That is, An Exposition of Faith According to the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Eastern Church of Christ
Source: Orthodox
Among the Nations: A Handbook of Religious Toleration, by Archbishop
Evgenios Voulgaris of Sláviansk and Cherson, newly published in English by
Newrome Press, 2026, pp. 133-162, 183-184.
1. I believe in one God, who is
Spirit, mind beyond mind, transcending all that is intelligible; infinitely
perfect, uncreated, all-good, supremely wise, all-powerful; the creator,
sustainer, and provident ruler of all beings, both visible and invisible. These
do not emanate from Him, nor are they from His nature, nor are they necessary,
nor are they eternal; but He created them according to His own will, in an act
of free choice, in time, according to His good pleasure. Through a simple act,
He brought from nothingness into being that which formerly was not, and He
moves and governs all that exists according to the purposes of His perfect
providence. He could, if He willed, return all things to non-being; yet through
His ineffable goodness He preserves and sustains them all.
2. I believe that this one and
the same God is also three: one in His superessential essence and nature; and
triune in the three superdivine persons. Considered in their hypostases—the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—He is Father without beginning, unbegotten,
and without cause. The Son and the Spirit are from Him, and He alone is their
beginning, source, and cause. They go forth from Him essentially, prior to any
act of will, in a manner utterly incomprehensible and inexplicable: the Son by
generation, the Spirit by procession. This is not in time, but from eternity;
not with one preceding and another following, but all at once; not in
succession, but simultaneously. They are worshipped and contemplated
theologically as the Son and Spirit in the Father, the Father and Spirit in the
Son, and the Father and Son in the Spirit, according to the suprarational
principle of mutual in-dwelling. [143]
The Son is co-beginningless with
the Father, and co-eternal and timeless, yet has the Father as His beginning,
cause, source, and root. He is begotten of Him impassibly and without change
before all ages, being of the same essence as the One who begot Him, and equal
in power and honor. He is the effulgence and express image of the Father’s
hypostasis, having everything in common with the Father except unbegottenness
and the property of being cause. He exists from the Father as cause through an
ineffable generation worthy of divinity.
The Holy Spirit is
co-beginningless with the Father and the Son, and also co-eternal and timeless.
He also has the Father as cause, source, and root, from the beginning. He
emanates hypostatically, from the Father alone, in a manner ineffable and
beyond comprehension. He proceeds before the ages—not from the Son or after the
Son, but with the Son He possesses His being from the Father, even if He is
temporally sent through the Son for the sanctification and perfection of
mankind in grace, and is made manifest and revealed through Him. He is of one
essence with the Father and the Son, equal in power and glory, possessing all
that the Father and the Son possess, except unbegottenness and generation.
3. The Triune Essence above all
essences—the source of all goodness, the worker of good by nature, entirely
lacking the principle of evil, and sustaining all creatures in a beneficent
manner—has among its creations the intellectual and rational beings, that is,
the angelic powers and human beings. These are endowed with free will and
self-determination, able to incline toward what they wish, to be moved as they
please, and to select freely from what is presented to them. I thus affirm and
declare that evil has entered in as nothing other than the privation of good: a
deviation from the rectitude of sound reason on the part of rational beings
endowed with choice, by which it made its way into the world and gained the
upper hand.
I speak first of the foremost of
the angels, whom the sacred Scriptures call Lucifer, and who was distinguished
by his radiant form, which revealed the glory and grace within him. Yet by his
own willful wickedness he was transformed into an angel of darkness instead of
light, and was cast down like lightning from Heaven into the abyss, where he
was miserably ruined together with those who followed him.
Concerning the first man, the
progenitor of the entire human race: though initially created upright by the
hand of the Maker and adorned with the gift of innocence, he was later deceived
by the counsel of the serpent and the persuasion of the woman, was overcome,
and fell. In transgressing the command, he was found guilty and expelled from
the Paradise in which he had been placed. He was deprived of life and supreme
happiness; became mortal instead of immortal; and was subjected to just
punishments, both temporary and eternal. Into these he drew with him the entire
race descending from him according to the flesh, as though they were present in
his loins and contained in him seminally as their forefather, though they did
not sin by their own choice. This ancestral sin is communicated to all who
descend from Adam, not by mere imitation or some other perverse or wicked
choice, but because it was transposed into a kind of second nature for each
individual and took deep root. Hence the inclination to sin has become
inevitable and inescapable for every soul.
For how could it be otherwise? We
believe that even those infants who have just been delivered in maternal labor;
those who have remained pure throughout their lives by God’s grace; and even
those born of sanctified mothers—not least the ever-virgin and most pure Mother
of our Lord—partake in the consequences of the primordial transgression.
This is a kind of defect inherent
in human nature, one that marred the first parent, the beauty of his innocence,
and the obedience owed to the Creator, which was violated through him and in
him. From this arose every affliction: the sweat and toil of labor; the
hardships of life; and ultimately our return to the earth and exposure to
decay. The greatest and most terrible of all, however, was voluntary subjection
to the power of the primal evil, from which spring certain bitter fruits and
shoots, as though arising from the root of the forefather’s disobedience.
4. Moreover, I believe that
though the fallen angels did not escape the consequences of their
transgression, the only-begotten Son of God did not refuse to rescue the human
race—both those belonging to the seed of Abraham and those descended from Adam
generally—who were so miserably subject to sin and corruption. But when the
fullness of time came, according to His good pleasure, He underwent the
inconceivable and awe-inspiring self-emptying, yet without being emptied. [144]
For He descended from the
paternal embrace, without separation or change, taking our nature upon Himself
for our sake, according to the Father’s good pleasure and by the cooperation of
the Holy Spirit. He did not adopt an angel or even a perfect human being as a
helper in His mission, as with a prophet, but was Himself conceived in the
all-immaculate and most holy womb of the ever-virgin Mary through the coming of
the Spirit and the overshadowing of the Most High, without man or seed, and she
bore Him without pain and without violation of her virginity in any way.
The Timeless One became man, was
born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, and showed the progress of age and
growth in years. He truly came in the flesh, not merely in appearance. He lived
among mankind and did not merely play the part of a man, nor inhabit a lifeless
or insensible body, but assumed the full and perfect human nature with a
sensible body and rational, intellectual soul. He did not mingle the natures
but united them perfectly, without change or mixture, in one divine hypostasis,
with each maintaining its respective properties, powers, activities, and wills
intact. He remained what He was from the beginning—perfect God—and became what
He was not before—perfect man. He performed His divine works as God, His human
works as man, and submitted to all human sufferings without exception. He
therefore truly suffered voluntarily and freely, was crucified, and died. His
body was buried, and His soul descended into Hades, without His holy soul or
body ever being separated from the divinity. He rose in power on the third day,
ascended into Heaven on the fortieth day, and sat at the right hand of God the
Father. From there, at the end of the age, He will come in glory to judge both
the living and the dead.
There is not one Son of God
before the ages and another in the latter days; not one who suffered and
another who did not; not one seen on earth and another seated at the Father’s
right hand. He is one and the same God-man, the pre-eternal and unchanging Word
of God, who without change suffered in the flesh He assumed. He became the
mediator between God and man, offered Himself as ransom for all, and
established reconciliation through His own Blood. Through Him we have been
freed from the dominion of the devil, brought to God, made heirs of adoption,
and hope to partake of the glory that is to come.
5. I believe that the sacred
Scriptures, both Old and New, are inspired and taught by God, for the Holy
Spirit deemed it fitting to use the hands of the scribes, down to the smallest
iota and stroke. The books of Scripture are numbered as the canon of the Church
of Christ has clearly received and set forth, including those books that
heretics, whether ancient or recent, have falsely claimed to be apocryphal or
condemned. Much of their contents is lofty, obscure, and difficult to
harmonize, as is appropriate for holy Scripture, whose profound mysteries are
conveyed by means of allegory. For this reason, they present no small
difficulty to those who seek to interpret them—not least when they have been
translated from one language into another, as is often the case.
I do not consider it the task of
just anyone to attempt to set them forth or interpret them as he pleases; such
a bold and reckless approach is neither safe nor proper. Rather, they should be
received by all with reverence, without presumption, and with faith, as the
very word of God. They should be examined and studied thoughtfully and
deliberately, with consideration for both the heights of contemplation and the
foundation of moral practice [145] attained by those whom the Spirit raised up
as teachers, prophets, and those endowed with some other measure of grace. For
it was He who inspired and enlightened their minds for the edification and
guidance of the body of the Church.
I also hold and maintain that the
authority to set forth the unadulterated and authentic understanding of sacred
Scripture belongs properly and exclusively to the Catholic Church. For just as
she has always remained steadfast, watching, enlightening, and exposing error
in order to elevate our understanding, so she will continue until the end of
the age, according to the promise of Christ, the very Truth Himself.
6. Receiving what has been
revealed to us in the God-inspired Scriptures as the written Word of God does
not mean that the unwritten traditions handed down to us should be rejected.
For if one were to do so, everyone would establish his own canon, opposing and
contradicting one another. That certain sacred books are to be received as
canonical and others not, and that their contents are to be understood in no
other way, is determined by the tradition of the Church, whose authority is
granted from above. This tradition was received from the apostles by the God-bearing
fathers, who faithfully preserved it, unaltered and uncorrupted, in their
writings as in a secure treasury, and thus handed it down to us. That these
traditions must be firmly held and steadfastly observed is also set forth and
recorded in the divine words. [146] I therefore embrace both the written and
unwritten teaching with unshakable conviction and faith, knowing that together
they contain all that is necessary for salvation, justification, and the
attainment of the kingdom in the heavens; that is, what is to be believed, what
is to be hoped for, and what is to be done, are all perfectly contained
therein.
7. I believe that the One, Holy,
Catholic, and Apostolic Church of Christ is that same Church first preached by
the apostles and the initiates of the Word, who entrusted it to those who
believed through them. After them, it was handed on to the bishops, presbyters,
and deacons, and was nurtured and multiplied through the preaching that reached
the ends of the earth. From that time even to our day, the Church has remained
in unbroken succession through those who were lawfully and canonically
entrusted with the care of the faithful, the ministry of the Word, and the
distribution of grace through the sacraments, and it will continue steadfast
and unchanged until the coming of the Lord. Its foundation is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; its pillars are the apostles and their valid
successors down to the present day; and its stones that form it are those who
are joined together and made firm by true faith in Christ and right confession.
The Church has one supreme and
universal head. It would be unfitting that a mortal man should serve as the
head of this body, for he would be unstable, inadequate, and liable to fall and
be cast aside. The head of the Church is the Lord Himself, who secured it with
His own Blood and continually sustains and gives it life through His Spirit, as
He promised. Yet there are also secondary heads in the Church who, having been
appointed and established as authorities in time by the first, universal, and
eternal head, occupy His place. By virtue of their preeminent rank, they point
us toward the source and perfecter of our salvation, and it is not
inappropriate to acknowledge them as such, for the Spirit appoints and sets
them as shepherds, overseers, ministers, and stewards of the grace dispensed to
the faithful through them.
Those who, throughout the earth,
hold the proper faith, believing in their hearts unto righteousness and
confessing with their mouths unto salvation, are members in part of one
complete, holy, and spiritual body, being joined together into the fullness of
the Church. Accordingly, those already enrolled in Heaven among the firstborn
in the blessed fatherland are not reckoned as members of the Church still
dwelling on earth and waging its earthly struggle. Nor are those separated by
heresies, false teachings, schisms, or gathered into alien congregations regarded
as members; nor those who, by disobedience or perversity contrary to the divine
ordinances and canons, have been judged as dead members and utterly cut off
through excommunication and anathema.
Only those who, so long as they
remain in this life, adhere to the true and immaculate doctrines of the
Catholic and Apostolic faith, and believe in them faithfully and
steadfastly—even if they are otherwise guilty of various sins—are properly
reckoned as members. Indeed, the Church claims them as her own, intercedes to
God on their behalf day and night, extends her hand to the fallen, cares for
the weak so that they may be healed, strives to bring back the erring, and
gladly receives those who return.
8. I hold that the particular
local churches, and the hierarchs entrusted with their oversight through valid
ordination, were established by the apostles: Clement over the Romans; Evodius
over the Antiochians; Mark over the Alexandrians by Peter; Stachys over the
Byzantines by Andrew; and James, before all others, over the Church of
Jerusalem by the Lord. The same is true of the other churches, whose oversight
has been maintained through unbroken succession down to our own time. Thus,
each bishop is entrusted with the care of the affairs allotted to him,
exercising proper authority, administering, and managing them, without
violating the well-established limits set by the Fathers.
As for the operation and
governance of the universal Church, and the delineation of boundaries within
it, and the issuing of decrees: whenever a matter arises that requires inquiry
and investigation concerning what is to be believed or done—matters that concern
the whole body of Orthodox faithful—I maintain that this authority has not been
entrusted authoritatively and monarchically to one alone, namely, the bishop of
Rome, as those around him desire, but has been entrusted collectively to all
the bishops gathered together as one; that is, to an Ecumenical Council.
And I believe and submit that it
is the very Holy Spirit who gathers, moves, enlightens, and guides such a
council, speaking truth through the assembled fathers, and who concurs with
their judgments in the matters set before them. For this reason it is said, It
seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us; and again, it is written, Every
man is a liar; [147] yet an Ecumenical Council, being constituted by the
Spirit of truth and rendering its decisions in Him, is believed to be above all
falsehood and every kind of deceit.
I acknowledge and accept seven
Ecumenical Councils:
The first is the First Council of
Nicaea, which taught the theology of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and that the Son is of one essence with the Father, and was convened against
the godless Arius.
The second is the First Council
of Constantinople, which declared the Spirit to be of the same nature as the
Father and the Son, and equal in honor to them both, and was convened against
Macedonius, who fought against the Spirit.
The third is the Council of
Ephesus, which affirmed that the incarnate Word of God was one person in two
natures, and was convened against Nestorius the Christ-denier.
The fourth is the Council of
Chalcedon, which declared the two unmingled, complete, and perfect natures,
energies, and wills in the one person of the God-man, and was convened against
Dioscorus and Eutyches.
The fifth is the Second Council
of Constantinople, which defined the resurrection of the dead and confirmed the
decisions of the earlier councils, and was convened against Origen, Didymus,
and Evagrius.
The sixth is the Third Council of
Constantinople, which refuted the error of the Monothelites, and was convened
against Honorius, Sergius, and Pyrrhus.
The seventh is the Second Council
of Nicaea, which condemned the iconoclasts and clearly affirmed the prohibition
on adding or removing from the sacred and apostolic Symbol, and thereby
confirmed all the preceding councils.
In addition to these, I also
venerate and embrace the local synods convened at various times by
right-believing fathers, which harmonize suitably and in concord with the pious
melody of the seven just set forth.
But as for those others, in
whatever land and by whomever they were convened for the definition of alien
and spurious doctrines—such as the many assembled by the Latins, including
those at Florence and Trent—these fall far short of deserving the title “Ecumenical,”
or even of being reckoned at all among the councils of the Church. Rather, I
regard them as assemblies of heresy and unlawful gatherings of those who, with
reckless daring, adulterate and counterfeit the divine doctrines. And since
they corrupt the Church, I hate them with a perfect hatred and turn away from
them.
9. I hold in due reverence the
seven venerable and wondrous mysteries, in which all the sanctification and
initiation of the Church of God is contained and summarized. These were handed
down by our Lord Himself and instituted and perfected through the descent and
operation of the all-holy Spirit—not as mere symbols of the promises of God,
like those under the shadow, but as true gifts of sanctifying and saving grace
bestowed upon the faithful. These seven are equal in number to the gifts of the
Spirit:
The first is Baptism, which even
our Lord accepted for our sake, though He, being sinless, had no need of
cleansing. Through three immersions and emersions in sanctified water—each
accompanied by the invocation of one of the transcendent persons of the Trinity,
and signifying also the baptizand’s voluntary assent—the initiate is baptized,
and, as the celebrant proclaims, we are buried and raised with Christ. We thus
recover that first and passionless birth which we lost through sin, being
mystically reborn in the Spirit and made worthy of the gift of adoption.
The second is Chrismation, which
our Savior accepted at Baptism by the coming of the Spirit as a dove, though He
had no need of this. For as God, He always possessed the Spirit with Himself
inseparably. And as the God-man, by virtue of the hypostatic union, the
whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily, and for this reason He
is hymned as the Anointed One. [148] But He received the Spirit in order to
show how necessary it is for the baptized to be anointed with the spiritual
myrrh sanctified by the patriarchs and high priests. For through this most
mystical oil, the grace of the Spirit rests upon those who are anointed, just
as it did through the laying on of hands by Peter and John. By this grace the
image of God, which had previously been effaced by sin, is refashioned; and the
one initiated, being enlisted under the heavenly King, is sealed and perfected,
and becomes a true Christian. This is not only because of his faith in Christ,
but also because of the very chrism itself: for by anointing with chrism he is
joined to the Anointed One and thus is rightly called Christian. [149]
The third is the lofty and
awe-inspiring mystery of the Eucharist, which our Lord, on the night He was
betrayed, consecrated when He offered Himself as both priest and sacrifice,
offerer and victim. Taking leavened bread and wine of the vine, He blessed and
sanctified them, and properly and indeed most truly changed and
transubstantiated the bread into His almighty and theandric Body; and the wine
into His precious and life-giving Blood; and He gave them to His holy apostles
to eat and drink. He commanded them to do this in remembrance of Him, and
through them guaranteed to those after them that they too might eat and drink,
and thus truly and essentially partake of and commune in His all-holy Flesh and
the Blood poured out for all. For it must not be believed that what is offered
are symbols of these realities, nor merely types or images. Nor is it as if,
through a threefold consubstantiation, [150] the God-man is present only in
some measure of grace, or that the Lord is present only for those deemed
worthy. [151] Rather, it is He Himself—that very One who suffered upon the
Cross once and for all and who now sits at the right hand of the Father—who
alone is mystically set forth for us upon every holy table, both before and
during the act of communion. By the power of the perfecting Spirit and the
invocation [152] of the priests—not, of course, merely by the recitation of the
dominical words—the bread and wine are transubstantiated, and He is truly
present under their visible forms. He is multiplied without division across
many altars and under many loaves, broken without being divided, consumed
without being spent; and He sanctifies all those who partake, provided only
that they receive innocently and worthily.
The fourth is the Priesthood,
which the God-man Jesus Himself, having partaken to the full of the fullness of
the Spirit that rested upon Him—being indeed our priest and eternal high priest
after the order of Melchizedek—granted to His apostles, giving them a share of
the Spirit, commanding them to proclaim His Gospel to all nations, and granting
them also the authority to bind and loose. This was especially so at Pentecost,
when, having laid hands on them in a sense through the Spirit, whom He had
promised to send, He clothed them with power from on high through tongues of
fire. Through them, He conveyed to us, too, the gift of the Priesthood. This
gift is neither simple nor uniform, nor does it impose a single and identical
character upon all, but it is rather diverse and multiform, the various ranks
differing greatly among themselves in rank, dignity, and power, so that this
earthly hierarchy may in some way be likened and compared to the heavenly
hierarchy of the angels. [153] For in addition to those ordinations that take
place outside the sanctuary, which are called “impositions of hands,” [154]
there are as follows: The first is that of the sacred deacons; being a
ministerial order, they serve those above them. The second, which surpasses the
first, is that of the presbyters, who have authority for the celebration of
certain mysteries—though not all. The third is the highest and set above every
order, and is that of the bishops, who are the celebrants of every mystery, and
who communicate grace and illuminate every rank beneath them, since from this
rank, as from a spring, all initiation, sanctification, illumination, and grace
are poured forth into the Church.
The fifth is Marriage, which our
Lord also established and sanctified when He did not deem the wedding at Cana
unworthy of His presence. This mystery, which is great in and of itself, he
used to reveal the pattern of another, even higher and greater mystery: that of
the Church as the pure and spotless bride, joined to Himself as her bridegroom.
Yet even if marriage is to be reckoned second to virginity in a life lived
according to Christ (since virginity, by removing the one who adheres to it
from attachment to the flesh, unites him more perfectly with God, and, what is
more, makes him equal to the angels), nevertheless, marriage has been given to
those unable to receive that word by way of condescension.
This is so they might have a
helper like themselves, of which they have need, and might live chastely with
one wife, and, what is of greater purpose, that lawful childbearing may
preserve the human race without fail through successive generations until creation
no longer groans under corruption.
The sixth is Repentance, by which
those who fall after Baptism and in various ways stain and defile the robe of
adoption must be purified and cleansed. They obtain remission of sins by
approaching those who have received from the Lord the authority to bind and
loose and making an unreserved and sincere confession of their transgressions,
accompanied by sincere compunction of soul and a change of mind.
The seventh of these is Holy Oil,
which the Lord delivered to the apostles, who handed it down to us. It is
administered to us, who fall and rise again, as a symbol of divine mercy,
granting us security and protection when we turn back from our sins, and
contributing to our healing when we are sick. For those anointed it becomes the
cause of abundant grace and sanctification. Of course, it is not only for those
already departing from life and breathing their last, nor indeed only for those
who are ill, but equally for those who are in good health, and who are pursuing
repentance and conversion, according to the ancient tradition of the Church.
10. Since almost all of our piety
is directed toward such things—namely, that believers should demonstrate their
piety through deeds, giving through their conduct a sure witness of their
internal disposition, just as a fruit proves the life contained within a
tree—it is manifestly superfluous, and indeed proven to be undermining to faith
itself, for anyone to teach otherwise. We have not believed that man is
justified by faith alone, apart from works, but by a faith which, through works
of righteousness, is active in its love. For to hold that Christ’s
righteousness alone suffices for our salvation, without anything at all being
contributed on our part, is a bold and arrogant teaching, casting men into the
manifest danger of perdition, except in the case of infants who, after
illumination, are snatched away in an untimely manner and before the use of
free will.
Now we define faith as a correct
and unerring conviction concerning God and divine matters, in unwavering
assurance, and with the fullest assent of the soul, resting immovably upon the
things revealed to us by God, even if it is altogether impossible to grasp
these matters as they truly are. Works, however, are the keeping and
fulfillment of all the commandments, by which we abstain from the evils
forbidden us by the laws, and we firmly hold to the good things. Thus, we have
within us our nature’s gift of free will, granting us the power to choose and
pursue good works, and also our fruit-bearing faith in Christ and grace from
Him, which leads us to perform these works in the right spirit and to direct
them toward a supernatural end. It is for this reason we may hope to obtain
through them the promised good things in the end.
11. I believe that whatever is
destined to occur at fixed times, both the time and manner in which they will
happen, is encompassed by God’s supremely infinite and perfect foreknowledge.
He both wills and approves of the good, providing for and arranging so that it
may come about. But He only foreknows and permits what is evil, without
imposing absolute necessity or force upon the free and self-directed choices of
creatures. Rather, even these He redirects and adapts toward some good and
useful purpose, which demonstrates His supreme providence and goodness. Thus,
in the case of free choice, the foreknowledge of God, which is unerring and
infallible; and the will of man, to whom belongs free self-determination and
complete liberty, come together. On the one hand, divine foreknowledge cannot
be overturned by the volatility of man’s will, for divine foreknowledge is by
nature fixed and unerring. But neither can free will be overthrown by
foreknowledge’s absolute fixedness, since it was God Himself who created the
will and endowed it with self-determination.
There are three kinds of events
that will necessarily happen, not merely in the sense that God has foreseen
them, but in the sense that they are bound to happen in no other way: some by
nature, as necessarily determined; some by force, through imposition; and some
freely, by human will and choice. According to His eternal foreknowledge, God
predestines some for salvation, making use of their own good choices; and
others He leaves to destruction, because of their wicked choices; but in
neither case is He the source of the outcome in advance. He wills that all
would be saved, and He grants an equal opportunity for salvation to all through
His so-called prevenient grace. [155] But He wills that each one’s free will
remain inviolate, so that each person may manage the grace given by Him on his
own. Since, then, He foreknows that some will follow this grace and obey, and
others will willfully choose evil and rebel, He resolved to add to the former a
further special grace, active and cooperative in good, which brings about
justification, perseverance to the end, and heavenly glory. But He determined
to withdraw from the latter, permitting them to choose what lies before them as
it seems good to them, and by their own wickedness to fall voluntarily from the
kingdom prepared for all. The one course demonstrates His goodness and love for
mankind; the other, His unimpeachable justice and judgment.
12. I believe that our Lord—who
assumed once and for all our very substance, which He did not lay aside, nor
will He ever lay it aside—Himself declared beforehand that He will come a
second time upon earth. He will not be in the humble and servile form of His
first coming, but in glory. And He will not come in order to save us by economy
as before, but in order to judge the world according to His justice. At that
time, all the dead will rise and their souls will be reunited to the bodies
they inhabited in this life. In this way, each will necessarily receive the
reward corresponding to the merit of his deeds in accordance with divine
judgment.
The souls that have already
departed, having been released from their bodies, are not in enjoyment of that
glory, even if they have been purified through virtue and sanctity of life. Nor
are they consigned to eternal punishment, even if they remain steadfast and
unchangeable in their wickedness until the end of their lives. Nor are they
cast into a purgatorial fire those who, as some claim, are cleansed through
repentance alone but lack works worthy of repentance, in order to remove the
filth of wickedness. For these teachings are foreign and entirely alien to the
doctrines of piety that we hold, as they are neither consonant with the divine
words nor with the teachings of the holy Fathers.
But the souls of those who have
departed in righteousness, and in true faith, and in sincere repentance for
their sins committed during the term of this earthly and transitory life, are
even now waiting in hope of the enjoyment of the good things stored up in
Heaven, which God has prepared for those who love Him. There they are kept by
God in a place of light and ease until the moment when, at the coming Judgment,
they shall receive the promised rewards after being reunited with the bodies in
which they struggled. At that time they will be united to God in a most perfect
and divine union and filled with His uncreated light. A sort of foretaste or
first installment of this light was revealed, as much as they could bear, to
the apostles on Mount Tabor. There, the God-man manifested His uncreated glory
in a single ray, which we also believe to have been uncreated.
As for those who depart in
repentance and confession and are genuinely penitent, they are not obliged to
demonstrate the full extent of their repentance, nor to wipe away the traces of
their wounds through groans, tears, and other labors of virtue. Rather, they
are in a sense divided between hope and fear, and await that fearful day and
the final Judgment of the impartial Judge.
Concerning them, the alms given
by the living to the poor, their demonstrations of faith, and the prayers and
petitions offered to the merciful God, as well as the intercessions of the
saints, have power, not only for those remaining on earth, but also for those
who have fallen asleep in holiness, for the prayer of the saints is powerful
and effective. Therefore, our piety praises and honors them with divine honors;
raises temples for them; organizes feasts and festivals for their glory;
praises them with all kinds of hymns; and arranges their relics and icons
according to proper order and relation. The saints are honored and revered with
veneration, [156] but the Mother of our Lord, the true Theotokos and
ever-virgin Mary, who surpasses all the saints and even the angels, is honored
and revered with the highest veneration, [157] which is not worship. [158] This
is rightly and reasonably prescribed by the most ancient traditions.
Furthermore, the prayers that the
Church offers at every hour, and especially the bloodless sacrifices presented
at the most mystical table on their behalf, propitiate God Himself, so that
whatever is lacking in those who have departed may be supplied to them; and
that nothing shall be reckoned against them on the day of Judgment, but they
shall find a portion at the right hand, and be counted among the sheep, worthy
of the ineffable glory.
But the departed souls of the
impious, and of those who have perished unrepentant in mortal sins, whose lives
have come to an end in the full measure of wickedness, are weighed down in
places of suffering, darkness, and gloom, where they pass their time in sorrow
and unconsolable distress. They tremble and shudder at the judgment of their
deeds, as if it has already been issued against them, and await the day on
which they will be consigned to Gehenna and cast into the eternal fire.
ENDNOTES
143. Περιχώρησις.
144. “Ὑπέστη κένωσιν ἀκενώτως.”
145. “Κατὰ θεωρίας ὕψος, καὶ βάσιν πράξεως.”
146. “Θεῖοι λόγοι,” a patristic gloss for the Scriptures.
Although Voulgaris does not himself provide examples of the λόγοι in question,
popular references include Deuteronomy 32:7 and Proverbs 22:27 in
the Old Testament; and 1 Corinthians 11:2 and 2 Thessalonians
2:15 in the New.
147. “Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης.” Voulgaris employs this phrase in
a way that is lost in translation: though one person alone may be
untrustworthy, the faithful community together is reliable.
148. That is, the Christ.
149. This passage has been more freely rendered in order to
communicate the connection, apparent in the Greek, between the words χρίσμα
(chrism, anointing oil), Χριστός (Christ, anointed one), and χριστιανός
(Christian, one who takes after Christ, the anointed One).
150. A reference to the Lutheran belief in consubstantiation;
that the Lord is “in, with, and under” the bread and wine.
151. A reference to certain Calvinist beliefs that the Lord
is only spiritually, not physically, present to those believers who partake in
faith.
152. Ἐπίκλησις. This sentence defends the Eastern belief that
the Eucharist is consecrated through the invocation of the Spirit at the
epiclesis, and not the words of the Lord, “This is My Body, etc.” alone.
153. The common representation of the earthly hierarchy
reflecting the heavenly hierarchy has its roots in Scripture, but finds its
definitive exposition in the works of Dionysius the Areopagite. For a
comprehensive treatment of Dionysius, see Mark Edwards, Dimitrios Pallis,
Georgios Steiris, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Dionysius the Areopagite
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).
154. Χειροθεσία. Voulgaris is indicating the distinction
between ordination to minor orders, traditionally called cheirothesia,
and ordination to major orders, traditionally called cheirotonia.
155. That is, the grace imparted to all without exception,
enabling them to move toward the good. See Confession of Dositheos,
Decree 3, in Trenham, Rock and Sand, 194–96.
156. Δουλεία (dulia), or “relative worship.”
157. Ὑπερδουλεία (hyperdulia), or the “utmost relative
worship.”
158. Λατρεία (latria), or “absolute worship,” owed to
God alone.
