The Confession of Faith and Conclusions of the 2018 Romanian Orthodox Synaxis

 The Confession of Faith and Conclusions of the Orthodox Synaxis from Romania

January 25, 2018

We give thanks to God, the One worshipped in Trinity, to the Most Holy Mother of God, to Saint Gregory the Theologian, to Saint Vetranion of Tomis, and to all those commemorated with them today, and to all the saints, for having deemed us worthy to reunite in the spirit of Orthodox confession.

In today's Synaxis, a theological text composed by Hieromonk Spiridon Roșu was read, consisting of 68 critical observations regarding the study by Mihai Silviu Chirilă, published in September 2017, titled “Participation in Heresy - Biblical and Patristic Expression.” Although invited, the author of the study was not present. The observations on the study were accepted as Orthodox, unequivocally demonstrating that a third state, intermediate between Orthodoxy and heresy (participation in heresy), lacks a patristic theological foundation.

During the discussions within the synaxis, an attempt was made to find the patristic response to several controversial issues generated by the idea of the existence of this aforementioned intermediate state. The participants of the synaxis concluded the following:

1. After the emergence and spread of a heresy, still not synodally condemned, within the life of the Church, a member of the Church can only be situated in one of the two states: Orthodox or heretical!

2. Any form of ecclesiastical communion with heresy is heresy. The Holy Fathers are categorical in this regard.

3. Participation in heresy [via intercommunion or commemoration], knowingly or unknowingly, is still heresy.

4. Heresy, whether it has been synodally condemned or not, is still heresy.

5. Any other interpretation or attempt to justify heresy does not absolve the heretic from responsibility and guilt before God, the Church, as well as their own conscience.

6. We reject the accusation of schism against us on the grounds that, as followers of the Holy Fathers, we do not accept communion with heresy as a distinct state from the heresy itself.

7. We do not claim that the sacraments performed by ecumenist heretics (who have not yet been synodally condemned) are invalid or that Christ is not present in the Holy Chalice.

8. The sacraments performed by ecumenist heretics are not for the sanctification and salvation of those who receive them, but for their condemnation, due to their heretical faith. This is why we have severed communion with them.

9. The true economy, handed down to us by the Holy Fathers, is that we expect our brothers, clergy and laity, who are in communion with ecumenist heretics, to wall themselves off from heresy. We inform everyone without compelling anyone to do anything against their will.

10. The hypothesis of the automatic withdrawal of grace due to falling into heresy nullifies the synodality of the Church and is of Papist [Scholastic] origin, being condemned by the Church.

11. The members of the Synaxis agree with the idea that it is not necessary to accuse or defend any bishop, because Canon 15 of the First-Second Council of Constantinople from the time of Saint Photios the Great, condemns him if he is a heretic and his words and actions testify against him.

We specify to all the faithful, in order to prevent possible misinterpretations, that we apply the aforementioned Canon 15, we do not create schism in the Church, we do not align ourselves with any schismatic group (whether related to the liturgical calendar or any other), we do not create our own Church (far from such blasphemy), but we faithfully follow the Church's teaching inherited from the Holy Fathers.

We love all our brothers, pray for them, bear no resentments towards anyone, and encourage them not to allow division to work among us. We hope that at the next Synaxis, all the priests who have walled themselves off from the Ecumenist heresy will be present, among whom, although invited today, some could not participate, and others refused to come.

Romanian source: https://ganduridinortodoxie.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/marturisirea-de-credinta-si-concluziile-sinaxei-ortodoxe-de-la-roman.pdf