Eastern Orthodoxy in Light of the Scriptures

8/2/2019 Eastern Orthodoxy in Light of the Scriptures

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G. Dobrovolskiy

In Light of the Scriptures

Table of Contents:

I. A True Document

II. Why I Left

III. The Sacred Liturgy

IV. Commemoration of the Living (For Health)

V. Commemoration of the Dead (For Rest in Peace)

VI. Various Consecrations

VII. Prayers to the Saints

VIII. Reading of the Holy Scriptures

IX. Rite of Baptism

X. Patron Saint Festivals

XI. Religiosity and PietyXII. Vain Invocations

XIII. Titles and Ranks

XIV. Objects of the Religious CultXV. Icons Sacred ImagesXVI. Blind Faith and Conviction

XVII. Temptations and Hesitations

XVIII.Conclusion

XIX. Chronology


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I. A True Document

This book is a true document, a personal testimony of a former Orthodox priest who

today is a pastor of a church of Evangelical Christian Baptists.

G. Dobrovolskiy, a priest, seriously and of his own free will studied the Gospel bycomparing the teachings of Christ with the practice of the Orthodox Church. He saw the

flagrant distortion of the Gospels teaching that is simple and easily comprehended by

anyone regarding the issues of repentance, being born again, and the salvation of sinners.He realized the apostasy of the Orthodox Church and could no longer remain within its

confines. Having been born again, he departed Orthodoxy.

With all sincerity and simplicity residing within him, the author offers an analysis of

the salient features of the Orthodox catechism, and he examines it in the unblinking lightof the Holy Scriptures. Having done this by revelation from on high, the author regards

with great sympathy the people who are involved in Orthodoxy. He does not criticize

them personally, but he does show the way of salvation according to the Gospel, which is

unified and unclouded with man-made church doctrines.I deeply believe that this book will be a great blessing for every person who ponders

the issues seriously and will bring many people to Christ as their personal Savior.


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II. Why I Left

This question bothers many of my friends and acquaintances who were used to seeingme as a priest of the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church.

For many people, it was normal to see me as a priest, but now when I ceased being a

priest, almost everyone abandoned me in breaking off relations, running away from anymeetings with me, and even refusing to answer my letters. They condemn me as a traitor

to God and to the Ukraine. Several even posed the question, Will I be moving to

Moscow?1I do not view this as a tragedy, though I feel badly for these nave people, who have a

poor opinion about me. They express condolences for me as a sheep gone astray who

will someday return to the flock.

These people simply do not realize what they ought to know. If they only had thecorrect understanding, instead of condemning me, they would rejoice and follow my

example.

I do not intend to condemn them for doing evil. Judgment belongs to God alone. I

only take the charge upon myself to assert the fact that they are wrong in their attitudesabout spiritual matters. I do this task with a great pain in my heart.

My prayer to God Almighty is that He opens their spiritual eyes and allows them tosee His truth as it really is: pure, holy, unchanging, free from human invention and

distortions. My prayer is that they would see and know it, and by this to know the True

and Living God, Creator of Heaven and Earth and all things visible and invisible. Alsothat they would know God does not require the ministry of human hands, as if He had

any need for it, for He Himself possesses all things and gives us everything necessary for

life.

The Lord gave us His truths through His chosen prophets in the Old Testament, andlater through His One and Only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and His holy apostles. Today

He proclaims it to us through His Holy Scriptures, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and useful

for us to study, so that we might follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and say, Andwe have the mind of Christ. God desires that we have in our hearts the love of Christ for

Him and for our neighbor. He wants a love that is holy, not hypocritical, unbroken, and

warmed by the rays of the Sun of truth.What a blessing it could be for our Ukrainian nation if our leaders would sanctify

themselves and possessed these qualities by Gods grace! With these qualities, they

would show the people a good example and through them, God would pour out abundant

blessings with graceful rain on the whole world.I have a sincere desire with Gods help in this work to shed light on several questions

regarding Orthodox ministry, about which the average layperson has no understanding.

The layperson does not know whether one aspect of his worship or another pleases God.Could it be that God turns His face away in order to avoid looking at or listening to that

which in reality blasphemes His Name?

1 The Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church split from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1920 when

Ukraine attempted to cede from the Russian Empire after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Dobrovolskiys

comment refers to the accusation that he was returning to the Russian Orthodox Church (which was

obviously not the case!). Tensions between the Ukrainian Autonomous and Russian Orthodox Churches

remain to this day.


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Let not the reader be frightened. It will be better for him if he reads this book to the

end with patience and seriousness and prayerfully meditates on what he reads and takes

appropriate action.According to the Holy Scriptures, worship of God must begin with paying attention to

God and obeying His teachings. Only after this can one come to worship Him, according

to His will.But in the Orthodox Church, this is far from reality.

In order to shed light on the teachings of the Orthodox Church that conflict with the

teaching of the Holy Scriptures, we will attempt to examine several aspects of theOrthodox service, of which there are many. The most important of these is the worship

service, also called the Liturgy. Its importance exceeds that of others, such as

Communion and the Morning Prayers.

These two services combined with some shorter versions are called Vespers that areconducted in the evening. We will let them rest for now and will examine in order,

starting with the Liturgy, then the Commemoration of the Living, Commemoration of the

Dead, Prayers to Saints, Various Purifications, Reading of the Holy Scriptures, Baptisms,

and finally some additional rites and traditions.


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III. The Sacred Liturgy

The Sacred Liturgy in the Orthodox Church is the most important ministry. Its nameis of Greek origin and means The Administration of Communal Worship to God. The

climactic point of this service is the sacrament of the Eucharist, or the Lords Supper, as

it is typically named in Protestant churches.According to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, the Liturgy was established by the

Apostles and passed on by them to the churches, with all of its external rites and majesty,

especially in the reverence of the Eucharist, which we can observe today. According tothis teaching, Apostle James was the author of the first Liturgy, later to be refined by

Basil the Great and later by John the Golden Lips.

Has anyone ever seen the text of the Liturgy from the Apostle James? No one has

ever been able to confirm this, even though they taught us that October 23 is the day ofcommemoration of the Liturgy in the churches in Jerusalem and Cyprus. We will not

delve into this issue further, but let us examine other questions connected to the Liturgy.

Let us remember that three different people called James existed in the New

Testament: James, son of Zebedee, James, son of Alpheus, and James, the brother of theLord Jesus Christ. A logical question arises: which James wrote the Liturgy? For it is

known that during the Last Supper, only the 12 Apostles who walked with Christconstantly were present. Among these 12 were James, son of Zebedee, and James, son of

Alpheus. It is difficult to say whether James, the brother of the Lord, was present.

The first 2 James present at the Lords Supper were eyewitnesses of all that Jesus did.They had to follow carefully every movement and every word of Jesus. Therefore, we

cannot admit that they could either forget so soon or transmit or even write something

foreign to the teaching of Jesus.

If we admit that the third James, the Lords brother, wrote the Liturgy, then we canadmit the probability of 2 events: (1) if he were present at the Lords Supper, just as the

disciples were, he could not alter by his own whim whatever he would pass on regarding

Christs commands, and (2) even if he were not present, but learned from other discipleswho were past eyewitnesses, then he would have heard nothing apart from that which

Christ actually commanded.

As an example of this, we take the Apostle Paul, who at that time was not a followerof Jesus, but, just the opposite, he was His bitter enemy. Later Paul was called by Christ

to become His apostle. The Apostle Paul correctly understood what Christ commanded -

to conduct the breaking of bread in His remembrance and taught the Corinthian

church completely and accurately by exhorting it to obey the truth. (I Cor. 11)What exactly did Christ command at the Last Supper?

He took the bread, gave thanks for it, broke it, and distributed it to His disciples,

saying, Take, eat, this is My Body broken for you. Then He took the cup of wine, alsogave thanks for it, and gave it to them, saying, Drink all of you from it, for this is My

Blood of the New Covenant... as well as Do these things in remembrance of Me.

The disciples understood very well Christs intention and the meaning of the wordsspoken to them, and in turn they taught their followers, which is evident from the

accounts of the Book of Acts and their epistles. There is no way for us to consider the

idea that even one of the apostles, in this case James, could teach and even write

something contrary.


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The first Christians, namely Christs church, followed the teaching and the Covenant

of Christ and the apostles by giving thanks and breaking bread, as well as giving thanks

and drinking the cup. One bread, one body! says the Apostle Paul. The taking of breadand wine in remembrance of the sufferings and crucifixion of Christ was called the

Lords Supper. As a rule, all members of the Church, with rare exception, took part

every time. Each church member was a disciple of Christ in conjunction with the wordssaid to them by the chosen Apostles: Therefore, go, teach all the peoples Other

translations render: Go and make disciples of all nations. (English, Ukrainian, and

Polish translations of the New Testament, and others. Matthew 28:19) Therefore, thewords of Christ also applied to them: Do these things in remembrance of Me.

Did the apostle James or any other apostle at that time actually teach

Transubstantiation? Transubstantiation is the literal transformation of the bread and

the wine into the body and blood of Christ. We will not analyze this issue for now.The commandment of Christ Do these things in remembrance of Me, simple and

comprehensible to everyone, has become so confused and complicated by the Orthodox

Church by symbols and various ritual that, in the absence of special theological training,

would be incomprehensible to anyone. Yet, at the same time, the teachings andexhortations of the Apostle Paul about Communion are so clear that every Christian is

able to understand them after reading them for the first time.In the Orthodox Church, they do not give out the bread to believers separately the

bread, the Body, and the wine, the Blood. Instead, they dip the Body into the

Blood, stir it with a spoon, and put it into the mouths of those participating inCommunion.

What is left over and not dispersed is carried over to a table on the side and remains

there through the end of the Liturgy. After this, the frequency of which depends on the

number of relatives both dead and living in the family that donated the bread, the priesttears off other pieces of bread and proclaims, Lord have mercy!

Along with these pieces of bread, the priest takes out a little book, or a list with the

names of those being remembered. All the pieces of bread are considered a sacrifice ofmercy for the sins of those whose names were read off. All these pieces are put onto a

plate and by the administration of the Communion and the Eucharist are dipped into the

cup for the washing of the blood of Christ from the sins of those who wereremembered.

In this act, something is not right, for the wine according to the teaching of the

Orthodox Church was transformed into the Blood, but the pieces of the bread dipped

on behalf of the living did not have such transformation. The logical conclusion meansthe pieces of bread, but not the sinners, were washed of their sins by the Blood.

In another case, it would be necessary that the pieces of bread would also have to be

transformed into the bodies of those whose names were being remembered. Then, itwould indeed have been the case that the true Blood of Christ washes the real sinner,

and the proclamation of the priest to Wash, oh Lord, the sins of those whom we give

remembrance might not be so useless.Here arises a question: how much does all this correspond to the teaching of Christ

and the Apostles?

Was it even possible for the apostle James to bring to the sacrament of Liturgy such

recollections, about which he could never have spoken at that time in history?


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Here is even this remembrance: In memory and absolution of the sins of the most

holy Orthodox Patriarchs. But in the time of the Apostle James, they did not even exist!

Secondly, how can we remember the forgiveness of sins of the most saintly? Weknow that saints already enjoy the forgiveness of their sins. Well, that is why they are

saints, for their sins are forgiven. But how are we to understand the term the most

saintly of sinners, of which absolution is lifted up to forgive their sins?Is it in any way possible that the apostle James could admit such heresy? No. This is

impossible! And serious sincere followers of the Scriptures will never ever believe in

this nonsense.But then, what right do they have to justify that the Apostle James wrote the text of

the Liturgy in which there are places that contradict the Word of God? Could it be

possible for another apostle to write anything similar? Absolutely not!

Could any one of the 12 apostles bring the rite of conducting the Liturgy with 5loaves of bread rather than 1?

It is interesting that not every Orthodox Church uses 5 loaves of bread for the Liturgy.

For example, the Greeks use only 1 loaf.

It is also interesting that to partake of the Body and the Blood, that is to takeCommunion, can occur only with the act of Confession, that means Repentance.

And even between Confession and Repentance, there is a major difference. Nomatter, we will use this term, according to the tradition of the Orthodox Church.

So in order to have the right to take the Body and Blood of Christ, that is to take

Communion, one needs from the beginning to fulfill the required Confession.One can do this before the Liturgy or before the Communion itself, or even the

night before. Without this confession, the attendee cannot take Communion. But

even confession without communion is also not completed. It is all the same as if he

had never made confession.Is such confession possible for every person every time when the Liturgy is held?

If one counts the average church attendance is, say, 200 people, then such a possibility is

excluded. To carry out confession with such a large number of people, it woulddemand a lot of time. Not only would the priest refuse to do it, but neither would the

attendees spend so much time every Saturday and Sunday in order to wait their turn to

confess. Therefore, those who did not participate in confession could not partake ofCommunion that is, they could not partake of the Lords Supper.

At this point, the priest only formally cries out, With the fear of God and faith, come

forward! Otherwise, no one would ever come forward.

It is true on occasion that someone considered it necessary to confess at some pointduring the year. But usually, no partaker of Communion is ever there, and the priest

himself eats the whole Body and drinks all the Blood of Christ. After this, without

any justification, he also sounds out these prayers: We saw the true Light, Let our lipsbe full, and also the Ektenia:1 We arise straight up, having partaken However,

during that time, no one else partook of anything!

It comes out that the choir, or the attendees, when they sing songs of thanksgiving forthe Communion they speak a lie, and in truth by doing this, they commit sin. They

sing only because it is a form, even though that it is dead in this situation. This does not

1 Ektenia is a prayerful petition of the Orthodox church, often done in form of a dialog between a church

official and the choir. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ektenia)


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concern them. They do not realize this. The only thing they consider important is to

sing.

Thus concludes the Liturgy, in which the attendees participate as mute spectators, butnot actual participants. And the attendees depart just as they arrived beforehand,

spiritually empty. They are unable to receive neither something useful nor

encouragement from such a particularly formal and dogmatic worship service. Noteven a piece of bread, which the priest partakes for the Liturgy. Their entire participation

consisted of what they saw and understood, what and why it is done. Also in that, they

placed candles before the icons and kissed the cross at the exit of the church.

IV. Commemoration of the Living (For Health)

The preparation for the ministry of the Liturgy is called the Proskomidia.2 Thechurch officials prepare the Prosphora3 which along with the little books of

remembrance were donated by those to attend the service. The officiating priest tears off

pieces of bread for each of the names written in the little books.

The names of all relatives distant and near are written in the books of remembrance.Petitions for the living (health) and the dead (eternal rest in peace) are kept in separate

lists.For each name in the book, a piece of bread is taken out from the Prosphora and

placed on the plate with the proclamation Lord have mercy.

This ceremony is called the sacrifices of mercy. The purpose is that the Lordwould have mercy on those whose names are read aloud and on whose behalf the pieces

of bread are torn off by absolving them of their sins washed in His Blood.

These same names are read through once again on the so-called Specific Litany. It

is called this because during every time of absolution as proclaimed by the priest, thechoir answers three times, God have mercy.

But we already know that during the laying of the Lamb on the plate and before it is

cut up into pieces before the cross, these words are pronounced: The Lamb of God isbrought for sacrifice, Who takes away the sins of the world for life and salvation.

This means that this Lamb took the sins of the entire world. It is true that Christ did

not forget about those whose names the priest read from the little book and for whom hetore up the pieces of bread as a sacrifice. How much this conflicts with the teaching of

the Holy Scriptures is obvious in and of itself.

It is difficult for us to establish what use this brings to those for the salvation of those

commemorated, but without doubt it is useful to those who commemorate the names, forwith every little book they receive a monetary donation. The greater the little books, the

bigger the donations they receive; for this reason often the size of the donation is

predetermined.

2 Proskomidia is what the Roman Catholic Church would call the Offertory, a set of preparations madebefore holding Communion. During this Office following the Sacred Tradition from the Mystical Lord's

Supper, Bread and Wine is prepared for the Divine Liturgy and Prayers are offered up for the intentions and

commemorations of the faithful, living and reposed, glorified and yet-to-be-glorified.

(http://www.saintelias.com/ca/liturgy/proskomidia.php)3 Prosphora refers to the loaves of bread (5 in most Orthodox Churches) to be offered up for Communion.

(http://www.saintelias.com/ca/liturgy/proskomidia.php)


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In this sense, all prayers and commemorations are purchased, similar to indulgences.

Therefore, the Orthodox believer truly can have pretense both to the priest and to

God, for he paid in cash. He gave the Prosphora, he paid up, his name is read out, hispiece of bread was torn off, they prayed, then they dipped it in the Blood of Christ, in

order to wash away his sins; and everything will be all right that is how Orthodox

believers typically think.But if he did not even go to confession and partake of Communion, then what else

can one demand from the attendee? He fulfilled everything that he was supposed to do,

and now he can go and peacefully commit sin once again, in order for there to be a reasonto come back another time.

And before death, he calls the priest, who will perform for him confession and

Communion, and then he is ready to go to Heaven.

But in order to be more certain in his hope, then there are also various wakes, servicesfor the dead, and parastasi4, which will help him someday to rest in peace where all

the righteous dead sleep.

V. Commemoration of the Dead (For Rest in Peace)

Just like for the health of the living, pieces of bread from the prosphora are torn upduring the time of Proskomidia in the same way on behalf of the dead for them to rest

in peace. The only difference is that the dead have additional memorials carried out

during the time of the Great Fast before Easter.According to the tradition of the Orthodox Church, such memorials take place every

Saturday during the feast, hence the name Memorial Saturdays. During this time, all

Orthodox believers attempt to fulfill this duty.

Now these memorials have taken on a somewhat different form. But if we return tothe time before the Russian Revolution, we will see a very interesting phenomenon.

For such memorials, they needed to have prosphora, a little memorial book, and

also a defined amount of money and other loaves of bread. These other loaves of breadwere usually white, weighed several kilograms, usually about 3. To this they added a

head of sugar usually weighing several pounds or else a jar of honey.

If the village had several hundred or even a thousand farms, and each family brought3 loaves of bread and sugar or a jar of honey for each person, then one can imagine how

much food was gathered during the course of Easter. Add to this money.

All these things were split up among the Church clergy, consisting of the Priest who

took two-thirds and the Deacon who took one-third. That is, if there were a Deacon, theywould set aside a share for him. For that reason, the incumbent Priests often did not want

to have a Deacon, so that they could keep the spoils to themselves.

What would they do with such a large quantity of bread and sugar?They fed the bread to their cattle, pigs, and domestic birds during a time when many

of the donors did not have enough food to feed their own families.

But how could this situation have existed in the first place? This indeed was the waythings were at that time. Otherwise, there would have been no memorial service on

behalf of the dead. Whoever wanted to have his departed relatives rest in the Kingdom of

Heaven had to pay with money and nature.

4 Parastas refers to another form of Orthodox funeral rite.


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Interesting, so how did they carry out these sacrifices for the peaceful rest of the

spiritual slaves of God?

Consistent with the book of prayer, on the Proskomidia, they also ripped off thepieces of bread with each name and the words Lord have mercy. If, taken from our

previous example, there could be 1,000 families, dividing that by 5 Saturdays during the

fast before Easter would yield 200 families to be remembered on each Saturday. Assumein each memorial book there are 30 names on average. Therefore, the priest would have

to call out around 6,000 names with the words Lord have mercy and tear up just as

many pieces of bread.Such a procedure could take up several hours. But, surprisingly, priests could

complete this procedure together with the goal of fulfilling the Proskomidia in under 30

minutes. How did they do it?

I asked several old priests. They explained to me that they never ever did it, as it waswritten in the official book, for it was impossible to fulfill. They divided the names to be

commemorated into two and sometimes four parts.

If he were to perform the ministry by himself, he divided it into two parts. From one

part he read off the names, if there were not too many, and then tore off the pieces ofbread and pronounced these words: Lord have mercy on those whose names are written

in the book, the names whom You, Lord, know. And then he read straight through thenames and put them to the side. He read off the second group of those to be

commemorated during the Litany for the Dead, and everything was fine. If they only had

a deacon, then it would be even better, for they would have read only one-quarter of thenames. This is how the priests simplified their work with these commemorations on

which nave people placed a lot of hope.

Did they know about this? Of course not!

For if they knew, then they probably would not have been silent about it. If thevillage knew about this, then they probably would have gone to the bishop with a

complaint about the priest.

But the bishop probably also knew about it, for he also did the same thing.Such commemorations were mandatory during the Fast, but during the year, except

this, they were done for those that were considered necessary in order to help relatives

enter Heaven. In this situation, more loaves of bread were not obligatory, but all thesame they brought them in order for the requiem to be more effective.

There are various kinds of requiems.

For those who died recently, they hold them on the day of the burial, the sixth day

afterwards, the fortieth day, half year, and beyond depending on the wish of the survivingfamily members.

This was all done with the hope that such a method would obtain by prayer the

forgiveness of sins for the dead person and he will settle in the place where all therighteous ones sleep.

Here it is critical to pay attention to one important detail.

It can happen that before the death of one or another servant of God, they call in thepriest, and the dying person manages to confess and partake of Communion, that is

to unite with Christ.


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In such a manner, when a person united with Christ, and Christ forgave him of his

sins, and logically he transferred to eternal life, then, it seems, everything should be in

order, and with a sincere heart we can wish everyone such a blessed ending to life.But in Orthodoxy, this is way off the mark.

Officially it is said and written that such a servant of God united with Christ, but in

reality they do not believe this position, for during the funeral they do not thank God forforgiving the sins of the dying one during his confession nor that He accepted the one

who died and partook of His Body and Blood into Gods eternal presence. Instead, they

ask for the forgiveness of his voluntary and involuntary sins. And this goes on withoutend.

Such behavior turns out to be either a lack of trust in Christ or else false teaching

more exactly, both.

Over the grave it is said that such and such a person departed to the Lord, but inreality it comes out that this is a lie, for even now after this they lift up prayers for the

forgiveness of his sins, and the surviving family members of the dead person, as far as

possible, will hire the priest to perform the requiem for the rest of their lives, that is, that

he would petition the Lord for the same forgiveness of sins and rest with the otherrighteous ones.

We recall the truth which Christ said in the parable of the rich noble and Lazarus. Heclearly taught that there is no transfer whatsoever from Heaven to Hell, or vice versa.

Let us assume (though this contradicts the teaching of Christ) that some possibility to

transfer existed, if they will pay well and pray fervently for the departed person. But thenwhat will come of those for whom no one will pay nor pray?

But this is only when the dying one had no possibility to call the priest for confession

and Communion. But if he fulfilled everything with a sincere heart, then why would he

not simply trust Christ?From another side, there are some situations when the dying person does not want to

hear about repentance and forgiveness, for he neither believes in it nor wants to hear

about God. But just after he closes his eyes and dies, the family hires a priest and hefulfills for them the funeral rite, consistent with the Orthodox rite book, to send off the

departed one in the usual way: Give him rest, Lord, the sleeping spirit as Your servant.

With holy rest. He also asks to allow him to rest with all the righteous ones andalso to create for him an eternal memory.

Can one allow for any greater humiliation of God than this? Is this not witchcraft?

And yet this happens so often!

The question itself thrusts itself before us: does this faade not reveal itself as simplycomedy, bringing to itself terrible consequences? Deceived millions of sinners leave this

life in the hope that someone will petition for the forgiveness of their sins. Neither they

themselves nor the ones who petition on their behalf know the Truth revealed to themby the Holy Scripture: Forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave,

whom you remember no more, and they are cut off from your hand. (Ps. 88:5) About

them the Lord remembers only when the trumpet of the Archangel will sound, and theywill arise in order to stand at the Last Day of Gods Judgment, and then they are already

cut off from His hand and He will not remember them. And if anyone tries to remind

God about them, then He will not listen and will turn His face away from such prayers.


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About this Truth every person should know, whoever takes up courage to name

himself a Christian.


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VI. Various Consecrations

The Orthodox Christian, consistent with the teaching of his church, believes that he

should consecrate everything. Therefore he consecrates his home during its construction,

consecrates it upon completion, consecrates the water in order to consecrate everythingelse with it; he consecrates the Easter food (Easter cake, eggs, Easter cheese), consecrates

the food in the church before Christmas, the house, the yard, he consecrates the

agricultural constructions, the fruits for the holiday of the Transfiguration of the Lord,consecrates herbs and poppies for the memorial day of the Maccabee brothers, as if the

name Maccabee derived from the word poppy.

They do not know that Maccabee in Russian means hammers. They do not know

that it was not seven brothers with their mother who were called Maccabee who weretortured for faith in the One God, but entirely different people. There were only five

brothers, of whom only one named Judas was called Maccabee.

Very possible that all these types of consecrations could have been of use to God, if

they did not depart from the limits set by the Holy Scriptures and if only many of theseconsecrated things were not made into idols, that in the eyes of God is an abomination.

For example, this is how superstition sunk its roots into holy water which is purportedto scare away the Devil. Sprinkle the water, and he runs away Burn some incense and

the unclean spirit will disappear; burn a consecrated candle and some incense, and the

storm will stop immediately.It is very interesting to see the consecration of a peasants hut after the holidays of

Baptisms. This is called walking around and sprinkling holy water.

The priest and the deacon walk around the village from hut to hut and with the

troparion1 of When you were in the Jordan River, You, Lord, were baptized, theysprinkle the hut with holy water in order to drive away the evil spirit. Often the owners

would ask them to sprinkle holy water in the storeroom so that no unclean spirit could

live within the grain located there.Sometimes they would sprinkle holy water on the whole yard in search of an unclean

spirit, totally unsuspecting that the evil spirit sits not in the corners of homes but within

the heart of the owner and quietly laughs. No one ever bothers him there.How sad that the priest does not know this simple truth! If he were to know it, then

he would not bother sprinkling drops of holy water in the hut, but rather he would search

for a way to purify the hearts of the owners and to free them from the power of Satan.

From experience I know that the priest does not think of this. He thinks about how muchthe owners will pay him for sprinkling their home with holy water.

I remember well that after the priest traveled with holy water around the village, the

wagon came to collect wheat, eggs, chicken, flax, and everything, including money, thatthe owners would give for the holy water.

Here arises a question: of what use for people was the sprinkling of holy water? With

certainty, one can say that for the priest, its usefulness was great. Except that Orthodoxbelievers consecrate everything, ascribing to it magical power, they do not reject pagan

superstitions and in fact all the more reinforced them with their religious rites. They say

1 Troparion refers to a short hymn of one or more stanzas often chanted and signifying the theme of the

particular day in Orthodox liturgy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troparion)


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that without such things, Orthodoxy would not be Orthodoxy. Such things are asserted

not only by simple, ignorant laypeople, but even intelligentsia and clergy. What an

unsurprising, but unfortunately, sad and outrageous fact!

VII. Prayers to the Saints

The Orthodox Church does not satisfy itself only with worship service and prayers to

God, for it does not believe that God listens to these prayers and therefore searches other

ways to bring its prayers to Gods attention. For this purpose, it found many Mediatorsand Defenders and Intercessors before the mercy of God, these very entities begging

for His mercy.

This reveals itself as an act of lack of trust in Gods love, thanks to which He hears

the prayer of the sinner with He Himself giving him forgiveness of sins to the repentantone and washing him with Christs blood.

The truth written in the Holy Scriptures states: But God demonstrates His own love

for us that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (Rom. 5:8) By this the love of

God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so thatwe might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us

and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10) My little children,I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an

Advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation

for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)About this not only do the Apostles speak, but also Christ Himself, who calls: Come

to me, all you are laboring and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. (Mt. 11:28)

But you do not want to come to me in order to have life. (John 5:10)

Whoever comes to me, I will not drive away. (John 6:37) Here I stand at the doorand knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with

him, and he with Me. (Rev. 3:20)

These calls of Christ to come to Him personally and without mediation areincomprehensible to the Orthodox believer. They are not really that difficult or

complicated, are they? Why do they offend God? Why do they show such lack of faith

to Christ, Who Himself seeks those who need His help? Why do they seek intercessorsin front of Christ? Why do they think and teach others that Christ is overly harsh, or

inaccessible, or unloving and unwilling to listen to us, when we sincerely and humbly

address ourselves to Him? Why do they teach that we need someone to pray on our

behalf? What do we do then with the love and mercy of God, if He became inaccessibleto us simple people?

It is true that God appreciates it when someone close prays for us, but only if this

comes from someone who is alive, not someone who is dead.If we still think that we are communicating with the saints, and the saints are not dead

in the eyes of God, therefore after physical death they are alive in Christ in Gods sight,

how then can we still ascribe to the dead saints a Gods attribute of being able to hear allthings in order that they would listen to us? God will hear our prayers even more quickly

than could ever the saints, for they are merely His creation. These saints do not have

Gods miraculous god-like quality of omnipresence, perfect and all-present vision and

hearing, for they are not Gods. They do not have attributes equivalent to God, and


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therefore, to give them these attributes that only belong to God this is pagan witchcraft

of the highest degree!

Truly what the Apostle John teaches suffices for us, does it not? I fell at his feet inorder to worship him (the angel), but he said to me, Do not do it! I am a fellow servant

to you and to your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God alone! (Rev.

22:8-9)What does God Himself say about worship? I will not give my glory to another.

(Is. 48:11) And in another place He says, I am the Lord, this is My Name, and I will not

give My glory to another nor My praises to idols. (Is. 42:8)The Lord always called and now still does call us, Come to Me! TO ME!

From the Scriptures we know what Christ Himself said: He came to call to repentance

not the righteous, but sinners. He came to seek the perishing, that is, sinners. We know

that He forgave the repentant prostitute, the thief on the cross, Zaccheus, Matthew, andmany other sinners. He never denied nor turned anyone away. He never sent some away

to somebody else that they could receive forgiveness from another. He did everything

and now still works: For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

(Heb. 13:8)If anyone teaches otherwise, as the Scriptures say, then he teaches a lie.

Such prayers for intercession have no meaning for people. Before God, these prayersare an insult. If we pay attention to the methods of these prayers, then we are forced to

be stunned at how such things could ever have been allowed in the first place.

Let us take any prayer to a saint. It begins with common prayers to the Holy Spirit,the Holy Trinity, the Heavenly Father, and then in singing a troparion, that is, a hymn

of praise to a saint, and finishes with a doxology to God and a benediction proclaimed not

from God, but in the name of the saint.

Therefore it begs the question once again: to whom specifically does this prayer bringworship? Is it to God, or to a saint, or to both simultaneously? More likely, it will turn

out to be, if we have to say, NO ONE! For the saint not possessing the ability to hear

all things will not hear the prayer, and God does not listen, for such prayers do not pleasehim.

There is absolutely no way to justify such prayers. In the Scriptures there is not even

the slightest hint that we should seek mediators or intercessors before God, exceptfor Jesus Christ, for there is no name below Heaven, given to people, by whom we can

be saved. (Acts 4:12) So says the Apostle Peter about Christ.

How can this not be authoritative? Why do they refuse to trust God, Who by the

Holy Spirit taught us His teaching and wrote them down with the Apostles in His Bookcalled the Bible?

Let it be that whoever will read these verses will seriously ponder them and may the

Lord help him who seeks Gods truth to find it, and that God will open his spiritual eyesto be able to perceive spiritual truths, and his heart to accept it in love and thanksgiving to

the Lord.

About this topic I could have written so much more and bring out many moresupporting verses from the Holy Scriptures. However, we will restrict ourselves to those

which were posted above, for it was said beforehand in hope that he who THIRSTS will

understand Gods Truth.


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This is a true and worthy saying: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of

whom I am the worst, said Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy. And every person

could repeat these words, whoever thirsts for salvation. Jesus Christ saves. Therefore,hurry up and come, only to Christ and only to Him!

VIII. Reading of the Holy Scriptures

Sending His disciples off to preach, Jesus Christ said, Therefore, go and teach all

peoples (Mt. 28:19)Mark the Evangelist wrote, Go out unto the whole world and preach the Gospel to

all creation. (Mk. 16:15) And so, the apostles had to go throughout the world and teach

to all peoples the Gospel, that is, the Good News about the Kingdom of Heaven.

They carried this out sincerely and faithfully, which we learn from the Book of Actsand the Epistles to the Churches.

Christs teaching was and still is completely obligatory for every member of His

Church. Every member of the Church must know the Scriptures in which the teaching of

Jesus Christ and His apostles are written.The member of the Church must know not only about this teaching, but also must

constantly read this teaching itself, so that he does not forget and that he can constantlyincrease his knowledge and understanding of the Scripture as well as grow in the

knowledge of the wisdom of God, for the teaching of the Holy Scriptures are fulfilled in

the wisdom of God.The member of the Church must have the courage following the steps of Apostle Paul

to say, And we have the mind of Christ and we preach the wisdom of God. (1 Cor,

2:16, 7)

What does this practice look like in the Orthodox Church? Can we say that itsmembers are such disciples of Christ that they should be? Do they learn that which

Christ commanded, consistent with that written by the Apostle Matthew? (Mt. 28:20) Do

they preserve His words just as He taught? Can they answer these questions if theyaccept the conditions that Christ Himself commanded: But everyone will know that you

are my disciples, if you love one another? (Jn. 13:35) Also, you will know them by

their fruits. (Mt. 7:20)Do we need more conditions in order to know how much the members of the

Orthodox Church remain disciples of Christ, and how much these who brag about their

direct succession from Christ and the Apostles could be accepted by them in light of the

proofs of the Gospel?We could have written a lot about how they make the disciples of the Orthodox

Church into Christs disciples, how much knowledge they have of the teaching of the

Holy Scriptures, if only it were not so clearly visible from their lives and behaviors.We know that the members of the Orthodox Church, those that are not part of the

clergy, used to be forbidden from reading the Holy Scriptures on the pretense that they

would avoid falling into heresy from the incorrect understanding of some truth oranother. But Christ said, You are lost for you do not know the Scriptures. The reading

of the Scriptures was restricted, and is still restricted, to the reading of specific passages

during the worship service in the Church. There are 11 such readings. To these are

added readings on the theme of various holidays.


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These readings are chosen from the Gospels and Epistles of the Apostles and mostly

from the epistles of the Apostle Paul. It is very rare to hear readings from Peter or John,

and other epistles are never read, as if they never existed.It is interesting to recollect that the Acts of the Apostles are read at the shroud of

Christ, which symbolizes the laying of Christs body into the grave. These are read all

evening. A logical question arises: for whom are the Acts of the Apostles read?Typically, at night no one comes to Church.

Finally, what relationship do the events written in Acts have with the moment when

Christs body was buried and kept three days in the grave?For the Easter services, chapters from the Book of Acts are also read from the first

day of Easter until the Day of Pentecost. After this, the reading of Acts is finished,

despite the fact that in actuality, all the events written down in Acts took place after the

Day of Pentecost.It is interesting to recall one other event from the reading of the parts of the Holy

Scriptures, mainly the Psalms. It is true that several Psalms are read during various

services: Hours, Sixth Psalm, and others. But these are only selected psalms, and

always the same. The other psalms remain unknown to church members. However,when someone dies, they call in someone to read the entire Book of Psalms on behalf of

the dead person all night.What use does the dead person have for the Book of Psalms?

In the former times in Ukraine, there were special readings for this purpose. Of what

use were these readings for the dead person? NONE AT ALL.It is more difficult to answer the question: why did they not read them when the

person was still alive, so he could learn truth and wisdom that are described in the

Psalms? Then they could have served him of great use for salvation and eternal life.

But how well is the folk proverb justified: This will help, just like incense helps adead person.

Can a priest in the Orthodox Church say in a loud voice to all his parishioners, Read

the Holy Scriptures and learn from them, for in them there is eternal life, as Christ said?Someone now will say not very courageously that nothing of the sort ever took place

in the past. Therefore, even though someone says it, but no one would ever take it

seriously. And how can they accept some innovation, when their ancestors have taughtthem that they are the best Christians and the most faithful followers of the Apostles and

Christ? They teach them that they are the most righteous, the most godly and Christ-

loving!

I remember very well how a rumor went among the people that whoever reads theBible will lose his mind. Whoever put out this rumor among the people, it is not difficult

to guess, but it is difficult to understand, why it was not negated by those who had an

obligation to do so?Now they say that to read the Holy Scriptures and to teach it is a religious right and

matter for the clergy, not for the laypeople. The priests must read and teach in sermons,

but it is not worth it for laypeople to read, for they could not understand it. Therefore, sothe logic goes, it is better for them not to read the Scriptures at all.

In current times with regard to this question, it is no better. Therefore it is not

surprising that because they do not read the Scriptures nor know the Truth, people do not

know that about God which they ought to know.


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Ignorant of who God really is, how can people be true Christians and members of the

Church of Christ? They hardly know anything about Christ, but they do not know Christ

Himself. They do not obey His teachings, therefore they are not disciples of Christ. Tothe extent they are not His disciples, they do not belong to Christ at all. Therefore, they

have no right to be called Christians. And it is not surprising at all that such people do

not know about the precious gift which is given to us by Christ through His sacrifice onCalvary. They know neither about the gift of redemption by Christs blood nor about

salvation for eternal life. Therefore, if you ask the first Orthodox you meet about

salvation for eternal life, then as a rule, he will answer, And how can I know about it?Only God knows whether I have salvation or not. It will be made clear on the Day of

Judgment.

But then why do their clergy teach, Pray and do good works, and the Lord might

have mercy on you?It turns out that the Orthodox Christian lives his whole life in utter uncertainty and

blindness about his future, that is, where he will be spending eternity with God or with

the Evil One? What utter blindness, despite the whole mass of various mediators and

intercessors before God, before whom he offered up prayers and petitions for mediation!It turns out that all these mediators and intercessors are just one big deception of the Evil

One in order to obfuscate the sole way to Salvation through Christ as written in theScriptures.


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IX. The Rite of Baptism

Having sent His disciples off to preach after His resurrection, Christ said, Gothroughout the whole world and preach the Gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and

is baptized will be saved; and whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mk.

16:15-6)It is very important to pay attention to the order of the actions that Christ Himself

instituted: first BELIEF, second BAPTISM.

The Acts of the Apostles also relate an interesting event which teaches us in whatorder the actions follow when someone puts his faith in the Lord. The Apostle Peter

answered such people who heard his sermon and asked him, What should we do,

brothers? Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the

forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:37-8)And so first, repentance must come first, then belief and faith in Gods Truth, which

must have been taught to the peoples per the commandment of Christ.

Apostle Matthew wrote about this theme: So go, teach all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obeyeverything that I commanded you (Mt. 28:19-20)

If you compare both versions (Matthew and Mark), a surface glance suggests that adifference exists between them, but if we look at the essence, then we will see that they

say the same thing. They tell us about that which Christ entrusted to His disciples to go

to people to preach and teach them in order to bring them to an awareness of theirsinfulness, call within them a desire to repent, bring them to repentance and faith in the

forgiveness of sins, and the acceptance of salvation for eternal life. The confirmation of

this is fulfilled in the sacrament of BAPTISM.

Baptism is performed only according to faith, and faith comes from hearing the Wordof God, as Apostle Paul explains in Romans 10:7.

Who can listen and learn, understand and repent, and after all that to be baptized?

ONLY HE WHO HAS FULL CONSCIOUSNESS! Without full consciousness of hissinful state, he is unable to fulfill any of this! A baby is unable to fulfill any of this, if he

does not already have full awareness of his sinful state and need for salvation.

In hearing the Word, repentance, and baptism, a person must take full responsibilityhimself. NO ONE ELSE can replace him in this matter! No one else is able to repent for

my sins before the Lord, if I myself do not repent. Also no one else can give the Lord on

my behalf the promise of a good conscience that is fulfilled during baptism, consistent

with the teaching of the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3:21.In the Holy Scriptures, we find more than 50 references teaching us how we should

understand the sacrament of baptism before its application. In the Acts of the Apostles

are written several examples of baptism of masses as well as individuals, but nowheredoes it show that babies were baptized.

Was there some rite even in the least extent similar to the rite of baptism in the

Orthodox Church? We find nothing obvious in the Scriptures.When we carefully and honestly examine the rite of baptism in the Orthodox Church

according to its prayer book, we are more than a little surprised by what we find in it.

What we find has absolutely no support in the Scriptures.


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With Gods help, we will attempt to examine the rite of baptism in the Orthodox

Church by parts and as a whole in the official prayer book written by Metropolitan Peter

Mogila.We all know that the Orthodox Church practices the baptism of children, in the

overwhelming majority of cases, infants nurtured at the breast.

In view of the fact that infants do not have full consciousness and are unable to speak,they need to have the so-called godparents or interpreters, who also carry the names

kuma and kum. Their function is to answer all the questions given by the priest

according to the prayer book and also to give a vow on behalf of the infant about to bebaptized who is unable to do it himself.

And so, the godparents bring the infant to the ceremony of baptism.

The birth parents do not have to be present until the so-called conclusion,

corresponding to the Israelite rite of circumcision in the Old Testament.The priest meets the godparents with the infant and reads the first prayer of blessing,

and then the second and third prayers of prohibition.

Anyone who has never read these prayers of prohibition himself will not understand

what they are talking about and for whom they are intended. But I will tell you in briefthat these prayers are addressed to the Devil: Be afraid, run, and get out of this creation,

and never return, you who are hiding down there etc.They are written in the forms of prayer, just like the prayers to the saints, only with

the difference that these prayers are addressed to the Devil and curse him in the name of

the Lord, and they conclude in proclamations similar to common prayers.Then two more prayers are read aloud, but these are already directed to the Lord, in

which they plead with the Lord that He expelled and forbade the unclean spirits from

approaching the baptized infant.

In the fourth prayer there is this proclamation: Expel from him every devilish andunclean spirit hidden and raging within his heart. During this time, the priest blows on

the lips, forehead, and breast of the infant.

At the end of the prayer, the priest turns the baptized ones face to the West, lifts hisarms upward, and asks him this question, Do you reject Satan and all his deeds and all

his angels and all his ministries and all his pride?

The infant, naturally, is silent, for he understands nothing. On his behalf, thegodfather answers, I reject. This event repeats three times.

Then the next question follows: Do you reject Satan? I reject him, answers the

godfather. That happens thrice. After this, the priest says, Blow and spit on him. The

godfather blows and spits as if it were on Satan. After this, the same question comes:Do you avow loyalty to Christ? I vow loyalty to Christ, says the godfather. And this

repeats three times. Again the question comes: Do you believe in Him? Answer: I

believe in Him the King and God. In confirmation of this the priest pronounces theSymbol of Faith1and the godfather repeats after him.

But this is still not the end.

After this confession through the Symbol of Faith, the question about this vow repeatsand the answer of the godfather follows with the repetition of the Symbol of Faith. This

takes place three times.

1 Symbol of Faith refers to the Nicene Creed (I believe in one God, the Father Almighty).

(www.mb-soft.com/believe/txh/nicene.htm)


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Then they propose that the baptized infant worship Christ that, of course, the infant is

in no condition to do.

After this, the priest still reads a prayer to the Lord that He makes the infant into thelikeness of the great grace of the sacrament for union with Christ and would fulfill it

through the Holy Spirit.

This is only the preparation for baptism, and as we see, very complex.How many questions about rejection and how many answers, as if one question and

answer were not enough! How many confirmations via the Symbol of Faith, as if one

were little and nothing were credible after one declaration!However there is one interesting moment that is worth heeding, namely this: the

baptized infant must deny Satan and all his deeds, servants, ministries, and pride.

However, in the view that the infant is unable to understand this, logically only the

godfather can do it. But even if he rejects Satan with his tongue, does he actually rejectSatan in reality? That is a big question.

Does it not occur that the one taking upon himself the courage to answer on behalf of

the infant in reality himself act as a servant of Satan, doing his deeds, and showing his

pride? Does it say anything about rejection consciously and fully? Can we with certaintysay that there is no full consciousness in the infant, for if he were to have it, then he

would never be able to make this sort of decision?From practice we know and can affirm that almost all godparents do not have any

understanding about the essence of the ceremony of baptism, do not understand what

they are being asked, and do not even concern themselves with how they answer. Theydo not understand what sin they take upon their own soul even if such baptism were

acceptable to God.

How often those who stand near the baptismal do not believe in the ceremony

themselves. They answer everything mechanically just as the priest tells them to do.Some time ago they more or less knew the Symbol of Faith by memory, though they

did not understand its meaning, but that was a long time ago. It is difficult today to find

someone who even has memorized the Symbol of Faith.When the birth parents of the infant invite someone to become his godparent, they

have no intention whether or not that person knows the Symbol of Faith. They do not

even realize that it will be necessary. Usually, they do not talk about it. The priesthimself reads it aloud, and directs the godfather to repeat after him. He repeats it to the

extent that he manages to catch some word uttered by the priest.

And this is considered true confession of faith! Is this not just plain comedy?

And so, we only told about a part of the preparation for baptism. We have otherceremonial rites to undergo before reaching the baptism itself.

Then begins the consecration of the water. This ceremony begins with prayers called

the Ektenya. They are mentioned in Peace in the whole world, This holy church,The holiest Ruling Synod, The most righteous government, and finally, the petition

for the consecration of the water, as if without these other petitions, the water would

never be made holy.Such a procedure is typical of any version of consecration.

For the water they ask of the Lord the grace of the Holy Spirit and His strength that

the water is enabled to cleanse from all sins, consecrate thoughts, and drive out all kinds

of visible and invisible enemies. Later on, they pray prayers for the baptized infant and


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also that the water became the font of revival. (Let everything that the Church knows

and preserves about the knowledge of baptism be given, accepted, and applied in this

particular baptism rite in this specific person.)This Ektenia concludes with a quiet prayer by the priest. He asks on his own behalf

the right to complete the rite of baptism, and also about the representation of the likeness

of Christ in that which he wants to regenerate using his unworthy servant (the priest).We highlighted this petition in order to make a point: through whom must the

baptized infant be reborn? We will not document how this so rudely contradicts the

teaching of the Holy Scriptures, for we hope that everyone acquainted with the teachingof the Scriptures will figure out for himself how much a lie this is.

The priest recites the mentioned prayer on high about himself silently, and then he

reads another prayer aloud. That this has important meaning to the consecration of the

water, we will permit ourselves to cite a few passages.In this prayer, we find the following phrases: come and now bless this water with

your Holy Spirit

And give it the grace of deliverance, blessing of the Jordan; may it create a source of

purification, consecration of gifts, absolution of sins, healing of maladies, exorcism ofdemons, defense against evil powers, an angelic fortress, let those that hate Your creation

run away, for Your Name is holy, divine, and praiseworthy, and terrible to contendwith

Then the priest puts his fingers in the water and makes the sign of the cross three

times, saying each time: May all opposing powers be driven out under the sign of thecross. We beg you, O Lord, that all airy and invisible spirits stay away from us, and

that the dark demon does not abide in this water, let it chase out anything living inside the

baptized child, including evil spirits, dark thoughts, and vengeful ideas, but You

Almighty of all, show this water to be a water of salvation, cleansing of flesh and spirit,removal of the past sinful state, consecration of the soul, a bath of purification, renewal of

the spirit, gift of adoption, clothing not of decay, source of lifeetc.

We purposely underlined all of the most salient magic properties of the watersanctified by this method.

Is it not true how easy it is, according to this ceremony, for a person to receive all that

is necessary to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?He washed himself, or sprinkled himself in holy water, or at least drank up this holy

water, and now he is ready for Heaven.

No work, no struggle everything is easy and cheap.

They make this water even stronger in the act of purification, for they purify it withholy oil even three times.

During the purification of oil, they grant to it the same magical powers that they do to

water.During the purification of oil and water, the priest rubs the baptized child in oil: Let

the servant of God (fill in his name) be dipped in the oil of joy in the name of the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.He does it on the forehead. Then he rubs the chest and states: For the healing of soul

and body, ears: To listen in faith, arms: Your hands formed me and created me,

legs: In this you will lead on the pillars of Your commands.


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After all this, the baptism finally occurs in the water with the words, Let Gods

servant (name of baptized) be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of

the Holy Spirit. Amen.This repeats three times: the first time in the name of the Father, the second time

in the name of the Son, and the third time in the name of the Holy Spirit. Each time is

done as a legal act, after which they say, Amen, that is, So let it be in truth.How much of this agrees with the Scriptures, we will see. In the Gospel of Matthew,

chapter 28, verses 19-20, we read: And so go, teach all peoples by baptizing them in the

name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everythingI have commanded you.

And so we see that Christ did not separate the Holy Trinity, and commanded them to

do the same. Not once or twice, but for always did Christ order to preserve His words,

teaching, and commands. This must be important and authoritative for followers ofChrist during that time and for all generations.

If anyone does not follow these commandments, he neither preserves them nor can

assert that he is a disciple and follower of Christ. Therefore, this is falsehood and

deception, blinding many people who follow such teachings, when they themselves donot hold to words and teachings of Christ.

After the threefold dipping into the water, as the important act of baptism, the priestclothes the baptized infant and states: (Name of infant) servant of God clothes himself in

the garment of truth, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Amen. After this, he reads a prayer about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. At the end of thisprayer, he anoints the baptized infant with holy chrism: forehead, eyes, nose, lips, ears,

chest, arms, and legs. He utters after each anointing: The seal of the gift of the Holy

Spirit, Amen. Those in attendance sing: Be baptized in Christ, in Christ be blessed,

Hallelujah.And so according to Orthodox teaching, one can give the Holy Spirit to a person in a

material way. Therefore, only in the specific moment can one purify the chrism, to

which is transferred the power and properties of the Holy Spirit. Only senior churchclergy can perform this act.

The chrism is olive oil. It is cooked during the performance of the ceremony and is

anointed at that time.None of this conforms to the teaching of Jesus Christ about the Holy Spirit.

After the anointing of the chrism, the priest reads the Apostle Paul (Romans 6:3-11)

and the Gospel (Mt. 28:16-20). Then he recites the Ektenia, in which he lifts up a prayer

about the baptized infant and the godparents. But the act of baptism is still not finished.On the 8th day, per the Orthodox prayer book, the second act of baptism is performed.

After the reading of three more prayers, the priest turns the waist of the infant, takes both

his arms and legs, dips him in clean water, and sprinkles the infant with holy water andsays: He is justified, sanctified, purified, and washed in the name of our Lord Jesus

Christ and the Spirit our God. Then the priest takes a clean lip, moistens it with water,

and wipes off the face, head, and chest of the infant and all the places where the chrismwas placed. Then he utters: you are baptized, sanctified, anointed, washed, and purified

in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.


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In his understanding, the priest did everything that is supposed to give the infant the

right to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven forever. However, nowhere does the Bible say

that the Kingdom of Heaven is inherited through baptism.The Scriptures teach just the opposite about washing, cleaning, and purification of a

person. It teaches just the opposite about the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the completion of the act of baptism, there is yet another act of completion withspecific prayers. Then another Ektenia. Finally, the act of baptism is completed.

If one were to follow this to the letter, as stated in the Orthodox prayer book, then it

would be necessary to spend 90 minutes to complete a baptism.It often happens that they ask the priest to perform the baptism in as short a time as

possible. But the priest himself tries to shorten the process of baptism. In the new

prayer books, they cut out a lot of prayers which could be omitted.

The important goal of baptism in the understanding of Orthodoxy is the rebirth of theinfant and uniting him with the Church of Christ. But does the church itself take any part

in this uniting? Absolutely not!

The church often does not even know where or when the child was ever united with

the Church.The attendance of church members never interested anyone. They can only find out

on individual cases that some infant was united to the Church.So did the baptized infant truly become united to the Church of Christ? No one

knows or cares about the answer to this question.

If after such a mechanical unification, the united one never shows up at the doorsof the church, no one neither knows nor cares. The priests themselves can confirm this,

even those who fulfilled this unification and writing the infants name in the books.

The godparents can also confirm this fact. It often happens that they never see the

baptized infant nor know where or what became of him.They even forget his name.

Often priests perform infant baptisms and see the parents for both the first and last

times in their life.What sort of Christian will this mechanical and fabricated church member become?

This question has an easy answer.

One can judge this issue by recalling the millions of people born and growing up innormal conditions during that, when there was plenty of opportunity to raise children in a

religious spirit and no one prohibited it. What sorts of Christians were they?

It was common for us, and still is even today, that the measure of being a Christian

was determined by a metric.It is interesting to note that the question about infant baptism completely depend on

the parents. When parents were ready to invite guests, then they determined the date of

baptism. For this day, the parents prepared booze so they could drink, eat, and be merry.This was more important than the baptism itself.

So that is how by its own human standards, not by the Scriptures, the great and holy

truth of baptism, the commandment left to us by Christ, was and is understood.Baptism itself became a form and a rite that gives nothing and says nothing to the

human soul.

It has turned out thus as if the infant were joined to Christ and to the church, though

this is simply a naked and blatant lie. I swear that the majority of children, many of them


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baptized, just like their parents, that I saw them during the baptismal process for the first

and last time. I often heard from other people that these parents and the godparents

believed in absolutely nothing. Could I ask them a question about their faith, when theycame to me to agree on doing a baptism? Who of the priests could have or should have

asked about it? It was not the custom, and it would even have been strange to ask about

the faith of that person who in all areas of life lived as a pagan or an atheist. Except that,the father ordering the baptism confirmed that he was an Orthodox believer. Even if he

never went to church, that would still be a typical example in such situations.

But this is not the bottom line. Who is at fault in the distortion of the commandmentabout baptism? Of course it is not the fault of the laypeople. God will condemn the

perpetrators of the distortion of His command. Even now He judges the retribution for

everything for which we are responsible. Such retribution is harsh, but it does not

suffice, because neither the people nor the priests repent. Instead, they continue to teachthe people with human inventions. There are many extreme man-made fabrications and

superstitions in these rites.

At the same time, they bury the baptized evildoers, thieves, drunkards, adulterers,

blasphemers in the Christian cemetery with all rites and ceremonies, provided theyfulfilled before their death the established rite of confession and communion. They bury

them to rest in peace with the righteous ones.The Orthodox Church ascribes some magical properties to oil or chrism, proposing

that the one anointed by it in different places will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and

become sealed unto the day of redemption. The Scriptures say this about that: NowHe who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us in God, who also sealed us and

gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. (2 Cor. 1:21-2)

The Orthodox Church has distorted this very great truth beyond recognition! It

exchanged it for the teaching of men, that anointing and sealing can be placed not by Godbut by a priest with the help of physical objects, such as chrism. The Orthodox Church

also teaches that this seal will be a sign by which in the future the angel will be able to

tell apart the Christian believer in order to tear him out of the hands of an evil spirit.Surprisingly and regrettably, that with all of this the Orthodox Church sends into exile

the words of the apostles Paul and John. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by Which

you are sealed on the day of redemption. (Eph. 4:30) And also, But you have ananointing from the Holy One, and you all knowAs for you, the anointing which you

received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as

His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has

taught you, you abide in Him. (1 John 2:20, 27) Here the Orthodox Church cheapensthe spiritual anointing and sealing by the Holy Spirit with the anointing of chrism.

How much this contradicts the truths of the Holy Scriptures is obvious to everyone

who has open spiritual eyes and mind, lit by the light of Gods mediation on Hismysteries.

Only people who are spiritually blind cannot see this. Therefore, they follow fables

cleverly invented by men against which Christ and the apostles warned.As far as in truth the gift of the Holy Spirit is transferred through anointing by

chrism, it is visible from the life of millions of baptized people who with their lives not

only have grieved the Holy Spirit but also offended God in the worst possible way.


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If we examine how our people lived in such pagan and religious superstition in the

time past when the Orthodox Church dominated our motherland, then it immediately

becomes clear why in Russia, and in no other country, did revolution take place and thevictory of atheism was so complete.

It is time for everyone who believes in God to wipe away the drowsiness from

himself, open his eyes, and see the terrible danger of eternal damnation, wide open inwhich will fall the Devil and millions of perishing people, who go the route of human

fictions but not the Word of God.

All who name themselves fathers and spiritual teachers are responsible beforeGod in the first place. They are responsible before God not only for themselves, but also

for the large masses of people whom they carry along with themselves into destruction by

luring them with false teachings.

But every person separately is not freed from his own accountability before God.The risen Christ said to His disciples, Go throughout the world and preach the

Gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does

not believe will be condemned. It is not the case that this commandment is still holy and

unchanged for everyone who calls himself a Christian? He commanded His ministers topreach the Gospel, and not human inventions, not dogmas, not catechisms.

It is about time, even needed a long time ago, that everyone understands this.


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X. Patron Saint Festivals

The Orthodox Church has the tradition that every congregation and church is

dedicated to some saint or important event from the history of the saints.

On the commemorative day for this holy church, they put on a big celebration andinvite for this occasion the hierarchy of church leaders as well as a choir to sing

celebratory hymns.

The leaders of the congregation on this holiday try to do everything possible that thechurch service would be celebratory.

Such a day is called church day or a festival for the patron saint.

There was one such festival in a small village that people from the surrounding

countryside swelled up to two thousand people. It was such that there was not enoughphysical space in the church to fit all these people. The majority of these people never

visited a church, and the crowd spilled out into the church yard. For such patron saint

festivals, various peddlers with their goods for sale swooped down. They displayed

their goods close to the church or even on the church fence. During this time, when thechurch conducted its service, outside the church yelled out the voices of merchants.

Here they also sold examples for the religious cult: icons, crosses, various pictures,song books, prayer books, and also literature cheap in price and quality stories such as

The Nightingale Thief, Ali Baba, The Blue Beard, and others. Other things for

sale included oracles, books about dreams, all types of fortune telling in cards withhappiness, that is, cheap jewelry for young women. They also sold brooches, pins,

earrings, and many other things. A little bit further away from the church one could find

various carousels and a shooting range where for a successful shot one would win a prize.

Sometimes clowns and puppet theaters came to the patron saint festivals in the villages.Of course, all this attracted a lot of people. People truly did not go for prayer, but

went to the Vanity Fair. Innkeepers and merchants locally and from out of town earned

good money during these festivals.It was sad that at the very church entrance doors gathered crowds of cripples, blind

people, and beggars at large. They did not allow people to enter without stretching out

their hands and begging for alms.Just when the church service neared its conclusion, people hurried to leave the church

and overflowed the inns and taverns. All the poor people and cripples also hurried there

and drank away all the money they had earned through begging.

It turned out that many of these blind and crippled people were in reality nothandicapped. They were merely putting on a show and asked for money just to spend it

in bars drinking.

The festival of the patron saint was joyous and noisy in every peasants hut.The local priest invited to his house the clergy coming from out of town. How they

passed the time together after the church service, I am reluctant to write about it, but

many laypeople knew how the priests made merry on the patron saint festivals.In connection with this, I want us to pay attention to these questions: were these

patron saint festivals useful for the spiritual life of those attending? Did God reveal

Himself in these festivals, or was He grieved? What did the spiritual pastors think of

these festivals?


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By the way, I remember a time when many of our people after the war ended up in

concentration camps in Germany. Immediately they began to organize church

congregations, build churches, and dedicated them to the name of some saint according tothe old tradition. They also remembered the festivals of the patron saints. For these

festivals they invited the highest church leaders and other priests. After the service, they

organized meals for the attendees and their guests.Of course, this was good, if the attendees like brothers in Christ would have spent a

couple hours at the table and shared their ideas and memories that would be useful for the

soul.However, this was not the case. After they drank and smoked up well, even to the

point that the smoke became a cloud, at the tables they would start singing songs, but not

the type that would praise the Lord. Then arguments would start. Such meals often

ended with unpleasant consequences.It is possible that it would not have been worth recalling such table festivals1, but

they are characteristic of our people to whom spiritual pastors give special recognition for

their religion and piety. The pastors call the people to hold firmly to the traditions of our

fathers, conveniently forgetting that our fathers themselves did not know the living Godand did not lead their children to the knowledge of the Truth.

1 The expression for patron saint festivals in the Russian language also can be translated table parties,

that is, similar to what Dobrovolskiy described about the table fellowship with drinking, smoking, and

arguing.


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XI. Religiosity and Piety

This is no joke! Our people at every step boast and endow themselves with suchvalues. Religious leaders lullaby our people to preserve this religiosity and piety just like

our fathers.

Is this not a mockery of the true condition of our faith?Religiosity and piety of our people showed themselves well during the Russian

Revolution. The qualities of this piety and religiosity were based upon dry, low, and

incomprehensible traditions, pagan habits, as it was during the time of worship of theRain-god, Perun, and other idols.

Taking on the surface the imposed Christian religion with all of the things that existed

at that time with distortions, the people never left their pagan traditions, but they brought

many of them into Orthodoxy.The Orthodox clergy of that time was unable to drive it out of the spirit of the people

and gradually brought them into Christian religion, giving them a changed external form.

With such protocol, they brought in various festivals, consecrations, remembrances,

services for the dead, etc.Assuming this religion without the knowledge of Gods Truth, written in the Holy

Scriptures, the people could not be born again by the Holy Spirit, in order to become atotally new creation. The people could not purify its soul and therefore remained the

same as it was before, although from that time passed many centuries and generations.

The Orthodox Church did not and does not teach the people, it does not lead them toTruth, but it follows the people, bringing it profit in all things. Therefore, people

dwelling in sin will never be excommunicated from the church. Just the opposite, the

church clergy for every situation reminds the people about our native religiosity, about

the piety of our ancestors, as if they emphasize this that they, the ancestors, correctlyapplied the teaching of Christ, and therefore we must follow in their footsteps. With this

they especially emphasize the loyalty and faithfulness of God as revealed in the fight for

the Orthodox faith. From here comes the tradition of naming soldiers of the Orthodoxpeoples army endowed with the love of Christ. This term entered the order of the

Orthodox church service and transferred into the Ukrainian translation.

In the Ektenia, there is a special prayer for our army endowed with the love ofChrist, for which the church asks the Lord to grant victory over its enemy.

In truth this army, as if it never were, was closer in reality to devil-like, not Christ-

like, because the Devil was a murderer from the beginning. Christ said this.

We could talk a lot about this topic, but I will allow myself to share a few moments.For example, it is no secret that in the Russian Army they practice filthy language and

beating of soldiers in the face. This is already one form of evidence that no love of

Christ exists in this army, even more so in the midst of the elite of the army theofficers. Christ could love only those who know Him in the proper way and obey His

commands. And His command is simple and easily understood: Love your enemy, do

not shoot him.Regarding the love of Christs among the soldiers of the Ukrainian Army, in which

I had the opportunity to serve, with certainty and full accountability for my words I am

able to say that they are even worse in this regard.


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With this I do not slander nor scorn my comrades of nationality, former soldiers of

our military. I want to say completely, with conscience, and having full responsibility

before God the bitter truth about which no one has yet told in the full hearing of everyoneand possibly never will say.

It is difficult for me to speak about this reality. In our army during the period 1917-

1920, there was not a single shred of piety or religiosity, but utter atheism bloomed, bothamong the rank and file soldiers as well as officers, among whom often were people with

seminary education.

In the regiment in which I served, 30-40% of the soldiers cussed up to the highheavens. The commanders were no exception.

Such is how love for Christ which like a formula they never ceased to reiterate in

the Orthodox prayers. For people this was a deception, but for God it is a grave

humiliation, for which the people already tolerates punishment. The Lord did not sendthis punishment, like the priests beat people over the head. The people themselves

hammer this punishment on their own heads because they believer not God but rather

their own false prophets and fa

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Eastern Orthodoxy in Light of the Scriptures