The difference between Catholics and Orthodox. Attitude towards other religions. Icons in different Christian directions

Christianity belongs to one of the world religions along with Buddhism and Judaism. Over a thousand-year history, it has undergone changes that have led to branches from a single religion. The main ones are Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Catholicism. Christianity also has other currents, but usually they are sectarian and are condemned by representatives of generally recognized trends.

Differences between Orthodoxy and Christianity

What is the difference between these two concepts? Everything is very simple. All Orthodox are Christians, but not all Christians are Orthodox. The followers, united by the confession of this world religion, are separated by belonging to its separate direction, one of which is Orthodoxy. To understand how Orthodoxy differs from Christianity, one must turn to the history of the emergence of world religion.

Origins of religions

Christianity is believed to have originated in the 1st century. from the birth of Christ in Palestine, although some sources claim that it became known two centuries earlier. The people who preached the belief were waiting for God to come to earth. The doctrine absorbed the foundations of Judaism and the philosophical trends of that time, it was strongly influenced by the political situation.

The preaching of the apostles greatly contributed to the spread of this religion. especially Paul. Many pagans were converted to the new faith, and this process continued for a long time. At the moment, Christianity has the largest number of followers compared to other world religions.

Orthodox Christianity began to stand out only in Rome in the 10th century. AD, and was officially approved in 1054. Although its origin can be attributed already to the 1st century. from the birth of Christ. Orthodox believe that the history of their religion began immediately after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, when the apostles preached a new creed and attracted more and more people to religion.

By II-III centuries. Orthodoxy opposed Gnosticism, which rejected the authenticity of the history of the Old Testament and interpreted the New Testament in a different way, not in accordance with the generally accepted. Also, opposition was observed in relations with the followers of the presbyter Arius, who formed a new trend - Arianism. According to them, Christ did not possess a divine nature and was only an intermediary between God and people.

On the creed of nascent Orthodoxy Ecumenical Councils had a great influence supported by a number of Byzantine emperors. Seven Councils, convened over the course of five centuries, established the basic axioms subsequently accepted in modern Orthodoxy, in particular, confirmed the divine origin of Jesus, disputed in a number of teachings. This strengthened the Orthodox faith and allowed more and more people to join it.

In addition to Orthodoxy and small heretical teachings, rapidly fading in the process of developing stronger trends, Catholicism stood out from Christianity. This was facilitated by the split of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern. Huge differences in social, political and religious views led to the disintegration of a single religion into Roman Catholic and Orthodox, which at first was called Eastern Catholic. The head of the first church was the Pope, the second - the patriarch. Their mutual excommunication of each other from the common faith led to a split in Christianity. The process began in 1054 and ended in 1204 with the fall of Constantinople.

Although Christianity was adopted in Russia in 988, it was not affected by the process of schism. The official division of the church did not take place until several decades later, but at the baptism of Russia, Orthodox customs were immediately introduced, formed in Byzantium and borrowed from there.

Strictly speaking, the term orthodoxy practically did not occur in ancient sources, the word orthodoxy was used instead. According to a number of researchers, earlier these concepts were given different meanings (orthodox meant one of the Christian directions, and Orthodoxy was almost a pagan faith). Subsequently, they began to attach a similar meaning to them, made them synonyms and replaced one with another.

Fundamentals of Orthodoxy

Faith in Orthodoxy is the essence of all divine teaching. The Nicene Constantinople Creed, drawn up during the convening of the Second Ecumenical Council, is the basis of the doctrine. The ban on changing any provisions in this system of dogmas has been in force since the time of the Fourth Council.

Based on the Creed, Orthodoxy is based on the following dogmas:

The desire to earn eternal life in paradise after death is the main goal of those who profess the religion in question. A true Orthodox Christian must follow the commandments handed down to Moses and confirmed by Christ throughout his life. According to them, one must be kind and merciful, love God and neighbors. The commandments indicate that all hardships and hardships must be endured meekly and even joyfully, despondency is one of the deadly sins.

Differences from other Christian denominations

Compare Orthodoxy with Christianity can be done by comparing its main directions. They are closely related to each other, as they are united in one world religion. However, there are huge differences between them on a number of issues:

Thus, the differences between directions are not always contradictory. There are more similarities between Catholicism and Protestantism, since the latter appeared as a result of the split of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. If desired, the currents could reconcile. But this has not happened for many years and is not foreseen in the future.

Relation to other religions

Orthodoxy is tolerant of confessors of other religions. However, without condemning and peacefully coexisting with them, this movement recognizes them as heretical. It is believed that of all religions, only one is true, its confession leads to the inheritance of the Kingdom of God. This dogma is contained in the very name of the direction, indicating that this religion is correct, opposite to other currents. Nevertheless, Orthodoxy recognizes that Catholics and Protestants are also not deprived of the grace of God, because, although they glorify Him differently, the essence of their faith is one.

By comparison, Catholics consider the only way to salvation to be the practice of their religion, while others, including Orthodoxy, are false. The task of this church is to convince all dissenters. The Pope is the head of the Christian Church, although this thesis is refuted in Orthodoxy.

The support of the Orthodox Church by the secular authorities and their close cooperation led to an increase in the number of followers of the religion and its development. In a number of countries, Orthodoxy is professed by the majority of the population. These include:

A large number of churches and Sunday schools are being built in these countries, and subjects dedicated to the study of Orthodoxy are being introduced into secular general educational institutions. Popularization also has a downside: often people who consider themselves Orthodox have a superficial attitude to the performance of rituals and do not observe the prescribed moral principles.

You can perform rites in different ways and relate to shrines, have different views on the purpose of your own stay on earth, but in the end, everyone who professes Christianity united by faith in one God. The concept of Christianity is not identical with Orthodoxy, but includes it. Keeping moral principles and being sincere in your relationship with the Higher Forces is the basis of any religion.

This article will focus on what Catholicism is and who are Catholics. This direction is considered one of the branches of Christianity, formed due to a large split in this religion, which occurred in 1054.

Who are in many ways similar to Orthodoxy, but there are differences. From other currents in Christianity, the Catholic religion differs in the peculiarities of the dogma, cult rites. Catholicism has replenished the "Creed" with new dogmas.

Spreading

Catholicism is widespread in Western European (France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Italy) and Eastern European (Poland, Hungary, partly Latvia and Lithuania) countries, as well as in the states of South America, where it is professed by the vast majority of the population. There are also Catholics in Asia and Africa, but the influence of the Catholic religion is not significant here. compared to the Orthodox are a minority. There are about 700 thousand of them. The Catholics of Ukraine are more numerous. There are about 5 million of them.

Name

The word "Catholicism" is of Greek origin and in translation means universality or universality. In the modern sense, this term refers to the Western branch of Christianity, which adheres to the apostolic traditions. Apparently, the church was understood as something general and universal. Ignatius of Antioch spoke about this in 115. The term "Catholicism" was officially introduced at the first Council of Constantinople (381). The Christian Church was recognized as one, holy, catholic and apostolic.

Origins of Catholicism

The term "church" began to appear in written sources (letters of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna) from the second century. The word was synonymous with municipality. At the turn of the second and third centuries, Irenaeus of Lyon applied the word "church" to Christianity in general. For individual (regional, local) Christian communities, it was used with the appropriate adjective (for example, the Church of Alexandria).

In the second century, Christian society was divided into the laity and the clergy. In turn, the latter were divided into bishops, priests and deacons. It remains unclear how the management in the communities was carried out - collegially or individually. Some experts believe that the government was initially democratic, but eventually became monarchical. The clergy were governed by a Spiritual Council headed by a bishop. This theory is supported by the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, in which he mentions bishops as leaders of Christian municipalities in Syria and Asia Minor. Over time, the Spiritual Council became just an advisory body. And only the bishop had real power in a single province.

In the second century, the desire to preserve apostolic traditions contributed to the emergence and structure. The Church was supposed to protect the faith, dogmas and canons of Holy Scripture. All this, and the influence of the syncretism of the Hellenistic religion, led to the formation of Catholicism in its ancient form.

The final formation of Catholicism

After the division of Christianity in 1054 into western and eastern branches, they began to be called Catholic and Orthodox. After the Reformation of the sixteenth century, more and more often in everyday life, the word "Roman" began to be added to the term "Catholic". From the point of view of religious studies, the concept of "Catholicism" covers many Christian communities that adhere to the same doctrine as the Catholic Church, and are subject to the authority of the Pope. There are also Uniate and Eastern Catholic churches. As a rule, they left the power of the Patriarch of Constantinople and became subordinate to the Pope of Rome, but retained their dogmas and rituals. Examples are Greek Catholics, the Byzantine Catholic Church and others.

Basic dogmas and postulates

To understand who the Catholics are, you need to pay attention to the basic postulates of their dogma. The main tenet of Catholicism, which distinguishes it from other areas of Christianity, is the thesis that the Pope is infallible. However, there are many cases when the popes, in the struggle for power and influence, entered into dishonorable alliances with large feudal lords and kings, were obsessed with a thirst for profit and constantly increased their wealth, and also interfered in politics.

The next postulate of Catholicism is the dogma of purgatory, approved in 1439 at the Council of Florence. This teaching is based on the fact that the human soul after death goes to purgatory, which is an intermediate level between hell and paradise. There she can, with the help of various trials, be cleansed of sins. Relatives and friends of the deceased can help his soul cope with trials through prayers and donations. From this it follows that the fate of a person in the afterlife depends not only on the righteousness of his life, but also on the financial well-being of his loved ones.

An important postulate of Catholicism is the thesis of the exclusive status of the clergy. According to him, without resorting to the services of the clergy, a person cannot independently earn God's mercy. A priest among Catholics has serious advantages and privileges compared to an ordinary flock. According to the Catholic religion, only the clergy have the right to read the Bible - this is their exclusive right. Other believers are forbidden. Only editions written in Latin are considered canonical.

Catholic dogma determines the need for systematic confession of believers before the clergy. Everyone is obliged to have his own confessor and constantly report to him about his own thoughts and actions. Without systematic confession, the salvation of the soul is impossible. This condition allows the Catholic clergy to penetrate deeply into the personal life of their flock and control every step of a person. Constant confession allows the church to have a serious impact on society, and especially on women.

Catholic sacraments

The main task of the Catholic Church (the community of believers as a whole) is to preach Christ in the world. The sacraments are considered visible signs of the invisible grace of God. In fact, these are the actions established by Jesus Christ that must be performed for the good and salvation of the soul. There are seven sacraments in Catholicism:

• baptism;
• chrismation (confirmation);
• the Eucharist, or communion (the first communion among Catholics is taken at the age of 7-10 years);
• sacrament of repentance and reconciliation (confession);
• unction;
• sacrament of priesthood (ordination);
• sacrament of marriage.

According to some experts and researchers, the roots of the sacraments of Christianity go back to pagan mysteries. However, this point of view is actively criticized by theologians. According to the latter, in the first centuries AD. e. some rites were borrowed from Christianity by the pagans.

How do Catholics differ from Orthodox Christians?

What is common in Catholicism and Orthodoxy is that in both of these branches of Christianity the church is the mediator between man and God. Both churches agree that the Bible is the main document and doctrine of Christianity. However, there are many differences and disagreements between Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Both directions agree that there is one God in three incarnations: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (trinity). But the origin of the latter is interpreted in different ways (the Filioque problem). The Orthodox profess the "Symbol of Faith", which proclaims the procession of the Holy Spirit only "from the Father". Catholics, on the other hand, add “and the Son” to the text, which changes the dogmatic meaning. Greek Catholics and other Eastern Catholic denominations have retained the Orthodox version of the Creed.

Both Catholics and Orthodox understand that there is a difference between the Creator and creation. However, according to Catholic canons, the world has a material character. He was created by God out of nothing. There is nothing divine in the material world. While Orthodoxy suggests that the divine creation is the incarnation of God himself, it comes from God, and therefore he is invisibly present in his creations. Orthodoxy believes that it is possible to touch God through contemplation, that is, to approach the divine through consciousness. This is not accepted by Catholicism.

Another difference between Catholics and Orthodox is that the former consider it possible to introduce new dogmas. There is also a doctrine of "good deeds and merit" of Catholic saints and the church. On its basis, the Pope can forgive the sins of his flock and is the vicar of God on Earth. In matters of religion, he is considered infallible. This dogma was adopted in 1870.

Differences in rituals. How Catholics are baptized

There are also differences in rituals, the design of temples, etc. Even the Orthodox prayer procedure is performed not quite the way Catholics pray. Although at first glance it seems that the difference is in some small things. To feel the spiritual difference, it is enough to compare two icons, Catholic and Orthodox. The first is more like a beautiful painting. In Orthodoxy, icons are more sacred. Many are interested in the question, Catholics and Orthodox? In the first case, they are baptized with two fingers, and in Orthodoxy - with three. In many Eastern Catholic rites, the thumb, index and middle fingers are placed together. How are Catholics baptized? A less common way is to use an open palm with the fingers pressed tightly and the big one slightly bent towards the inside. This symbolizes the openness of the soul to the Lord.

The fate of man

The Catholic Church teaches that people are weighed down by original sin (with the exception of the Virgin Mary), that is, in every person from birth there is a grain of Satan. Therefore, people need the grace of salvation, which can be obtained by living by faith and doing good works. The knowledge of the existence of God is, despite human sinfulness, accessible to the human mind. This means that people are responsible for their actions. Every person is loved by God, but in the end the Last Judgment awaits him. Particularly righteous and charitable people are ranked among the Saints (canonized). The Church keeps a list of them. The process of canonization is preceded by beatification (canonization). Orthodoxy also has a cult of the Saints, but most Protestant denominations reject it.

Indulgences

In Catholicism, indulgence is the complete or partial release of a person from punishment for his sins, as well as from the corresponding expiatory action imposed on him by a priest. Initially, the basis for receiving an indulgence was the performance of some good deed (for example, a pilgrimage to holy places). Then it was the donation of a certain amount to the church. During the Renaissance, there were serious and widespread abuses, which consisted in the distribution of indulgences for money. As a result, this provoked the beginning of protests and a reform movement. In 1567, Pope Pius V imposed a ban on the issuance of indulgences for money and material resources in general.

Celibacy in Catholicism

Another major difference between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church is that all the clergy of the latter give Catholic clergy no right to marry and generally have sexual intercourse. All attempts to marry after receiving the diaconate are considered invalid. This rule was announced during the time of Pope Gregory the Great (590-604), and was finally approved only in the 11th century.

The Eastern churches rejected the Catholic variant of celibacy at Trull Cathedral. In Catholicism, the vow of celibacy applies to all clergy. Initially, small church ranks had the right to marry. Married men could be initiated into them. However, Pope Paul VI abolished them, replacing them with the positions of reader and acolyte, which ceased to be associated with the status of a cleric. He also introduced the institution of lifelong deacons (who are not going to advance further in church careers and become priests). These may include married men.

As an exception, married men who converted to Catholicism from various branches of Protestantism, where they had the ranks of pastors, clergy, etc., can be ordained to the priesthood. However, the Catholic Church does not recognize their priesthood.

Now the obligation of celibacy for all Catholic clergy is the subject of heated debate. In many European countries and the United States, some Catholics believe that the obligatory vow of celibacy should be abolished for non-monastic clergy. However, the Pope did not support such a reform.

Celibacy in Orthodoxy

In Orthodoxy, clergy can be married if the marriage was concluded before ordination to the priestly or deaconate. However, only monks of the small schema, widowed priests or celibates can become bishops. In the Orthodox Church, a bishop must be a monk. Only archimandrites can be ordained to this rank. Bishops cannot simply be celibates and married white clergy (non-monastics). Sometimes, as an exception, hierarchal ordination is possible for representatives of these categories. However, before that, they must accept a small monastic schema and receive the rank of archimandrite.

Inquisition

When asked who the Catholics of the medieval period were, one can get an idea by familiarizing themselves with the activities of such an ecclesiastical body as the Inquisition. It was the judicial institution of the Catholic Church, which was intended to combat heresy and heretics. In the twelfth century, Catholicism faced the rise of various opposition movements in Europe. One of the main ones was Albigensianism (Cathars). The popes have placed the responsibility of fighting them on the bishops. They were supposed to identify heretics, try them and turn them over to the secular authorities for the execution of the sentence. The highest punishment was burning at the stake. But the episcopal activity was not very effective. Therefore, Pope Gregory IX created a special church body, the Inquisition, to investigate the crimes of heretics. Initially directed against the Cathars, it soon turned against all heretical movements, as well as witches, sorcerers, blasphemers, infidels, and so on.

Tribunal of the Inquisition

Inquisitors were recruited from various members, primarily from Dominicans. The Inquisition reported directly to the Pope. Initially, the tribunal was headed by two judges, and from the 14th century - by one, but it consisted of legal consultants who determined the degree of "heretics". In addition, the court employees included a notary (who certified the testimony), witnesses, a doctor (monitored the defendant's condition during executions), a prosecutor and an executioner. The inquisitors were given part of the confiscated property of heretics, so there is no need to talk about the honesty and fairness of their court, since it was beneficial for them to recognize a person guilty of heresy.

inquisitorial procedure

Inquisitorial investigation was of two types: general and individual. In the first, a large part of the population of any locality was surveyed. At the second time, a certain person was called through the curate. In those cases when the summoned did not appear, he was excommunicated from the church. The man swore an oath to sincerely tell everything he knew about heretics and heresy. The course of the investigation and proceedings were kept in the deepest secrecy. It is known that the inquisitors widely used torture, which was allowed by Pope Innocent IV. Sometimes their cruelty was condemned even by secular authorities.

The accused were never given the names of witnesses. Often they were excommunicated, murderers, thieves, perjurers - people whose testimony was not taken into account even by the secular courts of that time. The defendant was deprived of the right to have a lawyer. The only possible form of defense was an appeal to the Holy See, although it was formally prohibited by bull 1231. People who had once been convicted by the Inquisition could at any moment be brought to justice again. Even death did not save him from the investigation. If the deceased was found guilty, then his ashes were taken out of the grave and burned.

Punishment system

The list of punishments for heretics was established by bulls 1213, 1231, as well as by the decrees of the Third Lateran Council. If a person confessed to heresy and repented already during the process, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Tribunal had the right to shorten the term. However, such sentences were rare. At the same time, the prisoners were kept in extremely cramped cells, often shackled, ate water and bread. In the late Middle Ages, this sentence was replaced by hard labor in the galleys. Recalcitrant heretics were sentenced to be burned at the stake. If a person turned himself in before the trial began, various church punishments were imposed on him: excommunication, pilgrimage to holy places, donations to the church, interdict, various types of penances.

Fasting in Catholicism

Fasting among Catholics consists in abstaining from excesses, both physical and spiritual. In Catholicism, there are the following fasting periods and days:

• Great Lent for Catholics. It lasts 40 days before Easter.
• advent. The four Sundays before Christmas, believers should reflect on his forthcoming arrival and be spiritually focused.
• All Fridays.
• Dates of some major Christian holidays.
• Quatuor anni tempora. It translates as "four seasons". These are special days of repentance and fasting. The believer must fast once every season on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
• Fasting before communion. The believer must abstain from food one hour before communion.

The requirements for fasting in Catholicism and Orthodoxy are for the most part similar.

Faith in Jesus Christ united and inspired Christians, becoming the basis of the religious worldview. Without it, believers would not be able to do right and do honest work.

The role of Orthodoxy in the history of Russia is enormous. People who professed this direction in Christianity not only developed the spiritual culture of our country, but also contributed to the way of life of the Russian people.

Catholicism has also brought great meaning to people's lives for centuries. The head of the Catholic Church - the Pope of Rome determines the norms of the social and spiritual sphere of society.

Differences in the teachings of Orthodoxy and Catholicism

Orthodoxy primarily recognizes that knowledge that has not changed since the time of Jesus Christ - the 1st millennium of our era. It is based on faith in a single Creator who created the world.


Catholicism, on the other hand, allows for changes and additions to the basic dogmas of religion. So, we can determine the main differences between the teachings of the two directions in Christianity:

• Catholics consider the Holy Spirit emanating from the Father and the Son as a symbol of Faith, while the Orthodox accept only the Holy Spirit emanating from the Father.
• Catholics believe in the conception of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, while the Orthodox do not accept it.
• The Pope of Rome was elected as the sole head of the church and vicar of God in Catholicism, while Orthodoxy does not imply such an appointment.
• The teaching of the Catholic Church, unlike Orthodoxy, forbids the dissolution of marriage.
• In Orthodox teaching, there is no dogma about purgatory (wandering of the soul of a dead person).

Despite all the differences, both directions religions are very similar. Both Orthodox believers and Catholics believe in Jesus Christ, observe fasts, build churches. The Bible is of great importance to them.

Church and clergy in Orthodoxy and Catholicism

The Orthodox Church includes at least 14 local churches recognized at the end of the 20th century. She governs the community of believers with the help of the rulebook of the apostles, the lives of the saints, theological texts and church customs. The Catholic Church, unlike the Orthodox, is a single religious center and is headed by the Pope.

First of all, churches different directions in Christianity differ in their appearance. The walls of Orthodox churches are decorated with stunning frescoes and icons. The service is accompanied by the singing of prayers.

The Catholic church in the Gothic style is decorated with carvings and stained glass windows. Statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ replace the icons in it, and the service takes place to the sounds of the organ.

Catholicism created such church positions as bishop, archbishop, abbot and others. All of them take a vow of celibacy upon entering the service.

In Orthodoxy, the clergy are represented by such titles as patriarch, metropolitan, deacon. Unlike the strict rules of the Catholic Church, Orthodox clergy can marry. A vow of celibacy is given only by those who have chosen monasticism for themselves.

In general, the Christian Church has been closely connected with people's lives for centuries. It regulates human behavior in everyday life and is endowed with great opportunities.

Rites of Orthodoxy and Catholicism

This is a direct appeal of a believer to God. Orthodox believers face east during prayer, but for Catholics this does not matter. Catholics are baptized with two fingers, and Orthodox - with three.

In Christianity, the sacrament of baptism is allowed at any age. But most often, both Orthodox and Catholics baptize their children shortly after birth. In Orthodoxy, during baptism, a person is immersed in water three times, and among Catholics, water is poured three times on his head.

Every Christian at least once in his life comes to church for confession. Catholics confess in a special place - the confessional. At the same time, the confessor sees the clergyman through the bars. A Catholic priest will carefully listen to the person and give the necessary advice.

An Orthodox priest at confession can forgive sins and appoint penance- performing pious deeds as a correction of mistakes. Confession in Christianity is the secret of the believer.

The cross is the main symbol of Christianity. It decorates churches and temples, is worn on the body and set on graves. The words depicted on all Christian crosses are the same, but written in different languages.

A pectoral cross worn during baptism will become for the believer a symbol of Christianity and the suffering of Jesus Christ. For the Orthodox cross, the form does not matter, what is depicted on it is much more important. Most often you can see six-pointed or eight-pointed crosses. The image of Jesus Christ on it symbolizes not only torment, but also victory over evil. By tradition, the Orthodox cross has a lower crossbar.

The Catholic cross depicts Jesus Christ as a dead man. His arms are bent, legs are crossed. This image is striking in its realism. The shape of the cross is more concise, without a crossbar.

The classic Catholic image of the crucifixion is the image of the Savior with his feet crossed and pierced with one nail. On his head is a crown of thorns.

Orthodoxy sees Jesus Christ triumphant over death. His palms are open and his legs are not crossed. According to the tradition of Orthodoxy, images of the crown of thorns on the crucifix are very rare.

The final division of the United Christian Church into Orthodoxy and Catholicism took place in 1054. However, both the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church consider themselves only "the one holy, catholic (cathedral) and apostolic Church".

First of all, Catholics are also Christians. Christianity is divided into three main areas: Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. But there is no single Protestant Church (there are several thousand Protestant denominations in the world), and the Orthodox Church includes several independent Churches.

Besides the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), there is the Georgian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, etc.

The Orthodox Churches are governed by patriarchs, metropolitans and archbishops. Not all Orthodox Churches have communion with each other in prayers and sacraments (which is necessary for individual Churches to be part of the one Ecumenical Church according to the catechism of Metropolitan Philaret) and recognize each other as true churches.

Even in Russia itself there are several Orthodox Churches (the Russian Orthodox Church itself, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, etc.). It follows from this that world Orthodoxy does not have a unified leadership. But Orthodox believe that the unity of the Orthodox Church is manifested in a single dogma and in mutual communion in the sacraments.

Catholicism is one Universal Church. All parts of it different countries of the world are in communion with each other, share a single creed and recognize the Pope as their head. In the Catholic Church there is a division into rites (communities within the Catholic Church that differ from each other in forms of liturgical worship and church discipline): Roman, Byzantine, etc. Therefore, there are Roman Catholics, Byzantine Rite Catholics, etc., but they are all members of the same Church.

The main differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism:

1. So, the first difference between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches lies in the different understanding of the unity of the Church. For the Orthodox, it is enough to share one faith and sacraments, Catholics, in addition to this, see the need for a single head of the Church - the Pope;

2. The Catholic Church confesses in the Creed that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (the filioque). The Orthodox Church confesses the Holy Spirit, which proceeds only from the Father. Some Orthodox saints spoke of the procession of the Spirit from the Father through the Son, which does not contradict the Catholic dogma.

3. The Catholic Church confesses that the sacrament of marriage is concluded for life and forbids divorces, while the Orthodox Church allows divorces in some cases.

4. The Catholic Church proclaimed the dogma of purgatory. This is the state of souls after death, destined for paradise, but not yet ready for it. There is no purgatory in the Orthodox teaching (although there is something similar - ordeal). But the prayers of the Orthodox for the dead suggest that there are souls in an intermediate state for whom there is still hope of going to heaven after the Last Judgment;

5. The Catholic Church accepted the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. This means that even original sin did not touch the Mother of the Savior. Orthodox glorify the holiness of the Mother of God, but believe that she was born with original sin, like all people;

6. The Catholic dogma about the taking of Mary into heaven body and soul is a logical continuation of the previous dogma. The Orthodox also believe that Mary is in Heaven in body and soul, but this is not dogmatically fixed in Orthodox teaching.

7. The Catholic Church adopted the dogma of the primacy of the Pope over the entire Church in matters of faith and morality, discipline and government. Orthodox do not recognize the primacy of the Pope;

8. The Catholic Church has proclaimed the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope in matters of faith and morality in those cases when he, in agreement with all the bishops, affirms what the Catholic Church has already believed for many centuries. Orthodox believers believe that only the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils are infallible;

9. Orthodox are baptized from right to left, and Catholics from left to right.

For a long time, Catholics were allowed to be baptized in either of these two ways, until in 1570 Pope Pius V ordered them to do it from left to right and nothing else. With such a movement of the hand, the sign of the cross, according to Christian symbolism, is considered to come from a person who turns to God. And when the hand moves from right to left - coming from God, who blesses the person. It is no coincidence that both Orthodox and Catholic priests cross those around them from left to right (looking away from themselves). For the one standing in front of the priest, it is like a blessing gesture from right to left. In addition, moving the hand from left to right means moving from sin to salvation, since the left side in Christianity is associated with the devil, and the right side with the divine. And with the sign of the cross from right to left, the movement of the hand is interpreted as the victory of the divine over the devil.

10. In Orthodoxy, there are two points of view on Catholics:

The first considers Catholics to be heretics who distorted the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (by adding (lat. filioque). The second - schismatics (schismatics) who broke away from the One Catholic Apostolic Church.

Catholics, in turn, consider Orthodox schismatics who broke away from the One, Ecumenical and Apostolic Church, but do not consider them heretics. The Catholic Church recognizes that the local Orthodox Churches are true Churches that have preserved apostolic succession and the true sacraments.

11. In the Latin rite, it is common to perform baptism by sprinkling rather than immersion. The baptismal formula is slightly different.

12. In the Western rite for the sacrament of confession, confessionals are widespread - a place reserved for confession, as a rule, special cabins - confessionals, usually wooden, where the penitent knelt on a low bench to the side of the priest, sitting behind a partition with a lattice window. In Orthodoxy, the confessor and the confessor stand in front of the lectern with the Gospel and the Crucifix in front of the rest of the parishioners, but at some distance from them.

Confessionals or confessionals

The confessor and the confessor stand in front of the lectern with the Gospel and the Crucifixion

13. In the eastern rite, children begin to receive communion from infancy, in the western rite they come to the first communion only at the age of 7-8 years.

14. In the Latin rite, a priest cannot be married (with the exception of rare, specially specified cases) and is obliged to take a vow of celibacy before ordination, in the eastern (for both Orthodox and Greek Catholics) celibacy is required only for bishops.

15. Lent in the Latin rite begins on Ash Wednesday, and in the Byzantine rite on Maundy Monday.

16. In the Western Rite, prolonged kneeling is customary, in the Eastern Rite - prostration, in connection with which benches with shelves for kneeling appear in Latin churches (believers sit only during Old Testament and Apostolic readings, sermons, offertoria), and for the Eastern Rite it is important that there was enough space in front of the worshiper to bow to the ground.

17. Orthodox clergy mostly wear beards. Catholic clergy are generally beardless.

18. In Orthodoxy, the departed are especially commemorated on the 3rd, 9th and 40th day after death (the day of death is taken on the first day), in Catholicism - on the 3rd, 7th and 30th day.

19. One of the sides of sin in Catholicism is considered an insult to God. According to the Orthodox view, since God is impassive, simple and unchanging, it is impossible to offend God, we only harm ourselves with sins (one who commits sin is a slave of sin).

20. Orthodox and Catholics recognize the rights of secular authorities. In Orthodoxy, there is a concept of a symphony of spiritual and secular authorities. In Catholicism, there is a concept of the supremacy of church power over secular. According to the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, the state comes from God, and therefore it should be obeyed. The right to disobey the authorities is also recognized by the Catholic Church, but with significant reservations. The Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church also recognizes the right to disobey if the authorities force them to deviate from Christianity or commit sinful acts. On April 5, 2015, Patriarch Kirill in his sermon on the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem noted:

“… From the Church they often expect the same thing that the ancient Jews expected from the Savior. The Church should help people, supposedly, solve their political problems, be… a kind of leader to achieve these human victories… I remember the difficult 90s, when the Church was required to lead the political process. Addressing the Patriarch or one of the hierarchs, they said: “Post your candidacies for the post of President! Lead the people to political victories! And the Church said: "Never!". Because our work is completely different… The Church serves those purposes that give people the fullness of life both here on earth and in eternity. And therefore, when the Church begins to serve the political interests, ideological fashions and passions of this age, ... she descends from that meek young donkey on which the Savior rode ... "

21. In Catholicism, there is a doctrine of indulgences (liberation from temporary punishment for sins in which the sinner has already repented, and the guilt for which has already been forgiven in the sacrament of confession). In modern Orthodoxy, there is no such practice, although earlier “permissive letters”, an analogue of indulgences in Orthodoxy, existed in the Orthodox Church of Constantinople during the period of Ottoman occupation.

22. In the Catholic West, the prevailing opinion is that Mary Magdalene is the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee with chrism. The Orthodox Church categorically disagrees with this identification.

23. Catholics are obsessed with fighting any form of contraception, which is especially appropriate during the AIDS pandemic. And Orthodoxy recognizes the possibility of using some contraceptives that do not have an abortive effect, such as condoms and female caps. Of course, legally married.

24. Grace of God. Catholicism teaches that Grace is created by God for people. Orthodoxy believes that Grace is uncreated, eternal and affects not only people, but the whole creation. According to Orthodoxy, Grace is a mystical attribute and the Power of God.

25. The Orthodox use leavened bread for communion. Catholics are insipid. Orthodox receive bread, red wine (the body and blood of Christ) and warm water (“warmth” is a symbol of the Holy Spirit) during communion, Catholics receive only bread and white wine (laity only bread).

Despite differences, Catholics and Orthodox profess and preach throughout the world one faith and one teaching of Jesus Christ. Once upon a time, human mistakes and prejudices separated us, but until now, faith in one God unites us. Jesus prayed for the unity of His disciples. His students are both Catholics and Orthodox.

“The great spiritual and political upheaval of our planet is Christianity. In this sacred element, the world disappeared and was renewed. "The Greek religion, separate from all others, gives us a special national character." "Russia has never had anything in common with the rest of Europe", "her history requires a different thought, a different formula"...

And now, when our generations are experiencing a great state, economic, moral, spiritual and creative failure in the history of Russia, and when we see her enemies everywhere (religious and political), preparing a campaign against her originality and integrity, we must firmly and accurately pronounce: do we value our Russian identity and are we ready to defend it? And further: what is this originality, what are its foundations, and what are the attacks on it that we must foresee?

The originality of the Russian people is expressed in its special and original spiritual act. Under the "act" one must understand the internal structure and way of a person: his way of feeling, contemplating, thinking, desiring and acting. Each of the Russians, having gone abroad, had, and still has, the full opportunity to be convinced by experience that other peoples have a different way of life and spirituality from ours; we experience it at every step and hardly get used to it; sometimes we see their superiority, sometimes we acutely feel their dissatisfaction, but we always experience their foreignness and begin to languish and yearn for the “homeland”. This is due to the originality of our everyday and spiritual way of life, or, to put it in the shortest word, we have a different act.

The Russian national act was formed under the influence of four great factors: nature (continentality, plain, climate, soil), the Slavic soul, a special faith and historical development (statehood, wars, territorial dimensions, multinationality, economy, education, technology, culture). It is impossible to cover all this at once. There are books about this, sometimes precious (N. Gogol “What, finally, is the essence of Russian poetry”; N. Danilevsky “Russia and Europe”; I. Zabelin “The History of Russian Life”; F. Dostoevsky “The Diary of a Writer”; V. Klyuchevsky “Essays and Speeches”), then stillborn (P. Chaadaev “Philosophical Letters”; P. Milyukov “Essays on the History of Russian Culture”). In understanding and interpreting these factors and the Russian creative act itself, it is important to remain objective and fair, without turning into either a fanatical “Slavophile” or a “Westernizer” blind to Russia. And this is especially important in the main question that we are raising here - about Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Among the enemies of Russia, who do not accept her entire culture and condemn her entire history, Roman Catholics occupy a very special place. They proceed from the fact that there is “good” and “truth” in the world only where the Catholic Church “leads” and where people unquestioningly recognize the authority of the Bishop of Rome. Everything else goes (so they understand) on the wrong path, is in darkness or heresy and must sooner or later be converted to their faith. This constitutes not only the "directive" of Catholicism, but the self-evident basis or premise of all its doctrines, books, evaluations, organizations, decisions and actions. The non-Catholic in the world must disappear: either as a result of propaganda and conversion, or by the destruction of God.

How many times for last years Catholic prelates began to explain to me personally that “the Lord is sweeping the Orthodox East with an iron broom so that the united Catholic Church may reign”... How many times I shuddered at the bitterness that their speeches breathed and their eyes sparkled. And listening to these speeches, I began to understand how the prelate Michel d "Herbigny, head of Eastern Catholic propaganda, could go to Moscow twice (in 1926 and in 1928) to establish a union with the "Renovation Church" and, accordingly, the "Concordat "with the Bolsheviks, and how could he, returning from there, reprint without reservation the vile articles of the communists, calling the martyr, Orthodox, patriarchal Church (literally) "syphilitic" and "perverse." And I realized then that the "concordat" of the Vatican with the Third The International has not been realized until now, not because the Vatican "rejected" and "condemned" such an agreement, but because the Communists themselves did not want it. I understood the destruction of Orthodox cathedrals, churches and parishes in Poland, which was carried out by Catholics in the thirties of the current (twentieth. - Note ed.) of the century ... I finally understood what the true meaning of the Catholic "prayers for the salvation of Russia": both the original, brief, and the one that was compiled in 1926 by Pope Benedict XV and for reading to to which they are granted (by announcement) "three hundred days of indulgence" ...

And now, when we see how the Vatican has been preparing for a campaign against Russia for years, carrying out a massive purchase of Russian religious literature, Orthodox icons and entire iconostases, mass training of the Catholic clergy to simulate Orthodox worship in Russian (“Eastern Rite Catholicism”), close study Orthodox thought and soul for the sake of proving their historical inconsistency - all of us, Russian people, must put before ourselves the question of what is the difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, and try to answer this question for ourselves with all objectivity, directness and historical fidelity.

This is a dogmatic, church-organizational, ritual, missionary, political, moral and act difference. The last difference is vital and primary: it gives the key to understanding all the others.

The dogmatic difference is known to every Orthodox: firstly, contrary to the decisions of the Second Ecumenical Council (Constantinople,381) and the Third Ecumenical Council (Ephesus, 431, Rule 7), Catholics introduced into the 8th member of the Creed an addition about the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but also from the Son (“filioque”); secondly, in the 19th century, a new Catholic dogma was added to this that the Virgin Mary was conceived immaculate (“de immaculata conceptione”); thirdly, in 1870, a new dogma was established on the infallibility of the pope in the affairs of the Church and doctrine (“ex cathedra”); fourthly, in 1950, another dogma was established on the posthumous bodily ascension of the Virgin Mary. These dogmas are not recognized by the Orthodox Church. These are the most important dogmatic differences.

The church-organizational difference lies in the fact that Catholics recognize the Roman pontiff as the head of the Church and substitute for Christ on earth, while the Orthodox recognize the single head of the Church - Jesus Christ and consider it the only right thing for the Church to be built by the Ecumenical and Local Councils. Orthodoxy also does not recognize secular authority for bishops and does not honor Catholic order organizations (especially the Jesuits). These are the most important differences.

Ritual distinctions are as follows. Orthodoxy does not recognize worship in Latin; it observes the liturgies composed by Basil the Great and John Chrysostom and does not recognize Western models; it observes the communion bequeathed by the Savior under the guise of bread and wine and rejects the "communion" introduced by the Catholics for the laity with only "consecrated wafers"; it recognizes icons, but does not allow sculptures in churches; it elevates confession to the invisibly present Christ and denies the confessional as an organ of earthly power in the hands of a priest. Orthodoxy has created a completely different culture of church singing, prayer and ringing; he has a different outfit; he has a different sign of the cross; a different arrangement of the altar; it knows kneeling, but rejects the Catholic "crouching"; it does not know the rattling bell during prayers and many other things. These are the most important ritual distinctions.

Missionary distinctions are as follows. Orthodoxy recognizes freedom of confession and rejects the whole spirit of the Inquisition; the extermination of heretics, torture, bonfires and forced baptism (Charlemagne). It observes, when converting, the purity of religious contemplation and its freedom from any extraneous motives, especially from intimidation, political calculation and material assistance (“charity”); it does not consider that earthly help to a brother in Christ proves the “orthodox faith” of the benefactor. It, according to the words of Gregory the Theologian, seeks "not to conquer, but to win brothers" in faith. It does not seek power on earth at any cost. These are the most important missionary distinctions.

These are the political differences. The Orthodox Church has never claimed either secular domination or the struggle for state power in the form of a political party. The original Russian-Orthodox solution of the question is as follows: Church and state have special and different tasks, but help each other in the struggle for the good; the state rules, but does not command the Church and does not engage in forced missionary work; The Church organizes its work freely and independently, observes secular loyalty, but judges everything by its own Christian yardstick and gives good advice, and perhaps denunciations to the rulers and good teaching to the laity (remember Philip the Metropolitan and Patriarch Tikhon). Her weapon is not a sword, not party politics, and not order intrigue, but conscience, instruction, denunciation and excommunication. Byzantine and post-Petrine deviations from this order were unhealthy phenomena.

Catholicism, on the contrary, seeks always and in everything and in all ways - power (secular, clerical, property and personally suggestive).

The moral difference is this. Orthodoxy appeals to the free human heart. Catholicism appeals to the blindly obedient will. Orthodoxy seeks to awaken in man a living, creative love and a Christian conscience. Catholicism requires from a person obedience and observance of the prescription (legalism). Orthodoxy asks for the very best and calls for evangelical perfection. Catholicism asks about what is prescribed, what is forbidden, what is permitted, what is forgivable, and what is unforgivable. Orthodoxy goes deep into the soul, looking for sincere faith and sincere kindness. Catholicism disciplines the outer man, seeks outward piety, and is satisfied with the formal semblance of good deeds.

And all this is most closely connected with the initial and deepest act difference, which must be thought through to the end, and, moreover, once and for all.

Confession differs from confession in its basic religious act and its structure. It is important not only what you believe in, but also what, that is, what forces of the soul, your faith is carried out. Ever since Christ the Savior established faith on living love (see Mark 12:30-33; Luke 10:27; cf. 1 John 4:7-8:16), we know where to look for faith and how find her. This is the most important thing for understanding not only one's own faith, but especially someone else's faith and the entire history of religion. This is how we should understand both Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

There are religions that are born out of fear and feed on fear; thus, African Negroes in their mass are primarily afraid of darkness and night, evil spirits, witchcraft, death. It is in the struggle against this fear and in the exploitation of it by others that their religion is formed.

There are religions that are born out of lust; and feed on eroticism taken as "inspiration"; such is the religion of Dionysus-Bacchus; such is "left-hand Shaivism" in India; such is Russian Khlystism.

There are religions that live in fantasy and imagination; their supporters are content with mythical legends and chimeras, poetry, sacrifices and rituals, neglecting love, will and thought. This is Indian Brahmanism.

Buddhism was created as a religion of life-giving and austerities. Confucianism arose as a religion of historically suffered and sincerely felt moral doctrine. The religious act of Egypt was dedicated to overcoming death. The Jewish religion was looking primarily for national self-affirmation on earth, putting forward henotheism (the god of national exclusivity) and moral legalism. The Greeks created a religion of the family hearth and visible beauty. The Romans - the religion of the magical rite. And the Christians?

Orthodoxy and Catholicism alike elevate their faith to Christ, the Son of God, and to the gospel gospel. And yet their religious acts are not only different, but incompatible in their opposites. It is precisely this that determines all the differences that I indicated in the previous article (“On Russian Nationalism.” - Approx. ed.).

The primary and fundamental awakening of faith for the Orthodox is the movement of the heart, contemplating love, which sees the Son of God in all His goodness, in all His perfection and spiritual strength, bows down and accepts Him as the real truth of God, as its main life treasure. In the light of this perfection, the Orthodox recognizes his sinfulness, strengthens and purifies his conscience by it, and embarks on the path of repentance and purification.

On the contrary, in a Catholic, “faith” awakens from a volitional decision: to trust in such and such (Catholic-Church) authority, to submit and submit to it, and to force oneself to accept everything that this authority decides and prescribes, including the question of good and evil, sin and its admissibility.

Why does an Orthodox soul come to life from free tenderness, from kindness, from heartfelt joy - and then it blooms with faith and voluntary deeds corresponding to it. Here the gospel of Christ evokes sincere love for God, and free love awakens the Christian will and conscience in the soul.

On the contrary, the Catholic, by constant efforts of the will, forces himself to the faith that his authority prescribes to him.

However, in reality, only external bodily movements are completely subordinated to the will, conscious thought is subordinated to it to a much lesser extent; even less is the life of imagination and everyday feelings (emotions and affects). Neither love, nor faith, nor conscience is subject to the will and may not respond at all to its “compulsions”. One can force oneself to stand and prostrate, but it is impossible to force reverence, prayer, love and thanksgiving in oneself. Only external "piety" obeys the will, and this is nothing more than an external appearance or just a pretense. You can force yourself to make a property "donation"; but the gift of love, compassion, mercy is not compelled by will or authority. For love - both earthly and spiritual - thought and imagination follow by themselves, naturally and willingly, but the will can beat over them all their lives and not subject them to its pressure. From an open and loving heart, conscience, like the voice of God, will speak independently and authoritatively. But the discipline of the will does not lead to conscience, and obedience to external authority completely stifles personal conscience.

This is how this opposition and irreconcilability of the two confessions unfolds, and we, the Russian people, need to think it through to the end.

He who builds religion on will and on obedience to authority will inevitably have to limit faith to mental and verbal "recognition", leaving his heart cold and callous, replacing living love with legalism and discipline, and Christian kindness with "commendable", but dead deeds. . And prayer itself will turn into soulless words and insincere gestures. Anyone who knows the religion of ancient pagan Rome will immediately recognize its tradition in all this. It is precisely these features of Catholic religiosity that have always been experienced by the Russian soul as alien, strange, artificially strained and insincere. And when we hear from Orthodox people that in Catholic worship there is external solemnity, sometimes brought to grandeur and “beauty”, but there is no sincerity and warmth, there is no humility and burning, there is no real prayer, and therefore spiritual beauty, then we know where to look for an explanation for this.

This opposition between the two confessions is found in everything. Thus, the first task of an Orthodox missionary is to give people the Holy Gospel and divine service in their own language and in full text; Catholics adhere to the Latin language, which is incomprehensible to most nations, and forbid believers to read the Bible on their own. The Orthodox soul seeks a direct approach to Christ in everything: from inward solitary prayer to the communion of the Holy Mysteries. A Catholic dares to think and feel about Christ only what the authoritative mediator between him and God will allow him to do, and in the very communion he remains deprived and insane, not accepting transubstantiated wine and receiving instead of transubstantiated bread - a kind of "wafer" that replaces it.

Further, if faith depends on the will and decision, then, obviously, the unbeliever does not believe because he does not want to believe, and the heretic is a heretic because he decided to believe in his own way; and the "witch" serves the devil because she is possessed by an evil will. Naturally, they are all criminals against the Law of God and that they should be punished. Hence the Inquisition and all those cruel deeds with which the medieval history of Catholic Europe is saturated: crusades against heretics, bonfires, torture, the extermination of entire cities (for example, the city of Steding in Germany in 1234); in 1568 all the inhabitants of the Netherlands, except those named by name, were sentenced to death as heretics.

In Spain, the Inquisition finally disappeared only in 1834. The rationale for these executions is clear: an unbeliever is one who does not want to believe, he is a villain and a criminal in the face of God, hell awaits him; and behold, the short-lived fire of an earthly fire is better than the eternal fire of hell. It is natural that people who forced faith by their own will, try to force it from others as well, and see in unbelief or heterodoxy not a delusion, not misfortune, not blindness, not spiritual poverty, but an evil will.

On the contrary, an Orthodox priest follows the Apostle Paul: not to strive to "take power over another's will", but "to promote joy" in the hearts of people (see 2 Cor. 1, 24) and firmly remember Christ's commandment about "tares" that are not subject to premature weeding (see Matt. 13:25-36). He recognizes the guiding wisdom of Athanasius the Great and Gregory the Theologian: “What is done by force against desire is not only forced, not free and not glorious, but simply did not even take place” (Word 2, 15). Hence the instruction of Metropolitan Macarius, given by him in 1555 to the first Kazan archbishop Guriy: “With all sorts of customs, as possible, accustom the Tatars to him and bring them to baptism with love, but do not lead them to baptism with fear.” The Orthodox Church from time immemorial has believed in the freedom of faith, in its independence from earthly interests and calculations, in its heartfelt sincerity. Hence the words of Cyril of Jerusalem: "Simon the sorcerer in the font dip the body with water, but do not enlighten the heart with the spirit, and go down, and go out with the body, but do not bury the soul and do not rise."

Further, the will of earthly man seeks power. And the Church, building faith on the will, will certainly seek power. So it was with the Mohammedans; this has been the case with Catholics throughout their history. They were always looking for power in the world, as if the Kingdom of God were of this world - any power: independent secular power for the pope and cardinals, as well as power over kings and emperors (recall the Middle Ages); power over souls and especially over the will of his followers (confessional as a tool); party power in a modern "democratic" state; secret order power, totalitarian-cultural over everything and in all matters (Jesuits). They regard power as an instrument for establishing the Kingdom of God on earth. And this idea has always been alien to both the Gospel teaching and the Orthodox Church.

Power on earth requires dexterity, compromise, cunning, pretense, lies, deceit, intrigue and betrayal, and often crime. Hence the doctrine that the end resolves the means. It is in vain that the opponents expound this teaching of the Jesuits as if the end "justifies" or "sanctifies" bad means; in this way they only make it easier for the Jesuits to object and refute. Here we are not talking about “righteousness” or “holiness” at all, but either about church permission - about permissibility or about moral “good quality”. It is in this connection that the most prominent Jesuit Fathers, such as: Escobar-a-Mendoza, Soth, Tholet, Vascotz, Lessius, Sanquez and some others, assert that "actions are made good or bad depending on a good or bad goal" . However, the goal of a person is known only to him alone, it is a private matter, secret and easily amenable to simulation. Closely connected with this is the Catholic doctrine of the permissibility and even innocence of lies and deceit: you only need to interpret the spoken words “differently” to yourself, or use an ambiguous expression, or silently limit the amount of what was said, or remain silent about the truth - then a lie is not a lie, and deceit is not deceit, and a false oath in court is not sinful (for this, see the Jesuits Lemkull, Suarets, Buzenbaum, Layman, Sanquez, Alagona, Lessia, Escobar and others).

But the Jesuits also have another teaching, which finally unties their hands for their order and their church leaders. This is the doctrine of evil deeds allegedly committed "by the command of God." So, in the Jesuit Peter Alagona (also in Buzenbaum) we read: “According to the command of God, you can kill the innocent, steal, debauchery, for He is the Lord of life and death, and therefore one must fulfill His command.” It goes without saying that the presence of such a monstrous and impossible "command" of God is decided by the Catholic Church authority, obedience to which is the very essence of the Catholic faith.

Anyone who, having thought through these features of Catholicism, turns to the Orthodox Church, will see and understand once and for all that the deepest traditions of both confessions are opposite and incompatible. Moreover, he will also understand that the entire Russian culture was formed, strengthened and flourished in the spirit of Orthodoxy and became what it was at the beginning of the 20th century, primarily because it was not Catholic. The Russian man believed and believes with love, prays with his heart, freely reads the Gospel; and the authority of the Church helps him in his freedom and teaches him freedom, opening his spiritual eye to him, and not frightening him with earthly executions in order to “avoid” the other worlds. Russian charity and the "poverty" of the Russian tsars always came from the heart and kindness. Russian art has entirely grown out of free contemplation of the heart: the soaring of Russian poetry, and the dreams of Russian prose, and the depth of Russian painting, and the sincere lyricism of Russian music, and the expressiveness of Russian sculpture, and the spirituality of Russian architecture, and the feeling of Russian theater. The spirit of Christian love also penetrated into Russian medicine with its spirit of service, disinterestedness, intuitive and holistic diagnosis, individualization of the patient, brotherly attitude towards the suffering; and into Russian jurisprudence with its search for justice; and in Russian mathematics with its objective contemplation. He created the traditions of Solovyov, Klyuchevsky and Zabelin in Russian historiography. He created the tradition of Suvorov in the Russian army, and the tradition of Ushinsky and Pirogov in the Russian school. One must see with one's heart that deep connection that connects Russian Orthodox saints and elders with the way of life of the Russian, common people and educated soul. The whole Russian life is different and special, because the Slavic soul has strengthened its heart in the precepts of Orthodoxy. And the most Russian non-Orthodox confessions (with the exception of Catholicism) have taken into themselves the rays of this freedom, simplicity, cordiality and sincerity.

Let us also remember that our white movement, with all its loyalty to the state, with its patriotic fervor and sacrifice, arose from free and faithful hearts and has been maintained by them to this day. A living conscience, sincere prayer and personal "volunteering" are among the best gifts of Orthodoxy, and we have not the slightest reason to replace these gifts with the traditions of Catholicism.

Hence our attitude towards the "Catholicism of the Eastern Rite", which is now being prepared in the Vatican and in many Catholic monasteries. The very idea of ​​subjugating the soul of the Russian people by means of a feigned imitation of their worship and of establishing Catholicism in Russia by this deceitful operation - we experience as religiously false, godless and immoral. So in war, ships sail under a false flag. This is how smuggling is carried across the border. So in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" a brother pours a deadly poison into his brother-king's ear during his sleep.

And if anyone needed to prove what Catholicism is and by what means it seizes power on earth, then this last enterprise makes all other proofs superfluous.

03 / 08 / 2006