Conclusion from the Bulgarian classic, “Orthodoxy and Ecumenism”

By Archimandrite Dr. Seraphim (Aleksiev) (+1993), and

Archimandrite Dr. Sergiy (Yazadzhnev) (+2008)

 

 

Ecumenism, as we have become convinced, is not concerned with the eternal Heavenly Kingdom. At the center of its attention stand purely earthly, political aims. When we carefully examine the direction of its manifestations, we become convinced that it has, figuratively speaking, two faces. The first—the profane one—is intended for the broad, uninformed masses. Through it, ecumenism strives in every way to prove that its aims are exclusively peace-making, humane, and progressive, that the only motive guiding its activity is concern for the future of humanity. With great display and outward impressiveness, at meetings, sessions, symposia, and assemblies of the WCC, various pressing problems of our time are boldly raised and discussed—social, economic, ecological, political, demographic, and many others besides. Against the background of this noise, in which the stream of words seems to strive to conceal the real aims, through the press, radio, and television there is today formed a broad public opinion regarding the positive and socially beneficial activity of the ecumenical factors. Not a few unenlightened Orthodox Christians, deceived by the noise of this publicity, have regarded the ecumenical movement with approval and, through this naive goodwill, have contributed their share to the monstrous construction of the ecumenical Tower of Babel. May God forgive them if they have indeed done this out of naivety and ignorance!

All this is only one—the external side of ecumenical activity. Its harmfulness lies in its purposeful and systematic influence upon public consciousness, in the gradual replacement of centuries-old spiritual values, in their destruction or their skillful falsification.

The other—hidden face of ecumenical activity, which in detail is for now known only to those initiated into the “mystery of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:7), will be shown to some extent in the second part of this book. For vigilant Orthodox Christians this side is already sufficiently perceptible today through its numerous external manifestations. It reveals the true character of ecumenism, and in it, behind the seemingly Christian façade of this movement, its anti-Christian essence becomes visible. The preparation of the kingdom of the Antichrist and his coming—this is the real aim of its behind-the-scenes actions.

Immediately before the first coming of Christ, the divine providence, fulfilling the eternal plan for the salvation of man, through the instruments of a series of political-historical and cultural-social events, united the entire cultural world of that time within the boundaries of a single state—the Roman Empire. In a similar manner, at the end of the earthly ages, before the end of the world, the God-opposing devil will, in a cunning and deceitful way, attempt to unite the whole earth into a single world community. The aims of these two unifications, however, are diametrically opposed. By the first, the providence of God prepared favorable conditions for the wide spread of the preaching of the Gospel, which shone forth for the whole world through the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks to this unification, the apostolic feet traveled unhindered throughout the whole earth in order to carry everywhere the saving good tidings and to lay the unshakable foundations of the holy Church of Christ—this living God-man organism, not a human work but a divine one.

But with the world unification expected in the last times—a work of the infernal powers—the aim will be the creation of such conditions in which the Antichrist, this most cunning instrument of Satan through all the ages, will exercise an unheard-of tyrannical dictatorship over the entire world. He will rise up against God Himself and everything divine (cf. 2 Thess. 2:3–4) and will exert every effort to cast all humanity at the feet of the man-slayer Satan. The material benefits generously promised before his enthronement will be accessible only to his small criminal oligarchy, while the life of ordinary people—who will be subjected to the most terrible physical, psychological, and biological pressures—will no longer have any value.

Such will be the final result of the contemporary movements for unification in the economic, political, and religious spheres, so widely advertised in our days. And if the glorious Second Coming of Christ did not then put an end to this earthly hell, then, as the Holy Gospel testifies, no flesh—that is, not a single human being—would be saved (Matt. 24:22).

Woe, however, to those who today, consciously or half-consciously, build their efforts into the realization of these infernal plans. Even if some of them, upon seeing the events that follow, repent, how will they erase the terrible harm they have inflicted upon countless human souls through their sacrilegious assaults against the holy and God-revealed faith, which for centuries has been preserved and handed down from generation to generation by our forefathers, grandfathers, and fathers?

Today this entire perspective is carefully concealed from the sight of society. Yet the preparation for drawing it into the future apocalyptic events is proceeding at full speed. In it ecumenism has been assigned an important place. It must unite not only all “Christians,” but also establish connections with the other religions and with other world movements, as we shall see later. The WCC most officially declares in its constitution: “Cooperation with representatives of other religions is necessary.” [1]

Justifying their unacceptable concessions, the “Orthodox” ecumenists today speak of a “reasonable” or “healthy” ecumenism. Thus, for example, the Metropolitan of Athens Ieronymos called it in one of his statements. [2] With such softened and artificially embellished concepts it is intended to justify the participation of the Orthodox Church in the ecumenical movement. But after everything that has been set forth thus far, can the Geneva ecumenism be called “reasonable,” when by its words and actions it contradicts that infallible divine reason inherent in the holy Church of Christ, which the holy Apostles acquired and about which one of them, speaking on behalf of all, declares: “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16)? Geneva ecumenism is neither reasonable nor healthy, because it not only fails to spread the “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9), the “sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 6:3), but quite the opposite—it has the tendency to infect even the little flock of Christ (Luke 12:32) remaining on earth with doctrinal false belief and canonical injustice. If this is so, it is inappropriate to speculate with cunningly invented terms such as “reasonable” or “healthy” ecumenism and the like in order to justify participation in an ecumenism that is precisely unreasonable from the standpoint of divine reason and unhealthy. Truly reasonable and healthy is the teaching of the holy Orthodox Church of Christ, pure from doctrinal defects and canonical blemishes, which by its very nature, as the guardian of the God-revealed truth, is universal, because it is called to proclaim to the whole world the divine treasure entrusted to it from above. Whoever, as a living stone (1 Pet. 2:5), has been built into its God-man organism and consciously participates in its life of grace cannot participate in the Geneva ecumenism, which stands in complete contradiction to it and which we reject for the important political, canonical, liturgical, and other reasons set forth above.

In our time many have rushed to make a career through ecumenism. Our contemporary era is even called “ecumenical.” [3] The aspirations for unification today serve as the principal self-justification for all contemporary ecclesiastical betrayals. To stand aside from the ferment of the ecumenical movement is not only considered strange but to a great extent also dangerous for one’s peaceful earthly existence. We know well that with our anti-ecumenical conduct we risk bringing upon ourselves not only a series of unpleasant epithets such as “backward,” “narrow-minded,” “fanatics,” “schismatics,” but also directly exposing ourselves to persecution, according to the testimony of the holy Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 3:12).

Yet despite everything, for reasons of conscience and deep inner conviction, for reasons of faith and obedience to the true universal Church—the Church of the seven Ecumenical Councils—we cannot act otherwise.

It is understandable that the “Orthodox” theologians who have yielded to ecumenism do not approve of the behavior of the anti-ecumenists and, betraying their ecumenical “tolerance,” attack them with the indignation of people who supposedly work for the good of all humanity but are hindered in their activity by “narrow-minded” zealots of the old ways. This is seen precisely in the speech delivered by the now deceased Archbishop Athenagoras of Thyateira, representative of the Patriarch of Constantinople in England, on the occasion of his twentieth anniversary as a bishop. In his speech he vigorously defended the “irenic (peace-making) efforts” of Patriarch Athenagoras and of other primates of the local Orthodox Churches. Expressing indignation at the accusations directed against the ecumenists by certain Athenian theologians who strictly uphold Orthodoxy (for example, Professor K. Mouratidis), he—basing himself on the meetings of Patriarch Athenagoras with Pope Paul VI—boldly spoke of the march toward the “common chalice,” which these theologians characterize as heresy and apostasy from God, and he called their behavior “fanatical Phariseeism.” [4]

Such accusations may tomorrow be directed even against us. But they will not be able to divert us from the firm and fully conscious position we have chosen. Because:

1. We firmly believe both in the saving power of the holy Orthodox faith and that we will perish eternally if we betray it.

2. In taking our position against ecumenism we are guided both by our Orthodox feeling and by our Orthodox reason, which, with many arguments, supports us firmly in following the course we have chosen.

3. We also appeal to the history of the Church, from which we draw inspiration to follow unwaveringly the straight path of the holy and precious Orthodoxy, which today is treated so contemptuously both by its own and by outsiders.

For the present age of religious syncretism, we find an interesting parallel from the time of early Christianity. In a work by the French scholar Gaston Boissier, a specialist in the history of ancient Rome, [5] we read the following about the Church of Christ, which was subjected to severe persecutions already in the first centuries of its existence: “From the general agreement among all cults (in the Roman Empire—editor’s note) only two were excluded—Judaism and Christianity… All the religions managed to reach agreement by the way of mutual concessions. Only the Jews and the Christians, because of the character of their faith, could not accept this compromise.” This aroused strong anger against them in the Greek and Roman world. “Toward the Jews this hatred subsided only when they united with the pagans in order to persecute Christianity together.” Here the author recounts some very notable attempts through which the pagan world, not without the intervention of infernal powers, tried to attract Christians to its side. “Later attempts were made to bring God (of the Christians) into agreement with the others (the gods). Even the oracle of Apollo pretended to praise Him, and the philosopher Porphyry, although a zealous pagan, saw no difficulty in recognizing the divinity of Christ (see St. Augustine, The City of God, Book XIX, ch. 23). It is known that Emperor Alexander Severus placed His image together with the statues of Orpheus and Apollonius of Tyana in his household shrine, where he came every morning to pray to his gods. But this mixture caused horror among the true Christians.” To the promises and threats addressed to them by pagan philosophers, priests, and rulers, they responded with firm arguments from their sacred books and remained unshakable—even unto a martyr’s death—for the sake of their faith in the one true God, who in a wondrous way accomplished our salvation.

And today we are witnesses of the attempts of syncretistic ecumenism, through apparent recognition, material benefits, awards, and promises, to divert Orthodox Christians from the only saving Orthodox faith and to draw them into a destructive compromise. Unfortunately, however, that sacred horror is no longer present with which the ancient Christians rejected the very thought that their holy and undefiled faith might be placed on the same level as the crude pagan cults and that the Savior would take His place beside the impure idols of Apollo and Venus.

The majority of today’s Christians have at the center of their attention the arrangement of earthly life and the securing of earthly goods and pleasures. Ecumenism knows what to offer them: in the name of peace and the earthly well-being of humanity, let all faiths extend their hands to one another. This idea is seductive and is becoming increasingly popular. People want peace and earthly goods, and in their name, they are ready for every kind of religious compromise and religious syncretism. But that this is not pleasing to God, that it is forbidden by the Bible, by the sacred dogmas, and by the Church canons—this troubles them little. The important thing for them is only one: that religious disagreements be removed at the cost of every compromise and that an earthly “peace,” earthly “justice,” and earthly “happiness” be achieved, even if in this way one enters into conflict with God. But here something very essential is forgotten: in hostility toward the Living God and His divine truth, all attempts to establish earthly “peace,” earthly “justice,” and earthly “happiness” are doomed to failure. For “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

Today the ecumenists, like the ancient Roman pagans, are creating a new pantheon in which there is a place for every religious conviction. Orthodoxy also is welcome in this pantheon, provided only that it renounce its “claim” that it alone teaches the correct faith in God. If, however, it continues to emphasize its uniqueness and exclusiveness, then from being tolerated it becomes persecuted—and persecuted precisely by the Geneva ecumenism which has proclaimed “religious tolerance” as its fundamental principle.

What can we say about this misunderstood ecumenical “religious tolerance” or “tolerance,” which by no means wishes to remain within the limits of the good human relations prescribed to us by the Holy Church in the sphere of secular life? It is being imposed ever more insistently in the inviolable domain of faith, which is not subject to fleshly reasoning, in order to persuade the whole world that there is no difference between truth and falsehood (see Part II, basis 14, point “c”). Before this new idol of contemporary society, the Orthodox Church is today being compelled to sacrifice its exclusiveness and uniqueness. The thousand-year bearer of grace and truth must take a modest place among the 400 heretical denominations—those ever-multiplying offshoots of delusion.

But what does it mean for the Orthodox Church to renounce its exclusiveness and uniqueness? And what is it that makes it exclusive and unique?

It is God, Who dwells in her Theanthropic organism and guides her through the Holy Spirit!

It is the divinely revealed truth expressed in Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, entrusted to her by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself—entrusted not to be distorted through corrections and additions according to someone’s taste, but to be preserved, like the apple of the eye, in its unchangeableness and purity.

It is the divine dogmas which sealed the Apostolic faith once and for all through the radiant struggle of the God-bearing Fathers, those holy instruments of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Church canons which have set eternal boundaries for safeguarding the sacred treasure entrusted to us.

It is everything that the Church has received, blessed, and venerated: the living and unceasing testimony in the Holy Spirit of the radiant and victorious martyrs and of our venerable and God-bearing Fathers, whose blood—shed before the throne of God in confession and martyrdom, or in unceasing ascetic struggles—today cries out to the Lord at the repulsive spectacle of universal apostasy.

Only when the Orthodox Church renounces all this sacred treasure of hers—only then can she renounce her exclusiveness and uniqueness. But this would mean that she renounces herself; that is, that she destroys herself! This is precisely what the ecumenists and their hidden inspirers demand of her! This is exactly what is aimed at through the shameful participation of the Orthodox in the God-opposing ecumenism, through the secretly prepared union at the highest level, through the backstage compromise between Orthodox and Monophysites arranged under the aegis of the World Council of Churches.

We are living in the terrible time of the Apostasy. Before our eyes the forces of evil—the “gates of hell”—are striving to prevail against the Church of Christ, shaking the eternal foundations of the faith. Horror seizes us when we see some local Orthodox Churches, which for centuries have been impregnable fortresses of the truth, standing only a step away from the fatal concelebration with heretics, on the very brink of the abyss of complete falling away from the Orthodox faith. All this happens because of our sins, by God’s permission, yet not without human will. We realize that with our weak hands we cannot stop the terrible avalanche of the Apostasy that rushes forward with dizzying force. But we can—this is what the word of God teaches us (see Rev. 18:4–5)—withdraw from it, so that we may not become participants in the sin of the profanation of God’s holy things.

We are convinced that, according to the immutable promise of Christ, the Orthodox Church will remain unshaken until the end of the world. Though small in number, yet supported by the grace of God, she will withstand the cunning and powerful attacks of her enemies. God, despite the immeasurably increasing apostasy from Him and from His holy Truth, will nevertheless preserve for Himself a remnant of people faithful to Him, who will not bow their knees to the ecumenical Baal (cf. 3 Kings 19:18).

For this very reason we have labored to gather here our arguments and considerations against the widely spread pan-heresy of ecumenism, nurturing the living hope that in the difficult contemporary circumstances we will prompt those who still thirst for God and for His righteousness to reflect deeply on the facts presented and, with full inner conviction and determination, to say together with us:

CAN WE, AFTER ALL THIS, BE ECUMENISTS?! — NO AND NO!!!

 

NOTES

1. Tsonevski, Il., T. Sabev. “The Fourth General Assembly of the WCC in Uppsala.” — In: journal Spiritual Culture, no. 55–6, 1969, p. 45.

2. Irenicon, — 4, 1971, p. 541.

3. See: Sabev, T. The Church-Calendar Question. Sofia, 1968, p. 3.

4. Irenicon, — 4, 1970, p. 559.

5. Boisier, Gaston. La Religion romaine d’Auguste aux Antonius. Vol. I. Paris, 1884, pp. 399–401.

 

Bulgarian source: https://bulgarian-orthodox-church.org/rr/lode/serafim-pravoslavie-ecumenism/13.htm

Full text of Православие и икуменизъм, Second Edition, published in Sofia in 1998:

https://bulgarian-orthodox-church.org/rr/lode/serafim-pravoslavie-ecumenism/index.htm

 

Papism-Ecumenism and the Duty of the Orthodox Christian

Aristeidis Daskalakis | March 10, 2026

 

 

“As the Church has received… so we proclaim” (Synodikon of the Seventh Ecumenical Council).

Words which no longer find wide application within the ranks of the Orthodox Church. We live in the age of concessions, of deviations, of insult toward the Divine, of the legalization of sin: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out” (Jn. 12:31). The ruler of this world shall be cast down from his authority. Yet the adversary, until the fulfillment of the prophecy, uses his instruments—rulers and shepherds—in order to harm humanity.

The state legislates—against God and against man. The governing Church often ratifies this or keeps a fish-like silence. The people are ignorant of the obligations that proceed from the Holy Tradition of the Church and from the Gospel. One drags another into a free fall toward the abyss of perdition.

The instigators are the various centers of power, whether political or religious. The great center of religious authority, the “Holy See (Sancta Sedes),” echoes and accelerates the plan of Zionism against humanity. The Vatican, synonymous with heresy, now resembles a supervising authority over the official Orthodox Church. It has already drawn it, through the dark movement of Ecumenism, into a whirlpool of disobedience to the will of God.

The Body of Christ, the Church, is being attacked. It is being attacked by dark forces, foreign centers of interests that pull the strings of humanity.

This demonic authority and the accompanying evils are permitted by God as a consequence of the fall and the alienation of humanity. The people of God are under persecution. They have sinned and are paying the price. An image of the fallen Greek-Orthodox people is constituted by the hierarchy of the Church.

We have become listeners to a new rhetoric about social responsibility, love for one’s neighbor, indiscriminate obedience, and economy. An “economy” that has ended up as lawlessness. Of a deluded episcopolatry and an absolute submission to the commands of authority.

We have seen sacraments being recognized among heretics. We have observed bishops presenting the Qur’an as a sacred book. Primates hiding their pectoral crosses before illegal migrants so as not to cause offense. We have been astonished by joint prayers, common prayers, and concelebrations of bishops of the Church of Greece with heretics, Muslims, and schismatics.

The pulpits have fallen silent. They have ceased to resound with the word of Truth. They no longer constitute launching points for the Orthodox struggle.

Instead, they have become echoes of governmental decisions and medical ultimatums.

And obedience to the Church is demanded. What is the Church? The hierarchy and the clergy? Is it not the people as well? What does Tradition teach us? Who was the Church?

Was it Saint Gregory Palamas or John XIV Kalekas, the Latin-minded one? Was it Saint Mark of Ephesus or Metrophanes II of Constantinople and the rest of the hierarchy? Was it Saint Maximus the Confessor or all the Patriarchates of his time? Was it Saint Cyril of Alexandria or Nestorius? Are not the saints models of conduct and imitation? Is not the Church also the triumphant one—the saints and Fathers who defined the dogmas?

What happens if the “church” (the official/governing one) becomes a fighter against Christ? What happens when it cooperates with, applauds, and promotes anti-Orthodox laws and practices?

The administration of the Orthodox Church, being secularized, often obeys indiscriminately the commands of the West. Of course, with notable exceptions.

We observe gatherings, conferences, common prayers, joint prayers, and finally concelebrations.

Papism, the offspring of schism, became the root of Enlightenment Europe, the principles of which constitute the negation of Byzantine civilization—of the East. It was based on myths and naïve forgeries, innovations originating from the childish ambitions of the barbarian tribes of the West to dominate the Christian world. It was a transaction between power and the church of the West—between Charlemagne and Pope Leo III. The pope suddenly and unlawfully crowned Charlemagne as emperor, and the latter strengthened the former, serving him in ambitions of power and privileges against New Rome—Constantinople. This same pope had initially refused the invention of the Filioque, which came from Toledo in Spain. Nevertheless, the divergence had already begun, since a new empire in the West required a strong religious foundation in order to be established. And this was a differentiated Christianity, a heresy founded upon a multitude of forgeries: the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, the doctrine of infallibility, a different sign of the cross, the Eucharist with unleavened bread, the separation of Baptism and Chrismation, and many other innovations. There was a distortion and misunderstanding of the formulations of the Church’s experience, falsifications of history—things easily accepted by the illiterate people of the West—so that the consciousness of a different religion might be universally established, one that would support a new empire: the rival power of the Byzantine Empire.

The aim then was to serve political expediencies and religious ambitions. The aim today is the same, but on a greater scale. The empire of the West gives its place to a world dominion of centers of power, with the Church and faith used as a Trojan horse. The pope, the ruler of heresy, is placed as the head of a conglomeration of religions into which they also wish to cast Orthodoxy. Yet Orthodoxy is not a religion, but the revelation of Truth from the Creator of all things.

The catalyst is the Ecumenical movement, another invention of Papism, within which a large part of the official Orthodox Church has also been incorporated.

How can we converse and negotiate with the enemies of the Lord? How do we tolerate the pope appearing at services in the Holy Church of Church of St. George at the Ecumenical Patriarchate [at the Phanar]?

How do we tolerate papal clerics wandering about in the holy churches of our country, invited by metropolises and parishes?

What did the saints of our Church teach us? What legacy did they leave us?

A great defender of the faith and of dogma: Saint Nicholas of Myra.

Saint Nicholas of Myra took part in the First Council of Nicaea (in Nicaea in A.D. 325), where he distinguished himself for his wisdom and moral perfection. He stood out at the First Ecumenical Council against Arius, who taught and loudly proclaimed that Christ is not God, but a creature and a creation of God. At a certain moment, when Saint Nicholas saw that Arius was attempting to silence the bishops, moved by holy indignation he rose and delivered a strong slap to Arius. The reason that Saint Nicholas struck the heretic was not hatred or the rejection of love toward a human person (Arius), but steadfastness in his love for God. “A rule of faith and an image of meekness, a teacher of temperance…” begins the apolytikion of the saint.

This was not a passionate gesture, but the result of theological exactness, accompanied, however, by an inner experience, the counterpart of which we can find only in the scriptural account of the driving out of the merchants from the temple by the Son of God.

Holy Diadochos of Photiki, in the One Hundred Practical Chapters, emphasizes: “Anger, more than the other passions, disturbs and confuses the soul; yet sometimes it also benefits it greatly. For when we use it without agitation against the impious or the licentious, so that they may be saved or put to shame, then we add meekness to our soul, because we act in accordance with the purpose of the justice and goodness of God.”

Saint Nektarios emphasizes that: “By saying that the Pope is the head of the Church, he has expelled from the Western Church the Master of all, Christ, and thus the Western Church has remained a widow deprived of Christ.”

Saint Theodore the Studite continues: “If there are any monks in these times, let them show it in their deeds. And the work of a monk is to tolerate no innovation in the Gospel.”

Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite: “Heretics are called those whose difference immediately and directly concerns the faith in God; that is, those who are separated from the Orthodox in faith and dogmas and are entirely estranged.”

Saint Mark of Ephesus: “Flee the Papists as one flees from a serpent and from the face of fire.”

Saint John Chrysostom: “A correct life is of no benefit when the dogmas are corrupted.” (EPE 23, 492–494)

Saint John of Kronstadt: “There is no other Christian confession apart from Orthodoxy.”

Saint Ephraim of Philotheou: “He who does not believe according to the Tradition of the Church is an unbeliever.”

Saint Ephraim of Katounakia: “Ecumenism has a spirit of wickedness and is ruled by unclean spirits.”

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos: “Ecumenism, and the common market, one great state, one religion according to their measures. These are plans of devils. The Zionists are preparing someone as a messiah. There are also some who begin with a good intention. But when magicians, fire-worshippers, Protestants, and a whole crowd gather together—you cannot make sense of it—to bring peace to the world, how can they help? May God forgive me, these are the devil’s rags.”

These and many other things the saints of our Church confess concerning the pope and ecumenism.

In recent years we have become recipients or hearers of new terminology, terms, and neologisms—new words, or words with altered meaning or new interpretation: the famous dictionary of ecumenism.

Of the movement that is the Trojan horse which will allow the army of heretics and the deluded to dominate the global religious sphere. It is one aspect, one dimension of globalization.

This Trojan horse was constructed chiefly for the impregnable fortress of Orthodoxy. Its guardians are the Holy Fathers and Confessors, the exiled bishops who suffered greatly in exile, the Martyrs, the fragrant flowers of the faith, and the Apostles throughout the centuries. And this fortress has around it a wide and deep moat, filled with blood—the blood of the holy confessors—within which all the enemies of the faith are drowned who attempt to overthrow this fortress.

According to Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios, ecumenism is the final forerunner of the Antichrist. It is the heresy that recognizes truth in all heresies. For this reason, it is called a “pan-heresy” (Saint Justin Popović).

But what is heresy? It means the selection and preference of one part of the truth at the expense of the whole truth—the catholic (universal) truth. It is the opposite of catholicity. It absolutizes one aspect of the experiential certainty of the Church and thus inevitably relativizes all the others.

The Church reacted to heresies by marking the boundaries of its truth, that is, the living experience of the early Christian times. Originally, what today we call dogma was then called a Oros (definition), that is, a boundary or frontier of the truth.

The dogmas of today are the definitions of the Ecumenical Councils of the Holy Fathers of the Church. Those doctrinal decisions which formulate the soteriological truth of the Church, thus setting a boundary between this truth and its corruption by heresy.

What we call dogma today therefore appears when the experience of the ecclesiastical truth comes to be threatened by heresy.

About these boundaries Saint Basil the Great speaks: “Every boundary of the Fathers has been moved, every foundation and every stronghold of the dogmas has been shaken. Everything totters and is shaken, hanging upon a weak base” (Basil the Great, PG 32, 212–213).

And the Fathers defined the dogmas. They spoke in the Holy Spirit and overcame the heresies.

Today, of course, spiritual decay prevails, the defenses have fallen, and the gates of the fortress stand wide open. And unfortunately, the guardians are lacking—or they are few.

Ecumenism uses verbal weapons in order to touch the emotions of the faithful:

1) It tells us that we must love our neighbor. Within the framework of this love, therefore, and since we aim at the salvation of the heretic, we must love whatever new thing he proclaims and accept it. We love sinners, not sin. Nor do we love the official representatives of sinful people who legitimize sin (associations of homosexuals, parties of pedophiles, heretical organizations, etc.). We love each human being individually and personally because he is the image of God—but not groups of sinners, heretics, or deluded people. We will not legitimize sin for the sake of such a false love, a love alien to the one preached by Christ—a love from which Christ is absent.

In the Gospel the Lord tells us: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37–39), and “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30).

2) It accuses those who struggle against the destroyers of the patristic faith of judging and condemning sacred things. It tells us that the sinner must be covered. However, the Fathers dealt differently with the sinner and differently with the heretic. To all these Saint John Chrysostom replies: “The ‘Judge not, that you be not judged’ concerns life, not faith” (P.G. 63, 231–232).

Saint Theodore the Studite is categorical: “It is a command of the Lord that one must not remain silent in circumstances where the Faith is in danger. For He says, ‘Speak and do not keep silent’ [Acts 18:9], and ‘If he draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him’ [Heb. 10:38], and ‘If these should keep silent, the stones will cry out’ [Luke 19:40]. Therefore, when it concerns the Faith, it is not possible for anyone to say, ‘Who am I?’”

3) It tells us that we must not harbor hatred toward heretics, since the anti-heretical struggle supposedly breathes hatred and envy.

Saint John Chrysostom replies: “With my words I persecute not the heretic, but the heresy; I do not turn away from the man, but I hate the error and wish to draw him back” (PG 50, 701).

Did Saint Nicholas of Myra hate the man when he struck Arius? Was Saint Mark of Ephesus filled with hatred when, in a letter to Bishop Theophanes, he characterized the heretics as “wretches” and “scoundrels”?

Was Saint Kosmas of Aetolia a man of hatred when he cursed the pope?

Rather, they loved Christ greatly—more than man—and they could not endure the insult against His Person.

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos tells us that “in order to pray together with someone, we must agree in the faith.”

And if we do not agree, then according to the Tradition and the canons of the Church this entails a penalty:

Canon 65 of the Holy Apostles:

“If any clergyman or layman enters into a synagogue of Jews or of heretics to pray, let him be both deposed and excommunicated.”

Canon 70 of the Holy Apostles:

“If any Christian brings oil to a temple of the pagans, or to a synagogue of the Jews during their feasts, or lights lamps there, let him be excommunicated.”

Canon 32 of the Local Council of Laodicea:

“That one must not receive blessings from heretics, which are rather absurdities than blessings.”

Canon 37 of the Local Council of Laodicea:

“That one must not receive festive gifts sent by Jews or heretics, nor celebrate together with them.”

Canon 33 of the Local Council of Laodicea:

“That one must not pray together with heretics or schismatics.”

From what we know, neither common prayer nor joint prayer is permitted, nor of course concelebration.

4) It insists that we must obey the episcopal authority, our spiritual father, the Synod, and so on. Even if this concerns immoral sin or heresy? Is indiscriminate and blind obedience characteristic of Orthodoxy?

Did not Paul the Apostle say: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal. 1:8)?

Did not Saint Athanasius of Alexandria say: “If the bishop or the presbyter, who are the eyes of the Church, conduct themselves wickedly and scandalize the people, they must be cast out. For it is better to assemble in a house of prayer without them than with them to be cast, as with Annas and Caiaphas, into the Gehenna of fire”?

The holy Elder Philotheos Zervakos emphasizes: “Respect toward bishops, priests, and elders refers to Christ Himself. But if they are heretics, then we obey only God.”

5) It maintains that we alone do not possess the truth. It would be great arrogance to think such a thing. Then we would have to reproach Saint Maximus the Confessor, who alone and deserted (without even being a bishop), standing against the entire ecclesiastical power of his time (which then also greatly influenced the political authority), raised the banner of struggle and of non-communion without being intimidated. Was the saint arrogant? Were all the martyrs arrogant who suffered martyrdom because of heresies that today are recognized as churches?

6) Ecclesiastical academies or organized seminars are beginning to arise which teach ecumenism (as something beneficial).

In the second chapter of the decree on ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, in paragraph 10, it states:

“Theological courses, as well as the others, especially the historical ones, must be taught in an ecumenical spirit, so that they may correspond more accurately to the truth of the facts. It is indeed very important that pastors and priests possess theology developed precisely in this manner and not polemically, especially in matters concerning the relations of the brethren who are separated from the Catholic Church. For upon the training of priests depends to a very great extent the necessary education and spiritual formation of the faithful and of the monks.”

We are experiencing the transformation of theology. A new theology is being enlisted—the so-called post-patristic theology.

Academics are being enlisted in a frenzied struggle for career and distinction, and they openly preach heresy, deceiving clergy and people: “And there shall be false teachers among you, who shall secretly bring in destructive heresies” (the Apostle Peter — 2 Peter 2:1).

7)  It urges us toward economy. But what kind of economy is this which allows papists to attend services in Orthodox churches, priests to defend heresy, bishops to pray together, to participate in joint prayers, to announce the coming “common chalice,” and to permit heretics to enter the Holy Altar? Does this bring any benefit to the members or to the whole of the Church?

Characteristic in this regard is the incident that occurred during the patriarchate of Germanus II of Constantinople, when the Patriarchal Synod wished for a moment to appear lenient and to permit the Cypriot Hierarchy “by economy” to comply with certain terms imposed by the Latin conquerors. As soon as the decision became known, enraged crowds of clergy, monks, and laymen burst into the hall where the Synod was meeting and, after declaring that they considered this compliance a denial of the faith, demanded that the Patriarch revoke the decision. The Patriarchal Synod, respecting the conscience of the faithful people, withdrew the decision that had been taken by economy.

Today we have operated upon love with the scalpel of reason. Whatever is commanded to us by God passes through the sieve of reason—even love itself.

And the great evil comes when clergy—esteemed in the conscience of the flock—proclaim another “love,” one that has no place for God. A love that is subject to judgment, to dialogue, to discussion; that does not act within the world but acts together with the world; that surrenders to the spirit of the times, to the spirit of the devil; that is subject not to the control of conscience, but to that of reason.

Today the prophetic word is lacking—the cry of anguish of Saint John the Baptist, of Saint Kosmas of Aetolia, and of the blessed Augustine Kantiotes.

There is no time left for faith in God, for love toward the Lord. Priority is given to “love” for the neighbor. But this neighbor is our own self. In the person of others, we justify our own passions. Thus this false “love,” which grants forgiveness of sins to the unrepentant neighbor—and to ourselves—leads us to the precipice and to destruction, according to the saying: “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matt. 15:14).

This “love,” which accepts sin (and not the sinner in repentance) instead of casting it out, the new order of things in our Church—through popular and celebrated clerics—maintains and even increases.

A large part of the hierarchy now sleeps. Our saints have prepared us.

Saint John Maximovitch tells us: “In the last times evil and heresy will have spread so greatly that the faithful will not find a priest or shepherd to protect them from deception and to guide them toward salvation. Then the faithful will not be able to receive safe guidance from men, but their guide will be the writings of the Holy Fathers. Especially in that time each believer will be responsible for the whole fullness of the Church.”

Elder Gabriel of Dionysiou: “We owe obedience to our bishops and to our spiritual fathers when they rightly divide the word of truth. But when they do not rightly divide the word of truth and say heretical things, not only must we not obey them, but even if an angel from heaven should descend and tell us something contrary to what the Church teaches, we must not obey.”

I conclude with a saying of the holy and blessed Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios:

“Let us be vigilant people, studying the word of God, so that we may be able to protect ourselves. For today those who are appointed to protect you do not protect you.”

What is our duty, as lay people, being members of the body of the Church? Do we not all have the duty of correction, as the Gospel urges us? The Holy Fathers of Orthodoxy proclaim that even the last wheel of the cart bears responsibility.

All of us sinners? Is this correction perhaps a duty that completes the work of our repentance?

The Apostle of the nations speaks to us about correction. What kind of correction? Not condemnation, which is a sin: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Eph. 5:11).

Of whose works does he speak? Clearly of those who cause scandal. If the one who performs dark works is an official or a recognized public figure, then we must rebuke him publicly for provocative actions that harm and lead the flock onto dangerous paths—without, of course, publicly shaming him. We censure acts and situations, especially when those acts or actions are characterized by an anti-Orthodox scent of heresy, a scent of ecumenism and pan-religion. Silence is betrayal, especially when deeds and words distort the divine commandments and the word of the Gospel.

Let us follow the counsel of the divine Paul the Apostle, who tells us:

“Therefore He says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light’” (Eph. 5:14).

(The rebuke for the manifestation of evil and the correction of the sinner must be made; for this reason the Holy Spirit also reproves and cries out to every sinner: Arise, you who sleep the sleep of sin, and stand upright from among the dead of sin, and Christ will enlighten you.)

And if some do not wish to listen, then: “Reject a heretical man after the first and second admonition” (Titus 3:10).

Observing the reaction of many leaders of the Church, we remember the words of the Gospel: “For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God” (John 12:43).

We must react. And if it is not we, others will be found, according to the words of the Lord: “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40).

Let us not be influenced by the current of the age. Let us not be carried away by quantity, but by quality. Let the words of the great Fyodor Dostoevsky be engraved in our soul:

“If the whole world goes in one direction, and Christ in the other, I will go behind Christ.”

 

Greek source: https://ethnegersis.blogspot.com/2026/03/blog-post_10.html

On the Glorification of Venerable Elder Philotheos Zervakos

Nikolaos Mannis | March 11, 2026

 

 

I became aware of the effort being made by spiritual children of Venerable Elder Philotheos Zervakos to have his sanctity [formally] recognized by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Mr. Bartholomew. [1] This effort is indeed commendable, because it reveals the love and zeal of the Orthodox faithful toward the person of the blessed Elder; however, in my opinion, it proves to be very mistaken for the following three reasons:

First, because Mr. Bartholomew, as one subject to trial before a competent synodal body (since, on the one hand, the adjudication of the accusation of heterodox teachings against him, submitted by the blessed abbot Fr. Chrysostomos Pichos [+2021], spiritual successor of Venerable Elder Philotheos, [2] is pending, and on the other hand, he communes with the schismatics in Ukraine and recognizes the heretical Papists), does not represent the Great Church of Christ (the institution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate), and thus the authority of his glorifications and of his other ecclesiastical acts is placed in doubt. [3]

Second, because Venerable Philotheos Zervakos has already for years been recognized as a saint in the conscience of the Orthodox throughout the whole world, whether there is, or there is not, an “act of glorification”; for in Orthodoxy there is no “sanctification,” but recognition of sanctity. And this recognition already exists essentially.

Third, and most importantly, because any recognition of the sanctity of Venerable Philotheos by Mr. Bartholomew would constitute an insult to the memory of the Venerable one, since there exists a great ecclesiological gulf between the two men. It is not hidden, moreover, that Venerable Philotheos courageously fought the Ecumenists, among whom was also the spiritual father of Mr. Bartholomew, Meliton of Chalcedon, whom he also called a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” [4] How then will the principle “honor of a saint is the imitation of a saint” be applied, when Venerable Philotheos regarded the Pope as antichrist and lucifer and the Papists as heretics, [5] while Mr. Bartholomew regards the Pope as a “brother in Christ,” the Papists as members of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, while he himself personally presides over the unification (Uniate/Ecumenist) movement?

Will the spiritual children of Venerable Philotheos servilely beseech such a Patriarch for his glorification? The Venerable one would rise from the grave to chase them!

Just as surely the bones of Saint Cyril Loukaris must also have rattled when his sanctity was destined to be recognized by that Patriarch of Constantinople (namely Mr. Bartholomew) who not only shares the same mind as his murderer (the Latin-minded pseudo-patriarch Cyril Kontares), but also synodically ratified, at the Pseudo-Synod of Crete, the pseudo-synods of the 17th century—instigated by the Papists—which anathematized Saint Cyril! What a fine honor for a saint!

May God preserve Venerable Philotheos from such a dishonor.

 

NOTES

[1] https://www.xristianikispitha.gr/agiokatataxi-os-filotheoy-zervakoy/

[2] https://aktines.blogspot.com/2017/03/blog-post_357.html

[3] Already many faithful doubt the sanctity of the great recently manifested Saints Paisios, Porphyrios, Iakovos, and others, solely because they were recognized by Mr. Bartholomew. Is this not unjust?

[4] Orthodoxos Typos, no. 167–168/1 & 15 August 1972, p. 3.

[5] See indicatively Orthodoxos Typos, no. 70/December 1966, no. 114/20 January 1970, and others.

 

Greek source: https://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2026/03/blog-post.html

St. Joseph of Optina: What to Remember When You Lose the Peace of Your Soul

 

A nun had written to him [to Staretz Joseph], setting forth to him her sorrows, her temptations from people, and her thoughts. Fr. Joseph replied to her:

When the sins, or more generally the actions, of your neighbor cause you to lose the peace of your soul, remember the following:

1. The thought that we must take care to correct others always brings us disturbance. It causes us to lose the peace of our soul and to become irritated. But in this way, we sin. Sin is not corrected by sin. It is corrected by meekness and by long-suffering.

2. Your zeal to eradicate evil from the souls of others by filling yourself with bitterness against them is itself evil; it is sin; it is not a virtue.

3. Remember that a large beam has entered your own eye. It is irrational and sinful to concern yourself with the splinter (the small chip) that has entered your brother’s eye.

4. Some imperfections are inevitable in all of us. And some are beneficial to us, because they lead us to deeper humility. In this way you should regard the imperfections of your brothers.

5. Make it your aim to imitate the patience of Christ. Then you will see your impatience being restrained, and your soul will be filled with peace and joy.

6. In everything we must behave with long-suffering. Be patient with everyone. Have meekness, peace, and patience. Turn your thought so as to look upon the faults of others with calmness and serenity.

7. Do not allow yourself to act with a carnal mindset. Do not forget that a man with a carnal mindset strictly condemns the faults of his neighbor, even though he himself also falls into them.

8. Nothing makes us so calm and peaceful toward our neighbor as silence, love, and prayer.

9. Conscience, said Fr. Joseph:

Conscience is an alarm clock. When it rings for you, wake up and run to do what it reminded you of. If you do this, you will always hear it; it will wake you at the proper time. But if for some days you close your ears to it and say within yourself, “Never mind!”, then you will cease to hear this alarm clock; it will cease to wake you.

(From: “Staretz Joseph,” publication of the Holy Metropolis of Nicopolis.)

 

Greek source: https://metemorfothis.blogspot.com/2026/03/blog-post_10.html

Metropolitan Chrysostomos and the Jews of Zakynthos

Reflections on a Significant Figure in the Greek Old Calendar Movement

By Archbishop [Metropolitan] Chrysostomos of Etna

 

 

Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Zakynthos (+1958) was born in Piraeus, Greece, in 1890. After completing his primary and secondary education, he enrolled in the School of Theology at the University of Athens in 1907, from which he graduated with the highest distinction (summa cum laude). Fluent in French and German, he held a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Munich, where he also studied law. An extraordinary scholar, he wrote a number of books and articles on the Faith in which he vociferously defended the holy traditions of the Orthodox Church. [1]

Therefore, well before its adoption by the Orthodox Church of Greece in 1924, His Eminence expressed his strong opposition to the use of the Gregorian Papal—sometimes euphemistically and rather artlessly referred to as the “Revised Julian”—Calendar in the Orthodox Church. He was among the three Hierarchs of the State Church of Greece who, in May of 1935, returned to the Church (Old or Julian) Calendar and assumed leadership of the some eight hundred Orthodox communities in Greece that had refused to accept the calendar reform, seeing it as a violation of ancient tradition. Together with these two other Hierarchs, he Consecrated four additional Bishops, in order to establish an ecclesiastical administration in resistance. [2]

In the face of deposition, exile, and persecution by the State Church of Greece, Metropolitan Chrysostomos and two of the newly-consecrated Bishops eventually submitted to the State Church and abandoned the Old Calendar movement. After his exile to one of the remote Strophades Islands in the Ionian Sea, near the Island of Zakynthos, Chrysostomos was restored to his See, where he served until his transfer to another diocese in 1957. Vilified by some voices in the Old Calendar movement for his failure to withstand the actions taken against him after his heroic stand against the calendar innovation, others have acknowledged him as a man of conscience whose dedication to his beloved spiritual children, from whom he could not abide separation in exile, prompted his return to the State Church.

Whatever the case, Metropolitan Chrysostomos will forever be remembered for his unyielding stand against Hitler and his Nazi hoops, when Greece was invaded by Germany, as part of what was called das Unternehmen “Marita” (Operation Marita), on the morning of April 6, 1941. Thus began the frightful systematic extermination of Greek Jews, who had been in the country since antiquity and who sought refuge in huge numbers in Greek Macedonia after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. As part of the extermination process, in 1944 the German occupation invaded the Island of Zakynthos and ordered the mayor of the city of the same name to hand over a list of all of the Jews on the island. It was the island’s Bishop, Metropolitan Chrysostomos, who presented the mayor’s list to the Nazis, on which was written only the name of the mayor and his own name: “Here are your Jews,” he told the Nazis. “If you choose to deport the Jews of Zakynthos, you must take me.”

It is also said that Metropolitan Chrysostomos communicated directly with Hitler, interceding for the Jews of his diocese. The devastating earthquake of 1953, in which the archives of the island were lost, makes the confirmation of this claim impossible. However, in fact, no Jews were ever deported from Zakynthos and its entire population of two hundred seventy-five Jews was saved. They were hidden by the populace and protected by the risky bluff of the island’s Bishop.

Metropolitan Chrysostomos, along with the mayor of Zakynthos, is included at Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust Memorial, with the “Righteous Among Nations.” Metropolitan Chrysostomos is also honored in a special display at the U.S. Holocaust Museum. We Greek Old Calendarists—often reviled—should proudly remember and emulate, along with all Orthodox, this man of conscience, whose courage has been largely forgotten and ignored. Let us revive his memory and, again, laud his actions. Αίωνία ή μνήμη. May his memory be eternal!

 

Notes

1. See biographical notes in A. Damaskinos G. de I. Alexopoulos, The Old Calendarists in the Diaspora, trans. Archbishop Chrysostomos and John V. Petropoulos (Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 2009), p. 59. See also Ή Θρησκευτική και Ηθική Εγκυκλοπαίδεια (He threskeutike kai ethike enkyklopaideia; The encyclopedia of religion and ethics), s.v. “Chrysostomos” (Athens, 1968), Vol. XII, cols. 422-426, which, conveniently enough, makes no mention of Metropolitan Chrysostomos’ involvement in the founding of the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Greece.

2. See a history of the Old Calendar movement in Archbishop Chrysostomos, Bishop Ambrose, and Bishop Auxentios, The Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Greece (Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 2009), fifth edition, esp. pp. 17-39.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXVII (2010), No. 2, pp. 15-16.

The Rage of the Papists against Saint Gregory Palamas

Second Sunday of the Fast

By Mr. B. Charalambous, theologian

 

The then Archbishop of Greece, Chrysostomos I (Papadopoulos), in a text of his entitled “Saint Gregory Palamas of Thessaloniki and the Latin Church,” which was published in the old edition of the ecclesiastical periodical Gregory Palamas (Issues 26 and 27 – Thessaloniki, 1918), stated, among other things, the following:

“The Latin Church, in order to deceive the more simple, asserted in its defense—among whom were unfortunately also certain Greeks—that after the Schism, saints no longer appeared in the Orthodox Church of the East.”

The Papists do not speak of Orthodox saints after the Schism, because among them are included, first of all, Saint Mark Eugenikos and Saint Gregory Palamas, and a multitude of other Confessor Saints, who fought in an Orthodox manner against the errors of Papism.

***

Referring, therefore, to Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop Chrysostomos I (Papadopoulos) writes the following:

“Already a short time after his death, 1359–1360, in Thessaloniki and in the Monasteries of the Holy Mountain, he was honored as a Saint,” and “the Latins, with indescribable fanaticism, not only waged war against the memory of the great Hierarch of Thessalonika and brave champion of Orthodoxy, but also attempted to abolish the Sacred Service in his memory in the Orthodox Church.”

Another proof of the rage of the heretical Papists is the destruction of the Printing House in Constantinople in the year 1627 by the Jesuits, on the occasion of the publication of the “Two Demonstrative Discourses” of Saint Gregory Palamas.

Even [Latin priest Jacques Paul] Migne himself experienced the Papal authoritarian reaction on account of the publication of works of Saint Gregory Palamas, and in the end he was compelled to ask forgiveness for their publication.

***

The reason why the Papists wage war against the memory of this great Saint is obvious. The things chanted on the second Sunday of the Fast, on which we celebrate the memory of Saint Gregory Palamas, give precisely the answer to the heretical Papists.

“You utterly shattered the sword and the bows of the evil-believers, and the pride of Barlaam, and you scattered all the power of the heretics like a spider’s web, O Hierarch, as though by a very great stone” (from the 7th Ode).

The teaching of Saint Gregory Palamas concerning the uncreated Divine Grace constitutes a continuation of the dogmatic teaching of our Church, and the Synod by which this dogmatic teaching was confirmed constitutes, in the conscience of our Church, a Synod of Ecumenical authority, the Ninth. In the conscience of our Church all the dogmatic truths that have been proclaimed constitute the “in extension” Symbol of our Orthodox Faith.

“Therefore, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit together are the source of the living water, that is, of the Divine Grace” (Demonstrative Discourse 2, 65), confessed Saint Gregory Palamas, refuting the error of Barlaam the Calabrian, who held that Divine Grace is created and inferior to the intellect. The heretical anti-hesychast Barlaam, the “divinely eloquent Gregory Palamas demonstrated to be foolish and senseless.”

“If the Divine Grace is created, how will it deify man by grace?”, to use an interrogative phrase of Elder Georgios Kapsanis.

“Grace is those divine energies which the All-Holy Trinity grants to the Church for the salvation of men,” as the Holy Justin Popovich characteristically states. [1]

“We sing during the Service of the second Sunday of the Fast:

‘With the sickle of your words and with your sacred writings you cut down thorny heresies and the spurious shoots of tares, and you sowed the pious seeds of Orthodoxy, O Hierarch Gregory’ (First Canon, Ode 5).

Therefore, the rage of the Papists against Saint Gregory Palamas is a consequent one.”

 

1. Archimandrite Justin Popovich (†), Man and the God-Man, ed. Aster, 1969.

 

Source: Orthodoxos Typos, no. 2,563 / 31 October 2025.

Shared by the G.O.C. Metropolis of Oropos and Phyle:

https://www.imoph.org/pdfs/2026/03/10/20260310aManitaPapikon.pdf

The Devil Can Manipulate Our Thoughts

Metropolitan Demetrius of America | August 23/September 5, 2021 | Cobleskill, NY

11th Sunday after Pentecost | Saint John of San Francisco Orthodox Monastery

 

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We've heard in the Holy Scriptures a question that our Savior poses to His followers, the Christians: what communion hath light with darkness? And this rhetorical question has great meaning, because for somebody to be a member of the household of God -- or a person to be a citizen of paradise, that is -- one has to have the light. And, so, in this life, our Savior prepares us so that we can be ready for those future things which await those who love God.

I recall, once, when I was a young teenager, I came across something from the Holy Fathers which left a deep impression on me. And at that time, being so young and inexperienced, I thought that it was very easy… but not exactly, not for the egotistical person. And the quote was from one of the Holy Fathers, Saint Amun, who said, "If you wish for God to hear your prayers, before you pray for anything else, pray with all your heart for your enemies." And it seems like we have to start there in order to understand Christian doctrine.

Oftentimes, we have people who are at a loss, because they lack spiritual insight and understanding, and they've become so concentrated on being Orthodox that they forgot about being Christians. Like the Pharisees, they do not understand the weightier matters of the law. And, so, one has to have, both, an understanding of Christian and Orthodox doctrines, since, in reality, it's one and the same thing.

So, here, we start with learning how to pray with all your heart for our enemies. How is that possible for our fallen culture, for our backwards people? It’s so difficult for people to understand this concept, and they permit -- since they are having difficulty understanding this concept -- the evil one to manipulate their thoughts.

For we must understand that our thoughts are either our thoughts, thoughts which come from God, or thoughts which come from the evil one.

Our thoughts can very much be influenced by the evil one. Or we can invite God's grace to help us; but in order to do that, we must do those things which He commands us to do!

Many times, I've heard people say, in a conversation (before they say what they want to say), "Well, I'm not saying this egotistically" or "I'm not judging this person," and then they go on and continue judging the person. I've heard it many times, even from clergymen sometimes, unfortunately. And this shows that we are infected with delusion. We don't know ourselves.

And in the midst of our thought process, we must understand that the devil manipulates things so as to make sure that the end result of our thoughts is that we are right, we are the ones that are correct. In any way possible, he'll make sure to manipulate this fact or that fact and, in the end, come up with an absolutely convincing scenario. This I've seen many times.

Oftentimes, it's amazing when we have to deal with it in confession, and by the end, if the person is able to see how he was duped by the devil, he learns. He comes to greater understanding. He comes to understand what kind of an enemy we have, and he comes to understand why it is that our Savior says, "trust not your own heart." Be very careful not to trust yourself so much, because the sign of the Christian is a person who is humble.

Today, our Savior speaks to us concerning the man who had owed much to the king, ten thousand talents. And since the person didn't have the wherewithal to pay his debt, the king decided -- something which of course, was a real scenario back in those days -- that the person would be sold, and his family, and all their goods, so that he could pay back what he owed.

And the person was in a crisis. This was obviously a life crisis. This was a huge problem. His whole life was about to fall apart; he would have lost not only all his goods but even his family; even his own life! He would have been sold into slavery. And, so, in such a crisis, naturally, he begged the person to have mercy on him. He begged the king, "Please, forgive me my debt!"

We have to understand that we are debtors before the Lord. Oftentimes, I try to remind all of us -- myself included, especially -- how if we take a look at the gifts which God has given us, and we take a look at ourselves, we see that we are not worthy of the gifts of God and that there's an imbalance. We have not really worked for them. They're free gifts, which the Lord gave us for whatever reason. Out of His love for us, He passes onto us, as we hear in the Gospel passages, the talents.

And there's an imbalance. For example, God calls someone to a Christian life, someone who was in the world, someone who was a servant of the devil. And the Lord works a miracle in the life of that person and brings him to normalcy, brings him to life, lifts the darkness and the heaviness of an unclean conscience; and He works with the person. And the person always has to see himself as a debtor, because God gave us more than we deserve! And it may be that we would be judged for this. And if we recognize that we are not worthy of the gifts of grace, then we are getting ourselves to be in a safer area!

A monastic, someone who is called out of the world, and instead of seeing the great gifts that the Lord has given to the person in the moment of darkness, sees everything as dark. He sees the light as darkness, he sees the darkness as light, he is fooled. And it's because the devil has manipulated everything in such a way so that the end result of his thinking, of his train of thought, would be that he is correct and that those who know more are not, even the Holy Fathers.

And, so, the king forgave him his debt. That's what happens especially in the beginning of the spiritual life where the Lord forgives us our debt, our great debt, and He gives us His gifts! Not only does He return to us those things which we thought were ours, but He gives us above and beyond.

But we know from Scripture that we must do unto others as we would have them do unto us. And so, in the middle of this crisis, rather than thinking clearly -- and for this reason I said what communion doth light have with darkness, doth darkness have with light? -- this person, rather than meditating on the goodness of the king and being humbled in his heart over the fact that the king forgave him everything, went to his fellow servant and demanded one hundred pence! You see that he was forgiven ten thousand talents and now he's demanding one hundred pence from his fellow servant.

And the servants of the king saw it and were quite sad... even the angels of God watch us! We who are shallow, we who are worldly, we who are stuck on the things of the earth, don't see the spiritual world. It's difficult for us to see the angels around us. It's difficult to see the demons around us. If only we could see how because of our actions the angels are removed far from us, and if we could see how the demons come closer to us, or vice versa, we would be living differently! We would not be so stuck in our delusions!

And because of this action and because it was reported to the king, the king was not happy. For what communion hath light with darkness? And this person was dark! He had a chance to receive light, he had a great chance -- he was forgiven everything -- and yet he would not forgive!

So this is why the Holy Fathers devise means for us -- exercises for us -- to think like Christians. Before you pray for anything else, if you want God to hear your prayers, pray with all your heart for your enemies! Not just pray for your enemies, but pray with all your heart for your enemies.

And this may take years for us to achieve. Sometimes, with the slightest little word, a person gets offended, and this is really backwards in the spiritual life. Or, as we said, you see how the devil can manipulate certain words, or we misunderstand certain words, or we see things according to our own passions, or because we are so passionate, because we are so envious, or because we are so malicious, we interpret the words of the other person who has no malice or envy as malicious because we see our own faults in the other person.

So today's lesson is for us to once again humble our hearts, to remember that we have been forgiven… especially in the time of our life crisis, as this man had his life-crisis moment. At that time, we are given the opportunity to pray with all our hearts. We are desperate. And that prayer can be accepted and is acceptable to the Lord. And as we see in the parable today, it was accepted by the Lord!. For the man fell on His face and begged Him to forgive Him his debt. He was forgiven.

But things don't stop there, and the last day can be worse than the first. We must remain in humility! We must realize who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with. We must open our eyes to the spiritual world. Even if we can't see it, even if we can't perceive it, we must understand that there's a whole world of angels and demons surrounding us.  And if we don't give permission to the Holy Angels to work with us, the demons are glad!

I say permission because -- as you know and as we've said many times -- God respects our freedom. It's up to each and every one of us to decide whether or not we want to do those things which God teaches us to do. If we do those things, blessed are we, because, slowly, we become more and more enlightened and we understand more and more concerning the things of God and concerning how perfect God is, and concerning how imperfect we are.

So let us not demand of others. Let us not be spiritually foolish. Let us remember how many times God has forgiven us and let us always be ready to forgive!

Let us understand the spirit, which our Lord Jesus Christ conveys to us. We say we're Christians, but we've forgotten the greatest teachings of Jesus Christ, for He taught by example. And on the moment of His crucifixion, St. Macarius of Egypt teaches us, He was the most humble of all men at that moment.

What an ugly thing pride is! It makes us ugly! It makes us foolish! We lose our peace!

What a beautiful thing humility is! It changes our lives! It brings peace to us! It brings understanding to us! It brings God to us!

For God gives grace to the humble but resisteth the proud, as it says in the Scriptures.

So again, we stress that we must start to understand certain basics of the Christian faith, because if we jump -- or if we wish to skip the steps which lead to sanctification and we jump -- all the way to theosis without having first gone through the proper steps of repentance, purification, illumination, then we will fall into delusion for sure… we will fall into prelest.

So let us pray that our Lord will open to us the eyes of our souls, so that we can perceive the spiritual world and understand the angels as the servants of God, who are the servants of the King.

And let us ask for their help to bring us to the King, and let us look at the good example and the bad example in today's parable:  the good example, where, if we come across our life crisises (the difficulties of this life), we most certainly must fall on our knees and beg to be forgiven and to be released!  But at the same time, we must also forgive and release. For if we do not forgive, we should not expect forgiveness. And we should not fool ourselves into thinking we have forgiven when we haven't forgiven.

We must forgive, for in today's Gospel we hear something very fearful at the end, where the Lord was wroth with that servant. And that servant will not find his salvation! Our Lord says it simply to all of us.

If we could understand these things we wouldn't be so blinded by that moment of passion, where we get so upset with whoever it was. And we would understand that these trifling, little matters mean absolutely nothing with regards to our eternal salvation!

And lastly, once again, St. Isaac tells us that the torments of hell are bitter regret, which means that the people, the souls that are down there, regret so much what they could have done in this life! Let that not be our fate, but let us hear the word of God, and let us walk the path of salvation in humility and righteousness, always asking our Master to forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

May all of our enemies be forgiven, and may God help us never to hold a grudge against anyone! And may our Lord grant unto us forgiveness of our sins, so that we will be able to offer the gifts, which each and every one of us offer together, the Gifts on the Holy Table, unto remission of sins and life everlasting.

Amen.

 

Source: https://sjmshop.org/blogs/news/the-devil-can-manipulate-our-thoughts