The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests.
History testifies of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. GC 580.2 – GC 580.3
BY NICK MORDOWANEC ON 1/06/23 AT 10:52 AM EST
Russian Orthodox priests remain aligned with President Vladimir Putin, supporting troops on the frontlines while criticizing Ukrainians for espousing so-called Western values.
Archpriest Svyatoslav Churkanov is one of dozens of those priests, telling Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he does not doubt the goals of Russia’s strategic mission and its defense of “traditional values.” He and other priests have met with troops to aid them mentally and spiritually.
“In Ukraine, even in wartime conditions, they are holding gay parades to show that they share Western values,” Churkanov said.
Several Orthodox clerics have died in Ukraine, according to the independent Moscow Times. One of them was Mikhail Vasilyev, who posthumously received the Hero of Russia award, the country’s top honor, from Putin.Chief of the Russian General Military Staff, Valery Gerasimov (left), Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (center) and Russian Orthodox monk Cyprian Colonel Valery Burkov (right) attend a ceremony to award Gold Star medals to “Heroes of Russia” on the eve of Heroes of the Fatherland Day at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 8, 2022. Russian Orthodox priests have expressed various views about values and Satanism being part of Russia’s special military operation.ALEXEY MAISHEV/SPUTNIK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Putin initiated his “special military operation” in Ukraine last February 24 for the purpose of what he and other top officials referred to as “denazification.” The term was adjusted around October, switching to “desatanization” to combat “hundreds of sects” in Ukraine that allegedly abandoned Orthodox values.
“I believe that, with the continuation of the special military operation, it becomes more and more urgent to carry out the desatanization of Ukraine,” said Aleksey Pavlov, assistant secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation. “Using internet manipulation and psychotechnologies, the new regime turned Ukraine from a sovereign state to a totalitarian hypersect.”
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in November said Russia was not fighting against just Ukraine but also Satan.
After return from Ukraine
Russian “Walter White” among ex-cons released after return from Ukraine
On Energy, Putin’s Back Is Against the Wall
On Energy, Putin’s Back Is Against the Wall
WORLD
Russian Priest Says Ukraine War Is About Religion, Attacks ‘Gay Parades’
BY NICK MORDOWANEC ON 1/06/23 AT 10:52 AM EST
SHARE
WORLD RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH SATANISM DMITRY MEDVEDEV
Russian Orthodox priests remain aligned with President Vladimir Putin, supporting troops on the frontlines while criticizing Ukrainians for espousing so-called Western values.
Archpriest Svyatoslav Churkanov is one of dozens of those priests, telling Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he does not doubt the goals of Russia’s strategic mission and its defense of “traditional values.” He and other priests have met with troops to aid them mentally and spiritually.
Through spiritualism, Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith; but at the same time he works as a destroyer. His temptations are leading multitudes to ruin. Intemperance dethrones reason; sensual indulgence, strife, and bloodshed follow. Satan delights in war, for it excites the worst passions of the soul and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another, for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God. GC 589.1
Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by EGW
NEWSWEEK SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS >
READ MORE
Russia breaks Putin’s ceasefire with new attacks: Ukraine
Shaman predicts Alaska and California will become part of Russia
Russian teen may face years in jail for reposting criticism of Putin’s war
It’s not just priests who are fighting an ideology-based battle.
Nikita Astakhov is the artistic director of a Moscow theater called Glas (Voice), described as a venue that has promoted Orthodox values and Russia’s mission of “rising up against evil.”
“Russia will never be defeated as long as more than half of Russians are Orthodox,” Astakhov told AFP.
Not all Russian clerics support the rhetoric emanating from their homeland.
Andrei Kordochkin is an Orthodox priest now based in Madrid who was one of 300 priests who previously signed an open letter urging authorities to end the “fratricidal war” in Ukraine.
Kordochkin told the Moscow Times that Russian officials are repeating similar language as that used during the Middle Ages, which Pope Urban referenced to bless the Crusades.
“We can be nostalgic for the Middle Ages, but it is impossible to return there,” he said. “War as a form of murder cannot have any spiritual meaning at all.”
Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed!
The defenders of the papacy declare that the church has been maligned, and the Protestant world are inclined to accept the statement. Many urge that it is unjust to judge the church of today by the abominations and absurdities that marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of the barbarism of the times and plead that the influence of modern civilization has changed her sentiments.
Have these persons forgotten the claim of infallibility put forth for eight hundred years by this haughty power? So far from being relinquished, this claim was affirmed in the nineteenth century with greater positiveness than ever before. As Rome asserts that the “church never erred; nor will it, according to the Scriptures, ever err ” (John L. von Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, book 3, century II, part 2, chapter 2, section 9, note 17), how can she renounce the principles which governed her course in past ages?
The papal church will never relinquish her claim to infallibility. All that she has done in her persecution of those who reject her dogmas she holds to be right; and would she not repeat the same acts, should the opportunity be presented? Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments be removed and Rome be reinstated in her former power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny and persecution.
A well-known writer speaks thus of the attitude of the papal hierarchy as regards freedom of conscience, and of the perils which especially threaten the United States from the success of her policy:
“There are many who are disposed to attribute any fear of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or childishness. Such see nothing in the character and attitude of Romanism that is hostile to our free institutions, or find nothing portentous in its growth. Let us, then, first compare some of the fundamental principles of our government with those of the Catholic Church.
“The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience . Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. Pope Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.' The same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematizedthose who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,’ also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.’
“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’… The archbishop of St. Louis once said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.’…
“Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the following words: ‘Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord (the pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.'”—Josiah Strong, Our Country, ch. 5, pars. 2-4. See Appendix for Corrected References.
It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman Catholic communion. Thousands in that church are serving God according to the best light they have. They are not allowed access to His word, and therefore they do not discern the truth. Published in 1888 and 1911. See Appendix. They have never seen the contrast between a living heart service and a round of mere forms and ceremonies. God looks with pitying tenderness upon these souls, educated as they are in a faith that is delusive and unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate the dense darkness that surrounds them. He will reveal to them the truth as it is in Jesus, and many will yet take their position with His people.
But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side. See the increasing number of her churches and chapels in Protestant countries. Look at the popularity of her colleges and seminaries in America, so widely patronized by Protestants. Look at the growth of ritualism in England and the frequent defections to the ranks of the Catholics. These things should awaken the anxiety of all who prize the pure principles of the gospel.
Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery; they have made compromises and concessions which papists themselves are surprised to see and fail to understand. Men are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism and the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty. GC 563.1 – GC 566.1
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, described as a powerful ally of Putin, has embraced medieval rhetoric, however, and called on believers to support pro-Russian “brothers” in battle.
On January 5, the Moscow Patriarchate released a statement that Kirill called for a Christmas truce between January 6 and January 8 that “appeals to all parties involved in the internecine strife to cease fire.”
Newsweek reached out to Orthodox churches in Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. for comment.
Adventist Angels Watchman Radio 