“It’s Time to Prepare…” is an archived letter (dated 1929) written by St. Damascene to his flock, two years after the Declaration by Met. Sergius. St. Damascene writes, “How dangerous it is to deceive ourselves and lull the vigilance commanded by Christ by the possibility of accepting compromises with the enemies of Christ's faith and the Church. All such compromises will only cause greater division among the believers, belittle the dignity of the Church yet more, and finally they will suppress the authority of Her representatives. This has now become apparent to all of us.”“It is especially timely for our priests to reflect on this matter. In time, as they continue in their podvig, they will die in prisons and exile, they will boldly speak out with a word of reproof and admonition before the atheists and the God fighters, striving even to blood for the glory of the Name of Christ. Others, for the sake of preserving and nurturing the flock of Christ, must prepare their own exodus to the "catacombs." Wisdom and zeal for the salvation of our souls should tell us the forms in which this “exodus” should take place. As for the civil order, let it choose whichever road for itself, let it proclaim any principles of life, let it in its insane pride declare war on the Creator of the universe, - we will go our way "with Christ and to Christ." We will use from the "outside" only those few things that are necessary for a modest life and which are not contrary to our Christian conscience and spirit. Let us be patient, displaying brotherly love, towards the perishing, let us obey their civil laws which are not contrary to the spirit of Christ; - but we will not sacrifice before the "outside", before the power of man, a single one of the church regulations, not one iota of the dogmas of the Christian faith; we will not allow the godless to shamefully prevent our participation in the Holy Sacraments, we will not allow their corrupting influence in the area of ​​our spiritual relations, in the world of our mutual love for Christ, our faith, the Sacraments, or in our Church - the Holy of Holies of our soul and life.”Read the text here: https://catacombhistory.blogspot.com/...Read the Life of St. Damascene from “Russia’s Catacomb Saints” here: http://russiascatacombsaints.blogspot...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/orthodox-wisdom/message