What place does religion occupy in modern life? It is quite difficult to answer this question. Unfortunately, the development of modern technologies, the division of people into several classes, public debauchery - all this makes people distant from the faith. However, there are also those who need help from higher powers, but they do not know how to get it.
Fortunately, there are organizations that help people separate from the modern world and begin to believe in something bright, kind and beautiful again. This is exactly what the center of Irenaeus of Lyons is.
Briefly about him
Irenaeus of Lyons is the Western Father of the Church. He devoted his entire life to the Christian faith and sought to defend it among other various religions. Unfortunately, at present there is only a modest amount of information about this holy man; practically no memorial chronicles have survived to our times. Even the years of life of Irenaeus of Lyons are not known; they only found out that it was approximately 130. Also, information about his ancestors, place of birth and residence has not been preserved. According to some chroniclers, it could exist in Asia Minor. As a child he was brought to Christian parents.
What is taught at the center?
The Irenaeus of Lyons Center for Religious Studies was created to achieve several goals:
- The first and most basic task is to accept the religious studies that were created by the works of the great martyr.
- The center has the opportunity to obtain information at an advisory level about the teachings and activities of totalitarian and destructive cults.
- There are a huge number of lectures and practical classes that allow you to fully become familiar with religion.
- Several classes are devoted to such popular communities as sects. In classes they teach how not to get there, how to get out of them and limit yourself from their influence.
- Irenaeus of Lyons was of the opinion that man is a free being who can make choices and should not obey other people. This science will be conveyed to every student.
Basically, after attending several classes, students reconsider their views on life, become happy and free.
Who does the center interact with?
The Irenaeus of Lyons Center constantly cooperates with Christian organizations existing in Russia. They exchange their experiences and develop a program that makes it possible to initiate every student into religion in the most accessible, high-quality and interesting way. There is also constant contact with some foreign centers. The most famous doctors of science pass on their experience to the new generation, dedicating them to knowledge about various sects and united groups.
There are several other points around the world where the center of Irenaeus of Lyons is based: France, Czech Republic, England, Greece and Austria. For this school there is no division into nations, paganisms and inter-regional groups. All students have one thing in common - faith in Christianity. During their studies, they can independently communicate with each other, share knowledge and gain experience.
History of the center
The organization was first registered in Russia in early 1993. Its creator was A.L. Dvorkin. For a long time he went to churches in order to receive a blessing for such an act and eventually received it from His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexei II. At first it was a small organization, which included only qualified specialists in the field of religion. All classes were held in a friendly, informational and advisory manner. All members of the association shared their experiences, collected information about the great martyr and created a plan on how to transfer their skills to other people new to this field.
The center was created on a charitable basis. Everything that exists now was created by its founders with the help of the church and the common people. In 2003, the first intake of students took place, to whom the most important religious experience was transferred. Three years later, the center had already acquired an official character and became part of the Russian parent organization for the study of religions. And four years later he received his first grant, the amount of which amounted to more than 2.5 million rubles.
What form do the classes take?
The Irenaeus of Lyons Center is, first of all, an organization based on a free form of education. It doesn’t matter here who is taller and who is shorter, who is stronger and who is weaker, who is more beautiful and who is less attractive. All those who came are equal to each other, including the teaching staff. Classes take place on a charitable basis; if possible, new participants can contribute funds that will be used for the development of a religious organization.
All classes take place in cozy classrooms, where people get to know each other, gain their first skills and try to put them into action. As in any other educational institution, home assignments are given here for which you need to prepare for seminars, and educational brochures are provided. All people communicate outside the training center and organize themed evenings on their own.
Why is this knowledge necessary?
People often ask questions about how to get to the Irenaeus of Lyon Center, where this organization is located and what is needed for admission. But what is the purpose of their search for answers to these questions? The fact is that this institution will allow a person to get what he lacks - to find freedom, become happy, learn to believe in the bright, and easily cope with the problems that have befallen him. All this science will be mastered by the Irenaeus Lyonsky Center, whose address is: Moscow, st. Ozernaya, 42.
According to media reports, the Russian Prosecutor's Office on Friday received a statement from the leaders of the Association of Indians in Russia and the Center for Krishna Consciousness Societies in Russia (TSOSKR) in connection with an open letter from the Archbishop of Ufa and Sterlitamak Nikon (Vasyukov) to the mayor of the capital Yuri Luzhkov. In this letter from the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church with calls to prevent the construction of a Hare Krishna temple in Moscow, adherents of the totalitarian sect “Society for Krishna Consciousness” see “signs of a crime provided for in paragraph “b” of Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and guided by Articles 141, 144, 146 The Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is “actions aimed at inciting national, racial or religious hatred, propaganda of exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of citizens based on their attitude to religion, nationality or race, committed publicly by a person using his official position.”
So, the Hare Krishnas are again seeking to put the Russian Orthodox Church in the dock. In 1997, they already tried to do this, in company with other totalitarian sects and the Committee for the Defense of Freedom of Conscience (led by Gleb Yakunin), suing Professor A.L. Dvorkin and the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis of the Russian Orthodox Church. They were also joined as a co-defendant by the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate, headed by the vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Bishop Tikhon of Bronnitsy (now Archbishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk). But the presence of an Orthodox bishop in the courtroom did not stop the sectarians: they continued to litigate until the very end, when the judge of the Khoroshevsky court Lyudmila Saltykova refused to satisfy the sectarian coalition’s claims.
Obviously, the sectarians decided that the time was now ripe and again stated their claims against the Orthodox bishop, protesting against the exercise by him, a citizen of Russia, of the constitutional right to freedom of speech and, thus, again proving their totalitarianism. This time, the Hare Krishnas decided not to get involved with civil proceedings and filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office, hoping to open a criminal case against Archbishop Nikon, and, then obviously, imprisonment for the Bishop.
So, the totalitarian sect is fulfilling the orders of one of its former leaders, who wrote the scandalous book “Varnashrama: A Manifesto of Social Prudence,” which provides for various criminal penalties for those who disagree with Krishnaism: from imprisonment to public death penalty. The Hare Krishnas now renounce the Varnashrama Manifesto, but their actions prove that they have never ceased to be guided by such ideas.
The Center for Religious Studies in the name of St. Irenaeus of Lyons calls on all Orthodox Christians - clergy and laity - to support Archbishop Nikon, against whom the totalitarian Hare Krishna sect is seeking repression.
Reader of the Trinity Church
Professor Alexander Leonidovich Dvorkin
Alexander Leonidovich Dvorkin - Doctor of Philosophy, Candidate of Theology, Head of the Department of Sect Studies at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Humanitarian University. Heads the Center for Religious Studies in the name of the Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons. Author of 9 books and editor-compiler of 4 more and more than 500 publications in 15 languages. Vice-president of the international institute for the study of modern sectarianism "Dialogue Center". Member of the Board of Directors of FECRIS (European Federation of Centers for the Study of Cultism). President of RACIRS (Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religions and Sects). In our church he serves as a reader
Born on August 20, 1955 in Moscow. In 1977 he emigrated from Russia to the USA. In 1980 he graduated from New York University with a bachelor's degree in Russian literature. On January 19, 1980, he received holy baptism in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in New York (Orthodox Church in America). He continued his education at the St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1983 with a candidate's degree in theology. In 1988, at Fordham University (New York), under the guidance of Protopresbyter John Meyendorff, he defended his doctoral dissertation “Ivan the Terrible as a Religious Type” (currently published as a monograph in an authorized Russian translation).
On December 31, 1991, he returned to Russia and in March 1992 was hired by the Department for Religious Education and Catechesis of the Moscow Patriarchate. From Archpriest Gleb Kaleda he received a blessing to deal with the problem of sects that have surged across Russia.
Since 1993, he became the head of the Information and Consulting Center of St. Irenaeus of Lyons (since 2000, Center for Religious Studies), dealing with the problems of new religious movements, sects and cults. From 1993 to 1999, Alexander Leonidovich was a professor at the Russian Orthodox University of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian.
Currently he is a professor and head of the department of sectology at the Orthodox St. Tikhon's University for the Humanities. Vice-president of the international anti-sectarian organization "Dialogue Center". Since 2004, member of the board of directors of the European Federation of Centers for the Study of Contemporary Sectarianism (FECRIS). RACIRS (Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religions and Sects).
Married, has a daughter.
Professor A.L. Dvorkin was awarded the third church order
At the Plenary Session of the XV International Christmas Educational Readings, held on January 30 at the State Kremlin Palace, the Order of St. Nestor the Chronicler of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was awarded to Professor Alexander Leonidovich Dvorkin.
Professor A.L. Dvorkin was awarded a high church award in recognition of his church services. On behalf of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, the order was presented by His Eminence Lazarus, Metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimea.
Temple Reader A.L. Dvorkin was awarded church and state awards
On August 31, during a prayer service for the beginning of the new academic year at the Trinity Church in Veshnyaki, the rector of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University, Rev. Vladimir Vorobyov read out the decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy on awarding prof. A.L. Dvorkin "in recognition of his zealous missionary work and in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of his birth" by the Order of St. Innocent of Moscow III degree. This is the second high patriarchal award to Prof. A. L. Dvorkina. In 2003, in connection with the tenth anniversary of the Center of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, he was awarded the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh III degree.
That same evening, who was present at the reception in honor of the hero of the day, the General Director of the St. Nicholas the Wonderworker M.I. Chepel awarded A.L. Dvorkin the medal of the Order of St. Nicholas. This order is registered in the Heraldic Chamber of the Russian Federation and, accordingly, is included in the register of state awards.
ICC St. Irenaeus of Lyons
CENTER OF ST. IRENAEUS OF LYON
AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CONFRONTATION
TO TOTALITARIAN SECTS IN RUSSIA
It is officially considered that the Center of St. Irinea of Lyons began his work on September 6, 1993. In fact, our work to counter the invasion of totalitarian sects began at the end of 1992, when parents and relatives of the first began to contact the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church (where I then worked). victims of new religious and pseudo-religious formations for Russia. They knocked on all the doors, but no one wanted to listen to them, and so, as a last hope, they came to the Church. This is how our contacts began.
Then I had just returned from emigration and, although I had never specifically studied sects (my specialty is medieval history of the Church), nevertheless, simply from the experience of 15 years of life in the West, I knew much more about sects than the average Russian. That's how it happened that I was assigned to do this. At first I really didn’t want to do this, but who could refuse to help unfortunate mothers?
It so happened that the children of these women became victims of the “Virgin Center” sect - a Russian apocalyptic new formation, which at first, by the way, had great ties with Poland, with its Catholic Church and received very significant funds from Polish Catholics. Only later did Polish Catholics figure out what kind of organization they were dealing with...
What these people told about the “Virgin Center” amazed me! How similar some of the doctrines of the “Virgin Center” were to the near-Christian Montanist sect that existed in the 2nd century! I said this, and my parents began to invite me to their meetings that they held. I, as an expert, could talk about the teachings of the sect from a scientific point of view. I began to go with them to various authorities and realized how quickly this sect was spreading in our country and that it would be useful to hold a conference on this topic in order to draw the attention of the public and the press to the problem. This conference took place, and in its title I used the term “totalitarian sects” for the first time. And this term turned out to be so obvious that it has now firmly entered into circulation.
The conference was very successful, there were many different publications, and after that journalists began to contact me with consultations about various other sects. In order to answer them, I had to take a lot of materials, read a lot, and after some time I realized that I, in fact, was already involved in sects, that is, I was doing something that I didn’t want at first. And I realized that since I was doing this anyway, it was better to do it professionally.
And soon I met with Professor Ogaard, the head of the “Dialogue Center” - a Danish Christian organization, which by that time had been dealing with sects for more than 20 years, had accumulated enormous experience in information work, and had collected a huge library on this topic. Professor Ågaard invited me to Denmark to look at their work, I went and it was there that I realized that we also need to start working by organizing an information center. The leadership of the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis approved this idea. This is how the St. Information and Consultation Center was born. Irenaeus of Lyon.
When its creation was discussed, it immediately became obvious that the Center should bear the name of St. Irenaeus of Lyons. This is a Christian saint who lived in the 2nd century. He was a disciple of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, who, in turn, was a disciple of John the Theologian himself. Saint Irenaeus was a Greek by birth, and served as a bishop in the Gallic city of Lyon (now France). For the first time in the history of the Church, Saint Irenaeus began an anti-sectarian confrontation. He wrote the book “Against Heresies,” which described the teachings of the most dangerous sects of that time. Everything was presented very correctly, but at the same time it was convincingly proven why all these sects cannot be called Christian.
Thus, on September 6 (the day of remembrance of the Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons in the church calendar) 1993, our Center began to exist.
At that time, the situation in the country was very difficult - recruiters and distributors of various totalitarian sects operated unhindered everywhere, and the people, in shock from difficult changes, from economic collapse, from political instability, did not have even the slightest immunity to sectarian lies. But it sounded then from the highest tribunes of power! Let us remember that back in 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev, then still the Secretary General of the CPSU, received Moon in the Kremlin as a state guest. The presentation of the Russian translation of Hubbard's "Dianetics" took place on March 31, 1993 at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses (I accidentally saw an invitation to this event in the office of one of the leading hierarchs of our Church and, having told him about Scientology, prevented the Church from participating in the presentation), and Shoko Asahara’s main trustee in Russia was the then head of the country’s Security Council, Oleg Lobov.
I remember in the spring of 1994, on a Saturday evening, my wife and I walked about a kilometer in the center of Moscow. During this time, at least 10 recruiters of various sects approached us, not counting the leaflets and advertisements of the same number of sects that we noticed on the walls of houses and lampposts!
It took a lot of work to change this situation. Our Center (now called the “Center for Religious Studies” and has four full-time employees and another 3-4 supernumeraries) became the first Center of its kind in the country. A year after us, the St. Center began operating in Novosibirsk. Alexander Nevsky. A couple of years later - the Center of St. Mark of Ephesus in Tver (now, unfortunately, it hardly works) and the Center of St. Joseph Volotsky in Yekaterinburg. There are two or three more enthusiasts working alone in several cities across the vast country. And it's all! At the same time, as you noticed, all of these are Orthodox centers, usually, however, not included in official church structures, but enjoying the support of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Since 1998, our center began publishing the magazine “Epiphany” and since then, at least 9 issues have been published. We are now preparing the tenth for printing. We also support the most visited anti-sectarian site on the Russian Internet. Every day we answer dozens of phone calls and receive citizens and advise them.
We actively work with secular media, print books, brochures, and hold conferences. We had to participate in several lawsuits and so far, with God’s help, we have won all of them. I often have to travel throughout the country - from Sakhalin to Kaliningrad (on the Polish border), as well as throughout Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Kazakhstan with extensive lecture programs. Everywhere I actively work with local media, hold targeted meetings with teachers, police officers, administrative workers, military personnel, but primarily with students. And usually, one evening I hold a citywide meeting, open to everyone. Representatives of different sectarian groups often come there and the meeting turns into a heated discussion, which can be very interesting and useful for those gathered. Usually between 300 and 1000 people gather (depending on the capacity of the hall) and such a meeting never lasts less than three hours.
I think the main result of our work is a turning point in public attitudes towards totalitarian sects. Now everyone knows them very well. It is typical, let us say, that at the last Duma hearings on amendments to the law on freedom of conscience, for example, Scientology was mentioned only in the most negative context. And this opinion about the obvious extreme evil of Scientology came from a variety of speakers, as an obvious, undisputed fact.
But, of course, the problems are far from being resolved. They simply moved to a new plane.
When I travel to different dioceses, they often tell me that things seem to be getting easier with sectarians now. This is five to ten years ago, everywhere you look there are preachers; there aren't many of them now. In fact, the wave has not subsided at all, it’s just that the sects have now entered their new period of development - they have reached a certain level of membership. Currently, membership is actively growing only in two sects - Jehovah's Witnesses and neo-charismatics (neo-Pentecostals), which have very stable growth. Today in Russia (according to my rough estimates) there are more than 300 thousand neo-Pentecostals (“Faith Movement”) and they are very actively engaged in PR, positioning themselves as the main representatives of traditional Protestantism.
In most of the remaining sects, membership has stabilized, even decreased markedly and reached the optimal level that they can maintain. They are now strengthening their social niche: they are buying up real estate, acquiring a political lobby, their own journalists who work for them, experts who create the ground for them, lawyers (advocates) who defend their rights in trials. In a word, they are doing everything to show off their muscles and declare themselves as an enduring factor in Russian reality, so that, having gained a foothold in this bridgehead, they can make a new breakthrough in increasing membership. In addition, there is strong foreign support, primarily from the US State Department and other American government and para-government bodies.
More and more new trends are noticeable in “domestic” home-grown sects, which are growing and declaring themselves loudly. In particular, we can note the newly-minted cults of Anastasia, Radasteya, Ashram of Shambhala (also known as the Russian Esoteric Center) and others, operating in the context of the neo-pagan New Age movement and having already gained international fame. The process is reciprocal: if foreign sects are increasingly putting on a Russian mask, then home-grown cults are becoming more and more international in nature, establishing foreign missions and recruiting foreign supporters.
There is a growing number of nativist neo-pagan sects that claim to be reviving the traditional pagan faith, native to the Slavs, not yet corrupted by the infiltration of the Judeo-Masonic Christian conspiracy.
But there are also newly emerging sects, different from the well-known ones, which, due to their “newness,” manage to recruit new adherents. As a rule, these are totalitarian sects that do not have external religious signs and operate in a non-religious field.
The further we go, the more psychocults arise, including new ones of domestic origin. This is in addition to such well-known psychocults as EST (Forum Landmark Education), Lifespring (including its Russian offshoot "Avatar"), Bill Ridler's "World Relationship Centers", etc. Many of the new psychocults also operate in the medical field .
And, of course, more and more new commercial cults are appearing (pyramids, multi-level marketing), and here, too, international Herbalife and Am-Way are being replaced by domestic pyramidal formations.
So here, too, the amount of work for us continues to increase.
This is the current situation in our country.
The main task of the Center is to disseminate reliable information about the teachings and activities of totalitarian sects and destructive cults. To this end, the Center's employees are engaged in research, advisory, lecture and publishing activities, and also maintain contact with government agencies and the media. The center is in constant interaction with Christian anti-sectarian organizations in Russia and abroad.
We believe that the best way to leave a sect is not to get there. We are convinced that if today's victims of sectarianism were warned in time, if they were provided with reliable information about the organization to which they were so persistently invited, if they were told about what would happen to them in this organization, most of them would never I wouldn’t go after recruiters who lie to them so “sincerely”.
But, alas, no one provided them with this information then. And then it was too late... Now, in order to understand that they were deceived, that their sincere faith and pure desire for the ideal were cruelly laughed at by the pathological ambitious and money-lovers at the head of the sect, it will take many years. And God forbid that this will be the only thing...
Have you heard about apologetic, anti-sectarian centers and why are they created? How does a monopoly religion manipulate and shape public opinion to its own advantage with the help of such structures?
The video below is the story of how they outwitted Dworkin by feeding him invented sects, and he took it at face value. This experiment best shows that “sectology” is not science, but pure charlatanism.
Recently, the Orthodox anti-sectarian center from Voronezh (the center is helped by this famous “sect expert” Alexander Dvorkin) was convicted of planting prohibited materials on Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Some deputies and well-known experts openly oppose this slander, which is not prohibited, and may even be approved by Russia, but unfortunately so far to no avail. This can be seen in this collection of video reports:
Next, the video will show you how black propaganda is spread at the expense of ignorant people; it simply and clearly shows the failure of the anti-sectarian center of Dworkin and similar sectological centers that so sophisticatedly misinform and incite people to violent actions with the help of dirty information.
Today, in order to denigrate competitors, it is enough to show others that it is a sect. Yes, at the moment, using the label “sect” you can discredit and denigrate almost any organization or person. As a rule, there is always a customer from above, in Russia, as you understand, this is the “state and traditional religion.”
The video is 26 minutes long, but it's worth it. A particularly interesting story starts at 10:50.
Some, as we see, really benefit from intimidating people and misleading them! And the lack of intelligence and the ability to learn in society to distinguish true data from false data has a very acute effect on society. In general, the video simply and effectively exposes modern sectarian apologetic centers.
So, apological Centers, such as Irenaeus of Lyons and others — CAUGHT OF Slander AND EXPOSED 100%!
These centers cannot be trusted, they do not officially exist and they provide subjective information and even misinformation. The purpose of presenting information from these centers, as we have seen, is to discredit, immorality, lack of spirituality, and all this is covered up by God.
Did you know that fake victims of “sects” (apostates) are a very profitable business for cultists and unscrupulous journalists?
Here’s what else the Italian religious scholar and sociologist says about the main sectologist in Russia (more details in the video): “In Russia there is Alexander Dvorkin. He is a very strange person, and there is a lot of extremism in his theories. His activities are, in principle, very strange, and his ideas are extremely far from reality... If you start writing about a destructive cult that operates in your city, people start buying your newspapers. Today the word “cult” is simply used as a weapon against people you don’t like.”
It’s good that courageous people have not yet emerged who analyze, observe and invite us to do the same - to see, distinguish and draw our own conclusions. And don’t get hooked "social engineers" with the help of which they “cheat” people using knowledge of psychology and the human factor.
What would you say about apologetic, anti-sectarian centers?!!
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