Question:
How to understand the words of the apostle that all authority comes from God. Is it necessary to reconcile with evil?

Priest Afanasy Gumerov answers:
Both supreme apostles, in full agreement with each other, say clearly and definitely: “Let every soul be submissive to the highest authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities have been established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority resists God's institution. But those who resist will bring upon themselves condemnation” (Rom. 13:1-2). St. also speaks about this. Apostle Peter: “Be subject therefore to every human authority, for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to rulers, as sent by Him” (1 Pet. 2:13-14). Let us remember that this was written under the emperor Nero, the first persecutor of Christians. These thoughts from Holy Scripture are sometimes a stumbling block for secular people who are accustomed to approaching events with political standards. Some believers, who do not understand the true nature of the Christian life, are trying to interpret these passages of the apostolic epistles in their own way. They mix their social and political likes and dislikes with spiritual concepts. A literal understanding of the above statements does not lead to the justification of evil. We are not talking about the invasion of foreigners, but about the subordination of the authorities existing in society. The Christian understanding of humility does not mean reconciliation with untruth, but presupposes spiritual victory over evil. Our Savior said to the Apostle Peter, who struck the servant of the high priest with his sword: “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will present to Me more than twelve legions of Angels?” (Matthew 26:53). But He did not do this, but followed the path of suffering on the cross, offered Himself as a Sacrifice and defeated the devil. The Lord calls us: “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). We are all called to create in the image of our Teacher. The saints walked this path and conquered evil spiritually. Great Martyr Demetrius was the ruler of the Solunsk region. He had an army under his command. However, when Emperor Maximian found out that he was a Christian and invited him to his place, St. Demetrius did not raise the region against him, but took the path of martyrdom. Our holy princes Boris and Gleb could have fought Svyatopolk, and perhaps they could have defeated him, but they disbanded their squads and performed the feat of passion-bearing. Now they are praying for us and helping us. Many such examples can be given.

The centuries-old experience of the Church shows that Christian humility not only does not imply spiritual and moral compromise, but requires confessional feat from a disciple of Christ. Likewise, during the reign of the Antichrist, a Christian must be ready to die for Christ.“He who leads into captivity will himself go into captivity; whoever kills with the sword must himself be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints” (Rev. 13:10). The Word of God indicates which path the faithful should follow when the atheistic government is allowed to go: “ patience and faith of the saints».

The Gospel does not call for armed resistance or other methods of struggle, but speaks of great devotion to God and perseverance: “Then they will hand you over to torture and kill you; and you will be hated by all nations because of My name; and then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another; and many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and, due to the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold; he who endures to the end will be saved"(Matthew 24:9-13).

I am greatly troubled by Romans (13:1-7). It is clear that you need to pay taxes, etc. But is all power really from God? Should I really bless Hitler, who burned Jews, or Stalin, who killed thousands of priests?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

In this place St. The Apostle Paul, in relation to society, expresses the truth that runs through all of Holy Scripture. In the world created by God, all power comes from God: the power of man over nature (Gen. 1.28), husband over wife (Gen. 3.16), parents over children (Lev. 19.3), king over his subjects. Lord from the beginning appearancelessness And emptiness(Gen.1:2) arranged the order: And God saw everything that He had created, and behold, it was very good(Gen.1:31). After the days of creation, God did not leave the world to its own devices. To maintain order in all areas of existence, God established various types of authority. In this sense, all power is from God. She protects the world from destructive disorder. Experience shows that the most difficult periods for the people are always times of anarchy - the so-called troubled times. “Multiple powers give rise to parties, and parties are the cause of division and decay” (St. Theodore the Studite. Ascetic instructions to monks. Homily 41).

The Lord gives not only the leaders and rulers of the chosen people the authority to govern their subjects, but also pagan monarchs. So, for example, Nebuchadnezzar was placed by the will of God over the entire Middle East (Jeremiah 27:6; Dan.2:37). However, it does not follow from this that all the actions of those in power are pleasing to God. “Hear therefore, O kings, and understand, learn, O judges of the ends of the earth! Listen, you who possess multitudes and who are proud before the nations! Dominion has been given to you from the Lord, and strength from the Most High, who will examine your deeds and test your intentions. For you, being servants of His kingdom, did not judge justly, did not keep the law, and did not walk according to the will of God. He will appear to you fearfully and quickly, and the judgment will be severe on those in authority” (Wis. Thess. 6:1-5).

When asserting that there is no power not from God(Rom. 13:1) one must accurately distinguish between the power directly established by God and the power allowed by Him. “Therefore we have the right to say that the very matter, I mean the authority, that is, the leadership and the royal power, was established by God so that society does not fall into disorder. But if some villain has unlawfully seized this power, then we do not claim that he was appointed by God, but we say that he was allowed ... to vomit all his wickedness, like Pharaoh, and in this case suffer extreme punishment" (Venerable Isidore Pelusiot. Letters, ch .2. To Dionysius). Even anointing to the kingdom does not exclude serious mistakes and crimes that are not pleasing to God. Suffice it to recall the biblical story. Examples are also known from the history of Byzantium and Russia. Everyone who had and has power over people (God’s creation) will give an answer to God for their deeds at the Last Judgment and will be either acquitted or condemned.

Holy Scripture speaks not only about submission to authorities, but also indicates the limits of obedience to them. They are determined by the highest laws of Divine Truth. Submission to authorities has limits: in cases where authority prevents a person from showing obedience to God, one should not submit to such authority: must obey God rather than men(Acts 5:29). This idea is clearly expressed in the patristic works. “We must obey the powers that be, unless this is prevented by the commandment of God” (St. Basil the Great. Moral rules. 79.1). His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, during his testimony at the trial of 54 priests on May 5, 1922, was asked a question by the chairman of the court: “Do you consider the laws existing in the state to be binding for yourself or not?” Saint Tikhon replied: “Yes, I admit, since they do not contradict the rules of piety” (Investigative file of Patriarch Tikhon. M., 2000, p. 134).

Let every soul obey the powers that be: for there is no power unless it is from God, but the existing powers were created by God.

(The Apostle) talks a lot about this subject in other epistles, when he talks about the obedience of servants to masters and subordinates. And he does this in order to show that Christ introduced His laws not to overthrow the general civil order, but to better correct it, and together he wants to teach us so that we do not undertake unnecessary and useless wars. We have had enough of the intrigues that are being built against us for the truth, and we should not add unnecessary and useless tests. Notice how opportunely the apostle started talking about this subject. After he offered his listeners various requirements of philosophy, disposed them to live in peace with friends and enemies, taught them to be useful to the happy, to the unfortunate, to the needy and, in short, to everyone, after he planted a life suitable for angels, he exhausted anger, humbled arrogance and completely softened their hearts - after all this he offers instructions on obedience to authorities. Indeed, if those who do wrong must be repaid with those who do the opposite, then all the more must those who do good be obeyed. But (the apostle) postpones this encouragement to the end of his exhortation, and for now he does not present such evidence as I mentioned, but calls us to do this out of a consciousness of duty. And, wanting to convey that this is commanded to everyone, not only the laity, but also priests and monks, he announces this at the beginning, saying this: ; even if you were an apostle or an evangelist, even if you were a prophet or someone else, submission to authority does not undermine piety. And (the apostle) not only said - let her be obedient, but - yes obey. The first basis for such a law, which also satisfies correct rational arguments, is that the authorities were established by God. There is no power if not from God, - says (the apostle). Like this? Is every ruler really appointed by God? That’s not what I’m saying, answers (the apostle). Now I am talking not about each boss individually, but about power itself. The existence of authorities, with some in charge and others subordinate, and the fact that everything does not happen by chance and arbitrarily, so that people rush here and there like waves - I call all this the work of God's Wisdom. That is why (the apostle) did not say that there is no leader who has not been appointed by God, but discusses in general the essence of authority and says: There is no power unless it comes from God, but the powers that exist are created by God.. So is the Wise One, when he says that from the Lord a wife and husband are combined(Prov. XIX, 14), means here that marriage is established by God, and not that God combines everyone who enters into marriage, since we see that many marry with a bad intention and not according to the law of marriage, and this is what we , of course, we cannot impute it to God. But what did Christ say: Having created from time immemorial, I created male and female; and he said: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife(Matt. XIX, 4, 5), the Wise One understood the same thing. Since equality often leads to quarrels, God established many types of authority and subordination, such as: between husband and wife, between son and father, between an old man and a young man, a slave and a free man, between a superior and a subordinate, between a teacher and a student. And why are you surprised at this in relation to people, when God arranged the same thing in the body? And here He did not make all the members equal in honor, but He made some smaller, others more important, some for control, others for subordination. The same can be seen among the dumb: bees, cranes, and herds of wild sheep. Even the sea is not devoid of such amenities, and there many species of fish are controlled by one, which leads the others and under whose command they go on distant journeys. And lack of authority is evil everywhere and is the cause of disorder.

Discourses on the Epistle to the Romans.

As Paul says that “there is... no power except from God”? This means that God placed it for our benefit. Sin made power necessary, and God used it in our favor. Just as medicine is needed for wounds, and the use of medicine depends on the wisdom of doctors, so the need for slavery is caused by sin, but its proper satisfaction is a matter of the wisdom of God.

Eight words on the book of Genesis. Word four.

St. Basil the Great

The king is not saved by much strength, but by the grace of God.

Homilies on the Psalms.

St. Feofan the Recluse

“Having formed morals (that is, having shown in the previous chapter what Christians should be in morals), the Apostle commands that those in authority be given due honor. For, as he who abundantly received the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, he foresaw that others, driven more by arrogance than by zeal (for good), would despise worldly leaders, considering themselves superior in knowledge; Moreover, he does this in order to suppress the rumor that has spread about the Apostles; for they slandered them, as if they were overthrowing the social order; and some said: those who corrupted the world have come here also (Acts 17:6); and others: they introduce other customs (cf. Acts 16:21). Therefore, I made it unnecessary to establish a law about this too” (Blessed Theodoret).

“The Apostle talks a lot about this in other Epistles, when he talks about the subordination of both servants to masters and subordinates to superiors. And through this he wants to show that Christ introduced His laws not to overthrow the general civil order, but to correct and improve it; and together he wants to teach us so that we do not undertake unnecessary and useless wars. We have had enough of the intrigues that are arranged against us for the sake of the truth; and one should not apply unnecessary and useless temptations. Notice how opportunely the Apostle started talking about this subject. After he offered his listeners various demands of Christian philosophy, set them up to live in peace with friends and enemies, taught them to be useful for the happy, the unfortunate, and the needy, in short - for everyone, instilled rules of community decent for the Angels, and exhausted their anger. , brought down arrogance and completely softened their hearts - after all this he offers his admonitions about obedience to the authorities. He calls us to obedience by the presentation of duty. And, wanting to convey that his commandment extends not only to worldly people, but to everyone, both priests and monks, he announces this in advance, saying this: Let every soul obey the powers that be. Even if you were an Apostle, even an Evangelist, even a Prophet, even someone else, obey. Submission to authority does not undermine godliness. The Apostle here does not mean simple obedience, but submission (humble, with bowing of the head). The first reason for such an institution, which satisfies the minds of the faithful, is that the authorities are instituted by God. There is no power if not from God- says the Apostle. Like this? Is every leader really appointed by God? Not so, I say, answers the Apostle. Now I am not talking about every boss in particular, but about the bosses themselves. That there are rulers, that some are in charge, and others are subordinate to them, and that there is no disorder, that something happens haphazardly and without order, that people rush here and there like waves - I call all this the work of God’s wisdom. Therefore, the Apostle did not say that there is no leader who has not been appointed by God, but, speaking generally about authority, he says: There is no power if it is not from God: the powers that exist are created by God. Likewise, when the Wise One says that: a wife is married to her husband from the Lord (cf. Proverbs 19:14), he means through this that marriage was established by God, and not that God combines each person entering into marriage. For we see that many marry with bad looks and not according to the law, which, however, we cannot at all impute to God. But what did Christ say: Having created from time immemorial, I created male and female; and saying: for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife (cf. Matt. 19: 4 - 5), the Wise One understood the same thing. Since equality often leads to quarrels, God has established many types of superiors and subordinates, such as: between husband and wife, between son and father, between an old man and a young man, a slave and a free man, between a superior and a subordinate, between a teacher and a student. And should one marvel at such an establishment between people, when God established the same thing in the body? For He has so arranged that not all members have equal dignity, but one is inferior, another is more important, and some govern, others are governed. We notice the same thing among dumb animals: bees, cranes, and herds of wild sheep. Even the sea is not devoid of such amenities, but even there, in many genera of fish, one controls and leads many, and under her command they go on distant journeys. On the contrary, lack of beginning is evil everywhere and produces confusion” (St. Chrysostom).

However, from other places of Scripture it is clear that leaders, one or the other, exist according to Divine providence; God appoints only the good and beneficent, and allows the bad to be leaders as punishment for human sins. This is what Blessed Theodoret writes: “If God is pleased, he gives leaders who respect justice. For it is said: I will give you shepherds after My heart, and they will feed you with understanding (cf. Jer. 3:15); and again: I will appoint your judges as before, and your counselors as from the beginning (cf. Is. 1:26). But in order to admonish those who sin, God allows evil leaders to rule. For it is said: I will make young men rulers over them, and scoffers will rule over them” (cf. Isa. 3:4).

Interpretation of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans.

St. Filaret of Moscow

Let every soul obey the powers that be: for there is no power unless it is from God: the powers that exist are created by God.

It is not difficult for an impartial investigator to understand how power, according to Christian teaching, comes from God. Where does this multitude of people come from, united by language and customs, which is called the people? It is obvious that this multitude was born from a certain smaller tribe, and this came from a family. So in the family, properly so-called, lie the seeds of everything that later opened up and grew in the great family, which is called the state. Consequently, one should look there for the beginnings and the first image of power and subordination, visible today in society. The father, who naturally has the power to give life to his son and to form his faculties, is the first ruler; a son who cannot maintain his ability to educate himself or preserve his life itself without obeying his parents and educators is naturally subservient. But since the power of the father was not created by the father himself and was not given to him by the son, but occurred together with man from the One who created man, it is revealed that the deepest source and the highest beginning of the first, and consequently, all subsequent power between men is in God . Out of him, firstly, as the Apostle explains, every fatherland in heaven and on earth is called(Eph.3:15); then, when the sons of sons are born into a people and a state grows from the family, immense for the natural power of the father, God gives this power a new, artificial image and a new name, and thus, by His wisdom kings reign(Proverbs 8:15) And further, no matter how long nations continue, no matter how states change, the Most High always rules over the kingdom of man through the all-effective Providence (Dan. 4:22).

Word on the day of the crowning of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander I.

St. Ephraim Sirin

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

Every soul, says, which, if it is subordinate to the authorities, let it obey them, - for there is no authority (unless) from God. Whether one (of the rulers) is unjust or cruel, he (the boss) is given to tame the unjust and to approve the righteous. If he is kind and truthful, then he is given out of mercy.

Interpretation of the epistles of the divine Paul. To the Romans.

St. Anastasy Sinait

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

Because God says in the Law: “I will give you rulers according to your own hearts”(Jer. 3:15), then we say that those of the rulers and kings who are worthy of such honor are appointed by God, and those who are unworthy due to their unworthiness are appointed either by God’s permission or by His will for people who deserve it.

Therefore, my beloved [brother], when you see an unworthy and bad king, or a ruler, or a bishop, do not be surprised, but know and believe that for our iniquities we have been handed over [to the power of] such a tyrant. But even then we do not abstain from evil and, while in sorrow, we commit evil deeds. Believe my words: if today the Saracens move away from us, then tomorrow the Prasini and Veneti will rise up and begin to slaughter each other. Or there will be unrest in the East, in Arabia, Palestine and many other areas.

Questions and answers.

St. Isidore Pelusiot

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

You wrote: what does it mean? there is no power if not from God? - and asked: is every boss really appointed by God? I will say to this (and do not be angry with me, for I will not say something empty): it seems to me that you either did not read Paul’s sayings, or did not understand them. The Apostle Paul did not say: carry boss, if not from God, but talked about the leadership itself, saying: there is no power except from God.

The very fact that people have rulers, and some rule, others live under leadership, does not happen simply and not by chance, so that peoples, like waves, are carried hither and thither, but, in the words of St. Paul, this is a work of God’s wisdom. Since equality usually sparks war, God did not allow the rule of the people to exist, but established royal power, and then many authorities followed it. Which ones, you ask? Chief and subordinate, husband and wife, father and son, old man and young man, master and slave, teacher and student.

Even in dumb animals one can see something similar. The guarantors in this are the bees, which are subordinate to the royal power, the cranes and the flocks of wild sheep. If you look at the sea, then it will not be devoid of this decorum. And there, many breeds of fish have one ruler and leader, and therefore carry out long-distance migrations. For lack of authority is the most terrible thing everywhere and is the cause of confusion and disorder. Therefore, in the body, although it is something unified, not everything has equal dignity, but some members are in charge, and others are subordinate. Therefore, we have the right to say that the very thing, I mean the authority, that is, the leadership and the royal power, were established by God so that society would not fall into disorder.

But if some villain has seized this power unlawfully, then we do not claim that he was appointed by God, but we say that he is allowed to either vomit up all his wickedness, like Pharaoh, and in this case suffer extreme punishment, or bring chastity to those for whom cruelty is also necessary how the king of Babylon brought chastity to the Jews.

Letters. Book II.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

One should not enter into the affairs of superiors and judge them; This offends the majesty of God, from Whom the authorities come, for there is no... power that is not from God, but the existing powers were created by God.

One should not resist authority for good, so as not to sin before God and not be subjected to His righteous punishment: In the same way, one who resists the authority of God resists the commandment: those who resist themselves accept sin. The boss must be in obedience, for the obedient one through this achieves much in the creation of the soul, in addition to the fact that through this he acquires an understanding of things and comes to tenderness.

Teachings.

Blzh. Augustine

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

When Paul says: Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, then quite rightly he warns those who pride themselves on the fact that they are called by the Lord to freedom and have become a Christian, and therefore believe that in this life he is not obliged to serve in the status that belongs to him and to obey higher authorities, who are entrusted for the time being with the management of temporary things. But since we consist of soul and body, and as long as we live this temporary life and use temporary things for the needs of this life, then we should submit to the authorities in that part that relates to this life. And authorities are people who manage human affairs with a certain authority. In the same part that relates to our faith in God and calling into His Kingdom, we must not submit to anyone who wants to overcome in us what God has deigned us to obtain for eternal life. And if anyone believes that if he is a Christian, he should not pay taxes or taxes or show due respect to the authorities who take care of these matters, then he is in great error. In the same way, if anyone thinks that he must obey to such an extent that the ruler over him in human affairs has authority in matters of faith, then he falls into an even greater mistake. The measure that the Lord Himself established should be observed: to give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's(Matt. 22:21) . And although we are called to a Kingdom where there will be no power of this world, on the way to it, while the state has not yet been reached when all authority and all authority will be abolished, let us cope with our conditions for the sake of order in human affairs, without doing anything pretending and submitting in this not to people, but to God, who commands us to do so.

Some themes from the book of Romans.

Blzh. Theodoret of Cyrus

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

If anyone is a priest, or a bishop, or has taken monastic vows, then let him yield to those to whom the leadership has been entrusted. It is clear that they must do this with piety, for they should not obey their superiors if this leads to opposition to the commandments of God. It should be known, however, that the divine apostle makes authority and subordination to him dependent on the providence of God, and does not say that this or that person is appointed by God to rule. After all, it is not the power of the unrighteous from the establishment of God, but the structure of this power itself... since, wanting to educate those who sin, He allows them to be ruled by bad rulers.

Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul.

Blzh. Theophylact of Bulgaria

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities

Having offered his listeners sufficient instructions regarding morality and taught them to be favorable even to their enemies, he also offers a real exhortation, teaching every soul, even a priest, even a monk, even an apostle, to obey his superiors; for this submission does not undermine piety. And the apostle offers this exhortation with the goal of showing that the Gospel does not teach treason or disobedience to superiors, but a noble way of thinking and obedience.

For there is no power except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

What are you saying? Is every boss really appointed by God? “That’s not what I’m saying,” he answers. Now I have a word not about each boss individually, but about the bosses themselves. That there are principalities, that some are in charge and others are subordinate, and that there is no confusion between higher and lower, this I call a matter of the wisdom of God. For he did not say: there is no leader, but there is no power not from God. Therefore, I say, he talks about the Subject itself, about the authorities. Like this, when the wise man says: an intelligent wife is from the Lord(Prov. 19:14), expresses not that God unites everyone who enters into marriage, but that marriage is established by God. So, all powers, no matter what you take into consideration, whether father over son, husband over wife, or all others, even those that exist between animals, for example, between bees, cranes, fish - all are established by God.

Commentaries on the Epistle to the Romans.

Origen

Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities are established by God

Paul says: There is no power not from God. Someone might object: how can this be? Is it really that the power that persecutes the servants of God is hostile to faith and undermines religion, also from God? To this we will briefly answer this: everyone knows that sight, hearing, and understanding were given to us by God. But although we have all this from God, it is in our power to turn our sight either to good deeds or to bad ones; and the same can be said about hearing, about hand movements and about thoughts. So, God’s judgment is righteous when we use what is given to us for good for evil, that is, to commit wicked and shameful deeds. Likewise, all power is given from God - to the good for praise, to the evil for vengeance, as the apostle himself says in the following lines. And therefore, God’s judgment will be righteous against those who use the received power for their own wicked deeds, and not in accordance with divine laws.

Andrey Desnitsky

“Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities have been established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority resists God’s ordinance.”- this quote from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans (13:1-2) and some others like it became very popular in December last year. The conclusion from them is quite clear: it is unacceptable for a Christian to oppose or even object to the legitimate authorities of his country in any way, for example, to go to rallies. But, on the other hand, doesn’t it happen that the existing authorities demand from a Christian something that is contrary to his conscience? We find many such examples in history.

Early Christian martyrs were officially persecuted for state crimes: they refused to make sacrifices to the gods, including the emperor. No one forbade them to believe in Christ, nor did they even force them to seriously believe in Jupiter or Zeus; they just had to take part in the cult obligatory for all subjects of the empire, at least purely symbolically. They went to their death, not wanting to be a hypocrite.

What about the new martyrs in our country? They also avoided fulfilling any decrees of the Council of People's Commissars that abolished Christianity on the territory of the Republic of Soviets. And there is nothing new in this; in the New Testament, before the Epistle to the Romans there are the Acts of the Apostles, and this is the answer the apostles gave to the Sanhedrin, a completely legitimate authority, to the demand to stop their preaching: “one must obey God rather than men” (5:29).

Then, perhaps, the principle here is this: completely obey any command of the authorities, except in those cases when they personally demand from you something contrary to faith and God’s will?

But let's open the Gospel, it comes at the very beginning of the New Testament, and the first one mentioned in it... Everyone remembers that he was executed by King Herod, but for what exactly? For denouncing his wicked marriage: Herod stole his own brother’s wife. Why did John interfere in this private matter, since the king did not demand anything from him, and, moreover, “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and took care of him; I did a lot listening to him, and listened to him with pleasure.”(Mark 6:20). Wouldn't it be better to use this location to influence the king himself, and through him, life throughout the country? Why was it necessary to follow the principle, to aggravate relations, so much so that the matter ended in execution? Maybe John the Baptist was a religious extremist?

But let's look at the history of Byzantium, where a “symphony of powers” ​​existed, or at least was proclaimed, secular and spiritual. Its ideal was first expressed in the introduction to the 6th novella of Justinian (IV century):

“The greatest gifts of God, given to people by the highest love for mankind, are the priesthood and the kingdom. The first serves divine affairs, the second takes care of human affairs. Both come from the same source and adorn human life. Therefore, if the first is truly blameless and adorned with fidelity to God, and the second is adorned with a correct and decent state system, there will be good agreement between them.”

Let us pay attention to the condition: the priesthood must be blameless, and the kingdom must be correct and orderly, otherwise there can be no agreement.

In Byzantine history, there was agreement between these two authorities, but it also happened differently. How kindly and benevolently the imperial couple, Arcadius and Eudoxius, received the famous preacher in Constantinople, and with what fervor he brought down his sermons on their heads! And when they asked him to calm down, when they threatened him with punishment, he answered directly from the pulpit: “Herodias is raging again, again indignant, dancing again, again demanding the head of John on a platter.” This is directly said about the empress.

And why, I wonder, did the conflict escalate? Yes, for the most insignificant thing: a silver statue of the empress was installed at the hippodrome to amuse the mother empress by paying honor to her.

And this is far from the only example... Emperor Leo VI, violating church customs and the civil law issued by his father Vasily I, entered into a fourth marriage. As in the case of Herod, and with Eudoxia - it would seem that this was his private matter. But when the emperor, at the head of a solemn procession on Christmas Day 906, went to Hagia Sophia, Patriarch Nicholas the Mystic slammed the doors of the temple in front of him and exposed his sin in front of all the people.

Another similar episode is associated with the name of Michael Palaeologus, who in 1261 blinded his formal co-ruler and the only legal heir to the throne, John IV, then still a child. This was not only an atrocity, but also a crime of oath, because Mikhail had previously sworn not to harm the boy-heir. The Church could not agree with such an act; the emperor, not wanting to accept accusations, after long disputes, deposed first the legitimate patriarch Arseny (1265), then his own protege Germany (1266), but still in 1267 he had to publicly repent of his sin before the third patriarch, Joseph.

Where does such intransigence and integrity come from? Well, it was worth keeping silent, and even justifying your silence with a quote from the apostle... And how can these protests be combined with that very quote? How can you argue with the authorities if they are from God?

The same Saint John Chrysostom quite clearly resolved these perplexities in his commentary on this Epistle:

“Is every ruler really appointed by God? That’s not what I’m saying, the apostle answers. Now I am talking not about each boss individually, but about power itself. The existence of authorities, whereby some are in charge and others are subordinate, and the fact that everything does not happen by chance and arbitrarily, so that people rush here and there like waves - I call all this the work of God’s Wisdom.”

In other words, Christians are not called to support any existing authority in all its actions, they are obliged to respect its legal requirements, and nothing more. But how can this very principle of power established by God, as Chrysostom interprets it, be correlated with a specific state structure, clearly imperfect, and with specific rulers, clearly not without sin. Well, should we say that only the general principle is important to us, and that people and institutions are indifferent to us?

Not at all. John the Baptist, John Chrysostom, Nicholas the Mystic and many others denounced the rulers precisely because they were not indifferent to them. Let us note that they did not organize palace coups or revolutions.

Likewise in Russia, but refused to explicitly support the White movement: a civil war cannot receive a Christian blessing.

Likewise, the apostles did not try to overthrow the Sanhedrin, and the martyrs did not rebel against Roman rule. Their weapon was the word, not the sword.

The forms of government are changeable, and in these very changes we see the manifestation of God's will. The Church testifies to this in the Christmas stichera of the nun-poet Cassia:

“To Augustus the one-man ruler of the earth, the plurality of men has ceased; and You will become human from the Pure One, the polytheism of idols will be abolished. Under a single kingdom of the world there was a city, and the pagans believed in one dominion of the Divine. Having written to the people by the command of Caesar, we have written in faithfulness to the name of the Divinity, to You, our God made man. Great is Your mercy, O Lord, glory to You.”

Indeed, Christian preaching was able to spread throughout the Mediterranean only because it was the territory of a single state with a developed infrastructure. If, instead of Rome, many small kingdoms had remained in this territory, warring with each other, this would have been much more difficult to do. The Apostle Paul himself ended up in Rome, taking advantage of his right as a Roman citizen to ask the emperor for trial - by the way, he did not hesitate to remind the authorities of his legal rights when it helped the cause of preaching.

Undoubtedly, there was God's hand in that Byzantine state structure, which we associate today with the concept of a symphony, and it was also in the fact that this structure ceased. And revolutions, and persecutions, and disasters - they also do not happen without God’s will, although here we are rather used to talking about “permission”: God allowed the evil that people planned to happen. It is difficult not to see the will of God in the fact that today our country, like most of its neighbors, lives under a democratic constitution, whether we like it or not.

What is the general Christian principle of attitude towards authority? If she opposes Christianity, Christians must remain themselves, fulfilling her demands to the extent that does not contradict their Christian conscience. Evil and violence are overcome by good, and not by retaliatory violence, Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount. This is difficult to do, but quite easy to understand.

But what to do in cases where the government considers itself Christian or at least sympathizes with Christianity? Cooperate with her, but strictly remind her of the laws if she breaks them, even where it does not affect us personally.

What do we, it would seem, care about the illegal marriages of King Herod or Emperor Leo? Isn’t it better to remain silent in such cases? But the sharpest rebuke from Christ in the Gospel was religious hypocrisy: you live for your own pleasure, but pretend that you follow all the laws. So, of course, it is possible to act according to the principle “they don’t bother us, so we don’t stick our neck out,” but there is nothing from the apostolic commandment in this. In the same way, the revolutionary pathos of “destroying the whole world of violence, and then” building a world of even more terrible violence has nothing to do with Christianity.

Peacefully but firmly reminding the rulers of those norms and laws that they themselves acknowledge in words, but are in no hurry to implement in practice - this is quite Christian.

- The Bible says: “ No power, if not from God. Those who existauthorities the essence was created by God.” How to correctly understand this phrase in the context of our time?

Literally. The very principle of power is a Divine institution, it is necessary. Otherwise people will destroy each other.

- Government?

Any. Even the power of an usher in a movie theater, an assistant teacher in a kindergarten, or a school principal. He can “pout”, but in reality he has no power, he is the most downtrodden creature in the world, who is afraid of losing his place, so he is ready to do any nasty things to the children, if only the authorities are happy, because from their hands he receives food. But if you leave small children alone for a week, then after this time you will collect a pile of corpses: they will scream, not eat, not sleep, and throw anything. The principle of authority keeps children from doing this. All people are equal in their capabilities before God, but the vesting of power gives a person authority, and thanks to this, order exists.

Revolution is anarchy. Some say: “He’s sucking up to Putin.” Not to Putin, but to the principle of state power. We come to France and may not even notice the president point-blank and not go to him for breakfast if he invites us, there is nothing valuable for us there. But he is endowed with power, he can give orders to the police and gendarmerie. In Paris there is a chic gendarmerie, they ride huge horses. The horses of the French gendarmes are one of the strongest impressions of my life. But it’s a paradox: our officer wears his uniform with pride, but in France he is forbidden to appear on the street in his uniform.

- It turns out that the government is destroying statehood and terrorizing the people. And this power is from God?

All power is from God, but each individual person may not be from God, for example Adolf Hitler. He came to power in an absolutely democratic way, he was chosen by the German people. Then, however, there were several acts of usurpation. He, the legally elected chancellor, brought all the troubles for Germany and Europe. There must be mechanisms that, in the event of a mistake by the people, would allow re-elections to be carried out. There is an impeachment procedure for this. Of course, the fastest way is monarchical: the country chooses a king, he rules as long as he wants, and then prepares an heir for himself. The people can elect a successor or choose another king - there is no need to hold elections every time and cheat. There is an appropriate procedure in case the king is out of his mind, ill or out of date. Although we can see from our veterans, who are 90 years old: their heads are in place, in perfect order, they work like clockwork, and Zeldin still dances and sings for the whole people, God grant him good health. This is the only such artist in the whole world, people like him, no one is going to fire him and send him into retirement. Many people shout: “I’m tired of Putin!” Aren't you tired of Zeldin? It is not schoolchildren and housewives that should participate in elections (this should be completely excluded), but the smartest and most educated people among the people.

Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov