These types of worldly "gospels", although being pre-condemned by the Holy Apostle Paul who thunders: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema", have even received "synodal" approval both in the "Mission" document of the pseudo-synod of Crete (2016) and in documents of the Moscow Patriarchate - all of which declared that the Church now, suddenly at the end of the ages(!), has a "social mission"!
While jointly working together with heretics, Jews, Muslims, and pagans of various sorts, these "leaders", instead of striving to bring the true Gospel of salvation to such people, preach a new gospel manifested by their mission of "making the world a better place."
They forget the revelation of St. Seraphim of Sarov that: "Everything that ... belongs to ‘the party for the betterment of life’ is genuine anti-Christianity." They forget that the only "Christ" who will give them all that they seek will be the approaching Antichrist!
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Vladyka Averky, in the text below, reveals to us how we are to understand such apostatic perversions:
"The goal with which the Church of Christ is founded is the salvation of souls into eternal life, and therefore the true Church of Christ cannot, and should not, set itself any purely earthly goals, earthly tasks.
This does not mean at all that it should be completely detached from the earth and from everything earthly - no! - but this means that it should be higher than everything temporal, higher than everything earthly: to look at everything earthly and evaluate everything earthly from the lofty height of its position - from the side of its lofty goal, its high purpose - the eternal salvation of people.
Everything that on earth contributes to this lofty goal is acceptable to the Church and is approved and blessed by the Church; everything that hinders the achievement of this goal, and hinders it in one way or another, is unacceptable for the Church, rejected by the Church.
With the Church of Christ, they are waging a fierce struggle “not for life, but for death” by the “gates of hell,” that is, all the most selective hellish forces - to destroy it or, at least, to depersonalize it, in order to make it, in the expression of Christ the Savior Himself, "salt that has lost its savour" (Matt. 5:13), so that she would become unable to fulfill her high purpose - to save the souls of people into eternal life.
In our time, for many it has already become obvious and clear that it is impossible to simply destroy the Church: the bloody persecutions of so many centuries, including the very last persecutions of our time, have achieved nothing in this respect. That is why the "gates of hell" in our time have quite dramatically changed their tactics: they seek to depersonalize the Church - to divert her from her eternal unearthly goals and firmly bind her to the earth, with the earthly interests and aspirations of the people.
They do this through pliant, obsequious, "elastic" hierarchs who frivolously sell the Church for "the pieces of silver of Judas." Oh, how gravely those hierarchs sin before God and the Church, who are appointed to be “overseers” of the Church (for the very word “bishop” means “overseer”), guardians and guardians of it, who deviate from the lofty goals and tasks of the Church - the salvation of souls into life eternal - and strive for other purely earthly goals, to please the powerful of this age, going "in step with the times" in order to have from this, personally for themselves, any purely earthly benefits! Then only the appearance of the Church remains, but without its spirit.
But how, you ask, is it possible if Christ Himself promised that "the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church"?
Unfortunately, this dictum is misunderstood by many, misinterpreted, and in our time very often maliciously perverted. The invincibility of the Church by the "gates of hell", as well as the infallibility of the Church - concepts closely related to each other - belong to the Church of Christ as a whole, but not to any separate part of it, even if it is very numerous, and even more so - to any individuals, even to clergymen in the highest ranks: bishops and patriarchs. The history of the Church for many centuries testifies to the frequent cases of the falling away, from the true faith of Christ, of individuals - up to the highest hierarchs, and entire Christian societies.
The dictum of Christ about the invincibility of the Church by the gates of hell means only that the True Church of Christ will not disappear from the face of the earth until the very end of this age and the second coming of Christ, but this in no way excludes the appearance in Christian society of false churches - and "churches of the crafty" bearing only one external - the guise of the Church, but without her spirit, - churches that worship, instead of Christ, the Antichrist and serve not Christ, but the Antichrist.
The true Church of Christ will remain on earth even if at least one bishop remains in it (for “without a bishop there is no Church”) with only a few clergy and lay believers.
The main sign of the True Church of Christ is the preservation of the Truth, for the Church, according to the words of the great apostle of tongues, is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Christ the Savior came to earth, in His own words, in order to “bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:37), and all His faithful followers, and even more so the pastors of the Church, should take an example from Him and also - above all witness to the Truth, not allowing any lies - neither in their words, nor in their actions. No lie befits a true Christian - a minister of Truth. That is why St. Paul the Apostle exhorts all Christians: "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour" (Eph. 4:25).
All the more, lies are inadmissible in the mouths of the ministers of the Church of Christ, and especially, of course, it is intolerable in the mouths of high hierarchs who must always proclaim the one Truth on behalf of the entire Church.
What would it be if the martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity, "for the sake of the salvation of the Church" (now a very fashionable justification of this kind of lie!), Even if only feignedly, at the request of the tormentors, would deny Christ and offer sacrifices to idols? What would it be if the great Fathers of the Church, also “for the salvation of the Church,” instead of fighting the heretics, would find various compromises and come to terms with them? Where would the true Church of Christ be then? Wouldn't she then have disappeared from the face of the earth?
But now, for some reason, they say, everything has changed, and you can lie, lie, and lie endlessly "for the salvation of the Church" (??? !!!). Everything has now turned upside down, and all concepts are turned inside out! The struggle for the Faith is somehow reprehensible "politics". But conciliation with the fierce enemies of the Faith is not a "policy", but something very "commendable", now being approved by many as an act of "wisdom."
For many, the Church has now become a purely earthly organization that must serve earthly purposes, and the people of "this world", up to the obvious servants of Satan, who are trying to make it their obedient instrument.
But the worst thing is that this service to earthly goals is veiled, and often covered up with lofty evangelical slogans, and the sayings of Christ, as well as both apostolic and patristic sayings, which mislead many of the naive, who succumb to this dishonest deception, to this truly diabolical lie, which skillfully hides its essence.
But let us remember, brethren, that where there is a lie, in whatever form it may appear, with whatever speciousness [having a false look of truth or genuineness - editor] it may be covered, there is no True Church. There is a false church! For the True Church of Christ is "the pillar and foundation of the truth." "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise" (Eph. 5:15)!
[The above text is excerpted from "True Orthodoxy and the Contemporary World" by Vladyka Averky (Taushev) of most blessed memory.]