We, the modern people of the so-called "Western
culture," live by necessity in two spiritual circles: a) the circle of
timeless Christian Enlightenment and b) the epoch of
"enlightenment" begun in Western
Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. We live in the age of rationalism, or practical
thinking, which has gradually departed from religious beginnings, particularly
in the age of "Voltarianism." In our century it has amounted to a
direct persecution of Christianity, falling mainly on the Orthodox Church, and
particularly on the Russian Church. According to the goals of this general epoch, only
earthly goals are worthy of social attention and even of existence. A concern
for eternal life, or the perfection of one’s life
according to the spirit of the Gospel has no place here. And for the protection
of "social ethics" and order, common teaching and police-like
vigilance, along with detention facilities, are deemed perfectly sufficient.
Such are the values of this era. But its realities are all before: millions killed
for their firmness in faith, thousands in prisons and exile for protesting the
physical and moral pressure, a wave of international and civil wars, a growth
of crime, a collapse of morality, an abundance of
moral and physical suffering.
Notwithstanding all the violations in the field of
religion, it seems obvious that the positive part of practical western culture
has grown from a Christian foundation, — be it printing (Guttenberg, the Bible,
Church books), artistic literature, "novels" (springing from the
hagiography of the Roman scholastic period), the works of great composers
(written initially to be performed at Church services), art (from Church art),
or architecture (from the intricate designs of Church architecture,
particularly in the East).
On the other hand, we are aware that the Christian
faith does not reject earthly culture and one’s daily needs, to which the Holy
Scriptures themselves attest. Thus, we read in the Gospel that in the forty
days after Christ’s resurrection, the disciples of the Lord set out on their
nightly toil of fishing. The Apostle Paul, completely devoted to the preaching
of Christ’s Resurrection and Christ’s teaching, also spent time making tents,
in order that others were not burdened by keeping him. The Evangelist St. Luke
was both a physician and an artist, besides being the author of two major holy
books: The Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.
But, by the Lord’s word: "Man does not live
by bread alone." And our personal self-awareness teaches us, that our
scope, and thus our purpose are above the demands of plain existence, and to
limit ourselves to this physical side means to deprive ourselves of the
fullness of life. But we will say, from the Christian point of view: it is more
than a deprivation of spiritual joys on earth, but also of the blessings of
eternal life in God, and this means spiritual death!
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