The demographic and spiritual center of world Christianity today is not in Rome, Geneva, or Nashville, but in the Global South – in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

РАСПОСТРАНЕНИЕ ХРИСТИАНСКОЙ РЕЛИГИИ ПО РЕГИОНАМ НА ПЛАНЕТЕ

While at the beginning of the 20th century more than 80% of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America, a century later the situation has radically reversed: today, about 61% of Christians are residents of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Sub-Saharan Africa, where only 1.5% of Christians lived in 1910, has become the largest Christian region on the planet in terms of population, surpassing Europe and now home to almost a quarter of all Christians worldwide.

🔹 In Latin America, once almost monolithically Catholic, there is an explosive growth of evangelical, especially Pentecostal, churches. In Asia, powerful churches and missionary movements are emerging in China, South Korea, the Philippines, and India.

🔹 This demographic shift is driven by three key factors. Firstly, the rapid population growth and high birth rates in the Global South. Secondly, the phenomenal success of missionary activity, particularly of evangelical and Pentecostal movements. And thirdly, the secularization and aging of the population in the historically Christian West, where the number and proportion of Christians are steadily declining.

THE IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS OF THE VATICAN IN THE CONDITIONS OF TRANSITION TO THE GLOBALIZED WORLD ORDER

But this is not just about quantitative changes. A qualitative transformation of Christianity itself is taking place. Faith in the Global South possesses distinct, contextual characteristics that are increasingly shaping its global image.

🔹 In Africa, for example, Christianity is deeply rooted in everyday life. The level of religious involvement there is one of the highest in the world: more than 75% of Christians in every surveyed country in sub-Saharan Africa say that religion plays a “very important” role in their lives, and they pray and attend church more frequently. And it is Africa that is projected to account for almost 70% of the total growth in the world’s Christian population between 2020 and 2070.

🔹 In Latin America, Christianity has become a tool for social mobilization and the formation of a new identity for millions who are leaving traditional Catholicism. Pentecostal churches, which emphasize personal experience of the Holy Spirit, miraculous healings, and material blessings, are proving attractive to the urban poor and even the middle class.

🔹 This new reality presents American evangelicals with complex, and sometimes uncomfortable, questions, forcing them to re-examine their traditional roles and priorities.

🔹 Firstly, the typical portrait of a global evangelical is no longer a white American from the “Bible Belt.” Researchers agree that there is no such thing as a single, unified evangelical. By the broadest estimates, 47% of the world’s evangelicals live in Africa, 26% in Asia, and only 11% in North America. The country with the largest evangelical population is no longer the United States, but China.

🔹 Secondly, serious theological and cultural tensions are escalating. For Christians in the Global South, who grew up in the context of colonialism, poverty, and social injustice, the distinction, common among many Americans, between “evangelism” (caring for the soul) and “social ministry” (caring for the body and society) seems artificial and even harmful. They insist on a holistic approach, where combating systemic sin and oppression is just as important as preaching personal salvation. Criticism of the “coloniality” of Western Christianity, which for centuries imposed its cultural forms as the only correct ones, is becoming increasingly vocal. Now, churches in the South are demanding equal partnership and the decolonization of mission and theology, which calls into question America’s historical role as teacher and sponsor.

ОБАМА ПЕРЕД СВОИМ УХОДОМ ЛЕГАЛИЗОВАЛ САТАНИЗМ

Finally, these global shifts are also reflected within the United States itself through growing immigrant and multicultural communities. Haitian, Nigerian, Korean, or Salvadoran churches in American cities bring with them the energy, theology, and social priorities of the Global South. They often combine conservative views on family and morality with an active stance on issues of racial justice, immigration reform, and poverty alleviation.

The post HENEZIS OF THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE IN THE 21ST CENTURY first appeared on Global Policy.

The well-known term “globalization” refers to one of the many objective processes that ultimately boils down to the formation of a certain new culture that embraces and unites all existing regional civilizations of the planet. In the process of globalization, there is a change in economic relations in society in the direction of integration of productive forces into a single economic system of mankind — this is also an objective process, but the concept of integration is a subjectively conditioned social phenomenon, moreover, not predetermined unambiguously and without alternative. At some historical point in time, there was a group of people who saw this very globalization as an objective reality and formed their own concept of achieving some goals in relation to this objective process. Historically, the project of enslaving the world in the name of God was actually developed on the basis of an international monopoly on credit and financial activities.

But there seems to be nothing new here, because there are numerous cases from history of the use of usury by certain corporations, now intelligently called “lending at interest”, to intercept the management of the state or even entire regional civilizations in order to achieve domination over them and their own enrichment at their expense. Some oracles, ecclesiastical orders, such as the Templar Order, and even monasteries sinned in this way, but the end was always the same: a ban on usury, coming either from the church or from the ruler of the state, thus expressing the will of the people. The Koran banned usurious activity, numerous prohibiting decrees were issued by Christian churches, significant restrictions on this activity were imposed by kings and emperors. And the Euro-American civilization in the twentieth century, in order not to draw attention to the problem, removed the term “usury” from use, replacing it with the term “lending”, which left in silence the loan interest on the loan and all the disasters generated by it in the life of national societies and humanity as a whole.

The credit and financial system itself is, first of all, a tool for assembling macroeconomic systems, and not necessarily a means of enriching the minority at the expense of the majority, which many people want to use when entering into competition. But in order to be guaranteed to surpass competitors, we need a method that provides an advantage over others. This method has become a monopoly on international usury. The creation of such a method is only possible for those who have deep knowledge about the world, about objective processes in society and understand how to use them for their own purposes. These people are usually called priests, but from our point of view, a priest is a person engaged in life — saving for the benefit of people, that is, able to bring people the Truth and adequate knowledge about life, and if he uses his knowledge for his own purposes, ignoring and suppressing public interests, it would be fairer to call him a medicine man, and the association healers — the witch doctors corporation.

So, the healers found a very original method: they decided to use the holy Scripture to achieve their goals, which believers trusted endlessly, because in their opinion it was written, if not by God Himself, then under His inspiration by the apostles or the fathers of the church. True, it took a lot of work to implement this method: it was necessary not only to make changes in the holy scriptures sanctifying usurious activity on behalf of God, but also to distribute books already modified for this task in society, destroying everything that did not correspond to the formed doctrine. Of the two possible concepts, one of which involved the interaction and cooperation of people, and the other — deception and exploitation by a minority of the whole world, they chose the latter.

The Old Testament is holy Scripture, an integral part of the Bible, containing the usurious doctrine of buying up the world, with the help of which the objective process of globalization was “saddled”. This is of course a blasphemous conclusion for an Orthodox Russian person, and for any Christian who perceives the Bible as a divinely inspired holy book, which he fully trusts, but here we have to choose which is better: a sweet lie or a bitter truth? — It seems that the truth is always better. Christians believe that the Bible has always consisted of the New and Old Testaments. Theologians help them in this, who in their writings prove that the Old Testament is an integral part of Holy Scripture, and both books have been harmoniously complementing each other almost since the time of the Apostles (1). But this is not quite true, or rather, not at all.

THE IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS OF THE VATICAN IN THE CONDITIONS OF TRANSITION TO THE GLOBALIZED WORLD ORDER

The Old Testament is holy Scripture, an integral part of the Bible, containing the usurious doctrine of buying up the world, with the help of which the objective process of globalization was “saddled”. This is of course a blasphemous conclusion for an Orthodox Russian person, and for any Christian who perceives the Bible as a divinely inspired holy book, which he fully trusts, but here we have to choose which is better: a sweet lie or a bitter truth? — It seems that the truth is always better. Christians believe that the Bible has always consisted of the New and Old Testaments. Theologians help them in this, who in their writings prove that the Old Testament is an integral part of Holy Scripture, and both books have been harmoniously complementing each other almost since the time of the Apostles (1). But this is not quite true, or rather, not at all.

It is known that in 1825, the ten thousandth edition of the Old Testament, translated and printed by that time under the auspices of the Bible Society, was burned at the brick factories of the Nevsky Lavra (2), if not by direct order of Emperor Nicholas I, then with his tacit consent. And before that, as Florovsky writes, “the Synod did not take over the leadership of the biblical translation (of the Old Testament — author) and did not take responsibility for it.” But the New Testament was printed in large circulation and was freely distributed in Russia already in 1820, and no one hindered this. Now we can say with confidence that even in the first half of the XIX century, the Old Testament was not considered a sacred book in Russia, otherwise Emperor Nicholas I, even if he had not been excommunicated from the church (the Synod was still a state body headed by the emperor), would have lost authority in his country under the influence of rumors about his act. The Emperor could not commit such blasphemy as the destruction of sacred books, but once he did, it means that at that time the Old Testament did not yet belong to the scriptures.

Hieromonk Agafangel, a bachelor of the Moscow Theological Academy, wrote in the middle of the XIX century: “The people do not read the Bible, it is almost unknown among the people; the insignificant degree of distribution of the Bible among the people, which can be established, that is, mainly the distribution of the Gospel and Psalms (here and further, the bold text fragments are ours: auth.), does not depend on from a specially directed good intention or order of the Church, and regardless of such intention, under the influence of the Church charter and on the initiative of institutions and individuals outside the Church.” From the explanatory dictionary of Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl, published in 1863-1866, i.e. even before the appearance of the complete Bible in Russia, one can learn that a Christian was a person who believed in Christ and preached the Gospel. All this also confirms that the Orthodox people did not refer the Old Testament to sacred books.

Chronology of the translation of the Old Testament into Russian in Russia

THE HIDDEN ECONOMY OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

During the thirty-year reign of Emperor Nicholas I, there were practically no attempts to translate and even more so to publish the Old Testament, except for the case of personal initiative by Professor of Hebrew language and literature of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy G. P. Pavsky. He translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Russian and distributed it through students in Moscow and Kiev. But this case was quickly stopped. Translation of the books of the Old Testament into Russian was resumed in 1856 during the reign of the sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich. During his time, the Synod decided on the need to translate the Old Testament into Russian. But it took another 20 years of struggle, in a sense of the word, for the publication of the complete Bible in Russian in one volume in 1876, on the title page of which stood: “With the blessing of the Holy Synod.” This text was called “Synodal Translation”, “Synodal Bible” and is being republished to this day with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

One of the main roles in the translation of the Old Testament was played by Daniel Abramovich Khvolson, who, as it is written in the Jewish electronic encyclopedia, was a student of Rabbi Ginzburg and after baptism headed the department of Jewish, Syriac and Chaldean literature at the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg University, and Vasily Andreevich Levison, a rabbi from Germany who converted to Orthodoxy in 1839. In 1882, a translation into Russian of the Hebrew Bible was published, made on behalf of the British Bible Society by V. Levison and D. Hvolson. In this regard, the question is quite legitimate: What forces were interested in giving the Old Testament the status of a “Holy Book” and why did they need it? One can imagine the possibilities of these forces: after all, they managed to process the members of the Holy Synod and convince most of them of the need to attach the “Hebrew Bible, designated in the Christian tradition as the Old Testament” (3), to the New Testament. Apparently, someone was striving so hard for this goal that they even had to sacrifice two rabbis who converted from Judaism to Orthodoxy, but only formally, but in reality they continued their Jewish activities. By the way, the Jewish electronic encyclopedia speaks positively about them, and not as traitors.

In the West, by this time, the Holy Bible (4) was already a combination of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, and at the same time, by the middle of the XIX century, absolutist-monarchical rule was eliminated in Europe. Only in Russia did monarchical absolutism persist, and the country was ruled by an autocrat emperor, which is why it was to some extent a conceptually independent state (as far as the worldview and will of the ruling monarch allowed). So she became the target of the “world backstage”, which sought to expand the boundaries of its power and include Russia in its possessions. One of the means contributing to the realization of this goal was the two-part Bible. After the translation of the Old Testament and giving it the status of a sacred book, the fate of Russia was sealed: the revolution that Nicholas I so feared and sought to avoid happened very soon and swept away the royal family, who could not understand the twists and turns of global politics. Of course, there were people in Russian society who saw the danger of the “sanctity” of the Old Testament, for example, General A. D. Nechvolodov, but they could not convince Nicholas II and his “administration” of this.

There were those who understood in the West. Eugene During (about whom the older generations know mainly by the title of the work of F. Engels “Anti-During”) in the work “The Jewish Question” wrote: “The Old Testament is a book that is completely alien to us, and must become more and more alien to us if we do not want to change our identity forever”. But no one heard him either, or maybe they did, but at that time it was already impossible to reverse events. In principle, the above is enough to draw far-reaching conclusions, but it is still desirable for most readers to present factual material and prove the hypothesis put forward above on facts. Therefore, next we will consider the history of the elevation of the biblical usury concept, expressed in the Old Testament, to the rank of “holy scripture” in Russia and beyond, as well as possible alternative versions of this concept.

Chronology of the elevation of the Biblical usury concept expressed in the Old Testament to the rank of “holy scripture” according to the ROC version

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) currently adheres to the following scheme of the history of translations of the complete Bible in Russia:

• translation of Cyril and Methodius — 982;

• The Gennadiev Bible — 1499, the first two-part Bible containing the Old and New Testaments, the text of which has survived to the present day;

• The Bible of the first printer Ivan Fedorov (Ostrog Bible) — 1581;

• the Moscow edition of the Russian Bible — 1663, which was a somewhat revised text of the Ostrog Bible;

• The Elizabethan Bible — 1751;

• Synodal translation — 1876.

This diagram is intended to show some logical sequence of the appearance of the Bible in modern Russian. It follows from it that it was a succession process, proceeding naturally. It seems as if it turns out that the Orthodox Russian people had a natural need for a complete Bible and internal driving forces appeared that embodied this need. At the same time, it seems that there is no external influence, i.e. there were no external forces striving to introduce the Old Testament books into Russian Orthodox society as sacred.

Due to the fact that the translation of Cyril and Methodius has not been preserved, and for some reason its traces are not traced in ancient Russian literature, the main role in the preparation of the complete Bible by Church historians is assigned to the Novgorod Archbishop Gennady, who became famous at the end of the XV century for his struggle against the heresy of the Jews. It was allegedly under his leadership that the Hebrew Bible (now known as the Old Testament) was united under one cover for the first time in Russia and the New Testament. A subtle move: an authoritative archbishop is credited with the idea of combining two books that are supposedly necessary for him to fight the heresy of the Jews. In fact, the fighter himself, if you look closely at his actions, promotes the ideological basis of heresy to Russia, which he is fighting. A paradox? — but it is accepted by the ROC as a reliable historical fact.

Due to the fact that the translation of Cyril and Methodius has not been preserved, and for some reason its traces are not traced in ancient Russian literature, the main role in the preparation of the complete Bible by Church historians is assigned to the Novgorod Archbishop Gennady, who became famous at the end of the XV century for his struggle against the heresy of the Jews. It was allegedly under his leadership that the Hebrew Bible (now known as the Old Testament) was united under one cover for the first time in Russia and the New Testament. A subtle move: an authoritative archbishop is credited with the idea of combining two books that are supposedly necessary for him to fight the heresy of the Jews. In fact, the fighter himself, if you look closely at his actions, promotes the ideological basis of heresy to Russia, which he is fighting. A paradox? — but it is accepted by the ROC as a reliable historical fact.

After the recognition of this “fact”, everything is already moving along a well—trodden path, and sequentially: Ivan Fedorov — for Prince Ostrogsky, then Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, then Empress Elizabeth Petrovna — each in his own time — participate in the printing and distribution of the Hebrew Bible among the Orthodox people. And all this ends in 1876 with the publication, with the blessing of the Holy Synod, of the complete Bible in the literary Russian language of that time. It seems that everything is logical and simple, and the Orthodox reader should not have any questions about the authenticity of church history. But, the truth is there is a little twist: if this is so, then why did about four centuries pass between the first unification of the two books by Archbishop Gennady and the final assignment of the status of “Sacred Books” to the Bible? And if there was also a translation of Cyril and Methodius, then how and why was it lost?

If everything were as simple as church historians imagine, then we would have been praying to the Old Testament gods for a long time. But the whole history of Bible translation speaks of a serious centuries-old struggle of our Orthodox hierarchs and some understanding monarchs with some external forces for life and death, which, in the end, ended not in favor of Russia. The Holy Synod, which gave its blessing to the distribution in Russia of a synodal translation of the Bible containing two artificially linked books under one cover, actually signed a verdict to its state, which is confirmed by all subsequent events, including the current state of Russia. Next, we will try to reconstruct the real course of events, relying on various historical documents (including the works of domestic and foreign theologians), common sense, logic and intuition.

HOW IT WAS IN RUSSIA

First, let’s consider the question of the primacy of the translation of Cyril and Methodius. Metropolitan Makarii (5) in his book “The History of the Russian Church” (Volume 1, Section 2, Chapter 1) writes: “In the life (of Cyril — author) it is told that, stopping in Korsun on his way to the Khazars, Saint Cyril learned the Russian language: “the Gospel and the Psalter are written by Russian writers, and the person is spoken by the same conversation, and conversing with him, and we accept the power of speech, applying our conversation various writings, reco and vociferous, and making a prayer to God, in the beginning of honor and saying, and I will give him a miracle.” Russian Russian met Kirill on his way to Khazaria, who gave him the Gospel and the Psalter in Russian, and Kirill easily learned to read them, which caused surprise among others.

THE KHAZAR KINGDOM

Further, Macarius continues: “From the books used in worship, Saints Cyril and Methodius translated: The Gospel and the Apostle (6). This is unanimously confirmed by almost every single ancient evidence about the Solunsky (7) brothers. The Gospel was the first book with which they began their great work back in Constantinople, and the first gospel word that sounded through their lips in the Slavic language and sanctified our language was the word about the eternal Word: From time immemorial, the Word was from God, and God was the Word. The Gospel and the Apostle were then translated in the form in which they are used in the churches, i.e. not in the order of the evangelists and the apostolic Epistles, also not in the order of their chapters, but in the order of church readings, or all-day readings for the whole year.”

From this passage we learn that Cyril and Methodius translated only the Gospel and the Apostle into the Church Slavonic language, although it is unclear from which language. But Macarius is not satisfied with this situation, and he tries to prove that not only the Gospel and the Apostle, but also the Old Testament books were translated. He refers to the description of chernorizets Polycarp, who knew one recluse who was well versed in the Old Testament: “… chernorizets Polycarp, who described several lives of the holy Kiev-Pechersk ascetics, expressed himself about the recluse Nikita, who lived during the abbacy of St. Nikon (since 1078): “No one can get in touch with him with the books of the Old Testament; the whole of God is known to us: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Judges, Kingdoms, and all the prophecies according to rank and all the books of the Jews.”

According to Makarii’s logic, it turns out that the recluse Nikita’s knowledge of the Old Testament indicates the existence of his translation by Cyril, although this translation has not been preserved. But in fact, this does not prove anything, because Nikita could read books in another language, for example Greek. Let us note two oddities in Polycarp’s statement: firstly, there is no Deuteronomy among the listed books, and secondly, the books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Judges, Kingdoms and all prophecies do not belong to the “Jewish books”. An explanation of these oddities will be given further. We will not give information about Cyril from other modern church sources, because there is nothing new in them.

Orthodox theologians of the XIX century still had doubts on this topic, for example, I. E. Evseev (8) writes: “Science does not know what the Cyril-Methodius translation is; what the Greek original of the translation was even less known; what historical changes the original translation was subject to — science does not deal with this” (p. 894). Further, the author frankly admits that over the issues of the formation of Slavic writing and the Slavic language, the composition and volume of Slavic writing and the nature of the original monuments of this writing, “some evil fate is weighing on them, delaying their clarification in the most impossible way” (p. 895).

We quote Metropolitan Makarii further: “One important perplexity here is: why until the XV century among the preserved Slavic manuscripts we do not find a single list of books of the Old Testament, except the Psalter, whereas lists of New Testament books are quite common? But from the fact that there are now no more ancient lists of all the Old Testament books, it does not follow at all that they did not exist. On the contrary, even now there are still indications that they were, and, consequently, if they were lost, then, of course, because they existed in a small number of copies, since copying all the Old Testament books was a great difficulty and, meanwhile, did not represent such an extreme necessity as copying the books of the New Testament and the Psalms, used during worship, and therefore survived in considerable numbers.”

All this complicated story proposed by the ROC with Russian translation, Greek and Church Slavonic is not logical and does not inspire confidence. Or maybe the Gospels and the Psalter were immediately in Russian and Cyril only translated them into Greek or Church Slavonic – is it impossible to admit such a thought? But for our research, another thing is important: in Russia, only the Gospels were used during worship-aprakos (9), the Apostle and the Psalter, and at that time Russians were unfamiliar with the main Old Testament books, because they did not exist in Russia, and Makarii failed to prove the opposite. In fact, Metropolitan Makarii’s research has shown that the Old Testament was not widespread in Russia, at least until the XV century. And what happened in the XV century?

The appearance of the Gennadiev Bible and the heresy of the Jews in detail

It follows from the history of this issue that a complete Bible was compiled under the leadership of Archbishop Gennady of Novgorod, and the Old Testament was translated from the Vulgate (10), since it was not possible to find manuscripts of the Old Testament in Russia. Why did Gennady in the XV century need to collect the Old and New Testaments under one cover in almost their current form? What was his goal? And did he do it? This time coincides with the “heresy of the Jews” (11), and therefore the content of this heresy is of interest to answer our questions. Why did the church report about the victory over the Jews, but it really turned out differently, and a fair share of Orthodox People today believe that this heresy still exists and, moreover, dominates the hierarchy of the ROC? (12)

One can find many contradictions in the events of that time and even in theological works. Gennady is the main fighter against heresy, and suddenly, with him, the Old Testament is added to the three books used in worship in Russia as a holy book, actually propagandizing the same heresy. It is believed that the Bible of Gennady is the basis of the modern Russian—language Bible, since it was virtually unchanged 80 years later printed in the form of the Ostrog Bible in the western part of Russia and in 1663 reproduced as the first Moscow printed Bible. It would seem that all the issues with the translation of the text of the Old Testament have been resolved, but not: under Peter I, they begin to coordinate its content with the Greek text again, but for some reason the translators translated it from the Vulgate and from the Jewish Masoretic text, considering it to be the original. The translators were accused of violating Peter’s will. After Peter the bacchanal with translations continued with some interruptions until the end of the XIX century.

From the history of translation it is clear that there was a serious struggle of Russian theologians with those who tried to impose their own version of the Bible, and this struggle affected not only the content of the translation, but also the list of books of the Old Testament. The heresy of the Jews, the Hundred—Domed Cathedral, the anti-Judaic controversy in Palea, the Nikonian schism are only the visible part of the iceberg of the complex process of promoting the Old Testament to Russia, and what actually happened is partly forgotten, and partly still carefully hidden. These events need to be restored bit by bit and hints that remained due to the oversight of later “editors” interested in this matter. You can learn about the content of the events of that time from many sources, but we will use the Orthodox website (13) and give the article “Jews” with small abbreviations.

The Jewish Heretical movement in Ancient Russia

“The Jewish heretical movement in Ancient Russia of the last third of the XV — n. XVII century tried to plant Judaism in the Russian Church. It got its name from the word “Judaism”. Continuing the thousand-year-old traditions of secret Jewish sects, the Jews opposed Christian teaching, denied the Holy Trinity, blaspheming the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. They rejected the Divinity of the Savior and His Incarnation, did not accept the saving Passion of Christ, did not believe in His glorious Resurrection, they did not recognize the universal resurrection of the dead, denied the Second glorious Coming of Christ and His Last Judgment. They did not recognize the Holy Spirit as a Divine Hypostasis. The Jews rejected the apostolic and patristic writings and all Christian dogmas, taught to observe the law of Moses, keep the Sabbath and celebrate the Jewish Passover. They denied church institutions: sacraments, hierarchy, fasts, holidays, temples, icon worship, all sacred objects, services and rituals. They especially hated monasticism. The Jews violated the Honest Cross, Holy Icons and Relics, committing outrages over them, unimaginable for a person who grew up in the Orthodox faith. According to the testimony of St. Joseph Volotsky, mocking the shrines, they said: “Let’s abuse these icons, as the Jews abused Christ“.

The continuation of this mockery of all that was holy was fornication and debauchery. The Judaizing priests celebrated the Divine Liturgy, having eaten and drunk, after fornication, blasphemously swore at the Holy Body and the Honest Blood of Christ and committed other desecrations, about which, according to the Rev. Joseph Volotsky, “it is impossible to write.” The Judaizers aroused doubt in the faint-hearted and the little-believing in some places of the Holy Scriptures, and above all the New Testament; they also seduced with the help of the renunciated ones they spread, that is, condemned by the Church, books — manuals on the secret sciences — and distorted lists of the Holy Scriptures; they also used all the arsenal of Jewish witchcraft and sorcery available to them. In the organization of the sect of the Jews , much resembled the future of Freemasonry: strict secrecy, penetration into the highest layers of government and clergy; ritual, including the “rite” of desecration of the shrine; the formation of a “teacher —student” system outside of traditional Orthodox beliefs. Being irreconcilable enemies of Christianity, the Jews hid their hatred for it, secretly hoping to gradually destroy it from within. Before people who were firm in their faith, heretics presented themselves as “good Christians” and “exemplary zealots of Orthodoxy.”

The beginning of heresy dates back to 1471, when the Prince of Taman arrived in Novgorod in the retinue of Prince Mikhail Olelkovich from Kiev. This well-educated and well-connected Jew belonged to the Karaite Jewish sect, which had a wide network of its organizations in Europe and the Middle East. Karaites belonged to one of the currents of Judaism, which fulfilled almost all of its provisions, but recognized Jesus as a Prophet. Karaism arose in the VIII century . in Babylonia, having absorbed small Jewish sects and adopted the traditions of the Sadducees. Unlike the Rabbinic Jews, guided by tradition and the Talmud, the Karaites considered themselves entitled to apply to the law of Moses without intermediaries… Since the tenth century, the Karaites had close ties with Jerusalem and Constantinople. According to the historian Z. Ankori, “Jerusalem of the X century was connected with the Troki (the town of Trokai in Lithuania) of the late Middle Ages through the fruitful mediation of the Karaite center in Byzantine Constantinople.” In the XIV — XV centuries, Karaites became more active in Byzantium, Turkey, Bulgaria and Russia.

As G. M. Prokhorov wrote, “when it is discovered that the Byzantine-Turkish Jews were “Zionites”, the most zealous of the Karaites, the long distances — geographical and temporal — between Asia Minor and the Balkans of the XIV century and Great Russia of the XIV — XVI centuries are overcome by a chain of interconnected Karaite communities — in the Crimea, Lithuania and Western Russia. Karaites lived on the Crimean peninsula and the lands adjacent to it long before the XIV century. — at least, according to written data, no later than the 2nd half. XII . The Northeastern Karaites received teaching literature and teachers from their Middle Eastern and Balkan co-religionists.” In the XII — XIII centuries, German rabbis in Regensburg received the writings of Karaites through Russia. The Crimean and Kiev communities constantly received religious literature and people knowledgeable in it from Babylonia, Palestine and Constantinople.

PROSPECTS OF CRIMEA AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR A NEW KHAZARIA

Before the emergence of the heresy of the Jews , the Jewish sect of Karaites had already launched its anti — Christian offensive against Russia in the XIV – XV centuries . This offensive can be seen in the sect of strigolnikov, operating in Pskov, from which it is a stone’s throw to the Trok in Lithuania — one of the main centers of the Karaites. Creating a sect of Jews in Novgorod, Karaim Sharia, apparently, fulfilled the task of one of the international Jewish centers and took into account the experience of the work of the shearers. In a short time, this Jewish conspirator managed to put together a secret society of at least 33 people, of which 27 were priests, their closest relatives, deacons and clerics.

The rapid spread of Jewish heresy in the Russian spiritual environment was explained by the state of Orthodox doctrine and church literature in the XIV — XV centuries. Historically, the service books have included many elements reflecting the Jewish rather than the Orthodox tradition of the creed. In Russian manuscripts there was a significant number of materials included in the “circle of the most important synagogue holiday and everyday readings.” The psalms found among heretics turned out to be a Jewish prayer book “Mahazor”. The Archimandrite of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery Varlaam remarked about them: “There are no prophecies about Christ in any of the psalms of this translation” (we will return to the question of prophecy in the psalms — auth.). N. S. Tikhonravov concluded that this is not the Psalter of David, but Jewish prayers used in worship, in which the Jewish opposition (dislike) to the doctrine of the trinity of the persons of the Deity is clearly visible.

In the XV century, the Pentateuch of Moses was corrected according to the Hebrew text, the book of the Prophet Daniel was translated in the Jewish (non-Greek) tradition, the Jewish translation of Esther appeared in general at the end of the XIV century. I.E. Evseev noted that this translation testifies to the translator’s “high and exceptional respect for Jewish truth. In the Christological prophetic passages, the Rabbinical understanding is expressively introduced.” “Here we have,” the researchers conclude, “a century—old literary tradition of translation from Hebrew.” The “Six-Winged” with the Jewish chronology, the “Logic” of Moses Maimonides, astrological treatises, atheistic writings of Raymond Lullius were widely distributed in Russian manuscripts of the XV—XVI centuries. Jewish traditions were also viewed in the so-called chronographic edition of the Explanatory Palea. Presented by a number of manuscripts, starting from the 2nd floor. XV century, it contained a large amount of apocryphal material with Jewish sources.

The long existence of the Jewish book tradition in Russia explains to a large extent the success of the propaganda of the Scharia

To sow doubt, based allegedly on the canonical book, was the main way to convert to heresy. This mechanism of conversion is shown in the work of the monk Zinovy Otensky, exposing the heresy of Theodosius the Oblique. Some kryloshans came to Monk Zinovy to ask if the teachings of Theodosius the Oblique were true. They themselves, as can be seen from their story, were inclined to believe that it was true. “Oblique, therefore, the true teacher predicates, because he has books in his hand and is unbending, someone who is not written, he will read and sow books himself. And Orthodox priests and bishops are false teachers, because when they teach, they don’t have books in their hands.” The use of texts in Russian service books that were alien to the Orthodox tradition caused people to doubt the correctness of their confession of the Christian faith.

The iconoclastic demonstrations became the first external manifestation of the heresy of the Jews already in the 1470s. Heretics, referring to the Five Books of Moses, began to call for the destruction of icons. “They,” wrote Joseph Volotsky, “forbade the worship of Divine icons and an Honest Cross, threw icons into unclean places, they bit some icons with their teeth like rabid dogs, some smashed.” Despite the indecent, scandalous nature that the heresy of the Jews acquired, its influence intensified. Around 1480, heretics also penetrated into Moscow. Here they expand their organization at the expense of prominent statesmen from the entourage of Tsar Ivan III himself. Russian Russian priests In addition to the priests of the main cathedrals of the Kremlin, heretics attracted many boyars, the head of Russian foreign policy, deacon Fyodor Kuritsyn, and even the inner circle of the heir to the Russian throne. The participation in the secret organization of a significant number of state people was largely explained by the good attitude of Ivan III himself to the Jewish Scharii, who invited this Jew to his service until 1500.

The activities of the sect were exposed in 1487 by Archbishop Gennady, who informed the tsar and Metropolitan Gerontius about it. On the instructions of the tsar, several heretics, named Gennady, were arrested and subjected to the “city execution” (punishment with a whip at the auction) for desecrating icons. The high-ranking patrons of the Jews did not allow the condemnation of heresy as such. At the Council of 1488, only minor criminals were declared, and the sect itself and its leaders were not named. In 1490, Metropolitan Zosima became the head of the Russian Church, secretly supporting the heresy of the Jews, whom Joseph Volotsky called “the second Judas”. Nevertheless, in the same year, despite the opposition of Metropolitan Zosima, the Council of the Russian Church has already publicly condemned the heretics, calling in its verdict their deeds “Jewish”, and themselves “real charmers and apostates of the faith of Christ“.

All Russian people stood up against the Jews

The Orthodox Church represented by its best representatives: Joseph Volotsky, Nil Sorsky, Archbishop. Gennady of Novgorod — gave the heretics a worthy rebuff. First of all, church books were reviewed and everything alien to the Russian Orthodox tradition was removed from them, Jewish synagogue texts were eliminated, all dubious places with which heretics seduced Orthodox priests. At the initiative of Archbishop Gennady, the Bible was completely translated. This translation finally disarmed the heretics (how? — our question: author), who in their arguments against Christianity had to resort only to open deception. Archbishop Gennady also organized the translation of polemical writings in which a systematic refutation of Jewish sects was presented. The essay of Master Nikolai Delir, “the rank of lesser theologians of the persecutor, the most beautiful claims, the Jewish lack of faith in the Orthodox faith is pohulyayushche”; the essay “the teacher of Samoila is Jewish on God-evident Jews, accusatory prophetic speeches”, etc. were translated. writings against the Jews. The crimes of the “Jews” against Christianity were revealed in Joseph Volotsky’s essay “The Enlightener”. A great role in the struggle against heretics was played by the collection of lives compiled by Nil Sorsky, where he included, in particular, the lives of Theodore the Studite and John of Damascus, who condemned iconoclasm.

Taking advantage of the support of high-ranking patrons, the Jews succeeded in appointing the heretic Cassian to the post of Archimandrite of the Yuriev Monastery. Vladyka Gennady, despite all his efforts (the Yuriev monastery was part of his diocese), could not expel the wicked. Moreover, the Jews, through intrigue and slander, managed to bring Vladyka Gennady himself from the Novgorod pulpit in 1503. After the Council of 1490, which condemned the heresy of the Jews, the struggle against them continued for almost 15 years. Only in 1504 Tsar Ivan III decided to convene a new Council. At it, the heretics were once again strongly condemned, and their leaders were executed after the trial”. Why did the Jews need to plant their teaching in Russia? Did they really want Russian Orthodox Christians to become Jews? This is incredible, because it does not correspond to the goals of their puppeteers and the further development of events.

So the “heresy of the Jews” is only a cover, a smoke screen, a distraction that creates opportunities for the realization of more important goals

We have to identify these goals in order to know for sure what to resist and how to organize this confrontation. Another thing is also obvious: the theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church incorrectly defined the goals of the Jews, deciding that they wanted to deprive them of their monopoly on pastoral activity and brutally dealt with their fellow Christians who wanted religious enlightenment and improvement of the church organization. From the above description of heresy, it follows that the struggle was serious, and most of the Orthodox Church was attributed to the Jews and condemned only because the tsar supported their opponents. It is possible that with the victory of those who were labeled “Jews”, the doctrine of Orthodoxy in our days would have a different content, and the history of the country would be in many ways different. There are other opinions about the heresy of the “Jews”, but they fall out of the general context of relations to the events that occurred.

In 1551, a Hundred-Domed Council was held, at which the issue of translations of holy books was considered: “And which will be the holy books of the Gospel and the Apostles, and Psalms and other books, in which you will find the church, are wrong and described, and you would have those all holy books with good translations to celebrate the cathedral, and the sacred rules about they forbid and do not order the wrong books to be brought into the church, and rivers flow through them” (14). The resolution of the council states that the holy books are the Gospel, the Apostles and the Psalter and that they can be used in the church if they are from good translations, and wrong books cannot be brought to the church. And there is no mention of the Old Testament and the Gennady Bible, although if they had existed by that time, the participants of the council would have been aware of them and would have had to express their opinion on the legality of using them. Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov in The History of Russia since Ancient Times, Volume 5 gives the contents of a letter from Gennady of Novgorod to the Rostov Archbishop Joasaph: “There is also news of how many books Joseph Volotsky brought with him to the monastery: four Gospels, an Apostle, two Psalms, the works of Ephraim, Dorotheus, Peter, Damaskin, Basil the Great, Paterik abc, two irmologists”. Thus, even in the middle of the XVI century, the Old Testament in its currently known composition was not widespread in Russia and did not belong to the sacred books.

Now consider the Gennady Bible. On the first page of the Gennady Bible it is written: “In the summer of 7007 (= 1499), this book was written, the spoken Bible, the recce of both the Old and New Testaments, under the blessed Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, the autocrat of All Russia, and under Metropolitan Simon of All Russia, and under the Archbishop of Novogorotsk, in the Great River City, in the archbishop’s courtyard, by the command of the archbishop Archdeacon Monk Gerasim. And the deacons who wrote, these are their names: Vasil of Jerusalem, Grida of the Confessor, Clement of the Archangel.” The opinion of the author to this inscription is expressed in the magazine “Sofia” (15): “We do not know what thoughts possessed the Novgorod scribe who put down this “entry entry” on the first sheet of a huge handwritten book lying in front of him (with a volume of a thousand sheets!). Simply and without pathos, he recorded the appearance of the first complete codex of the Bible in the Slavic world.”

Most likely, this phrase was written much later, because there is no other evidence that the Bible was compiled at the time and under the leadership of Gennady. And there is no logic in the actions of Archbishop Gennady on the translation of the Old Testament. But in retrospect, attributing to the authority for the struggle for the purity of Orthodoxy a two—part holy book, where in the first part the heresy itself is elevated to the rank of revealed truth, is quite a logical action of the medicine corporation: if the fighter against the heresy of the Jews himself compiled the Old Testament, then this is certainly a divinely inspired book and an integral part of the Orthodox Bible. There is another weak point that the proofreaders did not take into account. In the collection of decisions of the Hundred-Domed Cathedral, Tsar Ivan the Terrible asks the cathedral a question about usury. Question: “About the church and monastic treasury, hedgehogs are given in growth. Does it please the gods, and what does the Scripture say about this?”The divine Scripture forbids even the laity, rather than giving money to the churches of God in the growth, and bread in the hasp, where it is written in the holy rules.” Answer: “And what the prelate’s state money gives in the growth and bread in the growth, so also the monastic state money gives in the growth and bread in the growth, and the divine scripture and the sacred rules not only forbid the bishop and the provost, and the deacon, and the whole priestly and monastic rank, but also do not command the common people to take advantage and torture.”

ORTHODOX BUSINESS

We see that in those days usury existed and even monasteries in Russia sinned against it: their remaining reserves of money and products were given to growth. Ivan the Terrible, apparently, felt all the perniciousness of this case and demanded proof of the sanctification of usury by Divine scripture. The Cathedral clearly responds to him that not only the priesthood is forbidden, but also ordinary people. If the Gennadiev Bible had already been there, the Council would have referred to Deuteronomy, where it is directly prescribed to the Jews. At that time, they relied on the “Rules of the Holy Apostles” (16) prohibiting usury. Rule 44 says: “A bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, who demands a lot from debtors, either let him pass away, or let him be cast out.” The famous theologian, professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy I. A. Chistovich in the book “The History of the Translation of the Bible into Russian“, published in 1873, says nothing about Gennady’s initiative, but only mentions that “the collection of the complete Bible in Russia was made at the very end of the 15th century; moreover, as some books were translated from the Vulgate, and the arrangement of the books is made according to the Vulgate, because of course it was already in print.” Joseph Volotsky in his work “The Enlightener” (17) quotes some other Bible, and not the Gennadiev One, as can be seen from the editor’s comments.

American scientists have actually proved the archaization of the Gennady Bible

MOSSAD ACTIVITIES IN UKRAINE: THE BEGINNING OF THE XXI CENTURY

In 1999, a conference dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the Gennady Bible was held under the title “The Bible in the spiritual life, history and culture of Russia and the Orthodox World” (18). Two scientists from the USA spoke at it, and here is what was written about their speech on the website: (currently, this link does not work — its content is assessed as “inappropriate”, since it could not be refuted?): “The speech of P. Foster (USA) “The Archaization of the Gennadiev Bible: the Return caused acute controversy to the “classical” norm.” The author insisted on the artificial archaization of the text of the Gennadiev Bible, comparing it with the text of the manuscript of the Russian National Library, which he considered to be a working “draft” in relation to it (Old Testament Collection, cipher — Weather. N 84. 60s of the XVI century.). His colleagues rightly disagreed with this, arguing their objections in detail: The Gennadiev Bible is indeed archaic, but the Codex is not. N 84 is not a draft, but, on the contrary, a much later list. The controversial topic of “archaization” was continued by the report of D. Jeon (USA) “The use of the dual number in the Gennadiev Bible”.

To archaize means to make it obsolete in style, in the manner of the image (Ozhegov’s dictionary). Scientists from the USA tried to prove that the Gennadiev Bible is artificially aged, i.e. it is a fake written later than the XVI century, but the theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church “rightly disagreed” with them: their arguments are not given, but in vain … The Gennadiev Bible is written in Church Slavonic, and it is believed that this was done even before the advent of printing in Russia. But what was the point of its forgery in later times, and who needed it? And it was necessary for those who were in a hurry to prepare the necessary edition of the two-part Bible by the time printing appeared, because the first printed books were copies of handwritten books compiled, allegedly, by an authoritative hierarch in Russia. In the future we will see that it was necessary for the rabbis and their masters, and they were just great experts in the organization of the production of handwritten books. The encyclopedic scholar Morozov in the book “The Prophets” asks the question: “Don’t Jewish rabbis in synagogues use manuscripts written according to the ancient pattern even now, in the centuries of printing?” So it is quite possible that the Gennady Bible is a later forgery, which was expressed in the style of its text, and was revealed by American researchers to the displeasure of the Orthodox.

Printing appeared in the West, and several editions of Bibles were printed there already at the beginning of the XVI century

We will consider the issue of the distribution of the Bible in the West later, and now we will deal with the events that took place in Russia. Church history tells us that in 1564, the founder of the printing business in Russia, the “first printer” Ivan Fedorov, published the book “The Apostle”, which included the texts of the New Testament: the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles. This book in the Old Slavic language was the first printed in Russia. And in 1581, for the first time, a complete Bible was printed in Church Slavonic. Tikhomirov (19) describes it this way: “The first printed edition of the Slavic Bible, the Ostrog Bible, was undertaken in 1580-1581 by Prince K. K. Ostrogsky in connection with his concern for the fate of Orthodoxy in the Western Russian lands (the prince’s possessions were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). The list of the Gennadiev Bible received from Moscow served as a model for the Ostrog edition.”

Now it became clear why Gennady was credited with compiling the Bible

PROJECT MARGINALIZATION OF ORTHODOXY IS ALREADY RUNNING

The fact is that the Ostrog Bible penetrated to us through Poland and already contained the Old Testament, and it was necessary to give it authority in Russia. This authority was Archbishop Gennady, a well—known fighter against the heresy of the Jews, allegedly the compiler of the Bible, which served as the prototype of the Ostrog Bible. So, most likely, the Ostrog Bible was the first two-part Bible that began to be distributed in Russia through Poland. However, as Tikhomirov writes further, the Ostrog Bible was not approved by church circles and theologians demanded to coordinate its text with the Greek text of the Septuagint, but despite this, in 1663 the first printed Bible was published in the Moscow printing house. This Bible was called the “Moscow Bible” and was a complete copy of the Ostrog Bible, i.e. it contained the New and Old Testaments.

Links:

1. Tikhomirov B. A. The Old Testament as an integral component of the Christian Holy Scripture: basic definitions and realities http://www.portal-slovo.ru/authors/463.php or an article in Yandex: “The Unity of the Bible.”

2. Prot. George Florovsky. Part I. History of Russian Theology. His formation.

3. Quote from the book by Shifman I. S. “The Old Testament and its world”. St. Petersburg University Press, 2007, 216.

4. In English, our turn of speech “Holy Scripture” corresponds to “Holly Bible”, which in a subscript translation means “Holy Bible”.

5. Makarii (Bulgakov) (1816-1882), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. “The History of the Russian Church”.

6. The Apostle is a liturgical book, part of the New Testament, consisting of the “Acts” and “Epistles” of the holy apostles James, Peter, John, Judas, Paul.

7. Cyril and Methodius were born in the city of Thessalonica, now the city of Thessalonica, Greece.

8. I. E. Evseev. “On the Church Slavonic translation of the Old Testament”. Christian Reading, 1897, 2, pp.893-914. Electronic version: www.bible-mda.ru /.

9. Aprakos is a kind of Gospel, otherwise called the “Liturgical Gospel”, in which the text is organized according to the annual cycle of weekly gospel readings, starting from the Holy (Easter) week. In particular, the text of the Aprakos gospels begins with the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and not with the Gospel of Matthew, as is customary in ordinary four gospels. Aprakos are many of the oldest Slavic gospel manuscripts: the Zografsky Gospel, the Ostromir Gospel and some others.

10. The Vulgate is a Latin translation of the Holy Scripture of Blessed Hieronymus (according to the accepted chronology — about 345 — 420), supplemented and corrected at various times.

11. In the literature of the Soviet period, it was customary to use the term “Novgorod-Moscow heresy” instead of the term “heresy of the Jews”, in order not to go into the question of the essence of “Judaism” and allegedly in order to overcome “natural Russian anti-Semitism”.

12. See the website of the newspaper “Rus Orthodox” —

13. See the Pravoslavie website.by, article — “The Jews”.

14. Stoglav — collection of decisions of the Stoglav Cathedral of 1551. Chapter 27 “On Holy icons and on the correction of books”.

15. Sofia magazine. No. 4 for 1999 Yu. Ruban. “Five Centuries of the Gennady Bible”

16. See: http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/russian/canons_apostles_nikodim_milosh.htm#_Toc60137993

17. Joseph Volotsky. “Enlightener”, .

18. Foster P.M. The Archaization of the Gennady Bible — a return to the classical norm// The Bible in the spiritual life, history and culture of Russia and the Orthodox world. To the 500th anniversary of the Gennady Bible. Collection of materials of the international conference. Moscow, September 21-26, 1999, Moscow, 2001. pp. 31-49.

19. B. A. Tikhomirov. “To the History of the Russian Bible”

The post HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT CRUSHED THE NEW TESTAMENT OF CHRIST first appeared on Global Policy.

Catholicism sought in international politics to suppress national independence; Protestantism, on the contrary, linked its cause with the cause of national independence. Therefore, in General, the international struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism was a struggle between cultural reaction, absolutism and enslavement of nationalities, on the one hand, and cultural development, political freedom and national independence, on the other.

Recall that before the XI century there was a single universal Christian Church. The first political prerequisite for the split was the division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western in 395. This circumstance predetermined the claims of each of the parties to the sole leadership of the Church.

In the Eastern Roman Empire (later called Byzantium) for a long time remained strong Imperial power. The development of the Eastern and Western regions of the once unified state went in different ways. The Western Church accordingly amended its doctrine and rites, the interpretation of the decrees of the Ecumenical councils and Christian dogmas. The Eastern Church differed conservatism of Church life of the Orthodox tendency to tradition, to custom, covered and sanctified by antiquity.

The Western Christian Church fought for the primacy of the power of the Church over the secular power with a single center in Rome. The weakness of the Eastern Church was its fragmentation into two and then into five centers headed by patriarchs. By the way, the Russian Orthodox Church in this Church hierarchy takes the 5th place after Constantinople. With strong Imperial power in Byzantium, the Eastern patriarchs often quarreled among themselves, fought for supremacy, each sought to consolidate their influence.

Emperor Constantine and his successors, strengthening their Empire, turned the Christian Church into a state institution. The Patriarch of Constantinople was essentially a Minister for religious Affairs. Since the middle of the IX century there was a persistent struggle between the papacy and the Patriarchate for domination in the Christian world. The main reason for the split was the desire for power of the Patriarch of Constantinople Photios and the Pope Nicholas I.

The main dogmatic difference between the Western and Eastern churches was the question of the origin of the Holy spirit: the Eastern Church recognized the origin of the Holy spirit only from God the father, and the Western-from God the father and God the son.

Ritual differences came down to the fact that the Eastern Church denied the necessity of the post on Saturday, because it took place in the Western Church, celibacy of the Western clergy, the erection of the deacons directly to the bishops and others of the Canonical differences were reflected in the fact that the Pope arrogated to themselves the right to be the head and judge of all Christian churches.

In 1054 the two churches have betrayed each other anathema. The split finally took shape. Over time, the Western Church received the name of the Catholic (universal) Church, and the Eastern Christian Church was given the name of the Orthodox Church (that is, correctly praising God).

Through the years the 911 in 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I lifted the mutual anathemas on both churches, but the reunification has not occurred. There’s too much resentment.

The Catholic Church is strictly centralized, has a single center, a single head, the Pope, who, according to Catholics, is the vicar of Christ on earth, endowed with infallibility in matters of faith and morality. The center of Catholicism and the residence of the Pope-the Vatican, a tiny state in the center of Rome. The Vatican state was established in 1929, the Total number of the clergy up to 0.5 million out Of 1200 million Christians, Catholics account for 650 million.

The doctrine of the Western Fathers about the purifying fire after death formed the basis of the Catholic dogma of purgatory — an intermediate state between hell and Paradise, where a person is in pain, but temporary, not eternal. Eastern tradition rejects the doctrine of purgatory.

The Orthodox Christian does not despair at the thought of the afterlife retribution, for he has hope that salvation will be possible not only for the righteous, but also for those sinners who have not been awarded the Kingdom of Heaven by death.

The sacrament of baptism in Catholicism is performed by pouring water or immersion in water; whereas in Orthodoxy – only by immersion in water. The sacrament of anointing in Catholicism is performed when a child is seven or eight years old, the so-called confirmation. Have Orthodox-soon after birth. The sacrament of the Eucharist (communion) is performed at Catholics on fresh bread, at Orthodox – on kvass. Only the clergy of the Catholics could take communion with bread and wine, the laity – only with bread.

Orthodoxy does not have a single control center, like the Vatican

If the Patriarch of Constantinople is considered universal, it means that he is “the first among equals”.

15 independent Orthodox churches with a total number of 150 million believers belong to Orthodoxy. The largest and most influential of them is the Russian Orthodox Church. Each Orthodox Church is headed by a Patriarch. He is elected by the local Council, which holds the highest authority in all matters of faith, Church administration, and Church court.

The basis of the Orthodox faith of the creed, as adopted at the first two Ecumenical councils 325 and 381, the 12 members (paragraphs) of the article of faith formulated ideas about God, his relationship to the world and man. These include the concepts of the Trinity of God, the incarnation of God, redemption, resurrection from the dead, baptism, the afterlife, etc.

All the basic tenets of the Orthodox Church are declared true, eternal, communicated to man by God himself. They are declared incomprehensible by reason. The basis of knowledge of the symbol of faith is faith. The creed needs to be known by heart.

THE IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS OF THE VATICAN IN THE CONDITIONS OF TRANSITION TO THE GLOBALIZED WORLD ORDER

The Catholic Church not only announced its claims to full power in society, but also tried to realize them, using its political influence, military and financial power, as well as the weakness of the Central government. The papal ambassadors, collector of Church taxes and the sellers of indulgences had spread through all countries of Europe. (The papal Church traded indulgences-letters of absolution both past and future sins, which were issued on behalf of the Pope for money or any services to the Church).

One of the first to oppose the abuse of the Roman Church was the Professor of theology at the University of Prague, Jan Gus. He wrote an essay” on the Church”, in which he proved that the true Church is not only a set of clergy, but also all believers. Isolation and privileged position of the clergy he considered inconsistent with Christian doctrine and required the equations of all Christians before God.

In the cult it was expressed in the communion of the laity in the same way as the clergy (the body and blood of Christ). And here is the material side of things. Jan Gus advocated secularization (seizure) of Church lands. The Pope in 1413 excommunicated Jan HUS from the Church. Then at the Ecumenical Council of Jan HUS was accused of heresy, in 1415 he was contrary to the guarantees of security issued to him burned at the stake. This was followed by the Hussite wars-military operations involving the followers of Jan HUS, as well as between them, in Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic), which took place in the period from 1419 to 1434.

On the crowded Parliament in September 1415 in Prague was made a protest against the burning of HUS (known as the protestatio Bohemorum), signed 452-name nobles, barons and gentlemen of Bohemia and Moravia and directed the Council of Constance, the Cathedral, the protest was declared a readiness to “defend to the last drop of blood law of Christ and the humble preachers.”

The Council declared heresy in Bohemia the unauthorized practice of priests who sympathized with Jan HUS, after communion to allow the laity to the Cup with the blood of Christ — while drinking from the Cup-according to custom allowed only priests. The “bowl” became a universal demand of supporters of urgent reforms in the Bohemian Church, and later — a symbol of the entire Hussite movement. Fifteen years of war thoroughly devastated Central Europe.

Protestantism emerged in Europe in the 1st half of the 16th century as a denial and opposition to the medieval institutions of the Roman Catholic Church during the reformation, the ideal of which was a return to Apostolic Christianity. The leader of the religious revolution was Martin Luther. The first open speech of Luther against Church policy took place in 1517 — he publicly and fiercely condemned the trade in indulgences, then nailed to the Church door 95 theses outlining his position.

Six princes and fourteen free cities of the Holy Roman Empire at the Reichstag in Germany in 1529 filed the so-called “Speyer protest.” According to the title of this document, the supporters of the reformation were later called Protestants, and the totality of the non — Catholic denominations that arose as a result of the reformation – “Protestantism”.

The original forms of Protestantism Lutheranism was, zwinglianism, Calvinism, Anabaptism, Mennonite, Anglicanism

HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT CRUSHED THE NEW TESTAMENT OF CHRIST

The main points of classical Protestant theology:

1. The Bible is the only God-inspired and authentic word of the Lord, the only source of Christian doctrines, clear and self-interpreted.

2. Forgiveness can be obtained only by faith, regardless of good deeds and deeds.

3. Salvation comes only as God’s grace, as undeserved mercy and undeserved gift from God for Jesus ‘ sake, but not as something deserved by a sinner.

4. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, salvation is possible only through faith in him.

5. Man should only honor God and worship him alone, for salvation is granted only through his will and actions — not only the gift of the Atonement of Jesus on the cross, but also the gift of faith in this Atonement created in the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit.

6. Every believer has the right to interpret and Express the Word of God.
The founders of Protestant theology were: Martin Luther, J. Calvin, W. Zwingli, and F. Melanchton

Modern liberal Protestantism does not demand discipline from its followers in the performance of social and religious rules, which leads to the spread of the so-called “female priesthood”, the blessing of homosexual marriages, etc., resulting in the secularization of the faith itself.

Religious or Huguenot wars-a series of protracted civil wars between Catholics and Protestant Calvinists (Huguenots), which tore France under the last kings of the Valois dynasty, from 1562 to 1598. These wars were characterized by incredible cruelty on both sides of the prisoners, as a rule, did not take, and sometimes cut out entire villages, if their inhabitants adhered to a different religion.

On 24 August 1572, the day of St. Bartholomew, the Catholics massacred the Huguenots who had gathered in Paris for the wedding of Henry, king of Navarre, and Princess Marguerite Valois. More than 9,000 people were killed, including Admiral Coligny and many other Huguenot chiefs.  Were ruthlessly killed even women and children, and their bodies dumped in Seine in during several subsequent days in France were killed several tens of thousands of “heretics.”

As for the powers that be, that Mercantile considerations sometimes be higher than religious beliefs. So, in order to be recognized in Paris as the French king, Huguenot Henry IV of Navarre had to change his faith and he is credited with the catch phrase: “Paris is worth a mass!”that means conversion to Catholicism. For that subsequently he and was stabbed to death Huguenot.

Formally, we can assume that the Huguenots won the religious wars, but in fact it was imaginary. The vast majority of the French population remained true to Catholicism. In 1685, king Louis XIV abolished the edict of Nantes of 1598 by Henry of Navarre, who guaranteed freedom of religion and recognized the supremacy of Protestantism in 200 cities. The Huguenots were faced with a choice of either accepting Catholicism or leaving their homeland. Hundreds of thousands of French chose to emigrate: and settled in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, England and overseas colonies, particularly in North America and South Africa.

One day in 1577 in the French city of Toulouse burned 400 “witches”. This event got into the Chronicles only because all 400 unfortunate women were burned in one big fire. The chronicler thought it was worth mentioning. The number of executed “witches” seemed quite ordinary.

Juan Llorente in the Critical history of the Spanish Inquisition writes: “without the existence of this (Inquisition) Tribunal And the influence of its principles in Spain, there would be twelve million more people against the present population, which is estimated at eleven million»

A great number of victims of the thirty years religious war between the Catholic and Protestant League. If the population of Germany in 1618 was about 16 million people, by 1648 it had decreased fourfold – to 4 million.

In 1631, the Catholic army captured the city of Magdeburg, which was subjected to unprecedented defeat. In the hands of mercenaries killed more than 20 thousand people. The massacre in Magdeburg shocked the whole of Europe, but it was not an isolated case. Mercenary armies have become a real disaster for Germany. The peace of Westphalia of 1648, which ended the Thirty years ‘ war, confirmed the equality of Catholic and Lutheran religions throughout Germany.

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TREASON IN THE VATICAN

The “new evangelization” of John Paul II, accompanied by the expansion of the external openness of Catholicism and carried out in parallel with the restoration of the international political weight of the Vatican, not only did not stop the erosion of the religious consciousness of Europeans, but led to the erosion of traditional values of Europeans, which acquired a threatening character. All attempts to restore Christian notions of morality and to resist the degradation of the Western man are unsuccessful.

CONTENT

1. The Catholic Church during the neoliberal 70’s-80’s of the twentieth century
2. Geopolitics of John Paul II
3. Ecumenical openness and its results
4. Benedict XVI: the history of world political power

Under Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church, seeking to regain spiritual leadership and remain at the forefront of world development, began to openly take over the ideological leadership of the process of integration of the world into the new global order, forming its moral code and giving religious meaning to the system of control over humanity, which is created by supranational ruling elites.

The post THE IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS OF THE VATICAN IN THE CONDITIONS OF TRANSITION TO THE GLOBALIZED WORLD ORDER first appeared on Global Policy.

1) Materials of the International Tribunal for Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS), organized by Kevin Annett. Starting with the facts of the genocide of Indian children in Canadian church boarding schools, the tribunal in its investigation came to a global child trafficking network that supplies “living material” for the rituals of the Cult of the Ninth Circle of Satanic child sacrifices.

2) The testimony of Fiona Barnett, an Australian citizen who was born and raised in a family of representatives of a Satanic cult. From early childhood until the age of 15, it was used in mind control experiments and during satanic rituals.

3) Fragments of the book by American journalist Timothy Silver “LIFTING THE VEIL. INVESTIGATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF PSYCHOPATHOCRACY”, in which he collected publications in the American press on this topic. The book also includes a citation of a scientific report by American psychotherapist Corydon Hammond, in which he summarizes the experience of working with victims of a Satanic cult and describes a special sophisticated system of “multiple personalities” into which their psyche is artificially split.

4) The testimony of Svali, a former member of the Masonic Order of the Illuminati, one of the branches of a single Satanic cult. This woman served in the Illuminati Order as a psychocoding instructor. It describes the structure of the order, its work and methods of psychological and physical treatment that are applied to members of the order from early childhood.

5) Kathy O’Brien’s book “THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA”. The hierarchs of the Satanic cult Katie O’Brien was assigned the function of a sex slave called the “Presidential Model”. She was trained for this role from early childhood. She underwent mental and physical processing, “programming”, throughout her life, and the career of her “Presidential Model” was to end at the age of thirty with a ritual burning at a meeting of cult members in a Bohemian grove.

The theme of splitting the personality of cult victims as a result of targeted sexual and ritual violence runs through all these materials as a connecting thread. These
testimonies are the richest material for analysis. But the surprising fact is that the scientific community ignores these sources. These sources cannot be found in the lists of literature recommended for studying the topic of “multiple personality splitting”, “dissociative identity disorder”.

Read the collection of articles “SATANISM in the MODERN WORLD: RITUAL VIOLENCE AND MIND CONTROL“

The post SATANISM IN THE MODERN WORLD: RITUAL VIOLENCE AND MIND CONTROL first appeared on Global Policy.

Benedict XVI, who was elected Pope in April 2005, being considered the most loyal to John Paul II, remained faithful to the course of his predecessor, which fully guaranteed “wojtylism without Wojtyla”. The changes he made concerned only the methods and methods of policy implementation: unlike John Paul II, who was used to working openly and for the masses, Benedict XVI acts more covertly and restrained, but also more rigidly. As a representative of the moderate-conservative circles of the Church and seeking to ensure its active presence in all spheres of public life in Western society, he also bet on the integrated Catholic organizations, whose potential is now becoming particularly important, given that the number of Catholic priests is irrepressibly declining (which is already typical even for Poland). It is significant that in December 2007 The congregation for the priesthood published a letter in which it appealed to all the dioceses of the Catholic world to create “real circles” in which the faithful will remain “in the spirit of communion to constant Eucharistic worship for 24 hours” in order to compensate for the lack of priests and ” to maintain the faithful on the path to Holiness.”

The main role in the formation of the army of “Holy laity” continues to play opus Dei, with which Benedict XVI is closely associated and which, according to some researchers, contributed to his coming to power [29]. Along with it, the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, which traditionally concentrated its efforts on work in Latin America, has also sharply intensified its activities in Europe. As researchers point out, the Alliance between Rome and the Legionaries, founded under Paul VI and deepened under John Paul II, has reached its apogee under the current Pontiff. The Pope is attracted to this organization by its extremely offensive missionary character, which allows him to resist both secularization and dogmatic relativism, and the aggressive proselytizing activities of the religious rivals of Catholicism, especially the Evangelical sects. Today, the foreign players trying to penetrate the higher layers of the European economic elite, which back in 1997 they created the Fondation Guilé In Switzerland [30], which organizes seminars and meetings of representatives of the business elite to discuss the problems of business development, develop a strategy for joint action and coordination of behavior in the context of globalization. The Fund participates in initiatives within the framework of the Global compact aimed at achieving “sustainable development” under the auspices of the UN. One of these initiatives was the organization of a meeting of the UN Secretary-General with 35 representatives of international companies, held in January 2009 at the world forum in Davos.

Relying on conservative organizations, Benedict XVI pursues a well-thought-out religious policy, the priority of which is to concentrate efforts on the European continent. The main theme of his work was the religious and ethical justification of the United Europe under construction as a model of the new world order and the consolidation of the European ruling elites on a new ideological basis. Since the secular idea of European identity, effective in the conditions of geopolitical confrontation with the Soviet bloc, has completely exhausted itself, and the Vatican in the conditions of de-Christianization of the West seeks to give a new meaning to its activities, the unthinkable a few years ago, the unity of the papal see with the tops of European society, suddenly speaking the language of Evangelical preachers, has already been quite clearly outlined.

Already in his first Encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est”, the Pope said that the Church should not remain aloof from public discussions, and in March 2006, during a meeting with a group of MEPs representing the European people’s party, he stressed that the voice of Roman Catholicism was heard in political discussions on the continent. It was about the Christian roots of Europe and its Christian heritage as a “guiding ethical line” in the search for a social model and the refusal to place religious beliefs in the sphere of private life. These issues are now being brought up for wide discussion in elite forums.

The Rome Congress on “Values and prospects for tomorrow’s Europe”, held in March 2007 by the Episcopal Commission of the EU (ECEC) [31], devoted to the problem of strengthening the role of religion in the development of the EU, was indicative in this regard. The meeting reviewed a report prepared by the formed members of the Pontifical Commission “Committee of wise men”, which included 25 people, including Michel Camdessus (former IMF chief), Pat Cox (former President of the European Parliament), Loyola de Palacio (former Vice-President of the European Commission), Thomas Galik (former Advisor to václav Havel), Peter Sutherland (Chairman of the Board of Directors of “British petroleum” and financial adviser to the Vatican, former Director General GATT and WTO) and other important political figures. And the final document, called the “Roman message”, stated: “it is Increasingly necessary to bring citizens closer to the distant and difficult to understand political institutions. The path taken must be urgently confirmed by a new EU justification. This will allow it to restore its original dynamism, so that an increasing number of young Europeans will become the main wealth of Europe. [32]. This issue was actively discussed at the Berlin meeting of heads of state of Europe, chaired by Angela Merkel, held in the same year in connection with the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome. The idea that “the subject of Christian roots should find its place in the agenda of Europe” [33] was constantly heard here.

However the project of a United Europe is considered by the Vatican in the overall global perspective

And today, when the world was plunged into a manageable comprehensive crisis and the ruling elites openly talked about the need to introduce world governance, the Vatican has actively engaged in an information campaign aimed at justifying the creation of new supranational bodies of control needs of a moral and ethical nature.

On the eve of the G8 meeting in l’aquila in July 2009, Benedict HUI published the Encyclical “Caritas In Uegiaie” [34], in which he advocated the creation of a” world political power ” that should be recognized by all and enjoy real powers. Countries around the world are asked to reform the UN and other international organizations so that they can become the basis for the creation of a “United family of peoples” and take on the issues of disarmament, food security and immigration policy. It is necessary to reform the world’s financial institutions and create a new economic system that is not focused on profit, but on the observance of moral principles.

When referring to the serious problems that globalization has brought with it, the Encyclical does not, however, indicate their true causes or name specific perpetrators. Therefore, being imbued with the pathos of justice and concern for humanity, but offering a new system of governance on the basis of existing structures, this multi-page papal message gives moral legitimacy to the transnational power of the very financial clans, through whose fault humanity is currently experiencing deep socio-economic turmoil.

This Encyclical was prepared by the Vatican for two years, but its main ideas are very consistent with the provisions contained in an earlier document-a report prepared by the ECEC special group on world governance in 2001 [35] and called “World governance: our responsibility to make globalization a chance for all” [36]. Characteristically, this group included all the same Michel Camdessus and Peter Suterland, as well as Otto Ruding (Vice-President of Citibank), Michel Hansen (former Director General of the ILO), Noel Treanor (General Secretary of ECEC), and others.

The report proposes a reform of international institutions that would transform them into supranational political governance of the world, and the EU is proposed as a model or supporting structure of the new system. The Preface, signed in particular by Bishop Joseph Homeyer, President of the ECEC, stated: “the Key conclusion contained in the text is that the EU, given its Genesis, architecture and how it understands itself, as well as its responsibility in political areas such as trade, competition and development cooperation, has a crucial role to play in transforming the existing international order into a system of world governance.

Already in his first Encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est”, the Pope said that the Church should not remain aloof from public discussions, and in March 2006, during a meeting with a group of MEPs representing the European people’s party, he stressed that the voice of Roman Catholicism was heard in political discussions on the continent. It was about the Christian roots of Europe and its Christian heritage as a “guiding ethical line” in the search for a social model and the refusal to place religious beliefs in the sphere of private life. These issues are now being brought up for wide discussion in elite forums.

The Rome Congress on “Values and prospects for tomorrow’s Europe”, held in March 2007 by the Episcopal Commission of the EU (ECEC) [31], devoted to the problem of strengthening the role of religion in the development of the EU, was indicative in this regard. The meeting reviewed a report prepared by the formed members of the Pontifical Commission “Committee of wise men”, which included 25 people, including Michel Camdessus (former IMF chief), Pat Cox (former President of the European Parliament), Loyola de Palacio (former Vice-President of the European Commission), Thomas Galik (former Advisor to václav Havel), Peter Sutherland (Chairman of the Board of Directors of “British petroleum” and financial adviser to the Vatican, former Director General GATT and WTO) and other important political figures. And the final document, called the “Roman message”, stated: “it is Increasingly necessary to bring citizens closer to the distant and difficult to understand political institutions. The path taken must be urgently confirmed by a new EU justification. This will allow it to restore its original dynamism, so that an increasing number of young Europeans will become the main wealth of Europe. [32]. This issue was actively discussed at the Berlin meeting of heads of state of Europe, chaired by Angela Merkel, held in the same year in connection with the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome. The idea that “the subject of Christian roots should find its place in the agenda of Europe” [33] was constantly heard here.

However the project of a United Europe is considered by the Vatican in the overall global perspective

And today, when the world was plunged into a manageable comprehensive crisis and the ruling elites openly talked about the need to introduce world governance, the Vatican has actively engaged in an information campaign aimed at justifying the creation of new supranational bodies of control needs of a moral and ethical nature.

On the eve of the G8 meeting in l’aquila in July 2009, Benedict HUI published the Encyclical “Caritas In Uegiaie” [34], in which he advocated the creation of a” world political power ” that should be recognized by all and enjoy real powers. Countries around the world are asked to reform the UN and other international organizations so that they can become the basis for the creation of a “United family of peoples” and take on the issues of disarmament, food security and immigration policy. It is necessary to reform the world’s financial institutions and create a new economic system that is not focused on profit, but on the observance of moral principles.

When referring to the serious problems that globalization has brought with it, the Encyclical does not, however, indicate their true causes or name specific perpetrators. Therefore, being imbued with the pathos of justice and concern for humanity, but offering a new system of governance on the basis of existing structures, this multi-page papal message gives moral legitimacy to the transnational power of the very financial clans, through whose fault humanity is currently experiencing deep socio-economic turmoil.

This Encyclical was prepared by the Vatican for two years, but its main ideas are very consistent with the provisions contained in an earlier document-a report prepared by the ECEC special group on world governance in 2001 [35] and called “World governance: our responsibility to make globalization a chance for all” [36]. Characteristically, this group included all the same Michel Camdessus and Peter Suterland, as well as Otto Ruding (Vice-President of Citibank), Michel Hansen (former Director General of the ILO), Noel Treanor (General Secretary of the ECEC), and others.

The report proposes a reform of international institutions that would transform them into supranational political governance of the world, and the EU is proposed as a model or supporting structure of the new system. The Preface, signed in particular by Bishop Joseph Homeyer, President of the ECEC, stated: “the Key conclusion contained in the text is that the EU, given its Genesis, architecture and how it understands itself, as well as its responsibility in political areas such as trade, competition and development cooperation, has a crucial role to play in transforming the existing international order into a system of world governance.

Inspired by the global vision of Pope John XXV, expressed in the 1963 Encyclical “Pacem in Terris”, claiming “the need for a public authority of universal competence,” the report advocates for the establishment of global governance (GGG – Global Gouvernance Group), which would consist of 24 heads of government and UN Secretary-General and the heads of IMF, world Bank, WTO, ILO and the proposed world organisation for the environment (such, probably, will be established in connection with the problem of “global warming”), based in turn on the Executive Directors of the administrative boards. The report focuses on the preparation of appropriate public opinion, which should have a “more universal vision” and shape” globally accepted ” behavior. And here the Church has an important role to play. As stated in the document, “churches and other religions can inform each other and inform believers of global challenges and call for responsibility. Problems of world governance should be included in education programs and catechism. Churches could turn the theme of world governance into a theme of Ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.”

It seems that these ideas are already beginning to be implemented

As you know, at the last September G20 summit in Pittsburgh (2009), British Prime Minister Gordon brown said that the G20 is now becoming the main international mechanism for managing the world economy, designed to fight the economic crisis and ensure that the world is better prepared for future economic difficulties. Interestingly, but leaders of the 19 largest economies in the world and the President of the European Commission, the summit was also attended by the leaders of the Netherlands, Spain, Singapore and Sweden – the country presiding in the EU (24 head), as well as heads of international financial and economic organizations, including the UN Secretary General. So the twenty turns into GGG, and the papal Encyclical prepares public opinion for “responsible globalization” and “moral Economics”.

THE MAFIA ESSENCE OF THE GLOBAL WESTERN ECONOMY

How the Vatican actually understands this “moral economy” is demonstrated by its own financial activities. According to a number of researchers, the Vatican Bank (IDR), whose capital was 5 billion euros at the end of last year, is still actively engaged in money laundering. In recent investigations by the London Telegraph and Inside Fraud Bulletin, the Vatican is mentioned as one of the main “tax havens” along with Macau and Nauru. [37] It actively conducts offshore operations, not being formally an offshore jurisdiction, which makes it inaccessible to any regulation and protected from being blacklisted.

At the end of September 2009, the new head of IDR was Gotti Tedeschi, former head of the Italian division of Santander Consumer Bank, whose appointment observers explain by the fact that he has close ties with Opus Dei. At one time, he founded his own Bank Akros Finanziaria together with a member of the order of Janmario Roveraro, long considered one of the most important figures of the Catholic financial world (killed under unknown circumstances in 2007). But there is another reason that Tedeschi was chosen. He is an economic columnist for the official newspaper SV. See “Osservatore Romano” and is known as a major specialist in financial ethics. It was Tedeschi who initiated the “revolutionary” idea outlined in the January issue of the Osservatore Romano and repeated a little later by Gordon brown, which is as follows. Overcoming the current crisis is possible only by sending huge investments to developing countries, which, being involved in the process of stabilizing the world economic system, will “pull out” the rich countries. This is actually an expanded version of the Marshall plan, which, under the pretext of fighting poverty and backwardness, will completely open the markets of developing countries to foreign investors and tightly bind them to Western banks. This project was just discussed at the meeting in Pittsburgh. Since Tedeschi’s ideas echo the Caritas Veritate Encyclical, he said that the Pope deserved to be awarded the Nobel prize in Economics for his message. Well, the ethics specialist himself is called to bring the Vatican Bank to a new level that meets the requirements of the era of globalization.

* * *
The religious policy of the Vatican in recent years reveals the increasingly contradictory nature of its traditional duality. Wishing to preserve itself as an influential ideological and political institution, the Holy See has plunged so deeply into the worldly vanity of social life that it has finally lost its authority as a spiritual and moral force and is no longer able to carry the truth into modern Western society and determine its value orientations. As Benedict XVI himself put it, the West “can no longer hear God.” All attempts to restore Christian ideas about morality and to resist the spiritual and moral degradation of Western man are unsuccessful and cause only a backlash-rejection and accusations of fundamentalism and obscurantism. In these conditions, the Catholic Church, seeking to regain its spiritual leadership and remain at the forefront of world development, is already openly taking over the ideological leadership of the process of integration of the world into the new global order, forming its moral code and giving religious meaning to the system of control by the ruling supranational elites, which contributes to its acceptance by So when we urge for cooperation with the Vatican for the sake of traditional Christian culture, we must remember that it is possible only in the complete integration of our religious space in the field of power of the Pontiff, whose activities are designed to give a sacred character to the process of building a new Babylon.

CONTENT

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The image of the Vatican as a conciliator was created during the transition to the final stage of the collapse of the USSR, so that the” theology of morality ” of John Paul II served as an excellent justification for the need to move from confrontation to dialogue between East and West. In his summary report, which the Pontiff presented at a meeting of the European Parliament on October 11, 1988, he said: “the times have come favorable: peace on Earth, cooperation between States, human rights, democracy-all this has entered the mass consciousness.”

The policy of John Paul II was distinguished by deliberate openness: in 1986, he appealed to representatives of the leading religions of the world to organize a “world day of prayer for peace”, choosing for this unique event the city of Assisi, where about 60 delegations of Christian and non-Christian denominations arrived. For the purpose of reconciliation, the Pontiff undertook an unprecedented campaign of repentance, which consisted in recognizing the responsibility and guilt of the entire Catholic community in various areas of its activities over the past ten centuries, the culmination of which was the so-called “examination of conscience”, proclaimed in 1994. The Pope’s self-critical statements were made in relation to Galileo, the schism of the churches, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the responsibility of the Catholics for the wars, for the behavior of the American Indians and Negroes, for the integrists, for the split with the East.

One of the important results of the policy of “building bridges” was the rapprochement with the Lutherans. John Paul II became the first Pontiff to visit the Lutheran Church in Rome, where he took part in the Ecumenical “Liturgy of peace”. In 1999, on the eve of the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ, Catholics and Lutherans signed a joint Declaration that put an end to theological disputes over how a Christian is justified – only by faith or by faith and good deeds. John Paul II became the first Pope to visit on April 13, 1986. the main synagogue of Rome (this was the first visit of this kind in the history of Catholicism), where he met and prayed with the chief Rabbi Dr. Elio Toaf. And in November of the same year, the Pope delivered a speech to the participants of the Second international Judeo-Christian dialogue on “the meaning of salvation and redemption in the Jewish and Christian traditions”, in which he spoke about “mutual acquaintance with the respective heritage in the faith of each of us” and “about our ties… in our understanding of salvation.” In 1993, the Vatican took an important political step by establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, which had previously been recognized only de facto. As important theological conclusions followed from this confession, many scholars have assessed it as having revolutionary significance.

All this laid the Foundation for a new understanding of apologetics, designed to change the image of the papacy in the eyes of the world community, updating and fully incorporating it into the modern culture of tolerance and freedom [25].

Under John Paul II, a dialogue with Muslims was also initiated, which takes place both in the theoretical (doctrinal) and practical spheres. In practical terms, the Church “atonement for the sins of the Crusades and the Reconquista” began to assume the role of the messenger of Islam in Europe, taking the initiative or agreeing to the implementation of projects for the construction of mosques, as was the case, for example, in Lyon, Madrid and Rome. But if in this sphere the dialogue can develop without calling into question the main doctrinal positions of both religions, then in the sphere of theoretical search for a “new dimension of theology” it takes Catholicism so far that the line between philosophical systems begins to simply blur. Some sections of classical theology are rebuilt, Scripture is re-read, permitted the reading of the traditions of one culture in the light of other traditions that appear to be “competition” between Christianity and Islam, which should lead to a better understanding of the two traditions.

However despite the openness of this policy in its Ecumenical activities the Vatican consistently pursues its clear interest

Although the revision of history also touched the papacy – the Pontiff recognized the errors of the Popes in the division of churches, in their statements regarding the rejection of religious freedom and modernism – he never allowed himself to touch the main cause of all deviations in the life of the Western Church – the position of the primacy of the Pope and the dogma of the infallibility of his doctrine ex cathedra. The apparent ambivalence in the behavior of the Vatican-the willingness to make concessions in matters relating to certain provisions of Christian doctrine (the Pope’s idea of” seeds of the Word”, which is allegedly contained in all religions), and the inflexibility in defending the rights of the Roman Pontiff-has become characteristic of the cooperation of the Catholic Church with the world Council of churches. Sending its representatives as “observers” to all Ecumenical assemblies, conferences and participating in joint prayers, the Catholic Church never joined the WCC. Cardinal Willebrans, Chairman of the Department of Christian unity at the Vatican, explained this in a letter to the General Secretary of the WCC on July 4, 1983: “the Roman Catholic Church, to a much greater extent than other churches, considers its structure of universal community and universal mission an essential element of its identity… The decision to join the world community of churches could be misinterpreted. from the position of power (authority) in the Roman Catholic Church and the ways of its implementation” [26].

Meanwhile, the main consequence of the Ecumenical “openness” of the Vatican was the further erosion of the religious consciousness of Europeans. With the transition to globalization, which turned the “welfare society” into “welfare for the chosen”, the usual way of life, established social ties began to break down, and with them began to break and previous ideas, and the very spiritual structure of the individual, as a result of which the process of erosion of traditional religious values took a threatening character. As cardinal Ratzinger stated before his election as Pope, “aggressive secularism threatens religious freedom in Europe by marginalizing the faithful. We have abandoned Christian culture in favor of aggressive secularism with intolerant features… The mention of God is very marginalised. In the political sphere, it seems almost obscene to talk about God, as if it violates the freedom of those who do not believe” [27]. Most significant in this regard was the fact that in the process of drafting the EU Constitution, European officials did not include a reference to the Christian roots of Europe, limiting themselves to the provision on the cultural, religious and humanistic heritage of Europe [28].

The weakening of the position of the Catholic Church is expressed in many indicators: this is a reduction in the number of its adherents, and a fall in the number of clergy. Religious values themselves are increasingly eroded, and knowledge of the fundamental foundations on which Christian faith is based is disappearing. As a result, Catholicism in Europe has lost the value of a force that determines the generally accepted norms of behavior and forms a social system of values. As John Paul II himself admitted, ” Jesus Christ seems to have disappeared from European life. European culture gives the impression of a kind of silent apostasy of intellectuals who live as if God did not exist.” In the context of the erosion of traditional concepts and values, their uncertainty, loss of understanding of the true norm, Europeans are becoming more and more exposed to the influence of alien religious cults, which behave very actively and aggressively. We are talking about both traditional Eastern and new pseudo-Eastern, pseudo-Christian, anti-Christian, neo-pagan teachings, most of which are occult in nature. They are characterized by interpenetration, mixing of traditions, that is, syncretism, which replaces a holistic, coherent worldview.

This means the transition of pluralism to another level, turning it into a “global religious market” or, as they now write, “a supermarket of spiritual goods”, in which free enterprise already penetrates into the sphere of salvation, offering everyone a choice of any religious or pseudo-religious idea. Left to himself, the layman as a consumer chooses what he likes, what is suitable, forming his own system of values. And here Christianity faces the strongest competition, because religion in this “market” is valued not from the point of view of the truth it stands for, but from the point of view of the spiritual and spiritual comfort that it provides. This is why occultism is most successful here, and the fascination with it is becoming widespread.

This is the result of the consistent application of the fundamental principle of modern European culture – the principle of freedom of conscience, understood as freedom of choice, which was promoted by the Catholic Church itself.

26. Accattoli L. Quand le pape demande pardon. Paris: Albin Michel, 1997. P. 19-20. Archias. Seraphim (Alexiev), Archim. Sergius (Yazadjiev). Waiting for new “Messianic times” / / Orthodoxy or death. No. 5. P. 18.

27. IN Europe, the mention of God is considered marginal / / Week: Orthodox news for the week, 176 issue of the mailing list. URL: www.sedmica.ortodoxy.ru / 176-26-11-04.php.

28. constitutionality of the European Union: a Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (with commentary). Moscow: INFRA-M, 2005. Pp. 93-94.

CONTENT

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Both forces embodied for each other the corresponding counterbalance to communism: the Vatican-ideological, and Washington-military-political. In 1985, in his article in the journal “Trayelog”, Zbigniew Brzezinski in this regard will point out: “I believe that everything that Pope John Paul II does is of paramount historical importance. It is necessary to put an end to the schism of Europe and return the great and immortal Russia to the bosom of the Christian community and the market economy. ” 14 The same defining role of the Pontiff was highlighted by Gorbachev, who declared in March 1992. in the pages of the Turin newspaper “BA 81atra”: “it can Now be said that everything that has happened in Eastern Europe in recent years would have been impossible without the Pope’s enormous efforts and the role he plays in politics on the world stage. I think the very significant steps we have taken in our country have been important in developing relations with the Vatican. Pope John Paul II will play an enormous political role now that European history has undergone profound changes [15].

The mutual interests of the Vatican and Washington became the basis for the agreement concluded in August 1982 between Reagan and John Paul II on joint actions in Poland in order to destroy the “Communist camp”. The agreement, dubbed the “Holy Alliance”, was published in Time magazine by journalist Carl Bernstein, who received information from the Vatican’s top brass and top officials of the American establishment. According to D. Kalaich, the disclosure of this Pact to “the entire world village” was intended to show all Catholics that the Vatican is on the side of the new world order, and to invite them to follow the Pontiff [16].

In the formation of this Union, Opus Dei played a key role. The order used its ties to the North American clans of the Italian mafia, as well as the close relationship of The Pope’s private Secretary Stanislav Dzivic [17] with the American members of the Trilateral Commission, and most notably with Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s former national security aide. It was Zbigniew Brzezinski and Josef Tomko, head of the Vatican’s propaganda Department and then head of the papal counterintelligence Department, who developed the so-called operation Open book, which was to flood Eastern Europe and regions of the Soviet Union such as Ukraine and the Baltic States with anti-Communist literature. This operation was coordinated by the CIA and the Holy Alliance (SA) [18] through priests working in these territories.

After the election of President Ronald Reagan, but before his inauguration, a relationship of strategic importance was established between him and John Paul II. As the researcher E. Lebeck wrote, “in the early years of the Reagan administration, one could observe the emergence of convinced Catholics in the highest positions, which had never happened before in the history of the United States” [19]. Active role in cooperation with the Vatican played the head of the CIA W. Casey and Secretary of state A. Haig, both Catholics and knights of the order of Malta, called the “armed hand” of the Vatican, as well as national security adviser Richard Allen, who later claimed that “relations with the Vatican represented one of the greatest secret alliances in history.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski retained the position of liaison between the White house and the Sacred Alliance, which, as the main coordinator of the actions of Western intelligence services in Eastern Europe, has become in fact a center for secret operations in these countries.

Representatives of the Reagan administration later admitted that the level of awareness and analysis of the situation in Poland “Holy fathers” ahead of American intelligence and diplomats. Reagan’s national security aide William Clark, in particular, argued: “the Vatican’s Information was absolutely superior to ours in quality and speed in almost every respect. At one difficult moment, when the administration was hesitating what action to take, the Pope’s representative in Washington, PIO Lagi, told Vernon Walters, Deputy Director of the CIA [20]: “Listen to the Holy father. In this case, we have two thousand years of experience” [21]. From 1981 to 1988, Walters personally met with the Pontiff seven times.

This cooperation was connected with another important fact. In January 1983, the Vatican adopted a new Catholic code of Canon law, which was no longer valid for 200 years Canon 2335, which forbade Catholics on pain of excommunication from the Church stay in Masonic lodges [22], which meant an end to the fight against Freemasonry and facilitated the maintenance of relations with the mafia prelates circles [23]. In the same year in the month of April, the Pope received members of the Trilateral Commission in full (about 200 people) [24], and in 1984 diplomatic relations were established between the Vatican and Washington. In the United States, at least fifty Opus Dei centers are opened, members of the order appear in the White house, in the middle and upper echelons of the Pentagon, and since then and to the present time the influence of the order here does not cease to expand.

The Vatican played an indispensable role as a mediator in establishing contacts with the Soviet leadership and in the perestroika processes in Ukraine. In 1988, a message from John Paul II was delivered to Gorbachev in Moscow through cardinal Casaroli, followed by a meeting between Gorbachev and the Pope on December 1, 1989, during which they had a 70-minute face-to-face conversation in the Pontiff’s private library. At the end of the conversation, the Soviet delegation left for Malta to meet with J. P. Elder bush.

After this meeting, the activity of Catholics in the Soviet Union begins to intensify. First of all, the activities of the Uniates, which were granted significant benefits to the detriment of the Russian Orthodox Church, are legalized. In Western Ukraine, demonstrations of Uniates against Orthodox Christians, pogroms and seizures of their churches, accompanied by beating and abuse of priests and laity, begin from one center. As a result, three Orthodox dioceses – Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv-were defeated in Galicia. In the last of the 1,000 existing parishes, only 40 remained. In 1990 there was a split in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church were formed. Catholic parishes in the Western lands of Ukraine and Belarus are being restored as of September 1, 1939. through private invitations, a powerful cast of missionaries began, local authorities allocate significant budgetary funds for the restoration of churches. If in 1992 there were 92 Catholic parishes, in 1996 – 651. There were 22 monasteries, 193 Sunday schools, two seminaries and the Higher College of St. Thomas at the University of Kiev.

In 1991, the hierarchical structures of the Catholic Church, which had ceased to exist since the late 20s, were also restored in Russia, and Catholics moved to active proselytizing activities

THE MAFIA ESSENCE OF THE GLOBAL WESTERN ECONOMY

If before the revolution in Russia there were 150 Catholic parishes and 2 dioceses (Mogilev and Tiraspol), now there are more than 200 parishes and 4 dioceses United in the” ecclesiastical province ” of the Roman Catholic Church headed by the Metropolitan. These are dioceses in the North of the European part of Russia with the center in Moscow, in the South of the European part of Russia with the center in Saratov, in Western Siberia with the center in Novosibirsk and in Eastern Siberia with the center in Irkutsk. The Catholic Church began to conduct extensive preaching and missionary work here, refusing to recognize these dioceses as the” canonical territory ” of Orthodoxy. In 1992, the society of Jesuits officially began its activities in Russia, which opened its branches in Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and Moscow.

In June 2001, at the invitation of the then President of Ukraine L. Kuchma, the Pope visited independent Ukraine for the first time with the so-called “state visit”, which took place despite the protests of thousands of Orthodox believers. During it, the Pope not only visited Kiev and Lviv, but also held services in these cities, which clearly went beyond the “state visit” declared by the authorities.

The active participation of the Vatican in the implementation of Washington’s plans was intended to “spiritually” legitimize the change of power in Eastern European countries. As the Serbian researcher Dragos Kalaich wrote, the Pope was prompted to go to this state of General decline of Catholicism in the West and “the bitter consciousness that the last hearths, keeping the flame of the Catholic faith, burn with dignity only in the countries of Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Croatia.” But at the time “he did not yet suspect that by taking part in the destruction of the Communist tower of Babel, he thereby opened access to materials for the completion of another, much larger tower of Babel, called the “new world order”.

Ecumenical openness

Strengthening the international influence of the Vatican accompanied by widening external openness of Catholicism and active part in the Ecumenical movement, committed with “purification of the historical memory” working on “reconciling” with other religions. If the second Vatican Council only outlined this restructuring of consciousness, then John Paul II brought it to its logical end. The image of the Vatican-conciliator was created during the transition to the final stage of the collapse of the USSR, so that the” theology of morality ” of John Paul II served as an excellent justification for the need to move from confrontation to dialogue between East and West. In his summary report, which the Pontiff presented at the meeting of the European Parliament on October 11, 1988, he said: “the times have come favorable: peace on Earth, cooperation between States, human rights, democracy – all this has entered the mass consciousness.”

The policy of John Paul II was distinguished by deliberate openness: in 1986 he appealed to representatives of the leading religions of the world to organize a “world day of prayer for peace”, choosing for this unique event the city of Assisi, where about 60 delegations of Christian and non-Christian denominations arrived. In order to reconcile, the Pontiff undertook an unprecedented campaign of repentance, which consisted in recognizing the responsibility and guilt of the entire Catholic community in various spheres of its activities during the last ten centuries, the culmination of which was the so – called “examination of conscience”, proclaimed in 1994. The Pope’s self-critical statements were made in relation to Galileo, the schism of the churches, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the responsibility of Catholics for wars, for behavior towards American Indians and Negroes, for integrists, for a split with the East.

One of the important results of the policy of “building bridges” was the rapprochement with the Lutherans

John Paul II became the first Pontiff to visit the Lutheran Church in Rome, where he took part in the Ecumenical “Liturgy of peace”. In 1999, on the eve of the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ, Catholics and Lutherans signed a joint Declaration that put an end to theological disputes over whether a Christian is justified by faith alone or by faith and good works. John Paul II became the first Pope to visit on April 13, 1986. the main synagogue of Rome (this was the first visit of its kind in the history of Catholicism), where he met and prayed with the chief Rabbi Dr. Elio Toaf. And in November of the same year, the Pope delivered a speech to the participants of the Second international Judeo-Christian dialogue on “the meaning of salvation and redemption in the Jewish and Christian traditions”, in which he spoke about “mutual acquaintance with the respective heritage in the faith of each of us” and “about our ties… in our understanding of salvation.” In 1993, the Vatican took an important political step by establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, which had previously been recognized only de facto. As important theological conclusions followed from this confession, many scholars have assessed it as having revolutionary significance.

Under John Paul II, a dialogue with Muslims was also initiated, which takes place in both theoretical (doctrinal) and practical spheres. In practical terms, the Church “atonement for the sins of the Crusades and the Reconquista” began to assume the role of the messenger of Islam in Europe, taking the initiative or agreeing to the implementation of projects for the construction of mosques, as it was, for example, in Lyon, Madrid and Rome. But if in this sphere the dialogue can develop without questioning the basic doctrinal positions of both religions, in the sphere of theoretical search for a “new dimension of theology” it takes Catholicism so far that the line between philosophical systems begins to blur. Some sections of classical theology are rebuilt, Scripture is re-read, permitted the reading of the traditions of one culture in the light of other traditions that appear to be “competition” between Christianity and Islam, which should lead to a better understanding of the two traditions.

All this laid a new understanding of apologetics, designed to change the image of the papacy in the eyes of the world community, renewing and fully incorporating it into the modern culture of tolerance and freedom [25].

However, despite the openness of this policy in its Ecumenical activities, the Vatican consistently pursues its clear interest. Although the revision of history also touched the papacy – the Pontiff acknowledged the errors of the Popes in the division of churches, in their statements regarding the rejection of religious freedom and modernism – he never allowed himself to touch the main cause of all deviations in the life of the Western Church – the position of the primacy of the Pope and the dogma of the infallibility of his doctrine ex cathedra. The apparent ambivalence in the behavior of the Vatican-the willingness to make concessions in matters relating to certain provisions of Christian doctrine (the Pope’s idea of “seeds of the Word”, contained, allegedly, in all religions), and the inflexibility in defending the rights of the Roman Pontiff-has become characteristic of the cooperation of the Catholic Church with the world Council of churches. Sending its representatives as “observers” to all Ecumenical assemblies, conferences and participating in joint prayers, the Catholic Church never joined the WCC. Cardinal Willebrans, Chairman of the Department of Christian unity at the Vatican, explained this in a letter to the General Secretary of the WCC on July 4, 1983: “the Roman Catholic Church, to a much greater extent than other churches, considers its structure of universal community and universal mission to be an essential element of its identity… The decision to join the world community of churches could be misinterpreted. from the position of power (authority) in the Roman Catholic Church and the ways of its implementation” [26].

Meanwhile, the main consequence of the Ecumenical “openness” of the Vatican was the further erosion of the religious consciousness of Europeans. With the transition to globalization, which turned the “welfare society” in the “welfare for the chosen”, the usual way of life, established social ties began to break down, and with them began to break and the previous ideas, and the very spiritual structure of the individual, resulting in the erosion of traditional religious values took a threatening character. As cardinal Ratzinger stated before his election as Pope, ” aggressive secularism threatens religious freedom in Europe by marginalizing the faithful. We have abandoned Christian culture in favor of aggressive secularism with intolerant traits… The mention of God is very marginalized. In the political sphere, it seems almost obscene to talk about God, as if it violates the freedom of those who do not believe” [27]. The most significant in this regard was the fact that in the process of drafting the EU Constitution, European officials did not include a reference to the Christian roots of Europe, limiting the provision on the cultural, religious and humanistic heritage of Europe [28].

The weakening of the position of the Catholic Church is expressed in many indicators: this is a decrease in the number of its adherents, and the fall in the number of clergy. Religious values themselves are increasingly eroded, knowledge of the fundamental foundations on which the Christian faith is based is disappearing. As a result, Catholicism in Europe has lost the value of a force that determines the generally accepted norms of behavior and forms a social system of values. As John Paul II himself admitted, ” Jesus Christ seems to have disappeared from European life. European culture gives the impression of a kind of silent apostasy of intellectuals who live as if God did not exist.” In the context of erosion of traditional concepts and values, their uncertainty, loss of understanding of the true norm, Europeans are becoming increasingly susceptible to the influence of alien religious cults, which behave very actively and aggressively. We are talking about both traditional Eastern and new pseudo-Eastern, pseudo-Christian, anti-Christian, neo-pagan teachings, most of which are occult in nature. They are characterized by interpenetration, mixing of traditions, that is, syncretism, which replaces a holistic, coherent worldview.

This means the transition of pluralism to another level, turning it into a “global religious market” or, as they now write, a “supermarket of spiritual goods”, in which free enterprise penetrates into the sphere of salvation, offering everyone a choice of any religious or pseudo-religious idea. Left to himself, the layman as a consumer chooses what he likes, what is suitable, forming his own system of values. And here Christianity faces the strongest competition, because religion in this “market” is valued not from the point of view of the truth advocated by it, but from the point of view of the spiritual and spiritual comfort that it provides. Therefore, to the greatest extent here succeeds occultism, passion which acquires a mass character.

This is the result of the consistent application of the fundamental principle of modern European culture-the principle of freedom of conscience, understood as freedom of choice, the assertion of which was promoted by the Catholic Church itself.

15. There.
16. 2G
17. Calais D. a Pact with the devil. The tragedy of the modern Vatican. URL: http: veruem.narod.ru/Tragedy Vaiticans.html.

18. Some researchers believe that Bishop Zivic, head of the State Secretariat entered into Opus Dei. When he later became Archbishop and cardinal of Cracow, he had overall control of the service ladder in the Vatican (See: Terras Ch. Op. cit. P. 1S).

The Holy Alliance was created in 15bb by order of Pope Pius V, and although the Vatican has never recognized its existence, it is recognized by some researchers as one of the best and most effective security services in the world.

19. Lebec E. the secret history of Vatican diplomacy. Moscow: Ripol Classic, 2004. Pp. 232.

20. Vernon Walters, a knight of the order of Malta, was then Deputy Director of the CIA.

21. Papa Karol’s dolls and puppeteers. URL: http://www.zaistinu.ru/old/Ukraine/church/papadolls.shtml.

22. Rome et Frans-macons. Histoire d’un conflict. Paris: Berg International Éditeurs, 1996. P. 21-22.

23. In October 1983, the Italian magazine Oggi published a scandalous photograph of Pope John Paul II at a Masonic Banquet in an issue that was almost confiscated: He is included with his arms crossed in the “fraternal chain” formed by Masonic guests around the Banquet table (See: Hieromonk Savva (janich). Apostasy. Moscow: Russian idea, 2004).

24. VanHelsing J. Sociétés secrets.

26. L. Quand le pape demande pardon. Paris: Albin Michel, 1997. P. 19-20. Archias. Seraphim (Alexiev), Archim. Sergius (Yazadjiev). Waiting for new “Messianic times” / / Orthodoxy or death. No. 5. P. 18.

27. In Europe, the mention of God is considered marginal / / Week: Orthodox news for the week, 176 issues of the mailing list. URL: www.sedmica.ortodoxy.ru / 176-26-11-04.php.

28. Constitution of the European Union: a Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (with commentary). Moscow: INFRA-M, 2005. Pp. 93-94.

CONTENT

The post GEOPOLITICS OF JOHN PAUL II first appeared on Global Policy.

His support was to be a prosperous “middle class” and a new type of citizen – a carrier of purely secular morality, not burdened by restrictive Christian norms and principles. In these circumstances, in order to maintain its influence, the Western Church has taken the path of adaptation to the new liberal standards, adapting to the requirements of the era. This was most characteristic of Protestant theology, which had so deeply imbibed a liberal understanding of human rights and freedoms that it became perfectly safe for secular culture, completely fitting into the ideological pluralism it advocated. Catholicism could not resist the pressure of modernism, but its path was more difficult.

In the first postwar years, in the conditions of the acute period of the “cold war”, the Catholic Church was designed to ensure the cohesion of Western society, and Pius XII, who stood at the head of it, did not allow any reformist deviations, adhering to strictly conservative views and rigidly integrist line of behavior. But after his death and the coming to power of John XXIII (1958-1963) in Catholicism begins a period of profound changes, the most serious since the Council of Trent (1545-1563). They resulted in the development of the “aggiornamento,” which was understood as openness to new ideas the changed the world, “modernizing” the Church and bringing it into line with the spirit of the time. The idea of the papacy on earth centralization of the Church, as the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope and his supremacy over all the Christian world, in no way been questioned, but on the contrary, had strengthened the authority of the Vatican as a political force in the context of liberalization exercises.

The modernist turn of the Church was realized at the second Vatican Council, which became a turning point in the history of Catholicism. Opened in October 1962, the Cathedral has completed its work in December 1965, having 16 papers, the most important of which was the dogmatic Constitution “On the Church, On religious freedom, On Liturgy and On ecumenism, On the Church in the modern world”, highlighting the teaching focus of Christian ecumenism. However, these Renovationist decisions and the practice that followed had the most serious consequences for the Church.

Their main result was the establishment of religious pluralism and tolerance, which led to the fact that the Catholic teaching began to acquire an increasingly blurred character, and among some Catholics religious indifferentism began to spread. Many in the Church leadership feared the situation would spiral out of control. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI), who was a theological consultant at the Council, wrote in this regard: “the results Brought by the Council, as we can judge today, cruelly disappointed the expectations of all… The popes and fathers-delegates of the Council hoped to achieve a new Catholic unity, but instead conflicts began, passing, in the words of Paul VI (Pope since 1963-FR. CH.), from self-criticism to self-destruction. Instead of the expected breakthrough, we are dealing with a process of gradual decline.”.

Since the end of the 60s, the Church fell into a state of internal crisis and secularism, which accelerated the de-Christianization of Western society, which actively continued throughout the 70s. It was in these conditions that Karol Wojtyla came to power in the Vatican under the name of John Paul II, whose pontificate lasted 26 years and 5 months (1978-2005).

The main activities of the new Pope were determined by the changes that occurred in the Western world in the second half of the 70-ies.

In socio-economic and political terms, they were characterized by the transition to a neoliberal course of development, which meant the gradual dismantling of state “welfare”, and in international relations, the escalation of the cold war, caused by a new U.S. leadership on tough confrontation with the Soviet Union. In these circumstances, seeking to strengthen the authority of the Vatican as a religious and political force, John Paul II used all opportunities to strengthen its influence on world politics, taking a clear course for an Alliance with Atlanticism.

Considering materialistic atheism and communism as his main opponent and having set himself the task to achieve the return of religion to Western society, the Pope proclaims a “new evangelization” of Europe and the whole world, aimed at restoring Catholic values and positions of the Church not only in the private but also in the public sphere. The mainstay of John Paul II become in-tigritsa organization and the new Catholic traditionalist movement orientation, which brings together spirituality with everyday life or have made it into the socio-political sphere. They were called upon to play a decisive role in the restoration of the position of Catholicism. It is primarily about organizations such as the order of Opus Dei, the Legionaries of Christ, Focolare, Community and Liberation, the Ark, the Community of St. Egidius, neocatechumenates, Daughters of Mercy, various French “charismatic renewal” movements inspired by American Protestantism.

The “brain and heart” of Catholicism, determining the new policy of the Vatican and the activities of the Church as a whole, becomes Opus Dei, completely replaced the Jesuit order, which for four centuries played a key role in ensuring control over the minds of the elites. This was possible because of the unique characteristics of the organization, so secret that in Spain, where it comes from, it is called the “white mafia”.

Created in 1928 by the Spanish priest Josemaria escriva de Balaguer (1902-1975) in Franco Spain, Opus Dei was a fundamentally new type of order Association, being the first secular organization of the Catholic Church, approved by decree of Pius XII in 1947 (finally approved on June 16, 1950). In addition to the clergy, it includes lay people who can “find Holiness” in the mundane everyday Affairs, performing perfectly their professional duties in a certain social sphere. Escriva aimed at the formation of “lay spirituality”, which actually reproduced the Protestant ethics with its sacralisation of worldly activities, in which a person is called to fully realize themselves, achieving success and prosperity. It is no accident that many researchers define the teachings of escriva as a Catholic version of Calvinism. The performance of any business is considered here as a religious service and is inextricably linked with the desire for leadership and installation on belonging to the elite.

The aspiration for success in the world led to the initial interest of the order to the economy, banking, to participate in state government (if formally declared apolitism), as well as special attention to schools, universities, centers for training managers, experts, Finance etc. It is the technocrats and politicians involved with Opus Dei, played a decisive role in transforming the economy and governmental structures of Spain in the 60-70 years after the release of the country from international isolation, adapting it to Western European standards. So the use of modern technology for “universal mobilization of the laity” was the main innovation of the order, which developed a strategy based on the old principle: “Who governs the country determines its religion.”

Another feature of Opus Dei, which ensures its extreme effectiveness, is that It is created on the model of a sect, in which a rigid management structure, a centralized hierarchical structure and iron paramilitary discipline (full subordination to spiritual leadership) are combined with a network type of organization. The order is based on a strictly clerical and hierarchical Constitution, in which the priests, United in the Priestly society of the Holy cross, play a decisive role and are engaged in educating the laity. Discipline is expressed in strict obedience to his superior, in accordance with the instructions of the escriva: “laymen can only be disciples, if you want to be saved, obey, obey, as obeys the instrument in the hands of the artist, does not stop to reflect.” As a result, Opus Dei members find themselves in a closed, closed world, being absolutely sure that it is here that they achieve complete freedom of self-realization.

All members of the society are divided into three stages. The first-numeration (priests and laity) – full-time, are full members of the organization and perform leadership functions, with a University education, living in celibacy, observing all vows and rules, giving all earnings in favor of the organization of the order (20% of members). The second consists of aggregates-full-time members who are also single and deduct part of their earnings (25%). The third includes supernumeraries-supernumeraries, married (55%. It is important to note that in the order there is also a category of “employees” who are not officially members of the organization, but are listed as its supporters. In 1950, the order received the consent of the Vatican that the lists of these “employees” included not Catholics and not even Christians, which dramatically expands the scope of its coverage.

In accordance with this structure builds the entire activities of the order of the, with also three-level system

The main role is played by official centers and institutions representing the spiritual prelature. Despite the fact that the number of priests does not exceed 2.1% of the members, they play a decisive role and perform the main administrative functions. Then there are the organizations created by Orthodox laymen, both members and sympathizers and sympathizers of the order. These include University centres, vocational training centres, often registered as foundations, cultural centres, associations, institutes, where the bulk of young people are recruited. The names of these organizations do not contain the name opus Dei, but they are closely associated with It on a religious level. Often Opus Dei takes responsibility for the spiritual aspects of their activities, as indicated in the respective prospectuses of these organizations (“spiritual education is entrusted to Opus Dei, the personal prelature of the Church”). Finally, the third level includes various financial, political and ideological institutions, also created by the people of Opus Dei, but not related to the order of religious relations. These include personal funds operating internationally and associated with banks and industries, political clubs and family associations. These institutions, created and in those countries where Opus Dei has no representation, is so discreetly embedded in the structure of the order that they are very difficult to recognize. The leaders of these organizations act as individuals, and the order bears no responsibility for their actions. This system allows the order to penetrate into various spheres and involve a wide range of people in its activities. According to the order itself, at present the number of its members reaches 85 thousand, while about 900 thousand people participate in the activities of related organizations.

The order’s unique religious and organizational discipline and its methods of “mobilizing” the laity made it indispensable in the Church’s transition to”new evangelization.” In the late 60’s-early 70’s positions Opus Dei so strengthened that he set himself the task to carry out a deep “infiltration” into the body of the Church, the main channel of which was the Roman center of meetings of Ministers of worship (Centro Romano di Incontri Sacerdotali – CRIS), which turned into an elite organization, where the processing of promising clergy, among whom was the Archbishop of Krakow, cardinal Karol Wojtyla. It is known that each Wojtyla and his fellow Prelate of the Roman Curia Andrzej Maria Deskur was close to two key figures of Opus Dei Portillo, who became head of the order after escrivá’s death in 1975, and Julian Errans Casado. It was Descour who introduced Wojtyla to Portillo, after which they established close ties.

Having played an important role in Wojtyla’s rise to power, the order set itself the task of achieving a new status within the Church that would allow it to exert a decisive influence on Vatican policy. This happened 28 November 1982 (the date on which apostasty became known as the “historical date”), when John Paul II received the Apostolic Constitution Ut Sit, in accordance with which the order was granted the status of “personal prelature, there” the Pope vivadelli it from the jurisdiction of the diocesan leadership, transforming virtually independent, territorially not restricted to a diocese. The next stage, which strengthened the position of the order, was carried out at an accelerated pace beatification (beatification) of Josemaria escriva in 1992, after which Opus Dei finally “came out of hiding”, silencing his opponents. It turned out that he has influential patrons, among whom were cardinals of the Rat-Zinger (already then head of the Congregation for the doctrine of the faith), Angelo Sodano (gasteretal – man # 2 in the Curia), Paul Poupard, etc. the Order, in particular, appreciated the support of Ratzinger, giving him in 1998 the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Navarre in Pampelune – one of the main educational centers of Opus Dei. In 2002, escriva was canonized as quickly as ever, and as a result, his theological ideas were considered part of the Holy tradition of the Catholic Church.

Thanks to the relationship of deep trust between the Pontiff and Opus Dei, The latter has become a privileged, elite squad of the Pope. Some researchers argue that the order was so integrated into the environment of John Paul II that it began to play a dominant role, becoming essentially a “Church within the Church”. The order actually managed to penetrate all levels of the management system Vatican city, blocking any internal criticism, to sustain their views. Its strength lies not in the number of members represented in the Curia, which at first glance seems modest, but in the importance of the posts and offices they hold. We are talking about key positions.

The order put its man in charge of one of the most important departments in the Curia, the Vatican press office. They became numerary (layman) Joaquin Navarro-Valls, to which the Pope felt a great confidence and which has become over time one of the leading figures in the government of the Vatican, providing the image of the Church for 22 years. Under him, the press service separated from the Pontifical Commission on public relations and became an independent Department of the state Secretariat, subordinate directly to the Pope and at the same time being an instrument of Opus Dei. Another important figure, also shaping the image of the Vatican, was the numerarius (priest) Iago de La Cierva, who headed the international television Agency Rome Reports, created in 2004, representing in the media all the main events concerning the Church and the Pontiff’s activities. One of the two cardinal members of the order, Julian Errans Casado, was a direct adviser to the Pope and headed the Pontifical Council for legislative texts and the disciplinary Commission (local Ministry of justice) until his retirement in February 2007 due to old age. It was he who was responsible for interpreting the meaning and subtext Of the code of Canon law, preparing decrees, texts and implementing the decisions of the Pontiff. Gio Maria Poles, a lay member of the order, was also in charge of the Vatican personnel service (the local personnel Department).

Being represented in all departments of the administrative apparatus, congregations and Pontifical councils, the order is aware of everything that happens in the Church. To Rome, and it receives information from all departments in which due to the rigid system of subordination compiled detailed reports on the activities of each member of the order of this possibility, of course, deprived of local bishops and priests. All this has led to its unique role within the Church: analysts call it the unofficial center of the Vatican’s intelligence service or the Pope’s main intelligence service, carrying out important political missions through the use of peculiar methods and methods of penetration. Opus Dei is characterized by a closed, secret nature and “point” work, that is, the involvement of specific influential, and possibly key figures, who become the core of the “agents of influence” of the Vatican. The order does not have official lists of its members, the members themselves are not required to advertise their affiliation to the organization and keep secret all that relates to their methods of work, which makes it difficult to identify the institutions that are associated with it. In addition, there are no official financial reports, and the print organ of the order “Chronicle” is available only to numeraries.

The main activities of Opus Dei, which are of paramount importance for the leadership of the Vatican, are, first, providing intellectual development of strategic importance and, secondly, control over finances.

With regard to the first, the order is designed to solve the most important ideological task, which is such a restructuring of the consciousness of European elites, which ensures full acceptance of the basic provisions of the Anglo-Saxon neoliberal project, which has been consistently implemented since the late 70-ies. Ideological attitudes of the order, which is a kind of symbiosis of neoliberalism and religious fundamentalism, was actually a Catholic analogue of the theory of economic freedom F. Hayek, designed to justify the state’s withdrawal from the socio-economic spheres of society. (Hereafter highlighted by me. – O. C.) They became the basis for the development of appropriate training and research programs carried out in the order-controlled institutes and educational centers.

The inspiration for these neoliberal ideas was the American Institute for the study of religion and freedom. Acton (Michigan), and the main center of distribution – established in 1986, the international Academy of philosophy in Liechtenstein (1AR), closely associated with the Polish Catholic University of Lublin (it taught Karol Wojtyla). The latter has its own theological school, which is based on the doctrine of “eternal philosophy”, taken from the ideas of Husserl. According to them, the world is presented in a Manichaean spirit: all things are initially divided into good and bad, and people – on the morally bad and good, which actually justifies the elitist approach, which is so characteristic of Opus Dei. This philosophical and spiritual trend, to which belongs the personalism of Karol Wojtyla and other Polish theologians, is carefully studied in 1AR, and it is on this Foundation that the order seeks to produce a “spiritual renewal of Europe”. The rector of the Academy, Josef Serfert, even speaks of the LL school (Lublin-Liechtenstein), which can be considered the main instrument for spreading the dominant Catholic ethics. On the basis of neoliberal worldview formed a new generation of European politicians, financiers, economists, who replaced the old staff in the late XX – early XXI century.

Another main concern of the order is the financial provision and management of the Holy See’s funds.

Another main concern of the order is the financial provision and management of the Holy See’s funds

With its vast financial network, the order ensured the Vatican had far more power over the banks than it had in the Christian Democrat era. The main support structure of SV. The throne is the Institute of religious Affairs (ETAL), called the Vatican Bank, which, after exposure in the early 80s banker-mafia Marcinkus managed to restore its positions through appropriate reforms initiated by John Paul II in order to create a “positive” image of ETAL. It is also important to note that, since the 80s, among the areas of financial activity of the Church in the foreground were the United States, where there is the richest Catholic community. It was here that Vatican investments began to move, and in 1987 a special John Paul II Fund was opened in Washington, the amount of investments of which in 1998 amounted to 44 million dollars.
Sources:
Ibid. P. 62. Investigations and documents. Paris: Editions Golias, Fourest, C., Venner F. Op. cit. P. 102.

The key figure here was close to the order of the Archbishop of Vienna, cardinal Koenig, associated with the”Grand national Lodge of Austria.” Three days before the opening of the Conclave on the initiative of Koenig was held a secret meeting at the Pontifical College “Pio Latinoamericano”, where he managed to enlist the support of some cardinals from France, Holland and Germany in the nomination of Wojtyla (see: Putilov S. Sinister footsteps of Freemasonry // Orthodoxy or death: Journalistic almanac. М., №5. С.1; Norman F. The troubling rise of the ‘Opus Dei // The diplomatic World. September 1995. 22).

Hertel P. Op. cit. P. 239-24G.

Opus Dei is still the only personal prelature in the Catholic Church.

Hertel Р. Op. cit. P. 273.

Tincq H. The usury of a reign of nearly twenty years // the world. 11 August 1997.

Currently, Opus Dei is represented in 87 States and has 1,654 parishes and dent of pastoral care.

Opus Dei: the soldiers of Christian communitarianism.

In 1994, IAP created a Foundation in support of the Academy, headed by former Italian head of state and lifelong Senator Francesco Cossiga (Terras Ch. in collaboration with P. Hertel and R. Libero. Opus Dei. Investigation at the heart of an occult power. Editions Golias, 2006. 60-61).

CONTENT

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Ferrer’s challenge is particularly noteworthy. He formally occupies the third place in the Vatican hierarchy after the Pope and the Secretary of state, and in fact, in terms of influence – the second. Up to the beginning of the XX century the congregation headed by it was called Inquisition, and it in the XVI century would be called as the Great Inquisitor.

In addition to them, five more people were summoned to court — three French priests and two citizens who were not in the Church service, but related to the diocese of Lyon. The judges will consider last year’s case, previously closed by the Prosecutor of Lyon. Now ten persons calling themselves “victims of pedophilia”, has filed a lawsuit against a 66-year-old “Barbarella”, whom they accused of concealing crimes committed against them by the local priest Bernard Pranom more than a quarter century ago.

THE SINS OF THE VATICAN

Boys grew up

At the end of 1980-ies of father Bernard Prano was just over thirty, and the graduate school scouts Saint-Luc Alexander — eight years. The priest called him his favorite, and every Saturday he was alone with him.

“We were very scared. Imagine an adult person who takes you in his arms and starts kissing you in different places, makes you stroke him… Imagine how scary it can be for a child!”- Alexander told French journalists.

CATHOLICISM IN THE ATTACK: THE IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS OF THE VATICAN IN THE CONDITIONS OF TRANSITION TO THE GLOBALIZED WORLD ORDER

Many years later, Alexander saw a picture of Prein in the newspaper surrounded by children and realized that he could no longer remain silent. He appealed to the diocese, he organized a meeting with the former mentor, and he apologized to him, but justified by the fact that “the higher were aware.”

Such as Alexander, gathered a dozen, and they joined the Association La Parole libérée (“Liberated word”), to work together to seek punishment for those who harassed them as a child. They wrote to the Pope, asked for an audience, which they never received. Meanwhile, a 42-year-old man complained that priest Jerome Biyu of another Lyon parish had twice attempted to rape him, another 16-year-old, during a pilgrimage to Holy places.

As in the case of Bernard Praine, it all came down to what “upstairs knew.” Again, the high patron was cardinal Barbarin.

The Prosecutor’s office opened an investigation. At a preliminary hearing in court, father Bernard admitted that he had committed sexual acts against 13 boys. Barbaren reported that, as head in 2002, the diocese learned about these facts, but to dismiss Prana did not, because he repented and swore corrected.

SCANDAL IN THE VATICAN

Direct challenge

On August 1, 2017, the Prosecutor closed the case after the Statute of limitations. However, the participants of La Parole libérée filed a lawsuit against Barbarena, which implies a so-called direct challenge to the court. They accuse the cardinal of concealing sexual abuse of minors and refusing to provide assistance.

The “Grand Inquisitor” Ferrer received a summons because in one of his letters he advised the Archbishop to take adequate disciplinary measures to avoid a public scandal. Thus, he demonstrated that he was also aware.

Cardinal barbaren May face up to three years in prison and up to 45 thousand euros fine, but the plaintiffs require only a symbolic compensation of one Euro — it is more important for them to create a legal precedent and “start a legal debate” about the concealment of the facts of pedophilia by the Church.

The first meeting was a formal one, nor barbaren or Ferrer in the court were not, they were represented by lawyers. As reported by the International French radio (RFI), the hearing is essentially scheduled for early April 2018.

Chain reaction

Resonant revelations of Catholic priests-pedophiles shake Vatican since 1990-ies. Waves of high — profile trials swept across different countries and continents- only in Australia from 1993 to 2010 about a hundred clerics were convicted for lewd acts against minors. Scandals broke out in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Malta, Portugal, the United States, the Netherlands and other countries.

In 2014, the Vatican state Tribunal arrested the former papal Nuncio Josef Veselovski, who for many years represented the Holy see in the Dominican Republic. Where, as shown by the victims he would organize orgies with underage boys he killed at least seven children. A lot of child pornography was found on Veselovski’s computer.

After exposing the former Nuncio Vatican representatives in Geneva had to answer to the UN Commission, Pope Francis personally expelled him from the ranks of the clergy. A year later, the former Archbishop was found dead in his apartment. He reportedly died of a heart attack.

After some revelations come up other, and they all usually relate to the past, sometimes long past. In June this year, the Australian police officially charged the head of the Vatican Secretariat for economic Affairs, cardinal George Pell, with sexual harassment. We are talking about the events of 1961, when he allegedly molested a 12-year-old boy in a Catholic youth camp. Then Pell was a 20-year-old seminarian, criminal prosecution overtook him at the age of 76.

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