We hear many things about progress everyday. Also, the world view already can be «progressive» or «backward». What's interesting is that the traditional world view is considered as «backward» which is based on religion and cultural traditions, earned by humanity for all the time of its existence.

But is the progress really «progressive» (sorry for tautologism)?

From the viewpoint of science and technology, at first glimpse, the progress is doubtless. But let’s consider facts. Science has defeated many ills which had been killing ancient people, however they’re sidelined by new ones which cannot be overcome.

It seems that the technologic advance did everything to provide comfort being, but did poverty, starvation and wars disappear from this world? Not at all. It seems that there’re more of them now. Moreover, the progress also affected weapons by which it’s possible to kill not only one human or a group of people, but also the whole humanity.

Admit that it’s difficult to speak about any factual progress in these conditions.

But from the viewpoint of Christianity, there’s the most frightening progress — the progress of ways for satisfying sinner passions, the progress of dehumanizing, the progress of hate, the progress of ruthlessness…

And in these circumstances a man who is used to trust implicitly for modern society and its seeming achievements finds himself in a most difficult situation. Because, in spite of all civilization’s goals, this man oversees only decay and collapse of romanticdaydreaming of last generations.

Nowadays, many people, who represent themselves as christians, are vulnerable to this pessimism. But if we appeal to Church’s teachings, all this worrying will turn into cheer.

Because both this fallen world and his doubtful «progress» will come to end sooner or later. They will come to the Second Coming of Christ. So, that’s why all these scary expectations and apprehensions actually are forerunners of the very end meeting of the Lord.

This is exactly what we have to know. Exactly for this we must prepare ourselves. And we should be afraid not of disasters and cataclysms, but of our own unpreparedness to enter the new sinless eternal Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. This will be our real progress.

Recorded by Natalia Goroshkova