About

“What do we mean by Death to the World?”

“The world” is the general name for all the passions. When we wish to call the passions by a common name, we call them the world. But when we wish to distinguish them by their special names, we call them passions. The passions are the following: love of riches, desire for possessions, bodily pleasure from which comes sexual passion, love of honor which gives rise to envy, lust for power, arrogance and pride of position, the craving to adorn oneself with luxurious clothes and vain ornaments, the itch for human glory which is a source of rancor and resentment, and physical fear. Where these passions cease to be active, there the world is dead…. Someone has said of the Saints that while alive they were dead; for though living in the flesh, they did not live for the flesh. See for which of these passions you are alive. Then you will know how far you are alive to the world, and how far you are dead to it.”

+St Isaac the Syrian (7th Century)


About Death to the World

DEATH TO THE WORLD is a ‘zine to inspire the truth-seeking and soul searching amidst the modern age of nihilism and despair, promoting the ancient principles of the last true rebellion: to be dead to this world and alive to the other world. Correspondence is encouraged and articles for submission are welcomed. Each article printed is true to life and has been written out of pain of heart for love of truth.



Our History

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IN THE WILDERNESS of Northern California, Monks John and Damascene searched in hopes of finding a way to reach out to the Punk scene, which John had escaped. Seeing that the scene was full of kids that were sick of themselves and crippled by nihilism and despair, the Monks set out to give them the same hope that they found in Ancient Christianity. To do this, they decided to submit an article about Father Seraphim Rose in the popular magazine, Maximum Rock and Roll. When Father Damascene read over the magazine, he knew that they would never publish something like it. Struggling to show truth to the darkened subcultures, they tried again, but this time only placing an ad for Saint Hermans Brotherhood. They got a response from the editor, saying “What the @#*% is a Brotherhood?” and the Monks were told “We only run ads for music and ‘zines*.” A light bulb went on and thus, Death to the World was born. The first issue was printed in the December of ’94 featuring a Monk holding a skull on cover. The hand-drawn bold letters across the top read “DEATH TO THE WORLD, The Last True Rebellion” and the back cover held the caption: “they hated me without a cause.”

“These kids are sick of themselves,” says Fr. Damascene, “and they feel out of place in this world. We try to open up to them the beauty of God’s creation, and invite them to put to death ‘the passions,’ which is what we mean by ‘the world.’ God takes despair and turns it around to something positive. Selfish passions can then be redirected into love for God, as Mary Magdalene did. We talk about the idea of suffering because that is what the kids feel most strongly. We show that there can be meaning in suffering.”

The first issue, decorated with ancient icons and lives of martyrs inside, was advertised in Maximum Rock and Roll and brought letters from all around the world. People from Japan, Lithuania, and Ireland wanted to get their hands on this new radical magazine. The mailing list grew and grew and the ‘zine was distributed at punks shows and underground hangouts. It was photocopied and passed around by hundreds who wanted to read about the radical lives of the lovers of truth and the mystery of monasticism. It was estimated that at one time, there were 50,000 in circulation. Father Paisius, who is a Monk at the monastery, said, “This subculture is raucous and deeply disturbed because of their own pain. They see life as worthless. We want to show them an ideal that is worth their life. These are marginalized youth who are wounded, and Death to the World is meant to touch with a healing hand that wound.” Writing and putting together issues 1-12, the Monks lived in the forests of Northern California in the midst of deer, bears, mountain lions, and rattlesnakes, translating and publishing wisdom from the holy fathers and mothers of ages past. The Monks and friends of the monastery also went to rock concerts and festivals, distributing Death to the World ‘zines and t-shirts, together with icons and other books that the monastery published.

The Monks did not put out any issues after issue 12, but they continued to share and hand out back orders of Death to the World. Then, eight years later, in the gloomy cities of Southern California a group of kids, coming out of the remnants of a dying Protestant Punk scene were looking for some answers. Desiring something otherworldly, and seeing the efforts of Protestant bands crash in flames before them, they looked away from the churches they grew up in and were curious about the ascetic ways of their ancient Christian Fathers. In hope of finding answers, they looked to the Monks of Saint Herman Brotherhood. The monastery’s Abbot, Father Gerasim, sent them copies of each issue of the ‘zine that had inspired so many over the years, together with seven of the last copies of the book Youth of the Apocalypse. Reading through the pages of these ‘zines one by one, they found what they were looking for, a radical Christianity, one very different from what they grew up in. “Something had always kept me looking for the ‘hardcore’, no compromising Christianity, because I knew down inside that, if Jesus Christ is God, then Christianity had to be the most radical belief in the world.”

All of a sudden a small Parish in the midst of Orange County was populated with punk-rockers adorned with tattoos and piercings. The Parish of Saint Barnabas quickly became known as a “repentant rock ‘n’ roll hospital.” John Valadez, a new writer, looking back explained, “We kept seeing more people come. People that we never thought would show up stood in line with us to receive Holy Baptism. We were greatly inspired by Death to the World. It was what we were missing, something far from the emptiness of the world, and it spoke to us on our level, in a way we could understand.” Making numerous pilgrimages to the wilderness of Northern California to live with the Monks for days at a time, the group would take back boxes of old ‘zines to pass out at punk shows and to give out to friends. On one of these pilgrimages Father Damascene, one of the original writers, said, “Maybe Saint Barnabas should start it up again.”

On the drive back into Southern California, passing the billboards and skyscrapers, the need for a new Death to the World became more graphic in our minds. The punk scene, if anything, has gotten worse and the search for truth in these woeful times seems almost impossible. The group, in hopes of bringing back the truth to the youth of the apocalypse, compiled issue 13 and sent it back into the forest of Platina to be edited. With the blessing of Father Damascene and Abbot Gerasim, the new generation of Death to the World was born, and the first issue after 9 years was printed and sent out to people across the United States and Europe.

Preserving the ‘zine’s 21 year old tradition, those that labor on the ‘zine live in different corners of the United States. Some are now deacons, priests, seminarians, and devout faithful laymen. They strive to continue to push the ‘zine that once inspired them to seek Truth and find the Church, continuing to inspire Truth-seeking and soul-searching amidst the modern age of nihilism and despair, promoting the ancient principles of the last true rebellion — being dead to this world and alive to the other world. Today the ‘zine continues to tackle the problems of our day by exposing them in the light of Christ’s Holy Church.

20 Comments

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    Jakob

    First time I had heard about this was last night and I was in a vary dark place collapsed on the side of the road in the middle of the night at like 10 or 11 crying my eyes out not know what to do or where to go or who to turn to but this man saw me collapsed on my knee and he cam out of his house and spoke to me and I was not really excepting of talking to any one with tears in my eyes I said I will just leave if I was bothering any one and as I got up and started to walk away he went back into his house and got his coat and ran after me being me when I am sad or angry am a fast Walker he caught up to me not even a couple blocks and I said leave me your just like everyone else who hates me pretending to care he said may I walk with you and I spilled my guts like a walker from the walking g dead and laid it all out he kept trying to just get me to stop crying cause he saw I was in pain cause of how I looked but right as I was about to meet up with a friend of mine which I told her and texted her that I need help was waiting for me right up the road but right as me and this man started to get closer to where me and my friend were meeting he stopped me and said have you ever heard about death to the world and I was sitting their stunned with that name in my head and pondered it around for a second and I said to him that’s a vary odd name for a type of Christianity he said to me please look them up they saved me in my time of need and I see that you have lost your path in life and I think this could help the world not be so hard and I said to him I will I shook his hand and said thank you to him for his time and everything and he gave me this look of please let him find his path then him and I had parted ways and I spent the night at my friend’s house and she and her boyfriend help me calm down a lot more and I woke up first thing in this morning and thought to my self mabey I should look this up and this leads to now but what happened last night renewed my faith in humanity cause of a single act of kindness from a stranger and I hope he possibly gets to read this but he really saved me last night because I was about to go commit suicide and just end it all cause I felt so hopeless but this man saved me and I am forever thankful to him for saving my life thank you – sincerely Jakob weiss

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    marc marmolejo

    curious who runs this website? I feel like it is not updated often? I am very interesting in promoting this webpage more and taking it over if the owner is not able to keep up to date with the blogs and merch. I am an orthodox Christian in Fresno CA. I am a business owner as well. I have experience in marketing and such. I can be reached at 559-475-3932 My name is Marc.

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    Nicholas Pantelopoulos

    Dear gentlemen,

    We have received the law from God through the prophets and in the fullness of days, the perfection through Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God.

    God did not create the world to destroy it. You may speak of death to passions but there is no such thing without keeping of God’s Commandments, and if you strive to keep them, you will eventually realize that you will soon be judged, for no one is without sin except for the only sinless one.

    In Holy Scriptures, the punishment for the violation of God’s commandments was death. The world is in sin, and therefore judged to die. However, here is the twist! Our Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross to redeem us and the entire world of this punishment of death, and through this redemption, we are called to repent and step into the Light of the Resurrection and participate in the everlasting Life. The repercussions of this act of Divine Economy is that the punishment of sin, as defined in Holy Scriptures is no longer death. Since, after Redemption, we are no longer commanded by God to serve capital punishment to the sinful, or even offer blood sacrifice, as the Law commands, because the sin of every sinner has already paid through His blood on the Cross. Failure to understand this, and to pretend that the sinner and the world is doomed for death, is not only wrong, it cannot not even be considered nominal Christianity.

    We can no longer speak of Death because the wages have been paid by the Our God, Jesus Christ. We can no longer glorify or celebrate death. Our message to the world must therefore be the Gospel message of joyful repentance!

    In this spirit, from the very beginning, the Ancient Church celebrated the Light and celebrated Life because death was trampled by Christ with his death on the Cross. We see this in the sacred architecture, in our holy icons, in the lives of the saints. We experience it in our Orthodox liturgical cycle, which begins at the darkness of the Sabbath day, and the light of the New Creation, because Christ’s Resurrection entered us into the Joyful Light. Anyone intimately involved in the liturgical practice of the Church will immediately experience that the Church does not celebrate darkness. The Church does not paint itself in darkness. There is no fascination with and attraction to darkness. The Church is the mystical participation and revelation not of the final days but of the Second Coming. At every liturgy, the Holy Gifts are sanctified, to be the Body and Blood of Christ and Christ descends into our midst, and those who are His disciples are bestowed with the power to step on serpents and scorpions, heal and perform great things in His name. Are we those disciples? If not, we will be judged with the rest of the world that chose not to repent but stay in darkness and non-existence, because there is only Life and there is only Light.

    Remove yourself from the darkness and come into the Light so that your sorrow and cynicism may be transformed to illumination and joyful transformation. This is not Christianity. The New Testament does not begin or end with the words, “World” or “Death”, but with the Prophet and Forerunner’s proclamation, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”, and Christ’s final revelation, “Behold, I make all things new”. Amen. Christ is among us.

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      Tom

      Hi. Years ago I ordered a jacket from here. It had the cross on the hood in red. Will it ever be in stock again?

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    Giovanni

    I came across one of your video edits on a dark corner of the internet and it brought me back to my faith. As a cradle Orthodox I did not pay attention to my faith growing up and succumbed to worldly desires such as lust, addiction, depression, self harm and much worse. I am now attending confession and living a much more fruitful life. Thank you and please never stop, God bless!

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    Molly Buccola

    Hello,

    May I donate toward purchasing one of the DTTW sticker logos, so that I can order a 5-panel hat on Etsy with a Death To The World art on it? Or would DTTW be willing to design a 5-panel hat for me?

    Thank you!!

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    Mark Wilson

    I purchased the first 4 magazines prints, digitally. I just finished reading the 1st and 2nd one. I’m not sure what to say. Some of the most touching, inspiring, truthful, and deep to the core Christian writings I have ever read. I’ve read the first two three times already. Such powerful messages / images / everything about it. Thank you so much for putting those maga”zines” on-line. I am thinking of going to the library to try to print some copies, I know some friends who would be deeply affected by reading these. Just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed and learned, from even the first 2 editions. GOD INSPIRED 100%. Beautiful work then, and now! HALLELUJAH!

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