Monday, August 24, 2026
Saturday, August 22, 2026
Prayer to Our Venerable Father John the Romanian
From the Akathist to Our Venerable Father John Jacob the Romanian of Chozeva, published the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania
Prayer to Our
Venerable Father John Jacob of Neamț
O Venerable Father John, thou
didst lead a heavenly life upon the earth; for at Holy Baptism, thou didst
receive the name of the great Prophet Elias, and, upon receiving the angelic
habit, thou wast entrusted to the protection of Saint John the Baptist.
Therefore, in thy life thou didst follow their example. Because of thy holy
life in the desert, when thou didst pass from this vain world, the Lord granted
thy soul rest in the radiance of Paradise and bestowed incorruption upon thy
much-laboring body, manifesting in thee the glory of His Name.
Mindful of these things, we, the
unworthy and sinful, come with humility and reverence, beseeching thee not to
disregard us when we have recourse unto thine aid.
O Holy Father John, who from
infancy wast orphaned of thy parents, help by thy prayers those who are
orphaned, that they may find the love of the heavenly Father; thou who wast a
brother and dweller in a monastery, help us, wherever we may be, to live as
brethren in Christ; thou who didst transform thy longing for the wilderness
into a longing for holy Heaven, help us by thy prayers to seek the
sanctification of our souls, laid waste by sins; thou who wast a great ascetic,
help those who struggle in the right Faith to fulfill the commandments of
Christ in their lives; thou who wast a fervent intercessor before God,
strengthen our prayers and increase our zeal and devotion; thou who didst
desire to dwell in the Holy Land, help us, through good deeds, to sanctify the
place in which we live, ever calling upon the Holy Spirit to dwell within us;
thou who through thy prayers didst bring Heaven down into the cave, beseech
Christ to warm and illumine with His love the cave of our hearts; thou who even
in this world didst experience the joy and peace of eternal life, beseech the
heavenly Father to grant us the joy and peace of His Kingdom.
O Holy Father John, preserve the
aged in the right Faith, the young in purity of life, and children in love for
God and their parents. Protect by thy prayers the poor and the sick, widows and
orphans, travelers and those held captive.
Preserve our country from dangers
and afflictions, and pray for all the faithful people, that together with thee
they may glorify, through faith and works, God: the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
Romanian source: https://www.manastirea-amd.ro/acatistul-sfantului-cuvios-ioan-iacob-romanul-de-la-hozeva/
The Ongoing Ecumenist Confusion Constitutes the Ultimate Delusion
† Metropolitan Klemes of Larissa and Platamon | August 8/21, 2026
The Ecumenists, from long ago
until today, have been trying to convince themselves and others, deceiving and
being deceived, that their Ecumenistic views and practices do not constitute a
deviation and do not alter the faith of the Church, but are supposedly in
accord with the Orthodox faith and tradition from as early as Apostolic times!
They claim that it is supposedly their duty and obligation to struggle “for the
restoration of unity and peaceful coexistence among Christians,” something
which supposedly has its roots in the early Christian period! (See Fr.
Augustinos Bairachtaris, “The Nature of the Orthodox Church’s Participation in
the WCC—An Orthodox Historical and Theological Consideration of the Ecumenical
Movement,” in the periodical Theologia, 2/2015, p. 257.)
Indeed, in order to establish
this manifest and unprecedented delusion of theirs, they do not hesitate to
engage in an impermissible confusion of terms, so as to give the
impression that they are neither innovating nor introducing anything
unprecedented, but that they supposedly remain faithful and consistent in the
Orthodox faith and tradition.
For example, the previous
Patriarch of Constantinople, Demetrios—that is, in reality, his shadow, namely,
the then Director of the Private Patriarchal Office, Bartholomew of
Philadelphia, now of Constantinople—stated in writing in response to a relevant
question:
“The Ecumenical
Movement is nothing foreign to Orthodoxy. Ecumenicity belongs to the very
nature of Orthodoxy. This means that Orthodoxy and Ecumenicity are not two
merely parallel realities, but two characteristics which coincide theologically
and historically. Orthodoxy, as the one and only ecumenical truth,
encompasses Ecumenism. And this is precisely what imparts the Ecumenical
dimension to Orthodoxy. But Ecumenism, too, acquires meaning and content
only under the shelter of Orthodox teaching and tradition. For this reason, both
in the old forms of historical Ecumenism and in the contemporary forms of the
Ecumenical Movement, Orthodoxy has stood in the forefront through its presence,
participation, and initiative-taking cooperation with all the other Churches of
Christ which honestly and sincerely aim at the unity of Christianity. This
is the role of the Orthodox within the Ecumenical Movement: to give the
Movement its true dimension and to place it upon its proper foundation, with the
common sources of revealed truth and right doctrine and tradition as its
standard.” (Ekklesia, no. 13, July 1–15, 1986, p. 439.)
In the present case, an evident
confusion of terms and realities may be observed. To be more precise, we say
that Ecumenicity is indeed a fundamental element of the Holy Gospel and of our
Orthodox Christian faith. However, care must be taken not to confuse the
concepts. Just as theosis, which constitutes the fulfillment of the
“according to the likeness,” is one thing, while self-deification, which
constitutes the Devil’s lie to our first parents in order to cast them out of
Paradise, is another, so too Ecumenicity is one thing, signifying
Orthodoxy’s opening toward the world outside her as an invitation—even to
heretics and schismatics—to accept her truth and to unite themselves with her
in repentance, whereas modern Ecumenism is something entirely different,
signifying an attempt to achieve a supposed unity of Christians—that is, of the
Orthodox with heretics—but together with them and in common with them.
This does not lead to their return in repentance to the fullness of the Truth
of the Faith, from which they fell away, but to an impermissible mixing with
them, even though they are governed by different principles in faith and
ethos. Thus, permanent institutional commingling with them—as occurs,
for example, in the “World Council of Churches” (WCC)—is clearly rendered illicit,
impermissible, and to be rejected from an Orthodox standpoint. (See the
text “Accept No Spurious Doctrine under the Pretext of Love,” in Stergios
Sakkos, Love and Orthodoxy, “Christian Hope” Orthodox Brotherhood,
Thessaloniki, 2018, p. 117 ff.)
Throughout her two-thousand-year
history, the Orthodox Church has always called and presented to all those
outside Her the truth of Her doctrine, in order to lead them onto the path of
salvation. So too did our Lord Jesus Christ, Who indeed entered into dialogue
with everyone, with the aim of transforming those who believed in Him
and making them sheep of His flock. With those who obstinately contradicted Him
and rejected or distorted His teaching, He broke off all dialogue (see
John 8:25).
This is because, according to
Holy Scripture, Love is inseparable from saving Truth. There can be no Love
without Truth: “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15), and love “rejoiceth in
the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6).
By contrast, through Ecumenism,
and particularly through the “WCC,” love is overemphasized at the expense of
truth. The continual relations with the heterodox for nearly a century,
inclusion together with them in councils and consultations, exchanges of visits
and gifts, joint prayers and joint declarations, embraces and mutual kisses,
constitute nothing other than an impermissible separation of Love from Truth,
with a complete, or at least partial, disregard for Truth.
The Holy Fathers of the Church
longed for the return of the heterodox with unfeigned love and truth, because
their separation caused pain and anguish within their sensitive souls.
But this in no way meant that they “allied themselves” with them through
Councils of so-called Churches (!), for endless discussions on every
conceivable subject and for joint declarations and activities in the world!
Once it had been ascertained that those who held false doctrines persisted in
their errors, every dialogical process and effort ceased, in accordance with
the Apostolic exhortation: “A man that is an heretic after the first and second
admonition reject” (Titus 3:10). This constituted no “historical Ecumenism”
whatsoever, unless we wish to “play with words” in order to create impressions.
The continual and persistent
rapprochement with people who not only refuse to abandon their errors but even
intensify them and grow worse means nothing other, according to Saint John
Chrysostom, than a continuation of Eve’s destructive dialogue with the
Serpent, the tragic outcome of which we know! (See Homilies on Genesis,
Homily 16, §2, EPE, vol. 2, p. 416.)
Modern fraternization with
the heterodox is therefore a well-laid Ecumenist trap, into which the
Ecumenists and pro-Ecumenists have fallen, together with those who tolerate and
follow them and who, consequently, are swept along in their “free fall”!…
The seemingly reasonable,
fundamentally worldly Ecumenist arguments for pan-Christian or even
pan-religious unification, in the sense of peaceful coexistence,
cooperation, and especially mutual acceptance, constitute a distortion
of the Gospel of Christ and a violation of the Truth of the Faith and Tradition
of the Church (see Fr. George Metallinos, “The Dialogues without a Mask,” Parakatatheke,
no. 25, July–August 2002, p. 7).
Moreover, let us not forget that through
Ecumenism, in practice, the Baptism of all heretics is recognized; a
“common witness” to the faith is given and the “common evangelization” of
mankind is pursued; a joint effort is made to “find the truth”; common action
is undertaken for world peace; there is a commitment to “avoid proselytism”;
conclusions are set forth concerning “common repentance for shortcomings and
excesses,” etc. (see Fr. Augustinos Bairachtaris, op. cit., pp. 261,
263, 267, 268, 285–286, 297–298).
It scarcely needs to be
emphasized that all these things have no connection whatsoever with the
Canonical, Synodal, and Patristic Tradition of the Church of Christ. The
Canon of the Third Local Council of Carthage, for example, states:
“…Among
heretics, where there is no Church, it is impossible to receive forgiveness
of sins.… Nor can a heretic sanctify oil, since he has neither altar nor
Church. Neither can chrism exist at all among heretics.… And how can one
who is not a priest, but a sacrilegious man and a sinner, pray over the
person baptized?… We understand that forgiveness of sins is given through the
Holy Church. But who can give what he himself does not possess?… Everything
performed by them [the heretics], being false and empty, is invalid.… The
enemies of the Lord, who are called antichrists, cannot give the grace of the
Lord.” (See The Sacred Rudder, p. 369.)
The foregoing is in full
agreement with Holy Apostolic Canons 46 and 47, according to which the baptism
of heretics is regarded as “defilement.” For they are “enemies of the
truth,” who bring about “abhorrent pollution and abomination,”
according to Sacred Canon 1 of the Holy Quinisext Council.
But even Sacred Canon 7 of the
Second Ecumenical Council and Sacred Canon 95 of the Quinisext Council,
concerning those “who come over from the heretics and are added to Orthodoxy
and to the portion of those being saved,” which permit in certain cases the
non-repetition of the correct form of baptism received by heretics, do not mean
that they regard that baptism as valid in and of itself, either according to
strictness or according to economy.
What relation does any of this
have to what is found in the contemporary Ecumenical Movement, which is
condemnable in every respect? Where is there room for “Churches of Christ,” for
“Sister Churches,” for de facto recognition of baptisms and other rites,
for “ministries,” joint commissions, and common activities?
Nevertheless, the Ecumenists,
regarding themselves as readily adaptable to the demands of the times and to
the new historical, social, and political conditions, confidently maintain that
they supposedly follow—in their imagination—the Patristic and Traditional model
without violating it (!), but in conformity with the new realities of the
modern age.
This also calls to mind the
tragedy—not to say the blasphemy!—into which the modern destroyers of
the Orthodox Ethos of the Church, both clergy and laity, have fallen:
since most Christians in name only no longer observe the moral requirements of
the Faith concerning purity before the Mystery of Marriage in our age of
pansexualism, they maintain that full sexual relations before Marriage should
be regarded as natural and acceptable, provided that there is mutual love and
not a sordid transaction. And those who continue, on this matter, to adhere to
what has been binding and self-evident in the Faith and Tradition of the Church
for two thousand years supposedly commit an “interpretive error” and bring the
true meaning of the faith into disrepute!
We deliberately use this parallel
because it is well known in our Holy Faith: illicit spiritual relations with
those outside the Church—for isolated incidents occurred in the past as well,
chiefly out of ignorance—are unequivocally called “spiritual fornication and
spiritual adultery”! This is well known from the Church’s Gerontika,
and there is no need to cite examples. In our days, however, these illicit
relations have become entrenched through corrupting Ecumenism, and
anyone who protests against this spiritual licentiousness is regarded as
phobic, an unsophisticated provincial, maladjusted, fanatical, and “out of
place and time”!…
We must know, however, that the
Holy Gospel is immutable and our Holy Orthodox Faith never grows old, so as
to require readjustment and modernization. The “eternal boundaries”
of the Truth of the Faith are immovable, and the Sacred Tradition of the Church
is inviolable (see Saint John of Damascus, “An Exact Exposition of the
Orthodox Faith,” I.1, EPE, vol. 1, p. 56).
Never can the “pretext of love”
justify the utter degradation (“monstrous humiliation,” as Elder Justin Popović
the Confessor called it) involved in Holy Orthodoxy’s participation in
“Councils of Churches” and in inter-Christian and interreligious ceremonies and
gatherings.
For this reason, a former
Protestant and apologist for Orthodoxy in America wrote quite correctly many
years ago that “the Ecumenical Movement, from an Orthodox point of view,
constitutes a failure”; “it is a wretched fiasco”; “another product of the
mania for utopianism that seized the twentieth century.” He also wrote that
“the apostasy of liberal Protestantism and the acceptance of immorality and
perversion by the Protestant denominations have manifestly increased during the
‘ecumenical age.’” (See Frank Schaeffer, Dancing Alone: The Quest for
Orthodox Faith in the Age of False Religion, Makrygiannis Publications, 2nd
ed., Kozani, 2004, p. 505.)
It is significant that those heterodox
who, both in the past and in our own days, embrace Orthodoxy—especially in
America—do not come because of some supposed “Orthodox witness” at Ecumenist
meetings, but for precisely the opposite reason! Consequently, they are not at
all favorably disposed toward Ecumenism; rather, they regard it as a
disorienting and even a manifestation of apostasy.
The deviations of Western
Christians, especially regarding the acceptance of abortion, same-sex
marriage, the ordination of women, etc., provoke outright revulsion
even among the serious-minded members of their denominations, causing them to
abandon this state of degradation.
Yet does so-called official
Orthodoxy—which unfortunately participates, directly or indirectly, in this corrosive
Ecumenist distortion—truly constitute a safe and suitable refuge for the
disillusioned who are seeking a place of salvation? Does not such a choice
lead, by a circuitous route—not to say directly!—to the same tragic dead end of
tolerating, if not concealing, these manifestations of apostasy?
Did not the majority of the
official Orthodox Churches, ten years ago at the Pseudo-Council of Kolymbari,
Crete, endorse and approve the heretical Ecumenist deviation instead of
condemning it?
We conclude by emphasizing that,
in order to fulfill her saving mission in the world, the Orthodox Church must
cast out and condemn every “spurious doctrine,” every distortion of the
true Faith, and every delusion—such as the prevailing delusion of Ecumenism—as
the immaculate Bride of Christ our God, the King of all.
We shall return, God willing,
shortly to a specific recent event that requires examination and commentary.
Greek
source:
Will Pagans Be Saved?
And while you’re wondering whether the pagans will repent before they die, there’s a much more pressing question that you need to answer
Fr. Joseph Gleason | Aug
21, 2026
Deep in the heart of Africa,
there’s a small tribe that has never heard about Christ. Is it possible for
them to go to heaven?
It sounds like a very deep
theological question, but sometimes it’s just a sneaky way of avoiding the
question that God is asking you.
God gives us commands and we
pretend not to hear Him. He calls us, but we make excuses. He wakes up our
conscience, and then we reach for the spiritual “snooze button”, so to speak.
Then once we’ve got our
conscience quiet, we sit comfortably and we ask these big giant questions about
everybody else’s salvation.
“But what about the pagans?
Can they be saved?”
Well, suppose God answered this
question with a simple “yes” or “no” like we demand.
God says, “yes”.
Well, then what? Are we going to
stop evangelizing? Are we going to stop fasting and praying and repenting and
struggling against sin? Why spread the gospel?
“They’ll make it to heaven
anyway.”
Before long, a “yes” to that
question becomes an excuse for religious indifference and laziness.
Okay, fine.
So suppose God says, “no”.
Well, now we get the opposite
temptation. Suddenly, we imagine ourselves to be more compassionate than God.
“What kind of God would
condemn billions of people that don’t even have a chance?”
“I refuse to worship a God
like that.”
Think about the arrogance of
saying something like that.
Jesus was scourged. He was nailed
to a cross and He died because of his love for humanity. You didn’t do that. I
didn’t do that. Yet somehow you can conclude that you love humanity more than
He does?
Well, maybe the problem is the
question itself.
We want eternal mysteries reduced
to simple checkboxes: “yes” or “no”, “saved” or “damned”. But Christianity,
real Christianity, gives us something that is much bigger than that.
Christ died for all. God desires
the salvation of all. Scripture says so. And yet Scripture never promises that
all will be saved.
There are mysteries that are
bigger than the categories we create.
So if the fate of unbelievers
really keeps you awake at night, and you’re worried about it, there’s something
more useful that you can do, than speculating and imagining.
You go tell them about Christ.
You learn their language.
You preach the Gospel.
You send your money to support
some missionaries.
And if you can’t go anywhere
yourself, then get on your knees and pray for them.
Because God never commanded you
to solve the mathematics of how everybody else gets saved.
He commanded you to love them.
And while you’re wondering
whether the pagans will repent before they die, there’s a much
more pressing question that you need to answer, and that is:
Will you repent?
Source: https://movingtorussia.substack.com/p/will-pagans-be-saved
Friday, August 21, 2026
How Should We Keep this Dormition fast?
By the Blessed & Ever-Memorable Archbishop Averky of Jordanville
The following homily is something of a period piece, written
as it was over fifty years ago. However, although a few references may strike
readers as dated, there is much of spiritual worth in the Archbishop’s words.
Indeed, the state of the Orthodox diaspora and the mentality of its peoples has
not greatly altered since Archbishop wrote this work. If that mentality has
altered, and if the world has changed, it is sadly in both cases much to the
worse. The Archbishop’s words are more pertinent now than when he penned them.
Our readers will notice, and some might be offended by, his constant references
to the Russian peoples, but one must bear several things in mind. First and
most basically, he was a Bishop of the Russian Church addressing his flock of
Russian people, mostly emigrés, which at that point probably comprised very few
non-Russians. He is addressing them in terms to which they would respond. And take
particular notice how carefully he phrases his expression. He never speaks of “Russian
Orthodox people,” but always of “Orthodox Russian people.” There has been a
tendency, one unfortunately greatly augmented in recent years with the euphoria
in some quarters over the “re-united” (actually more-than-ever disunited)
Russian Church, to represent Russian Orthodoxy as something essentially
distinct from, and, grotesquely, even superior to, the Orthodoxy of other
peoples. Few are the hierarchs and Church leaders in the Russian Church today
who would have the sensitivity of Archbishop Averky to address the Orthodox
Russian people, rather than the Russian Orthodox people. And, although his
words are addressed to each of us as individuals, yet we can only bemoan the
fact that his teaching was not heeded by the “uniting parts of the Russian
Church” in 2007, which now so heartily congratulate themselves on their “well-being,”
but have glossed over the need for real repentance.
Today, 1st August, according to
our Orthodox calendar, we set out upon the Dormition Fast. For us it serves as
a spiritual preparation for the Great Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy
Theotokos, imitating her own fast, by which she prepared herself for her
departure from this earthly life, and it lasts for two whole weeks.
Last year, 1959 [this sermon
was first given on 1st/14th August, 1960 - ed.], the Assembly of Hierarchs
declared this present year, 1960, a year of repentance. In connection
with this, we have for a long time been considering reminding all the
Orthodox Russian people of the Appeal of the Pastoral Conference, which
was convened this year at the Holy Trinity Monastery:
“The Fast of the Dormition of
the Theotokos stands before us, by which customarily we prepare for the Great
Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Do we all always observe
this fast in all its strictness, do we all prepare and commune of the holy
Mysteries of Christ during this fast? The Mother of God weeps for us, having a
presentiment of the dread punishment of God, which we bring upon ourselves by
our own lack of concern, our own lack of repentance, our own stoney lack of
feeling. In this year of repentance, let us now observe this fast before the
Dormition as one of general preparation of all the people, so that we might
worthily approach the Communion of the holy Mysteries of Christ on the feast of
the Dormition. It is to this that our Pastoral Conference now calls the
Orthodox Russian people” (See Pravoslavnaya Rus’ - No 12, 15th
/ 28th June, 1960).
But what of us? Are we addressing
everyone in this appeal or not? Are we entering upon this fast as our Holy
Church teaches us, with increased prayers, with all-round abstinence from the
passions both of soul and of the body, with the labours of true repentance?
Will we prepare as is proper and as is appointed, and will we apply ourselves
with feelings of heartfelt contrition, with a firm intention to correct our
life, for the great Mysteries (sacraments) of Confession and Holy Communion?
Before all else, let us take a
clear account of ourselves with that certain truthfulness, such as pertains to
all healthy minded people; then following this, let us resolve to change our
life from the very root for the better, upon which depends the whole course of
our future, both here in this earthly life, and, what is more important, there
in that life eternal which we all await.
It is true that, glory be to God,
many of us, Orthodox Russian people abroad, make such preparation. They do so
every year in Great Lent, and some do so in the other fasts, among which the
Dormition Fast is numbered. But is this preparation, as it is sometimes done
simply by received custom, by tradition, as something inherited from pious
forebears, always a real preparation? - that is, is it really repentance, which
is what is required of us, what God awaits from us?
Can one really call it
“preparation” to receive the dread Mysteries of Christ, when one comes late at
the very start of the Divine Liturgy, expecting confession during the time of
the Liturgy itself, and thus requiring the priestly ministers either to break
off from serving or (if it is a concelebration) not to take part? Can one
really call it “preparation” when it is done in a purely mechanical way without
any deep self-examination, without the self-examination which is required by
the Apostle’s injunction (1 Cor. 11:28)?
How many come to confession
nowadays without sufficient examination of their interior world, and even, as
they themselves often openly inform the confessor, without knowing what they
have to repent of. “I am sinful, like everyone else,” or “I am sinful, having
the usual human sins,” they will customarily say, without the necessary
understanding of the whole depth and weight of their sins, and, it follows,
without the intention to leave off from, or change, their sinful life. And when
they hear the prayer of absolution, they assume that all that is required has
been done, and that with a conscience at peace they may approach the Holy
Chalice, and then equally at peace, without any interior conflict within
themselves, they continue with the sinful life to which they had formerly
become habituated.
All this is not that true
repentance, which the Kindhearted Lord, the God of those who repent,
awaits, desiring that the sinner turn away from his path of transgression.
True repentance presupposes
before all else a painstaking self-examination; an attentive scrutiny of one’s
conscience, of one’s interior world, by means of setting against it the law of
God; an assessment of one’s sinfulness, without those tiny quotas of some sort
of self-justification; it presupposes brokenness of heart on account of one’s
sins and a decisive rejection of them, united with a firm intention to make
amends for one’s sins by the good deeds which are contrary to them, and not to
repeat those sins any more.
“Repentance is a contract with
God for the correction of life,” says that great instructor of the
spiritual life, the Venerable John of the Ladder (Step 5). So, where
there is no intention to correct one’s life for the better in a
fundamental way, there is no true repentance. The Greek word itself, metania,
which has been handed down to us without the slightest shadow of
change of meaning, and which is expressed in our word ‘repentance,’
means ‘change,’ - a complete, fundamental change of a person’s thought,
feeling, and desires, i.e., his inner spiritual rebirth. For this reason
repentance is called a ‘second rebirth,’ or a ‘second Baptism’ (see the
Order of Confession in The Book of Needs).
Behold, this is the repentance
which the Lord awaits from us! He desires that we, Orthodox Russian people,
change our lives in a fundamental way, to become, as it were, a new, a
different people, better in all respects than we were hitherto.
With such repentance, such a
fundamental change for the better, our present life, all our hopes for some
better future, for our salvation, for the salvation and rebirth of our unhappy
homeland, Russia, are vain. And what are we, Orthodox Russian people in foreign
lands, to repent of?
Oh, there is much that we should
repent of!
First of all it is necessary to
repent of the general sins of mankind, checking our life against the demands of
God’s Law, even if only according to the Ten Commandments. (And for this it is
necessary, of course, to know these Ten Commandments, something which - alas! -
our contemporary generation cannot boast about). Many Russian people have completely
ceased accusing themselves of sins, even those mostly clearly and evidently
breaking these Ten Commandments, instead accounting the breaking of them as
normal, widespread, and therefore in some sense excusable. They have no idea of
the patristic saying that “the multitude of sinners does not save us.” Even if
everyone around us sins, this does not serve as any justification for our own
particular sins.
Furthermore, we have our own
particular specific sins, for which undoubtedly God will call us to account, if
we do not really repent of them.
Know that we, sons and daughters
of Holy Russia, have the great good fortune to confess the one true, the one
saving, Holy Orthodox Faith. Much has been given us. And to whom much is given,
from him much will be required (See Luke 12:48).
Our most important and basic sin
is that we have forgotten that we are living in foreign countries, in ‘far
lands,’ and here in exile and in the diaspora, we have begun to feel ‘at home.’
Many of us, - alas! - many already do not want to take into account why we are
found abroad, besides which, to be at ease in their countries and attempting to
come to terms with their circumstances, we are merging completely with life around
us, we are assimilating, slavishly imitating all the people among whom we live,
only considering how in some way we might best get established and improve our
material success, our well-being, in our new circumstances, and for this end we
are ready to sacrifice our spiritual values, including even our Faith itself.
Among us there are some who care
about the salvation and rebirth of Russia and about returning to Russia and
they even set up various types of political and patriotic organizations with
this aim, periodically holding assemblies and organizing conferences. But in
the majority of cases, they sin in that they do not desire to understand why
such a dreadful catastrophe befell our homeland, and they continue to live
aboard entertaining those very same thoughts and feelings, and with the temper which
accompanies them, which once brought that catastrophe about. They do not desire
to bring about within themselves that unique and saving fundamental change;
they do not really want to repent. And therefore, for all their sometimes,
maybe, very good and sincere intentions and efforts, they are left with
still-born fruit, which leads to nothing and never brings anything positive,
leaving behind for all only the bitter after-taste of disillusionment.
The whole life of contemporary
Christians is in all ways completely contrary to that which true Christianity
requires of us. At the present time, people, bearing the name ‘Christian,’ in
the majority of cases, do not even think about what this name implies and they
do not strive even a little to fulfil the Gospel precepts, but lead their lives
in a completely pagan way. And for this reason it is now not possible for us to
live ‘like everyone else.’ Now, more than ever before in the past, it is imperative
that we bear in mind the teaching of the holy Apostle James: “Know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? And so, he who has his
own ideals so that he might persuade himself and set himself at rest is he “whosoever
will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
The present-day dissipation and
light-mindedness of life in the world is so mindless that it cannot be
reconciled with Christianity. These two things are mutually completely at odds.
There is no such thing as a minimal Christianity, which might in some way be
reconciled with contemporary dissolute worldly life, which has made as its one
purpose the achievement of the greatest possible comfort in life, along with
every kind of pleasure and enjoyment.
He who wants really desires to
repent must resolutely reject the evil worldly wisdom of the present times.
Either / or! There is no midway, and there cannot be one. Either we are sons of
God, or we are “sons of opposition,” “sons of perdition.” To constantly amuse
oneself, going to restaurants and cinemas and other places of entertainment -
all this is clean contrary to true Christianity, and these things he, who has
firmly resolved to commit himself truly to repent before God, and not simply in
an exterior or hypocritical way, cannot stand to do.
From this point of view, the
incessant instances of the countless balls and suppers, events and entertaining
gatherings, even when they go under the name of “benefits,” in which so much of
our life in the diaspora is now submerged, especially here in America, goes
completely against any true repentance.
The most dreadful thing is that
in the life of contemporary people falsehood enters in and gets very firmly
established there. Present-day Christians lie before God, they lie to each
other, they even lie to themselves. The are always “playing a rôle,” attempting
to present themselves as something they are not. They are concerned only with
outward respectability, “neglecting the tabernacle fashioned by God.” as the
Great Canon [Ode 2] expresses it.
And within this there is an even
greater sorrow: that they do not even want to keep Christ’s commandments and
without the least fear they flout Church rules, and in doing so, they think, in
a completely un-Christian way, that they are justified in all their unbridled
behaviour and by their own mind-set.
Self-love and pride literally
infect everything - all of contemporary life.
But the most dreadful thing, of
course, is that this is not simply sinning against morality, which to one to
degree or another has always had its place in people’s lives, but this is the
basic sin of the present day, which hitherto never manifested itself with such
force, which never before enclosed people, even those calling themselves
Christians, in such a broad sweep, which never hitherto so boldly raised its
head, vigorously captivating for itself even those who, evidently, wanted to
resist it, but also did not find within themselves the strength to go against
the general flow.
This is the sin of Apostasy,
or of capitulation.
And it is an all too frequent
manifestation today. People call themselves Christian, sometimes even ministers
of the Church of Christ, and in reality they are apostates. They have
surrendered their souls to the coming Antichrist and they actively participate
in his grandiose scheme, now underway throughout the whole world, - the
preparation for the kingdom of Antichrist on earth.
And it is especially painful and
bitter that many Russian people not only continue to live abroad with those
dispositions which led Russia to Bolshevism, but under the influence of the
foreign and heterodox environment around them they go even further, wholly
engaging in the headlong course of the Apostasy. For such people repentance is
particularly difficult. Without the special action of the Grace of God upon
their souls it may even be unattainable.
This sin is particularly
enticing, because it promises so much - money, career prospects, and all
earthly good things, and at the same time it is very proficient at hiding
itself under the disguise of an outwardly good appearance.
He who actually, and not in words
only, desires to repent, must exhibit full obedience to the Holy Church in all
things - to her teachings and to her practice, to her age-old usages which are
founded the sacred Scriptures and Holy Tradition, on the teaching of the Holy
Fathers, those Pillars of Orthodoxy and strugglers for Christian piety. With
resolution he must reject all those pretensions, which are so full of pride and
self-confidence, which seek to ‘reform’ or to ‘correct’ things in the Church,
or to ‘infuse’ some ‘new, living current’ within her, and so on. No kind of innovation,
no kind of modernism should be able to find any place in our Church, more
especially that modernism which follows the trends of the anti-Christian ideas
of this present evil age, which, while they appear one thing, conceal any sign
of their ideological aspirations, such as the ecumenical union of all faith
confessions, or universal government headed by a one-world administration.
“Not all that glistens is gold,”
says a good Russian proverb [and an English one too! - transl.] And we,
the Christians must understand that Satan himself, when it proves
necessary for him, can “take on the appearance of an Angel of light,”
and therefore it is no marvel “if his ministers also be transformed as
the ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:14-15).
He who desires actually to
repent must, with all resolution, tear asunder the entangling nets of the
contemporary world, which, with a determination which cannot be countered, drag
all deeper and deeper into the abyss of Apostasy, from which there is no way
out.
This we, Orthodox Russian people,
must recognise within ourselves, if we are really seeking to achieve true
repentance, if we sincerely desire salvation for ourselves and for our
homeland, Russia, and with that of the whole of mankind, of the whole world,
for as must be manifest to us all now, the fate of the whole world at the
present time is closely bound up with the fate of our homeland, Russia.*
But woe to us, if within us there
begins to speak a feeling of proud self-justification; if we do not begin to
desire to recognise within ourselves all the various guilty things enumerated
above. “Pride and self-justification,” according to the teachings of the Holy
Fathers, “darken the mind” (Abba Dorotheus: Questions and Answers, question
82).
“Guard against pride and
self-justification,” the great elder John the Prophet teaches, “for they
impede repentance” (answer 82).
Unfortunately there are among us
Russians, those who not only do not recognise the whole depth of their fall,
but with a kind of incomprehensible delusion, even yield to some sort of
unfounded delight, with self-esteem and trust in themselves and in others,
assuming that everything is alright with them.
Such a disposition is completely
alien to true Christianity. We must not congratulate ourselves, lest this bring
upon us the most severe judgment. Lulling the conscience, into which groundless
fantasies have entered, is the very greatest evil, which cuts off at the very
root every possibility of true repentance.
Before all else, true repentance
depends upon humility, a complete and unreserved humility before the
commandments of the Gospel, before the canons and precepts of the Church, a
readiness completely and without dissimulation to submit to them. True
repentance is completely alien to any sort of pretence or claims of
self-determination. It is an inexorable awareness within oneself of one’s own
sinfulness. Only when it is such can it be active and salvific.
What then? Shall we embark upon
this road of real repentance? Shall we thus observe the Dormition Fast which is
upon us? Shall we resolve in the most fundamental way to change our life for
the better?
Or, as before, shall we take life
easily, disregarding all that has been said above, until we are struck at the
inescapable dread hour of God’s retribution which is approaching, when
instantaneously all our present “well-being” will fall away, and awful
destruction shall befall us, not only a temporal one, but one eternal.** May
it not be!
Translator’s footnotes:
* This thought might strike some of our readers as odd or
unrealistic. In fact, Archbishop Averky could have been thinking of two things.
He was writing in 1960, when the Cold War was at its coldest. Politically the
fate of the whole world then was very much bound up with that of what was
commonly called Russia. However, on the deeper level, he was more probably
considering Russia’s classic claim to be the Third Rome. This
concept has, unfortunately, been bastardized by extreme nationalists, and is
often presented as if it were a reason for pride, or some kind of national
superiority. In fact, it was a calling to a ministry within the Church, that
Russia should serve as a beacon of Orthodoxy to the rest of the world, and thus
her fate would be very much bound up with the fate of the whole world. If she
would lead in showing the way of repentance, then there would be hope that
other peoples would follow.
** This, of course, might refer to the end of the world, but
also applies at the time of death of every Orthodox individual, something we
shall all experience.
Source: The
Shepherd: An Orthodox Christian Pastoral Magazine, August 2011, pp. 2-11.
St. Jerome: The Patron of Irascible, Morbidly Sensitive, Old Curmudgeons
Stuart Squires, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Theology at Brescia University, Owensboro, Kentucky
[The memory of Blessed Jerome of
Stridon (c. 347—420 A.D.) is honored on June 15/28 in the Holy Orthodox
Church of Christ.]
(…)
We know very little about Jerome’s early life as no one
penned a Vita in his honor, nor did
he write a Confessions-style
autobiography. He was born in Stridon, but the exact location of this town is
unknown. [1] His family’s considerable wealth allowed him to receive
the best education in Rome. During his studies, Jerome reports spending his
Sundays visiting the martyrs in the catacombs, which profoundly shaped his
Catholic imagination. [2]
He bounced around the Roman world for a number of years
after his schooling. During a stay in Antioch, he had a fever-induced vision of
the Judge at his judgment. Jerome told the Judge that he was a Christian. “You
lie!” The Judge snapped in reply: “you are a follower of Cicero, and not of
Christ. Where your treasure is, so also will your heart be.” [3]
Jerome had preferred refined pagan authors to the vulgar literary prose of the
Bible, describing it as “rude and repellent.” [4] Despite Jerome’s passion for
literature, he did not read any of the great Roman authors for 15 years after
his vision because he was so shaken by the experience.
Jerome eventually returned to the Eternal City where his
reputation began to grow as a translator and exegete. He found himself in the
favor of Christian elites and had impressed Pope Damasus with his experiences
in the east and his knowledge of Hebrew, which few Christians knew at the time.
He also became a spiritual advisor to a number of rich, aristocratic women whom
he encouraged to embrace the ascetic life by arguing that the good of marriage
is limited to the future consecrated virgins who might come from the marital
union. [5]
For the last several decades of his life, Jerome lived in
Bethlehem where he established a monastery and installed himself as its head.
This was a time of prolific literary output and he engaged in many of the great
controversies of his day, such as Mary’s perpetual virginity, the role of
marriage in the Christian life, and the anthropological fights of the Pelagian
controversy, among others. Just a few years before his death, his monastery was
burned to the ground by an unknown group of individuals. [6]
Jerome is best known for his translation of most of the
Bible into Latin from the original Hebrew and Greek. Prior to Jerome’s Vulgate, Old Testament translations into
Latin came from the Greek Septuagint translation. Jerome was criticized in his
day for his turn to the original Hebrew, including Augustine who wrote to him
with less than enthusiasm for the project, saying “I think that they [the
translators of the Septuagint] should be given a preeminent authority in this
task without controversy.” [7] Despite Augustine’s protests, the Vulgate became standard in the [Papal] Church
in the medieval period, and was declared “authentic,” “approved,” and that “no
one dare or presume under any pretext whatsoever to reject it” by the Council
of Trent in 1546. [8]
He is also infamous for his verbal
onslaughts of other eminent Christians of his time. In his On Illustrious Men, he curtly dismissed Ambrose, saying that “I
withhold judgment of him because he is still alive, fearing either to praise or
blame lest, in one event, I should be blamed for adulation, and, in the other,
for speaking the truth.” [9] In his correspondence with Augustine, who had
written to Jerome inquiring about his interpretation of Galatians and was the
only person from whom Augustine ever sought advice. [10] Jerome icily responded
to him that “there remains for you only that you love one who loves you and
that you, a youth in the field of scripture, do not challenge an old man.” [11]
Even after the death of Rufinus, his fiercest opponent and one-time friend,
Jerome could not resist taking one last shot at him by calling him a “pig.”
[12]
It is these types of comments that have led scholars to
declare Jerome an “irascible, morbidly sensitive old curmudgeon,” [13] that he
“resented adverse criticisms,” [14] that he was “sensitive and easily
offended,” [15] that he had a “prickly character,” [16] and that he was
“unbalanced.” [17] Although these criticisms may not be far from the mark, it
is precisely this side of Jerome—the deeply flawed side—that has drawn me to
him.
Jerome was not the stoic Athanasius who courageously
shouldered his burdens when he was exiled from Alexandria five times by the
Arians. When Jerome experienced his own sort of exile after the death of his
patron Damasus, he venomously hissed at the “Senate of Pharisees” [18] for
having driven him from his beloved Rome.
He was not the continent Augustine who never hinted at
struggles with concupiscence after his famous moment in the garden that brought
him the chastity for which he had been praying. In his mid-seventies, Jerome
tells us that it was only when his body was broken by age that he was freed
from his disordered desires. [19]
He was not the disciplined Antony of Egypt who spent 20
years alone pursuing a life of renunciation and who perfected the art of
self-mastery. [20] He completely failed at his own desert experiment, even
though he had dragged his sizeable library across the Mediterranean to keep him
company (what a spectacle that must have been!). Years later, he said of his
time there that “when I was living in the desert, in the vast solitude which
gives to hermits a savage dwelling-place, parched by a burning sun, how often
did I fancy myself among the pleasures of Rome. I used to sit alone because I
was filled with bitterness.” [21]
I feel a kinship with Jerome when I think of these passages
and as I reflect on my own desert experiences: both the physical desert
experience I had in the Sahara for two years during my Peace Corps service,
and, more importantly, the spiritual deserts of my life where, like him, I have
been haunted by my failures and vices. Because of Jerome, I have come to share
Fr. James Martin’s sentiment of his patron intercessors when he says that he
can recognize himself, or at least parts of himself, in their lives. “This was
the aspect of their lives that I most appreciated,” Martin says, “they had
struggled with the same human foibles that everyone does.” [22]
Over the years, I have come to see Jerome not as the cranky,
old man often panned by his critics, nor an other-worldly superhero whose piety
and moral virtue seem to be much too lofty to emulate (as most saints seem to
be to me). Rather, Jerome’s brokenness acts as a mirror and invites me to see
that my own brokenness may direct me outward from my parched inner landscape
toward God’s ebullient fecundity. For, it was in the recognition of his
inordinate desire for the beauty of literature—prompted by his fever-induced
vision—that led Jerome to receive exculpation after crying out to the Judge
from deep within: “Lord, have mercy on me!” [23]
St. Jerome, pray for us.
***
[1] Most of the biographical information for this piece
comes from J.N.D. Kelly’s fantastic work Jerome:
His Life, Writings, and Controversies.
Without a doubt, this is my favorite biography of any of the Fathers.
[2] Jerome, Comm. on
Ezekiel, 40, 5-13. See also Kelly,
p. 22.
[3] Jerome, Ep. 22.30.
[4] Jerome, Ep. 22.30.
[5] Jerome, Ep. 22. 19-20.
[6] Josef Lössl, “Who Attacked the Monasteries of Jerome and
Paula in 416 A.D.?,” 111.
[7] Augustine, Ep. 28.2
[8] Council of Trent, “Decree Concerning the Canonical
Scriptures.” The Canons and Decrees of
the Council of Trent, 18.
[9] Jerome, De Viris
Illustriubs, 124.
[10] James, O’Donnell.
Augustine: A New Biography,
299.
[11] Jerome, Ep. 68.2.
See also my essay on the letter correspondence between Augustine and
Jerome: “Jerome’s Animosity Against Augustine.”
[12] Jerome named him “Grunnius.” Prologue
to Jerome’s Commentary on Jeremiah, I.
[13] Stephen Canon, “The Jerome-Augustine Correspondence,”
39.
[14] Virginia Hellenga, “The Exchange of Letters between
Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome,” 177.
[15] Gerald Bonner, St.
Augustine of Hippo: Life and Controversies, 147.
[16] Robert O’Connell, “When Saintly Fathers Feuded: The
Correspondence between Augustine and Jerome,” 346-7.
[17] John Antony McGuckin, Gregory of Nazianzus: an Intellectual Biography, xxvii.
[18] Jerome, Translation
of Didymus on the Holy Spirit, pref.
[19] Jerome, Commentary
on Amos II, prol. See Kelly, 295.
[20] Athanasius. Life
of Antony, 14.
[21] Jerome, Ep. 22.7.
[22] James Martin, My
Life with the Saints, 7.
[23] Jerome, Ep. 22.30.
Source:
https://dailytheology.org/2015/09/30/st-jerome-the-patron-of-irascible-morbidly-sensitive-old-curmudgeons/
Testimonies of Holy Figures of the Church Concerning the False Council of Crete
Those Who Knowingly Maintain Communion with Heresy Are Without Excuse
Archimandrite Pavlos
Dimitrakopoulos, theologian and author
Let us see, once again, briefly
and in passing, what great saintly figures of our time said about this Council,
which, in their day, was yet to be convened. Their opinion naturally carries
great weight, since they were holy men.
Contemporary saintly figures of
our time, closely following the entire course of the successive so-called
Pan-Orthodox conferences and consultations, as well as the preparation of the
“Council of Crete,” discerned, through the divine illumination within them, the
ruinous ecumenist course along which the entire preparation was proceeding.
They also discerned the rotten ecumenist foundations upon which the entire
undertaking rested and foresaw that the “Holy and Great Council” that was to be
convened would be nothing other than an ecumenist, heretical false council.
* * *
Let us see what Saint Justin
Popović said—a great saint and confessor of our time. In 1971, he submitted
a memorandum to the Holy Synod of the Serbian Church entitled: “Concerning the
Proposed Great Council of the Orthodox Church: A Memorandum to the Synod of the
Hierarchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church.”
This is a text of historic
significance and a splendid Orthodox Confession, in which the God-bearing
Father points out, among other things, the following:
“Personally, I
do not see that, under present circumstances, there is truly an unavoidable
need to convene an Ecumenical Council. But if such a need does exist, the
present moment is the most unsuitable in the history of our Church. Any new
Ecumenical Council will be neither Holy, nor Ecumenical, nor the Eighth, unless
it first accepts the ecumenical and unshakable decisions of the preceding
Councils.”
The Saint perceived that the
proper conditions for convening an Ecumenical Council did not exist, because
even at that time Ecumenism already prevailed in almost all the Local Churches.
Consequently, if such a Council were convened, it would not be a Council of
Holy Fathers, but a false council of ecumenist hierarchs. But if the
circumstances at that time were, in the Saint’s judgment, unsuitable, consider
how much more unsuitable they are now, five and a half decades later. How much
more unfavorable conditions have become today, when the tempest of the heresy
of Ecumenism has swept away everything and assumed far greater proportions.
And the Saint concludes this
historic memorandum of his with the following prophetic words:
“But finally, it
is known both to the Angels and to men, and especially to Orthodox Christians,
that in this apocalyptic age it is difficult—or rather, impossible—for many
hierarchs of the Local Orthodox Churches, because of human weaknesses, to
confess the Orthodox dogmas and canonical truths in an Orthodox and patristic
manner at this ‘Ecumenical Council’ that may possibly be convened. For this
reason, the more Orthodox course would be for an Ecumenical Council not to be
convened, or at least for no one to participate in it.”
Five years later, in 1976, Saint
Justin, foreseeing the bitter fruits of the future convocation of the “Council
of Crete,” would once again make a new appeal to the hierarchy of the Serbian
Church in another memorandum. He writes:
“Once again, at
the prompting of my conscience, I address this plea and my filial, prayerful
cry to the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Serbia: that the Serbian Church
abstain from participating in the preparation of an ‘Ecumenical Council’ in
name only, and most especially from participating in it if it is ultimately
convened.”
* * *
Venerable Philotheos Zervakos,
an elder known to all of you, reposed in 1980. He too followed with deep
concern the developments concerning the “Holy and Great Council” that was being
prepared.
In complete agreement with Saint
Justin Popović, he writes the following in a relevant article entitled
“Concerning an Ecumenical Council”:
“Thus, we
consider the convening of an ‘Ecumenical Council’ entirely superfluous with
regard to matters upon which the divine Apostles and the God-wise Fathers and
Teachers of the Church have already pronounced through the Holy Canons.”
* * *
The ever-memorable Archimandrite
Charalambos Vasilopoulos likewise makes the same observations concerning
the proposed Council and warns of the same dangers arising from its possible
convocation. He was the founder of the newspaper Orthodoxos Typos and
the Panhellenic Orthodox Union (P.O.E.). He writes:
“Unfortunately,
the ‘Eighth Ecumenical Council’ now being prepared will also be a robber
council. If we judge from what we have seen thus far, the ecumenists intend,
through the proposed ‘Eighth Ecumenical Council,’ to ratify the innovations
that they themselves are presently promoting within the Church. They want it to
be a Council that will overturn the previous decisions of the Seven Ecumenical
Councils.”
* * *
Another great saintly and
patristic figure, the former Metropolitan of Florina, Augustinos of
blessed memory, writes in an important article in Spitha:
“If the
principal reason for which Ecumenical Councils are convened is heresy, then
there is indeed a serious reason for convening an ‘Ecumenical Council.’ And
this reason—apart from the other errors and heresies that must be condemned—is
the heresy that a distinguished hierarch of blessed memory of the Church of
Greece called the heresy of heresies. The name of this heresy? Ecumenism.”
* * *
The ever-memorable Archimandrite
Athanasios Mitilinaios, a man of pan-Orthodox stature and spirituality,
said in 1991, referring to the “Holy and Great Council” that was to be
convened, in his book entitled Two Homilies Concerning the Apostolic Council
of Jerusalem:
“Such a Council
is not guided by the Holy Spirit, but is driven by the dark powers, with
Freemasonry at their head. Let this be understood. Yes. For this reason, if
this Council does take place, it will be characterized as a False Council—as
though he too were speaking prophetically. It will not be accepted. What
spiritual state are those bishops in who will sit down to discuss the matters
of this Council? Do they uphold the Orthodox Faith or do they not? From what we
are able to know today—I, you, and all of us—those who will participate have
been taken captive by Ecumenism. To speak unequivocally, with perhaps a few
exceptions, these men do not uphold the Orthodox Faith, even though they are
called Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops. They do not uphold the Orthodox
Faith. We know the manner in which they act and express themselves. We know
this. I shall say it once again: they have been taken captive by Freemasonry
and Ecumenism.”
Father Seraphim Zisis is
currently giving a series of talks entitled “The Gradual Masonization of the
Church,” in complete harmony with what Father Athanasios of blessed memory says
here.
* * *
I shall conclude with what was
said by another great ecclesiastical figure of our time, the grace-filled and
discerning American Orthodox monk Father Seraphim Rose. He is known to
all of you through his books, which have also been translated into Greek. This
holy hieromonk, Father Seraphim, lived in California. What, then, does he say?
He wrote in 1976:
“Judged
according to the sober standard of immutable Patristic Orthodoxy, the
preparations for an ‘Eighth Ecumenical Council,’ now called a ‘Pan-Orthodox
Council,’ reveal themselves to be unorthodox, lacking in seriousness, and
pastorally altogether irresponsible. Such a Council is an undertaking rooted
not in the Orthodox mind and in heartfelt concern for the salvation of souls,
but rather in the spirit of the age. It seeks to please not God, but the
world—and specifically the heterodox world. Judging from the experience of the
Vatican Council, which had taken place several years earlier, and its
consequences for Papism, such a Council, if convened, will produce profound
disorder and anarchy in the Orthodox world. The proposed ‘Ecumenical Council,’
judged on the basis of the preparations already made, can be nothing other than
a robber council—a betrayal of Christ and His Church.”
Greek source: https://aktines.blogspot.com/2026/06/blog-post_115.html
Shared by the Holy Metropolis of Oropos and Phyle:
https://www.imoph.org/pdfs/2026/08/21/20260821aMart-PsevdoSyn-Kr.pdf
Eulogy for Protopresbyter Panagiotes Carras (1937-2026)
Archimandrite Savvas Anastasiou | August 5/18, 2026 | Toronto
Your Eminence,
Holy Fathers, Beloved Brethren in
Christ,
In a eulogy lasting about ten
minutes, how can we summarize an entire life—and indeed the life of a great
figure such as the late Fr. Panagiotes—a priest whose work left a lasting
legacy, and whose name will be written in golden letters in the history of our
Church?
With the grace of God and through
your prayers, we will try.
Confession of
Faith and Sacrifice
Of all the good and beneficial
things in the life of Fr. Panagiotes, we would like to highlight three points,
the first of which is his confession of faith, as well as the sacrifice and
self-denial he demonstrated on its account.
As is widely known, Fr.
Panagiotes Carras was born and raised in Boston. He lost his father at a young
age, and the priest of his parish—who later became Archbishop Iakovos of
America—took young Panagiotes under his protection. Archbishop Iakovos sent him
for theological studies to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in
Boston, and subsequently for postgraduate studies to the School of Theology at
the University of Thessalonica, from which he ultimately received his Doctorate
in Theology. Both in Boston and in Thessalonica, his fellow students called him
"Iakovos' favorite." In 1966, he was ordained a priest by him. During
his priesthood in Boston, he was assigned to serve as an interpreter for Queen
Anne-Marie during the Royal Couple's visit to America. In this capacity, Fr.
Panagiotes and his Presbytera accompanied them to splendid receptions and
galas, surrounded by royalty, dignitaries, and politicians.
A year later, he was sent here to
Toronto to open the newly established Church of St. Demetrios in Thorncliffe
Park, to serve as its first presiding priest. Such was the trust they placed in
Fr. Panagiotes.
Yet the great figures of this
world, the positions, and the applause did not bring him spiritual rest. For
even as all these things were taking place, he discerned within himself the
non-Orthodox mindset prevailing in the so-called "official Church,"
and sought a way out. In those days, he had heard about a new Saint in Aegina,
Saint. Nektarios. He and a group of parishioners from St. Demetrios prayed
fervently to the Saint to help them.
During those days, Fr.
Panagiotes, together with his spiritual children, visited the Russian Holy
Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, bringing with them a large icon of
Saint Nektarios. There, the ever-memorable Archbishop Averky received them with
great brotherly love. In fact, he even participated in the procession during
the vigil with this icon.
From that moment, he understood
what he needed to do. He departed from innovation and submitted to the
jurisdiction of the Russian Church Abroad under the Holy Metropolitan Philaret
the New Confessor.
This "favorite of
Iakovos," who only shortly before had rubbed elbows with kings and
dignitaries, left behind his comfort and security—without knowing what tomorrow
held. Armed with unwavering faith in God and the support of his spiritual
children, he stepped forward into the next chapter of his life.
And God blessed him immediately.
As they had no church building in which to celebrate the Divine Services,
through God's providence, the Russian Church had a vacant holy temple—Holy
Trinity on Richmond Street—because its parishioners had moved to another
building on Henry Street. The Russians granted this church to Fr. Panagiotes
and his parishioners. And they dedicated this temple in honor of their great
protector, Saint Nektarios.
His Great Love for
Study, Teaching, and Learning
The second hallmark of his life
was his great love for study, teaching, and learning. Here, for nearly six
decades, he instructed the faithful through Catechetical Schools, Sunday
sermons, and evening lectures throughout the year. Even a few days before his
repose, he asked me if we had prepared the evening lecture schedule for the
coming autumn. That was who he was; he loved the teachings of the Holy Fathers
so deeply that the ministry of the Word was a source of life for him. His
lifelong desire was to convey this knowledge to others, so that we too might
benefit from such God-inspired teachings.
His Fatherly Love
And the final point of Fr.
Panagiotes' life that we wish to dwell upon is his tender and fatherly love for
us. We saved this dimension of his character for last, because we believe it to
be the most important. This is what left the deepest and most unshakable
impressions on the lives of all of us who had the blessing to live alongside
him.
He lived the commandments of
Christ, above all the commandment of love for one's neighbor. He did not judge
us for our faults, but loved us just as we were. By his example, he gave us
strength to overcome our weaknesses so that we might become better Christians.
Indeed, we became better human beings because we shared in his life—and for
that, we owe him an eternal debt of gratitude.
We firmly believe that, on
account of his fatherly love, the All-Good God will crown him, as he now enjoys
the fruits of his labors.
Father Panagiotes,
From the depths of our hearts, we
wish to offer you a sincere and heartfelt "Thank you." And if you
find boldness before the throne of God, please offer up prayers and
supplications on behalf of us, your beloved children.
May your memory be eternal!
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