The word "mission" signifies the proclamation of the intact Holy Gospel to those outside the Orthodox Church. If we speak to baptized but unchurched people who consider themselves Orthodox, this is not a mission—it is catechesis. Only two types of rational beings live on Earth: homo sapiens and homo christianus. They differ from each other as the dead differ from the living. A living Christian differs from inanimate (ordinary) people. As the Apostle Paul says, "You, who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air… God… has made alive together with Christ" ( Eph. 2:1–5 ). When a missionary goes out to preach, he goes into what is called in the Acts of the Apostles the region of Satan, the place of darkness, the place of rejection, where the children of God's wrath live, under the power of Satan and under the shadow of death - people enslaved and captured by the devil's snare.
A missionary enters a world that operates by different laws, for the laws of Christians and the laws of the ordinary human world are completely different. When we missionize, we find ourselves on the border of three worlds:
1) the world of people;
2) peace on the border with Heaven. Missionaries are direct messengers of Christ. The Apostle Paul says: "You show by yourselves that you are a letter of Christ" ( 2 Cor. 3:3 ). We proclaim the uncorrupted message of revelation to people who do not know the truth and do not know salvation;
3) peace on the border with the Celestial Empire. Missionaries engage in direct combat with Lucifer, as the devil strongly dislikes having his prey snatched from his jaws.
2. Traditional and non-traditional religions
Unfortunately, thanks to the rise of various non-Church teachings, such as humanism, people have come to the strange conclusion that anyone can be saved. It doesn't matter whether a person is Christian or not, as long as they are good. This notion contradicts Holy Scripture and the teachings of the Universal Church; moreover, it contradicts common sense and observed experience. No one living outside the Church, adhering to other religious traditions, can ever expect to receive the salvation that Christians hope for.
Our greatest hope is that we are saved from sin, damnation, and death, receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life, become God's children, and meet face to face with our Heavenly Father. The Lord says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" ( Matthew 5:8 ). This chief hope of Christians—salvation as communion with God, as deification, as eternal life for those resurrected in the flesh before the face of God—is unknown to everyone else. That is why, when Christians say that there is no salvation outside the Church, they are saying something with which representatives of all religions implicitly agree. Interestingly, before Christianity, no religious tradition held any hope for a good outcome. No one ever promised good outcomes from a meeting with the Creator.
What happens to people who have not been baptized after death? They truly go to hell—there is no other path for them. Christ descended into hell at a specific moment—Holy Saturday—and liberated those who sought Him during His life (before His birth). All people who refuse to come to Christ now perish forever. Therefore, missionary work is a direct consequence of mercy. Can we live peacefully knowing that our loved ones, relatives, and acquaintances—brothers in Adam and Eve—are descending in huge numbers into the valley of the shadow of death, forever? If we remember this, will it matter whether their religion is traditional or non-traditional? (Whether a person hanged himself traditionally or blew himself up with a grenade non-traditionally—what difference does it make? He died anyway!) If a person goes to hell, it doesn't matter whether he goes because he adheres to Islam or because he was a member of, say, a sect like Jehovah's Witnesses. The important thing is that he dies. And this is the most terrible thing that can happen to a person.
Traditional confessions as a concept emerged in the first centuries AD in ancient Rome. There's a fascinating life of Saint Carpus, Equal to the Apostles. When Saint Carpus was being interrogated, the governor asked him why he had abandoned the ancient traditional religion of his ancestors, a religion that had strengthened the state, established the moral foundations of society, and was recognized not only by the Romans but also by barbarians—an ancient religion vindicated by the experience of many generations. Why had he joined a new Christian sect? Carpus responded that we don't respect a thing simply because it's ancient, for evil is ancient, but deserves no respect.
For the Church Fathers, there was no difference between traditional and non-traditional faiths. Holy Scripture divides religions by only one principle: one is true, all others are false. There is one path leading to God. The Lord said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" ( John 14:6 ). And there are many paths, devised by the devil , that lead to destruction. The Lord Himself said that the fate of idolaters "is in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death " ( Rev. 21:8 ). Representatives of all traditional faiths will go to hell, and traditionalism will not help them.
Why does such a false approach to religion exist today? Because the very essence of religion is that the question should not be whether a particular religion is traditional or non-traditional, but rather its truth. Every religion is built on this foundation. Hinduism, Islam , or Christianity —they are all built on this foundation, and they operate within this framework. This approach, however, is an attempt to describe religion as a social institution, and nothing more. Such behavior is unacceptable in the Church. We must be at peace with all people, we must cooperate in the cause of peace with representatives of other religions, but this is only a formal peace, lest, as St. John Chrysostom says , there be a general war of all against all.
But under no circumstances should we use this pretext to destroy people. After all, if we refuse to preach to Tatars or Chechens, Jews or Kazakhs because they belong to "traditional faiths," then we would be displaying diabolical inhumanity toward them. The result would be horrific racism: people of Turkic descent or Caucasians are supposedly unworthy of salvation because of their nationality. This is discrimination in the most horrific sense.
3. Reasons for missionary work
It is precisely because we feel so deeply sorry for people that we try to save them. But we can save them only by knowing something very important: we are God's chosen people. We are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His special people, that we should proclaim the praises of Him who called us... out of darkness into His marvelous light" ( 1 Peter 2:9 ). We have been given the fullness of Truth; we know the absolute Truth, "we know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in wickedness" ( 1 John 5:19 ). And that is precisely why we do not hesitate to always remind everyone that we possess the absolute Truth. But it is important to note that this is not our own merit: we did not achieve it—it was given to us, and we want to share this gift. We want people in darkness to find the Light; we want people who have been in error to find the Truth. That is precisely why we are in an inherently unequal position with those to whom we go. We are God's messengers. We are God's chosen ones, who call all others into this election, so that they may become like us.
4. Missionary methodology
A missionary has no right to engage in any kind of equal dialogue: he can't say, "You have the right to your opinion, and we have the right to ours." A missionary has no right to have an opinion at all. The Orthodox Church doesn't have its own point of view on any issue—it always makes do with the Lord God's point of view, and that's enough for it. We shouldn't have our own points of view; we must make do with the Lord God's point of view—and that's enough for us. As Maximus the Confessor said , "God and I are already a majority, and an overwhelming majority at that."
Unfortunately, when people try to preach, they believe they must establish some kind of equitable relationship with representatives of other religions and respect their views. But this is only possible if the person doesn't understand what's happening to them. Imagine how you would respect the views of a drug addict who believes he has a right to heroin? Would you respect their opinion? No. False religion is the same way—and even worse, because it's actually worse than heroin. It destroys a person in the truest, most literal sense of the word. Christ's love demands merciless intolerance of false opinions, accompanied by merciless—toward oneself—love for the perishing. Sparing oneself to serve the perishing is unthinkable, but at the same time, one must not spare the false opinions of another, precisely because they destroy the soul.
A missionary works at the very depths of the human spirit. And the word we bring reaches the very depths of the heart, dividing brain from heart, soul from spirit, and discerning the thoughts of the heart. If a person tries to speak their own word instead of God's Word—even a very good, intelligent, logical one—it will remain in their head. The head may even agree, but the heart will say, "I don't want to." So what do you do with that? The missionary has laid everything out clearly, and the person says, "I understand everything, but I won't do it because I don't want to." What's the problem here? The missionary relies on himself, and then what Saint Gregory Palamas spoke of appears : "Every word wars with word, but who can refute life? Our task is to sow the Word of God, pure, holy, unaltered, relying on the power of the Word of God itself."
I had a similar incident. A Wahhabi—a Chechen—came to me to tell me I was a polytheist. I explained everything to him clearly, and we agreed that we would simply discuss logically who God is and what predestination is. At first, I thought, “That’s it, I’ll convert him now.” Nothing of the sort, no conversion at all. And then we simply started meeting, going over everything in order. We went over it and I thought, “Oh well, at least let him learn something about Christianity.” And then suddenly he asks, “Father Daniel, why haven’t you invited me to be baptized?” “You haven’t expressed any desire to do so.” And he replies, “Well, I’ve wanted to for a long time now.”
There are things that happen mysteriously, and God deliberately ensures that a person can never boast. I have never converted a single person in my life. I have seen countless conversions, but I myself have never converted anyone. When I tried, nothing worked, but when I spoke the Word of God, it changed the person on its own. God deliberately did this, knowing my natural tendency to boast, so that I could never boast. As the Apostle Paul says: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may belong to God and not to us" ( 2 Cor. 4:7 ).
5. The basic principle of a missionary
Always respect a person and never respect their beliefs. It is necessary to clearly distinguish between sin and the sinner. The same pattern applies here: we love a fornicator and hate fornication, we love a drunkard and hate drunkenness – just as we love a heretic and hate heresy, we love a pagan and hate paganism, we love a Muslim and hate Islam . Moreover, if you want to become a missionary, you will be entering into a very ancient plan. When was the mission conceived? Even before the creation of the universe, God the Father decided to create the world as a gift to His Son, because “all things were created through him and for him” ( Colossians 1:16 ), as Scripture says. And He wanted the Son of God to become “the firstborn among many brethren” ( Romans 8:29 ). And we humans become servants of God the Father’s work of bringing new brothers to His Son. The missionary's task is to comb through this world with a fine-tooth comb and find those people for whom the Truth is more important than themselves.
6. Missionary's weapon
The uncorrupted, blazing Word of God is the most fearsome weapon in the universe. More powerful than a nuclear bomb, it undermines all the power of the devil, and it must be transmitted with the utmost purity. Therefore, missionaries are obligated to speak with authority, but only with the authority of God. And therefore, a missionary has an internal limitation: a missionary is limited in what and how he speaks. A missionary must speak thus: I desire to know "nothing except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" ( 1 Corinthians 2:2 )—this is the most important condition. A missionary has no right to speak of anything but the Holy Gospel. A missionary must be, as this world calls him, a narrow-minded fanatic, but in reality, a broad-minded sage. He must speak only the pure, undiluted Word of God. He must speak thus: "God has spoken, so please obey. I have warned you, understand?" Then, through the missionary, unimaginable power will operate.
When a person begins to serve as a missionary in this way, their life changes. After all, the Apostle James said that "he who converts a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins" ( James 5:20 ). A missionary must call people to a personal contact with the Lord God.
7. When should you start missionary work?
The Holy Scriptures describe a catechumen who was a magnificent missionary—Apollos. He was instructed in the principles of the Lord's way, and even as a catechumen, he taught about the Lord, even without fully understanding the doctrine, knowing only the baptism of John. And what do we see? He was corrected, but not forbidden to serve as a missionary. If a person feels a calling in their heart to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, they should do so immediately.
Many say, "I'm unworthy." But you can't possibly be worthy! You're a sinful man with unclean lips, living among people with unclean lips, yet your eyes see the Lord. How can this be? You're not worthy, but you're called. That's what you should say: "I'm unworthy, but I'm coming because God has called me, because I pity those who are perishing."
8. Missionary Award
The missionary is a collector. He receives awards for the lifestyle he leads:
- as a Christian - either 30 times, or 60 times, or 100 times, depending on whether you are married, a widower, or a virgin;
- as a missionary - no less than 100 times, or even more;
- as one who is persecuted for the name of the Lord - a great reward in Heaven;
- as a peacemaker.
A missionary truly enters into a completely different reality—the direct Kingdom. That is, he is already in the reality of the Kingdom of God and begins to anticipate the Kingdom of God on earth, and then it draws him into eternity. Missionaries have a huge number of friends in Heaven, because the more they do their missionary work, the more they need the help of their predecessors—the holy missionaries, the apostles, the equal-to-the-apostles, the saints, and the great enlighteners. They become kindred spirits to him.
Should we seek glory? Of course we should. What normal person doesn't want glory? But why do we need temporary glory? We must seek eternal glory. And who can give eternal glory? Only the eternal God . And how is this glory manifested? God said, "I will honor those who honor me" ( 1 Samuel 2:30 ). And how best to glorify God? Obviously, not individually. Convert, for example, 100 people, and together glorify God.
How much greater will the reward be? When a person is engaged in Orthodox missionary work, fighting the devil , they become stronger and stronger. Who knows the Church's teachings better? A missionary or an ordinary person? Obviously, a missionary, because they are constantly forced to work in this field. Life is not very comfortable for a missionary. He might want to break some commandment of God, just as he was about to do so—and then he needs to preach, and God will surely arrange it so that he must speak about the very commandment he was about to break.
The Lord ensures that missionaries learn through their converts. In this way, God will lift them higher and higher. But there is a prerequisite: a missionary must pray. Of course, missions also teach this: if a person doesn't pray, they become discouraged because nothing is working. If a person tries to be the mouthpiece of God the Father but doesn't turn to God the Father, they will fail. Playing at this won't work. So missionary work forces people to pray, especially when a missionary finds themselves in an extreme situation—and they always live in such an extreme situation, for they are at the intersection of three worlds. This is precisely why their life is so intense, so vibrant, and the missionary learns to constantly rely on the Lord God.
As soon as a missionary departs from God, the enemy immediately strikes. He is close by, he sees him as his main adversary; a missionary is, one might say, a special forces soldier of the Holy Trinity. One writer observed that if you want to see miracles, you must be either a martyr or a missionary, because, truly, it is the direct hand of God. It works precisely when a person is on the front lines, when they are ahead of everything, leading the attack against the forces of darkness. Therefore, missionary work is the path to holiness, to which we are all called.
If you become a missionary, you will also be helping the unfortunate. As St. Macarius of Altai said , "I am the lowest servant of the local peoples here." And St. Herman of Alaska said, "I am a nanny to all these peoples here." So, if you start preaching, you will be forced to help people. Incidentally, your heart will soften. A mission softens the heart more than even charity, since a missionary is forced to establish personal contact with people. After all, is it possible to help another person so profoundly by helping only externally, without touching them with your soul?
9. Requirements for a missionary
Study Orthodox doctrine based on Holy Scripture and learn how to properly teach it to modern people. It is essential to be familiar with the composition and content of the Bible, which a missionary should always have with them. The first homework assignment is to memorize the Bible's table of contents. In terms of teaching, a missionary differs from an ordinary person who simply wants to learn something in that the former assimilates information with the goal of transmitting it to someone else.
10. Basic principles of preaching: goals and objectives
The missionary relies primarily on the Holy Scriptures , but not in the way he wants, but in the way the consensus of the Church Fathers understands it.
A missionary's primary task is to spread Jesus Christ's message of forgiveness of sins. This is also the most important message— "forgiveness of sins among all nations" ( Luke 24:47 ). That is, the most important message is that we are promised forgiveness of sins. People often say: everything is very easy for Christians—repent, and your sins are forgiven. And we agree: everything is easy for us! And we say: try it, and you'll see for yourself! This is the unimaginable novelty of the Gospel: forgiveness of sins means that cause-and-effect relationships are broken, my past no longer controls me, I can start with a clean slate, I find myself on the first day of creation, and all my paths begin from the lectern with the Cross and the Gospel. We begin life with a clean slate thanks to God's mercy, which was paid for dearly with the Lord's blood. The message of forgiveness of sins is the core of the Christian message.
We proclaim repentance—a change of worldview. We demand a change of worldview from all peoples. God affirms that it is impossible for a person in a natural state to accept the Gospel—impossible unless they change their worldview. The Gospel cannot be mechanically applied to an existing worldview. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,’ did we not prophesy in Your name? And in Your name cast out demons? And in Your name did not we perform many wonderful works? And then I will profess to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” ( Matthew 7:21–23 ). This passage states that there is a will of God and that it differs from human opinion. The Lord says directly: it is impossible to combine the old, "old wineskins" of the ordinary human worldview with the new, "new wine" of the Gospel ( Matthew 9:16–17 ). Our task is to demand a change in worldview from the old pagan one to a Christian one.
We are witnesses to communion, repentance, and the forgiveness of sins; this is very important. We know precisely and completely that our sins are forgiven. We don't just believe this; we see it: "You are witnesses of these things" ( Luke 24:48 ). It follows that we must speak what God has told us—without adding or subtracting. In missionary work, the most important thing is to convey the word of God in its pure form, "like pure wine, unmixed with anything—then it will possess healing power. Otherwise, when it is diluted with any human conclusions, it will lose its potency" (St. Theophan the Recluse ). Imagine two sermon options :
1. "There is a higher concept of God—for example, that God is love. Let's figure out which teaching best corresponds to this"—this approach works quite well, but there is another.
2. "God said this, and He commands that." The second method of preaching is better because in the first, the interlocutors can counter any conclusions made, and this detracts from the main theme of the sermon.
11. The missionary's main message
We proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead to redeem us from the sin of the curse of death. "It was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and for repentance and forgiveness of sins to be preached in His name" ( Luke 24:46–47 ). Rule #1: Never say, "We believe this..." or "Our Church teaches this..." – always say, "The Lord God's view is this..." or "God said this...." This is a fundamentally important point. If we say something that is not God's word, it is the sin of perjury.
12. Mission object
If someone is indifferent to the Truth as such, then they are fundamentally closed to preaching. Mission cannot reach someone who has blocked themselves from God with their evil will. If someone says they don't care about anything, then they are closed to God. The Lord speaks of such people: "And whoever does not receive you or listen to you, when you go out from there, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony against them. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city" ( Mark 6:11 ). How to demonstrate the existence of God must be discussed specifically when discussing who God is . First, explain who God is, and then present the arguments that refute atheism. These are interconnected. However, from the very beginning, it must be remembered: if a person is indifferent to the Truth, then such a person is not the object of mission.
13. The principle of testimony
It's crucial to base the conversation on the principle of witnessing. We are witnesses first and foremost. We must rely on witnessing. And to do this, we must witness in a way that is understood. Therefore, a missionary should use as few terms as possible, retaining the most essential. Our task is to speak in the simplest, most understandable language possible. When our logic is exhausted and there's nothing more to say, we must not simply remain silent, but draw a conclusion. And then demand an answer from the other person: "Do you agree or disagree?" If you disagree, why not? In the case of disagreement, the conversation must be broken down into points: what exactly the other person disagrees with—and only if they agree should we move on. If someone agrees with us on something, it means they have changed their worldview in that area. Completely false worldviews do not exist. They are impossible: a "chemically pure" lie self-destructs, it annihilates, it simply cannot be constructed. Therefore, even the most complex worldview contains true elements upon which it rests. But an absolutely true worldview can exist on its own, because it comes from an absolutely true God.
14. The Power of a Missionary
By whose power do missionaries operate? The Lord says, "And I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be clothed with power from on high" ( Luke 24:49 ). Missionary work is always accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit promised by God the Father. Therefore, the beginning of missionary work is prayer, the middle of missionary work is prayer, and the end of missionary work is prayer. Without prayer , nothing will come of it. Moreover, there is one nasty thought that deprives us of all power. This thought is, "I'm doing well!" The moment we accept it, we are guaranteed to fail miserably within a minute. Because God will depart from us immediately. Only God can convert another person: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets: 'And they shall all be taught of God.'" "Everyone who has heard from the Father and learned comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father" ( John 6:44–46 ). Thus, without the help of God the Father, no one has ever succeeded in converting anyone. Therefore, it is necessary to always rely on the power of God. The most successful missionaries said that they never converted a single person in their entire lives, but that God converted them through them. And this is the pure truth!
15. The spiritual meaning of the mission
A person who embarks on a mission truly finds themselves on the front lines of spiritual struggle, literally at the edge of the universe. A missionary encounters three worlds simultaneously: the world of God, in whose name they act; the world of people with their free will—where they see both the unimaginable evil hidden there and the unimaginable good; and the world of evil spirits that tangibly rebel against them. Therefore, a missionary finds themselves at the intersection of three worlds. It's a borderline state. Monks are Orthodoxy's special forces, and missionaries are saboteurs, preparing an offensive beyond the Church's borders. Missionary work is an extremely dangerous, but also a truly great thing, because it involves realities that lie at the edge of the universe.
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Daniil_Sysoev/instruktsija-dlja-lovtsa-chelovekov/#0_15