O L A Z A R E N I E
FORUM | GUESTBOOK | E-MAIL | AUDIO RECORDS | QUEEN
Why does the Church reject Lazarev & Co?
In his second book Lazarev writes: 'Apostle Paul deprives the clairvoyant of her gift, because her earthly interests were prior to divine.'
And more: 'Now it becomes clear why Apostle Paul takes away the gift of divination from the woman who said he was God, in other words, who glorified him with his vision.'
But the Bible goes:
'And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, 'These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.'
And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.' (Acts 16:16-18)
Lazarev writes that Apostle Paul takes away the gift of divination from the woman, and the Bible says that Apostle Paul conjured away the evil spirit from the woman (or was it a good spirit?). It's quite a revealing point: what the 'subtle-layer' viewers' and other psychics consider to be simply the abilities are the instances of demonic possession. The church states that such abilities issue from evil forces, while the psychics try to persuade that these abilities are a natural result of development of the inner resources of man. Here we observe an attempt to distort the Bible for the sake of such conviction.
(By the way, the 'damsel'-clairvoyant did not say that Paul was God, but God's servant. Sergey Nikolayevich had only to open the Bible and check, before putting it down into his own book. This is just another testimony that Lazarev's 'The Diagnostics of Karma' is a mere hackwork.)
This is one of the first described encounters of the Christian Church (in the person of the Apostles Paul and Varnava who spread it throughout the cities) and the servants of 'dark spirituality', among whom the Church ranks Sergey Nikolayevich. Why does the Bible suggest such an episode? Just for the sake of saying or for the generations to come to draw the moral from it and not to trust themselves so eagerly to the first Lazarev (male/female) who comes along; even if s/he proclaims the truth about love and God.
The commentary of the Hieromonk Meletiy (Serebryakov), (from "Does it make difference what spirit acts?"):
'At first glance Apostle Paul's conduct may seem not quite logic, since the spirit of divination in the woman served the propagation pursuit. The Apostles were newcomers in that country and it didn't make their words more convincing… On the contrary, many people knew this servant/hemarev (male/female) lves so eagerly to theies)nd checkesources of man._, and many resorted to her help, which accounts for a good income she brought to her masters by fortune-telling. Many people turned to her, so they trusted her.'
Let's re-interpret it in application to Lazarev's situation (or to any other Lazarev's colleagues - magical adepts):
/At first glance the attitude of the Orthodox Church to Lazarev may seem not quite logic, since Lazarev's source from 'the subtle planes' is of help in the propagation pursuit (propagation of love and God among the post-soviet atheists). Many of our people regard the Church as an anachronism, as a stranger from middle ages, which does not make its words more convincing. Lazarev, on the contrary, is more comprehensible for public perception, many people resort to his services, which accounts for a big sum (from $200) they are ready to pay for the consultation. The people turn to him, consequently they trust him./
Further on: 'So, the spirit of divination makes the servant follow Apostles for many days long, proclaiming that they were 'the servants of the Lord Supreme'. What a support! Even demons witness the Truth! Why does then St.Paul conjure away such assistant of the 'damsel' with indignation? Acting so, firstly, he looses such an opportunity for promotion, secondly he incurs on himself anger of the damsel's masters; he gets beaten and gets to prison.
But the apostle prefers to suffer all that in order not to let demon associate with the sacred pursuit of propagating Christ. The Evil One cannot proclaim the truth. And even if he does it to all appearance, his intention is to gain one's confidence by the truth in order to beguile the credulous one by lie, or in hope to stir up passions; thus the devils often praised the ascetics, hoping to catch them in their conceit.
So the Apostle prevents these attempts of the Enemy to associate with sacred pursuit.'
Thus for many years the 'subtle layer informational source' heralds to everyone through Lazarev that the Christianity have made the maximal break-through, bringing understanding that God is Love,' 'have proved its verity for thousands of years', that the priests (the successors of the Apostles) are 'the specialists in spiritual work', that one should love God more than children and parents' and so forth. What a support! Even 'the subtle layer sources' witness the truth! Why does the Holy Church reject with indignation the help of one who guides the 'researcher' diagnosing karma? Acting so the Church not only looses an opportunity of promotion but also endure irritation, misunderstanding and criticism of the philistines of all ranks (These priests are such conservative hardened short-eyed doctrinaires). But the Church prefers to suffer all that in order not to let the 'horned' informer of Lazarev S.N. to associate with the sacred pursuit of propagating the Divine Love. Since this source cannot proclaim the truth. And even if he does it to all appearance, his intention is to gain one's confidence by truth in order to beguile the credulous one by lie (about God which isn't Christ, about karma & reincarnation and so on). Thus the Church prevents these attempts of the Enemy to associate with sacred pursuit.
Here's an interpretation of this abstract by St. Blessed Feofilakt, the archbishop of Bulgaria:
'Possessed by spirit… What kind of spirit? It is called after the place - the god Python. He wanted to lead the Apostles into temptation. Otherwise this woman was the Pythian, about which was said that she sat upon the tripod of Apollo drawing apart her legs and the evil spirit penetrated her moving up and drew her into the ecstasies; then she came into the rage and frothed at her mouth and in the state of such frenzy she pronounced incoherent words. "These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.' Oh you evil spirit! If you know that they proclaim 'the way of salvation' why don't you withdraw from them? 'But Paul, being grieved' - Paul wasn't happy at all with the fact. Having closed her mouth (though she told the truth), he had taught us not to admit demons to ourselves, even if they pretended to tell the truth, and to block their endeavours to tempt us and to not to listen to anything they say. Hadn't Paul rejected the spirit's testimony it would beguile many believers. Therefore Paul not even rejected the testimony, unwilling to increase the number of his signs. But since the spirit persisted Paul commanded him to leave the damsel. Thus, the spirit acted treacherously, and Paul acted wisely.
'And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers.' (Acts,16:19).
Money is often the root of evil. In their striving to enrich themselves the masters wanted her to be possessed by a demon.'
If the truth about God can be heralded even by the possessed frothing at the mouth, why amaze at a grain of truth in the words of Lazarev and other decent occultists. If the Church had paid attention at the evidence of Lazarev's spirit, if it blessed the Orthodox believers to learn about God from Lazarev's 'research', this spirit would have beguiled many.
Besides, Lazarev's renunciation of the karma-diagnostic abilities would definitely undermine the material welfare of Lazarev and of the people who depend on him financially. Does he really want it?
An example from the heritage of the Holy Fathers: 'Not without good reason Paul and Varnava rejected the woman who said about them: 'These people are the servants of the most high God', though apparently these words were most devout. The Apostles identified the spirit who hided under disguise of the Angel of Light, and his servants pretending to be the servants of truth (2Cor.11, 14-45) and rejected the words of truth as inappropriate in unworthy lips'. (St. Gregory Palama)
The Church rejects Lazarev's word of truth (that God is love, that we should love him above all, that it's useful to receive the Holy Communion etc) as inappropriate in unworthy lips.
An interpretation of the priest (i.e. 'the specialist in spiritual work') Gregory Dyachenko:
'On his way to 'prayer' apostle Paul was met by a certain 'damsel possessed by a spirit of divination', 'which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying'. She was not a simple fortune-teller who deceived people and swindled money out of them; apart from her masters she was a servant of Satan. It was he acting through her, and it was at him that Paul directed his miraculous force, because he wanted to coax divinely inspired sagacious Paul. But his expectations failed.
It was the servant fortune-teller who followed Paul, Luke and Silas and cried: These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. She was telling the truth and this truth was not offensive for Paul. So, the devil - the father of lie - can sometime tell the truth. So he did when met Christ in the face of the possessed by demons and told him: 'And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?' (Matthew 8:29)
'Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.' (Mark 1:24)
So, meeting Apostle Paul frequently he wanted to flatter him'.
How come that Lazarev is from the devil if he is telling the truth? Then the devil - the father of lie - sometimes can tell the truth:
'The servant had been making favourable comments about Paul and his companions for many days. But Paul, getting indignant at her witness, didn't want to receive favourable comments from the person guided by alien consciousness, or mad, or vicious. He turned to the damsel and said to the spirit: 'I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.'
The Church does not want to receive favourable comments from the person (of Lazarev) guided by alien consciousness (i.e. by the one who pulls the wool over Lazarev's eyes, providing him with different sorts of combination of truth and lie). Whether Lazarev 'possessed' is by the spirit or it sends him information from the outside - it can be defined only by the specialists - the priests.
When they read special prayers during the public prayer and sprinkle people with the holy water, burn incense, and put the cross, those possessed by the demons start behaving inadequately. I've seen it myself. And utter frenzied screams. But it's of little interest for Lazarev to be diagnosed by the specialists (I'm the specialist myself. I'll diagnose anyone young and old alike). And what if the result turns to be positive? (I remember a bewildered face of a girl when at the public prayer it turned out that there was a 'lodger' inside her.) And what if the clients learn about it? Lazarev's colleague A. Kashpirovsky visited once our Kiev Caves Lavra of the Dormition, he descended down the cave to see the sacred relicts, and the conflict between the Divine Grace and non-divine spirits (dwelling in him and giving him his abilities) took place. He became so sick there that he was dragged out of there half-conscious.***
I'm quite sure that the followers of Lazarev won't agree with that and will start saying their favourite mantra: 'No, Lazarev is not possessed by the demons, he's talking about Love!'
It's a typically sectarian syndrome which account for the psychological non-susceptibility of the arguments against their own guru, their deliberate blocking (try for example to persuade Jehovah's witness that God does not forbid blood transfusion ). Rejecting the arguments against their own guru even if they emanate from their own guru.
But now I hope our Orthodox point of view will become clear to the followers of Lazarev and they will at least understand how idiotic their words seem to us: "You just envy Lazarev" or "Lazarev's experience will be helpful for the Church" or "You must thank Lazarev that you've come to Church". You see the attempt of Satan to avert us from the true God has failed. We've fallen down from his fish-hook. His love to God is a bait to catch the souls in the stagnant atheist lake. Shall we be grateful to such a fisherman? (We would remain in that lake if it wasn't for his desire to fry us.)Dear followers of Lazarev,
Are you capable to admit at least obvious things: I realize that I've started believing in God recently and do not know much yet about the spiritual life? I realize that I'm not the first who came to believe in God and much experience in this field was gained before my birth. Isn't it worth while to consider it?