“O LORD! SAVE GOD-FEARING, AND HEAR US”
Metropolitan Agafangel: On Sergianism
Author: Metropolitan Agafangel. Date of publication:April 20, 2021... Category: Author's column .
It is gradually becoming a tradition to believe that the Soviet government, from the beginning of its reign, had the goal of subjugating the Church, and for this purpose it persistently persuaded its hierarchs to cooperate. However, this is not entirely true, or rather, not at all true. Over time, we forget the original nature of this power and in our minds a certain image of it begins to take shape, which is very far from reality. In reality, the Soviet government, proceeding from its own theomachy/War Against God, essence, did not want to cooperate with the Church in any way, up until 1943, and then from the late 1950s to the early 1990s. It’s only one goal - its complete destruction.
In order to realize his intentions, in the very first days of V. Ulyanov's reign, the Decree "On The Separation of the State From the Church" was drawn up and, together with several associates, was adopted, which still outrages with its content, not to mention how it was perceived by believers in 1918 ... According to this Decree, the Church was deprived of all its property, which a group of "people's commissars" declared as "some kind of alleged national property", the Church's relations with the state authorities ceased, the church was deprived of the opportunity to teach the people Orthodoxy and hold church events. At the same time, instructions were sent to local authorities on how this decree should be implemented. As can be seen from the documents, all the time "on the ground" with such zeal they carried out the received directives, that the “center” sometimes even had to restrain the efforts of its local protégés. The next stage of the attack on the Church after the Decree was, conducted under the pretext of the famine (amazingly skillfully used by the Soviet government to seize all material resources from the people and completely & totally suppress them), the appropriation of the so-called “church’s-movable property” (since all real estate had already been taken away by the Decree). This is a well-known grandiose "campaign to confiscate church valuables in order to help the starving." This was followed by the closure of monasteries, the desecration of relics, etc. etc.
As if the answer to these actions, which were unambiguously aimed at destroying the Church, was the anathematization of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon by the Soviet regime, whose representatives were called "the monsters/fiends of the human race." By ther Patriarch. This anathema has not been removed to this day and is an effective testimony to the Orthodox Church’s attitude towards the government of V. Ulyanov, his successors and followers today.
II
"Fiends of the Human Race", in October 1917. who seized power, tried with all their might to establish an absolute dictatorship over the state, destroying, literally uprooting, all their possible competitors and rivals. To stay in power, this group agreed to sign the so-called: “Peace of Brest-Litovsk”, which turned the Russian Empire into a miserable piece of land and a traitor to the allied duty and military honor, and was also ready for any other similar actions. As one of the leaders of this group, Trotsky, said, at that time they needed either everything, i.e. absolute power, or nothing. They did not intend to make any compromises, any deals or agreements that somehow infringed upon them. The fight against the Church was part of the global plan of the opponents of God to establish a new type of slave system in our state.
According to the plan of these people, as we all well know, in Russia “there should be neither rich nor poor,” and everyone should have become equally poor (or rather, people whose life and death is entirely in the hands of the new state), receiving for maintaining life and working capacity the same ration (popularly called "leveling"). To achieve this, of course, it was necessary to destroy the "rich" (that is, people independent of the government) and make only the state as a whole, or, more precisely, a group of managers of all values, without exception, in the country. Thus, just a few years after coming to power, according to the plans, the Bolshevik state was supposed to act as a single sovereign monopoly-slave-owner of all people and peoples artificially brought to the needs of the people and peoples inhabiting the Russian Empire. For such power, naturally, there is no need for people who think differently than in the way that is beneficial to the newly-minted dictators. Even the very thoughts of a person about God were unacceptable to her, because even God…. she regarded as her "competitor."
III
The Russian Orthodox Church was very rich and independent from outside influences. Therefore, in order to implement the plans for the device of "universal equality", the Orthodox Church should have been destroyed - first by suppressing it, breaking it and robbing it, depriving it of all property and physically destroying its representatives expressing active disagreement. It was not possible to defeat the Church with a "cavalry attack" and "Bolshevik pace". Therefore, it was decided, after the establishment of control (i.e. after the stranglehold is thrown around her “neck”), to consistently push the Church towards dying with the help of the appropriate “organs” created for this purpose. This, or something like this, at that time looked like the plan of the Bolsheviks.
The bodies whose tasks included the implementation of this plan were, on the one hand, the Secret Department of the GPU for the destruction of the Church and, on the other (to give the appearance of legitimacy to such destruction), the Commission for the Implementation of the Decree on the Separation of the Church from the State” under the Central Committee of the RCP (b) ... In the most difficult and decisive times, both departments were headed by Comrade E.A. Tuchkov. Tuchkov, proceeding from the actions taken by him, saw the fulfillment of his task primarily in neutralizing the activities of the administration of the Russian Orthodox Church, removing from it the uncompromising bishops, breaking up into parts and encouraging to quarreling these fragments among themselves. Thus, according to the plans of the Bolsheviks, the Church was supposed to turn from a rich, numerous and unanimous unity in the truth into many small groups/schisms, moreover, at war with each other. Unfortunately, they managed to do it. They achieved their result through pressure, deception, intimidation, repression, intrigue, false promises and similar provocative actions. Thus, as a result of Tuchkov's vigorous activity, a whole scattering of renovationist movements/schisms arose: The Living Church’s “Church Revival”, “The Union of Communities of the Ancient Apostolic Church”, etc. As can be seen from the documents, Comrade Tuchkov rushed from one bishop to another, offering at first almost each to receive primacy in the Russian Church from the hands of the Soviet government in exchange for a certain kind of concession, while at the same time trying with all his might to foster quarreling between the bishops, with each other.
IV
In the second volume of the book "Martyrs, Confessors and Ascetics of Piety in the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th Century," Hieromonk Damaskin (Orlovsky), documents from the Central Party Archive, that the church dissemblers are given that guidance, no doubt about, what methods and tactics of the theomachists, for them to use, in the war against Christ. However, being the successor of the work of Sergius (Stragorodsky), Hieromonk Damascene breaks off his co-operation/is silent in 1926. and then continues it only in the year 1937, wishing to keep silent about the facts of betrayal and apostasy of Met. Sergius. However, what he made public is enough to document the great crime of Sergius (Stragorodsky) before God and the Church. Nowadays, it is already possible to assume with complete certainty the nature of the interaction of the Bolshevik "organs" with this person. On p. 477 of his book Hieromonk Damascene quotes:
"For the arrest and" case "of Metropolitan Peter, the creation of the turmoil associated with Metropolitan Agafangel (Preobrazhensky), the final design of the schismatic group of Archbishop Gregory (Yatskovsky) and the publication of “The Declaration "of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), Tuchkov in 1927 was awarded a diploma/gramota and gold seal, for labours. "
It turns out interestingly - Met. Sergius (Stragorodsky) issued the Declaration, and Tuchkov was awarded for it, i.e. from this document it is clear that it was Tuchkov who published it, and not Met. Sergius, who at that time was no longer an independent figure in Russian Orthodoxy. We will also quote from the petition of the head of the OGPU SPO Y.S. Agranov for awarding Tuchkov with the Order of the Red Banner of September 1, 1931, which lists his main achievements:
“Under the leadership of Comrade TUCHKOV and his direct participation, a tremendous amount of work was done to split the Orthodox Church (into Renovationists, Tikhonovites and a number of other trends & contrary schisms). In this work, he achieved brilliant success.”
... In 1923-25. There were held two church councils/sobors, (All-Union Congresses of Churchmen), at which Patriarch Tikhon was deposed and a resolution was passed on the abolition of monasteries, relics, as well as on the loyalty of the church to Soviet power.
Over the years Comrade TUCHKOV carried out serious work to split apart, weaken and to destroy the “foreign”/diaspora Russian Orthodox Church, Outside of Russia.”
These are not empty words, facts are behind them. It is clear from the available documents that all the forces of the Bolsheviks were directed precisely at creating schisms in the Orthodox Church.
Moreover, the Jesuitism of the God-fighters extended to the point that, as we see from Protocol No. 55 of September 3, 1924, Tuchkov was instructed to "take measures to strengthen the right-wing trend going against Tikhon, and try to separate/isolate him from an independent anti-Tihon hierarchy." That is, in order to widen the split, the Bolsheviks even tried to form a group of right-wing clergy with their own hands, criticizing Patriarch Tikhon for his diplomacy towards the Soviet regime!
V
For the sake of saving space and time, we will not give the above numerous other confirmations. The task set by the Party before this "liquidator" is perfectly clear. Whom did Tuchkov find as his accomplices and helpers among the Russian Orthodox Church? Chief among them: Bishops Gregory (Yatskovsky), Antonin (Granovsky), Archpriests Vvedensky and Krasnitsky and others like them and, the most important, of course, Met. Sergius (Stragorodsky). Such a split in the Russian Orthodox Church that Tuchkov managed to create with the hands of Met. Sergius, our land has not known since the time of Patriarch Nikon. The acquisition by Tuchkov of such a venerable "companion" to his deeds, undoubtedly, was the greatest success of the Soviet government in the course of its campaign to destroy the Church.
Met With such a measure of filial devotion, Pat. Sergius reacted to the opportunity given to him by the God-fighters to lead the Russian Church that, in order to please the Soviet regime, he began to seriously demand that believers serve her/i.e. the Soviet State, "not for fear, but for conscience." Now it is already possible to quite definitely assert that he consciously and firmly went to the creation of a church schism., banning the bishops who disagreed with him in large numbers and praising the atheist power, although he perfectly understood that these actions could not benefit the Church, but only bring confusion and division into it. He did what Tuchkov told him, completely disregarding the interests of the Church and the will of the oldest bishops. He even had to deliberately reject their will, having only one desire - by all means to keep the power in his hands ... At the same time, Sergius (Stragorodsky) managed to work hard to justify his actions and give the appearance of canonicity to the lawlessness he was doing, which also embarrassed many and inflicted great harm to the Church.
Let us emphasize once again: at that time, the Soviet government had no intention of cooperating with Met. Sergius or with any other hierarch in any form. The task of this government was to split the Russian Church in order to destroy it as soon as possible, she perfectly understood that such actions as the publication of Met. Sergius Declarations, a declaration of his loyalty to the Bolsheviks, etc., would deepen the schism and facilitate the task of the theomachists to "liquidate" the Church. The Soviet government entered into "negotiations" with representatives of the Church only for the sole purpose of its speedy destruction. Just a church schism carried out by the Soviet government by the hands of Met. Sergius, perhaps, is the main sin of this man, placing him under the necessity of church excommunication. Our common tragedy is that, under those conditions, the bishops did not deign to convene an all-Church Council and make an impartial decision regarding the actions taken by Met. Sergius. But there was a clear and precise definition of the Spiritual Council – and rejection of the actions of Met. Sergius by a multitude of Orthodox hierarchs, expressed by them in letters, messages and instructions to their spiritual children. As we know, Church councils condemned not only the actions of contemporaries, but also what happened even several centuries ago (for example: Origen, who died in 253, was anathematized at the V Ecumenical Council in 553), therefore, only a future legal and free Ecumenical Council of The Orthodox Church can make a final decision on this very protracted issue.
Based on the foregoing, information, It is wrong to call Sergius the founder of Sergianism and of the Moscow Patriarchate, as is often done. To say that is to exaggerate his personality too much. The ancestor of these evils is the devil, who through the atheist power and its faithful servant Tuchkov controlled and inspired the temptations of this unfortunate man and, breaking his conscience, made him his faithful servant. The pyramid of this power at that time looked like this: the head of Metropolitan Sergius was Tuchkov (and not Metropolitan Peter, whose will was not taken into account in any way), the head of Tuchkov was the atheist government, and the head of the atheism was the devil. Thus, Met. Sergius is not the founder - he is a voluntary executor of the diabolical plan to destroy Orthodoxy in our land and was the devil’s faithful servant. Moreover, such a servant which, after use, they intended to simply throw him into the trash ("at the expense"). However, this, of course, does not in any way remove the guilt of his crime against the Church, but only clearly demonstrates the insignificance of his soul and the depth of his fall.
The disadvantage of many written historical works about Sergianism is the exorbitant overestimation of the personality of Met. Sergius and the almost complete abandonment of the evil will of the theomachy, which replaced the will of the Orthodox Emperor who kept lawlessness from harming inside the Church’s borders. But, great is the sin of those in whose hearts this evil will rested.
VI
The successful intrigues of Tuchkov allowed the atheists, in addition to a truly grandiose schism, to receive a "legal basis" for another attack on the Church, and an attack much stronger than the repression during the seizure of church valuables. It is known that the first question of the investigator during the interrogation of a believer was the question of how he relates to the Declaration of Met. Sergius. And if the “suspect” responded to that question negatively, then he immediately turned into/labeled as a counter-revolutionary, because, as the investigator explained, one can be a believer AND be loyal to the atheist government, as Metr. Sergius and others like him. And if you do not accept the Declaration, then this is already a political crime,while… to the faith and the Church, supposedly having nothing to do with it (“The Sergianists,” they say, “are believers, but loyal”). And so, allegedly the crime & its subsequent punishment, of those who refused to accept the Declaration, was, “not because of their faith, but for their ‘political confrontation’.
However, in spite of this, solely pursuing the goal of keeping the Church in a state of schism, the Soviet government nevertheless allowed the worship services to continue in some churches of those who "did not commemorate" Met. Sergius even in the 30s.
Vii
However, the Declaration for the Soviet authorities was only a trick, they, of course, were not going to pander to the Sergianists themselves in anything, at the same time unleashing their repressions on them, but perhaps not with such cruelty as on the "non-commemorating" and “catacombniks”, never-the-less leaving for visibility - a certain number of Sergian temples, but closing them gradually, fearing to cause a mass protest by their too harsh actions in relation to Orthodoxy. Under these conditions, Met. Sergius tried with all his might to preserve only the shell, the appearance of the Church (this was his only argument, the only justification before the believing people), BUT at the expense of the complete collapse of its inner essence. Before the war, in 1941, there were only about a hundred active Sergian temples in the whole of Russia, while secret, catacomb, there were many thousands of Tikhonovs (a vivid illustration of what is the result of the "salvation of the Church" by the method of Judas' betrayal). The Renovationist Church was also subjected to repression, the last organ of which was closed in 1928, but their parishes existed until 1943. (again, to maintain the state of schism), - before Stalin's instructions, to attach them to the administration of Met. Sergius. But neither the Sergians nor the Renovationists, even in the presence of the fact of persecution against them, can be considered martyrs and confessors for the simple reason that at that time they themselves did not need martyrs and confessors at all and immediately renounced those whom the Soviet government condemned, repressed and killed. Throughout this period, they continued, in spite of everything, to sing praises to the persecutors of the Church. At the same time, they learned to renounce the martyrs "not for fear, but for conscience."
VIII
The position taken by Sergius (Stragorodsky) appears especially shameful in our days, when in the light of the documents that have been opened it is clearly visible that in the main issues of the Church's existence he took the side of the theomachy power and deliberately opposed, with the support of this power, the oldest bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church: the metropolitans Peter (Polyansky), Kirill (Smirnov), Agafangel (Preobrazhensky) and Anthony (Khrapovitsky). As a result, the atheists with the help of Met. Sergius succeeded, preserving the appearance of the outer shell of the canonical Church, to remove from it all the true confessors of Christ and replace them with traitorous Judices.
However, both the betrayal of the Church and the filial devotion of Met. Sergius, however, could not persuade the Soviet government to change its main principle - Met. Sergius was never able to earn her the right: for the very existence of the Church, even in this form, in the communist’s future plans, (at least, this continued until 1943). All the manipulations of the Soviet regime with Sergius (Stragorodsky) were a simple tactical move in the general process of the destruction of religion. From the point of view of this athiest-Communist power, Met. Sergius was for it the most convenient hierarch of those whom it could endure for the time being: as Sergius instantly and resignedly carried out any of her orders: he shamelessly lied before the whole world about the position of the Church in the USSR, he removed all bishops and priests who were objectionable to the authorities, and, what is the most important: he firmly kept the Russian Church in a state of schism.
IX
To our great regret, even to this day parts of the Church clarify with each other "canonical" questions, and the culprits of everything - the conscious heirs and successors of the Lenin-Stalin-Stragorodsky cause - are at the same time "on the sidelines" and even act from time to time as a kind of advisor and arbitrators: whoever they deem necessary - they will praise, and whoever they want to- they will criticize. In the Moscow Patriarchate, these people are again trying to set the tone in the formation of its doctrine. May God grant that this situation will gradually change for the better over time. However, it will not change fundamentally until the Orthodox have clearly and precisely identified for themselves the source of evil. This source, the focus of evil in the Orthodox Church, of course, is: BOGOBORCHE-tion/GODLESSNES . It is with the fight against God that Christians need complete delimitation... It was precisely the fight against God that was anathematized by Holy Patriarch Tikhon. And it is precisely in this sin - cooperation with the atheists, in complicity with them in their plans, that our nationwide repentance should be. However, paradoxical as it may seem, even now among the MP there are such "Christians" who, in an embrace with the theologians, are going to build a "bright future" for the Russian Church. Do they really have no eyes, no ears and no conscience, so as not to want to see and know the results of the atheist captivity of our country? It's just incredible. It is impossible to believe this with a sane mind. It's just that nowadays in the Orthodox environment they are again trying to raise their voices of crooked faith-provocateurs, the successors of the deeds of Sergius (Stragorodsky), his secret and obvious companions and leaders. It got to the point that it turns out already open communists like General Makashov signed up for the "Orthodox Stalinists". Where next? It is known that at one time Trotsky was almost friends with Fr. Pavel Florensky. We all know how their "friendship" ended. It will end in the same way for the current “Orthodox patriots” (or rather, for those deceived by them), as soon as the need for them disappears - exactly with the laws of Marxist dialectics, according to which the atheists live.
I am sure that any sane person, after reading these lines, will not believe: can it really be that the Orthodox Church unites with the atheists or, as they call themselves, atheists? Of course it can't! The fact of such a union is just another confirmation that the movement of the current "Orthodox patriots" and "Zealots of piety" among the Moscow Patriarchate has nothing to do with the Orthodox Church of Christ, since an Orthodox person simply cannot reach such a degree of error.
“Do not fall under someone else’s yoke with the unbelievers: for what is the communion of righteousness with iniquity? What does light have to do with darkness? " (2 Cor. 6.14).
X
We, perhaps, should not condemn the actions of the Bolsheviks themselves, they did and are doing their job and do not need any of our condemnation. These are forces external to the Church, which are condemned by the Lord Himself. There is an abyss between us, and God is their judge. But we must expose the actions of those who call themselves Orthodox, who have taken the path of complicity with the actions of the theomachy/God-fighters, to destroy the Church. We must protect believers from the temptation that draws them beyond the protective boundaries/wall of the Church.
The blame of Met. Sergius (Stragorodsky) in relation to the Orthodox Church, in my opinion, can be defined as follows: deliberate destruction of the conciliar/Sobornost structure of the Orthodox Church: trampling on the will of senior bishops and the implementation of a schism in the Orthodox Church together with the atheists with the subsequent subordination of the breakaway part of the power of world evil to his subordinate part; proudly upholding their false thoughts and actions; complicity in the persecution of martyrs and confessors of Orthodoxy.
The submission of the fallen part of the Church to the power of world evil led to the irreversible and irreparable destruction of the governance of this part of the Church, which was expressed in the fact that people were placed in hierarchical posts, who by their qualities could not occupy them, who made up a powerful group that opposed any positive principle in the Church. and is in complete submission to the power of world evil. For this reason, no negotiations, persuasion or admonition can be applied to them. Moreover, there can be no talk of any kind of association/”co-communion” with them. These people cannot and do not want to repent and in the same way educate their flock.
The Heresy of Sergianism: - is a departure from the Creed (its 9 points) - the rejection of the divinely established Catholic dispensation -The Orthodox Church and the opposition to the Sacred Tradition that generated this foul verbal deceiving that Met. Sergius called the "New Church Order." This "new ecclesiastical order" established in the part of the Church under the jurisdiction of the Sergianists, instead of Catholicism/Sobornost/Conciliarity - is a dictatorship. Moreover, it is the dictatorship of theomachy and the "New World Order".
Unfortunately, to this day many Christians are tempted and embarrassed by this "troubled" period in our church history. The time has come to openly and clearly define our recent past. It is certain that the actions of Met. Sergius (Stragorodsky) will sooner or later be condemned by the conciliar Orthodox Church, and this schismatic leader and heresiarch will be given a just pan-Orthodox assessment.
+ Bishop Agafangel, 1999.
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# RE: Metropolitan Agafangel: On Sergianism - Metropolitan Agafangel 04/20/2021 06:39
I came across an article written back in 1999, which, unfortunately, has not lost its relevance. On the contrary, the heresy of Sergianism has, probably, forever, entered the very essence of the Moscow Patriarchate, and I, for example, no longer have any hope that this religious organization is capable of changing for the better. Not to mention repentance.
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