When to Obey Rulers Versus God

An interview with Elder Justin Parvu of Petru Vodă Monastery (Romania) given on October 7th, 2009. Elder Justin spent 16 years in prison under the communists and tirelessly served the Romanian people until his repose on June 16th, 2013. Read a brief account of his life with the text of this interview below.The vaccine Elder Justin is referring to is likely the mandated vaccine for the 2009 swine flu outbreak.📖 The Pinnacle of Nihilism: An Interview With Elder Justin Parvuhttps://www.nepsisblog.com/2025/03/the-pinnacle-of-nihilism-interview-with.html🎧 On Our Times - St. Paisios the Athonitehttps://youtu.be/0KIEmH-qt2Q🎧 Sermon on the 1910 Cholera Pandemic - St. Peter Zverevhttps://youtu.be/gBYKptqJ-pI🎧 How to Understand the Jews as Being a Chosen People: An Orthodox Analysishttps://youtu.be/Zwtcox3ivCs⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/_______Elder Justin teaches:I urge you not to seek solutions anymore. There are no human solutions, my dear ones! The solution is death for Christ. That is why I tell you, have trust that the Lord will give you the strength to confess Him. We live in an anarchic world; the entire political class is hostile to Christ and serves evil. Therefore, simply living without renouncing our Christian principles is a daily testimony and martyrdom.So, do not accept this vaccine and anything new brought by today's political powers. The Jews rule the world, and the Americans work for them, believing they have come to dominate it because they have no more shame.Our only weapons are spiritual: prayer, humility, love, and also confession. There cannot be love without confession [of faith]. Love is sacrificial, and if we are afraid to confess the truth, what sacrifice do we have? Or if we do not care about our neighbor who is ignorant and do not inform him, letting him fall prey to this system, what love do we have? Those who still fight today to awaken their brother, who have not remained indifferent to the future of their nation and their Church, are children of God's love, who lay down their lives for their brothers.If [political rule] opposes Christ, the voice of that ruling should no longer be obeyed. What kind of rulership is this that gives us poisoned bread to eat? That kills our children?Man comes to be formed in the Church, and what formation do we give if we preach the same teachings as the anti-Christian state? The Church is not indifferent to this entire political and social conjuncture and is obliged to be involved both in society and politics, as long as political laws hinder God's commandment. The priest, at ordination, swears to submit to God and His commandments, but also to state authority. To whom do we swear? Presidents and parliamentarians who legalize prostitution and [the micro]chip?It is not enough to confess a truth only to those under your epitrachelion; it must be proclaimed to everyone. We have a duty to bring the truth to light. You can withdraw out of strategy, but how long does this strategy last? The people suffer from so much strategy, and [to the point that] we do nothing. Let us not confuse strategy with laying down arms.Our greatest problem now is that we find ourselves in the darkness of ignorance and consider the sin of ignorance a great privilege. This generation has reached the pinnacle of nihilism. And what if they do this? Ah! It's nothing! You take the chip: Ah, it's nothing! You serve with the Catholics: Ah, it's nothing, and so on… everything is nothing. Nihilism has given birth to this libertinism, and this state somehow entitles you to do anything, whatever you want; to mix light with darkness, to go with both God and Mammon. In this case, we are no longer disciples of Christ._______Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!