Articles for tag: Bartholomew, Ecumenism, Patriarch of Constantinople, St. Iakovos (Tsalikis0

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

Why did Elder Iakovos Tsalikis want Bartholomew as Patriarch?

The occasion of this post arose from an email I received from a reader, in which he expresses his concerns about our ecumenist patriarch, and in which he also addresses a puzzling question that I would like to share with you, and ask for your input, since my answer is not totally satisfactory.

Dear Fr. Emmanuel,

… The motivation for my email is to thank you for your fight to defend our Orthodox Faith against the great heresy of Ecumenism. We live in difficult days, when most laymen and clergy (including some Patriarchs) consider a union with other Christian organizations (not churches) as natural and inevitable. Indeed, these days, most of us laymen are so ignorant in matters of our Church and Faith, that an important danger such as Ecumenism is hardly understood.

Although Patriarch Bartholomew’s ecumenistic statements and actions are scandalous and unacceptable, I was troubled (and confused) the other day when I heard a story about how a holy elder had recommended him as a good choice for the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In a recent conference in Thessaloniki about the Blessed Iakovos Tsalikis (very soon to be declared a Saint), Metropolitan Pavlos of Sisaniou & Siatistis talked about how before Patriarch Bartholomew’s enthronement, Elder Iakovos had asked Saint David of Evia to help assure the Patriarch’s election.

Fr Emmanuel, I’m at a loss. How is it that Elder Iakovos had such high praises for Patriarch Bartholomew? Was he not informed by the Holy Spirit of Patriarch Bartholomew’s eventual ecumenistic activities? Did he perhaps see something in Patriarch Bartholomew that we cannot see with our worldly eyes? Is there perhaps a glimmer of hope, that Patriarch Bartholomew will come to his senses and defend and spread our Faith as he is supposed to?

As the threat of Ecumenism grows, I have the impression that no layman or clergy (at least where I am at) really cares about this danger. I sometimes feel alone here, and my lack of faith (and education) prevents me from speaking up and sensitizing people about this threat, at the very least in the parish I attend….

With love in Christ,
(Name withheld)

Dear ___________,

Before I address your concerns I would like to express my thanks to the Lord for having such faithful people like you. You are too humble to even consider that you are one that belongs to Him, and the Lord will give you all the strength you need “to fight the good fight of the faith.”

As for us, we try with all our means to do our part. Ecumenism is a cancerous growth that spreads very quickly on the healthy Body of the Church and destroys its organs. Our spiritual Fathers instead of providing the cure—a confession of the saving faith—are the ones responsible for the spreading of this deadly disease.

What I have to tell you, and to others like you, is what we Greeks say: Ἔχει ὁ Θεός. At times, I myself get discouraged and say, Ναί, ὁ Θεὸς ἔχει, ἀλλὰ ἐμεῖς δὲν ἔχομε. While this is true, what do we have that is not received from God? Still, to say “we don’t have” shows a lack of recognition of the gifts God has bestowed upon us, especially His very Life—at a great price.

When at times I feel like you do (“I sometimes feel alone here”) the story of prophet Elijah comes to mind, how, even he, the great prophet, was discouraged, and turned to God in despair: “I alone am left.” He did not know everything. What was God’s reply to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” All was not lost. God has a chosen “remnant” left, faithful to Him. We want to be with that remnant.

I think something similar happens in our πονηροὶ καιροί (cunning times). It seems we are very few, but God knows who are truly His. The typical Orthodox may constitute the overwhelming majority, however I believe that among the informed Orthodox Christians the opposite is true; they constitute the overwhelming majority. The time, the καιρός, will come when they will arouse, and we will be among them.

We pray that our ecumenist hierarchs come to their senses, that a ray of the Holy Spirit may penetrate their minds and hearts, and in repentance admit to their error and return to the faith of our Fathers, from which they have departed. In the meantime we keep the hope.

Since by your own admission you also follow “other clergymen from Greece who are fighting the same fight” then you must know that there are several hierarchs of the Churches of Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia, among others, as well as abbots and monks, professors and theologians, and many pious faithful, who courageously raise their voices against ecumenism and the decisions of the Cretan pseudo-synod.

Most of the people of God are ἐν ἀναμονῇ, they are waiting for those bishops who objected both to the method in which the “Holy and Great Synod” was convened and conducted, as well as the decisions reached, in order to make their move. What move? To condemn this synod as a pseudo-synod and reject its decisions as un-Orthodox. What is the likelihood of this happening any time soon? Nil! If only the Patriarchate of Moscow had kept its traditionally Orthodox stand there would be some hope. But since it too has embraced the heresy of ecumenism no one else will dare to convoke a synod that would condemn ecumenism as a heresy.

So, where does this leave us? Ἐν ἀναμονῇ! But while we are waiting, we don’t remain idle and silent. We express our faith in the Orthodox Church as we came to know it, as we have received it from our holy Fathers. And we pray. Pray that our ecumenist hierarchs come to their senses, that a ray of the Holy Spirit may penetrate their minds and hearts, and in repentance admit to their error and return to the faith of our Fathers, from which they have departed. In the meantime we keep the hope.

It is true that “we live in difficult days,” but it is important to know that we’ve been there before: Arianism, Monophysitism, Monothelitism, and Iconoclasm, to mention four big ones. We need to know this and to know that the Church has emerged victorious out of them.

Coming now to your question on Elder Iakovos, it is a hard one to answer, because we don’t know what he had in mind. Taking his words on their face value we should conclude that he erred in his evaluation, unless he forethought that the Patriarch would have a “conversion experience.” Short of a miracle, this won’t happen. What then can we say? Since an erroneous judgment on the Elder’s part is unacceptable all we can say is that he had his reasons for his praise of the current Patriarch Bartholomew.

For your information, in the book about his life, The Garden of the Holy Spirit: Elder Iakovos of Evia by Prof. Stylianos G. Papadopoulos of blessed memory (translated and published in English by Orthodox Witness, 2007) there is a longer account (pp. 154-55) than that contained in Metropolitan Pavlos’s talk. Here it is:

On February 10, 1989 [the then Metropolitan of Chalcedon and now Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew] visited the monastery and served Divine Liturgy. The Elder was particularly pleased and “prophesied” to him with certainty (while Patriarch Demetrios was still in good health): “You will become Patriarch! You will shepherd Christ’s Church. I pray that you visit St. David’s monastery as Patriarch.” The Elder offered him an icon and gave him also a sprig of basil for Patriarch Demetrios with a request to “pray for our monastery.” Two years later, humble Demetrios slept, and the issue of a new Patriarch arose. In October 1991, the Elder was informed by a visiting priest that the Turkish government was considering removing the names of the synodical metropolitans from the list of candidates. The Elder went to church, prayed to St. David, and came back to the priest: “I prayed, Father, to St. David. ‘St. David,’ I told him, ‘you have surely granted all my requests so far. Now, I don’t know how, but just go to Turkey, meddle up the Turks and their papers, and see that Fr. Bartholomew is elected Patriarch!” When later on he learned that Bartholomew was indeed elected Patriarch, he rose up shining with joy, he made the sign of the cross, and repeated thrice: “Glory to You, O God!”

It is truly inexplicable and mind boggling, how this charismatic Elder would be so joyous over Bartholomew’s election, and, in a way, be even responsible for it! You ask, “Was he not informed by the Holy Spirit of Patriarch Bartholomew’s eventual ecumenistic activities?” It’s even more mysterious because before Bartholomew spoke to the Elder, he had the same ideas many years earlier while still a student, which were acquired from his mentor, Patriarch Demetrios, and his environment.

I’ll also pass on to you the following explanation I came across the other day, offered by the Greek magazine Aktines (Jan. 20, 2017) (my translation):

Contemporary Saints of the Orthodox Church as the venerable Elder [Iakovos] Tsalikis and St. Paisios had predicted the election of the current Patriarch, and had talked with flattering words about his person. It seems, however, that they had done this in order to strengthen the Orthodox beliefs of the man and to encourage him that more significant is the holiness of God, and not the importance of the world! However, their wise words failed to dissuade the Patriarch from the worship of Antichrist.

I think the author is on to something. My explanation, though not fully satisfactory, is that the Elder saw Patriarch Bartholomew as the precursor of Antichrist, and as a sign of the end of times and of the Second Coming of the Lord. A Saint would rejoice at that. We know that the Patriarch is a betrayer of the faith, notwithstanding the witness of blessed Elder Iakovos and holy Elder Paisios.

Speaking of Saint Paisios, the Patriarch had a long relationship with him. Shortly after his election he visited the Elder on the Holy Mountain, at which time the Elder said publicly, “God gave us in these difficult times the best Patriarch.” But as someone said when we came across this passage as we were translating it, “Perhaps the Elder saw what would happen with the alternatives, and rejoiced because this was the best possible outcome.” I’ll leave it at that for now.

So, keep the faith, my friend. Give the good confession with your life, if not with words. Pray for the Patriarch that he may come to his senses, pray also for those who confess the faith among many adversities, and pray for us all, that we may find ourselves with the “remnant.”

In the eternally risen Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Fr. Emmanuel

More about Elder Iakovos
http://pemptousia.com

Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis (+2024) is the author of The Heavenly Banquet: Understanding the Divine Liturgy and Jesus: Fallen? The Human Nature of Christ Examined from an Eastern Orthodox Perspective.

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

My desire was to be received through Baptism

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”
(Ps. 118:24)

This is a day of rejoicing for all of us, who came to know you and love you. On the very first day I met you, you described yourself as Orthodox at heart. With tears in your eyes you indicated you would have become formally Orthodox, but the time did not come until today, and we give glory to Christ our God for it.

Despite your best intentions and personal conviction, and your desire to belong to the true Church founded by Christ, you did not become her member until this blessed day. It was your dissatisfaction with your former church that convinced you it simply was not part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, but an imitation of it, having broken away from the Roman church that had already broken communion with the Church, being first schismatic, then heretical.

Your desire to be received through baptism indicates your conviction that the baptism you had received in your former church was not the true baptism, because it was not administered by an appointed minister of the Church nor was it in the prescribed form used by the Church of triple baptism, i.e. triple immersion, and in a word it was not administered within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church.

A baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity is the true baptism not because merely the names of our triune God are invoked, as if it were an incantation (it’s like saying anyone who can say this is my body and this is my blood magically transforms the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord), but because the Church convenes in accordance with the instructions of the Lord and the authority given to the ministers of His Church to perform the divine mysteries. This authority rests with the Church, not with the individual minister.

Your baptism was not a rebaptism. If it were we would all violate the Tradition of the Church.

Some of our colleagues, by a curious presumption, are led to suppose that those who have been dipped among the heretics ought not to be baptized when they join us; because, they say, there is “one baptism.” [Eph. 4.5] Yes, but that one baptism is in the Catholic Church. And if there is one Church, there can be no baptism outside of it. There cannot be two baptisms: if heretics really baptize, then baptism belongs to them. And anyone who on his own authority concedes them this privilege admits, by yielding their claim (that the enemy and adversary of Christ should appear to possess the power of washing, purifying, sanctifying a man). Our assertion is that those who come to us from heresy are baptized by us, not re-baptized. They do not receive anything there; there is nothing there for them to receive. They come to us that they may receive here, where there is all grace and truth; for grace and truth are one.

Whose words are these? Not mine, but the Church’s, through the mouth of her spokesman, inspired by the Holy Spirit, St. Cyprian of Carthage (Epistle 70.1, ca. A.D. 255).

“If one accepts a heretical baptism as valid in and of itself, he also accepts the priesthood of the clergyman who administers it, and ultimately the Eucharist that such a clergyman celebrates, too.”
—Fr. George Metallinos

The subject of how the Church receives those who profess faith in Jesus Christ and who have received a baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity is one that stirs the Church today and causes considerable friction among clergy and faithful. The confusion that exists concerning the baptism is due to the confusion that exists concerning the Church. Those who see the Church (at least in some form) even among the heretics, also see the baptism among them (in some form). Indeed, as Fr. George Metallinos has stated, “If one accepts a heretical baptism as valid in and of itself, he also accepts the priesthood of the clergyman who administers it, and ultimately the Eucharist that such a clergyman celebrates, too.” (Quoted by Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XIX, No. 4)

I want to congratulate you, for being moved by the Holy Spirit you came forth of your own free will asking to be received in the womb of the Holy Orthodox Church and thus become a member of the Body of Christ. You followed the Apostle Paul who emphasized that we need to maintain a strong and cohesive unity, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles” (Eph. 4:14).

We must, however, say that your pious, Christian life outside the Church is neither dismissed and belittled nor called irrelevant. To the contrary. It is because of the exemplary life you have lived, as witnessed by your family and by all of us who had the blessing of knowing you, that we rejoice at your decision. Today you sealed the Christian life you have always lived as a sincere follower of the Lord, and made efficacious your faith and charismata received.

In stepping forward to receive the sacrament of regeneration you confess that you renege the heresies embraced by your former Protestant denomination, i.e. filioque, sola scriptura, sola gratia, ecumenism, created grace, and any other teachings contrary to the faith transmitted to us.

Today is the day of your spiritual birth and regeneration. You enlisted in the army of Christ. With the confirmation you have received, you were also given the weapons to fight the good fight and be victorious over the forces of evil. Not only do you bear the insignia of Christ’s army, you have now received in you the Lord Himself, so that you may be totally incorporated into His life, so that from now on you live His life, or let Christ live in you. The cup of the Lord is the great prize, full—not with blessings—but of the Bestower Himself of all blessings.

Thank you for wanting to follow the akriveia of the canons and not the oeconomia of those who are weak, uncertain and confused in faith. Shame to our ecumenical (read ecumenistic) patriarch, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and all its hierarchs who have capitulated to the heresy of ecumenism. Kudos to the Serbian Church that faithfully adheres to the sacred canons of the Church, to the hierarch heading this diocese… and the priest of this church… for making your dream come true on this blessed day.

Axios!

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

An Open Letter to Archons “The Defenders of the Faith”

What the members of the “Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle” should know

Dear Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,

This Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, the first Sunday after the feast of St. Andrew the First-Called Disciple, is “National Archon Sunday,” in which the Orthodox Church honors your Order and the work you do “to promote the religious freedom, wellbeing and advancement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.” You have also all taken a sworn oath “to defend and promote the Greek Orthodox faith and tradition…[and] protect and promote the Holy Patriarchate and its mission.”1

I would like to bring to your attention a few statements made by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for your reflection and deliberation.

Your 9/23/2016 Archon News carried an article that first appeared in The Catholic Register (to which the readers are directed) with the title, “Religious leaders praise Patriarch Bartholomew as a great ecumenist.” The Patriarch was honored during an interfaith gathering that took place at the basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, in Assisi, Italy, Sept. 20, 2016.2

During this gathering, religious leaders of dozens of religions gathered for dialogue and prayers for peace honoring Patriarch Bartholomew on the occasion of his 25th anniversary on the ecumenical throne. He was praised as an ecumenist, theologian and leading religious defender of God’s creation and as someone “who is so deeply rooted in his own religious tradition that he can reach out to others without fear.”3

In a Forward to a book honoring Patriarch Bartholomew on his 25th anniversary of his election, Pope Francis writes:

The church of Rome and the church of Constantinople are united by a profound and longstanding bond, which not even centuries of silence and misunderstanding have been able to sever.4

Dear Archons of the Ecumenical patriarchate:

Do you truly believe that our differences with Roman Catholicism are “misunderstandings”? But if you say, the Pope said this, not our Patriarch, read these words of His All-Holiness:

We are obliged… to reconsider our policy, to clean away the old yeast, to become new dough…Our repentance for the past is indispensable.5

Do you understand what he means? That our holy Tradition is the “old leaven” which is no longer needed, and that we need to accept the “new dough” of union with the Pope, after we repent for the mistakes made by our Fathers! He makes this clearer in the same address:

Those of our forefathers from whom we inherited this separation were the unfortunate victims of the serpent who is the chief of all evils; they are already in the hands of God, the righteous Judge…And these men, being the causes for the schism, are now in the hands of God, the righteous judge.

Do you know to whom is he referring? To Saint Photios the Great, Saint Gregory Palamas, Saint Mark of Ephesos, Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis and all the holy Fathers who defended the Orthodox faith against the heresies.

Dear Archons:

How can you defend this Denier of the Tradition received by our holy Fathers? How can you justify your allegiance to this Betrayer of everything holy and sacred the Orthodox Church stands for? He says that our holy Fathers to whom we pray, and the icons of whom we venerate have been deceived, and are condemned by Christ!

Of course this is not all. In his address to the World Council of churches Oct. 7, 2009, he stated that we “search for the visible unity” as if the unity of the Church does not exist because the heretical groups he calls “churches” are not united with us. He calls our insisting on the uniqueness of our Church “provincialism and confessionalism.”6

In a message he sent to a global conference held in 2001 in Durban, South Africa he wrote, “The Orthodox Church does not seek to convince others on specific perceptions of the Truth or of the of Revelation, nor does she seek to convert them to a specific way of thought”! So following the words of the Lord, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19-20) are “perceptions of the truth” and “a specific way of thought”?

Do you honestly believe that Patriarch Bartholomew faithfully conforms to the teachings of Christ and the doctrines of the Orthodox Church?

Are you sure that the faith proclaimed by Patriarch Bartholomew is the faith you have sworn to defend?

Do you find that the unity of “reconciled diversity” advanced by Patriarch Bartholomew, is the unity that Christ prayed for, the unity that you want to promote?

Patriarch Bartholomew is praised for promoting “without fear” the heretical ecumenism and syncretism. Decide what you want to defend: the honorable Orthodox See of the Ecumenical Patriarchate or the dishonorable Patriarch that occupies the Ecumenical cathedra. The St. John Chrysostoms we honor; the Nestorioses we abhor and condemn.

Reflect and decide.

http://www.archons.org
See our post How Patriarch Bartholomew is walking away from Christ
http://www.archons.org/news/detail.asp?id=923
Bartholomew, Apostle and Visionary, by John Chryssavgis, Thomas Nelson 2016, p. x.
Address to the Roman Catholic Delegation on the occasion of the patronal feast day of Saint Andrew on November 30, 1998.
https://www.oikoumene.org

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

How Patriarch Bartholomew is walking away from Christ

Οn the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the annual World Day of Prayer for Peace organized in Assisi on Sept. 18-20, 2016, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew released a statement in Italian to “Avvenire,” a newspaper of the Catholic bishops of Italy, entitled, “That all may become one, ‘ut unum sint.’” This year’s theme was, “Thirst for peace: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue.” Before getting to the Patriarch’s message and my commentary I would like to offer a few introductory remarks.

At the first World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1986, 160 religious leaders were gathered, representing 32 Christian groups and 11 non-Christian religions, “spending the day together with fasting and praying to their God or Gods.” Pope Benedict in 2011 did not allow a common prayer, because he didn’t want to convey the impression “that theological differences have been reduced or are not consequential.” However, he concluded his own reflection saying, “In the name of God, may every religion bring upon the earth justice and forgiveness and life, love!”—a full syncretistic prayer, I should add. How could prayer be absent from an event that takes place for the very purpose of praying for peace? This year’s event gathered more than 450 religious leaders of different faiths.

Here follows the Patriarch’s statements and my commentary:

“It’s been 30 years since Pope John Paul II gave start to the Assisi events, events of contemplation and decisions for the religions that work and walk together toward global peace…

The heretical Pope gave the start to unite all the religions under him, and our Patriarch readily and foolishly ran after him. This initiative sounds noble and innocent, but it constitutes a great deception. In the first place, the Patriarch doesn’t call it for what it is. It is not convened to “work and walk together toward global peace,” but it is a “day of prayer for peace.” There is a problem right there, because Orthodox people are prevented from praying together with non-Orthodox, especially with non-Christians! Besides, I don’t think the mission of the Church is to “work and walk together (with the religions of the world) toward global peace.” St. John the Theologian said, “he who says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.” (1 John 2:6) Christ didn’t work, and His followers the Saints didn’t “work and walk together” with the religions of the world. The Lord said, “If any one serves me, he must follow me.” (John 12:26) Who does the Patriarch follow? Who does he serve?In the second place, reflect on this year’s theme, “Religions and Cultures in Dialogue.” What is the purpose of this “dialogue”? It is not so much about peace as it is “to walk together” with the religions of the world, united under the Pope, so “there shall be one flock and one shepherd”—not Christ, but the Pope! No acceptance of the same Shepherd, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is needed. Everyone is free to believe whatever each one wants. Pope Francis is frantically working to unite all religions under him and create the One World Religion and the New World Order.

…This year, the 25th anniversary of our humble ministry on the patriarchal throne of Constantinople, we are glad we are able to be together with our brothers and our sisters of other denominations and communities of Christian faith,…

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Ps. 133:1). Indeed, our Patriarch should be glad to be together with his brothers, as the psalmist says. The problem is, these were not his brothers. Christians have always addressed as “brothers” those who share the same faith with them. The Apostle Paul explained to the Corinthians that when he urged them “not to associate with any (immoral man) who bears the name of brother,” he didn’t mean the “outsiders.” (1 Cor. 5:9.11.12) “Brothers and sisters” is equivalent to being all children of God, treated in another post. We address as “brothers” only those who are united with us in faith, having become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ and baptism (see Gal. 3:26-27). Instead, our Patriarch persecutes the true Orthodox, rejoicing in the company of non-Orthodox Christians.But it gets worse. The Patriarch knows that at this particular gathering he is not only among his “brothers” of various Christian denominations, but also among “brothers” of other faiths. Again, let us repeat: this gathering is for the Babylon of Religions and Cultures of the world to Dialogue. So the question arises: how does our Patriarch reconcile these efforts with the words of the Apostle: “Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Cor. 6:14-16) I would love to have an answer from our Patriarch.

…guided by our beloved Pope Francis, …

“Our”? “Beloved”? Aren’t these expressions of endearment going a little too far? “Pope”? So now we officially recognize the “usurper” (according to Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus) of the see of Peter as the legitimate Pope? “Guided”? Do we already accept the Pope as the first (primus), and follow him as our guide (pastor)? We do love everyone, as the Lord commands us, and we pray that everyone may come to the knowledge of truth, and thus be saved. But we should not give to heterodox (heretical and schismatic Christians) false hopes that being in heresy and schism (as they are), and being cut off from the Body of Christ (as they are) doesn’t matter. If we fail to evangelize them we fail in our mission.

…in a meeting and in a shared commitment—citing the Orthodox Divine Liturgy—“for the peace from above” and “for the peace of the whole world.” It is particularly appropriate that this international event is hosted by the Diocese of Assisi, the Franciscan family and our dear friends of the Sant’ Egidio Community.…

The following words written by blessed Elder, St. Paisios the Hagiorite about Patriarch Athenagoras are also applicable in this case:

“My writings are nothing more than an expression of my deep pain for the line and, unfortunately, the worldly love of our father Mr. Athenagoras. As shown, he loved another woman, who is modern, called Papal ‘Church,’ because our Orthodox Mother does not impress him, because she is very modest… With such an almost worldly love our Patriarch arrives in Rome. And while he should show love first toward us his children and toward our Mother Church, unfortunately he sent his love very far. The result was to comfort all his secular children who love the world and have this worldly love, but scandalize all of us, the children of Orthodoxy, young and old, who have fear of God.”

Patriarch Bartholomew is a faithful follower of his predecessor, Patriarch Athenagoras, who has fallen madly in love with “the great harlot” (Rev. 17:1), wallowing with her in the mud.

…We have recently witnessed this deep desire to heal our human community and protect our planet when the world mourned the loss of life and beauty in the earthquake that hit central Italy. We recognize, then, that peace is something for which we yearn with great passion and great pain.…

The Lord said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” (John 14:27) Our request in our services (quoted above by the Patriarch) is to receive “the peace from above.” Peace is a surety given us from Christ, which springs from our faith and hope in Him and His promises. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body” (Col. 3:15). Yet the peace the Patriarch so ardently pursues is a worldly peace. Instead of turning his eyes to heaven to seek “the peace from above,” he keeps them on earth, and together with “the religions that work and walk together toward global peace” he strives to achieve earthly peace with human means, thus turning his back to the “Prince of peace.” (Is. 9:6)

…Many of you are surely aware of how over the last 50 years there have been taken some extraordinary steps toward reconciliation between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches.…

This is the first of no less than four times the word “reconciliation” is used in this short statement. Unfortunately, the steps taken towards reconciliation are in the wrong direction. Do you know what our Patriarch means when he says reconciliation? As “unity in diversity.” There is only one way for reconciliation: for the Roman Catholics and all the heterodox to re-join the Orthodox (true) Church. Our Patriarch has not made a single step to encourage them to move in that direction. To the contrary, he tells his Roman Catholic “brothers” that they are fine where they are, the way they are, and that dogmatic differences are “misunderstandings.”

…We owe the start to the popes John XXIII and Paul VI, as well as to our predecessors, Ecumenical Patriarchs Athenagoras and Demetrios. Their vision has reminded us all of the urgent exhortation of the Lord to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, “that all may be one” (ut unum sint).…

Correction, Your All Holiness: It is not an “urgent exhortation” of the Lord, but a fervent request to His Father. Please, reread His words: “I am praying for them [His disciples]; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me… keep them in thy name…that they may be one, even as we are one.” (John 17:9.11) Christ prays for His disciples, that they may “remain united” (Prof. P. Trembelas), that they may maintain the unity they already have – not strive to achieve a unity they don’t have. The unity prayed for is unity of faith and love. The Apostle Paul says, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 6:23)

…However there is another reconciliation, a unity of action, which is concern for the suffering we see around us in the world.…

Here is the great apostasy, here is a radical departure from the Tradition of the Church. The Patriarch has cleverly devised another kind of reconciliation. A reconciliation not based on faith but on action. Unfortunately, this other unity is a human construct, which noble as it may be is not the main mission of the Church, but a deviation and a departure from the unity and the reconciliation Christ came to bring us: “God…through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself…and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ.” (2 Cor. 5:18-20) This should be our top priority, and especially the top priority of His All Holiness. This “other reconciliation,” the “unity of action” he pursues, constitutes the greatest threat for the faithful, because it bypasses the truth (that is Christ), acting on a purely human level. He should examine himself, if he faithfully carries out this ministry, this diakonia – if he is a true ambassador for Christ or His betrayer.

…Indeed the principle that underlies openness and dialogue is that all human beings, in the end, face the same challenges. Such dialogue draws people from different religions and cultures out of isolation, preparing them for coexistence and a relationship of mutual respect.…

So the “Great Commission” (“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19-20)) is marginalized and is being supplanted by the “principle,” “all human beings face the same challenges.” “Make disciples” is replaced by “mutual respect.” “In the end,” religions don’t make any substantial difference – the Orthodox Church included. The true Church founded by Christ is replaced by the belief in a “new humanity,” in a New World Order, promoted by the Patriarch’s guide, Pope Francis. (July 31, 2016 speech at the World Youth Day.) To both of them, one religion is the same as another. To remain firm in the faith the Patriarch calls it “isolation.” It is terrible to sacrifice our faith in Christ our true God on the worldly altar of the pseudo-religion of ecumenism and syncretism.

…This is why the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church said in its final message: “A sober interreligious dialogue helps to promote mutual trust, peace and reconciliation.” And the encyclical of the Council was even more specific: “We therefore urge all … regardless of religious beliefs, to work for reconciliation and respect for human rights, first of all through the protection of the divine gift of life. War and the bloodshed have to stop, and justice must prevail, so that peace can be restored.”…

Peace and peace and peace; again and again. But what is peace? It’s the same as truth: Christ, “the Lord of peace” (2 Thes. 3:16). Christ spoke clearly: “I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace.” (John 16:33) Yes in Him and in no one and in nothing else. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” (John 14:27) In all honesty, whose peace does Patriarch Bartholomew pursue, Christ’s or the world’s?Let us also point out the sober truth, that the Patriarch and his pseudo-council accepted other “heterodox churches,” as if the Lord has founded other churches, besides the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic, Orthodox Church. But that’s only the first step. The second step is to promote and achieve peace and reconciliation among all human beings, “regardless of religious beliefs.”

…This has also been our experience with Pope Francis on the island of Lesbos exactly five months ago, on April 16, 2016. That event was a concrete response of the Churches of the West and the East…

There are no “Churches of the West and the East.” We don’t subscribe to the heretical “two-lung” theory, which is called by Prof. D. Tselengidis “blasphemous.” The Joint Declaration of Lesvos stated that the aim of the participants is “to fulfill the Churches’ [note the plural] mission of service to the world.” The main task of the Church is not social welfare. Let’s not dilute its mission, which is the transformation of mankind and of the entire cosmos.

…to a tragic crisis of our world. At the same time, it was a powerful reaffirmation of how ecumenical relations can promote peace and human rights at a time when the world averts its gaze from extremism and victims of persecution or decides their fate in purely economic or national interests. The power of dialogue and ecumenical action is in starting to go beyond ourselves and what is ours, beyond our community, and our churches.…

We are not opposed to dialogue the aim of which is to proclaim the truth to those willing to hear it. But this kind of dialogue is opposed, even condemned (!) by the ecumenists. Instead, the dialogue they promote is “to go beyond ourselves and what is ours,” meaning to cease to believe that the Orthodox Church is the Church, the one and only Church founded by Christ. Doing so is what they call “isolation,” even extremism.

…It is to learn to speak the language of care and compassion. And it is to give priority to solidarity and service.

It is precisely here where our Patriarch mixes up his priorities and departs from his Apostolic Commission to be Christ’s witness “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Lord charged His Apostles to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that He commanded them (see Mt. 28:19-20). Is our Patriarch making disciples of all the religious leaders who were present in Assisi?

As we said in another post, our Patriarch does not even believe in making disciples of the Nations, as expressed in his statement: “The Orthodox Church does not seek to convince others on specific perceptions of the Truth or of the Revelation, nor does she seek to convert them to a specific way of thought.” This is not the Martyria that the Lord expects.

Both our Patriarch and like minded ecumenists need to take the Great Commission seriously and make their own St. Paul’s aphorism, “Woe to me if I do not evangelize!” (1 Cor. 9:16)

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

Mocking our Lord: Commemorating Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

By Archimandrite Maximos Karavas

The occasion for me to write this article arose from the grief I feel whenever I hear the bishops of the so called “new lands” of the Greek Church commemorate Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew—especially when he is commemorated as “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of [Your] Truth,” addressing God, without fear and without shame, during the holiest moment of the Divine Liturgy.

Priest (intones): Among the first, remember, Lord, our Bishop (Name). Grant that he may serve Your holy churches in peace. Keep him safe, honorable, and healthy for many years, rightly proclaiming the word of Your truth.

—Divine Liturgy, Petition after the consecration. See The Heavenly Banquet: Understanding the Divine Liturgy

Has the fear of God left the hearts of these bishops completely? Don’t they understand that by saying these things they mock God, and that it is “terrible to fall into the hands of the living God, from which no one is able to snatch someone out?” (St. John Chrysostom) They commemorate the greatest blasphemer and the greatest heresiarch of all centuries of Christendom as “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth”! Who?—the one who has not left any teaching of the Orthodox faith standing! But let us address a few specific “unspeakable words” by “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth,” so that no one may say that we treat him unfairly.

Follow your orders

In his message to the 2001 “World Conference Against Racism” held in Durban, South Africa under UN auspices, he wrote the following horrible words: “The Orthodox Church does not seek to convince others about a specific perception of the truth or of the revelation, neither does she seek to convert them into a concrete way of thinking”! That is, “Your All Holiness,” when Christ ordered His disciples, at the time of His Ascension to Heaven, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,” He did not want “to convert them into a concrete way of thinking” denouncing their false religions, and accepting the preaching of the apostles?

“The Lord said, I am telling you the truth: the man who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.” (John 10:1)

How can “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” teach contrary to Christ’s teachings? Or, perhaps, the words of Christ, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” are not true, and the false words of Mr. Bartholomew are true? But probably “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” must be right, since he is called “the All Holy One,” while Christ is called simply, “Holy,” although He is God! You see, “His Most Divine All Holiness” has everything in superlatives! On the one hand, the title “His All Holiness” was acquired effortlessly on account of his position (Patriarch of Constantinople), while he has obtained the rest of the titles with great effort and toil (by being blasphemer and heresiarch), as he travels in great luxury around the world!

But let us now return to the “unspeakable words” of “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth.”

If any Clergyman, or Layman, enter a synagogue of Jews, or of heretics, to pray, let him be both deposed and excommunicated.

CANON 65,
The 85 Canons of the Holy Apostles, The Rudder

“No one comes to the Father except through Me…”

In his message to Muslims the world over, on the occasion of the religious feast of Ramadan in 2001, he wrote: “God takes pleasure in the peaceful coexistence of humans and, indeed, of those who worship Him, regardless of differences that exist in faith among the three great monotheistic religions”! So who speaks the truth now? Christ, who says that, “No one comes to the Father except through Me,” or “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth,” who says that God is pleased with the prayers of the Muslims (and the Jews)? I wonder how God tolerates this blasphemer and heresiarch to be called “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” and does not send down fire to burn us—both those who commemorate him, and us who hear these words and do not protest!

“To confess Jesus Christ is a great feat, and the Lord promised that He will glorify, in front of the heavenly Father, those who confess Him (see Mat. 10:32). But when does the Lord esteem such a confession? When it is done in an environment that is hostile to the faith and when the one who makes such a confession is in danger of suffering persecution and tribulation because of it. When one confesses Christ under such circumstances, he shows that he is ready to suffer martyrdom for Him. This is why his confession has such a value.”

+Saint Theophan the Recluse,
Preaching Another Christ: An Orthodox View of Evangelicalism

Confess “Jesus Christ”!

And what shall we say about his visit to the Synagogue of the Jews in New York in 2009, and the “unspeakable words” he uttered there, although the sacred canons of the Church forbid us Christians—with heavy penances—even to simply enter a Jewish synagogue! Although he was talking for quite some time, not even once did he mention the name of Christ, although he should have cried in a loud voice, “Let the Jews say how the soldiers lost the king, when they were keeping watch. And how did the stone not keep in the Rock of Life? Let them either produce Him who was buried, or worship the One who has risen, saying with us: Glory to the abundance of Your tender mercies, O our Savior, glory to You!” (Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers)

Lord, have mercy on… the Saints?

I will also relate the blasphemous address of the Ecumenical Patriarch during the Patronal Feast of the Patriarchate, on Nov. 30, 1998, to the papal delegation: “Your Eminence, Cardinal William Keeler and our other brothers in Christ constituting the delegation of the Church of Rome… We must not waste time in search of responsibility. Our forefathers who bequeathed to us the split were the unlucky victims of the evil serpent and they already lie in the hands of righteous God. Therefore we request God’s mercy on them, but it is our duty before Him to restore their errors!”

So, “Your All Holiness,” the Saints who protected us from the “abomination of desolation”—the Pope—whose antichristian chariot you struggle to strap us in, were instruments of the Devil? Behold the hypocrisy of “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth”! While he calls these Saints “victims of the evil serpent,” when the day of their Feast comes, he will celebrate it majestically! In our region he has even established a monastery to Saint Kosmas Aitolos, the strictest anti-papal Saint, who called the pope “the Antichrist”! But “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” is so good, that he prays to God to have mercy on these anti-papal Saints! Lord, spare us from worse things to come!

Learn what is holy

Finally, I will mention how he gave the “Holy Koran” as a gift to the president of Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent, in Atlanta in the United States in 2009. It seems that the “Most Holy One” often confuses the words “holy” and “profane,” so that he calls the unholy Koran “holy” without fear of God and without shame!

From all these and many other words and acts of “His All Holiness,” it is evident that “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” is the biggest blasphemer and the biggest heretic of all time!

Despite all this, I pray from the heart to the loving God to grant us and to him repentance and confession of the Name of the Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—for the salvation of all people and the enjoyment of eternal blessings. Amen.

Archimandrite Maximos Karavas
Monastery Agia Paraskevi Eordea
Milochorion, Oct. 25, 2016

Emphasis by the translator, FEH.

Original text in Greek appeared here and here on 10/31/2016 and here on 10/30/2016.

The Orthodox Witness website is published by Anthony Hatzidakis.

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

WARNING: Holy and Great Synod ahead

A bomb threatens us, and most of us are unaware of it. I feel it is my duty to inform you of the impending great danger we are heading into, and take appropriate measures. No, it’s not about a nuclear threat or a major terrorist attack, but something much worse—because such things can put an end to our temporary life, whereas the danger about which I want to warn you threatens our eternal life.

Warning to Orthodox Christians worldwide

Blessed people of God: the Ecumenical Patriarch and the bishops who surround him are preparing a great treason against the Orthodox faith and our holy tradition. In the upcoming so-called “Holy and Great Synod” they intend to impose the heretical ecumenism, recognizing officially as Churches the heretical confessions that are outside of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox, unique and single, true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is that our Lord founded one unique Church, and that this is the Orthodox Church. There cannot be multiple Churches. We cannot accept as Churches Christian groups that are not members of the Holy Church of Christ, which alone constitutes His Holy Body.

One Church, not many

As bishops, priests and theology professors have noted, an expression in the draft document, “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World,”1 suggests the existence of other Churches, which is unacceptable:

“The Orthodox Church acknowledges the existence in history of other Christian Churches and confessions which are not in communion with her.”

Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos proposed to replace this phrase with:

“The Orthodox Church is aware that her charismatic limits are identical to her canonical limits, and also knows that there are other Christian Confessions, which were cut off from her and are not in communion with her.”

The proposed change is necessary, but at this point its acceptance by the Ecumenical Patriarchate is in my opinion rather impossible. Of course there is always hope, and we pray for it.

The ecumenists have the audacity to apologize for the attitude of the holy Fathers, who supposedly did not show enough love toward their heterodox (heretic and schismatic) brothers.

Unfortunately the ecumenists, who, in violation of the holy canons, officially and actively pray with non-Orthodox, recognize the existence of non-Orthodox Churches alongside ours, the only Church of Christ. We believe “in One Holy Church,” whereas they believe in many “sister Churches.” So they do not profess the true faith, i.e. they are heretics. Also they believe that baptism is something magical, so that whoever performs it, whether inside or outside the Church, is “valid” as long as the name of the Holy Trinity is invoked. We believe in one baptism, which takes place in the One Holy Church, by faithful and appointed members of her. We say this because in practice our Archdiocese (of America, in which I belong) states unequivocally that in case of need the aero-baptism (baptism in the air) is a real baptism, even when performed by an atheist doctor or nurse.2

Already by the 1920s, nearly 100 years ago, the Ecumenical Patriarchate had a leading role in the ecumenical movement, and practically accepted that the Orthodox Church is part of the Universal Church, and that she is equal to the heresies, confessions and communities that constitute “It.” This is also confirmed by the participation of most local Orthodox Churches in the World Council of Churches (heresies). In this the Patriarch ought to emulate his “sister” papal “Church,” which is more consistent towards its creed, i.e. its self-conscience that it alone is the Church of Christ, and thus does not participate as a member of the WCC, but only as an observer.

The ecumenists try to unite us with the Roman Catholics, with the Anti-Chalcedonian Monophysites, and other heretics and schismatics, not through their return to the Church by baptism (not even through holy chrism or even a confession of faith), but simply by recognizing them as our brothers in Christ, with whom we are united in the love that we have for each other and our common love for Christ, without demanding that they cast out their heretical beliefs, and without having them accept holy Tradition, as it has been received and kept unchanged and pure by the Orthodox and only true Church. For us only one way exists for their union with the Church: the way of repentance and their return to Christ’s Church, for which we pray.

One God, not many

But this is not all that is bad with the ecumenists; they are also syncretists. That is, they equate Christianity, or to say it better, the Church, the ark of salvation founded by the God-man Jesus Christ, with the religions of the world, especially with the so-called “monotheistic” religions, which do not worship the true God. Here we must pay close attention, because others may believe in a God, but not in the same God, the true God. Proof: let the Jews and Muslims say, addressing our Lord Jesus Christ, “You are our God; besides You we know of no other God,” and then we will converse whether we believe in the same God. Our mission is to unite everyone with, “God’s household, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

We are accountable

Now, the question is, what will we do about these things we just heard or read? If we remain inert and indifferent, then we become co-responsible and accountable for the imminent great evil. The holy Fathers of the Church suffered for their faith, became confessors and martyrs, and did not give in to the pressures exercised on them by their leaders. The ecumenists have the audacity to apologize for the attitude of the holy Fathers, who supposedly did not show enough love toward their heterodox (heretic and schismatic) brothers. But we, following the divinely inspired Fathers, remain firmly united with them, and are willing to give the testimony (martyria) of faith, and to even suffer martyrdom.

Get prepared

So what can we do? What ought we do? Inquire with spiritual fathers we happen to know and have confidence in them, what do they believe about these issues. Study the writings of our holy Fathers and make sure that our faith is the faith of the Church. So we’ll be able to resist those who, perhaps, might try to lure us to the road that leads to destruction and perdition, which is the path of the heresy of ecumenism. We will follow a bishop who has Orthodox faith and Orthodox mindset. Thank God there are Orthodox hierarchs.

A Greek version of this article appeared in the June 1, 2016 issue of the Orthodox weekly paper Orthodoxos Typos.

Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World. Fifth Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, Chambésy, 10-17 October 2015, Article 6.
“If no Priest is available and the child’s condition is grave, the infant may be baptized by an Orthodox lay person. If none is available, the doctor or nurse, preferably Christians, may conduct the ‘Baptism by Air.’” (The Priest’s Handbook, 1987, p. 85, emphasis added.)

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

Why the “Holy and Great Synod” of the Orthodox Church should not convene

I want to express my grave concern and my great fear that the “Holy and Great Synod” of the Orthodox Church that has been in preparation over the past 50 years (called by the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras and supported by his successors, especially the current Patriarch Bartholomew) will bring great harm to the faithful Orthodox people. I will explain my reasons why it would be better if this Pan-Orthodox Council did not convene.

Last year (March 6-9, 2014), at a meeting of the heads of the local Orthodox Churches called by Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, it was decided to convene this Pan-Orthodox Council in 2016, which at a later meeting it was set for the month of June. A great veil of secrecy has been covering the meetings and deliberations of the committees that are preparing this super Synod. The bishops themselves have not been made aware of its agenda and progress.

Under the rules recently made known, this is a very peculiar and unique Synod. The voices of the few who have dissenting views will be silenced. Each participating local Church will have a single vote, although it will be represented by 24 bishops. Unfortunately, the climate within the hierarchal circles is impregnated with the ecumenist and synchretist spirit of the age. Thus the unanimous approval by the ecumenist bishops that constitute the majority of the hierarchy is already secured.

“… the Ecumenists will attempt to validate the modernism they are trying to promote within the Church … They want it to be a synod that will tear down the decisions of the previous Ecumenical Synods.”

— Fr. Charalambos Vasilopoulos
Ecumenism Unmasked

For this reason, knowing the composition of this synod, Fr. Charalambos Vasilopoulos of blessed memory in his book Ecumenism Unmasked (1995) called it a conciliabulum, a false council, because, as he explained, “the Ecumenists will attempt to validate the modernism they are trying to promote within the Church … They want it to be a synod that will tear down the decisions of the previous Ecumenical Synods,” instead of building upon them.

For the same reason, the God-bearing Father of the Church, St. Justin Popović, in a Memorandum submitted to the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy of the Orthodox Serbian Church in 1971, stated that the conditions at this time are the most inappropriate in the history of our Church for the convocation of a synod:

“It would be in the best interests of the Orthodox Church if such Ecumenical Synod were not convened, or at least no one participated in it.”

The Saint explained:

“In these apocalyptic times it is difficult, or rather impossible, for many hierarchs of the local Orthodox Churches, to confess correctly in this Ecumenical Synod, which eventually is going to be convened, the Orthodox dogmas and the correct truths, according to the teachings of the holy Fathers, because of human weaknesses.”

By “human weaknesses” he meant the fear of the Ecumenical Patriarch and the pressures he exerts over the bishops.

That great hierarch of the Church, Augustinos of Florina, was not weak, so despite his advanced age he openly expressed the reason for his objection to the convocation of this synod. If Ecumenical Synods were convened, he said, it was to address heresy. Indeed he saw an urgent reason to convene a new Ecumenical Synod if only in order to condemn contemporary heresies, particularly the heresy of Ecumenism, called “the heresy of heresies.” But he realized that it would not be possible to condemn this arch-heresy, when the overwhelming majority of our hierarchs either openly promote it or tacitly accept it.

But why isn’t this synod called Ecumenical? If bishops from all the Orthodox local churches are called to participate what prevents it from being Ecumenical? It is because, in the view of the Ecumenical patriarch who calls it, the Roman Catholic Church (the “sister church”) is not a participant. This reveals the heretical view the ecumenists have of the Church, i.e. that the Orthodox Church is not the Church founded by Christ, but only a fragment of a divided Church. I think this is the reason why they are not calling this synod Ecumenical.

I am afraid that my fear will be realized, and that this conciliabulum, or better latrocinium and pseudo-synod, will lead astray many Orthodox people, giving rise to a new schism. I trust that most faithful Orthodox people will reject it, as they did with the Latrocinium of Ephesos (449) and the pseudo-council of Ferrara (1438-45). For this reason, it is my fervent prayer that this synod will not convene.

Finally, I express a greater fear, that the planned “Great Synod” will spread the infectious disease of ecumenism to every corner of Orthodoxy. It is my fervent hope and prayer that a figure will emerge, like those of St. Athanasios the Great against Arianism, St. Maximos the Confessor against Monothelitism and St. Mark of Ephesos against Uniatism, to fight this scourge of the true Faith.

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

What Should we do when our Bishop is an Ecumenist?

Fr. Emmanuel,

Bless!

What is your opinion on the Orthodox ecclesiological statements that Patriarch Bartholomew makes when speaking to Orthodox audiences? Which Patriarch Bartholomew should we trust? The one who speaks like an Orthodox bishop on Mt. Athos or the one who concelebrates with the heterodox? What should traditional Orthodox do when our first hierarch is tending towards Uniatism?

Maximus
[from a comment to this post]

Dear Maximus,

What a glorious name you bear! As long as you remain anchored unto this luminary of Orthodoxy you too will shine with the truth (as you do).

Thank you for asking this vexing question. It has been in my mind for many years. I have come to a solution that works for me—uneasily, I should add.

Admittedly it is painfully true that the ecumenical (read ecumenist) Patriarch speaks from both sides of his mouth, depending upon who his audience is: Orthodox in his statements for internal consumption; ecumenist when addressing his non-Orthodox “brethren.”

So, dear Maximus, with justification you raise the question, what should we do when we witness the acknowledged first-in-honor bishop of the Orthodox Church flagrantly violating the canons of the Church with common prayers and with statements that compromise the uniqueness of the Church?

What better authority to turn to in order to obtain a reliable, Orthodox answer to your question than the luminary of the true faith and life, the one you chose to be named after—the Confessor himself!

St. Maximos the Confessor would not receive holy communion from the hands of those he considered to be heretics because this supreme act of inter-communion was tied to their erroneous confession of faith, and it would be viewed as a public admission that he shared in their heresy.

More importantly, let us not forget that the Lateran council convened in 649 under pope Martin, in which St. Maximos was present, condemned and deposed the Patriarchs and bishops of the East who had embraced Monothelitism. Therefore St. Maximos had every justification to break communion with them.

Our situation is different. While our Patriarch and most of our bishops, whether openly or tacitly, are ecumenists, they don’t make holy communion a test, neither have they been officially condemned by a Church synod.

For us who are unequivocally non-ecumenists, the faith of the Patriarch, as that of his two predecessors, is a personal matter. They are not the Church. Those who faithfully follow the Fathers and keep the true faith are the Church.1

As long as things remain the way they are, we’ll continue to keep our Orthodox faith, while openly condemning ecumenism as a heresy, exactly as St. Maximos did—and accept the consequences.

However, if our bishop happens to be an ecumenist who will equate reception of holy communion to acceptance of his erroneous faith, then we too will stop receiving it from his hands, and we’ll look for an Orthodox bishop to follow.2

Old Calendarists will retort that they feel fully justified breaking communion with the New Calendarists based on the 31st of the Holy Apostles and especially on the 15th Canon of the First-Second Synod and, according to which Christians wall themselves off heretical or schismatic bishops.3

We are not ready to follow them and their uncanonical bishops. We will suffer where we are and we will continue to give witness to the true faith from within, praying that soon the truth will shine.

It just happens that recently (Nov. 27, 2014) the Metropolis of Piraeus, Greece, organized a seminar, in which three Orthodox theologians, including the Metropolitan of Piraeus Seraphim himself, addressed the aforementioned Canon and the question “when is it allowed to wall ourselves off from communion with our bishop”?4

The seminar expanded and explained the Canon stating that a priest or bishop may break communion with his superior if he publicly preaches a heresy even though it has not yet been condemned by a synod, but is acknowledged by the Fathers to be a heresy.

A couple of observations: First, breakage is not mandatory. It is a right, not an obligation. Second, we follow the holy Fathers, not our impulses. Even though many Fathers have written against ecumenism, calling it a heresy, even a pan-heresy, they fought against it from within, suffering the consequences.

We are not going to behave as supreme keepers and judges of the faith. There are others more knowledgeable and more pious than we are. Let us bear patiently in longsuffering if our bishop happens to be an ecumenist. We have as examples the recently declared Saints Justin Popović, Paisios the Hagiorite, Philotheos Zervakos, Sophrony Zaharov, and many other contemporary elders.

I praise and glorify God who gave me the answer to your question through the lips of the newest Saint of the Church, St. Paisios the New, who writes:

In our times we see that many faithful children of our Church, monastics and laymen, have unfortunately seceded from her, on account of the philo-uniates. I am of the opinion that it is no good at all to separate from the Church every time the Patriarch is at fault. Instead, from within, near our Mother Church, everyone has the duty and obligation to struggle in his own way. To discontinue the Patriarch’s commemoration, to secede and form one’s own Church, and to continue to speak insulting the Patriarch—this, I think, is illogical. If we separate ourselves at the first and second detour of our Patriarchs from our own churches – God forbid! – we’ll surpass even the Protestants.5

We should add, however, that later on, and for three years (1970-1973), the Saint together with other Hagiorite Fathers and a few Metropolitans interrupted the commemoration of Patriarch Athenagoras. At the same time we should note that they did not impose the cessation of the commemoration to other hierarchs, neither did they condemn as heretics those who continued to commemorate him, but maintained the ecclesiastical communion with the patriarchate and the Church of Greece.

Metropolitan of Gortynos Jeremiah included the above quotation from St. Paisios in his homily for the feast of St. Gregory the Theologian (Jan. 25, 2015), as an example to follow. Let us do that, while praying that soon a synod will specifically and directly condemn ecumenism and those bishops who follow it, praying and hoping that they will repent and will once more “teach the word of truth correctly” (2 Tim. 2:15).

This is what Saint Paisios the New says: “Our Orthodox Church lacks nothing. She only lacks serious hierarchs and pastors with patristic principles. The chosen are few. Yet it is not disheartening. The Church is the Church of Christ. He is the One who governs her.” (Orthodoxos Typos, Feb. 20, 2015)
Fr. Thomas Hopko gave a podcast on the subject (Resisting Like St. Maximus).
Pedalion, pp. 46-48 and pp. 470-71.
See Orthodoxos Typos, Dec. 12, 2015.
Letter of Elder (now Saint) Paisios of Jan. 23, 1969 (Orthodoxos Typos, Feb. 20, 2015-my translation).

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

reunification of orthodox catholic churches

Is Reunification of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches Imminent?

Papa ante portas Novae Romae

Orthodoxy resisted recapitulation to the pope of Rome in the council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-45) rejecting this synod, even though, as a result, Constantinople fell under the hordes of the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The Great Schism between Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Roman-Catholicism, dated from 1054, has remained to this day. Attempts to reunite the two Churches have intensified recently. Is reunification of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches possible almost a millennium later? Not only it is possible; it is imminent.

In an interview with the Austrian newspaper “Couriers” given on Nov. 13, 2014 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew stated: “Reunification of the Churches constitutes a duty of our time.” “The first steps were initiated in this direction 50 years ago by Pope Paul the Sixth and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras,” he added. He then called the theological differences between the Churches “misunderstandings and differences of opinion,” which “the official theological dialogue helped to eliminate.” 1

The Ecumenical Patriarch is ready to accept the pope’s primacy and universal supremacy. The other divisive doctrinal issues (Filioque, Purgatory, Immaculate Conception, etc.) are handled as “local traditions.” Everything is sacrificed in order to achieve unity. While many Orthodox people may consider this to be good news, others view such statements as a betrayal of their faith and a capitulation to Roman papacy. Few, however, dare to raise their voices openly. One of them is Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus.

On November 14, 2014 Metropolitan Seraphim issued a communiqué commenting on a statement by Pope Francis made on Nov. 5, according to which those Churches whose faithful and clergy are not visibly united with their bishops “and with the pope, in the One, Unique Church, which is ours, the hierarchal Holy Mother Church, are sick.”2 Since the pope is traveling to Istanbul on Nov. 28-30, for the patronal feast of the Church of Constantinople, the Metropolitan perceived the statement as a message addressed specifically to that Church, and was obviously offended by the term “sick” applied to the Orthodox Church.

The Ecumenical Patriarch should repudiate the conceited statement made by “the pope of peace” and should remind him of the Orthodox principle of primus inter pares, that is, that all bishops are equal, and any preeminence among them is honorific. But it won’t happen, because the Ecumenical Patriarch claims for himself an absolute primacy among the Orthodox bishops, as has been made clear in many recent pronouncements by him and others under him.

The sad truth is that ecumenism, a movement that has been fully embraced by the ecumenical patriarchate, has divided Orthodoxy. Soon the division will be in the open. It is feared that Patriarch Bartholomew may take an unwarranted step and declare the de facto union with the Roman Catholic Church without asking for a recantation of its errors (heresies) and without bothering to consult with the autocephalous sister Orthodox Churches. Let us stand well!

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.

Do all Religions Have the Same Heavenly Father?

“WE ARE ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS” Are we? First in Jerusalem (May 27, 2014), and more recently in Rome (June 8, 2014), Patriarch Bartholomew hammers the message of universal brotherhood with intra-Christian and interfaith prayer services (which according to the canons of the Orthodox Church are prohibited) and with statements and declarations to that effect.

Back on Nov. 2, 2009 in an interview Patriarch Bartholomew had given to Charlie Rose (view the video below) he had stated: “We are all created by God and as such we are all brothers and sisters. We have the same heavenly Father, whatever we call him.” Charlie interrupted the Patriarch: “All religions have the same heavenly Father?” “Of course,” was the Patriarch’s reply, adding: “God is but one, independently of the name we give him, Allah or Yahweh, and so on. God is one and we are his children.”

Although the two statements (everyone believes in the same God; and, we are all his children) appear to be self-proclaimed truths, for us Orthodox Christians (and to me, as I understand my faith), they are erroneous, outrageous and totally unacceptable. If the Patriarch is correct what meaning do the words, “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no Savior” (Is. 43:10b-11)? What is he thinking of when he recites the following words in the divine Liturgy (our main worship service): “You are our God, beside You we know of no other [God]” and in the final benediction of the same service, “May Christ our true God… save us…”?

No. It’s not a matter of a name (God, Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, Supreme Being, the Power), so that it doesn’t matter what we call Him, as long as we call upon Him. No. Not so! Our God is Christ: “This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:20-21). Outside of Christ every other “god” is an idol.

As far as all of us being children of God, clearly we are all God’s creation, but not His offspring. Our heavenly Father has only one Child: Jesus Christ. However, we all have the potentiality to become His children (by adoption): “To all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God” (John 1:12). Therefore, unless we belong to Christ’s family (cf. Heb. 3:6), the Church, we are not His children.

In the early Church the Lord’s Prayer was not revealed to the Catechumens until immediately before their baptism, because no one that was not baptized could presume to say, “our Father who art in heaven,” not having yet received the gift of adoption. The Lord’s Prayer is introduced in the Divine Liturgy with the words, “and make us worthy, Master, with boldness and without fear of condemnation, to dare call You, the heavenly God, Father, and to say, ‘Our Father…’” Only those who have been united with Christ, God’s only Son, can call God “Father.”

Sorry, your All Holiness: this is the faith of the Orthodox Christian people, and one would expect our Patriarch to be a leader “who rightly teaches the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), not one who betrays it.

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