Refutation of an “Encyclical Sermon” by a Hierarch of
the New Calendar Orthodox Church of Greece and a Wily Denigrator of
Anti-Ecumenists and “Old Calendarists” Who Have Walled Themselves Off From His
Church
Bishop Klemes of
Gardikion | June 9/22, 2014 | Phyle, Attica
[Now Metropolitan of
Larissa and Platamon]
1. The Divine injunction
of the Holy Apostle Paul, “Speak ye truth,” [1] ever retains its timeliness and
significance, especially when Divine Truth is distorted by those who are
supposed to be its teachers, guardians, and defenders!
An assault on the truth and on
those who, with God’s help, are its followers, was recently mounted by a
Metropolitan of the New Calendar Church of Greece by way of a printed
“Encyclical Sermon” for the Sunday of All Saints (June 15, 2014, New Style),
which was earlier posted on the Internet. [2]
This Bishop, who has the
reputation of being a traditionalist, wrote the text in question, as he avers,
by way of a “response to certain letters and messages,” entitling it “Let Us
Attend, That We May Offer the Confession of Faith in Humility and With a
Correct Ecclesiology.” The title is truly fine and laudable, as is the
beginning of his printed sermon. Its ensuing contents and its ending, however,
are not merely disheartening but (as has already been correctly observed [3])
constitute a misleading, arbitrary, and tedious distortion, falsification,
misinterpretation, violation, and degradation of the canonical and Patristic
Tradition of the Orthodox Church.
Since this challenge has been
issued publicly, we cannot remain indifferent and cannot fail to teach aright
the word of Truth, not of course in order to lecture its author, who is now
advanced in years and is, indeed, an university professor emeritus, [4] but
in order to set forth a public correction of this unacceptable
misrepresentation of the truth and to protect those of our brethren who may be
unfamiliar with, or ignorant of, the issues from being enticed into the error
of our wily deprecator.
2. This intemperate attack
by our denigrator on truth-loving anti-ecumenists and on genuine Orthodox
Christians who follow the traditional Church Calendar is an old chestnut. At
least twenty-five years ago, when he was still a Hierokeryx [5] in [the then
municipality] of Mandra [an outer suburb of Athens], Attica, he launched a
“campaign” against the “Old Calendarists,” who, in fidelity to their
principles, refrain from communing with his innovationist New Calendar Church,
and whom he, for this reason, regards as being supposedly “outside the Church.”
We assure him that we are not out
of communion with the Church of Christ, the Church of the Firstborn in the
Heavens, [6] the Church of the Saints, the Righteous, and the Confessors of our
Faith, and also of those of like mind on the earth, but are totally out of
communion with all who have diverged from the straight path, created a schism, and
suffered a dreadful fall into the apostatic heresy—and panheresy, to boot—of
ecumenism. It makes no difference to us whether those who have fallen and
those, like our accuser, who commune with them “cut us off” from their Church.
It is well known that when one
lives and experiences the truth of the Church in an organic fashion, [7] with
constancy, love, and humility, and also by preserving what has been handed
down, without additions or subtractions, he becomes a vessel of Divine Grace
and is united with the Church of the Firstborn as an authentic member of the Body
of Christ, even if a sentence of condemnation should be pronounced against him
by unworthy representatives of the Hierarchy, who may have Apostolic
Succession, but who are in error with regard to the Faith. The Divine
Chrysostomos, as St. Gregory Palamas explains, “was cut off from the Church
and condemned to banishment” [8] in accordance with the unjust
deposition imposed on him synodally by the partisans of Theophilos of
Alexandria, and it is precisely for this reason that he did not abide by it or
take the least account of it! For unjust condemnations are reckoned as
“persecutions” [9] and furnish a greater abundance of Divine Grace and
benediction. [10]
In his earlier invectives against
us, our deprecator was even more incautious and fell into additional tragic
errors, which he is careful not to repeat. Back then, for example, he
maintained that it is of no importance which calendar one follows, since this has
nothing to do with ecclesiastical Tradition, and that it suffices to be “united
with the Church,” that is, with Her administration. As well, yet more
tragically, he wrote that ecumenism is nothing other than “simple fellowship
and a display of etiquette,” innocent “courtesies” and “polite meetings”; that
it is innocent “dialogue, in order show up the delusion” of the heretics! [11]
We do not know whether these
views of his, which were leniently characterized as completely groundless,
represented what he consciously believed or were a deliberate distortion of
reality, for the sake of serving his own interests.
3. It is gratifying that
he now at least acknowledges that the calendar was “wrongly changed” and
that ecumenism is patently and unequivocally a “panheresy.” In the
“Encyclical Sermon” under review he admits, inter alia: “I see that the boundaries
which our Fathers set are being violated.”
This certainly constitutes some
progress. We would not, however, describe it as significant. Our denigrator
leaves us no room for encouragement, because he hastens to tone matters down by
incessantly harping on “violations of the Sacred Canons,” [12] as though
the panheresy of ecumenism resided solely in violations of the Sacred Canons
(!), and also because the root of the problem remains the same: rather
than turning with all his might against this panheresy, which manifestly
deprives those implicated in it of eternal salvation, and making sure to
distance himself from it—for whether he likes it or not, he is implicated
in it through his Mysteriological (Sacramental) communion with the
Patriarchs, Archbishops, and, in general, those concelebrants of his who are
exponents thereof—he instead defends his reprehensible communion with heresy
and turns with vehemence and animosity on the “Old Calendarists”! They,
in his opinion, “did what was wrong”! They, he affirms with bombast and Papal
absolutism, “are not a Church, and their Mysteries are invalid”! They, he
concludes dauntlessly, “have not a leg to stand on,” and for this reason he is
an adversary of their stand and their praxis.
For him, as a putative “proper
confessor,” it is sufficient to express his confession candidly, “both orally
and in writing,” and simply to “protest” when he sees violations of the Sacred
Canons, albeit—as he resolutely assures us—from “within the Church, . .
.commemorating our Holy Synod and our OEcumenical Patriarch,” id est, the
ringleader of the panheresy of ecumenism!
The author’s patently erroneous
and contradictory conclusions are founded on the mistaken viewpoint that he
posits as the basis of his arguments and which is related to his
conception of the unity of the Church.
4. Our deprecator declares
simplistically, at least in the text under consideration, that the unity of the
Church is expressed by commemoration of the Bishop: “Through commemoration
there exists unity in the entire Church… If I, your Bishop [he is instructing his
flock], cease to commemorate the Holy Synod, I cut myself off from the Church.”
And all who follow him in this are thereby automatically “outside the Church.”
This position, when things are
well and functioning in an Orthodox manner, validly constitutes part of
the truth, but not the whole truth. When things are not in order, that
is, when heresy is preached in the Church, as has been occurring for many decades
with regard to the panheresy of ecumenism, then our denigrator’s position constitutes
clear deviation and an entrapment in the impasse of heretical dissoluteness,
giving priority to the administrative structure of the Church and overlooking the
most essential, primary, and cardinal issue, namely, the Faith and
Confession of the Church.
This position, in any event,
entails the hallmark of centralized and absolutist Papist ecclesiology, in
which everything hinges on communion with, and a relationship of
dependence on, a see purportedly infallible solely by virtue of the station and
rank of the occupant of that see; that is, the Pope. This occurs
precisely when Grace is made subordinate to the institution, to history,
and to a place: when the Church is rendered supposedly subject to Peter and
not Peter to the Church!
This mentality has,
unfortunately, mutated into the neo-Papal outlook and conduct of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople in the last century, and it is amazing how it
has influenced, and influences, even people who in theory do not appear to
espouse the neo-Papal and domineering aspirations and pretensions of the
Phanar and who desire to be free, in other respects, from the Babylonian
captivity of Western theological absolutism and scholasticism.
5. Let us see, however,
with God’s help, how matters stand from an Orthodox point of view:
Inasmuch as the Church of Christ
is “the pillar and ground of the truth,” [13] communion with Her is assessed
not on the basis of communion with the prime Patriarchal see, that of Rome or
of Constantinople, but on the basis of communion with the Truth. As
St. Gregory Palamas summarizes this point, “Those who belong to the Church
of Christ belong to the Truth; and those who do not belong to the Truth do
not belong to the Church of Christ either.” [14] This is because the Church
of Christ is founded and built upon the confession of the correct and saving
faith of Truth. [15] The unity of the Church has precisely the common
confession of the Faith as its wellspring and foundation.
Consequently, the unity of the Church is safeguarded and protected when and
where there exist unity of Faith and abidance in the Traditions of
the Church. The genuine children of the Church readily obey “Apostolic and
Patristic teachings and ecclesiastical Traditions,” [16] and for this reason “if
anyone [whoever he may be] annuls any ecclesiastical Tradition, written or
unwritten, let him be anathema!” [17]
Hence, without unity in the
dogmas of the Faith, and without respect for, and observance of, the Church’s
Traditions, any kind of unity in the Church is inconceivable, according to the Apostolic
and Patristic understanding of the entire Orthodox Catholic Church.
St. John Chrysostomos says, for
example: “When we all believe alike, then there is unity… For this is unity
of faith, when we are all one. . ., [when] we show that we all have one faith.”
[18]
In the “one body” of the
Church there should without fail exist “one spirit,” that is, concord
and unanimity in Faith and Tradition, since it is also possible for the
following to occur: “That there be one body, yet not one spirit; as, for
instance, if some [member of it] were to be a friend also of heretics”!
[19]
See how the Divine Chrysostomos
touches on this sensitive point: “friendship” with heretics sunders the
unity of Faith, and therefore of the Church, since the latter is not
safeguarded simply and solely through the maintenance of administrative unity.
Ensurance of the unity of Faith and of the Church entails a dearth of
“friendship” and “fellowship” with heretics, since the latter destroy
it. For this reason the “anathema” of the Apostle Paul falls like
a thunderbolt against even the very slightest heterodox teaching! [20]
Only, then, when there is
unanimity in the Faith and the Tradition of the Church is there communion in
the Mysteries, something which is expressed liturgically by
commemoration in the Divine Services of the Church. Commemoration does not
constitute unity, but expresses unity when it truly exists; otherwise, “we are
playacting” [21] with Divine things by commemorating those with whom we
do not have oneness of mind in the Faith or in Tradition, unto our condemnation
both on earth and in Heaven! We think this quite evident even to the
conscience of a small child!
6. In the meantime, no one is
exempt from the danger of falling away from the Truth and, as such, no one is
exempt from the impossibility of being commemorated [in the services], neither
the successors of the Apostles, the Bishops, nor Patriarchs, nor
historic thrones and sees. Not few are the instances in the history of the Church
when a Pope or Patriarch preached heresy and caused agitation in the Church,
being cut off therefrom even through anathema.
“If” Hierarchs “are faithful to
Tradition and act in accord with the whole Church. . .then they abide in the
Truth [and are therefore commemorated—AUTHOR’S NOTE]. But if they abandon
Orthodoxy, then they lose not only their teaching authority, but their very
status as Christians, and their anathemas [which they unleash against all who
disavow them—AUTHOR’S NOTE] have no value. Not Bishops only, but whole local
Churches may stray from the path of truth,” [22] becoming excluded from
communion and commemoration, even “prior to a Synodal verdict,” as
having succumbed to heresy and to being cut off from the Truth.
Those who commemorate such
Hierarchs and Churches as Orthodox do not preserve the unity of the Church but
destroy it; and those who do not commemorate them do not destroy the unity of
the Church but serve, uphold, and save it. [23]
Thus has Orthodoxy been
“preserved” until today, and thus will it be “preserved,” not through the
concoction of newfangled ideas, which propose the “uniate” path and a
solution familiar to history, that is, unconditional communion with
Bishops, a see, or sees that have fallen into heresy, and this for the
sake of maintaining a veneer of external, structural unity. This
does not constitute a preservation of the unity of the Faith, for it is
devoid of Truth. We have such examples in history, which are to be avoided
and not imitated!
7. Now that we demonstrated,
albeit briefly, that the conception of the unity of the Church advocated by the
author of this “Sunday Encyclical Sermon” rests on a wholly erroneous base, we
can easily infer the erroneousness of all of his other ideas and views.
If ecumenism is a panheresy, and
if it is preached, applied, and put forth on a continuous basis, in an expanded
form, methodically and steadfastly, by every means and in every way by the
powers-that-be and administrations of all of the local official Orthodox Churches,
which participate in it and have sustained the multifarious and contagious corruption
that it spawns, having been caught and strangled in its tentacles—the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, senior among the Patriarchal thrones, being
assuredly at the forefront—then what stand do Orthodox Confessors take in the
face of this phenomenon? Do they exhaust themselves simply by protesting about violations
of the Canons? And do they maintain uninterrupted their communion with the
prime movers of this heresy?
Indeed not. We speak in
terms of heresy and panheresy and regard ecumenism as misbelief and not
as a mere violation of the Canons. We also desire to bring to mind, here, some
essential truths before we further respond to our foregoing questions.
The 1920 Proclamation of the
Church of Constantinople viewed the heterodox heretics as “members of the
Church” and heterodox communities as “Churches of Christ,” through
the acknowledgment of a supposed common Baptism as a unifying factor. It
is also well known that a “uniform calendar” for the purpose of
concelebration was proposed in order to realize the objectives of this unionist
program. The Orthodox ecumenists did not make unity and identity in Faith the
basis for their unwarranted transgressions, but a new principle:
cooperation with the heterodox “churches” on practical issues and
concelebration with them, despite the nonexistence of dogmatic agreement, so as
to pave the way for an anomalous [future] form of unity, though, in essential
action, to experience such by anticipation.
Thus did they commence their
unfaltering “common journey with the rest of the Christian world” and
multifarious syncretistic “fellowship” and cooperation therewith,
towards a putative joint witness and ministry to the world.
The so-called “Pan-Orthodox
Congress of Constantinople” in 1923, under the Masonic Patriarch Meletios Metaxakes,
mooted a series of inadmissible innovations and modernizations, and also
the “revised Julian Calendar,” for the sake of conforming the
Church to the demands of this world of corruption, of setting Tradition aside,
of rewarding the West for its rebelliousness, and “for the service of
pan-Christian unity” and “the restoration anew of the unity of
Christians, at least on this point.” [24]
Thus, since the calendar was
regarded as a tool for the promotion of the ecumenist vision, the ecclesiological
character of the calendar innovation, which was finally implemented in a dictatorial
manner in 1924 [in Greece], ninety years ago, is plain and incontrovertible. It
is precisely this innovation that prepared the ground and dug the
foundations for a revision of the entire order and life of the
Orthodox Church.
The rest of the story is
familiar: participation and inclusion, from 1948 onwards, in the panheretical
alliance of the World Council of Churches, where the slogan “unity in
diversity” holds sway in practical experience; the Lifting of the
Anathemas with the Papists in 1965; the expansion of the interfaith
movement in 1971; the Synodal endorsement by Constantinople of the thoroughly
heretical “Thyateira Confession” in 1975; the signing of a union
agreement with the Non-Chalcedonians in 1991; the Balamand agreement on
full mutual recognition with the Papists, in 1993; recognition of baptism
between Constantinople and the Evangelical Church of Germany, with a prohibition
of any rebaptism, in 2004; joint prayers, joint declarations, joint consultations,
joint endeavors, etc., which now occur and are disseminated on an almost daily
basis!
None of these events comes under
the rubric of simple canonical violations; rather, they constitute the
“overturning of all things.” [25] Prominent Orthodox ecumenists proclaim openly
and frankly that, supposedly, no Christian Church can any longer act,
speak, or even think, reflect, and make decisions in isolation, that “the
syndrome of the unique way” must be abandoned, [26] that withdrawal
from the World Council of Churches is considered “an inconceivable
proposition,” [27] and that their ecumenical unionist course is
deemed, and is, “irreversible.” [28]
8. In the face of this
unprecedented apostasy—we repeat yet again—what is the proper stand? Is it the
case that all who refrain from communion with those with whom they do not
associate forfeit their unity with the Church, are deprived of Grace, and are
inspired by the Evil One?
The Orthodox Faith and Tradition
say otherwise, for the opinions of all persons on these subjects, whoever they
may be, are submitted to the crucible of Holy Scripture and of Patristic
and Synodal doctrine and practice. No view or opinion whatsoever is accepted
when it is not based on Orthodox teaching and, in general, on its spirit and
principles. According to St. Maximos the Confessor, every [theological] statement
that is not Patristic is heretical. [29]
We know, therefore, that
“agreement” and “union” with and “love” for heretics at the expense of the
Truth of the Faith and of piety are characterized as “betrayal.” [30] For this
reason, the Fathers, to a man, command us to abhor “assemblies with heretics.”
[31]
The conclusion is obvious: the
Orthodox ecumenists have effected a clear break and rupture with Tradition and
they “are cut off from the Church of the Saints who dwell in Heaven,” [32] and
for this reason are, and are proclaimed, “excommunicate,” as being “estranged
from God,” [33] on account of the disturbance provoked by their innovations.
Confessions of Faith are not made
painlessly, from a position of safety, or without actual consequences.
Spiritual and Mysteriological rapprochement with those whom one may denounce
theoretically as heretics or persons inclined toward heresy means separation
from the Saints, whereas separation from such persons means rapprochement and
union with God, the Truth, and the Holy Fathers of the Church. [34] For it
behooves us to avoid communion with those whose outlook we abhor. [35]
Such is the clear and limpid
Orthodox teaching and stand on this vital issue.
9. The teaching of our
deprecator, that those who are walled off are inspired by the Evil One, is
blasphemous, while his insistence on the possibility of communion with heretics
or persons inclined toward heresy, under the illusion that we can cleave in
this way to an Orthodox Confession, is completely anti-Patristic and therefore
deluded.
One of those who follow the
practice of our denigrator candidly writes, in spite of the fact that he does
not put his own writings into practice with any consistency: “Let the
pro-Papists, the Latin-minded, the ecumenist Bishops, spiritual Fathers, Priests,
and theologians maintain communion with heretics; we prefer communion to be
with the Saints. The two cannot coexist”! [36]
The “Old Calendarists” have not
done anything wrong, but have, from the outset, followed their Orthodox
sensitivities, as genuine and responsible members of the Church, being
justified, moreover, by the fearful continuation of apostasy and ongoing events.
As children of obedience, they
have hearkened to the President of the Seventh OEcumenical Synod, St. Tarasios,
who exclaims: “We do not move the boundaries set by our Fathers; rather, being
instructed by the Apostles, let us hold fast to the Traditions that we have
received.” [37]
The “Old Calendarists” have
abided in the things that they have learned and been assured of, [38] knowing—and
putting this into practice—that no one can disturb even so much as a
syllable, without falling under the penalties of the Holy Fathers and being
disavowed and excised from the Body of the Church, [39] since “Neither
Patriarchs nor Synods could ever have introduced novelties amongst us,
because the protector of religion is the very Body of the Church, that
is, the people themselves, who desire their religious faith to remain
perpetually unchanged and of the same kind as that of their Fathers.” [40]
Innovations are considered
an instigation of the Devil and are not accepted, even if proposed by
Angels from Heaven. Therefore, those of us who reject ecumenism and
the calendar innovation have not provoked a schism, but have separated ourselves
for dogmatic reasons from those who publicly preach misbeliefs and heresies,
walling ourselves off by Divine assistance for reasons of soteriological necessity.
We find schism in the instance of a separation which is “groundless”
and “unjustifiable,” on the pretext of “matters capable of resolution” or
[personal] transgressions on the part of Hierarchs. But ecumenism is not a
matter capable of resolution or merely a violation of Canons, but the
most appalling syncretism, the worst panheresy, an “unheard-of betrayal”
[41] of the Faith.
All who wall themselves off
therefrom are doing what is salutary and are worthy of the “honor due to
Orthodox Christians.” [42]
The fact that the Old
Calendarists have organized themselves as a Church arose from the very course
of events. The increasing abandonment of the position of the Church on the part
of the innovators has been rightfully covered by those who have been by nature
and adoption bona fide members of the Church, with reference, of course,
to Her Synodal conscience.
For this reason, we would remind
our denigrator that he is suffering from dreadful spiritual blindness, and
also from a tragic ignorance of the “ways” of uncreated Grace, which he is
unable to recognize precisely where it truly exists, where it is
experienced palpably and unquestionably, resting content, as he does, in
communion with those who recognize Grace precisely where it truly does not
exist!
10. These tragic results,
however, are, unfortunately, only to be expected from persons like our
deprecator, who, a few years ago, signed a much-trumpeted “Confession of Faith
Against Ecumenism,” [43] but then hastened to withdraw his signature (!),
seeking forgiveness and leniency from Bartholomew of Constantinople, the
standard-bearer of the Orthodox ecumenists, imploring him, no less, to come to
his diocese in order to “bless” his flock! What consistency and honesty can
one expect from persons of such instability, pusillanimity, and culpability?
How is “much” to be entrusted to him who cannot bear “a little”? And
how is he to be regarded as a teacher in these matters, he who gave in as
soon as he had ventured to take a step that was a little more firm and
decisive?
Indeed, at some point in his
“Encyclical Sermon” he mentions that it is probable that he might face “persecution”!
But others have been, and are, persecuted: the true and reliable Confessors,
not those theoretical Confessors who are in communion with heretics and yet
fancy themselves to be Confessors! As for the cheap and painless stand that our
denigrator has chosen and propagates, not only do the heretics and the powerful
of this world not deem such vexatious and threatening, but it actually aids and
abets them, since it serves their interests to maintain communion with those
who may have a somewhat more traditionalist attitude and viewpoint, under the
illusion that they are simultaneously doing their confessional duty, and thus
all of whom are, and remain, complacent in their delusion!
Our denigrator and those like him
suppose that they are “obligated” to follow the policy of the Hierarchs of the
innovating official Orthodox Churches, inasmuch as they all tolerate the
deviations and transgressions of ecumenism, so as to avoid “Protestantizing”;
and yet, they state, on the other hand, that they will not cease “protesting”!
In this way they demonstrate yet again the tragic dimension of their parlous ignorance
and, more generally, their confusion and inconsistency.
The decisions even of major
Synods possess binding and obligatory authority only when they are identical
with the Truth that wells forth from the Spirit of Truth. Only then does the plenitude
of the Church accept them and the conscience of the Church endorse them.
These decisions are not valid in any other instance, nor is it possible to
appeal to some obligation to follow those who “tolerate” the persistent
violation, for almost a century, of the Rule of Faith and the Mind of the
Church!
The stand put forth by our
deprecator is catastrophic, and, by Divine Grace, genuine Confessors
will never follow it. For this erroneous stand obligates our denigrator and
those with him, by way of their reprehensible communion with the ecumenists,
truly to participate in the heretical ecumenical movement, to belong to
the World Council of Churches, with all that this entails, to pray together
with all manner of heretics and adherents of other religions, to regard the
heterodox as “Sister Churches,” to accept the baptism of heretics, to
serve the world together with them, to offer a common witness of
faith, etc. [44]
As to why this solution of
communion with the Orthodox ecumenists, which produces such catastrophic
results, leading to their engulfment by the abyss of eternal perdition, is
preferable for our deprecator, it is explicable only by the false dilemma
which he poses to himself and others: he is afraid that, if he undertakes to
wall himself off, he will succumb to a deadly transgression and will become “guilty
of schism from the Church,” and, in the face of this possibility, he
would prefer to “go and drown himself”!
Praying for his spiritual
recovery and healing, we leave him to Divine Forbearance, emphasizing that the
Godly solution to the terrible confusion of our denigrator and whoever is like
him is the espousal of our position, in deed and in word, as in fact
this is set forth in our ecclesiological document, “The True Orthodox Church
and the Heresy of Ecumenism: Dogmatic and Canonical Issues,” so that
we might journey together in Truth and Love, expressing likewise the fervent
wish that, unto the end, our Lord not deprive us of the Grace of the true and
consistent Confession of Him.
Amen!
NOTES
1. Ephesians
4:25.
2. This is a
reference to Metropolitan Jeremias (Phountas) of Gortys and Megalopolis and to
a document posted on various religious websites, such as “Ἀποτείχιση,” which
contains a forceful critique of his views: “Ὁ Mητρ. Γόρτυνος παραποιεῖ ἀσεβέστατα
τὴν παράδοση τῆς Ἐκκλησίας γιὰ νὰ ἀρέσει στὸν αἱρεσιάρχη” [The Metropolitan of
Gortys most impiously adulterates the Tradition of the Church in order to
please a Heresiarch], http://apotixisi.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-post_5619.
html (accessed June 25, 2014).
3. See note
2.
4.
Metropolitan Jeremias (1941-[2021]), who was consecrated to the Episcopacy in
2006, was, until his recent retirement, also a Professor of Biblical Studies at
the University of Athens—TRANS.
5. Ἱεροκῆρυξ,
a term denoting an individual with a theological education, usually a
clergyman, but in some cases a layman, who is given the responsibility of
preaching homilies in a particular diocese—TRANS.
6. Hebrews
12:23.
7. Rev. John
S. Romanides, “Orthodox EcclesiologyAccording toAlexis Khomiakov (1804-1860),” The
Greek Orthodox Theological Review, Vol. II, No. 1 (Easter [Pascha] 1956),
pp. 62-63.
8. “To the
Most Reverend Among Nuns Xene,” Patrologia Graeca, Vol. CL, col. 1045C.
See also Georgios Mantzarides, Παλαμικά [Palamite studies]
(Thessalonike: Ekdosis P. Pournara, 1983), pp. 196-197.
9. See St. Maximos
the Confessor, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. XC, col. 128D.
10. Cf. St.
John Chrysostomos, On the Priesthood, Bk. III, ch. 11, Patrologia Graeca,
Vol. XLVIII, col. 648.
11. “Reply
to the Magazine Thymiama: The Panheresy of Ecumenism and False
Depositions,” in Patrick G. Barker [now Archimandrite Patapios], A Study of
the Ecclesiology of Resistance: The Writings of Metropolitans Cyprian of
Oropos and Fili, Chrysostomos of Florina, and Cyril of Kazan (Etna,
CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1994), pp. 69-70.
12. Seven
times, to be precise—TRANS.
13. I St.
Timothy 3:15.
14.
“Refutation of the Letter of Patriarch Ignatios of Antioch,” §3, in Panagiotes
K. Chrestou (ed.), Γρηγορίου τοῦ Παλαμᾶ Συγγράμματα [The works of
Gregory Palmas], Vol. II (Thessalonike: 1966), p. 627.
15. St. John
Chrysostomos, “Homily XXI on St. John,” §1, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. LIX,
col. 128; St. Maximos the Confessor, Patrologia Graeca,Vol.XC, col. 93D;
Hieromonk Atanasije Jevtić, Ἡ Ἐκκλησιολογία τοῦ Ἀποστόλου Παύλου κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸν
Χρυσόστομον [The ecclesiology of the Apostle Paul according to St. John
Chrysostomos] (Athens: Ekdoseis “Gregore,” 1984), pp. 163-164.
16. Seventh OEcumenical
Synod, SessionVI, in J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et
Amplissima Collectio, Vol. XIII, col. 208C.
17. Seventh
OEcumenical Synod, Session VII, in ibid., col. 400C.
18. “Homily
XI on Ephesians,” §3, Patrologia Graeca,Vol. LXII, col. 83.
19. Ibid,,
§1, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. LXII, col. 79.
20.
Galatians 1:8-9. See also Jevtić, Ἡ Ἐκκλησιολογία τοῦ Ἀποστόλου Παύλου,
pp. 180, 181.
21. See the
letter of the Athonite Fathers to the Latin-minded Emperor Michael Palaiologos
(thirteeth century), in Kallistos Blastos Hagioreites, Δοκίμιον Ἱστορικὸν
περὶ τοῦ Σχίσματος τῆς Δυτικῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀπὸ τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἀνατολικῆς [Historical
essay concerning the schism of the Western Church from the Orthodox Eastern
Church] (Athens: Typois Paraskeva Leone, 1896), p. 108.
22. John
Meyendorff, A Study of [Saint] Gregory Palamas (London: The Faith Press,
1964), pp. 179-180.
23. Canon XV
of the First-Second Synod (“A Contribution to the Theology of Orthodox
Resistance and Walling-Off,” http://hsir.org/p/r44 (accessed June 28, 2014).
24.
Dionysios M. Batistatos (ed.), Πρακτικὰ καὶ Ἀποφάσεις τοῦ ἐν Kωνσταντινουπόλει
Πανορθοδόξου Συνεδρίου (10 Mαΐου-8 Ἰουνίου 1923) [Proceedings and Decisions
of the Pan-Orthodox Congress in Constantinople (10 May-8 June 1923)]
(Athens: 1982), pp. 6, 14.
25. St.
Theodore the Studite, “Epistle I.34,” Patrologia Graeca, Vol. XCIX, col.
1025C.
26.
Stylianos Tsompanides, “ἩὈρθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία καὶ τὸ Παγκόσμιο Συμβούλιο Ἐκκλησιῶν.
Mία ‘κοινωνία’ ἀμοιβαίου ἐμπλουτιμοῦ στὸ δρόμο τῶν ἀναζητήσεων” [The Orthodox Church
and the World Council of Churches: A “fellowship” of mutual enrichment on the
path of searching], in Ἱστορία τῆς Ὀρθοδοξίας [History of Orthodoxy],
Vol. VIII (n.p: Ekdoseis ROAD, n.d. [actual place and date of publication: Athens,
2009]), p. 306.
27. Θεοδρομία
(January-March 2009), pp. 63-74.
28. A
statement of the ecumenist Metropolitan Emmanuel of France at a service of
joint prayer with Roman Catholics held at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
on May 21, 2014, in anticipation of the meeting between Patriarch Bartholomew
and Pope Francis in Jerusalem: “Ὀρθόδοξοι καὶ Kαθολικοὶ ‘ἑνώθηκαν’στὴν Παναγία
τῶν Παρισίων!!! Kι ὅμως οἱ Ποιμένες μας συνεχίζουν νὰ τοὺςMνημονεύουν!”
[Orthodox and Catholics are “united” at Notre Dame de Paris!!!And yet, our
Shepherds continue to commemorate them!], http://paterikiparadosi.blogspot.com/
2014/05 /blog-post_1206. html (accessed June 28, 2014).
29. See
Charalambos Soteropoulos, Θέματα δογματικῆς θεολογίας καὶ πνευματικῆς ζωῆς
κατὰ τὴν διδασκαλίαMαξίμου τοῦὉμολογητοῦ [Issues in dogmatic theology and
spiritual life according to the teaching of Maximos the Confessor]
(Athens: 2003), pp. 15-16, which contains references to the relevant
works of St. Maximos.
• It is
worth noting, here, that our denigrator gives expression, in his “Encyclical
Sermon,” to a novel definition of heresy, unknown in Patristic literature, to
wit, that heresy is “the truth taken to extremes”! However, the Truth, in and
of itself, does not admit of being thus “taken,” but only of corruption,
adulteration, or addition and subtraction. The purpose of our denigrator’s
view, we suppose, is to mislead: those who observe and apply the Divine Will to
matters of the Faith, severing communion with heretics, are allegedly led to
“extremes,” whereas those who maintain their reprehensible communion with those
denounced for heresy and content themselves merely with “protests,” are
supposedly following the middle way. On this point, though, St. Mark of Ephesus
offers clear and illuminating comments: “Never have ecclesiastical affairs been
corrected through middle ways. There is no mean between truth and falsehood;
but just as one who has departed from the light is of necessity in darkness, so
also we would truly say that he who diverges even slightly from the truth is
henceforth subject to falsehood. Although it is possible to speak of a middle
state between light and darkness—that which is called twilight—one could not
even conceive of a mean between truth and falsehood, however hard he
might strive
to do so” (“Epistle from Mark of Ephesus to George Scholarios,” §2, in Louis Petit
[ed.], “Documents Relatifs au Concile de Florence” [Documents pertaining to the
Council of Florence], No. XVI, Patrologia Orientalis, Vol. XVII [Paris:
Firmin-Didot, 1923], p. 461).
30. Jevtić, Ἡ
Ἐκκλησιολογία τοῦ Ἀποστόλου Παύλου, p. 182.
31. St. John
Chrysostomos, “Homily on the Verse ‘The Son Doeth Nothing of Himself, But What He
Seeth the Father Do,” §7, Patrologia Gr.ca, Vol. LVI, col. 256. See also
Jevtić, Ἡ Ἐκκλησιολογία τοῦ Ἀποστόλου Παύλου, p. 323, n. 332.
32.
Protopresbyter Theodoros Zeses, “Ἀνησυχητικὲς Ἐξελίξεις.Nέα ἀνοίγματα στὸ
Bατικανὸ καὶ στοὺς Προτεστάντες. Φανάρι καὶ Ἀθήνα ἀντίπαλοι καὶ συνοδοιπόροι”
[Disquieting developments. New overtures toward the Vatican and Protestantism.
The Phanar and Athens are rivals and fellow-travellers], Θεοδρομία (April-June
2003), pp. 284, 285, 286.
33. St.
Theodore the Studite, “Epistle I.36,” Patrologia Graeca, Vol. XCIX, col.
1033D.
34. St. Mark
of Ephesus, “Apologia uttered Impromptu at the Time of His Death,” Patrologia
Graeca, Vol. CLX, col. 536CD.
35. St. Athanasios
the Great, “Epistle to Monks,” Patrologia Graeca, Vol. XXVI, col.
1188BC; see also “St. Athanasios the Great: Teacher of Orthodox Walling-Off,” http://hsir.org/p/5p7 (accessed June 28,
2014).
36.
Protopresbyter Theodoros Zeses, “Kινδυνεύει τώρα σοβαρὰ ἡ Ὀρθοδοξία” [Orthodoxy
is now in serious danger], Θεοδρομία (January-March 2007), p. 103.
37. Seventh OEcumenical
Synod, Session IV, in J.D.Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et
Amplissima Collectio, Vol. XIII, col. 4C; cf. II Thessalonians 2:15.
38. Cf.
II St. Timothy 3:14.
39.
Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem.
40. “Reply
of the Orthodox Patriarchs of the East to Pope Pius IX [1848],” §17, in Ioannes
Karmires, Tὰ Δογματικὰ καὶ Συμβολικὰ Mνημεῖα τῆς ᾿Oρθοδόξου Kαθολικῆς ᾿Eκκλησίας
[The Dogmatic and Credal Monuments of the Orthodox Catholic Church], 2nd
ed. (Graz: Akademische Druck-u.Verlagsanstalt, 1968), p. 920 [1000].
41. St.
Justin (Popović) of Ćelije, “Orthodoxy and Ecumenism: An Orthodox Appraisal and
Testimony,” in “‘The Greatest Snare of the Enemy’: The World Council of
Churches: The World Hodgepodge of Heresies,” http://hsir.org/p/n6 (accessed
June 28, 2014).
42. Canon XV
of the First-Second Synod (“A Contribution to the Theology of Orthodox
Resistance and Walling-Off,” http://hsir.org/p/r44 (accessed June 28, 2014).
43.Θεοδρομία
(April-June 2009), pp. 176-202; http://www.impantokratoros.gr/FA9AF77F.en.aspx
(accessed June 28, 2014).
44.Metropolitan
Cyprian of Oropos and Phyle (†), “‘Schism’ or ‘Walling-Off’? The Calendar
Question and the Heresy of Ecumenism,” §H (The “Old Calendarist unia”), http://hsir.org/p/57c (accessed June 28,
2014).
Translation
from the original Greek by the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies,
Etna, CA.
