On the Social Position of a Christian

By Fr. Alexander Men

The social position of a Christian is somewhat unique in every country, and so it would be completely wrong to assume that a uniform way of life and action exists everywhere. I think you’re not interested in how Christians live in Latin America, where they fight for their rights through armed force, or how this issue was resolved in the United States in the nineteenth century, but rather in how it is handled in our country. Strangely enough, our approach to this issue is very similar to how it was handled in ancient times. We’ve, to some extent, come full circle and returned to those times.

In the third century, Tertullian wrote that “we are (he was addressing the pagans) in your offices and on your ships, in your armies and in your markets, we occupy all public places, and everywhere we are not the worst, but the best.” Well, perhaps he exaggerated a little during the course of his polemics, so to speak, but history has shown he was right, because Christians were the most steadfast, honest, and reliable members of society. Otherwise, the emperors who were forced to recognize Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century would not have done so. There were other, more convenient religions for them. At that time, there was the religion of SOL INVICTUS, the Invincible Sun. This was solar veneration, which was philosophically meaningful, which had its own pleasant ritual, very widespread among soldiers. And you know that the Roman Empire at that time was, as they say, in the power of the military; the army decided everything. And there were even attempts to establish the religion of SOL INVICTUS, the Invincible Sun, through state means. Julian the Apostate was the one. Ibsen wrote a wonderful play about him, “Caesar and the Galilean.” I recommend everyone read it. Nevertheless, the emperors rejected this cult, which was undoubtedly beneficial to the state, beloved by the army, and easily assimilated by society. What played a role here? History has shown that it was precisely because Christians turned out to be the best of their time. Perhaps we could have left it at that, because that’s the answer to this question.

We must prove ourselves the best, although it’s quite difficult, although it’s easier to say that we have our own ideas, and in general, that’s why we don’t want to do this, we don’t want to do that. But imagine if some train driver said, “Oh, what a mess we have here. You know, I’m going to crash my train into a pole today.” Or something else. This means that some people’s dissatisfaction with the existing order doesn’t justify their failure to fulfill the duties they are obligated to fulfill: parental duty, educational duty, professional duty, human duty, and so on.

This model is difficult. Why? Because there are two extremes. One extreme is to become like everyone else and thereby lose all spiritual expressiveness; the other is to set yourself against everyone and become a sect of grumbling outsiders. Both are easy enough. Any untalented person easily becomes a grumbling outsider, saying that everyone around you is a scoundrel, but if only they’d given me a chance, we’d show you. But in reality, they have nothing to show for it. And it’s fortunate for them that they’re not given a chance. If they were, they’d be ten times worse than others we don’t like.

So, this is our middle ground. Of course, you may encounter problems: the unfavorable structure of our professional structures—hospitals, institutes, the arts… There are no general solutions here. You must always ask yourself: how can I fulfill my human duty, and that’s it. To what extent? Well, there’s no computer that would always give you a precise answer. (A voice from the audience: “What do you mean there isn’t one?”) Yes, there isn’t one. The Gospels, for example, aren’t structured like a quiz. That’s not there. What should I do if I’m supposed to work well, but if I work well, I’ll lower my plan, say, and then I’ll let my enterprise down (I’m speaking figuratively), whereas if I work poorly, I’ll fulfill the plan, but then I’ll let society down in general. This, so to speak, aporia, to put it in philosophical terms, or antinomy—we’re not called upon to resolve it; that’s what the competent authorities are for, let them worry about it. Our task is to fulfill our duty, and in doing so, we can help society as best we can.

So, not being an outsider, not being a completely mimicked person—that’s the difficult task. (A voice from the audience: “It’s an unstable equilibrium.”) Absolutely right. Why balance? Because the life of an organism is balance, balance, you understand? Once it’s out of balance, that’s it, it ends up in the hospital. The life of any mechanism is balance; An unbalanced mechanism must either be scrapped or repaired. The state of the soul is unbalanced—you know that, no need to explain it to you. Thus, everything, including the movement of the Solar System, the Milky Way, and other devices, is connected to a certain balance. And it’s difficult, but that’s how life works.

By the way, this always requires creative effort, otherwise you could just sit and… If there were answers to everything, and you just had to press buttons, you’d get an answer right away, and you’d do it, while you sit there, spitting, and drinking some harmless fruit drink, and that’s it. I think that’s quite, so to speak, clear. Well, of course, there are many such questions—how to conduct yourself at meetings, and so on. These are details, the main thing is that people see you as a person of principle, as we say among the people, independent and fair. There are such expressions. Yes, yes, a person they can rely on. Do you know what’s widespread in our society? It has nothing to do with the social structure; it’s rooted in a flaw in the cultural tradition. The cultural tradition of all peoples has its flaws. What kind of flaw do we have? Unreliability. Utter unreliability. A person can tell you one thing, and it’s completely… It doesn’t matter what he says, because he won’t follow through. You look into his bright, transparent eyes; at that moment, he believes you, but he’s crossed the threshold and forgotten you exist altogether. This is unreliability, this is irresponsibility, this is disorganization—it’s a veritable abyss of sources for all sorts of hackwork. It’s a vice, and it seems we must fight it. If you come on dates, I mean business dates, because you’ve already had your fill of romantic dates; however, you can meet with your wife. I sometimes arrange dates with my wife; it’s quite pleasant, after all. But you definitely need to have the charm to come! Of course, so that everything works for us. No, I understand that this won’t work, but we must strive for it.

QUESTION: The Immaculate Conception, similar in other religions, the attitude towards it. ANSWER: The point is that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is not connected to the doctrine of Christ, who could have been born in a normal way; that’s completely irrelevant. Here, we’re talking only about the Virgin Mary. And you know very well that in the history of the world… I even remember reading something once—I can’t remember now—either an article or a brochure—called “Mothers of Great People.” It showed that, while not always, very often, mothers played a colossal and decisive role for great people. Not only genetically, because they passed on their qualities, but also spiritually, through their influence. Therefore, even theoretically, abstracting from what the Gospel says about the Virgin Mary, we must still consider what kind of woman she was who became his mother. And therefore, this very lofty conception of her is undoubtedly connected to a special kind of spirituality and religiosity. We don’t have documentary evidence for this, but we have the intuition of tradition, poetry, and inner conviction. Of course, they might say, “Well, we don’t know anything about her except her name and a few facts.” I think what we do know is enough to elevate this to such a high level. Some of you have seen her, videos of her.

(Inaudible, noise in the audience). There are women and men who have been examined by doctors, who, in a state of some kind of special empathy with the crucifixion, empathy, have developed bloody wounds that were simply being examined. Therefore, the state of the spirit can very well influence the body. So there is no… For Christ, this is of no importance. It is important for her, because, being a mother, she still belonged to no one. (QUESTION from the audience: Is this still a symbol or reality?) I think it is entirely reality. (Noise in the audience, question inaudible). All gods had a father and mother. In any case, this was never present as some kind of important theme. On the contrary, consider that all of mythology was steeped in eroticism. All these gods slept with each other, continually giving birth… What immaculate conception! It was pure “porn,” as they say now, just read the whole story… Sure, Athena was a virgin, but that’s all. Besides, why compare Athena to the Virgin Mary? She was a virgin—a special being; she didn’t conceive.

QUESTION: Is this even biologically possible or not?

ANSWER: Of course, it’s possible, quite possible, quite possible. I say again that the influence of the spirit on the human body is limitless. Well, just take the facts that have been observed with people who controlled their hearts, who stopped their hearts. After all, there are such people. The influence of the spirit on the body is enormous, enormous. Therefore, we know no limits.

QUESTION: You once expressed the opinion that in fifty years, the existence of the human spirit will be scientifically proven. ANSWER: Yes, indestructible. Possibly, very possible. Depending on how science develops. Possibly even faster.

Source in Russian: Home Conversation (date not specified), phonogram, https://damian.center/men/