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Exaltation (Elevation) of the Precious Cross

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Based on all of the above, it is possible to establish how the relationship of Orthodoxy to other Christian confessions is determined. First of all, Orthodoxy recognizes itself as the true Church, possessing the fullness and purity of church truth in the Holy Spirit. From here follows its basic attitude towards all other confessions, as those that have broken away - directly or indirectly - from church unity: it can strive for only one thing - to Orthodoxize the entire Christian world so that all confessions flow into the single channel of universal Orthodoxy. This is not the spirit of proselytism or imperialism, this is the very logic of things, for the truth is one, and it cannot measure itself by half-truths. And this does not mean proud arrogance, because the preservation of truth is entrusted not according to merit, but according to election, and the history of the chosen people, as well as Orthodoxy, sufficiently shows how little worthy these guardians can be. But the truth is inexorable and unyielding, and it does not tolerate compromise. However, how is this Orthodoxy of the entire Christian world understood? Is this, first of all, entry into a certain church organization, the conquest of church imperialism, as it inevitably turns out to be for the Roman Catholic Church? But in Orthodoxy there is not even such a single church organization to which one could join, for it represents a system of autocephalous local churches that are connected with each other. Of course, isolated accessions to Orthodoxy through joining one of the local churches have always happened and continue to happen, but this does not resolve the issue of the relationship between church communities or confessions. The latter could be resolved only through the fact that these communities, preserving their historical, national and local features, through approaching Orthodoxy in teaching and life, would be able to enter into the unity of the universal Church as one of the autonomous or autocephalous churches. This external adherence to Orthodoxy presupposes, of course, the presence of an internal movement towards it. The basis for such a movement is that all church communities, no matter how far they diverge on their church path, retain within themselves a significant part of the universal tradition and, therefore, involvement in Orthodoxy. They all have the grain of Orthodoxy. And this spirit of Orthodoxy, living in the universal Church, is more obvious in the eyes of God than in the eyes of men, primarily because all Christians who have undergone holy baptism are Christians, therefore, Orthodox, for Orthodoxy contains both a wide outer circle, like a church yard, and a narrow circle - the temple and the holy of holies. And Orthodoxy strives not to subjugate, but to instruct, and what instructs, in addition to direct human efforts, is the Spirit of God living in the Church. At this point there is a fundamental difference between Roman Catholicism and universal Orthodoxy. For the first, accession is, first of all, submission to the power of the pope, which extends over the entire Christian world (“omnis creatura”). For Orthodoxy, the question of external subordination does not exist at all, and if it arises, it is either when resolving the question of the canonical structure of a community newly entering into universal unity, or as a result of the power-hungry claims of some local Church, of which there have been many examples in history. Therefore, the ideal of “union of churches,” as it is presented to modern humanity, is fully realized by their entry into Orthodoxy, in the very case when it is accomplished not at the minimum, but at the maximum of the common property. The identification of an abstract minimum, regarding which all church societies agree, is of course not capable of leading to unity, although it may constitute the first step on this path. And only their mutual rapprochement with each other in doctrine and life to the maximum extent can lead the Christian world to real unity. But this maximum is Orthodoxy. It cannot be some kind of compromise amalgam, a kind of religious Esperanto. Still less can he be indifferent to all dogmatic questions. It cannot be something new in the history of the Church, if only because in this case the entire previous life of the Church would have turned out to be a mistake, a misunderstanding, and non-existence. Orthodoxy is the internal path and internal necessity for the universal Church on the path to unity, for only in it, as in the truth, do individual questions and misunderstandings of all Christian confessions find answer, satisfaction and completion. Orthodoxy is not at all a confession, as one of the religions - history makes it such, as a result of division - it is the Church itself in its truth; one can even add that, becoming only a religion, it does not manifest itself in all its universal power and glory, it hides, as it were, in the catacombs. And this process of restoration of universal Orthodoxy is taking place uncontrollably in the world before our eyes, as the desire for sectarian isolation ceases, and as the universal spirit triumphs over sectarian pharisaism. This is not done at all due to the proselytism of Orthodoxy, which is not there at all and for which in modern historical Orthodoxy, perhaps, there would not have been sufficient strength. It is not people, but the Spirit of God - perhaps even despite human weakness and limitations - that leads people to Orthodoxy. In fact, what is the main phenomenon of the spiritual life of the modern Christian world? The desire for a universal Church, for universal unity. But this unity can be achieved only along two paths: Orthodox conciliarity and the authoritarian authority of the Catholic church monarchy. However, we can confidently say that whatever the individual successes and conquests of Catholicism in the present and in the near future (which, moreover, among the uncultured peoples of the East are explained not only by religious motives, but also by the cultural superiority of Catholicism), it can be said that the subjugation of the Christian world to papism is a completely hopeless task in our time, it could only become feasible as a phenomenon of spiritual reaction and decline. The world will not become Catholic, and on the contrary, one can observe that Catholicism as papism is becoming increasingly isolated in the Christian world (this became especially clear after the Lausanne Conference and the encyclical of Pope Pius XI Mortalium animos). However, even Catholicism itself is not at all only papism, and in general it is not exhausted by it. Rather, we can say on the contrary that the Vatican monarchy is like a shell or outer shell under which the church body lives. And no matter how deeply the poisons of statism, juridism, and papism in general have penetrated into this body, especially in modern times, the living organism of the Church invariably produces antidotes. And in Catholicism itself, along with triumphant papism (until, of course, this triumph is replaced in history by new defeats), a different conciliar consciousness of the universal Church lives underground, which naturally strives for a different internal unity. This is evidenced, first of all, by all the living holiness present in Catholicism, of course, not because of papism, but despite it, and sometimes in spite of it. This is evidenced by purely religious movements in Catholicism, such as the liturgical one among the Benedictines and the unionist movement, which received expression in the Priore d'Amay. In general, much of the spirit of the ancient Church, living here, cannot manifest itself outwardly here due to the constraining discipline. This can be seen much more clearly in the Protestant world. Stockholm and Lausanne - these two names sufficiently symbolize the movement towards unification that began in the Christian world, and it is already bearing fruit. But this movement of significant revision and verification by Christian communities of their church property leads irresistibly, by the force of things, to a deepening into church tradition and, thereby, to an initially unnoticeable return to Orthodoxy. But it is already becoming noticeable in the progressive movements of the Protestant world, which call themselves “Hochkirchliche Bewegung”. Here, through the desire to restore the fullness of church tradition, with liberation from the deviations of medieval Catholicism associated with the system of papism, a significant approach to Orthodoxy is now obtained, although, of course, a decisive step, perhaps not yet close, would be the actual restoration of the grace-filled priesthood of apostolic succession through ordination from the Orthodox hierarchy. A special place in this movement is occupied by the Episcopal Church - Anglican, American and other countries. Without touching on the question of the validity of the Anglican ordination, which has not a dogmatic, but only a canonical significance, and in this sense can be resolved for Orthodoxy only by a sufficiently authoritative body of church authority, the Episcopal Church throughout the Protestant world is closest to Orthodoxy and is constantly developing in this direction, from Protestantism to Orthodoxy. Given the presence of various trends in Anglicanism, the movement of the so-called Anglo-Catholics, who are constantly moving towards the restoration of the ancient tradition and thereby flowing into the mainstream of Orthodoxy, is becoming increasingly important (the vanguard of this rapprochement are the Anglo-Russian student conferences, organized in recent years by the English and Russian Christian student movements). One can hope that the reunification of Orthodoxy and the Anglo-American Episcopal Churches is a matter of the not-too-distant future and that this will be a turning point in the history of the restoration of the lost church unity, the “peace of East and West.” The Orthodox Church takes part in the modern inter-confessional “ecumenical” movement, in contrast to the Catholic Church. Why is there such a difference in attitude towards him between both parts of the divided Church? The participation of Orthodoxy in this movement, of course, cannot at all mean that it can renounce its tradition in anything or compromise, even revise it (although communication with heterodoxy can also help Orthodoxy itself to achieve the fullness and breadth of its understanding). Orthodoxy is present here to testify to the truth. Although conferences are not councils, they are a preliminary step to it, unction, and there is no reason why Orthodoxy should shy away from this. On the contrary, church love commands to testify to one’s faith, according to the words of the Apostle “I have become all things to all, that I might save at least some” (1 Cor. 9:22). Orthodoxy is not fenced off from the entire Christian world by the wall of papism. For Catholics, the possibility of unction is determined by the preliminary recognition (or at least the assumption of the possibility of recognition) of papal authority, but this obstacle is completely absent for Orthodoxy, which can, therefore, freely and sincerely communicate with the entire Christian world, remaining itself. However, it does not rely on these human efforts and not on the missionary zeal of individual figures of Orthodoxy, but on the power of the Spirit of God living in the Church and leading peoples to church unity. But this unity can only be found in Orthodoxy. Peoples are now looking for Orthodoxy, often without knowing it, and they will find it, for it is said: seek and you will find.
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