Third Testament

By Elijah Gutman

The "Third Testament" is a dystopian novel written in 2001 and revised in 2018. It tells about religious totalitarianism and is written in the form of a diary of a person loyal to the regime. The action takes place in the 22nd century in the Illarion Socialist Confederation, a state that occupies most of the territory of the former Russia. Now a new religion has reigned in the country - Illarionism, named after the Prophet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elijah Gutman
• Release date: Jul 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223490661

Book preview

Chapter 1. The Great Mifeb. I am a Doctor of Science and an Officer. Forced Transitions to Illarionism.

Sunday March 16, 2121, after birth of the prophet Jesus

[1].

Glory to Mifeb, our Lord! A significant event is approaching - 50 years since the establishment of the ISC - the Illarion Socialist Confederation. Fifty years since we entered the brotherhood of Mifeb. We, representatives of different nations, have created a great theocratic republic. We are not of this world. We are free from earthly authority. Only Mifeb reigns over us, expressing His will through the Executor.

Gardarika, Great Britain, Oceania, France, America - they are all backward nations. They have human authority. But human authority is insignificant and imperfect, no matter how responsible and humane the rulers may be. In these countries, religion is separated from the state.

In a month's time, I, the servant of God, Peter Kazansky, will participate in the Executor elections. My heart is filled with excitement. I feel as if I am leaving the temple! Pride fills every cell of my body.

Bourgeois philosophers simply envy our perfect social system. But their time is running out: soon our project, Cherubim, will be completed, and the invincible army of the ISC will subjugate the entire world. Man has always ruled over man to his detriment. However, the authority of Mifeb is capable of creating a truly ideal society. Man is merely an image and likeness of Mifeb. He is unable to determine his own destiny independently.

Bourgeois and pseudo-socialist states cannot understand that man is the servant of God. They fail to comprehend the happiness that the authority of Mifeb will bring them. In the past, religions spread by fire and sword. Initially, after conversion, man, like the state, does not understand his new quality.

Since childhood, my father made me observe fasting - not eating on certain days. And one night, he caught me at the refrigerator:

You disobedient boy! It was clearly stated: it's fasting time! You're not allowed to eat for a whole day.

But, Father, I protested, no one will know anyway.

Mifeb knows! Mifeb is omnipotent, He knows everything! And you, sinner, if you do not observe the fast, you shall burn in the fires of Gehenna!

Father was furious. However, my mother calmed him down:

Alexander, why are you yelling at him like that?!! He's just a child.

The commandments of God must be followed from childhood!

Since then, I have observed all the fasts and prayers. At the age of fifteen, I embarked on a pilgrimage to the sacred lands of Siberia, where eighty years ago, the Lord revealed Himself to the prophet Illarion. My father obliged me to subscribe to the newspaper Truth of Mifeb and watch the television program Triumph of the Believer.

I asked him:

Father, why does the Executor make us read this newspaper?

Because we have socialism.

But in Gardarika, they also have socialism, and no one is forced to read newspapers there.

They have pseudo-socialism. The state does not concern itself with the religious enlightenment of its citizens. And religion is separated from the state.

Yes, my father was strict but fair. That is how I imagined Mifeb in my childhood. And that is how I imagine Him now.

I remember when I was eighteen years old, a student with a military deferment as a future highly skilled specialist, the united forces of Sweden, Gardarika, and Germany attacked the ISC. My father was called up to the army. He heroically died in the sacred war. May Mifeb bless him! Recently, on Victory Day, there was a spring parade in Mifeb Square. Once, in the 21st century, it was called Red Square.

Christians believe in some abstract Holy Trinity, but only Mifeb is our God, and Illarion is His final prophet. Once, our Moscow, the capital of the ISC, was mostly a Christian city, the capital of a state called Russia that had just emerged from the yoke of the communists.

Communists, like Christians, are a separate conversation. They wanted to build socialism without God, and they paid for it with the death of their state, of which Russia became the main part.

Russia transformed from a federation into a unitary state consisting of seven districts strictly subordinate to the center. The officials were not loyal to the Lord; they knew no power other than human authority. That is why Russia paid the price of the fate of the Soviet Union. One state gave rise to seven. But the inhabitants of the states were scared. They sought integration once again. The Central region merged with the Volga region. The Far Eastern district was transformed into the Republic of Oceania with its capital in Vladivostok. The Northwest district became the state of Gardarika, governed by St. Petersburg. Ironically, they consider themselves the true Russian nation, supposedly the original part of the West, the heirs of the Novgorod Republic and Peter the Great, while we are considered something like the Tatar-Mongol Horde.

However, the former center was severely weakened. The army and police of the Central-Volga Region were disbanded, and order was maintained by volunteer militia, while inflation and unemployment emerged. A unique phenomenon spread - unemployment in the face of a labor shortage. Economists started begging on the streets, and professors worked as loaders.

During this time, in the forests of Siberia, Illarion, who had once been an officer in the State Security during the time of Russia, was visited by the Lord, revealing His true name - Mifeb. Previously, Mifeb had sent two prophets to Earth, Moses and Jesus. First, through Moses, He made a covenant with the people, and they understood that God was stern but just. But people continued to live in sin, so He sent the second great Prophet, Jesus, and made a New Covenant with them. Jesus taught that God is love. Mifeb wanted to eradicate the sins of humanity not with a whip but with rewards, not with the fear of hellish torment but with peaceful preaching. Centuries passed, but people continued to live in sin. So, He sent Illarion and made a Third Covenant with him, revealing Himself as even more severe and punishing, saying that only the universal control of the Church can eradicate evil and create a righteous society.

Illarion formed a personal guard of former State Security