ORTHODOX MISCELLANY- History, Ecclesiology, Spirituality, and the Struggle Against Ecumenism

THE QUESTION OF GRACE IN THE MYSTERIES (SACRAMENTS) OF THE OFFICIAL LOCAL CHURCHES Excerpted from the 2013 work, The Ecclesiological Position of the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria , by Bishop Photii of Triaditza, translated and published by the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, Etna, CA. The Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria has no communion with the official local Churches. Walling oneself off from such communion does not require an unequivocal affirmation that these Churches have completely fallen away from the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and that the Mysteries performed in them are deprived of Grace. Sufficient grounds for the cessation of ecclesiastical communion is the fact that the episcopate of these churches preach heresy or allow its dissemination through their passivity and, therefore, abide in ecclesiastical communion with bishops preaching or tolerating heresy. Clergy, monastics, and laity who break ecclesiastical communion with bish...

Archpriest George Primak on Grace in the Moscow Patriarchate Since none of our First Hierarchs and bishops of blessed memory have said that there is no grace in the MP, they [that is, supporters of the ROCOR/MP union talks] want us to believe that this means there is grace in the MP. This is a very strange approach to a very important question. It would be more logical and more convincing to indicate when and where it was said or written that there is complete [полная] grace there. If our hierarchs believed that there was complete grace there, then why did they categorically refuse to have eucharistic communion with the grace-filled Church? Most likely, nowhere was it said or written that there is complete grace there. Moreover, one can find personal statements of our hierarchs indicating the complete opposite. Our Church does not have prayerful communion with the Churches that have adopted the new calendar, but I don't remember our hierarchs ever calling them graceless. Let’s thin...

When in the 14th century, the Western monk Barlaam came to Byzantium and preached created Grace of God, the Orthodox faithful with Saint Gregory Palamas confessed that divine Grace is uncreated. This is also an important difference. If divine Grace is created, it cannot divinize man. The purpose of the life in Christ, if divine Grace is created, cannot be theosis but ethical improvement. For this reason, the westerners do not speak about theosis as the aim of the life of man, but about ethical perfection—that we ought to become better men, not, however, gods by grace. As a result, the Church cannot be a communion of theosis, but a foundation affording to men justification in a nominalist and legal manner by means of a created grace. In the final analysis, the very truth of the Church as real theanthropic communion is abolished. In this case, the Mysteries of the Church are not signs of the presence of God in the Church and of the communion with the uncreated Grace of God, but in some w...

"I want to be sincere with you, I respect your strictness, but my faith is different. I believe that the Holy Mysteries of the New Calendarists possess grace. And you know, it’s a very good thing that I did not sign the 1974 Encyclical. I did not, and of course I know the hypocrisy of those who did. They didn't believe in it and would never have dared to [originally] introduce it." - Metropolitan Petros of Astoria, during a visit to the Holy Synod of the Matthewites in 1986. Quoted by Archimandrite Kyrikos Kontogiannis (later Matthewite Metropolitan of Mesogaia) in A Brief Sketch of the New Calendarist and Florinite Schisms , 1989, pages 24-25 (in Greek).

  Monument to Orthodoxy: The Trial of a Zealot   We present to you the minutes of the trial of the Athonite Zealot Monk Theokletos Germanos (in the world, Thomas Vasileiou), which took place in 1973. The reason for the trial of Fr. Theokletos was his cessation of the commemoration of the name of the then Patriarch of Constantinople Dimitrios. The dialogues are particularly revealing regarding persons and views, and Fr. Theokletos' boldness is most impressive, reminiscent of the ancient Fathers in times of heresy. PATRIARCHAL EXARCHY 1) President: Metropolitan Maximos of Stavroupolis 2) Exarch: Metropolitan Dionysios of Drama 3) Exarch: Metropolitan Titus of Rethymno and Mylopotamos   COMMITTEE 4) Protos : Elder Archimandrite Mitrophanes of Hilandar 5) Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Dionysiou, Archimandrite Gabriel 6) Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou, Archimandrite Papa-Ephraim [later Abbot of St. Anthony's Monastery in Arizona] 7) Former Abb...

  Economia and Akrivia in relations with heretics in the teaching of St. Theodore the Studite St. Theodore the Studite left us a particularly useful work, especially for our times, when new and personal reinterpretations and distortions are emerging regarding how the fight against the heresy of ecumenism should be conducted. Initially involved in the Moechian controversy (the adulterous synod), and later in the struggle against Iconoclasm, St. Theodore wrote numerous letters to clergy, laity, and monks, in which he provides concrete examples of the attitude that Orthodox Christians should have towards heretics and those in communion with them. We note that St. Theodore the Studite (+826) broke communion with heretical bishops during a period when Canon 15 of the First-Second Council (issued only in 861) did not yet exist. Therefore, the practice of breaking communion should be viewed more broadly than this canon, which does not exhaust the subject, nor was it intended to do so. I...

  St. Ignáty Brianchaninov on Spiritual Warfare: from The Arena For his invisible warfare or conflict with man, especially by means of sinful thoughts and imaginations, the fallen angel relies on the mutual affinity of the sins one with another. This conflict never ceases day or night, but it becomes especially intense and furious when we stand for prayer. Then, according to the expression of the holy Fathers, the devil gathers the most monstrous thoughts from everywhere and pours them on our soul. First he reminds us of all who have wronged or offended us. He tries to present all the insults, wrongs and injuries inflicted on us in the most lurid colors. He points out the necessity for retaliation and resistance to them by demanding justice, common sense, the public good, self-preservation, self-defense. It is obvious that the enemy tries to shake the very foundation of prayer, namely forgiveness and meekness, so that the building erected on this foundation may collapse of its own...

Holy Diocese of Astoria New York, America To the devout Christian faithful of the Church of Greece My beloved Children in the Lord, It is safe to say that the latest events have become known to all of us, which have had as its result the (uncanonical) “removal” of my name from the members of the Holy Synod, precisely because I did not want to sign the encyclical number 1191, dated June 5th, 1974. And, also, as it is understood on page nine of the pamphlet, “THUS DO WE BELIEVE, THUS DO WE SPEAK,” I have repeatedly refused my signature on this, as, in this case, it does not express the truth on this matter and at the same time constituted a clear overreach of the rights of a local Synod of the Hierarchy (see also “Orthodox Word”, October 1974, page 3 in my related article).  The truth of the above was recently confirmed by the excerpt from the Minutes of the plenary session of the Russian Hierarchy Abroad [ROCOR]. In it, the following is stated regarding the issue that concerns us: “...