Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev. "A Non-Boring Life of an Orthodox Missionary".
Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev
Exposure
Once, when I still studied at the seminary, I was invited to a joint meeting of Pentecostals from different communities, despite the fact that the person who invited me and many others of them knew that I was Orthodox.
“A person has arrived who has all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and he will help you break these Orthodox complexes of yours and see the truth as it is!” – I was told.
I was glad that such a “vessel of grace” appeared, and immediately agreed to go to this meeting. I have always had some kind of burning interest in such people, just a hunting passion. I left my seminary jacket at home, put on an ordinary jacket, shirt and immediately set off.
The meeting, however, was already coming to an end, but I got to the most interesting part: this man worked miracles. A whole queue lined up for him, people came up one after another and confided their secrets and aspirations to him.
“I have very poor eyesight,” someone said.
The "Man of Grace" took cotton wool, dipped it in a glass of water, smeared his eyes and said:
Monk John (Adlivankin) and Hegumen Ephraim (Vinogradov). "Pastoral care of the people coming from sects and the occult. The canonical practice of accession and renunciation rites as an instrument of spiritual struggle. The strategies of demonic forces".
Monk John: To continue the conversation that took place on February 22 in the Monastery of Optina and dealt with the problems of pastoral care, the practice of accession rites, the problems of the boundary of the Church and the contemporary attitude towards modern children of the Church fallen away from the Church, we asked the famous contemporary writer to participate in our conversation. He is well-known to Orthodox audience as a confessor, it is father Ephraim (Vinogradov) known to the Orthodox public and readers as Hegumen N.
Thank you, farther, that you agreed to take part in this conversation. It seems to us extremely relevant. Those questions that have arisen in this conversation on the part of the clergy, on the part of the Optina brotherhood, and on the part of the priests, require more detailed study and clarification. Therefore, in today's talk, we will be able to give some answers to emerging questions.
Father Ephraim, this is a rather difficult topic: the pastoral care of people who come from sects, or damaged by sects and the occult. The topic, in general, is not so new in the Church, but nowadays, it becomes extremely relevant. You are well-acquainted with the work of the pastoral care center, you are familiar with the materials, documents, we closely cooperate in discussing some problems, developing solutions, and I know that recently you have been often using the canonical approach of accession and renunciation rites for people who for one reason or another were harmed or even fell away from the Church. Undoubtedly, in the vast experience of your pastoral work ... How long have you been a priest, how much have you been doing spiritual work?
Hegumen Ephraim: Well, almost 30 years.
Monk John: Well, in 30 years, probably, many things have come before your eyes. How do you feel about this approach? I know that you, too, have received the blessing to perform the accession rite with regard to people who have fallen away from the Church. It is such a difficult act; it needs a special blessing of the archbishop, the bishop. And, probably, you see from your experience that it gives really positive results. People who for many years for one reason or another could not be healed, did not come to senses and had completely obvious, and sometimes some hidden diseases that can be seen by the confessor, in general, after such an approach, after the implementation of such a practice, they obviously came to their senses. It is true, isn’t it?
Priest George Maximov. "A question that the Protestants never ask."
Priest George Maximov
When we – Orthodox Christians – talk
about the faith with a Protestant, we can hear a variety of questions
from him. Those about icons, about the baptism of babies, about the
veneration of saints and so on. But there is one question that they will
never touch themselves. But it is this question that is the most
important, where a fundamental difference between us lies. This question
is the teaching about the Church.
What is the Church of Christ? Any
Protestant will immediately say that the denomination, to which he
currently belongs, is the Church of Christ. Then the question is: when
did your denomination appear? The range of answers will vary from the
last year to the beginning of the Reformation. Well, where had the
church of Christ been before that time?
Many Protestants look at the church
history like this: there were apostolic times, and then there was the
apostolic Church. And then, allegedly already from the II century, there
were distortions in the teachings of the Church. Many bluntly say that
the Church lost its apostolic creed because it brought all sorts of
false practices and ideas into its purity. It may even be said that "the
true Church was destroyed by paganism"[1]. So, starting from the XVI
century, from the time of the Reformation, it was them, the Protestants,
that allegedly returned the pure apostolic teaching. Well, from the XVI
century – if we talk about the "old" Protestants: Lutherans,
Calvinists. And “new” Protestants, such as the Baptists, Adventists, and
Pentecostals, for example, appeared later. Since Protestants are known
for being fond of speaking that it is them and their denomination that
faithfully follow the Bible in their faith, we will consider their views
on the Church precisely through the prism of the Holy Scripture. Let's
see if this Protestant idea about the disappeared Church is consistent
with the Bible.
