, 105 do not have Orthodox churches 29 . Every cloud has a silver lining! May God grant that the sharp attacks of the Stundists on the Orthodox hierarchy and clergy, and also on the Orthodox people, have an exciting effect, causing a friendly and energetic reaction on their part: as the party under attack, the clergy and laity should unite more friendly, first of all, among themselves and, making, if possible, conquests among the enemy, direct close attention and not lazy work to the internal structure of their camp, so that the captive the enemy has found in him affection, peace and proper nutrition: then he will naturally discard all thoughts of vile desertion. However. this reaction has already become apparent to a significant extent: parish life in all parts of Orthodox Rus' is beginning to be enlivened by the organization of parochial schools: in their structure, and sometimes even in their very youth, such phenomena are often discovered, such bright joyful pictures of people’s life, which immediately refresh and inspire the soul of the observer after experiencing difficult, gloomy impressions inspired by the dark figures of Stundism, Pashkovism, Netovism, Khlystism, etc. But about them until the next issue. Saratov. Eparch. Ved. 1891 No. 18. Ufimsk. Eparch. Ved. 1892. No. 12, p. 255. Tavrich. Eparch. Ved. 1892 No. 9. Poltavsk Eparch. Led. 1892. No. 2: Question about the Stunda at the 2nd Missionary Congress. in Moscow. Moscow. Ved. 1892. No. 297. See Kherson. Eparch. Ved. Nos. 3 and 4. Kherson. Eparch. Ved. No. 3. page 59. Eparch. Kherson. Ved. No. 4, p. 87. Kherson. Eparch. Ved. No. 3, page 46. Kherson. Eparch. Ved. No. 4, page 85. Kherson Eparch. Vedom., 1892, No. 5. Penzen. Eparch. Ved. 1892 No. 17. Thus, it is said about the preaching of the Gospel and the Apostles: “Many people listened to Him with delight” (Mark 12:37); “and it was sweetness that you listened to him” (Mark 6:20); “Having heard it, my heart was touched” (Acts 2:37). Khersonsk. Eparch. Ved. No. 17. Kyiv dioceses. Ved. No. 7, p. 190: from a conversation with Stundists about the Gospel and St. legends. Penzen. Eparch. Ved. No. 17. p. 688. Missionary team. near Ryazan. Eparch. Ved. page 50. A detailed description and critical analysis of this publication was made by G. Iv. Troitsky to Podolsk. Eparch. Ved. No. 18. Here, as a sample, is one of the Stundist poems we took from a collection published in Tavrich. Eparch. Gazette Nos. 16 and 17. My guardian light has disappeared The kingdom is holy, the house is holy I cast myself into the abyss and so on. Or for example. poem (No. 8), the only merit of which is the feeling of joyless grief: Oh happy I was born What have I got to suffer, You are my son, my dear, When you were still little And in prisons and in need, The voice sang throughout the whole earth, And the Son of God weeps bitterly, (Sic!) Satisfies all the villains (Sic!) To God be glory and power, forever and ever Amen. 1) Probably, the parents are relatives, i.e. happy relatives... The question of the Stunda at the 2nd missionary congress that took place in Moscow in 1891. Poltava. Eparch. Ved. No. 2, pp. 73, 74. Poltava Eparch. Ved. No. 2: The question of the Stunda at the second missionary congress in Moscow, pp. 56–57. Tavrich. Eparch. Ved. No. 14, pp. 645–647. Kyiv Eparch. Ved. No. 14, pp. 520, 21: from the history of Stundism. Poltava Eparch. Ved. No. 2, page 64.