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Life in Orthodoxy and the Modern World
In past centuries, for example in 19th-century Russia, the Orthodox worldview was part of Orthodox life and was supported by the surrounding reality. There was no need to even speak of it as something separate—everyone lived Orthodox lives, in harmony with the surrounding Orthodox society. In many countries, the government itself professed Orthodoxy; it was the center of public activity, and the Tsar or ruler himself was historically the first Orthodox layperson, whose duty it was to set an example of Christian life for his subjects. Every city had Orthodox churches, and in many of them, services were held daily, morning and evening. Monasteries existed in all large cities, in many smaller towns, and beyond them, in villages, and in remote and deserted places. In Russia, there were over a thousand officially registered monasteries, not counting other communities. Monasticism was a universally accepted part of life. Indeed, in most families, someone—a sister or brother, an uncle, a grandfather, a relative—was a monk or nun, not to mention other examples of Orthodox life, such as wanderers and fools for Christ. The entire way of life was permeated with Orthodoxy, the center of which, of course, was monasticism. Orthodox customs were part of everyday life. Most widely read books were Orthodox. Everyday life itself was difficult for most people: they had to work hard to survive, their hopes for survival were slim, death was not uncommon—all of this reinforced Christ's teaching about the reality and nearness of another world. In such circumstances, living an Orthodox life meant having an Orthodox worldview, and there was little need to talk about it.
Now everything has changed. Our Orthodoxy is an island in a world that lives by completely different principles, and with each passing day these principles are increasingly changing for the worse, alienating us further from it. Many people are tempted to divide their lives into two categories: everyday life at work, with worldly friends, in worldly affairs, and Orthodoxy, which we live by on Sundays and other days of the week when we have time for it. But upon closer examination, such a person's worldview often represents a strange combination of Christian and worldly values that truly do not mix. The purpose of this report is to show how those living today can begin to make their worldview more valuable, to make it wholly Orthodox.
Orthodoxy is life. If we don't live Orthodoxly, we are simply not Orthodox, regardless of our formal faith.
Life in our modern world has become very artificial, very uncertain, very confusing. Orthodoxy does have its own life, but it is also not so far removed from the life of the surrounding world, and therefore the life of an Orthodox Christian, even when truly Orthodox, cannot help but reflect it in one way or another. A certain uncertainty and confusion have now permeated even Orthodox life. Let us try to look at our modern life to see how we can better fulfill our Christian responsibilities, lead a life otherworldly even in these terrible times, and have an Orthodox perspective on our lives today that will allow us to survive in these times and keep our faith intact.
Life has become abnormal today.
Anyone who looks at our modern life from the perspective of the normal life people led in earlier times—for example, in Russia, America, or any Western European country—cannot help but be struck by how abnormal life has become. The very concept of authority and obedience, decency and politeness, behavior in public and private life—everything has changed dramatically, turned upside down, with the exception of a few select groups—usually Christians of one denomination or another—who attempt to preserve the so-called "old-fashioned" way of life.
Our abnormal life today can be characterized as spoiled and pampered. From infancy, a modern child is treated like a family idol: their whims are indulged, their desires fulfilled, they are surrounded by toys, entertainment, and comforts. They are not taught or raised according to strict principles of Christian behavior, but are instead allowed to develop in the direction of their desires. Usually, it's enough for them to say, "I want" or "I don't want," for accommodating parents to bow to them and allow them to do as they please. Perhaps this doesn't happen "in all families" or "all the time," but it happens often enough to become a rule of modern child-rearing, and even parents with the best intentions cannot completely escape its influence. Even if parents try to raise their child strictly, neighbors try something different. This must be taken into account when raising a child.
When such a person grows up, they naturally surround themselves with the same things they were accustomed to as children: comforts, entertainment, adult toys. This life becomes a constant search for "entertainment," a word, incidentally, completely unheard of in any other dictionary. In 19th-century Russia, or in any serious civilization, they simply wouldn't understand what this word means. Life is a constant search for "entertainment," which is so devoid of any serious meaning that a visitor from any other 19th-century country, looking at our popular television programs, amusement parks, advertising, movies, music—almost any aspect of our contemporary culture—would think they had entered a land of madmen who have lost all touch with everyday reality. We often fail to take this into account because we live in this society and take it for granted.
Some recent scholars of our contemporary life have called today's youth the "me" generation, and our time the "age of narcissism," characterized by self-worship and self-adoration, which hinders the development of normal human life. Others speak of a "plastic" universe or fantasy world inhabited by so many people today, incapable of facing the reality of the world around them, adapting to it, or addressing their inner problems.
When the "me" generation turns to religion, which has become increasingly common in recent decades, it's usually some kind of "plastic" or fantastical form of "self-development" religion (where the "I" remains the object of worship), brainwashing and thought control, deified gurus or swamis, the search for UFOs and "unearthly" beings, abnormal spiritual states and sensations. Here, we won't examine all these phenomena, which are likely well known to most of us, but we will simply touch on how they impact Orthodox Christian spiritual life today.
It's important for us to recognize, as we attempt to lead a Christian life today, that the world that has created our spoiled times makes demands on the soul—whether in religion or in secular life—that must be recognized as totalitarian. This is easily discerned in the soul-deforming cults that have become so widely known in recent years, demanding submission to a self-proclaimed "saint." But it is equally evident in secular life, where a person faces not an isolated temptation here or there, but a constant state of temptation—whether in the background music heard everywhere (in department stores, offices), in the signs and noticeboards on city streets, in rock music that reaches even forest paths and campgrounds, or in the home, where television often becomes a secret housekeeper, dictating contemporary values, opinions, and tastes. If you have small children, you know how true this is: if they have seen something on television, it can be very difficult to fight the new opinion that television presents as authoritative.
The meaning of this all-encompassing temptation, which attacks people today (quite openly in its secular form, and usually more covertly in its religious forms), is this: live for today, enjoy yourself, relax, feel good. Behind this meaning, there's another, darker overtone, one that only openly resounds in officially atheist countries, which are one step ahead of the free world in this regard. Indeed, we must realize that what's happening in the world today is very similar—be it behind the Iron Curtain or in the free world. There are different versions, but the attacks aimed at conquering our souls are very similar. In "communist" countries, which have an official doctrine of atheism, they quite openly say: forget about God and any life other than the present, banish from your soul all fear of God and veneration of sacred things, and regard those who still believe in God in the "old-fashioned style" as enemies to be destroyed. Our American Disneyland could be used as a symbol of our carefree, entertainment-seeking, self-deluded times. We must not overlook a more sinister symbol behind it, one that reveals where the "me" generation is truly heading: toward the Soviet Gulag, a chain of concentration camps that already control the lives of almost half the world's population.
Two False Approaches to Spiritual Life
But one might ask, what does all this have to do with us, who are trying to lead, as best we can, a sober Orthodox Christian life? A lot! We must recognize that life around us, no matter how abnormal it may be, is the place where we begin our own Christian life. No matter how we make our lives, no matter how authentically Christian we fill them with, they still bear some imprint of our "me" generation, and we must be humble enough to acknowledge this. That's where we begin.
There are two false approaches to life around us that many accept, thinking they represent the model for how Orthodox Christians should act. One, the more common approach, is simply to keep up with the times: adapting to rock music, current fashions and tastes, and the entire rhythm of our jazzy modern life. Often, more old-fashioned parents have little contact with this life and live more or less separately, their own lives, but they will smile as they see their children follow the latest craze, thinking it's harmless. This path is a complete disaster for the Christian life; it is the death of the soul. Some may still lead outwardly decent lives without struggling with the spirit of the times, but inwardly they are dead and dying, and, saddest of all, their children will pay for it with various mental and spiritual disorders and illnesses, which are becoming increasingly common. One of the leaders of the suicide cult that so spectacularly ended its existence in Jonestown (1976 – editor's note) was the young daughter of a Greek Orthodox priest; the Satanic rock band "Kiss" (literally "kiss," but here an abbreviation for "Kids in Satan's Servise" – editor's note) consists of former Russian Orthodox youths. These are just a few striking examples; most Orthodox young people don't go so far; they merely bow down along with those around them, to the anti-Christian world that surrounds them, and cease to be an example of any kind of Christianity for others.
This is not right! A Christian must be distinct from the world, and this should be one of the fundamental things they must learn as part of their Christian upbringing. Otherwise, there is no point in calling oneself a Christian, especially an Orthodox Christian.
The false approach at the other extreme is what might be called false spirituality. As translations of Orthodox books on the spiritual life become increasingly available, and Orthodox terminology on spiritual warfare becomes more and more commonplace, more and more people talk about hesychasm, the Jesus Prayer, the ascetic life, elevated prayer states, and the most exalted of the holy fathers, such as St. Symeon the New Theologian , Gregory Palamas , and Gregory of Sinai . It is very good to be aware of this truly elevated side of Orthodox spiritual life and to venerate the great saints who truly lived it; but unless we have a very realistic and very humble awareness of how far we all are from the life of the hesychasts and how ill-prepared we are to even approach it, our interest in it will be just another expression of our egocentric, plastic world.
There are now very popular books on this topic. Indeed, Roman Catholics themselves are actively pursuing these issues under Orthodox influence and influencing other Orthodox. For example, the Jesuit priest Father George Maloney writes books on these topics and translates St. Macarius the Great and Symeon the New Theologian , attempting to instill hesychasts in people in their daily lives. They practice all sorts of "solitudes," usually "charismatic": people are inspired by the Holy Spirit (supposedly) and try all sorts of asceticism, which we know from the Holy Fathers and which are far above the level we find ourselves at today. There is one woman, Catherine de Het Doherty (she was actually born in Russia and later became a Roman Catholic), who writes books like "The Desert," "Silence," and about everything else she would like to introduce into life, as if she were advertising a new candy. This, of course, is very frivolous and carries a tragic sign of our times. Sublime things are used by people who have no idea what they're talking about. For some, it's just a habit or a pastime; for others who take it seriously, it can turn into a great tragedy. They think they're leading a sublime life, but in reality, they've failed to resolve their own personal inner problems.
Let me emphasize again that both of these extremes—secularization and hyper-spirituality—must be avoided. But this does not mean that we should not have a realistic understanding of the legitimate demands the world places on us, or that we should cease to venerate the great Fathers of Hesychasm and benefit from their wise teachings, or to resort to the Jesus Prayer ourselves, according to our circumstances and capabilities. This simply must be on our own level, closer to the earth. The point is (and this is absolutely essential for our understanding as Orthodox Christians today) that we must deeply understand the times we live in, how little we truly know and feel about our Orthodoxy, how distant we are not only from the saints of antiquity, but even from ordinary Orthodox Christians who lived a hundred years ago or even a generation ago, and how strongly we must strive simply to survive as Orthodox Christians today.
What can we do?
More specifically, what can we do to acquire this awareness, this understanding, and how can we make it fruitful in our lives? We will attempt to answer this question in two parts: the first concerns awareness of the world around us, which, like never before in the history of Christianity, has become our conscious enemy; the second concerns our understanding of Orthodoxy, which most of us know far less than we should, far less than we need to know if we want to preserve it.
First, since, whether we like it or not, we are surrounded by the world (and its influence is strongly felt even in the most remote places, even in monasteries), we must view it and its temptations firmly and realistically, but not succumb to them. In particular, we must prepare our youth for the temptations they face and, as it were, inoculate them against them. We must be prepared every day to respond to the influence of the world with the principles of a sound Christian upbringing. This means that everything a child learns at school and at home must be examined and corrected. We must not think that what they learn at school is simply useful or something worldly, irrelevant to their Orthodox upbringing. He can be taught useful skills and facts (although many of today's schools fail miserably in this regard; many teachers tell us that all they can do is maintain order in the classroom, and there's no talk of teaching), but even if he acquires these, he will be taught many wrong points of view and ideas. A child's basic attitude and appreciation of literature, music, history, art, philosophy, science, and, of course, life and religion should not come primarily from school, for all of this will be learned there mixed with modern philosophy. It should come primarily from home and the Church, otherwise he will receive the wrong education in today's world, where public education is at best agnostic and at worst atheistic or anti-religious. Of course, in the Soviet Union, all of this is forced upon a child by force, without any religion whatsoever, but with an active program of raising an atheist.
Parents must know exactly what their children are being taught in the various general education courses that have become almost universal in today's schools, and correct this at home, not only by maintaining an open position on this issue (especially between fathers and sons, which is very rare in society), but also by clearly emphasizing its moral aspect, which is completely absent from public education.
Parents should know what music their children listen to, what movies they watch (listening or watching with them, if necessary), what language they hear and what language they use themselves, and make a Christian assessment of all this.
In those homes where there is not enough courage to throw the television out of the window, it must be strictly controlled and monitored to avoid the toxic influence of this machine, which has become the main teacher of anti-Christian assessments and ideas in the home itself, especially for the young.
It is in the upbringing of children that the world first strikes at Orthodox Christians and educates them according to its own model: as soon as a child has developed an incorrect attitude, the task of his Christian upbringing becomes doubly difficult.
However, not only children but all of us face a world that is trying to turn us into antichrists through school, television, movies, popular music, and all the other means it bombards us with, especially in big cities. We must understand that what is being hammered into us comes from a single source; it has a certain rhythm, a certain ideological content: the idea of self-worship, relaxation, indifference, enjoyment, the renunciation of even the slightest thought about another world. This idea is imposed on us in various forms. In fact, it is an education in atheism. We must actively defend ourselves, knowing exactly what the world is trying to do to us, defend ourselves by formulating and publicizing our Orthodox and Christian response to it. Frankly, if you observe how Orthodox families live in today's world and pass on their Orthodoxy, it may seem that this battle is being lost more often than won. The number of Orthodox Christians who maintain their identity intact and do not change according to the pattern of the modern world is actually very small.
Still, we shouldn't view the world around us as entirely bad. In fact, to survive as Orthodox Christians, we must be wise enough to utilize everything positive in this world to our advantage. Let's consider several aspects that we can utilize to further our Orthodox worldview, even though they have nothing directly to do with Orthodoxy.
A child who has been accustomed to good classical music from childhood, whose soul has developed under its influence, is not subject to the temptations of crude rhythm, "rock," and other forms of modern pseudo-music to the same extent as someone who grew up without musical training. Such musical education, according to some Optina elders, purifies the soul and prepares it to receive spiritual impressions.
A child who has been accustomed to good literature, drama and poetry and has felt their impact on the soul, i.e. has received true enjoyment, will not easily become an adherent of modern television and cheap novels, which empty the soul and lead it away from the Christian path.
A child who has learned to see the beauty of classical painting and sculpture will not be easily drawn into the perversions of modern art and will not be drawn to the tasteless products of modern advertising and pornography.
A child who knows something about world history, especially during Christian times—how people lived and thought, what mistakes and pitfalls they fell into when they strayed from God and His commandments, and what glorious lives they led when they were faithful to Him—will be able to judge the life and philosophy of our time and will not blindly follow the first philosophy or way of life they encounter. One of the problems facing school education today is that children are no longer instilled with a sense of history. This means that children are deprived of the opportunity to follow the example of people who lived in the past. And history, in essence, constantly repeats itself. When you notice this, you want to know how people solved their problems, what happened to those who rebelled against God and to those who changed their lives, setting a shining example that has survived to this day. A sense of history is very important, and it must be instilled in children.
In general, a person well-versed in the best fruits of secular culture, which in the West almost always has a distinct religious and Christian connotation, has a much better chance of leading a normal, fruitful life as an Orthodox Christian than someone who converted to Orthodoxy with only an understanding of contemporary popular culture. Someone who converted to Orthodoxy directly from "rock" culture, and indeed anyone who thinks they can combine Orthodoxy with such culture, will have to endure much suffering before becoming a truly serious Orthodox Christian capable of communicating their faith to others. Without suffering, without understanding, Orthodox parents will raise children who will be devoured by the modern world. The best world culture, properly assimilated, purifies and develops the soul; today's popular culture deforms and distorts souls and prevents them from responding correctly to the call of Orthodoxy.
Therefore, in our battle against the spirit of this world, we can use the best that the world has to offer in order to go beyond that best; all the best in the world, if we are wise enough to see it, points to God and Orthodoxy, and we must take advantage of it.
Orthodox worldview
By taking this position—seeing both the good and the bad in the world—we can have an Orthodox worldview, that is, live with an Orthodox perspective on all of life, not just on narrowly ecclesiastical matters. There is a misconception, unfortunately all too widespread today, that it is sufficient to have an Orthodoxy limited to a church building and normal "Orthodox" activities such as prayer at certain times or the sign of the cross. Otherwise, according to this view, we can live like everyone else, participating in the life and culture of our time without any problems, so long as we do not commit sin.
Anyone who understands the depth of Orthodoxy and the profound responsibilities of a serious Orthodox Christian, as well as the obligations imposed upon us and the totalitarian demands placed upon us by the modern world, easily sees how erroneous this view is. Either you are Orthodox at every moment of every day, in every situation, or you are not truly Orthodox at all. Our Orthodoxy is revealed not only in our strictly religious views but in everything we do and say. Most of us are barely aware of our Christian responsibility for the secular side of our lives. A person with a truly Orthodox worldview, however, lives every part of their life as an Orthodox Christian.
Let us therefore ask here: how can we nourish and support the Orthodox worldview in our daily lives?
The first and most obvious path is to be in constant contact with the source of Christian nourishment, with everything the Church provides for our enlightenment and salvation: church services and the Holy Sacraments, Holy Scripture, the lives of the saints, and the writings of the Holy Fathers. Of course, you should read books that are at your level of understanding and apply church teachings to your own life situations and circumstances; then they will prove fruitful, guiding and transforming us in a Christian way.
But often these fundamental Christian sources fail to fully influence us, or fail to influence us at all, because we fail to adopt the correct Christian stance toward them and the Christian life they should inspire. Let us try to understand what our stance must be if we are to truly benefit from them and if they are to become the beginning of a genuine Orthodox worldview.
First of all, Christian spiritual food is by its very nature something living and nourishing; if our approach to it is purely theoretical and bookish, we will not receive the benefits it can provide. Therefore, if we read Orthodox books or are interested in Orthodoxy only to gain information or to boast of our knowledge to others, we are missing the point. If we study the commandments of God and the law of His Church only to act "correctly" and judge the "wrongness" of others, we are missing the point. They should not simply influence our ideas; they should directly touch our lives and change them. During any great crisis in human affairs, those who rely on a superficial knowledge of laws, canons, and rules cannot endure. The strongest will be those for whom an Orthodox education has given a sense of what true Christianity is , those whose Orthodoxy resides in the heart and is capable of touching the hearts of others.
There's nothing more tragic than seeing someone raised in Orthodoxy, who understands the catechism, has read the lives of the saints, has a grasp of the general goals of Orthodoxy, understands some of the services—and yet is unaware of what's happening around them. And they present this life to their children in two categories: one is how the majority lives, and the other is how Orthodox Christians live on Sundays and when they read an Orthodox text. When a child is raised this way, they most likely won't choose Orthodoxy; it will become a very small part of their lives, because modern life is so seductive, too many people strive for it, it replaces reality—unless a person has been taught how to protect themselves from its harmful influences and how to take advantage of the good that exists in the world.
In this sense, our position must be acceptable and normal, that is, it must be applied to real circumstances, and not a product of fantasy, withdrawal from life, and a refusal to face the unpleasant phenomena of the surrounding world. An overly exalted, hothouse Orthodoxy, hovering in the clouds, is incapable of helping people in everyday life; our world is quite cruel, and its harshness wounds souls. We must first and foremost respond with sober Christian love and understanding, leaving hesychasm and the higher forms of prayer to those who are capable of embracing them.
Our position should not be egocentric, but rather one that appeals to those seeking God and the spiritual life. Nowadays, wherever there is a well-established Christian community, there is a temptation to turn it into a society for mutual congratulations and admiration for our virtues and achievements, the beauty of our church buildings and furnishings, the splendor of our services, even the purity of our doctrine. But true Christian life, since apostolic times, has always been inseparable from sharing it with others. Orthodoxy is alive precisely because it shines for others and has no need to establish a "missionary department." The fire of true Orthodoxy is merely something we preserve for ourselves and boast of when we are dead, burying the dead—and this is precisely the state in which many of our Orthodox parishes now find themselves, even those with many young people, if they are not deeply immersed in their faith. It is not enough to say that young people go to church. We need to ask what they bring there, what they take away from the church, and if they do not embrace Orthodoxy with their whole life, then it is in vain to say that they go to church.
At the same time, our attitude toward people must be one of love and forgiveness. A certain cruelty has crept into Orthodox life: "He's a heretic, don't associate with him," "He might be Orthodox, but we can't be sure," "But that one is clearly a spy." No one will deny that the Church is now surrounded by enemies and that there are some who would not mind taking advantage of our trust. But this has been the case since apostolic times, and in this practical sense, Christian life has always been something risky. But even if we are sometimes taken advantage of, and we must exercise caution, we cannot abandon our fundamental attitude of love and trust; without it, we will lose the very foundation of our Christian life. A world without Christ is distrustful and cold, but Christians, on the contrary, must be loving and open, otherwise we will lose the salt of Christ within us and become like the world, fit to be cast out and trampled underfoot.
A little humility in looking at ourselves would help us be more forgiving and forgiving of others' mistakes. We love to judge others for their strange behavior; we call them "cuckoos" or "crazy converts." Indeed, we must beware of truly unbalanced people, who can cause great harm to the Church. But what serious Orthodox Christian today isn't a little "crazy"? We don't conform to the customs of this world, and even if we do conform to them in today's world, we are no longer true Christians. A true Christian cannot feel at home in the world and cannot help but seem a little "crazy" to themselves and others. In many countries, adhering to the ideal of an otherworldly Christianity or being baptized as an adult is enough to land oneself in a mental hospital, and these countries are paving the way for the rest of the world.
Therefore, let us not fear that the world will regard us as somewhat "touched," and let us continue to cherish Christian love and forgiveness, which the world will never be able to understand, but which, deep down, it needs and even longs for. Finally, our Christian stance must be—for lack of a better word, I will call it—innocent. Today, the world places great value on complexity, worldly experience, and "professionalism." Orthodoxy places no value on these qualities; they kill the Christian soul. And yet, these traits continually permeate the Church and our lives. How often do we hear, especially from enthusiastic converts, about the desire to travel to the great centers of Orthodoxy, to cathedrals and monasteries, where thousands of believers gather and the conversation everywhere revolves around church topics—and one can sense how important Orthodoxy really is. This Orthodoxy is but a drop in the bucket when viewed across society as a whole, but in these great cathedrals and monasteries there are so many people that it seems Orthodoxy truly predominates. And how often do you see these people in a pitiful state after they've satisfied their desire and returned from the "great centers of Orthodoxy," sullen and disillusioned, having listened to worldly church gossip, full of condemnation, and preoccupied only with being "Orthodox," "appropriate," and worldly-wise in matters of church politics. In short, they've lost their innocence, their otherworldliness, and have been led astray by their fascination with the worldly side of church life.
This temptation confronts us all in various forms, and we must fight it, not allowing ourselves to overestimate externals in the Church, but always returning to the "one thing needful"—Christ—and the salvation of our souls from this evil spirit. We must not close our eyes to what is happening in the world and in the Church—we need to know this for our own sake, but our knowledge must be sober, simple, and straightforward, not complicated and worldly.
Conclusion
Any Orthodox Christian who is aware of what is happening around them knows that the world is approaching its end! The signs of the times are so obvious that one could say the world is rapidly collapsing.
What are these signs?
1. The abnormality of the world. Never before have such strange and unnatural manifestations and behaviors been taken for granted as they are today. Just look at the world around us: what's written in the newspapers, what films are shown, what's on television, what people find interesting and entertaining, what they laugh at—it's simply appalling. And there are people who deliberately promote all of this, of course, for their own benefit and because it's fashionable, because there's a perverse desire for such things.
2. Wars and rumors of war, one more chilling and merciless than the other, all overshadowed by the threat of an unthinkable nuclear war that could be unleashed at the push of a button.
3. Widespread natural disasters: earthquakes and the emergence of new volcanoes (the newest of which is forming in the Yosemite National Park in central California), which are already changing the nature of the world's weather.
4. The increasing centralization of information and power over individuals, represented in particular by a gigantic new computer installed in Luxembourg, capable of storing a dossier on every person living on earth; its code number is "666," and those who operate it have nicknamed it "the beast." To facilitate the work of such computers, the American government (note: no longer just the American one) plans to begin issuing citizens Social Security checks with a number clearly including the code number 666 on their right hand or forehead—this is precisely the requirement that will be paramount, according to the Apocalypse (Chapter 13), during the reign of the Antichrist. Of course, this does not mean that the first person imprinted with 666 is the Antichrist or his servant, but if this becomes widespread, who will be able to resist? First you will get used to it, and then you will be forced to worship him.
5. The proliferation of false Christs and false Antichrists. One of the candidates in the summer of 1982 probably spent millions of dollars advertising his imminent appearance on worldwide television, promising to give a "telepathic message" to all inhabitants of the earth at that moment. Aside from any occult forces that might have been involved in this event, we already know quite well about the possibility of transmitting unconscious signals via radio and especially television, as well as the fact that anyone with the technical means can interfere with normal radio and television signals, despite any laws against such actions.
6. The truly sinister reaction to the new film that everyone in America is talking about and seeing, "E.T.", which has caused literally millions of seemingly normal people to express their devotion and love for the hero, the "savior from outer space," who is quite obviously a demon—a clear preparation for the worship of the coming Antichrist. (And, by the way, the film editor of the official newspaper of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America, an Orthodox priest, wholeheartedly recommended this film to Orthodox people, saying that it is a wonderful film that can teach us about love, and everyone should see it. There is a clear difference between people trying to understand what is going on and those who are simply carried away by the general mood.)
One could cite more examples and details like this, but the purpose of this publication is not to frighten, but to awaken awareness of what is happening around us. Truly, now is later than we think. The apocalypse is already happening. And how sad it is to see Christians, and even more so young people, Orthodox youth, over whose heads this unthinkable tragedy hangs, and who think that in these terrible times they can continue what is called a “normal life,” fully participating in the whims of a mad, self-deluded generation. A generation completely unaware that the “paradise of fools” in which we live is about to collapse, completely unprepared for the desperate times that await us. Now the question is no longer whether to be a “good” or a “bad” Orthodox Christian, the question now is: will our faith survive at all? For many, it will not survive; The coming Antichrist will be too attractive, too much in keeping with the spirit of the times, the worldly spirit to which we aspire, for most people to even recognize that they have lost their Christianity by bowing down to him.
But Christ's call still reaches us; let us begin to heed it. The clearest expression of this call comes today from a world enslaved by atheism, where there is real suffering for Christ and a seriousness of life that we are quickly losing or have already lost. One Orthodox priest in Romania, Father Gheorghe Calciu, is now dying in prison for daring to call on seminarians and students to cast aside their blind adherence to the spirit of the times and engage in the work of Christ. Having spoken of the emptiness of atheism, he says to today's youth:
“I call you to a far higher soar, to total selflessness, to an act of courage that defies common sense. I call you to God, to the One who transcends the world, so that you may know the infinite paradise of spiritual joy that you grope for in your personal hell, and that you seek even in a state of unintentional rebellion… Jesus has always loved you, and now you have the choice to respond to His call. By responding, you are preparing yourself to go and bear fruit that will last. To be a prophet of Christ in the world in which you live. To love your neighbor as yourself and make all people your friends. To proclaim with every act that unique and boundless love that elevates man from slave to friend of God. To be a prophet of this liberating love that frees you from every bondage, proclaiming your purity as soon as you offer yourself to God.”
Father George, addressing young people who were little inspired by the desire to serve the Church of Christ because they had accepted the worldly opinion (common among us in the free world) that the Church is only a collection of buildings or a worldly organization, calls upon them and us to understand more deeply what the Church of Christ is and that “formal membership” is not enough to save us:
“The Church of Christ is alive and free. In it we move and have our being through Christ, who is its head. In Him we have complete freedom. In the Church we know the Truth, and ‘the Truth will make us free’ ( John 8:32 ). You are in the Church of Christ whenever you lift someone up, give alms to the poor, or visit the sick. You are in the Church of Christ when you are merciful and patient, when you refuse to be angry with your brother, even if he has hurt your feelings. You are in the Church of Christ when you pray, ‘Lord, forgive him.’ When you toil honestly at work, returning home tired but smiling, when you repay evil with love—you are in the Church of Christ. Don’t you see, young friend, how near the Kingdom of Christ is? You are Peter, and God is building His Church on you. You are the rock of his Church, which nothing can overcome... Let us build the Church with our faith. A Church that no human power can destroy, a Church whose foundation is Christ... Feel your brother nearby! Never ask, "Who is this?" – Rather, say, "This is not a stranger, this is my brother. He is the Church of Christ, just as I am."
With this call in our hearts, let us truly belong to the Church of Christ, the Orthodox Church. External membership is not enough; a shift must occur within us that will distinguish us from the outside world, even if that world calls itself Christian and even "Orthodox." Let us preserve and nurture those qualities of a true Orthodox worldview mentioned above: a vibrant, normal attitude, loving and forgiving, non-egocentric, preserving our innocence and otherworldliness even in the full and humble awareness of our sinfulness and the power of worldly temptations around us. If we truly live with this Orthodox worldview, our faith will withstand the blows that await us and serve as a source of inspiration and salvation for those who are yet to seek Christ, even amid the collapse of humanity that has already begun.
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Serafim_Rouz/kak-segodnja-byt-pravoslavnym/