ANTICHRIST IN RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS CONSCIOUSNESS. L.R.
On a boundary of XX century almost simultaneously three literary works are created in Russia which have deep influenced on formation of contemporary Christian consciousness. «The Legend about the Great Inquisitor» of Feodor Dostoevsky, «the Story about Antichrist» of Vladimir Solovjev and «the Protocols of the Elders of Zion» which probably author was Peter Rachkovsky, the member of secret Russian police. Despite all distinction of driving motives of their authors, despite all dissimilarity of emotional and political accents, these works actually were the complement of each other, creating a bright and complete image of Antichrist as centre (or hub) of the world evil, which is aspiring to embody, to personify itself in real history.
However the tragical experience of the XX century which has opened the new depths of evil, urges us to reconsider critically this image of Antichrist which has already become habitual and as though "canonical". We will consider three sides of this image depicted in mentioned works.
Dostoevsky – the great expert on the human soul who have deeply peered into bottomless abysses of human nature: with skill of genius he has depicted the horrible things which our diurnal consciousness so dreads: perverted desires, criminal impulses, irrational fears. Great Inquisitor has constructed his power over person on manipulation with these dark elements of soul. Dostoevsky represents his as the same penetrating psychologist as himself was. But Dostoevsky saw his mission in bringing Divine light into the bowels of subconsciousness. The Inquisitor on the contrary wants to maintain the person for ever such what he is now, without admitting any possibility of his spiritual growth. As the "sober realist" and "the careful father", he takes up the all burden of responsibility for vices and crimes of his unreasonable and weak children. Here he obviously represents the travesty (parody) of Jesus Christ who «took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses». Dominating in His name, the Inquisitor knows that actually he serves to that "terrible and clever spirit» which tempted the Christ in wilderness. «We are not with thee, we are with him» – he speaks to live Jesus who unexpectedly appears on streets of Seville at the fifteenth century. As though continuing unfinished dispute of Satan with Jesus, the Inquisitor speaks:
«Thou have not wanted to deprive the person of freedom …, you have objected that the human is live not only by bread, but did you know that for the sake of this bread the spirit of earth will rebel on thee and will battle to you and will defeat you and all will follow him, exclaiming:
“Who is similar unto this beast, he make fire come down from heaven for us!“
They will understand at last that freedom and earthly bread for everyone are unthinkable together, because they never, never will manage to divide between themselves! They will be convinced also that they can never be free because they are weak, vicious, insignificant and rebellious... Therefore no anxiety is more tormentingly for man than to find the one to whom to give back this gift of freedom with which this unfortunate being is born … At free o'clock from work we will arrange them the life as children's game, with children's songs, chorus, with innocent dancing … We will tell them that any sin will be redeemed, if it is made with our permission; we will allow them to sin, because we love them, and the punishment for these sins let's we will incur. And they will adore us as benefactors who are carrying their sins before God».
Dostoevsky's powerful preaching (the most readable Russian writer in the West) was inculcating in heart of the educated man the deep hatred to any spiritual enslavement of the person. In Russian domestic experience such enslavement proceeded first of all from the state whereas in the European consciousness the image of the Great Inquisitor became an embodiment of the worst aspects of papism.
Vladimir Solovjev depicts the bearer of world evil with other paints. "Antichrist" of Solovjev is the embodiment of virtue – in words, affairs and even alone with his own conscience, this virtue takes paints of Christian ideals:
«He nourishes his egoism by consciousness of the superhuman virtues and gifts – after all he is, as told, the person of faultless morals and extraordinary genius».
His life affair is establishment of the all-embracing peace on the earth and of kingdom of "common satiety".
Despite the wide spreading of Dostoevsky and Solovjev ideas, they are beyond compare with notorious «Protocols of the Elders of Zion» which had the fate to become the true bestseller of XX century. Four times republished between two Russian revolutions, "Protocols" had got huge popularity in the Versailles Germany, having played the considerable role in Hitler's coming to power. And after that the Goebbels ministry of propaganda published their in many million copies in various languages, in advance distributing them in those countries, which Reich was going to occupy. New explosion of publications "Protocols" has place in contemporary Russia: almost on all church book counters they are lying near to the Gospel and creations of Holy Fathers.
It can seem illogical and even shocking that I put in one row with great creations of Dostoevsky and Solovjev such dirty lampoon, as «Protocols of the Elders of Zion». But the fact consists that all these three works form in Christian consciousness, in essence a uniform image of Antichrist, though in its different aspects.
Representing the picture of the world Jewish plot, Peter Rachkovsky depicts it as «negative imprint» of organization, the member of which he was. At the time when "Protocols" were being written he served as head of the Russian intelligence service in Paris, and after 1905 he became the chief of political department of imperial secret police.
Like the ones accused by medieval inquisition or by Stalin court shows, "the Elders" whom Rachkovsky has represented, with extreme diligence try to convince the reader in their extraordinary villainy. And the most ridiculous thing, to convince in this each other – after all it pretended to be top-secret document only for initiated ones.
Here are few examples:
«Our password – force and hypocrisy», «we should not stop before bribery, a deceit and treachery», «we have fooled, intoxicated and corrupted the goy's youth», «we have created the mad, dirty, disgusting literature» etc., etc.
If to themselves and to their own affairs «the princes of Israel» apply dirty, low and discrediting words, but they speak for example about autocracy with such exalted pathos:
«Only the autocratic ruler can design extensively clear plans, distributing all the mechanism of state machinery».
Or such:
«In those days, when the people looked at tsar reign as pure manifestation of Divine will, they obeyed tsar autocracy without a murmur»; but owing to efforts of conspirators «anointing of Divine election had fallen down from head of tsars in the eyes of the people».
To great triumph of Neo-slavophiles in Russia, mysterious and powerful «princes of Israel» had turned out to be the hot propagandists of the church-parish organisation of all the social life:
«With such faith the people would be looked after by parishes and would go humbly and mildly under hand of spiritual shepherd, obeying Divine distribution on the earth».
Not otherwise, Zion wise men have entered insidious conspiracy with orthodox enthusiasts of "parish idea» which on a boundary of centuries was much discussed in Russian press: to replace with church parish the disappearing rural commune.
On a broader scale, "Protocols" have not ignored any of important questions facing the Russian power and society in that time. Here for example it is possible to read concerning topical idea of "progress":
«We with full success have turned heads of brainless goys and there are not any mind among the goys which would see that under this word the perversion of truth is concealed, in all cases where matter does not concern of material inventions because the one truth exists and the progress has not any place in it».
«We have injected the poison of liberalism into the state organism... From liberalism the constitutional states were born which have replaced autocracy salutary for goys. The constitution as we well know is not any other as school of demagogy, dissonance, disputes, disagreements, fruitless party propagandas, party tendencies – in a word, the school of all that depersonalizes state activity».
All this – almost direct citations from Pobedonostsev.
Speech is not that similar views are absolutely deprived sense: Rachkovsky and Pobedonostsev were fairly clever people. But only very silly person can believe that their views so hotly and convincingly are preached by Jews, moreover the conspirators against autocratic statehood!
As a whole, if to remove the comical details, "the destructive" program of "Protocols" turn out to be only modernistic, humanistic and liberal. Certainly it is impossible to invent the worst "crime" for conservative-monarchic consciousness! But as a matter of fact Zion wise men of Rachkovsky offer the same project of full satisfaction of bodily and social requirements of mankind (including the visibility of freedom), as Antichrist of Solovjev. And in contempt for unreasonable crowd, in readiness to manipulate with human weaknesses they are very much similar to the Great Inquisitor represented by Dostoevsky.
Certainly each author composes ways of practical realization of the program «according to himself» to his own political and spiritual experience.
Inquisitor of Dostoevsky rules mass psychology, Antichrist of Solovjev writes the brilliant book, heroes of Rachkovsky operate with methods of plots, intrigues and provocations. It is so natural that such geniuses as Solovjev and Dostoevsky put forward on the first plan the personhood while the professional functionary Rachkovsky puts forward the organization. But Rachkovsky has "Antichrist" too: the future monarch from David house, the protege of organization who will be intended for a role of the Jewish Messiah.
In «the Legend about Antichrist» of judophil Solovev the Jews play active role too. He prophesies that Jews will be the first who revolt against Antichrist, having learnt about his infidelity to God of Israel. Thereby he as though "ennobles" the image of Jewry in the eyes of Christian reader.
But what is more important: before the revolt the Jews accept Antichrist as their Messiah. Thus in mind of the reader is fixed the idea that Jews are waiting for Antichrist assist his coming. Solovjev and Rachkovsky influence on the mass consciousness in one direction. As to Dostoevsky, he was not judophile, and his statements about destructive role of Jews coincide with "Protocols" almost literally.
I once again underline that I do not consider the personality of authors, an estimation of the righteousness of their statements, and also moral motives of their characters. I only want to understand, which emotional impulse may be generated by these works, what practical conclusions they prompt. It turns out that the spirit of Antichrist today is combination of liberal ideology and secret manipulations with mass consciousness. It is difficult to deny that this combination is the basis of contemporary western civilization (unlike the soviet civilization where liberalism was not, and the manipulations were obvious).
But how may we be confident that the spirit of Antichrist as the hub of world evil should be searched exactly here?
As a deep source of evil all three authors consider ordinary pride: personal or national. Pride, arrogance is a root of all human sins, it is doubtless for Christian consciousness. But could the essence of an apocalyptic Beast be only in this? Since this vice is characteristic to each person and to each tribe without an exception, it allows to give the name of «antichrist» to anyone with whom we seriously have not divided something.
The cause of irreconcilable enmity can become, for example, the pretension to be the possessor of absolute truth, or the desire to become unique world Empire, or the attempt to accept a role of the tribe chosen by God. The history gives many examples when the ordinary religious or political opponents were declared as "antichrist". One who imagines that he personally or his nation are free from pride and are not subjected to spiritual deception, he is at the best very naive and inexperienced in spiritual life. But at worst – he is so captured by the same arrogance that he is unable even to notice it.
Such «guidances on struggle against Antichrist» as "Story", "Legend" or "Protocols" do not give the correct reference points in the complex world situation and can lead to serious spiritual and political errors.
The false image of Antichrist as westernized modernist and the liberal and at the same time as the creature of special services or secret Jewish "lobby", it is fraught with the very serious consequences. In conditions of sharp political, social and spiritual crisis it can lead to such explosion of destructive apocalyptic hysteria before which all historical precedents will turn pale.
Let's imagine an extreme situation which only at first sight seems fantastic. Let us assume that such a Pope will be elected who will yield to false apocalyptic frame of mind and imperiously, on base of dogma about papal infallibility, will declare ex cathedra that Antichrist in the person of some charismatic western leader, has already come.
Under the threat of excommunication or interdict he will turn the Christians upon holy war against this "Antichrist". Many protestants and orthodoxes will forget their enmity with papism and, at least temporarily, will join this. In this war the fundamentalist Christianity cannot avoid the union with extremist Islam for which the West already for a long time was an embodiment of world Evil.
And with than will be finished all this?
After a while it will be found out that the political leader "appointed" on role of "Antichrist", does not correspond to Scripture prophecies in any way. Then this
ostensibly holy war against the West will be lost by allies hating each other.
All this will turn out the unprecedented shame for all the world Christianity and the peoples will in anger call to account short-sighted and self-confident, fallen in deception "the prophets" who have involved the peoples in the senseless massacre.
After this events any feeling of apocalyptic alarm will seem the manifestation of aggressive extremism and fundamentalism. All attempts to look deep into Divine prophecies will be given a hostile reception both intellectual and mass consciousness. The mention of the word "Antichrist" will become something simply indecent.
And then on the scene will come out a real Beast …
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If we cease to be deceived by literary images of Russian religious consciousness it is necessary to offer other answer to the fatal question: who really is Antichrist and what actually prepares his coming?
The Divine Providence teach us by permitting world Evil had shown itself on real historical arena at short time, but powerfully. And all mankind despite of deep internal contradictions has turn out to be unanimous in valuing of this phenomenon.
The events which have occured in Germany in 1933-1945, simply does not hold in normal human consciousness. There is an impression that the instinctive fear urges us «to relate taboo» on our comprehension of these events; therefore the adequate name for them was never found. Such definitions as fascism, nazism, racism, totalitarianism, anti-semitism are insufficient: these concepts – from other semantic row. All these phenomena are too, of course, were characteristic for the Third Reich, but each of them already had numerous precedents in human history, including the history of the newest.
However it is necessary to realize clearly – what is obvious to ingenuous religious sense – the events in Germany have no historical precedents. Well familiar manifestations of mass human sinfulness have got here the special coloring, absolutely other semantic, emotional and spiritual filling. It has turned out to be insert in qualitative other, unfamiliar and really frightening paradigm of some fantastic, irreal existence: something has invaded in world history, something absolutely alien to all that we connect with concepts "person" and "human".
And this time we do not have other images and notions to name this phenomenon, except one: «a Beast rising up out of abyss». Undoubtedly that it was only "rehearsal", but also in it the features of future Beast have been manifested brightly enough.
Some notion about ideology of a future Beast are stated in the well-known book "The Morning of Magicians" Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier. It is conspiracy literature of the same type that "Protocols of Elders of Zion", but with the opposite spiritual content. On the base of earlier book of Raushning "Hitler speaks", authors put into Hitler's mouth the mystical ideas collected from the various works which had formed the ideology of Third Reich.
According to Raushning, Hitler was «the great sacrificer of the secret religion, the roots of which are hidden in unknown areas». We will quote "Morning of Magicians" to give some notion about an essence of this religion. As well as in the previous cases, we do not examine the personality of authors and documentary "authenticity" of their statements. For us in this case only ideas are important.
And here some ideas which are put in Hitler's mouth:
«Each German has one foot in the Atlantis. There he searches the best fate and the best inheritance … (I.e. Atlantis, according to Hitler, it the same Aryan Valgalla – the country of ancestors where souls of the dead heroes go: L.R.)
The world has entered on decisive turning-point which you uninitiated are not able to understand. It is something incomparably more, than the appearing of new religion …
The new man is among us! He is here! I will tell you a secret. I have seen the vision of the new man—fearless and formidable. I shrank from him.
The existing type of man is passing, in consequence, inescapably into the biological stage ofatrophy. The old type of man will have but a stunted existence. All creative energy will be concentrated in the new one. The two types will rapidly diverge from one another. One will sink to a sub-human race and the other rise far above the man of today. I might call the two varieties the god-man and the mass-animal.
For our people it is decisive whether they acknowledge the Jewish Christ-creed with its effeminate pity-ethics, or a strong, heroic belief in God in Nature, God in our own people, in our destiny, in our blood.
Whether it's the Old Testament or the New, or simply the sayings of Jesus, it's all the same old Jewish swindle. It will not make us free. A German Church, a German Christianity, is distortion. One is either a German or a Christian. You cannot be both.
Ourselves or the Freemasons or the Church – there is room for one of the three and no more. The Catholics entirely agree with us as regards the Freemasons. There you are – and we are the strongest of the three and shall get rid of the other two.
Our revolution is a new stage, the finite stage of revolution which will lead to the history termination.
I will open to you a secret. I create Order. Therefrom will go out people of the second stage, a stage of the man-god. The man-god, the magnificent face of the Being, will be similar to the icon of cult. But there are also other steps about which I am not allowed to speak».
In the same tonality sounded the statements of other functionary of Third Reich. After defeat under Stalingrad Goebbels possessed with gloomy pathos of despair, proclaims:
"Understand! The Idea, the very comprehension of Universe suffers defeat. Spiritual forces will be defeated and approaches the hour of the final judgment".
Someone can object that fascism is definitively broken down, and its ideas more will never be topical. It is a serious error. Just now the ripening takes place of more global and radical ideology of fascist type. Here are some testimonies about this (authors speak on their own behalf and the question of authenticity does not more arise). One of the largest ideologists of global neo-fascism Adexander Dugin in his program work "Conservative Revolution" writes the following:
«The communism and fascism were last word of Revolution, were its synthetic, most global embodiment, its apotheosis.
It is logical to assume that the main figure of Absolute Revolution will be Absolute Superman, the one whom Nitzshe defined miserly and terribly by the following words: the Superman it not-man.
All people divide on two categories: Man-Gods, Divine Subjects, Supermen (elite, spiritual aristocracy, supreme persons, "Zonnenmenshen", "Sons of Light" and etc.) and subjectless man-animals (plebs, the lowest people, untermenshen, "Tiermenshen", "Sons of Darkness"). From here arises caste, racial or intellectual differentiation.
There will be the planetary guerrilla war against mondialism with use of all kinds of the arms, all means, all permitted and forbidden tricks. Our guerrilla is armed with nuclear warheads …»
His co-worker Geydar Dzhemal tries even to interpret Islam in context of related to fascism idea of universal annihilation:
«The Islamic metaphysics does not make accent that God has created things, but that He finishes them, abolishes, cancels. "Into Him returning" – formula of last eschatology revelation, from which point of view the Absolute is not the beginning, but first of all the End. Absolute Negation is the genuine maker, transcendental measurement of pure activity. In other words, in metaphysical impersonalism of Islam the death and the true personhood are absolutely identical».
There is also Slavic-heathen version of the same neo-fascism. One of its preachers Vladimir Avdeev declares:
«Monotheism was the first-ever mass biological weapon. It has been invented in theological laboratory on the bank of the Dead Sea... Speech cannot go not only about forgiveness, but even about mercy. Crash will be unprecedented and all-destroying, so that apocalypse threats will seem the children's not well painted comics. Having compelled us to accept the international God, you will receive international revenge in by full measure … The twaddle about Russian national revival led by Christ is the ravings of madman or the evil-intentioned provocation... If the logic of life of healthy flesh will join the strict engineering systematization, and this design will be consecrated by breath of eternal Gods nobody cannot destroy this union».
With this challenge the mankind should deal during an apocalyptic epoch! According to John's revelation, the most part living on the earth, alas, will be grasped by gloomy enchantment of Evil. The Beast will demand from people not only recantation from God, but also rejection of the human essence.
The human in this time will undergo to radical transformation to become a being of essentially other type, not such which has been designed by God. It will be offered to elite to become the members of selected "man-gods" race and to divide the "sweet burden" of dominations over the "mass". And this mass which will have lost the faith in God the Pantocrator, will be seized by all-embracing fear in combination to enthusiastic adoration of ostensibly «unconquerable» Force.
"And they worshipped the beast, saying. Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?"(Rev. 13:4).
In the light of today realities the described threat can seem far and irrelevant: on background of raging enmity between peoples of the Earth (and especially between children of Abraham: Christians, Jews and Moslems), the mystical fascism drags out a miserable, marginal existence. But though time for the Beast coming is not yet ripen, the intensive and deep preparation for this coming already goes. Development of necessary base ideology and secret cultivation of the highest elite is a difficult and long process.
Modern prophets of Beast understand that the ideology of the Third Reich was too narrow, fragmentary, strategically unpromising. The stake was made only on one indistinctly outlined biological race: it was in advance the guarantee of fiasco of all the plan. All other nations and races had no other exit except the creation of united front against obvious threat of enslavement. The new type of mystical fascism now is born: international and global, recruiting the adherents among all people, races and religions of the Earth.
The Beast will not be the manifestation of some separate beginning in mankind: concrete faith, religion, nation or state. An apocalyptic Beast is the enemy of all mankind as a whole. «The law written in heart» – our conscience – will convict everyone who will accept the Beast and will worship he, recanting from God and betraying own human nature. On the other hand, before the face of the absolute Enemy the mankind, at last, will realize its genuine essence, general for all sons of Adam.
Now the Beast only prepares for a jump …
We do not know how long he needs, to be prepared, but we are obliged to do our utmost, that we would not be taken unawares. For this purpose we should first of all avoid exasperation even in the face of the most poignant discrepancy inside of human race. But keeping the all mutual tolerance, it is necessary to confront all attempts to "dehumanize" us, to transform us into something that has not been designed by God. The print of divine creativity, the God image in human being is the last bastion in the face of advancing Evil.
We should not be distracted from preparation for decisive fight by any false image of apocalyptic Beast, by any "Protocols of Elders of Zion", by any pictures of the "philanthropic" Inquisitor or "liberal" Antichrist. We should cultivate in our souls the emotional concentration, spiritual soberness, intellectual strictness: without all it we will not able to withstand the forthcoming global temptations. But even all this together is not enough for victory. To defeat in apocalypse battles can only the selfless and boundless trust and confidence in Jesus Christ Who has shed His precious Blood for us. There is not and will not be another salvation from deadly breath of the coming Beast.
![](sc-pic/i6815.jpg "Ideology of coming Beast will be global neo-fascism. We should not be distracted by any false image of apocalyptic Beast, by any "Protocols of Elders of Zion", by any pictures of the "philanthropic" Inquisitor or "liberal" Antichrist. To defeat in apocalypse battles can only the selfless and boundless trust in Jesus Christ Who has shed His precious Blood for us")
However the tragical experience of the XX century which has opened the new depths of evil, urges us to reconsider critically this image of Antichrist which has already become habitual and as though "canonical". We will consider three sides of this image depicted in mentioned works.
Dostoevsky – the great expert on the human soul who have deeply peered into bottomless abysses of human nature: with skill of genius he has depicted the horrible things which our diurnal consciousness so dreads: perverted desires, criminal impulses, irrational fears. Great Inquisitor has constructed his power over person on manipulation with these dark elements of soul. Dostoevsky represents his as the same penetrating psychologist as himself was. But Dostoevsky saw his mission in bringing Divine light into the bowels of subconsciousness. The Inquisitor on the contrary wants to maintain the person for ever such what he is now, without admitting any possibility of his spiritual growth. As the "sober realist" and "the careful father", he takes up the all burden of responsibility for vices and crimes of his unreasonable and weak children. Here he obviously represents the travesty (parody) of Jesus Christ who «took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses». Dominating in His name, the Inquisitor knows that actually he serves to that "terrible and clever spirit» which tempted the Christ in wilderness. «We are not with thee, we are with him» – he speaks to live Jesus who unexpectedly appears on streets of Seville at the fifteenth century. As though continuing unfinished dispute of Satan with Jesus, the Inquisitor speaks:
«Thou have not wanted to deprive the person of freedom …, you have objected that the human is live not only by bread, but did you know that for the sake of this bread the spirit of earth will rebel on thee and will battle to you and will defeat you and all will follow him, exclaiming:
“Who is similar unto this beast, he make fire come down from heaven for us!“
They will understand at last that freedom and earthly bread for everyone are unthinkable together, because they never, never will manage to divide between themselves! They will be convinced also that they can never be free because they are weak, vicious, insignificant and rebellious... Therefore no anxiety is more tormentingly for man than to find the one to whom to give back this gift of freedom with which this unfortunate being is born … At free o'clock from work we will arrange them the life as children's game, with children's songs, chorus, with innocent dancing … We will tell them that any sin will be redeemed, if it is made with our permission; we will allow them to sin, because we love them, and the punishment for these sins let's we will incur. And they will adore us as benefactors who are carrying their sins before God».
Dostoevsky's powerful preaching (the most readable Russian writer in the West) was inculcating in heart of the educated man the deep hatred to any spiritual enslavement of the person. In Russian domestic experience such enslavement proceeded first of all from the state whereas in the European consciousness the image of the Great Inquisitor became an embodiment of the worst aspects of papism.
Vladimir Solovjev depicts the bearer of world evil with other paints. "Antichrist" of Solovjev is the embodiment of virtue – in words, affairs and even alone with his own conscience, this virtue takes paints of Christian ideals:
«He nourishes his egoism by consciousness of the superhuman virtues and gifts – after all he is, as told, the person of faultless morals and extraordinary genius».
His life affair is establishment of the all-embracing peace on the earth and of kingdom of "common satiety".
Despite the wide spreading of Dostoevsky and Solovjev ideas, they are beyond compare with notorious «Protocols of the Elders of Zion» which had the fate to become the true bestseller of XX century. Four times republished between two Russian revolutions, "Protocols" had got huge popularity in the Versailles Germany, having played the considerable role in Hitler's coming to power. And after that the Goebbels ministry of propaganda published their in many million copies in various languages, in advance distributing them in those countries, which Reich was going to occupy. New explosion of publications "Protocols" has place in contemporary Russia: almost on all church book counters they are lying near to the Gospel and creations of Holy Fathers.
It can seem illogical and even shocking that I put in one row with great creations of Dostoevsky and Solovjev such dirty lampoon, as «Protocols of the Elders of Zion». But the fact consists that all these three works form in Christian consciousness, in essence a uniform image of Antichrist, though in its different aspects.
Representing the picture of the world Jewish plot, Peter Rachkovsky depicts it as «negative imprint» of organization, the member of which he was. At the time when "Protocols" were being written he served as head of the Russian intelligence service in Paris, and after 1905 he became the chief of political department of imperial secret police.
Like the ones accused by medieval inquisition or by Stalin court shows, "the Elders" whom Rachkovsky has represented, with extreme diligence try to convince the reader in their extraordinary villainy. And the most ridiculous thing, to convince in this each other – after all it pretended to be top-secret document only for initiated ones.
Here are few examples:
«Our password – force and hypocrisy», «we should not stop before bribery, a deceit and treachery», «we have fooled, intoxicated and corrupted the goy's youth», «we have created the mad, dirty, disgusting literature» etc., etc.
If to themselves and to their own affairs «the princes of Israel» apply dirty, low and discrediting words, but they speak for example about autocracy with such exalted pathos:
«Only the autocratic ruler can design extensively clear plans, distributing all the mechanism of state machinery».
Or such:
«In those days, when the people looked at tsar reign as pure manifestation of Divine will, they obeyed tsar autocracy without a murmur»; but owing to efforts of conspirators «anointing of Divine election had fallen down from head of tsars in the eyes of the people».
To great triumph of Neo-slavophiles in Russia, mysterious and powerful «princes of Israel» had turned out to be the hot propagandists of the church-parish organisation of all the social life:
«With such faith the people would be looked after by parishes and would go humbly and mildly under hand of spiritual shepherd, obeying Divine distribution on the earth».
Not otherwise, Zion wise men have entered insidious conspiracy with orthodox enthusiasts of "parish idea» which on a boundary of centuries was much discussed in Russian press: to replace with church parish the disappearing rural commune.
On a broader scale, "Protocols" have not ignored any of important questions facing the Russian power and society in that time. Here for example it is possible to read concerning topical idea of "progress":
«We with full success have turned heads of brainless goys and there are not any mind among the goys which would see that under this word the perversion of truth is concealed, in all cases where matter does not concern of material inventions because the one truth exists and the progress has not any place in it».
«We have injected the poison of liberalism into the state organism... From liberalism the constitutional states were born which have replaced autocracy salutary for goys. The constitution as we well know is not any other as school of demagogy, dissonance, disputes, disagreements, fruitless party propagandas, party tendencies – in a word, the school of all that depersonalizes state activity».
All this – almost direct citations from Pobedonostsev.
Speech is not that similar views are absolutely deprived sense: Rachkovsky and Pobedonostsev were fairly clever people. But only very silly person can believe that their views so hotly and convincingly are preached by Jews, moreover the conspirators against autocratic statehood!
As a whole, if to remove the comical details, "the destructive" program of "Protocols" turn out to be only modernistic, humanistic and liberal. Certainly it is impossible to invent the worst "crime" for conservative-monarchic consciousness! But as a matter of fact Zion wise men of Rachkovsky offer the same project of full satisfaction of bodily and social requirements of mankind (including the visibility of freedom), as Antichrist of Solovjev. And in contempt for unreasonable crowd, in readiness to manipulate with human weaknesses they are very much similar to the Great Inquisitor represented by Dostoevsky.
Certainly each author composes ways of practical realization of the program «according to himself» to his own political and spiritual experience.
Inquisitor of Dostoevsky rules mass psychology, Antichrist of Solovjev writes the brilliant book, heroes of Rachkovsky operate with methods of plots, intrigues and provocations. It is so natural that such geniuses as Solovjev and Dostoevsky put forward on the first plan the personhood while the professional functionary Rachkovsky puts forward the organization. But Rachkovsky has "Antichrist" too: the future monarch from David house, the protege of organization who will be intended for a role of the Jewish Messiah.
In «the Legend about Antichrist» of judophil Solovev the Jews play active role too. He prophesies that Jews will be the first who revolt against Antichrist, having learnt about his infidelity to God of Israel. Thereby he as though "ennobles" the image of Jewry in the eyes of Christian reader.
But what is more important: before the revolt the Jews accept Antichrist as their Messiah. Thus in mind of the reader is fixed the idea that Jews are waiting for Antichrist assist his coming. Solovjev and Rachkovsky influence on the mass consciousness in one direction. As to Dostoevsky, he was not judophile, and his statements about destructive role of Jews coincide with "Protocols" almost literally.
I once again underline that I do not consider the personality of authors, an estimation of the righteousness of their statements, and also moral motives of their characters. I only want to understand, which emotional impulse may be generated by these works, what practical conclusions they prompt. It turns out that the spirit of Antichrist today is combination of liberal ideology and secret manipulations with mass consciousness. It is difficult to deny that this combination is the basis of contemporary western civilization (unlike the soviet civilization where liberalism was not, and the manipulations were obvious).
But how may we be confident that the spirit of Antichrist as the hub of world evil should be searched exactly here?
As a deep source of evil all three authors consider ordinary pride: personal or national. Pride, arrogance is a root of all human sins, it is doubtless for Christian consciousness. But could the essence of an apocalyptic Beast be only in this? Since this vice is characteristic to each person and to each tribe without an exception, it allows to give the name of «antichrist» to anyone with whom we seriously have not divided something.
The cause of irreconcilable enmity can become, for example, the pretension to be the possessor of absolute truth, or the desire to become unique world Empire, or the attempt to accept a role of the tribe chosen by God. The history gives many examples when the ordinary religious or political opponents were declared as "antichrist". One who imagines that he personally or his nation are free from pride and are not subjected to spiritual deception, he is at the best very naive and inexperienced in spiritual life. But at worst – he is so captured by the same arrogance that he is unable even to notice it.
Such «guidances on struggle against Antichrist» as "Story", "Legend" or "Protocols" do not give the correct reference points in the complex world situation and can lead to serious spiritual and political errors.
The false image of Antichrist as westernized modernist and the liberal and at the same time as the creature of special services or secret Jewish "lobby", it is fraught with the very serious consequences. In conditions of sharp political, social and spiritual crisis it can lead to such explosion of destructive apocalyptic hysteria before which all historical precedents will turn pale.
Let's imagine an extreme situation which only at first sight seems fantastic. Let us assume that such a Pope will be elected who will yield to false apocalyptic frame of mind and imperiously, on base of dogma about papal infallibility, will declare ex cathedra that Antichrist in the person of some charismatic western leader, has already come.
Under the threat of excommunication or interdict he will turn the Christians upon holy war against this "Antichrist". Many protestants and orthodoxes will forget their enmity with papism and, at least temporarily, will join this. In this war the fundamentalist Christianity cannot avoid the union with extremist Islam for which the West already for a long time was an embodiment of world Evil.
And with than will be finished all this?
After a while it will be found out that the political leader "appointed" on role of "Antichrist", does not correspond to Scripture prophecies in any way. Then this
ostensibly holy war against the West will be lost by allies hating each other.
All this will turn out the unprecedented shame for all the world Christianity and the peoples will in anger call to account short-sighted and self-confident, fallen in deception "the prophets" who have involved the peoples in the senseless massacre.
After this events any feeling of apocalyptic alarm will seem the manifestation of aggressive extremism and fundamentalism. All attempts to look deep into Divine prophecies will be given a hostile reception both intellectual and mass consciousness. The mention of the word "Antichrist" will become something simply indecent.
And then on the scene will come out a real Beast …
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If we cease to be deceived by literary images of Russian religious consciousness it is necessary to offer other answer to the fatal question: who really is Antichrist and what actually prepares his coming?
The Divine Providence teach us by permitting world Evil had shown itself on real historical arena at short time, but powerfully. And all mankind despite of deep internal contradictions has turn out to be unanimous in valuing of this phenomenon.
The events which have occured in Germany in 1933-1945, simply does not hold in normal human consciousness. There is an impression that the instinctive fear urges us «to relate taboo» on our comprehension of these events; therefore the adequate name for them was never found. Such definitions as fascism, nazism, racism, totalitarianism, anti-semitism are insufficient: these concepts – from other semantic row. All these phenomena are too, of course, were characteristic for the Third Reich, but each of them already had numerous precedents in human history, including the history of the newest.
However it is necessary to realize clearly – what is obvious to ingenuous religious sense – the events in Germany have no historical precedents. Well familiar manifestations of mass human sinfulness have got here the special coloring, absolutely other semantic, emotional and spiritual filling. It has turned out to be insert in qualitative other, unfamiliar and really frightening paradigm of some fantastic, irreal existence: something has invaded in world history, something absolutely alien to all that we connect with concepts "person" and "human".
And this time we do not have other images and notions to name this phenomenon, except one: «a Beast rising up out of abyss». Undoubtedly that it was only "rehearsal", but also in it the features of future Beast have been manifested brightly enough.
Some notion about ideology of a future Beast are stated in the well-known book "The Morning of Magicians" Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier. It is conspiracy literature of the same type that "Protocols of Elders of Zion", but with the opposite spiritual content. On the base of earlier book of Raushning "Hitler speaks", authors put into Hitler's mouth the mystical ideas collected from the various works which had formed the ideology of Third Reich.
According to Raushning, Hitler was «the great sacrificer of the secret religion, the roots of which are hidden in unknown areas». We will quote "Morning of Magicians" to give some notion about an essence of this religion. As well as in the previous cases, we do not examine the personality of authors and documentary "authenticity" of their statements. For us in this case only ideas are important.
And here some ideas which are put in Hitler's mouth:
«Each German has one foot in the Atlantis. There he searches the best fate and the best inheritance … (I.e. Atlantis, according to Hitler, it the same Aryan Valgalla – the country of ancestors where souls of the dead heroes go: L.R.)
The world has entered on decisive turning-point which you uninitiated are not able to understand. It is something incomparably more, than the appearing of new religion …
The new man is among us! He is here! I will tell you a secret. I have seen the vision of the new man—fearless and formidable. I shrank from him.
The existing type of man is passing, in consequence, inescapably into the biological stage ofatrophy. The old type of man will have but a stunted existence. All creative energy will be concentrated in the new one. The two types will rapidly diverge from one another. One will sink to a sub-human race and the other rise far above the man of today. I might call the two varieties the god-man and the mass-animal.
For our people it is decisive whether they acknowledge the Jewish Christ-creed with its effeminate pity-ethics, or a strong, heroic belief in God in Nature, God in our own people, in our destiny, in our blood.
Whether it's the Old Testament or the New, or simply the sayings of Jesus, it's all the same old Jewish swindle. It will not make us free. A German Church, a German Christianity, is distortion. One is either a German or a Christian. You cannot be both.
Ourselves or the Freemasons or the Church – there is room for one of the three and no more. The Catholics entirely agree with us as regards the Freemasons. There you are – and we are the strongest of the three and shall get rid of the other two.
Our revolution is a new stage, the finite stage of revolution which will lead to the history termination.
I will open to you a secret. I create Order. Therefrom will go out people of the second stage, a stage of the man-god. The man-god, the magnificent face of the Being, will be similar to the icon of cult. But there are also other steps about which I am not allowed to speak».
In the same tonality sounded the statements of other functionary of Third Reich. After defeat under Stalingrad Goebbels possessed with gloomy pathos of despair, proclaims:
"Understand! The Idea, the very comprehension of Universe suffers defeat. Spiritual forces will be defeated and approaches the hour of the final judgment".
Someone can object that fascism is definitively broken down, and its ideas more will never be topical. It is a serious error. Just now the ripening takes place of more global and radical ideology of fascist type. Here are some testimonies about this (authors speak on their own behalf and the question of authenticity does not more arise). One of the largest ideologists of global neo-fascism Adexander Dugin in his program work "Conservative Revolution" writes the following:
«The communism and fascism were last word of Revolution, were its synthetic, most global embodiment, its apotheosis.
It is logical to assume that the main figure of Absolute Revolution will be Absolute Superman, the one whom Nitzshe defined miserly and terribly by the following words: the Superman it not-man.
All people divide on two categories: Man-Gods, Divine Subjects, Supermen (elite, spiritual aristocracy, supreme persons, "Zonnenmenshen", "Sons of Light" and etc.) and subjectless man-animals (plebs, the lowest people, untermenshen, "Tiermenshen", "Sons of Darkness"). From here arises caste, racial or intellectual differentiation.
There will be the planetary guerrilla war against mondialism with use of all kinds of the arms, all means, all permitted and forbidden tricks. Our guerrilla is armed with nuclear warheads …»
His co-worker Geydar Dzhemal tries even to interpret Islam in context of related to fascism idea of universal annihilation:
«The Islamic metaphysics does not make accent that God has created things, but that He finishes them, abolishes, cancels. "Into Him returning" – formula of last eschatology revelation, from which point of view the Absolute is not the beginning, but first of all the End. Absolute Negation is the genuine maker, transcendental measurement of pure activity. In other words, in metaphysical impersonalism of Islam the death and the true personhood are absolutely identical».
There is also Slavic-heathen version of the same neo-fascism. One of its preachers Vladimir Avdeev declares:
«Monotheism was the first-ever mass biological weapon. It has been invented in theological laboratory on the bank of the Dead Sea... Speech cannot go not only about forgiveness, but even about mercy. Crash will be unprecedented and all-destroying, so that apocalypse threats will seem the children's not well painted comics. Having compelled us to accept the international God, you will receive international revenge in by full measure … The twaddle about Russian national revival led by Christ is the ravings of madman or the evil-intentioned provocation... If the logic of life of healthy flesh will join the strict engineering systematization, and this design will be consecrated by breath of eternal Gods nobody cannot destroy this union».
With this challenge the mankind should deal during an apocalyptic epoch! According to John's revelation, the most part living on the earth, alas, will be grasped by gloomy enchantment of Evil. The Beast will demand from people not only recantation from God, but also rejection of the human essence.
The human in this time will undergo to radical transformation to become a being of essentially other type, not such which has been designed by God. It will be offered to elite to become the members of selected "man-gods" race and to divide the "sweet burden" of dominations over the "mass". And this mass which will have lost the faith in God the Pantocrator, will be seized by all-embracing fear in combination to enthusiastic adoration of ostensibly «unconquerable» Force.
"And they worshipped the beast, saying. Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?"(Rev. 13:4).
In the light of today realities the described threat can seem far and irrelevant: on background of raging enmity between peoples of the Earth (and especially between children of Abraham: Christians, Jews and Moslems), the mystical fascism drags out a miserable, marginal existence. But though time for the Beast coming is not yet ripen, the intensive and deep preparation for this coming already goes. Development of necessary base ideology and secret cultivation of the highest elite is a difficult and long process.
Modern prophets of Beast understand that the ideology of the Third Reich was too narrow, fragmentary, strategically unpromising. The stake was made only on one indistinctly outlined biological race: it was in advance the guarantee of fiasco of all the plan. All other nations and races had no other exit except the creation of united front against obvious threat of enslavement. The new type of mystical fascism now is born: international and global, recruiting the adherents among all people, races and religions of the Earth.
The Beast will not be the manifestation of some separate beginning in mankind: concrete faith, religion, nation or state. An apocalyptic Beast is the enemy of all mankind as a whole. «The law written in heart» – our conscience – will convict everyone who will accept the Beast and will worship he, recanting from God and betraying own human nature. On the other hand, before the face of the absolute Enemy the mankind, at last, will realize its genuine essence, general for all sons of Adam.
Now the Beast only prepares for a jump …
We do not know how long he needs, to be prepared, but we are obliged to do our utmost, that we would not be taken unawares. For this purpose we should first of all avoid exasperation even in the face of the most poignant discrepancy inside of human race. But keeping the all mutual tolerance, it is necessary to confront all attempts to "dehumanize" us, to transform us into something that has not been designed by God. The print of divine creativity, the God image in human being is the last bastion in the face of advancing Evil.
We should not be distracted from preparation for decisive fight by any false image of apocalyptic Beast, by any "Protocols of Elders of Zion", by any pictures of the "philanthropic" Inquisitor or "liberal" Antichrist. We should cultivate in our souls the emotional concentration, spiritual soberness, intellectual strictness: without all it we will not able to withstand the forthcoming global temptations. But even all this together is not enough for victory. To defeat in apocalypse battles can only the selfless and boundless trust and confidence in Jesus Christ Who has shed His precious Blood for us. There is not and will not be another salvation from deadly breath of the coming Beast.