Today’s numerous churches and various sectarian cults make it difficult for many to understand which of these is the true Church and whether, indeed, there exists one true Church in our time. Perhaps, some think, the original Apostolic Church gradually disintegrated, and now only fragments exist of her former spiritual richness, blessedness, and truth. With this view of the Church, some consider that she can be reconstructed from existing Christian denominations by means of agreement and mutual compromises. This point of view is notable in the contemporary ecumenical movement, which does not consider any one church to be the true Church. Perhaps, others think, the Church never actually had anything in common with the formal established churches but always consisted of the faithful believers belonging to the various church groups. This latter belief, advanced by contemporary Protestant believers, is reflected in the teaching of those who call it the "invisible church." Finally, for many Christians it is unclear that there need be any church at all if man is saved through his faith.

All these contradictions and, in reality, false concepts about the Church flow from a misunderstanding of the central teachings of Christ on man’s salvation. When we read the Gospels and the epistles, it becomes clear that, in the words of Christ, man cannot save his own soul individually and independently but rather in unison with other Christians who comprise the blessed kingdom of God on earth. Indeed, in its battle against the Church, the kingdom of evil, governed by the power of darkness, works in a unity of which the Savior reminded us, saying, "If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?" (Matt. 12:26).

In addition, despite the diversity of contemporary thought on the Church, the majority of righteous Christians agree with the view that in the apostles’ time there existed one Church of Christ as a single community of the saved. The book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies to the existence of the Church in Jerusalem when, on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of our Savior, the Holy Spirit, in the form of flaming tongues, descended on the apostles. From that day on, the Christian faith spread quickly to various parts of the Roman Empire. As a result of the dispersion of the faithful, there developed Christian communities, called churches, in cities and towns. In their daily life, because of the great distances between them, these congregations were more or less isolated. However, they considered themselves part of the organization of the one, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church. They were united in one faith, in a single source of enlightenment, and steeped in the blessed sacraments: Baptism, Holy Communion, and the laying on of hands. Originally, these blessed sacraments were performed by the apostles. However, soon after, helpers were needed, and among the members of the Christian congregations, the apostles selected worthy candidates chosen to be bishops, priests, and deacons. The apostles instructed the bishops in their responsibility to follow pure Christian teaching, to teach the faithful to live piously, and to ordain new bishops, priests, and deacons. Thus, the Church, during the first century, like a tree, constantly grew and spread its branches over various countries, enriched by spiritual experiences, religious literature, church services, and, later, by church choirs, the architecture of the churches, and ecclesiastical arts, but always preserving the essence of the true Church of Christ.

The Gospels and Epistles did not appear right away or even simultaneously. For many decades after the establishment of the Church, the source of teaching was not the Holy Scriptures as we have them today, but the oral preaching that the apostles themselves called "the Tradition," that is, the true religious teaching. In the Church it has always had the deciding significance in the question of what was right and what was not. Whenever something arose that was not in agreement with apostolic teaching — be it with regard to faith, administration of the Sacraments, or Church organization — it was recognized as false and rejected. Continuing the apostolic Tradition, bishops of the early Church laboriously checked all the Christian manuscripts and gradually collected the works of the apostles, the Gospels and Epistles, into one complete set, which is called the New Testament, and together with the books of the Old Testament, comprises the Holy Bible we have today. This process of compilation was completed in the third century. Books that were claimed to be apostolic but were subject to debate and were not in complete agreement with the apostolic tradition were rejected as false or "apocryphal." In this manner, it was apostolic Tradition that had the overriding significance in determining which books would be included in the New Testament — the written treasure of the Church. Today, Christians of all denominations use the New Testament — often arbitrarily, without reverence, not realizing that it is the property of the true Church — a treasure carefully collected by it. It is important to remember that "the Bible came out of the Church; the Church did not come out of the Bible."

Thanks to those writers who came before us, disciples of the holy apostles who wrote commentaries, we know many valuable details about the life and faith of the first century Christian era. At that time, the faith in the existence of the one Holy, Apostolic Church was universal. It is natural that the Church then had its own visible expression — in the "suppers of love" (liturgies) and other services, in its bishops and priests, in the prayers and church singing, in the canons (the apostolic rules), regulating life and the relations among different church communities, and in all the manifestations of the life of Christian societies. Thus it must be recognized that the teaching about an "invisible" church or one lacking any order or authority is new and false.

Having agreed with the fact of the existence of a single real Church in the first centuries of Christianity, is it possible to find a historic moment when the Church was broken up and ceased to exist? The honest answer ought to be — no! The fact of the matter is that deviations from the purity of apostolic teaching — heresies — started to crop up even during apostolic time. The Gnostic teachings, which added elements of pagan philosophy to the Christian faith, proved to be particularly dynamic then. In their epistles, the apostles warned Christians against these teachings and maintained that adherents to these sects had turned away from the true Faith. The apostles behaved toward heretics as toward dry branches that had dropped away from the tree of the Church. In like manner, the successors of the apostles, the bishops of the early centuries, also did not acknowledge as competent those who had deviated from the apostolic Faith and excommunicated from the Church persistent adherents of these teachings, following the admonition of the Apostle Paul: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." (Gal. 1:8)

Thus, in the first century of Christianity the question about the unity of the Church was clear: the Church is a single spiritual family of believers, bringing from apostolic times the true teaching, the only sacraments, and the unbroken succession of grace, transferred from bishop to bishop. For the successors of the apostles there was no doubt that the Church is completely necessary for salvation. She safeguards and proclaims the pure teaching of Christ, she sanctifies believers and leads them to salvation. Using figurative comparisons of Holy Scripture, the Church in the first centuries of Christianity thought of itself as the guarded "fold" in which the Good Shepherd, Christ, protects His sheep from the "wolf," the devil. The Church was the vine from which believers, like branches, received spiritual strength necessary for Christian living and good works. The Church understood itself as the Body of Christ, in which each believer, like a physical member, must work for the benefit of all. The Church was like Noah’s Ark, in which believers sailed over the sea of life and reached the harbor of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Church resembled a high mountain, rising above human delusions, and leading its travelers towards heaven, to commune with God, the angels, and the saints.

In the early centuries of Christianity, to believe in Christ meant to believe also in that which He accomplished on this earth, the means which He gave believers for their salvation, which cannot be abused or taken away by the devil. The prophets of the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His apostles definitely taught about the existence of the Church until the end times of the world. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed . . . it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever," an angel foretold to the prophet Daniel (Dan. 2:44). And the Lord promised the Apostle Peter: "Upon this rock (of faith) I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

In like manner, if we believe in the promise of Our Savior, we must recognize the existence of His Church in our times and until the end of the world. We have not yet indicated where the true Church is but only expressed the principle precept that she must exist in her sacred, whole, and real nature. Fragmented, injured, evaporated — she is not the Church.

So where is she? In what signs can she be found amidst the numerous contemporary Christian faiths?

First of all, the true Church must support the undamaged pure Christian teaching, preached by the apostles. In offering truth to people, which consists in the coming of the Son of God to this earth, Jesus said before His crucifixion and suffering, "to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice" (John 18:37). The Apostle Paul, teaching his disciple Timothy how to perform his pastoral duties, writes in conclusion, "that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). With regret, we must admit that in the teaching of contemporary Christians there is much discord. In principle it is necessary to agree that not all can teach truth. If, for example, one church insists that communion is the Body and Blood of Christ, and another that it is not, then it is impossible that both are right? Or, if one church believes in the reality of spiritual power of the sign of the cross, and another rejects this power, apparently one of them has strayed. The true Church must be that one which does not disagree in the faith of the Church of the early Christians. When a person objectively compares the teaching of contemporary Christian churches (as we will further discuss), he must come to the conclusion, that only the Orthodox Church confesses the true Faith of the ancient, apostolic Church.

Another sign by which we can find the true Church is in the blessing or power of God, with which the called Church enlightens and strengthens the believers. Another blessing is an invisible strength. It, however, exists in the outward realm which can be observed by its existence or absence; it is an apostolic continuity. From the time of the apostles, blessings were given to the believers in the sacrament of Baptism, Holy Communion, the laying of the hands (anointing the clergy), and others. Those who accomplished these Sacraments were at first the apostles, then the episcopate and clergy. The right to perform the Sacraments of the laying of the hands was passed on exclusively by apostolic succession, since the apostles selected bishops, priests and deacons. Apostolic succession is like a sacred fire, from which one candle lights the others. If the fire is extinguished or the apostolic chain of succession is broken, then there are no true spiritual leaders or valid Sacraments. The means of salvation for the believers are lost. This is the reason that ever since the apostles’ time, the rite of apostolic succession was always faithfully observed, such that the bishops passed the succession on to deserving bishops. Thus, the laying of the hands comes from the first apostles. The bishops who fall into heresy or behave unfittingly were deposed and lost the right to perform the Sacraments and to participate in the consecration of new bishops.

In our time, only a few churches exist in which this apostolic succession presents no disbelief. The Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and several non-orthodox eastern churches such as the Coptic Church. Modern "Christian" denominations, in principle, reject the necessity of succession of the apostles and clergy. Thus, for this reason alone, they reject the Church of the first century and cannot be called the true Church.

Of course, the spiritually sensitive person needs no outward proof of God’s infinite Grace, since he experiences the warmth and peaceful relationship which he receives from the Sacraments and worship in the Orthodox Church. Christians must differentiate God’s Grace from the harmful spiritualism of ecstasy, which is artificially evoked by sectarians, such as the "Pentecostals" at their prayer meetings. Signs of true blessing consist of peace of soul, love towards God and one’s neighbor, kindness, faithfulness, patience, gentleness and other similar fruits of the Spirit named by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Galatians (5:22-26).

Another sign of the true Church is seen in her suffering. If people find it difficult to determine which Church is the true one, the devil, her adversary, understands this well enough. He despises the Church and attempts to destroy her. Familiarizing ourselves with the history of the Church, we see in truth that her history is written with tears and blood of her martyrs for their faith. At first, this persecution was started by the Jewish high priests and scribes during the time of the apostles. Then came three hundred years of persecution by the Roman emperors and governors. After them, the sword was raised against the Church by the Arab Muslims, then the invasion of Latin Crusaders from the west. They ripped apart the physical strength of Byzantium to such a degree that the stronghold of Orthodoxy could not withstand the attack of the Turks in the 14^th and 15^th centuries. Finally, atheistic communists inflicted their cruelty, destroying more Christians than all the past enemies of the Faith combined had done. But herein is the miracle: the blood of the martyrs becomes the seed for new Christians, and, as Christ promised, the gates of hell cannot destroy the Church.

Finally, a correct comparison is an easy way to distinguish the Church of Christ from false teachings. The true Church must continue to exist from the time of the apostles. It is not necessary to delve into all the details of the development and dissemination of all of the other forms of "Christianity." Suffice to say that when some church appears in the 16^th or another such century, but does not originate at the time of the apostles, it cannot be the true Church. Thus, it is proper to express a protest when other denominations consider themselves the Church of Christ, having their origin in Luther, his followers, or some other sectarian. Such denominations include the Lutherans, Calvinists, Presbyterians, and later, the Baptists, Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals and others like them. These denominations were not established by Christ and His apostles, but by false prophets: Luther, Calvin, the founders of the Church of England, Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, and other latter day "prophets."

The real purpose of this brochure is to acquaint the Orthodox reader with the historical development of the major contemporary "Christian" faiths and the content of their teaching, so that he might see how they differ from one holy and apostolic Church established by Christ. At the time of "Christological disputes," from the 4^th to the 8^th centuries, several heretical groups broke away from the Church. They included the Arians, Macedonians, Nestorians, Monophysites and Monothelites, iconoclasts, and others. Their teachings were condemned by the seven Ecumenical Councils, and their heresies, while very dangerous, have often taken new and "modern" forms in various sects, denominations, cults, and the "new age movement." We will not discuss all of these early heresies here, but will examine the current "religions" claiming to be Christian. First, though, let us examine the true Church.

Studying the history of Christianity, we are convinced that the appearance of the Orthodox Church definitely arises from the time of the apostles. The Church, small at first, like the example of the mustard seed used by the Savior, grew gradually into a mighty tree, spreading its branches over the entire world. Even in the first century, we find Christian congregations in almost all the cities in the Roman empire: in the Holy Land, Syria, Armenia, Asia Minor, Hellene, Macedonia, Italy, Galea, Egypt, North Africa, Spain, Britannia, and even beyond the empire, in far away Arabia, India and Scythia. By the end of the first century, Christian congregations were most often headed by bishops, who were the bearers of the bounty of the apostolic blessings. The bishops also directed congregations which were smaller than in the larger neighboring towns and cities. As early as the second century, bishops of large regions were called metropolitans and were responsible for the bishops in their regions. The metropolitan had the responsibility to meet regularly with the bishops to discuss religious and administrative matters.

In addition to regional episcopal sees in the Roman Empire, there were the imperial dioceses. In major centers of government there developed centers for the more widespread Church organizations, later to be named patriarchates. In the Fourth Ecumenical Council, which assembled in Thessalonica in 451 A.D., boundaries were drawn for the five patriarchal sees: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem (which was not assigned administrative duties but was recognized for its spiritual significance).

With the passage of time and effects of various historical events, patriarchal regions lessened or grew in size. Great changes were brought about as the result of the attacking German nation on Europe (at the end of the 4^th century) pressure from Persia, and the attack of Arabs on the eastern region of the Byzantine Empire (middle of the 7^th century). In the middle of the 9^th century noticeable movement is seen towards acceptance of Christianity by the Slavic nations. In the enlightenment of Bulgaria and Moravia, the monks Cyril and Methodius were especially industrious. From Bulgaria the Christian religion advanced towards Serbia. A great contribution was performed by Saints Cyril and Methodius in their creation of the Slavic alphabet, and in translations from the Greek to the Slavic language selected books of worship and devotion, and Books of the Holy Scripture. Their work prepared Russia for Christianity.

On the northern coast of the Black Sea there existed Christian congregations already at the end of the first century. Massive demands by the Christian Slavic tribes occupying Russia led to the baptism of Russia. In 988, during the reign of the Grand Prince Vladimir, the population of Kiev population was baptized in the Dniper River.

From Kiev, the Orthodox Faith spread to other parts of Russia. The greatness of the Russian Orthodox Church before the revolution can be judged by the following facts: in Russia there were 1,098 monasteries with more than 90,000 monks and nuns. In addition to the Patricarch of Moscow, there were six metropolitans, 136 bishops, 48,000 priests, and 15,000 deacons serving 60,000 churches and chapels. For the instruction of the seminarians there were four religious academies, 57 seminaries, and 185 spiritual institutions. Great quantities of bibles, various prayer books, religious literature, and liturgical texts were printed.

Beginning with the middle of the 18th century, through the labor of St. Herman of Alaska and other Orthodox Russian missionaries, Orthodoxy spread to Alaska, where many Aleutians were baptized. Orthodoxy spread in North America both through the immigration of Orthodox people from Greece and the Slavic nations and through conversion. (There are now more than three million Orthodox Christians in the United States).

Unfortunately, in time, Russia did not treasure her spiritual riches but began to delight in the western ideas. By 1918, attacks were intensified on the Church by atheists in their merciless attempt to destroy all the clergy, the faithful, and the churches. This could be seen in the light of the Book of Revelation, in which great tribulations were foretold for the Christian Faith before the end of the world.

At present, the organization of the Orthodox Church consists of churches centered in Constantinople (with a great number of believers in Europe, North and South America headed by the patriarchal clergy in Istanbul, Turkey); Alexandria (Egypt); Antioch (with its capital in Damascus, Syria); Jerusalem; Russia; Georgia; Serbia; Rumania; Bulgaria; Greece; Albania; Poland; Czechoslovakia; Latvia; and the "Orthodox Church in America." The Finnish and Japanese Orthodox Churches are autonomous. After World War I there developed a great number of Orthodox Greek and Russian congregations (of the Russian Church Abroad) in almost all parts of the world. The total number of Orthodox Christians in the world is now estimated at about 130,000,000.

The naming of the Church as "Orthodox" occurred during the period of religious dispute from the 4^th century to the 6^th century when it became necessary to differentiate the true Church from heresies (initiated by Arias, Nestorius, and others who also called themselves Christians but were outside the Church). The word orthodoxy is translated from the Greek words ortho (right) and doxa (glory), meaning right glory. Other names given to the Church were Catholic, which means "whole" or "all encompassing," meaning that in the Church resides all the Truth and that the Church calls everyone all over the world to salvation, regardless of their nationality or social status. In the translation of the Nicene Creed (the "Symbol of Faith") from Greek to Slavic, the word "catholic" was translated as "universal."

In the Orthodox Church, established national churches — for example, those in Jerusalem, Russia, and Serbia — are often headed by patriarchs, and sometimes by archbishops or metropolitans. To discuss religious matters concerning the Church, the patriarch or metropolitan calls a conference with the bishops. Matters of concern to the whole Orthodox include questions regarding faith (dogma) and the canons (Church laws). These are discussed in the Ecumenical Councils, of which there have been seven. These were attended by delegates from all the Orthodox patriarchates and autocephalous (autonomous) Orthodox churches. Representatives from each patriarchate, including both episcopal, priestly, and lay delegates are sent. In this manner, the system in the Orthodoxy neither unilateral nor democratic but universal.

The teaching of the Orthodox Church in condensed form took shape in the Symbol of Faith, which was established at the first and second Ecumenical Councils in 325 and 381 (in the cities of Nicea and Constantinople). This Symbol of Faith was in turn developed from the ancient creeds, developed during the apostolic period. In summing up the Orthodox teaching, we believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit — the Trinity one and indivisible. The Father is before all time; the Son of God is begotten of the Father before all ages; and the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father from all eternity. We believe in One God, worshipped in the Trinity, eternal, almighty and all-knowing; that of His own Will He created all that exists out of nothing: first, the realm of the angels, invisible to us, and then our visible and material world. God also created people, breathed into us eternal souls, imprinted in our hearts his benevolent law, and gave us free will. He created us to be eternally blessed in communion with Him. We believe that God is eternally just and righteous in His mercy. He governs the entire universe and the life of each one of us, and without His will nothing can be accomplished.

When our first parents disobeyed God’s word, He did not reject them permanently, but through the prophets began to disclose His plan of salvation, promising to send the Messiah, Christ. When the world was ripe for accepting the true faith, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came down to earth, to save us sinners. He taught us how to believe and live righteously. He died on the Cross for our salvation and with His precious blood washed away our sins. On the third day He rose from the dead and began our own resurrection and eternal blessed life in heaven. We believe that on the fiftieth day after His resurrection the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles, who even now are present in the Church, supporting her in spirit and truth. We believe that one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is empowered with invincible power against evil even until the end of the world. We believe that the Holy Spirit, through the Sacraments of Baptism, confession, Holy Communion, the laying on of hands and the other Sacraments, purifies and enlightens believers, giving them strength to live a Christian life. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again a second time upon this earth, at which time there will be the resurrection of the dead and a final judgment, in which every person will be judged according to his deeds. After the judgment, eternal life will begin; for the righteous, eternal bliss in communion with God, for the devil and sinners eternal suffering in hell.

We admit that for salvation it is not enough to have faith alone, but it is necessary to live in accordance with faith. For this reason, we admit to the necessity of fulfilling the ten commandments given by God to the Prophet Moses, and the Beatitudes in the Gospel given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 5:3-12). These laws command us to love God and our neighbor and even to love our enemies (Matt. 5:43-45).

These laws of love place Christian Faith in a moral position above other religions, and from that point of view the Church is the only true path to peace among the nations. Without a sincere love for our neighbor and without forgiveness, wars and total annihilation are inevitable. The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us all to forgive in a remarkable prayer, the "Our Father," when we pray, "and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." In His sermons the Lord teaches faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and justice towards others. Among His sermons one which stands out is the "sermon of the talents" which calls us to develop within ourselves all the gifts given by the Lord, our abilities and talents. True faith must constantly develop inner growth and produce good deeds, because "faith without works is dead" (James 2:).

Christians must not be materialistic, that is, they must behave dispassionately towards material blessings, not use them for selfish purposes, but rather to meet basic necessities and to help others who are less fortunate. Pride, arrogance, selfishness and egoism are loathsome in the sight of God.

The Orthodox Church teaches that each person was created by God with a free will and is therefore responsible for his own behavior. God loves us and has mercy on us sinners. He helps us with every good thing, especially if we call on Him. He promised us: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. 7:7). Earnest prayer enlightens reason, helps overcome temptation, and assist us to live according to God’s commandments. Prayer helps us to enliven our spiritual abilities which become the main purpose for our life on earth.

When the Orthodox Christian experiences misfortune or illness, he must not blame God, but remember that the Lord permits us to suffer for our spiritual benefit, for cleansing from sins and the strength to do good deeds. In troubled times, we must pray to the Heavenly Father, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

We Orthodox Christians honor the saints: the Virgin Mary, prophets, apostles, martyrs, righteous monks and nuns, and other righteous servants of God. After their death the holy ones do not sever their ties to us; they pass on to the heavenly Church, the Church triumphant. There, before the throne of God, they intercede for us, as for their younger brothers and sisters and help us to reach the kingdom of God. For us Russians, we cherish the memory of the apostolic Princess Olga and her grandson, Prince Vladimir, Saints Boris and Gleb, the Righteous Sergius of Radonezh, Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev caves, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Saint John of Kronstadt and many others, including the new Russian martyrs of the 20th century. Likewise, other Orthodox nations have given us many great saints, and all Orthodox Christians venerate all these saints.

Worship in the Orthodox Church is performed according to the order established over the centuries. The most important worship service is the Divine Liturgy. In a specific part of the service the sacrament of Holy Communion is consecrated, and the faithful receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine and mysteriously commune with Him. As the Lord said, "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:54). Before partaking of Communion the faithful confess their sins to God through a priest in order to commune worthily and with a pure heart, as commanded by the Apostle Paul and the Church’s teaching.

Days of fasting exist to aid Christians in overcoming their love of pleasure, their sins, and their spiritual indolence. From the days of the apostles, fasting has always been the rule on Wednesdays and Fridays (to commemorate our Savior’s suffering), before the celebration of the Lord’s birth (Christmas), and especially before the feast of Pascha. This period is called the Great Fast. During fasts, one is not permitted to consume meat or dairy products or engage in frivolity, but should devote time to prayer and reading spiritually profitable literature. The Orthodox faith also calls for almsgiving which includes caring for one’s family, the elderly, orphans, widows, the sick and the poor. It also requires refraining from criticizing anyone, as the Lord Jesus Himself commanded, "judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matt. 7:1). The purpose of our life is constant striving towards righteousness: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48).

Now we will proceed to examine the other "churches." The existence of Christian denominations in the western countries originated from the Lutheran movement, which in its time developed out of protest against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, we will examine the Roman Catholic Church to continue our overview of the churches.

After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 78 A.D., the Christian Church of Jerusalem temporarily ceased to exist, and the Roman congregation and the administration of its bishops advanced to the forefront.

Basing their actions on the central location of Rome as the imperial city and on the fact that Rome was the seat of many first century apostles, the Roman bishops began as early as the third century to advance their leadership position in the Church. The bishops of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire disagreed with this attempt of the Roman hierarchy to assert its preeminence or supremacy.

We have already discussed the church administration and the various ranks of church leadership in cities and regions of the widespread Roman empire, starting from the second and third centuries. Ireneus of Lyon was considered the leader of Gaul, Cyprian of Carthage was another church leader, and Bishops Mauritania and Numedia of Alexandria guided the churches in Egypt. Ephesus became the seat of the churches in Asia Minor, as Rome was the seat of the churches in the Italian peninsula and Gaul. Following the establishment of Ecumenical Councils, such churches emerged as leaders in their regions, possessing both ecclesiastical and secular power. This did not create a conflict among them, nor detract from their equality, and matters regarding all the churches were decided by all the Church representatives in the Ecumenical Councils.

The thirty-fourth apostolic rule states, "bishops of all churches are required to be the first, as the head, and nothing is to be decided without their consent: each one to do only that which concerns his area and region which is his responsibility. But the head does not decide without the consent of the rest. This preserves solidarity. Blessed be God the Lord, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit." In this rule was expressed the main principles guiding the Councils.

In general, apostolic rules and rules of the ancient councils did not allow independence of the head bishop, and especially not absolutism of the Church. Decisions on religious and canonical matters were the responsibility of the Councils of bishops, regionally, or when necessity demanded, at an Ecumenical Council.

Furthermore, political situations resulted in a continually growing influence of the bishops of Rome (the popes). Attacks of barbarians in the 4^th century and the resulting emigration of European people contributed to this. Such barbaric attacks advanced across ancient Roman provinces, washing away signs of Christianity. In the midst of the newly created governments, Rome stepped forth as the standard bearer of the apostolic faith and heritage. The high authority of Roman bishops also controlled religious matters from 4^th to the 8^th centuries in the Byzantine Empire, where the bishops of Rome were considered the defenders of Orthodoxy. Thus, gradually the bishops of Rome considered themselves called to govern the entire Christian world. A new push towards strengthening this despotic attitude of the Roman popes was in a decree issued during the 4^th century by the Emperor Gracianus, acclaiming the person of the Roman pope (a title carried by the Roman and Alexandrian bishops meaning "father"). As early as the 5^th century, Pope Innocent declared, "nothing can be decided without the assembly of the Roman Council and especially in regards to faith, all bishops must defer to the Apostle Peter, who is the head of the Roman bishops." In the 7^th century, Pope Araphon demanded that all the churches accept the rule of the Roman church, claiming its institution by the words of Apostle Peter. In the 8th century, Pope Stephan wrote, "I am the Apostle Peter, by the will of God through the merciful calling of Christ, Son of the living God, in charge of all His power to be the light of the whole world."

All these grandiose claims of the popes were not at first taken seriously by the eastern bishops and did not divide the Church. All were bound by one faith, Sacraments and the awareness of belonging to the one Holy, Apostolic Church. But, unfortunately for the Christian world, this union was shattered by the Roman bishops in the 11^th century and the centuries following. The separation of the Roman Church deepened when new dogmas appeared. First, the Roman church changed the Creed of Faith, adding the words "and the Son" after the words indicating that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. This addition to the Creed is referred to as "filioque" and represents a profound departure from the earliest apostolic theology of the Church. In short, is incorrect and lacks any historical or dogmatic support. Next, they developed new and alien doctrines including a system of "papal indulgences," which provided absolution from sin through payment of money to the church. This was followed by other strange teachings such as the "immaculate conception" of the Virgin Mary and the so-called "infallibility" of the Pope. In so doing, they departed further and further from the true Church, and they distorted the very nature of the Church.

For justification of their leadership, the Roman popes refer to the words of the Savior spoken to Apostle Peter, "thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:18) The holy fathers of the Church always understood these words to mean that the Church is built on the faith in Christ which the Apostle Peter confessed, not on Peter personally. The apostles did not consider the Apostle Peter to be their head, and in the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem in 51 A.D., the Apostle James presided. With regard to the authority of the Apostle Peter, he performed the laying of hands in many cities, not only in Rome, but in Alexandria, Antioch and others. Why did not the bishops in those cities consider themselves as supreme rulers of the Church? If Peter were the supreme head of the Church, his successors could also be said to be the bishops of these cities. Moreover, the Roman Church’s first bishop was Linus, not St. Peter, and Linus ruled as bishop when St. Peter was in Rome. Deeper research into this question leads us to one honest conclusion: the teaching that St. Peter was the head of the Church was a creation of Roman popes produced by their thirst for power and their straying from the true Faith. This teaching was not established by the early Church.

The arrogant claims to supremacy of the bishop of Rome, along with the false teaching that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, brought division between the Orthodox Churches of the East and the western Roman Church. The official separation occurred the year 1054 A.D., when the Roman Cardinal Gumbert placed on the altar of St. Sophia in Constantinople the papal decree declaring a curse on all who do not agree with the Roman Church.

Religious and secular life in the Europe of the 11^th century were closely intertwined. Secular government and the ability to declare war were not supposed to be within the powers of a bishop, yet the popes of Rome developed and consolidated such secular powers and influence. Pope Pius IX declared a mandate that all Catholics accept the Roman pope’s rule of their secular affairs. At the decree of the pope, whole nations, taking sword in hand, advanced towards those whom the pope named his enemies. In the 13^th century, the pope not only crowned the kings, but allowed disputes between princes, and by his power was able to declare or conclude wars. Furthermore, he had the power to crown kings and emperors or have them removed and their supporters exiled, and he exercised other such far-reaching political powers.

In their battle for power the popes were tireless and used many occasions to remind others of their supremacy and infallibility. Thus, Pope Benedict VIII in 1302 wrote in his papal bull, "we announce that the holy apostolic clergy and Rome’s high priest are responsible for the whole world, and the high priest is the direct descendent of the Apostle Peter, prince of the apostles, representative of Christ on earth, head of the entire Church and father and teacher of all Christians." Similar words can be found in the declaration of the Council of 1870, which finally canonized the "infallibility" dogma and the heresy of the "immaculate conception." In the articles on canonical truth, published in 1917, Pope Benedict XV wrote, "The Roman high priest is inheritor of the first holy Peter, and not only has the honor of being first but has all the highest power of advocacy over the entire Church." This extreme arrogance of the Roman bishops gradually widened the chasm between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Church. One must remember, in spite of this growing schism, that before the 11^th century, the Orthodox Church was in communion with right-believing Roman bishops who cherished the canonical principles established by the apostles regarding the independence of the regional churches. In fact, the Orthodox Church venerates several of the early bishops of Rome, such as St. Leo, as saints.

Nevertheless, in the battle for secular power over the world, the later Roman bishops engaged in disputes with the learned teachers, since a sword in the hands of "representatives" of the gentle Savior was not becoming, and deeply affected the image of the bishops’ service. Many representatives of the Church and independent nations began to be aware of that. The 14^th century was the beginning of the religious and moral downfall of the popes. Their power became more secular than ever, with intrigues, courtly vanity, and avarice. The people began to be disgruntled under the despotic oppression of those representing the pope. A German historian writes, "The clergy behave disrespectfully towards the teaching of catechism, they ignore the Gospel and writings of the Holy Fathers, they are silent about faith, good works and other blessings, they do not speak of the worthiness of our Savior and His miracles . . . and these people hold the highest position in the Church which calls them to be pastors of souls!"

The results were soon evident. In the beginning of the 16^th century, Protestantism was born, which came about as a protest against the Roman popes and was partly due to the criminal inquisitions and tortures committed by the Roman church, and the selling of papal indulgences. And before long, Protestantism itself fragmented into various sects.

For Russians it is important to examine the mutual relationship between Russia and Rome during the history of the past 1,000 years. Already at the dawn of Russia’s baptism (at the end of 10^th century), the Roman pope sent emissaries to Korsun to persuade Prince Vladimir not to embrace the Orthodox Church. Emissaries were sent to Kiev with the same purpose. The pope tried to influence them through the kings of Poland and Czechoslovakia and likewise attempted to manipulate the assembly of Slavic and European princes. In response to the Tartar invasion of Russia, the pope sent armed Swedes and Venetians. Meeting defeat in battle against the Russian armies led by Prince Alexander Nevsky, the pope offered his help to battle the Tartars. He received this response, "God is not found in human strength but in truth." And the Pope answered with armed attacks in the 13^th century and again in the "Times of Trouble" from 1605 to 1612.

The advance of Rome in opposition to Orthodoxy has been uninterrupted over the entire history of Russia. Poland was declared by the pope as missionary territory for the Roman church. In our century, from 1919 to 1929, Roman Catholics took possession of 43% of the Orthodox Churches there. During the first quarter of our century, a new organ of the Roman Church became known as the "Eastern Rite." Through adopting the external forms of worship of the Orthodox Church, the "Eastern Rite" attempted to seduce Orthodox Christians away from their Church.

How many times the merciless Catholics insisted that "the Lord will sweep with a steel broom the Orthodox east for the purpose of empowering the Catholic Church." In 1926 and 1928 the eastern Catholic emissary traveled to Moscow again to make contact with and convert the Marxist internationalists. The Jesuit priest Scwheiger insisted that the Bolsheviks were well prepared to receive the Catholic missionaries, and that the long-suffering Russian people were hostages of the Roman preachers’ efforts. The facts reveal that the aggressive behavior of the Vatican towards Orthodoxy has not let up to this day.

1. Catholicism created new dogmas in conflict with the apostolic teachings and the seven Ecumenical Councils. The most serious deviations from the truth are the Latin dogmas of the procession of the Holy Spirit "from the Son," of the supremacy and infallibility of the Roman Pope, and of the "immaculate conception" of the Mother of God (the claim that the Mother of God was conceived without sin).
2. In opposition to the apostolic tradition, catholic priests must adhere to celibacy.
3. Sacramental distortions: the Sacrament of Communion is not performed according to the apostolic Tradition. Instead of bread and wine, wafers are administered — worshippers are excluded from the wine, which is reserved for the clergy. Thus, the laity are denied the Blood of Christ. Also, the Sacrament of Baptism is performed by the sprinkling of water rather than by immersion as was the Tradition.
4. The Orthodox Church does not recognize "purgatory" (a place between heaven and hell, where the deceased are permitted to atone for their sins). She likewise does not accept the incorrect practice of indulgences, the merciless inquisitions and torture carried out by the Catholic Church, nor the conversion of Orthodox Christians to Catholicism.

Martin Luther, an educated catholic monk and a man with an active conscience, was still in his youth in the year 1510 A.D., when he became aware of the widespread dissolution of the pope’s court and Roman clergy. This greatly affected his theological views and shook his former faith in the clergy of the Roman Church.

In 1516 he saw how financial support for building St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome was acquired through the widespread practice of papal indulgences, which provide for the forgiveness of sins through the payment of money, and moreover, not only the forgiveness of sins committed in the past, but of future sins. Luther spoke out against this blasphemous profiteering. To his spiritual charges he explained that to be free from punishment for sins, one must have an inner change of heart, forgive others, and ask for the forgiveness of God and those one has sinned against. Disputes arose between Luther and the Dominican monk Tetzel. The latter threatened, by the power of his office, to have Luther and his followers burned to death. In response, Luther, in the year 1517, nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Church his 95 theses, in which he disclosed his views on confession, justification through faith, and against the sale of indulgences. The dispute lasted several years following Luther’s rejection of the pope’s authority, for which he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Only the defense of friends in powerful secular circles saved Luther from death. He was supported in Germany by many priests, professors, students, knights and princes. A schism thus began between Rome and the first "Protestants" as Luther and his followers separated from the Roman Catholic Church.

The movement towards purging the church from papal decrees and abuses did not have its boundaries in Germany. Zwingli and Calvin, continuing with reforms, went even beyond Luther in their teachings on morals and sacraments. Calvin’s main teaching was on predestination, whereby God predestined some people from the beginning to salvation and others to eternal damnation. This teaching in reality rejects the Christian necessity for spiritual striving, faithfulness, and good works.

In the beginning the preaching of Luther and Calvin centered on the person of Jesus Christ: "There is no other way; Christ is the only Way and Truth. Without Him it is impossible to find God . . . Only in the incarnation of Christ can God be known, since by sending His Son to earth God disclosed to us His will and His heart."

In the Lutheran Small Catechism it is written, "Luther is a dear and blessed teacher of the Holy Scriptures, reforming God’s Church through restoration of Christian purity and proper presentation of the sacraments."

But this battle for purification of the Church combined non-religious elements, embattled with papal political, economic and personal events. But in rejecting Rome, Luther also rejected the need for apostolic connection and succession. Luther failed to unite with Orthodoxy, though he was at least partially aware of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Placing before him the project of restoring church teaching to its apostolic purity, Luther and his followers were unable to resolve their dilemma; many centuries divided them from the first century Christians, and they did not have the living spiritual experiences nor the wisdom and creativity of the fathers and ancient teachers of the Church. Medieval scholastic education presented Christianity in a slanted light. The single source of discourse for them was the individual, personal point of view, and thus, distortion set in from the beginning.

The Orthodox Church rejected the tradition of traitors as well as the arrogant papal bulls of Rome, which were alien to the Word of God. In failing to return to the true Church, Protestants completely fell away from the apostolic Tradition, rejected the spiritual experiences of the holy fathers of the Church, and ignored the Ecumenical Councils. This left them the Holy Scriptures as their only guidance in the faith; and they interpreted these scriptures arbitrarily.

Lacking the foundation of living Church Tradition and lacking the Grace of the Sacraments became the main sources of straying from the true for the Protestants. In the Orthodox understanding, the Word of God is revealed in the Bible, the Gospels and Holy Tradition, revealed to the Church by the Holy Spirit. "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle," instructed the Apostle Paul (2 Thes. 2:15). And the Apostle John writes, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." (John 21:25) "Not all was revealed by the apostles through their letters and much was not written, but both are worthy of the Faith. That is why we consider Tradition and Faith worthy," wrote St. John Chrysostom. Likewise, many Church fathers taught about Tradition: St. Basil the Great, St. Ireneus of Lyon, Blessed Augustine and other saints of the first century.

In principle, the legacy of Protestantism is a rejection of the apostolic tradition. They accepted as tradition "the canon of the Holy Scripture," confessing primary Christian dogmas: the Trinity, the nativity of God’s Son, and the three ancient symbols of faith (Creeds) in which these dogmas are recorded. Rejecting the authority of the ancient teachers of the Church, they reinforced the authority of the new German theologians; Luther, Calvin and others.

Lutherans believe that salvation and forgiveness of sin were accomplished by the Son of God on Calvary, and not by our works, but through faith alone. The gift of God’s Grace is dependent completely on God and His will. God’s Grace affects the person, influencing him to faith in Christ, and this becomes the single condition for salvation, since only through Christ can man become righteous. The significance of this faith is that the person never doubts in receiving the Grace of God. Through faith, the person becomes righteous in the sight of God, and a justified child of God because of Christ.

This is, in short, the teaching of justification through faith, which is the basis and source of all the Protestant dogmas. The Holy Scripture does not give us reason to accept the teaching of Lutherans; this concept has elements of deviation from the Christian origin. This dogma contradicts the Word of God and is the source of misinterpretation of the words of the holy apostles. Luther accepted in a literal sense the words of the Apostle Paul, "Man is justified by faith alone, not by works," and again, "Man is not justified by works but by faith in Jesus Christ," (Epistle to the Galatians). The Apostle Paul, through these words, did not reject good deeds, but was against the deceitful self-confidence of the Jewish teachers, who believed that salvation was earned by outward deeds in keeping the law of Moses: circumcision, observing the Sabbath, the washing of hands, and other Judaic laws. The Apostle Paul also writes in his letter to the Romans that at the Last Judgment, God will judge man by his works: "You call Father Him who impartially judges each according to his work." The Apostle John writes, "My children, let us love one another, not with words but with deeds." And the Apostle James writes, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works? Can faith save him? . . . For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:14, 26) Christ Himself said that even the infidel can believe, but this belief is insufficient for salvation, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)

Rejecting the deviation of the Roman Catholic church teaching, Luther himself fell into deviation, since he rejected not only the theology of the clergy and Sacraments, but also the apostolic teaching of the Church. Luther said that the true faith is found in the Church where the Word of God is pure and the sacraments are administered correctly. But where are the criteria for purity of God’s Word and rightful administration of the Sacraments, when Luther himself rejected the spiritual experiences of the ancient Church and rejected Tradition and the decrees of the seven Ecumenical Councils, replacing them with his own independent thoughts?

"Spiritual calling is the right of all Christians," said Luther, "we are all priests, that is, all are children of Christ who is our High Priest. We have no need for any other priest but only Christ, because each of us was selected by God Himself . . . all of us at baptism became priests." According to Luther, anyone in church can preach the Word of God and administer the Sacraments. Pastors and administrators are responsible for organization. They are selected by the congregation from the members who are willing to learn the process. From the selected elders, the laying of hands is performed by the clergy. Here, there is no apostolic continuity and spiritual clergy, but only the administrative assignment for the duties of the preacher. This affirmation deviates from the method and understanding of the role of the clergy in the traditional Church and is incorrect, since Jesus Christ and the apostles never assigned any church organization.

In reality, during the forty days after Christ’s resurrection, the Lord spoke with the apostles about the "Kingdom of God" (Acts of the Apostles), that is, the organized Church, which is the congregation of the believers. Only to the apostles did he give the commission to administer the Sacraments and teach the Faith: "And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matt. 28:18-20) Likewise, concerning the right to lead people towards salvation, it is written, "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit." (John 20:21-22) The apostles themselves witness that not the congregation of believers, but the Lord Himself called them to apostolic ministry for Him, "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father (Gal. 1:1).

The apostles flourished and by succession passed on the gift and structure of the Church, which was established by the Lord Himself, themselves performed the laying on of hands, consecrating their successors, the bishops and clergy.

The teaching of Luther on justification through faith influenced changes as regards the Sacraments, which the Lutherans hold only as symbolic in meaning, considering their power as originating in the personal faith of those who worship and claiming that in one’s faith one is justified. The Lutherans retained only two Sacraments, and even those two only in outward form, namely, Baptism and Holy Communion. However, their teaching regarding these Sacraments is original and alien to the ancient Church Tradition.

The result is incorrect worship and a kind of arrogance in communication with God during their church services and, in particular, during the presentation of the Sacraments.

Protestants became alienated from a living brotherhood in communion with God and from the life of the world to come through their rejection of prayers to the saints for help and protection and of prayers for the dead. The reason for this rejection is strictly rational: why bother to pray for the dead if God’s judgment of them cannot be changed, especially since Christ redeemed them in the sight of God? This teaching leads to moral passivism.

Protestantism, in its widespread liberal forms, rejected the value of church experience in favor of one’s own personal suffering and self-righteous experience. If that is correct, then why is God’s mercy and power needed? If "my salvation is complete and accomplished" where is the need to pick up one’s cross daily and follow Christ, and what need to we have even of His Resurrection?

In its early years, Protestantism suffered in the flaw in Luther’s teaching on the Son of God and our salvation through Him. Where has this led? In our time, 80 percent of pastors in Hamburg reject the Godhead of Jesus Christ, so far has their "church" strayed. In recent times, they have also embraced all manner of immorality as permissible.

In fairness, it must be noted that the Lutheran church has evolved, and now sometimes a voice is heard saying among them saying, "we have no Church!" A growing interest in Orthodoxy is noted among many Lutherans who continue to thirst for the Truth.

Thus, from the its inception, the Lutheran movement rejected the values of the living Church’s experience: Holy Tradition, devotion to the Virgin Mary and the saints, prayers for the dead, the administrative structure of the Church, the Sacraments, icons, and the Sign of the Cross. Rather, they have considered faith alone adequate to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. This Lutheran deviation from Christianity creates a chasm between themselves and the true Faith, the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Calvin led the reform in Switzerland, and his teaching spread to the southwestern Germany and Holland (the Reformed Church), to France (the Huguenots), and to Scotland, England, and North America under the name of Presbyterianism. Calvin added to Luther’s creed, teaching the concept of "predestination." To some extent, Luther’s teachings preserved the unique position of Christianity, and Luther speaks nothing of Judaism. In Calvinism, elements of Judaism and paganism are so obvious that it is difficult to consider Calvinism Christian. "Divine predestination," according to Calvin, is the idea that God had eternally called some people to salvation, and others to eternal damnation, independent of their will. Predestination to eternal salvation consists of a small group of people selected by God, through the power of his comprehensible decision, apart from their choice. On the other hand, no effort is possible to save those who are predestined to eternal damnation. Good or evil deeds serve for the fulfillment of predestination and merely fulfill what has already been decided. If this notion is true, for what purpose did Jesus Christ so thoroughly teach us how to live and strive to advance in the narrow way? What is the meaning of prayer, confession, and correction of our ways?

Calvinism consists of a single statement from the writing of Apostle Paul (in Romans Chapter 9) taken out of context from the entire text — a fragment — and this is the basis for Calvin’s teaching of predestination. The true meaning of this passage can be understood only in connection with the meaning of the entire chapter, in which the apostle states that justification is not the property of the Jewish people. "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children of Abraham . . ." (Rom. 9:6-7). Here the apostle speaks against the Jews, who considered the gentiles rejected by God, and exclusively themselves the children of the Kingdom of Heaven (by the creation and the law of Moses). The apostle contends that the saving grace of God permeates all people, and God calls to salvation not only the Jews but also the gentiles. The teaching of Calvin is influenced in part by Judaism, which holds that only the elect of God are predestined to salvation and the rest doomed to damnation. However, the Word of God teaches that, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:3-4); and "the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

The teaching of Calvin contradicts the understanding of the Holiness of God. In connection with this understanding it appears that God is guilty of cruelty and of playing favorites, electing from eternity some to salvation and others to damnation. There is pagan influence in this teaching of destiny. Calvin thus brings an indifferent attitude towards good and evil deeds, rejecting man’s freedom of will, and considering sin natural and unavoidable. According to this thinking, no battle may be fought effectively against sin, because prayer and repentance are useless. Calvin rejects the precepts of Christianity and considers the Sacraments merely symbolic, teaching that the transubstantiation of the Body and Blood of Christ is not a reality.

In Scotland, Calvinism (Presbyterianism) became the accepted faith of the governmental parliament in 1592. Presbyterians, under the name of "Puritans" requested of the King of England the freedom to worship in their faith. Eventually, they began to emigrate, first to Holland and then to the American colonies, to escape the authorities in England.

Rejecting such symbols as the Cross, the Sign of the Cross during baptism, and other outwardly Traditional Christian practices, they forged a sect which was quite new. Further, the structure of Presbyterianism consists of a church congregation who elect their own clergy. The role of bishop is nonexistent. Worship consists of listening to prayers created by the presbyters, a sermon, and the singing of psalms. Communion was served on one long table, weddings were held at home, and prayers for the dead were also read at home. There are no icons, and both the Creed and the traditional liturgical prayers are changed; for example, the Lord’s prayer, (the "Our Father") is considered nonessential.

The Anglican faith is a combination of Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinistic doctrines. In England, several centuries before the Reformation, there arose opposition to the despotism of the Roman Catholic Church, primarily concerning national, economic and religious matters. The English were irate over the constant interference of the Roman bishops in the interior affairs of England; the abnormal ties Rome had with England’s secular and political affairs; the financial drain caused by the huge church taxes to support Rome; the undisciplined Roman clergy; and so forth. The impetus for severance from Rome came from King Henry VIII when the pope did not grant him a church divorce from his wife, Catherine of Arragon.

At first, no obvious church reform took place, except that King Henry declared himself head of the Church, closed many monasteries, and changed the system of "tithing," which previously was a church tax paid directly to Rome. Later, under the influence of Protestants surging into England, the king assigned a review of all the teaching of the churches apart from Rome. In 1536, the elected Parliament issued the "Ten Members on Religious Dogma," a mixture of Protestant and catholic doctrines. In 1552, a 42-article document appeared, presenting a new confession of faith., After this, "Small Catechism" appeared. In it are described many rituals--the blessing of water, the ringing of church bells--which were superstitious in nature.

At this time, during the reign of Edward VII, these rules were reviewed, and the 42 articles were formally accepted and published concerning the English faith. Thus was established the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church of England.

A religious battle occurred soon after in 1559 with the Queen publishing a new confession of faith made up of 39 articles affecting both clergy and laymen. In this decree there were dogmas in agreement with Orthodoxy: one God in three Persons, the Son of God, rejection of purgatory and individualism, and a rejection of the pope as head of the Church. Worship was to be performed in English not Latin. But this worship retained the delusion concerning the descent of the Holy Spirit "and from the Son." From the Lutherans they accepted the delusion of justification by faith and rejected the seven Ecumenical Councils as well as reverence for icons and holy relics. In the Church of England, the King of England is, to this day, the head of the church. Further, the 25th Article on confession rejects the Sacrament of confession.

The Orthodox Church cannot agree with this creed, and there is no hope to change the views of the Anglican Church, because she is dependent on the Parliament, among whom many Masons are included, people of the Jewish faith and even atheists. The English Parliament, in regards to religious matters, has the decisive word in church affairs. The King is the head of the Church of England and makes a declaration at his coronation, "I denounce and sincerely promise, before God, that the sacrament of communion is not transubstantiation of the Body and Blood of Christ, before or after the blessing of the sacred gifts, by whomever it is performed, and I believe that recognition and worship of the Virgin Mary and saints, and the sacrificial liturgy is alien to Protestant teaching." In 1927 and again in 1928, the Parliament twice rejected the prayer book of their spiritual leaders and the House of Lords, because it included the role of the Holy Spirit and also the administration of sacraments for those who were ill.

In the first part, we disclosed that the true Church can be only one. She must, uninterruptedly, emanate from the apostolic Church, cherishing the purity of its faith, and apostolic succession of benevolent spirituality in the clergy. The faithful receive spiritual blessings in the sacraments of the Church, especially in Holy Communion which is, indeed, the Body and Blood of Christ. The Orthodox Church supports these teachings and always has. We briefly examined the foundational apostolic teachings which have remained unchanged in the Orthodox Church, and we examined the various spiritual delusions, born of pride, that have led many to depart from the true Church in a continuous process of fragmentation and increasing error.

Later, we will acquaint the reader with the history of the spread of the Roman Catholic Church, which was, at first, the western branch of the one Church of Christ. The advance of the power-hungry Roman bishops in the 11th century brought about the division between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Convinced of their infallibility, the Roman bishops gradually permitted new and alien ideas into their church’s teaching and the administration of the Sacraments. The retreat of the Roman Catholic Church from the purity of the apostolic faith gave birth in its turn the Protestant movement, which consists in our time of a multitude of sects. We discussed the origins and beliefs of a few of them, namely, Lutheranism, the Reformed Church, Calvinism, and Anglicanism.

In the second part of this series, we will examine the Baptists, Quakers, Pentecostals, the contemporary "gift of tongues," Methodists, Mennonites, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Christian Science sect, "Contemporary Humanism," the pseudo-religious communities and cults, heretics and sects in Russia, Unitarians and "Eastern Rite Catholics," Judaism, Muslims, Buddhism and atheism. In conclusion, we will examine the present research on those groups.

This booklet is the second and the last part of our short outlines on the contemporary Christian denominations. Those two parts introduced to the readers are a history and teachings of various branches of Christian denominations. The short information, and also the deeper research of these, will help the sincere seeker to find the great advantage of the Orthodox Church over any other churches, because it points to the roots that go back into the First Century which kept a purity of the faith of the apostles and the apostolic succession. The Roman Catholic church had the apostolic succession, but strayed away from the apostolic purity of the faith. Other ‘Christian’ denominations appeared relatively recently and every one of them in one way or another broke away from the apostolic tradition, in various degrees changed the Christian faith and did not keep the blessings of succession.

For: Orthodoxy, Roman-Catholicism, Protestantism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, Reformation, Presbyterianism, Anglicanism that had or had not attributes of the REAL CHURCH, was studied in the first part of our booklet. In this part we will look on denominations of much later origin.

The Baptists’ sect evolved from the English "Puritans." The Peculiarity of it, is that Baptists reject baptism of infants. The first commune appeared in England circa 1633, and in 1639 transferred into North America with its center in Rhode Island, in which Roger Williams played a leading part. In the beginning this movement was not successful. At the end of the 18th century they created the "Missionary Union" whose aim was directed toward preaching among the American Negroes, and to be free from dogmas, rites and symbolism. This was received positively by the Americans, who supported it. Homes for orphans and aged, schools and hospitals, and a large number of volunteer missionaries appeared. At this time Baptists found new followers in England, Germany, China, Japan, India, Poland and later in Russia. Established in the U.S., the "Baptist Union," since 1814, began to have large financial resources and started propaganda (known as missionary) in the rest of the world. The sect drifted into Russia from Germany, where its center was established in Hamburg circa 1834, by J. G. Oncken.

As time went by, the Baptists were divided into many splinter-parties. Divisions started at the end of the 17th Century, when they split into two parts: "Particular" — that accepted Calvinistic teaching on unconditional predetermination, and "General" — (or Baptists of the Free Will) that accepted for everyone God’s Grace which saves, and is attracted by men’s free will. In pre-revolutionary Russia, "Particular" Baptists rejected oaths, military service, and courts; however, at the present time they do not have such an open rejection of government and civic authorities.

There exist some Baptists with an inclination toward Judaism: "The 7th Day Baptists," who celebrate Saturday (Sabbatarians)."The Christian Baptists" — reject the teaching of the Holy Trinity, hell, the devil, and holy days (as if they contradict the Holy Scripture). There are Baptists that teach about two offsprings of Eve: one of them being from the devil, as some Jewish books of the apocrypha have taught. Another offshoot of Baptists are the Evangelistic Christians, "Shtundists," (Hard shell) Evangelists and many others. Baptists are characteristic in their animosity toward Orthodoxy. All branches of Baptists are unified in the rejection of baptizing infants. As a reason for this rejection, they claim that infants (children of Christians) are clean by the blood of Christ, and therefore need not be baptized. They quote the words of Christ to His disciples: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the HolyGhost (Mat. 28:19; Mk. 16:16) In those words they say they were told to baptize only adults and not infants.

This teaching about baptism contradicts the Holy Scripture and the practices of the Early Church. Holy Scripture requires to baptize all people including infants. The Lord God said, that only those "born of the water and of the Spirit" can enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:5), considering children, He ordered: "Forbid them not to come unto Me" (Mat. 19:14). The baptism of children has its beginning from the time of Apostles — as testified by Origen, a well known Christian writer of the 3rd Century. In the New Testament the Sacrament of Baptism replaced the Old Testament custom of circumcision which was a prototype of baptism. In the book of Acts, is an example where whole families were baptized, who undoubtedly had children. All people that were baptized, old and young, became members of the Church of Christ. The earlier a person accepted a baptism, the sooner he incorporated himself into the Church and was blessed in life. His spiritual and physical growth proceeded simultaneously.

The Baptists and Protestants do not have a clear and distinct teaching about the Church, instead they reject the Apostolic teaching about it. "I am unable to formulate our teaching about a church," said H. Phillips, one of the leaders in the Baptist church at the conference in Edinburgh in 1937. There are also similar statements from other Baptist leaders.

Confidence in the matter of salvation is the basic distinction of all Baptist preaching and its off-shoots. It follows from all Protestant off-shoots, a conviction that salvation is automatic as long as one believes in Christ. They support their conviction by citation, taken out of context from the Holy Scripture: "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believes in Me hath everlasting life" (John 6:47). "These things have I written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). Those sentences we cannot take out of context, since it makes a big difference between dead faith and the real faith. The faith that saves, and the faith that does not save. "What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not work? Can faith save him?…Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone" (James 2:14-17). "The demons also believe and tremble" (James 2:19).

Therefore, it is not enough to believe in Christ’s sacrifice, one has to carry his cross and follow Christ (Luke 14:27), because it is said: "He that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Mat. 10:22).

Simultaneously with Baptists in England and Scotland there appeared a sect by the name of Quakers, originated by G. Fox. Brought by his religious reflections into a state of "delight" (allurement), he considered himself called upon from above to establish true Christianity and in 1647, came forward to preach.

A simple handyman, who was attracted to Bible reading and took into consideration the variety of interpretations in the Anglican Church with respect to the faith. By not receiving answers to his questions, he arrived on his own at the complete rejection of the Holy Tradition, teachers of faith, theologians, official denominations and a creed of faith. Going further, he came to the following conclusion: (1) The true interpreter of the Holy Scripture is the Holy Ghost, Who was absent in all different Christian denominations, and therefore they all do not have real Christianity. (2) Only he, G. Fox, had the real revelation from the Holy Ghost. (3) True Christianity consists not in the dogmas and theological systems, but that the Holy Ghost directly reveals to men and directs them into perfection. At the same time, Quakers put personal direct "enlightening" ahead of the Holy Scripture and Holy Scripture in itself, is interpreted as being a prompter for their personal "enlightenment". With this type of approach to the Holy Scripture, misinterpretation and misuse is inevitable.

Consequently, the Quakers rejected hierarchy and have no apostolic succession; also were rejected the Sacraments including Baptism and Communion. At their meetings, after reading Holy Scripture, they designate a so called, "constructive silence," that is, silence and concentration while each is waiting for the infusion of the Holy Ghost. If anyone feels "enlightened" by the Holy Ghost, regardless of social standing, — he/she starts to teach and prophesy. The congregation takes those words as revelation from above which they have to use as a guide in faith and life.

In the middle of this 20th Century appeared a movement, which is called "charismatic," (from Greek work — chares = benefaction) that was aimed to restore in contemporary society the gifts, that the Original Apostolic Church had and in particular this movement wanted to restore "the gift of tongues" — which is the ability to speak different languages at will. This movement attracted many Baptist and Protestant churches. In reality Protestants (in a very general sense) joined the "charismatic" movement, because they did not have apostolic succession and renewed Grace of the Holy Sacraments. Unbeneficial sectarian prayer meetings can’t satisfy the spiritual needs of a Christian.

The Charismatic movement promised to pour in fresh spiritual streams into the spiritual life of Protestant churches. It became very popular and soon, in different parts of U.S. there began to appear Pentecostal movements. Once in a while Pentecostals have large meetings that bring members from all parts of the world including USA. Because they do not have a definite structure, it is hard to put a number on them. Recently Pentecostal movements started to spread in Europe and Russia.

The aim of all Pentecostals is a desire to get a beatified enlightening and the gift of tongues. Most Pentecostals accept the Holy Trinity, the original sin and that the Savior come from God and His Redeeming Sacrifice. They accept baptism by immersion and Communion, the Last Supper with which they also combine the rite of "washing of feet." The apostolic succession, priesthood and other Sacraments they reject, as do all Protestants.

The name "Pentecost" comes from their understanding of how the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles on the 50th day after the Resurrection. They teach that they emulate the Apostles at the time of baptism and public prayer, they also get the gift of the Holy Ghost and miraculous ability to speak with different languages. In order to "get" that gift, Pentecostals use many artificial methods at their prayer-meetings: they inspire themselves by singing in unison, stamping their feet in rhythm, clapping hands and from time to time singing "alleluia" and "amen" in chorus. The object of all this is to artificially inject into oneself, good feelings and arrive at ecstasies. Some members with susceptible nervous systems get into a trance of hysteria, start laughing without stopping, gesticulate and mumble incomprehensible words or phrases.

Despite of all artificial attempts by Pentecostals and other "Charismatics" to create the miracle that happened to the Apostles on the Day of the Holy Pentecost, what they got is anything but a real miracle. We can read in the first few chapters of the Book of Acts, what happened to the Apostles on the holy day of Pentecost when the real "Gift of Tongues" was given to them. Holy Apostle Paul in the First Letter to Corinthians, ch.12-14, explains the reason for this miracle. The "Gift of Tongues" was needed for the Apostles, so that they could spread the Gospel to different nations. By getting the "Gift of Tongues" the Apostles could preach to people in their native language and thanks to that the Church began to spread very rapidly. As we know from history, this "Gift" disappeared shortly thereafter. As the people of various nations became Christians, many qualified native preachers became available. The need for the miracle to speak different languages at the same time, decreased. At the time of St. Ironies of Lyon in the middle of the 3rd century, "Gift of Tongues" was mentioned as a rare occurrence.

From the Second Letter to Corinthians of St. Paul, we can conclude, that the "Gift of Tongues" was spread more there, then anyplace else. "GoT" was one of the spiritual gifts which some Christians received after baptism and after the "Apostles laid hands " on the heads of the newly baptized. However, not all, who received it used it properly. Apostle Paul cautioned them not to use it carelessly. During the services (prayer meetings) some Christians in Corinth were speaking in foreign languages that were not needed. Most likely they did it to "show off." Apostle Paul explains that the "Gift of Tongues" is needed for... "not them that believe but to them that believe not." In other words "GoT" is needed for missionary work, to convert pagans to Christianity and not for those that were baptized. In addition to this, "GoT" had a negative aspect on prayers, when used at the wrong time. For example, when during the service several people started to talk simultaneously in foreign languages, it created disorder which resulted in prayer disorientation. In order to correct this improper use of God’s gift, the Apostle explains to Corinthians that this gift is lesser then other gifts, that are needed for spiritual growth. The Christians of Corinth will be better off if they will pray to God to enrich them with: gifts of faith, restrictions, patience, love, wisdom and other similar gifts.

If we compare the Apostolic "GoT" with contemporary "Tongue-speakers," we can see a big difference. In apostolic time Christians got a gift of a real spoken language. It was a human spoken tongue that was used for missionary purpose. If we compare it with the modern Pentecostal "tongue," it is nothing more than some mumbling, mostly isolated, without any connecting phrases or words and in some cases with violent outcries. The explanation they give is that it is the "Language of Heaven," It is impossible to accept as God’s miracle this incomprehensible mumbling. This is most likely the result of nervous excitement, trance, or hallucination bordering on raving. Therefore, sectarians blasphemy with artificial exaltation and sometimes, with inhuman sounds that are assigned as God’s inspiration.

In general, the aim of modern society is for any acute psychological sensation, such as loud wild music, which brings up erotic and evil feelings and encourages sexual disorders, misuse of stimulating drugs and narcotics, fascination with horror and wild crime movies. All these perversions are symptoms of a sick soul.

In the same manner seeking of delight and ecstasy in payers — is the sign of a passionate and proud state. Here, occurs the substitution of the real gifts of the Holy Ghost by artificially created psychological feelings. Totally ignoring the spiritual experience of the Saints, rejection of God’s established priesthood and the Sacraments, contemporary sects try to achieve grace by very questionable methods. By using this approach — one obtains deception or a "delight" against which all the saints of the Orthodox Church warned.

An orthodox Christian has to use all possible means not to follow this type of religious feeling. We all have complete access to the real spiritual treasury in the Sacraments of the Church, its Services and sincere personal prayer. In unification with God we have to seek not an anesthesia and sharp experience, but a regeneration of our sinful soul. Regeneration occurs through humbleness, repentance and correction of one’s self. By the degree of regeneration of a person’s soul, an authentic Grace of God will flow into him and with it heavenly peace and pure joy, by comparison to which man-made delight is a cheap and poor substitute.

The Methodist movement originated in the 18th Century from the bosom of the official Anglican church without any desire to change its teaching. The main aim was to bring more Christian morality. Two hundred years after severance with the Roman Catholic church and constant religious fighting negatively influenced its society. The moral and religious face of the society were on a very low, if not the lowest, level. Circa 1730-40, the Archbishop of Cantebury in a heart-broken speech indicated that secular circles of nobility and scientists openly make mock of the church and its clergy, without any embarrassment. At this dark time for the Anglican church, a young theologian of Oxford University, by the name of Charles Wesley and his brother John, with a group of his friends created a club of zealot faithful calling it the "Holy Club," whose aim was to live according to Gospel teaching, prayers, fasting and good deeds, following very strict methods (from here came their name). For six years, Wesley lectured at Oxford and presided at public discussions. He proclaimed himself to be a follower of Luther in the matter of "faith justifications" and became a wandering preacher of piety. Shortly thereafter, he was excommunicated from the church. He created his own "Unified Society" in which anyone could preach, regardless of his social standing. In 1741, as a consequence of disagreement in the teaching about "predetermination" (some people are predetermined by God to go to hell, and some predetermined to go to heaven), Methodists split into two groups. In England, they recognize in the matter of salvation free will and freedom, and in America they still keep this teaching about unconditional ‘predetermination."

In dogmatic teaching, Methodists are close to Anglicans by recognizing the necessity of good deeds. They do not require unification in teaching, nor specific forms of worship; however they do require the fear of God. Methodists kept the ranks of bishops, presbyters and deacons. Presbyters serve the sacrament of Communion and deacons can "bless" a marriage, perform a baptism and help during the Sacrament of Communion.

Methodist seriously respect the Commandments of Christ, they have a knowledgeable organization of faithful and well developed missionary work. Their parishes are divided into "circles" and "classes." Classes meet every week, where they discuss the spiritual standing of each member and all exchange ideas of their spiritual experiences. Methodists do not disdain any work, pay attention to children, fight for Sunday restrictions, are against thoughtless entertainment's, foolish spending and alcoholism. In the United States, there are about 12 million members. As all Protestants, they do not worship the Most Holy Theotokos and the saints. They give very awkward names to their children. Have no icons, have no symbols and no church architecture.

In 1520, there appeared in Saxsonia, a sect called "Anabaptists." It gets its name from the custom of baptizing everyone who joins them. It started to practice the principal of "freedom," not only of religion, but also freedom from society and politics. They did not hesitate to use force and violence to obtain their understanding of "freedom." Using those definitions, they started to overthrow the civic government, social relations and developed complete "equal rights" in the use of all property and even marital relations. This sect represented a revolutionary social-political organization, that used religion as a "cover up". The action of this sect and teaching of its ministers brought about armed revolts, killings and robberies. In the city of Munster (Germany), some baker proclaim himself as a king and renamed the city "New Jerusalem" and his kingdom as "New Zion." He sent 28 "apostles" to conquer all people in his region. In order to equate all in education he ordered to burn all libraries and destroy any work of art. The Christian churches were destroyed, clergy and more wealthy people were killed. This "kingdom" ended in 1535, by armed storming of the city and executions of all guilty ones. Anabaptism was going into declivity and was partially rescued by a former Roman Catholic priest by the name of Mennon who became an Anabaptist. He introduced stricter discipline, still baptizing newcomers, avoided civil oath, military and civil services and evaded dealing with courts. Mennonites exist in Holland, Russia, England and the United States where they are distinguished by strict moral behavior, decency and hard work.

The American sect originated in 1830. It now has about 2.5 million members, most of whom live in the state of Utah (USA), Canada, England, Switzerland and New Zealand.

The originator of this sect is Joseph Smith, who wrote a book, called the "Book of Mormons," which the Mormons consider a holy scripture and is supplementary to the Bible. In that book, Smith narrates a fantastic story, about a large group of Hebrews in 600 B.C., who emigrated to America. The less cultured part of that migration became ancestors of wild Indians; the other, the more intelligent part started to build cities, encouraged knowledge and was visited by Jesus Christ. His teaching, supposedly was recorded on the golden tablets by the "prophet" Mormon. His son, Moroni, copied those tables and hid them in the ground. At 400 A.D., the first group was annihilated by the second group and 1400 years later Moroni was resurrected and gave the hidden tablets to Smith (which later, some how — disappeared). Smith using those tables, wrote a book with the rules that govern the life of Mormons. The teaching of this sect has very little in common, if anything with Christianity and even with Protestantism. Mormons have a strict discipline, do not use alcohol, coffee or tobacco. They have a strict family and social organization. They are well-off financially and help each other.

Mormons are obligated to donate ten percent of their income. In the beginning they had polygamy, which is now forbidden. They also have a strong missionary activity. The Book of Mormon they equate to the Bible and Joseph Smith, the originator of sect, they consider to be a saint like the prophet Moses and even as Jesus Christ. (For details see booklet # 66).

This is an American sect which is close to that of the Baptist, but gives preference to the Old Testament. It was originated circa 1830 — 40, by a farmer William Miller. By reading the Holy Scripture he came to the conclusion that the end of the world was near and the beginning of 1000 years of the Kingdom of Christ was to follow. He was confused by the words of Christ: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Mat. 24:36). He decided, that this was literally about hours and days, but not applied to the years. He calculated on his own, that the Second Coming of Christ would be in 1844. He also indicated the time, day and a mountain in the state of New York, where Jesus Christ would come. His followers, dressed in white garments, gathered in large numbers at the Mountain of Judgment. After their disappointment, all followers remained faithful to Miller. Non-Christian elements misused the trust of the followers of this movement to enrich themselves. One of Miller’s followers, by the name of George Sparr published his sermons in which he rejected the immortality of a soul and maintained that eternal suffering — is the complete annihilation of a sinner. The date of the Second Coming was changed to 1914, then to 1933, and finally to 1995. This last date coincided with the prediction of some Jewish rabbis who were waiting for the coming of their "messiah."

The Adventists teach that the Second Coming is the most important part in the Holy Scripture, everything else is — secondary. They accept very literally the 20th chapter in the Book of Revelation and on this assumption they teach that in the 1000 years in the Kingdom of Christ only the righteous will be resurrected. After 1000 years Christ will come for the third time, when all sinners will be resurrected and the heavenly fire will soon annihilate them. The earth will become "newly" inhabited only by the "righteous," and eternal paradise will begin.

The Orthodox Church teaches, that the 1000 year period in the 20th chapter in the Book of Revelation is in an allegoric sense: after His death on the cross and His Resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ took away from Satan the power over mankind. The number 1000 is a symbol and represents a long period of time, the exactness known only to God. Before the end of time, the Devil will regain some power over the unfaithful, but only for a short time. Jesus Christ will come the Second time to judge the world, after which the eternal Kingdom will begin. Therefore, "the First Resurrection" — is the spiritual regeneration of the faithful, which had begun from the time of Christ and is continuing until now. "The Second Coming" — is when all souls will be united with their renewed and resurrected bodies, which will happen at the end of time (the end of the world). Then all people will be resurrected, not only the righteous ones. Their appearance at resurrection will reflect their spiritual state: righteous or sinful. We have to remember, that The Book of Revelation is full of symbols, and it has to be understood in the context of Christian teaching about the end of the world.

The teaching of our Savior about "The Second Comming" is well described in the Holy Gospel and in the Writings of Apostles (see Mat. ch. 24; 1 Thes.4:13-18 through 5:1-3; 2 Thes. ch.2).

It has nothing to do with Adventist teaching. The Holy Gospel is very specific about two comings of Christ and about One Judgment: first, when Christ was born in the town of Bethlehem; second — before the end of the world. Some teachings of Adventists were taken from rabbinical books and are relevant to rabbinical teachings about the Jewish Messiah. The teaching about the third coming of Christ is totally made up by Adventists.

This sect is hostile to Christianity and Christian government. It had its origin at the end of the 19th Century, and began to grow in 1930, in the United States and from the very beginning operated with enormous financial resources. Its publication, called the "Watch Tower" is published in 27 languages and has representatives in 150 countries. Jehovah’s Witnesses use the New Testament terminology, but their teaching has nothing in common with any form of Christianity. It is a mixture of religious and political elements. The Church of Christ they call the "Satan Organization" and they themselves call witnesses to God’s anger and God’s revenge against the Christian Church. They preach quick destruction of Christian Churches and Christian nations. On a political field, "Witnesses" openly show marxist ideology and demagogy. They unconditionally promise social equality, poor and rich equalization, work for all, abundance of food, absence of exploitation, end of all wars etc. Their aim is — world power. While criticizing the American system and similar systems, they are totally silent on contemporary atheistic countries and movements. It is one of the most authority ridden religious bodies in the world. Members are told what to find in the Bible, blood transfusions must be rejected and Dogmas may be changed. Their teaching appears to be a conscious plan for the destruction of Christian culture and any Christianity in government. (See more details in booklet # 65).

The book " Science and Health with Key to The Scripture" — is the Gospel book for this sect. It was written by Mary Baker Eddy at the end of the 19th Century, in the state of Massachusetts. Despite the fact that the founder of this sect condemns Calvinism, in essence, she rejected God. A detailed analysis of the teaching of this sect, gives evidence that it has nothing in common with the Gospels or the Bible. Mrs. Eddy affirmed that her own book takes priority over Scripture, with its not to be changed or doubted key to Scripture, although she did concede that Scripture was inspired. There also is no real science in their teaching.

A singularity of Christian Science is that it is never preached. The Church has no preachers and no sermons. Instead, they have a First and Second Reader who are obliged to read a selection of Scripture and a selection from "Science and health." No comments or discussion is allowed. Mary Baker Eddy is the first and last word about the truth of Christian Science. Everything that Christianity posts in terms of biblical teaching, Christian Science declares to be unreality.

They reject medical treatments since they claim that sickness is an illusion and accept a healing by auto-suggestion (or self-suggestion). They take neither sickness nor sin seriously since "saving men" from all that they could be saved from is unreal. Mary Baker Eddy’s fame lies in her two writings, with which she tends to overcome, what by Christian Science’s own claim is really nothing at all. For God is all.

The founder of this movement was an American, L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986). After World War Two, Hubbard took an active part in a satanic sect, ordained by the known satanist Aleister Crowley. Hubbard accepted many ideas from Crowley, how to build his pseudo-religious system. Hubbard’s son testified, that his father created most of his "scientific discoveries" under the influence of narcotics. Declaring loyalty to all religions, Hubbard, at the end of his life announced a "concealed secret" — that his mission on this earth — is the mission of the Antichrist to prevent the Second Coming of Christ.

The idea to create his own religion became very profitable. From an average writer, who petitioned for veteran's pensions, the founder of scientology had an estate of 640 million dollars at the end of his life. The courts of many countries considered Hubbard a felon and he was pronounced "Persona non grata." He died in 1986.

At present, the Society is headed by David Miskevidge, with its center in Los Angeles and its spiritual executives in Clearwater, Florida, the main base for Europe is in Copenhagen.

The Society of Scientology, in general, can’t be called a church, because the place of God is taken by Hubbard himself and each neophyte pays dues to his cult, as was confirmed and decreed by the Federal Court of Working Disputes in FRG on March 22, 1995.

The book by Hubbard, "Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health" has information from psychology mixed with occultism, black art, and engrams — the main topic in Scientology, is in reality, a pseudo-scientific version of an ancient description of "karma."

The term "scientology," was by adherents decoded as — "study of knowledge." In the beginning, Hubbard tried to present his ‘Dianetics’ as a science, but received very strong resistance from scientists, and therefore had to replace scientific approach by religious approach. Scientologists constantly try to present its teaching with scientific color: their literature is saturated with self-made, science-like — terminology and abbreviations with the use of computer methods, graphics etc. However, there is no real science there. All this is done to study dogmas, which Hubbard wrote in his book. Any expression, written or oral, by Hubbard is considered to be sacred. In reality, scientology is mixture of psychology, black magic, occultism and science fictions that are multiplied by unquestionable faith in the infallibility and genius of its father-originator Hubbard, and its organization.

Scientology proclaims itself as a religious organization and calls itself a "church," however, there are plenty of examples in their instructions, written by Hubbard himself, that prove otherwise; that in the foundation of his organization lay not religious convictions, but a direct business interest. An unweakening race for profit in Hubbard’s own words: "Give money — make more money — force other people to work — so they can make money."

By the decision of our Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia (December 1994), in a section about pseudo-christian sects, neo-paganism and occultism, scientology is called a pseudo-religion.

L.R. Hubbard was the disciple of a known satanist of the 20th Century, Alistair Kroule and was involved in a most repulsive form of occultism. According to KGB archives in Russia (MIA), Scientology is one of many forms of satanic sects, that have crime-demonic direction, actively use psychotropic methods in order to achieve control of its members. This sect has specially created cover-up structures in a form that appear as humanitarian organizations, one of which is the Humanitarian Center of Hubbard.

Scientologists claim, that they are outside of politics and that church and government has to be separated. At the same time, one of the global missions of this sect is to create a civilization without faults, crime, wars, narcotics etc. In order to create this type of civilization, one has to incorporate Scientology into all aspects of life, starting primarily at the government level. Hubbard himself proclaimed before his death, that he will come the second time as a politician. He also claimed, that: "Scientology... Has to establish totalitarian power and authority, to achieve total discipline..." Scientologists actively recruit workers and businessmen of higher caliber through the system of Hubbard Colleges (teaching Administrative Technology). One of the aims of scientology: is to push away traditional psychology, replacing it with scientology, The attack on traditional psychology is ear-marked in all their publications and an instinctive dislike is instilled into all its members.

Representatives of FRG at the seminar on Freedom of Any Confession (Warsaw, April 16-19, 1996), gave a report: that from the time of the appearance of this sect in FRG (1970), local authority was resisting this sect on all levels. It is not by coincidence, that the so-called scientologist Hubbard, in 1973, was declared by the German government as " one of main enemies." Hubbard on several occasions pleaded to the UN Commission of Human Right and OBSE with complaints of "governmental interference" with his interests in FRG and periodically unfolded anti-government campaigns.

Taking all of the above into consideration as well as the activities of this sect in FRG, a more severe resistance to this sect was imposed. This work intends to put into the legal system aspect — the characteristics of this sect. On March 22, 1995 Federal Court of FRG handed down a decree, that Scientology is not a religion or peaceful organization, but a commercial structure, that operates with methods, that use psychological terror and economic felonies. On May 9, 1996 the German Bundstag created a special interrogating commission by the name of "So called Sects and Psychogroups." By the spring of 1998 it will formulate an official degree of the danger of Scientology to society and will give its recommendations to the Federal Government. From 1995 the Ministry of Internal Affairs of FRG was working on reports about the sect of Scientology, which the Government wanted to discuss at the conference of the Federal and State ministers of internal affairs in Hamburg, Germany. Without waiting for the decision of the Federal Government of FRG, individual states took this matter into their own hands and adopted a more severe attitude: the government of Bavaria, on Oct. 17, 1995, put into effect its program of annihilating the sect from its territory. On Nov. 1, 1996, a ban was imposed in this state, on members of Scientology to hold government positions. The State Office of Constitutional Safety, (Counter Intelligence and Internal Security) was empowered to keep an eye on this sect.

From 1991 the Christian Democratic Party of Germany, a leading party of the present coalition started rejecting members who were scientologists. In May of 1995, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, which was the opposition party, made a similar decision.

Almost all countries, that have branches of this sect, are busy investigating its activities. Scientology fights for world domination. The aim of a Scientology organization is to create a new man and a new world, which will function according to Scientology rules. This is a grave danger to all societies, since a society, that is governed by scientology principals will have no freedom and civil rights. According to the teaching of L. Ron Hubbard, the originator of Scientology, any democracy is worthless.

Contemporary humanism — is a godless sect, that places as the cornerstone of its life, the "highest being" of the universe, MAN. This man doesn’t need God and can create his own laws, rules and moral standing at any given time and place. " Contemporary Humanism" considers all church organizations and faiths as harmful for education, psychology and life of mankind.

"C.H." Was created in USA in the middle of the 1930s by atheistic scientists and philosophers who were organized into the American Humanitarian Association. In 1933 they published the "Humanist Manifesto 1" which was signed by 34 teachers and writers and explained the goals of "C.H." In 1973 was published "Humanist Manifesto 2," which was signed by many influential people of the world (Including those in the USSR).

This sect considers man — master of the world and the highest creation of nature. God doesn’t exist. Prayers will not help. A man has to depend only on his own strength. Ethics, morals and Commandments are creations of men and can be changed at will, depending on time, place and circumstances. A man has to be independent of any higher authority and has to govern his life by his own will, which benefits only himself. He does not have to take care of the sick or poor. Abortion — is his right. Family life should not be bound by any church or civic laws; to have a mate and physical pleasure — is his right.

Uncurbed freedom brings this sect close to atheism and is dangerous, since it corrupts with its propaganda our society, and most importantly — our youth. "C.H." Tries to recruit people with authority and influence, such as: writers, artists, owners of movie studios, etc. Hollywood produced several anti-religious and amoral movies for young people and children. There are also novels and stories with similar content. The corrupt influence of this sect is visible in our society and among young people, and it is capable of destroying any country.

Due to the fact, that the Constitution of the United States guarantees every citizen freedom to his political and religious beliefs and the ability to spread them, there is no easier way to get a few followers and receive a legal registration for a new religious organization or political party. A Religious Organization is tax exempt, therefore, quite frequently, in USA appear organizations or cults, that cover themselves with some religious ideas in order to conduct some form of business.

As an example we can add the sects of Moon (known as the "Church of Unification"), society of Scientology the ("Church of Scientology") and a multitude of other tele-evangelistic organizations that are headed by preachers, pretending to be miracle workers and prophets.

It is difficult to describe their teachings in such a short article, and the scope of their worship. Some of them, as the PTL ("Praise The Lord") preach similarly to Pentecostal’s principals but definitely have a commercial attitude (12-45% of its time is used for money collections. The financial resources grow very rapidly, so that its leaders live in unbelievable wealth, and from time to time cause various scandals that show their immoral and criminal activity.

"The Church of Unification" (proclaiming a new Messiah) was originated in USA in 1972 by the Korean preacher Sun Moon. A teaching of this sect is described in the book "Divine Principle" and is an amalgam (conglomerate) of ideas of eastern religions and small parts of Christian elements. Moon’s followers consider him a messiah that came to save the world. People who join his Church of Unification are treated with an intense psychological workout, that is aimed to make them loyal to Moon in spreading his ideas. His organization has a very complicated administrative structure with a conspiratorial attitude, and under many aliases deals with heavily commercial activities. Very cunningly they recruit young people, taking them away from families, pressuring them to collect money for the Unification Church. This pseudo-religious organization has crippled many young lives.

"The Society of Scientology" has nothing to do with religion. Organized in 1954 by L.Ron Hubbard, they only use a cross as a cover up for a few Christian slogans. The real aim of this society openly described by its originator: "Money, money! Bring more money; force the others to get us money." A financial side of this organization could make jealous any commercial company. Scientologists spread books like "Dianetics," "Path to Happiness," and others; the aim of which is to engage people to take various courses, that are very expensive, which suppose to help a person to achieve spiritual and psychological regeneration. The courses bring millions of dollars. They promise to clean a soul, enlighten with wisdom, bring a good feeling of some accomplishment, bring confidence and discover the secret of happiness. People with low faith and self-esteem, who have some psychological problems are willing to take a chance to get some meaning in life. Some people spend hundreds, thousands and even a hundred thousand dollars, attending unending lessons and some form of health recovery classes.

Auto-suggestion — is the main method for "healing" in scientology.

Eventually, this type of leadership by pseudo-religious societies renders a very poor service to our society, because for personal profits they destroy the faith in God.

The beginning of 1970 blossomed with a multitude of all kinds of societies with pagan ideology in USA. There were also societies of hinduism, theosophy, pseudo-science, astrology and purely satanic. We notice how fast most radical ideas and cults grow in USA. It is worth ro remember, what the St. Apostle Paul said: "...in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron" (1 Tim. 4:1-2); "shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth, a cancer" (2 Tim. 2:16-17); "they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lust shall they heap to themselfes teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned aside to fables" (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

The long years of Church persecution in Russia brought a multitude of aggresivly growing sects and various cults. Since 1989 the press started to write about penetration to the countries of Eastern Europe and Russia: Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Tele-evangelists, followers of Moon and others. All of them try to take advantage of the spiritual vacuum created by communism. It will be not easy to fight them, since they (sects and cults) have enormous financial means and experience how to spread their propaganda and pseudo-religious ideas.

More information about history, teaching and work of various "churches," sects and contemporary religions may be obtained from the organization, that is called Christian Research Institute P.O. Box 500, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92692 USA Tel (714) 855-9926. One book that is recommended is "The Kingdom of the Cults."

In its historical path Orthodox Russia had not omitted heretical movements within itself, sometimes of its own, but mostly ones that came from the West.

One of the first heresies in Ancient Russia (Russ) in the10-th century A.D. came from Bulgaria. The sect is called "Bogomilly" from the name of the monk Bogomil. This sect thought, that God begat two sons: Sataniel and Logos. Christ is Logos who was born of the Virgin Mary from her ear. This sect rejected all Holy Sacraments, and demanded a strict life style etc. In the 13-th century this sect spread into South Europe and Spain. Despite persecution, this sect survived in Russia until the 18-th century, when it became converted into a sect called "Whips" and "Eunuchs" (castrati).

Another secret sect was "Jewish-like." It appeared in the 15-th century, first in the city of Novgorod and then in the city of Moscow. It is a mixture of jewish and rationalistic teaching. It rejects; Jesus Christ as God, icons and church rites (services). The originator of this sect was a jew by the name of SKARIA. He was a leib-madic (doctor) in the retinue of the Grand Duke Alexander (Olgovich) in the city of Novgorod. The preaching of Skaria attracted many people from high government ranks. One of the leaders of this secret sect was the nobleman Theodore Kurizyn — State Minister of Foreign Affairs and even some relatives of the Grand Duke. In 1504, this sect was outlawed and its followers were scattered into various prisons. From surviving members of this sect grew a new sect under the name of "Saturday People."

"The Saturday People" appeared in the 18th century; they celebrated Saturday, instead of Sunday and acknowledged only the Old Testament. Some even practiced circumcision according to jewish tradition. Emperor Nicholas I banished them all to the Caucas Mountain region.

"Old Believers" or "Old Faithful" — is a general name for the religious group that separated itself from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th Century. It all began during the reign of Patriarch Nikon, who wanted to correct all mistakes in the Church books and Church services around 1655. The ones that disagreed with the corrected books grew into a split — dissidence. The dissidents attracted a large number of people, who "blindly" liked the "old ways" and old (unexpunged) books. In the beginning, the dissidents wanted to leave everything the way it was, without any heretical teaching, only to follow old Russian traditions and not to obey church administration. However, by dissenting from the Church, they also started to dissent also from government functions. They started to move to secluded parts in Russia: North Siberia, near the Volga River and also into Poland, Prussia, Rumania, Turkey and China.

As time went by, "Old Believers" were divided into many groups. Some of them used old service books and old style icons during their services. "Old Believers" differ from others and from one another, by strictness in everyday life style and moral standing. They differ from the Orthodox population regarding church customs and the nonrecognition of Church Hierarchy. They may be divided into two major parts: with priesthood and without a priesthood. (The one with a priesthood had priests who left the Church for various reasons and joined them). Both branches were divided into a multitude of smaller groups, which usually carried the name of its originators. Some of them, without priesthood degenerated into various sects.

By the end of the 18th century, the passion for "dissension" quieted down, some "Old Believers" started to look into a return to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Synod of ROC in 1783, permitted its bishops to ordain priests for "friendly Old Believers." The "Old Believers" who recognized the Russian Orthodox Church began to call themselves "Agreeable" (Soglasniki). A few years later a new group of "Old Believers" in Ergize, Kazan, Petrograd (St.Petersburg) and Moscow merged with the RO Church and began to accept its priesthood. That group began to designated themselves as the "One-Faithful." In 1885, at the meeting of Bishops of ROC in the city of Kazan an official statement was released which stated that the "Orthodox" and "One-Faithful" are one Church. Some of the "One-Faithful" parishes were united with the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia in 1970. Some of those sects from Russia are set forth as follows:

"Deniers of the Holy Ghost" (In Russian Dukhobory). This sect came from Quakers in the beginning of the 18th Century, in the Kharkov province. Due to the fact, that they were mostly illiterate, it was hard to formulate their teaching. They believe in the Divinity of Christ and acknowledge transposition of souls; hell and heaven they understand allegorically, they reject church hierarchy and church rites, reject oaths and military service.

"Molokans" — This sect does not recognize sacraments and rites of the Orthodox Church. They do not acknowledge the validity of saints. They worship only by the reading of the Holy Scripture and singing of Psalms. They forbid happy gatherings, drinking, smoking and vulgar language. At one time "Molokans" lived in the area of the Caucas region, later they moved to the United States and Canada.

"Castrati"(in Russian Skoptzy) — This sect considers the savings of a soul by imposing a physical disability (castration) to reproduce. It appeared in the 18th Century in Russia. For reasons known only to the sect, they considered the Apostle Matthew, as their originator.

"Scourge" (whip, in Russian Khlysty) consists in "societies" or "Ships" that are headed by prophets, christs, theotokoses and prophetesses. They reject sacraments, priesthood and the church. They believe in the "improvised" christ: that is, anyone can became a christ through ascetic methods. Their services are called "rvenie"= zeal, and consist of reading and interpretations of the Holy Scripture with singing, jumping, running and circling, that lead into loss of consciousness and hallucination, which is interpreted as prophetic inspiration. "Scourge" are wild fanatics and are a very dangerous sect.

"Pento-books" (in Russian Pjatoknisznyki) members — believe that there is one God, and the five books of Moses are the cornerstone. Jesus Christ is not God. The church is only a society of faithful. All visible appearance is man made and should be thrown away. Church (building) — is a pagan temple, Icons — are idols, hierarchy — are pseudo-teachers, priesthood — is a pagan office. There are no Sacraments. Communion is simply bread and wine. Repentance — is self-delusion. Icons and the Cross should be annihilated as idols. Lent and Monastics — thrown away. All people with different faiths are the same in God’s eyes. There should be no wars and no governments.

In 1386, Lithuania and Poland were united, when the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jagiello married the Polish Queen Jadwiga. This was known as the "Personal Union of Poland and Lithuania." It was the beginning of Roman-Catholic advances on the Lithuanian and the Russo-Lithuanian nobility. Until the middle of the 16th Century, these advances were not very intense. In 1569, both countries became one kingdom created by the Union of Lublin and are known today as Poland, in which Polish Roman-Catholic influence became a governing factor. The city of Kiev and the Volyn province also became Polish. By 1596, the Polish king was able to replace the Orthodox hierarchy with candidates who leaned toward the polish-catholic direction. Those quasi-orthodox bishops, being loyal to the Roman-catholic polish government, created the Brest Union with the Roman-Catholic church — and officially gave the Orthodox Church in Poland to Rome. The conditions were as follows: the people and hierarchy would recognize The Pope’s church supremacy, but would keep their inner Church regime and order of divine services.

The general Orthodox public did not agree with the unworthy segment of its hierarchy and the fight began to keep the Orthodox faith and their nationality. In this fight, a very important role was played by the Dnieper Cossacks and those residing beyond the Dnieper rapids. As Poles tried to subordinate Cossacks to Polish landowners and began to persecute the Orthodox Church — the Cossacks began to revolt. These were very severe and cruel.

In 1648, the uprising against Poland was headed by the hetman Bohdan Chmielnicki, which was supported by the general population of the Orthodox public in the South West of Russ. The war was very difficult and the hetman suggested to Cossacks to unite with the Tsar of Moscow. The "general public meeting," in the city of Perejaslow, at the beginning of 1654, unanimously decided: "we are willing to go under the Orthodox Tsar of Moscow..." The Tsar Alexei Mihailovich, "accepted the Little Russ under his eminent reign" giving them complete self-government and an army made up of Cossacks.

Later, when Poland was submitted to Russia (First division of Poland — 1773; second — 1793; and third 1795) majority of people, that were forced to be uniats — returned to the Orthodox Church.

In order to attract the Orthodox population into Roman-Catholicism after the revolution of 1918 — the Roman Catholic Church created the "Eastern Rite." The services are conducted like in the Orthodox Church, but the teaching is catholic. After World War Two many Russian emigrants were lured into the "Eastern Rite" through financial aid and care-packages. Others, that did not understand the essence of the "Eastern Rite" were lured by the appearance of Orthodoxy. Presently, the "Eastern Rite" publish many religious books in Russian and are preparing an army of clergy missionaries to convert Russian people into Catholicism.

JUDAISM — evolved from the Old Testament religion established for the Hebrew people. Its main difference: non-recognition of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Judaism is filled with all kinds of rites and customs, has a multitude of small rules, some are written and some are oral, that find one’s everyday life such as: what one can and cannot eat or drink, whom to marry, when to work, whom to have as a friend and whom to hate. By fulfilling all this multitude of meaningless rules, they consider themselves "holy" and a "chosen people." They do not have missionaries and are unwilling to accept converts who do not have a mother of Jewish origin. The concept of vengeance, that is, an "eye for an eye" is very acceptable by Jews, with respect to their enemies. Some of the Jews are still waiting for their "Messiah," who will bring the glory to Jewish people. The Christians identify the coming of a false-messiah with the "Antichrist," who according to the Holy Bible, will come before the end of the world and lead a multitude of people away from Christianity.

MUSLIMISM. The originator of Muslims is Muhammad, who lived in the first part of the 7th century in present Arabia. The most important aspect of this religion is belief in one God (Allah) and the prophet Muhammad — the originator of this religion. Some portions appear to be taken from the Bible. Christ is considered as one of the prophets, but lower then Muhammad. According to Muslim teaching, each man is pre-destined from his birth. Self-control commandments are not needed, since everyone can do whatever he wants, there is no repentance, since everyone is predestined. Everyone, who is predestined to go to heaven — goes there. To kill the "unfaithful" (people of different religions) is encouraged and is rewarded by paradise after death. Muslims have many fixed rules with respect to wine, alcohol, clothing, pork-meat and prayers five times a day. Vengeance is encouraged and is a part of tradition.

BUDDHISM. The originator of this religion is Siddhartha-Gautama, who lived in India (Nepal) in the 7th Century B.C., and was called Buddha, which means, "The Enlightened One." After its beginning, Buddhism spread into many countries in the East: India, Burma, Siam, Tibet, China and Japan. Buddhists do not recognize the God Creator, but believe in eternity of matters and circular motion and in a change of appearance. It teaches, that the universe, suffering and pleasure — are only "illusions" in a make believe existence. By rejection of will — from selfishness and all its consequences — man submerges into a state of "nirvana," that is, a state of complete spiritual peace, absence of desires, thoughts, words — psychological non-existence. According to a Buddha teaching, life is evil. A man should strive into nirvana (non-existence). Happiness is accomplished by self-rejection of one’s will, asceticism, suspension of evil and bad desires, love for all and readiness to sacrifice himself for others. The high moral principal and consequence that came out of it into social life, helped to spread Buddhism. In addition, Buddhism teaches, that there is no real death, but after death the souls of people transfer from one person into another and even into animals. The Buddhist concept regarding transference of souls is in total contrast with Christian teaching. (Christianity teaches, that a soul and body is one being. After death, a soul and body are temporally separated, so that at the moment of Resurrection they are united again forever). Some rules of Buddhism are as follows: do not destroy life, do not lie, do not steal, do not exploit, do not rape, do not use alcohol. Sacrifice everything for the welfare of people. One has to be: quiet, good, modest, be not carried away with wealth, not be angry, offensive, be a peace maker, prevent wars and everything that destroys life. Buddhist teaching is not the same in all countries: each country has its own specific singularity. It is important to note, that the teaching about nirvana does not further the development of man’s progress. Buddhism is a religion of pessimism in that it strives to abolish any identity. By rejection of the real God — Buddhism, in reality, is distinctly atheistic.

Atheism — rejects the existence of God and any higher intelligence. It appeared in the Middle Ages in Western Europe, but only in the 19^th Century, did it become a philosophic teaching, acknowledging nothing except matter. (Atheists in principle reject anything that they do not understand, totally ignoring, that the man’s brain grows and develops with age). People in the 13th and 14th Centuries did not know that the earth was round and believed that the Sun circled around the Earth and not vice-versa. Two centuries ago, people did not know about electricity, had no idea about telephones, TV and other contemporary equipment. The Quantum Theory is a new discovery. Therefore, anything that is not understandable today, in the future may be understood and unquestionable. Scientists are slowly discovering that the laws of physics, chemistry, biology and cosmology were put into nature by our Wise Creator. Contemporary science is discovering more and more previously unknown laws, the result of which, them become more humble, when they discover that some of the principle questions appear to be supported by religious explanations. (For example: regarding the questions about time and limits of the universe, or about steadfast development of the physical and animal world, etc.).

In the 20th Century atheism spread into many countries using a base of pseudo-philosophy which began to teach that a men is on top of the animal world, that there is no higher wisdom or will to whom man has to account for his life. Man himself without any help created his environment, his life and his happiness. Atheism teaches to live only for yourself, love only yourself and accomplish only your own goals. The basic principle is: everything is good for a man, that is convenient for him. For an atheist: religion is a myth., family and society comes second. A man can kill, commit crime, have no compassion, be sly, be a traitor, or a criminal, as long as his work benefits the government. There are no eternal moral norms, there is no sin. Atheistic government tries to make itself a man’s goal and its citizens — soulless executors.

All religions acknowledge the existence of a Higher Being — eternal, wise, most good, a just Creator of all visible and invisible worlds. The religious images of God start developing in man very early and, in reality, are inherited as instinct, conscience and other spiritual properties. With correct development, the religious feeling grows stronger, because the entire nature with its beauty and miraculous structure testifies about the Most-Wise and Most-Good Creator. In some moments of one’s life, he/she begins to feel God in one’s soul and see His wonderful light. The more a person gets acquainted with Christian teaching, the more he/she is convinced about the positive influence on individuals, family and the whole society.

Atheism is unnatural, it is a product of incorrect up-bringing and a sinful way of life mostly connected with a life in cities. People are not born atheists, they become so. The big cities with their loud way of living, vanity and lewdness, frequently kill in a person anything good and holy. While losing God, an atheist cannot be without some higher authority and faith, so he creates a belief in matter and begins to ascribe to it: an eternity, invariability and even a wisdom. Without recognizing God, atheism becomes the most intolerable and repressive of religions. At a time, when religion calms a person down and makes him happy, atheism — makes him mean, angry and takes away his inner balance. This is the reason, why an atheist has to persecute someone, fight someone etc. Even repression against "heretics" in the middle ages were more human, as compared to persecutions of the faithful in communist countries.

This is why even the ancient philosophers were against atheism. Plato considered atheism fatal and an annihilator of moral. St. Augustine said that atheism, in fact, undermined any government: "A government, that is not based on the Lord’s Comandments — is nothing else but a temporary hell on earth." Many years of atheistic rule in Russia proved this statement.

"Spontaneous combustion" is the term used to describe the growth of "autochthonous" Protestant churches in Latin America. These are groups that are radically indigenous, having no connection with evangelical missionary efforts from North America or elsewhere. Writing in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, two veteran observers report: "Latin American Protestants traditionally, have been accused of subverting Latin America's unity by introducing religious forms that run counter to Latin culture. Traditional Protestants may well stand accused of such foreignness. But the autochthonous churches — with their rhythms, charismatic leaders, passion, personal sacrifice, and openness to the miraculous — are not only highly contextualized but, according to some, may be more attuned to the region's culture than traditional Roman Catholicism." While "enculturation" is much discussed by Roman Catholics, the authors suggest that these new movements may be taking the lead.

"In recent years, Catholic folk religion — religiosidad popular ("popular religiosity," as it is known in Latin America) — has received much attention and analysis. Far from the lofty philosophical and theological heights of official Catholicism, and equally far from the politically radical views of liberation theology, the down-to-earth practice of Latin America's masses revolves around tangible practices and objects such as pilgrimages to shrines, religious fiestas, water from sacred springs, and objects with curative powers. Some look with disdain upon this popular religion. Others countenance religiosidad popular and hold in prospect the possibility of building upon it, to lift the masses to a higher and more spiritual faith.

"It has not escaped the attention of many that Latin America's autochthonous Pentecostalism, with its emphasis on cures and material blessings, may be a Protestant equivalent of Catholic popular religiosity. Observers share the same contrasting perspectives, disdain or appreciation. Some see only the crude manifestations of Protestant 'popular religiosity'; others, thanking God that the masses are being reached, anticipate a growing maturity in these movements.

"The charges that Protestant autochthonous movements are susceptible to syncretistic influence is countered by some autochthonous leaders who draw attention to syncretistic 'Romish' influences in the historic Protestant churches. Such leaders also point out that historic churches in Latin America pay little attention to the demonic and may easily overlook the persistent superstitious or even occult practices of their members. Autochthonous groups, in contrast, recognize the existence of the spirit world and demand that new converts renounce all non-Christian practices."

It may be the case, we are told, that not all Christians must go through what Marx called, the fiery brook" of Feuerbach's Enlightenment, the deconstruction of religion. "The real issue is whether mission-related churches can understand and adopt the best of a pre-Enlightenment world view, that is common to the masses in Latin America. This is a view that is open to the miraculous, to God's intervention in daily experience, to biblical confrontation with the demonic, and to a focus in worship that emphasizes reveling in God's presence, rather than passive participation in a cerebrally oriented service." The relationship between Catholics and non-Catholic movements in Latin America is very much on the agenda of the initiative known as "Evangelicals and Catholics Together." And, one may hope, it will be very much on the agenda of the forthcoming Roman synod for America (meaning both North and South) that begins in November.

In this short abstract, we have tried to provide very basic information about existing Christian denominations and other religions. The most honorable of all religions, most high spirited is Christianity with its teaching about One God and worship of the Holy Trinity who created the universe and looks after its people; about the Son of God, who came into this world to save people from their sins, about eternal life and about love for all, including one’s enemies.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the 11th Century the Roman Catholic Church fell away from the One Christian Church. The reason was due to the desire of the bishop of Rome to be head of the church with his infallibility. As time went by the Roman Catholic Church added more of its own dogmas (Filioque, purgatory, etc…) and therefore moved away further from pure Christian teaching. Misuse of indulgences and a desire for power of the Popes of Rome, created in Europe Protestant movements, from which contemporary sects, such as Lutheran, Baptist, Quaker, Mormon, Pentecost, Adventist and others, had begun.

The religious chaos created by these sects brought the foundation for contemporary cults of all kind, which have clearly non-Christian bases. The appearance of a multitude of pseudo-prophets before the end of the world, of which the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostle were foretold. (See our pamphlet "The Teaching of Holy Scripture about the Church").

A non-biased person, by acquainting himself with the history of Christianity has to come to the conclusion, that only the Orthodox Church has uninterrupted roots to the Church of the First century. This is the Church that kept pure, unchanged teaching and has the grace of the Apostolic succession. To His Church, the Lord commanded not to invent new teachings for the convenience of world customs, but to save people with Grace and truth. To pass these didactics to future generations is the main aim of the Church.

Until the Russian Revolution of 1917-18, the Russian Orthodox Church was part of One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, it had many members and was strong. However, to the monolith of one Russian Country (Russian Empire) and its Church was given a big blow by various sects, nihilism, western revolutionary ideas and finally militaristic atheism. Now is the time to recuperate and to heal. Orthodoxy teaches us, that life has to be built on the principal of Christ’s love. "Then all will know that you are my disciples." In everyday life, the Orthodox Church calls on man to restrain from sin and live according to God’s commandments and moral perfection.

Our faith in God cannot be abstract, or theoretical, because "faith without a deed — is dead." We recognize the power of prayers, and they have a main place in our lives. We have to pray fervently (arduously), to our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, to the Most Holy Theotokos and all the saints who are our helpers and interceders before God. The Church calls us to take care of our families and our countries, strive to develop our God given ability and raise ourselves in humbleness, non-acquisition and compassion, forgiveness for all, and to judge no-one. To strive for eternity.

In its earthly history, the Church of Christ sometimes was large in numbers, sometimes it decreased in numbers. There was a time when Church enemies were in glory — thinking, that the Church will totally disappear. However, with the power of Christ, the Church resurrected from ashes and its enemies disappeared. Christ promised to His Church, that it will never be conquered until the end of existence of the universe. We have to remember, that we, being the children of the Church, are members of a great universal organization. The fact is, that there is no society or government larger then the Church, because its members are not only the ones on this earth, but also all venerable and just ones, who are in the world beyond. Really, the Church in its heavenly-earth membership grows constantly and is getting stronger. Being in the Church we, like passengers of a great ship, will not drown in waves of ocean life.

We are strong in our faith in God the Creator, omnipresent, omnipotent, all knowing, all wise and most merciful Heavenly Father. His will is our law, that shows us how to live, and how to develop our ability. Our aim — is an eternal and happy life in the Kingdom of unending Life.

may be found at: http://www.watchman.org/

Editor: Bishop Alexander (Mileant)