0. Introduction from the editor.

Despite all the shortcomings of Christian practice in the United States, I have no doubt that the Lord comes to those who seek Him, no matter what path they choose in this pursuit—“If two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them”  (Matthew 18:20). Christ here doesn’t speak to us of a path; he speaks to us of union and unity in Christ. When is this unity possible?

When we “love our neighbor as ourselves”  and thus “abide in Christ.” 

Here I am, a sinner struggling to “abide in Christ,”  “painting with a broad brush”  American Protestants as I perceive them.  I admit that these brothers and sisters, for the most part, hold correct views.  But I am astonished by their ignorance of the true nature of the Mystical Body of Christ, as understood by Orthodox Christians.

Equally false is their teaching: “I believe, therefore I am saved”  or “all that matters is my personal relationship with Christ.”  They are false to the point of heresy.  How could they not include the fundamental demand of “love your neighbor as yourself?”  Without this, saying “I am in Christ”  is simply delusional.

I believe that if American Protestants shared the Orthodox understanding of what “Trinitarian communion in Christ”  truly is, they would be unable to tolerate the political and economic system of the modern United States, which I call “mechanical capitalism,”  and which they defend in the United States and around the world.

My conclusion is unequivocal: “mechanical capitalism” is Satanism, and its proponents are Satanists.

It’s ironic, indeed, but I think the term “Christian-Satanist”  can rightfully be applied to such people.  With encouragement, not condemnation, I want to present a discussion about what the world might look like if the self-proclaimed “Christian right”  in the United States renounced Satan (Mammon) and turned to Christ—this time for real, to be Christians in the United States.

Alongside this, the discussion also examines the efforts of sinners trying to be Christians in Russia, “walking a tightrope” to maintain their Christian spiritual well-being despite the politically repressive tendency of the “system” to maintain the same kind of “mechanical capitalism” that “satanized”  the once noble United States.