A LETTER TO FRIENDS - by Bishop Victor of Glazov

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A LETTER TO FRIENDS - by Bishop Victor of Glazov

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A LETTER TO FRIENDS

Document of December, 1927

Take heed, that ye be not deceived.
St. Luke 21:8

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all!

MY BELOVED FRIENDS! With great sorrow of heart I tell you of a new deceit, through which our enemy the devil wishes to entice away the souls of Christians on to the path of perdition, depriving them of the grace of eternal salvation. And this deceit—woe to us sinners—is much more bitter than the first three: those of the Living Church, the Renovationists, and the Gregorians, whose madness was apparent to all without difficulty, whereas not everyone can see through the ruinousness of the latest deceit, and this is especially difficult for those whose mind and heart are turned toward earthly things, for the sake of which people become accustomed to renouncing the Lord. But let everyone know that the latest Declaration of July 16|29 of this year of Metropolitan Sergius—is a clear betrayal of the Truth (St. John 14:6).

Whom have the signers of the "Declaration" betrayed, and whom have they renounced? They have renounced the Most Holy Orthodox Church, which is always and in everything pure and holy, having herself not spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing (Ephesians 5:27). They have brought forth against her an open judgement before the entire world; they have bound her and given her over to the derision of the "profane," like an evil-doer, like a criminal, like a betrayer of her Most Holy Bridegroom, Christ—Eternal Truth, Eternal Justice. What a horrible thing…

The Holy Church, which the Lord hath purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28) from out of this world, and which is His Body (Colossians 1:24), and for all of us is the house of eternal grace-given salvation from this life of perdition—now this Divine Holy Church of Christ is adapted to the service of interests not only foreign to her, but even completely incompatible with her Divinity and spiritual freedom. Many Christians step forth as enemies of the cross of Christ, says the Apostle; they mind earthly things (politics), forgetting that our dwelling is in heaven (Philippians 3:18-20)—for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come (Hebrews 13:14). And what kind of unification can there be of the Church of God with the civil authority, whatever kind it may be, when the aims of the latter's activity are exclusively in a material-economic direction, and while externally these aims might be moral but are foreign to faith in God or even hostile to God. At the same time, the aims of the Church's activity are exclusively spiritual and moral, and through faith in God they bring a man beyond the bounds of earthly life for the acquiring of God's grace of eternal heavenly goods. Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (St. James 4:4).

Therefore the Church of Christ by her very nature can never be any kind of political organization, or else it ceases to be the Church of Christ, the Church of God, the Church of eternal salvation. And if now through the "Declaration" the Church is united to the civil regime, this is no simple external maneuver, but, together with a terrible outrage, a destruction of the Orthodox Church, there is also committed here the monstrous sin of renouncing the Truth of the Church, a sin which no attainments of earthly goods for the Church can justify. Do not tell me that in this way a Central Administration has been formed and local administrations are being formed, and the appearance of external calm for the Church is obtained, or, as the Declaration says, "a legal existence of the Church"—all those who earlier were caught by our enemy the devil and fell away from the Orthodox Church also love to say these and similar things. But what is the benefit if we ourselves, having been made and being called temples of God (II Corinthians 4:16), have become worthless and abominable in the eyes of God, while receiving an external administration for ourselves? Rather, may we never have any kind of administration, may we wander, even having nowhere to lay our head, after the fashion of those of whom it was once said: They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth (Hebrews 11:37, 38). But by means of such suffering may Orthodox souls be preserved in the grace of salvation, of which all they are deprived who are caught by the devil with such external pretexts. Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come; every soul is to be tried and every place sifted, so that the grain may be separated from the straw, even if in small quantity, since there are few chosen, said the Lord; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! (St. Matthew 18:7). But let us, my friends, give no offence to the Church of God, that we may not be condemned at the Lord's Judgment.

Take heed that ye be not deceived; for many shall come in My name… and shall deceive many, warns the Lord (St. Luke 21:8). And the holy Apostle, showing care for us, says: See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15, 16).

May the Lord not harden the hearts of those who signed the Declaration, but may they repent and turn and may their sins be washed away. But if it be not so, then let us guard ourselves from communion with them, knowing that communion with those who have fallen away is our own renunciation of Christ the Lord.

My friends, if we truly believe that outside the Orthodox Church a man has no salvation, then when her truth is perverted we cannot remain her indifferent worshippers in the dark, but we must confess before everyone the truth of the Church. And if others, even in an innumerable multitude, even chief hierarchs, remain indifferent and can even use their interdictions against us, there is nothing surprising in this. After all, this has happened not infrequently in the past, and thus it was four years ago that those who had fallen away from the truth composed councils and called themselves the Church of God and, pretending to be concerned over canons, made interdictions against those who did not submit to their senselessness; but they did all this to their shame and to their eternal perdition.

But the Lord is faithful, Who shall stablish you, and keep you from the evil one… And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ (II Thessalonians 3:3, 5).

Bishop Victor
[of Glazov, Russia]

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Priest Mark Smith
British Columbia

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