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

The Royal Path: True Orthodoxy in an Age of Apostasy St. Seraphim of Platina (+1982) Source: The Orthodox Word , Sept.-Oct. 1976 (70), pp 143-149. As the Fathers say, the extremes from both sides are equally harmful ... [We must] go on the royal path, avoiding the extremes on both sides. – St. John Cassian, Conference II Orthodox Christians live today in one of the great critical times in the history of Christ's Church. The enemy of man's salvation, the devil, attacks on all fronts and strives by all means not merely to divert believers from the path of salvation shown by the Church, but even to conquer the Church of Christ itself, despite the Saviour's promise (Matt. 16:18), and to convert the very Body of Christ into an "ecumenical" organization preparing for the coming of his own chosen one, Antichrist, the great world-ruler of the last days. Of course, we know that this attempt of Satan will fail; the Church will be the Bride of Christ even to the end of the w...

  St. Seraphim (Rose) of Platina on the “Panteleimonites” Nov. 1/14, 1979 Sts. Cosmas and Damian  Dear Father Roman [Lukianov],  Christ is in our midst!  Thank you for the letter and the Xeroxes about the “Grabbe affair.”  About Fr. Panteleimon: whatever has happened between us is not due to the recent letters that have been exchanged between us; there is something much deeper involved, and the recent letters are only a small sign of it. Fr. Panteleimon is evidently upset because we dared to express a criticism of several of the opinions held by him and his brothers, but we did this trusting that good relations between us do not depend upon our simply accepting whatever he and his brothers say or write; but evidently he does not agree with this.  I will try to explain briefly what the “deeper” thing is (as we see it) that causes Fr. P. to be unhappy with us. From the very beginning, even before Fr. P. entered our Church, we were extremely open and well-disp...