Holding back the Anti-Christ. . .

Catching up on some things I read that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was quoted as saying that the Russian Orthodox Church is “holding back the antichrist.” In Kirill's mind, Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church somehow blend together into one.  Therefore, whoever puts the squeeze on Russia is actually working against the Russian Orthodox Church.  The great Satan and the Antichrist are single-handedly being held back by the Russian Orthodox Church.  Now you go figure what he means -- was this in context of Western sanctions and the war in Ukraine or whatever.  What I will say is this.  It is dangerous.  The cross is wrapped around no flag and no flag is an agency of the cross.

It is dangerous to presume that the Church is holding back Satan and his minions and not Christ protecting the Church.  It is dangerous to arbitrarily label enemies of the state, enemies of the faith and of the Church.  It is dangerous to mix together the Church and state as if they were one.  It is more dangerous than even the minions of Satan.  

I get it.  Kirill, like the rest of us, wants to fight back against the forces working to disrupt the Kingdom of God.  We all want to do that.  We all want to vindicate Christ on the battlefield.  We all want to be the saviors of truth, orthodoxy, morality, and God.  But we have it all backwards.  God is the Savior who once for all rescued us from sin and its death in Christ Jesus but He must act all the time to restore His people from their captivity to fear, from their despair over not seeing more tangible signs of Christ's victory in society and among the nations, and from the delusion of power that would make Christ weak and us strong.

Yes, the sexual and gender agendas so predominate in this time are demonic and distort and distract from God's creative gift and order and redemption.  Yes, the times are becoming even more urgent and the Church, at least in appearance, more fragile and more willing to surrender truth for the lies of this moment.  We all get it.  For God's sake, every pastor worth his salt hears this litany of fear and anxiety from his people and every pastor laments that we are not prevailing in the court of public opinion.  But we are not warring against the forces of this earth and it is not a national war of boundaries.  It is a war of truth, of the tyranny of feelings, and of the individual and self-interest against what is good, right, godly, and righteous.  

Americans have oft confused the Church with the nation and made the best interest of our country the same as the best interest of Christ and His people.  In every case it has not gone well.  It will not go well for Kirill when he does it for Russia.  It is the great foible of the powerful who confuse the Kingdom of God with a tool for political and military purpose.  Christ is not about nation building but makes His kingdom come through the Word preached and the Sacraments administered.

Kirill also said that the Orthodox Church “keeps people from losing their bearings in life. … It is the Orthodox faith, living and acting in the Orthodox Church – this is the force that holds back (the antichrist).”  Here he has got it almost right.  It is the Church that keeps people from losing their bearings in life but the Church does so by the faithful proclamation of God's Word, the faithful catechesis that builds up the faithful in that Word, and the Sacraments of life and worship by which we are sustained, nourished, nurtured, and kept in that faith worked by the Spirit.  

Kirill sounds like he is worried about the decadence of the West infecting Russia and well he should but we should be worried about a secularized Church which acts as an arm of the state in Russia making every national cause into a holy war.  Both of us must learn, however, that what will preserve the faithful is not us or our institutions or even our power but simply the Word of the Lord that endures forever and the Sacraments of Christ.  Salvation is not ours to win but God's done once on Calvary and manifested among us when the cross and empty tomb are proclaimed and taught and its fruits received in the Sacraments.  This is where the Church needs to live.  

The Church and the people of God endure not on their own strength or cunning or power but only in Christ.  There is no earthly corner of the world where any of us may retreat but only to Christ.  We cannot appeal to or confuse the national aims of our countries with the aims and purposes of God.   There may have seemed to be a time when the interests of Church and state were more in line with each other but that may have had more to do with us than any real alignment of national and divine interest.

Yes, be good citizens of the land where you live.  By all means.  But do not be blind to the error of presuming that your leaders must be obeyed and the causes of your nation supported even when they conflict with God's Word.  The lesson of Nazism must never be forgotten when religion was used by a corrupt state to terrible end.  It may not happen on the scale it did then again but it will continue to be the bane of our unwillingness to listen to the Lord.  Trust not in earthly rulers or kingdoms.  Faith belongs to Christ alone.  The Church is accountable not to despot or democratically elected leaders but to Christ.  The purpose of the Church is to preach and teach the Word of God and to administer the Sacraments of our Lord.  Everything must flow from this and be judged by this.  Kirill seems to have forgotten this.  We have from time to time as well.   God will not judge us for our political victories but He will certainly judge us according to our faithfulness in these essential purposes.  Something to think about before having the color guard parade our national emblems into churches on the 4th of July weekend.