Christianity and Socialism - St. Hilarion, New Martyr of Russia

St. Hilarion of Verey (+1929), New Martyr under the Soviet yoke, was an Archbishop, bold confessor, and shining star of the Russian, before and after the 1917 revolution. This text was written in 1914. Read his life here: https://www.orthodox.net/russiannm/hi... “I have only wanted to show what moral ugliness socialism is, what an abyss of falsehood lies within it, and, therefore, how mistaken is any attempt to reconcile socialism and the divine Christian Faith.  Such attempts are being made not only by Christians who have lost their faith, who have “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:23); certain among the socialists, or better to say, workers seduced by socialism, are also naively convinced that it is possible to combine socialism and Christianity.”“If one could conceive the full satanic evil of socialism, which is expressed in the socialists’ own words, one’s heart would die of horror.” –St. HilarionNOTE: It is false to think that just because the Church stands against socialism and communism that it therefore supports capitalism and democracy. Often we are presented with this dichotomy, but both, either explicitly or implicitly, aim for a utopia on earth apart from God. Neither socialism nor capitalism are natural to Orthodoxy for they do not have the eschatological stance we see in the Saints of God.St. Theophan the Recluse writes: “When royal authority falls, and the people everywhere institute self-government (republics, democracies), then there will be room for the Antichrist to act. It will not be hard for Satan to prepare voices in favor of renouncing Christ, as experience showed during the French Revolution. There will be no one to pronounce the authoritative veto. And so when such regimes, suitable for disclosing the Antichrist’s aspirations, are instituted everywhere, then the Antichrist will appear.”In his journal, dated February 3, 1961, Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) wrote: “Christ is the only exit from this world; all other exits – sexual rapture, political utopia, economic independence – are but blind alleys in which rot the corpses of the many that have tried them.”Holy New Martyr Hilarion, pray to God for us!00:00 Introduction and words from Fr. Seraphim Rose, Archbishop Averky, and St. Theophan the Recluse04:15 “Christianity and Socialism” by St. HilarionText of “Christianity and Socialism” from Orthodox Life, May-June 1998: http://orthodoxlifemagazines.blogspot...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!