By priest Daniil Sysoev
“Finally, we were shown the famous words of St. Philaret, which supposedly portray patriotism as a Christian virtue:
“Didn’t the Bible give good education to the people of God in the Old Testament? Didn’t she give even more perfect education to the people of God in the New Testament? Wisely arranging the education of future citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, she did not lack wisdom to teach the correct rules for the formation of a good citizen of the kingdom of the earth, and had the need to teach them, because a bad citizen of the kingdom of earth is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Thus, it is worth the effort to look for teachings on education in the Bible.
The most ancient teaching about this can be found in the word of the Lord to Abraham: Abraham will become a great and plentiful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed because of him: for we know that he commanded his sons and his household after themselves, and they will keep the ways of the Lord to do righteousness and justice. (Gen.18:18,19). Here, firstly, in the form of praise for the upbringing that Abraham gives to his children, the main rule of upbringing is taught: Command your sons to preserve the ways of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice – or, to say the same thing in today’s terms, give your children a pious upbringing and moral, in accordance with the Law of God. Secondly, the beneficial consequences of such upbringing are also shown here: Abraham will be great and numerous [Gen. 17:5] – the father of a family who gives his children a pious and moral upbringing can expect from himself numerous, respected and prosperous offspring. It is not difficult to understand that one who does not care about such an upbringing cannot expect the same, but threatens him with the opposite. Further, we find directly stated rules of education in the Old Testament books, mainly teaching books, in the book of Solomon’s parables and in the book of Jesus son of Sirach.”
It seems obvious to me that for the saint, a bad citizen of the earthly kingdom is not the one who does not want to devote his heart to an earthly patronymic, but the one who was brought up not on the words of God, but on lies. The worst citizen of the kingdom of earth here is the one who steals, kills, and in general was brought up not on the Bible, but on something else. In the sense of St. Philaret, the bad citizens of the kingdom of earth, unfit for the kingdom of heaven, are not the Ouranopolitans. and many of our fellow citizens are now regardless of their patriotism. If people are not raised according to the Bible, then they are unfit for the kingdom of heaven and for the earthly. Which of the Ouranopolitans would argue with this? These words in no way indicate that patriotism is a Christian virtue. To do this, you just need to take them out of context. If we were to understand them in the sense that anyone who betrays his earthly homeland for any reason, the highest, leaves it, calls on its defenders to surrender – would turn out to be a deliberately bad citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, then the saint would find himself in blatant contradiction with Scripture , where Abraham (emigrant), Rahab (traitor), Jeremiah (defeatist) would find themselves outside the Kingdom. and given that they all simply exactly carried out the will of God, then God Himself would be outside the Kingdom.
There is no such commandment. that to love the earthly homeland. but there is a direct commandment to honor and submit to authorities. That is why the uranopolite participates in just wars, pays taxes and does everything that the state requires of him, as long as it does not claim his heart and does not demand the violation of a commandment. One thing distinguishes him from the citizens of the earth – all his interests are in Heaven and in the Church – Heaven on Earth. As for the kingdom of earth, the uranopolite must do nothing without giving his heart to it.
I repeat that Scripture and Tradition (what everyone has taught, always and everywhere) does not recognize, in principle, a double homeland for Christians. We have one homeland – heaven, and there is a hotel where we are now wandering. According to Basil the Great, we are always in a foreign land, no matter where we live, but in every place there is the rule of God. And as for Orthodox patriots who want to serve two masters. then the Apostle James said about them: “a man with double thoughts is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).”
