What to do when the world is plunging into the abyss?

"The world is going mad, but those who have conquered their own mind will never lose their sanity." Photo: UOJ

I doubt there’s a single Christian who, looking at what’s happening in the world, hasn’t asked: “Are we living on the threshold of the end times?” It seems as though the rulers of the nations have lost their minds. In just a few short years, millions of innocent people have been killed, wounded, or left homeless because of war. We’re all waiting for it to end – but it feels like this is only the beginning.

You might say, “This was God’s plan. Scripture warned us long ago.” No – it is rather the inner state of humanity in these final generations, which the Lord foresaw.

Somehow, we’ve lost something essential – something that binds a person to God. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be witnessing such a mass madness of hatred, rage, and rebellion against the divine.

Most people have long forgotten the Invisible, the Holy, and the Eternal. The fleeting and the visible have “sucked the eyes from their faces,” completely blinding their spiritual vision. If people would only turn inward, they might find there the Kingdom of God, which “is within you” (Luke 17:21). The joy of the saints lies in this: that they have nothing in common with the visible world. That is why the grace of the Holy Spirit shines through their eyes and even their bodies.

But those who have merged completely with this world wear twisted faces of rage, and their hearts are clouded by sin. Power and greed make the mighty of this world the most dangerous criminals ever to walk the earth. Their throne is a stake driven into their heart, binding their soul to it.

Every war begins with a thought.

The world, through the media’s voice, provokes people to anger – and they respond with hatred. And thus, society descends into nightmare. What can you say to such possessed souls? How can you respond to their madness? The best answer is silence. And if you must speak, then let it be from the depths of a spiritual heart – through the grace of Christ’s love, meekness, and mercy. That is the only kind of answer that might still be heard.

God is incomprehensible, yet His presence is tangible – and it allows us to come to know Christ and be saved in Him. The devil is invisible too – but he reveals himself through thoughts, especially those steeped in malice, hatred, aggression, envy, and judgment.

Mass tourism appeared only in the second half of the last century. Since then, people have gone looking for paradise in the Maldives, along picturesque coasts and beaches.

They’ve forgotten that true joy is the joy of salvation in Christ – that is the only real and unending bliss.

To find it, one must not dive into the ocean’s depths but into the depths of the heart. And having plunged through the layers of flesh, one may find there the pearl for which he would gladly sell everything he owns.

Write a great book of prophecies for the next hundred years, and you’ll find no shortage of buyers in bookstores. But offer a tiny tract on the practical cleansing of the heart, and no one will give it a second glance. People want to know when the war will end, what comes next, where to pad the landing for their future falls.

One so-called elder after another keeps pouring out prophecies. No one is troubled that they never come true. Still, people keep seeking new revelations, hoping at least one of them might prove real.

But when we labor over the salvation of our own soul, we help all people – wherever they may be – draw nearer to it as well. Our salvation becomes a path that opens the way for thousands of others to follow.

For the one who has found Christ has found grace and illumination not because he endlessly pondered theology, but because he humbled himself, prayed, endured, gave thanks – and prayed again.

To one who journeys toward God, the external world ceases to exist. Only the Lord remains. To one who fights for this world, there is no God – only the world. Grace is the outstretched hand of the Savior reaching down to us from the summit of Mount Tabor. But who today seeks that Hand? Amid the clamor of humanity, who seeks silence? Who longs for the “one thing needful”?

How can we overcome the fear of war? How can we avoid despair and despondency in these sorrowful days?

Let your heart be filled with God alone, and everything else will cease to trouble you.

We can do nothing to stop the raging of the world. But we can – both with our minds and our hearts – say: “Lord, let Thy holy will be done!” – and be at peace. Then, whatever happens to us will work for our good (Romans 8:28).

The world is going mad, but those who have conquered their own minds will never go insane. We may be beaten, trampled, deprived of our churches, our citizenship, even our human dignity – but all of this will only draw us closer to Christ, because we are walking in His very footsteps.

Many today try to learn about God from books. But there is no concept in this world that can convey God through the written word. God is not of this world. Therefore, the truth about Him can be known only through direct, living experience of Him in the depths of the spiritual heart. That experience of truth is true theology – and eternal life.

Theology does not begin with books about God, nor with conversations about Him.

A theologian is not a scholar, but one who has given everything – even himself – to God.

Salvation begins with us – and ends with us. And war, suffering, sickness, and loss – these are the very things that sever our attachments to the world and compel us to turn our inner gaze toward the eternal, toward that which was, and is, and ever shall be. “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me,” says Christ. “In My Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:1–2).

This world is not our home, so do not grieve when the tent burns. Perhaps that fire is the rising dawn of an unperishing world – one in which we shall find what does not burn, does not decay, does not age, and is never lost.

“We have no right to despair, because Christ is Risen!” – said St. Seraphim of Sarov. Amen.

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