| Your Eminence, dear Vladyka! Bless me!
Thank you for the fond memories. I received your letter and am sending a reply along with Father I. The times in which the Lord has brought us to live are most turbulent—disturbance, confusion, and chaos shake the unshakable, but this is not the end. Even more difficult times lie ahead. And the Church, according to the Saviour's promise, will live and fulfil its great and saving ministry until the last day of the world's life, and therefore the voice of the Church, through its canonically right hierarchy, is for us the voice of God. We have faith not in any single person, even one who seems living a worthy life, nor in a group of like-minded people, nor in dreams, nor in visions, but in the Church—the voice of the Church. The Church cannot go underground, for then it will cease to be for the people what it should be. Therefore, we must await a decisive decision from His Holiness and guide the people only in this way. Otherwise, we risk falling into a terrible sin against the Church: we will unwittingly create a schism. We cannot, we have no right to take on what God has not given us. And that's God's way. But if we think about it humanly, we'd be completely unanswered. God sees the human heart, and each person's life is a vivid illustration of what's going on in our hearts. The sign of the cross is our only seal that has spiritual power. Our bearing of the cross, our struggle with sin, our bearing illnesses, our empathy, our compassion for others, and so much more is our life according to God which testifies that we bear God's seal upon ourselves. And what are technology, computers, someone's human and even the enemy's desire to subjugate us to their influence, their seal? Nothing compared to the great seal the Saviour gave us for salvation. Where is our faith, the seal of our salvation? Anything can be done to us secretly, but it will have no power or value—God loves a willing giver, and the enemy needs our souls voluntary serving him. We choose our path voluntarily, with love and desire. Let's consider such a simple matter. A man is being treated in a hospital, hoping to rise from his sickbed, but instead of receiving a healing injection, he is given a lethal one. Both the deceased and the one who helped him die will stand before God. How will they be judged? How many of God's servants perished during the hard times by forced hanging, and all are counted as martyrs, while suicides perish for eternity. And so the same thing happens in life every day. Some will not live to see that open choice—either faith or bread—but the choice of life's path—either for God or against God—is made in the life of every person, before, now, and until the end of the days of their lives. Only now, it's not a piece of bread that hangs in the balance. And such a time will come. But when? God knows! The more people choose life against God, the sooner the final choice approaches. The earth will cease to bear bread from the malice of those who dwell upon it. All of nature will cry out to God against human iniquities. The field of life will be overgrown with thorns and weeds, and we are, after all, labourers in this field, labourers in God's harvest. The Spirit of God must be kept, and this is joy, peace, love, abstinence, and miscellaneous which is in God and according to God. Only these won't burn in the last fire, and only these will testify our heart's choice, and cards, passports, numbers, seals all will have burnt without a trace. Yes, unconditionally, the world is rushing at top speed towards the Last Judgement. The struggle is seen and obvious, but the struggle for souls, and not for anything else. And not without our participation all this is occurring now. And even more so at the last stage, when we will have to answer: "How do we believe?" So, we await the word of His Holiness and will not doubt for a moment the omnipotence of Divine Providence, which knows how to save the faithful and those who love God. Here is our weapon—love for God and the Church. And eat the bread, God gives it to the world; eat it before its distribution is linked to your faith. And our task is to protect the Church from schism and heresy. I ask for your holy prayers and archpastoral blessing. January 29, 1988. Letters of Archimandrite John Krestiankin |