The main provisions of ancient Orthodoxy | Russian Oldbeliever Church

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The Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church

The official website of the Moscow Metropolitanate.

Address: Russia, Moscow, Rogozhsky Poselok street, 1A, 5.
Phone: +7 (495) 361-51-91
e-mail: mmitropolia@gmail.com

The main provisions of ancient Orthodoxy

* Belief in the One God. God manifests Himself in the Three Faces (the Holy Trinity): God the Father (the Creator), God the Son (Who connects the earthly world with the Father), God the Holy Spirit (the life-affirming Beginning). There are no other gods and the only mediator between God and man is the God-man, Jesus Christ, in whom is embodied the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity – God the Son.

* The world was created over 7,000 years ago by the Almighty Lord in 6 days. Man was created on the sixth day out of the dust of the earth.

The main provisions of ancient Orthodoxy

* All the people of the planet are descendants of Adam and Eve. Our progenitors lived in the Garden of Eden, were immortal and, like all the living creatures of that world, were not susceptible to disease. Adam and Eve spoke personally with the Lord and it was a true, fulfilling life. However, the ancestors committed the sin of apostasy, violating God’s only prohibition – eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The sin of the progenitors changed the nature of man and the rest of the living world. Death, illness, pain, corruption appeared…and after the death of the body, the soul of a person, no matter how righteous they were, could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven to unite with the Lord.

* In order to destroy the original sin, the Creator sent His Only Begotten Son, Who was incarnated in a human body, becoming the God-man, Jesus Christ. The Savior, through His death on the Cross and His Resurrection, destroyed the sin of the progenitors and gave every believer in Him, a member of His Body (Church), the possibility of salvation – eternal life in heaven with God.

* A person is dualistic: they possess a mortal body and an immortal soul. The body and the soul are in conflict: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians, 5:17). The body seeks to satisfy physical and emotional needs, while the soul craves for unity with the One Who created man, for man is “the image and likeness of God” (Genesis, 1:26).

* After the death of the body, the soul of each person goes to judgment by the Lord, Who determines the souls of the faithful and righteous to enter His Kingdom, and the souls of unrighteous – to hell. True life begins only after the death of the physical body. Earthly life is just a preparation for true life, an exam.

* Christians do not recognize the reincarnation of souls in other bodies, links to the “other dimension” (“spirits of ancestors”, “ghosts”) or purgatory.

* The history of the world has a beginning (the creation of Adam) and an end (the Second Coming of Christ). The Savior will come in His Divine glory and destroy all the world’s forces of evil and death. He will carry out the Last Judgment, in which all the descendants from Adam to the last person on earth will appear in their resurrected

bodies. The souls of unrepentant sinners will go to hell forever. For the righteous, a new world will be created without corruption, destruction and death – just as it was before the fall of Adam and Eve – and there will be no end to this new world.

* But before the Second Coming of the Savior, there will be a terrible period of the world reign of the antichrist. The antichrist is a man who will stand at the head of a united global state and will direct all world forces to fight the remnants of the Third Rome, the last community of faithful Christians. The state of today’s modern world shows the closeness of the arrival of the antichrist.

* The sources of Christian doctrine – the Sacred Tradition of the Church – come from the teachings of the holy prophets and apostles, who imparted to people the knowledge revealed to them by the Lord; the decrees of the Councils, led by the Holy Spirit; and the edifying instructions of the holy people who pleased God with their faith and life. The Sacred Tradition is imparted either by word of mouth or through written recordings.

* The most important part of the Holy Tradition is the Holy Scripture (The Bible), which contains the Old and New Testaments. Central to the Old Testament are the 10 commandments:

— “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

— Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.

— Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

— Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

— Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

— Thou shalt not kill.

— Thou shalt not commit adultery.

— Thou shalt not steal.

— Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

— Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” (Exodus 20:2–17).

In the New Testament, The Beatitudes are given, which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Matthew, 5:3–12).