A Letter of Orthodox Confession and
Walling Off
Archimandrite
Adrianos, Former Confessor and Elder at the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount
Sinai
Reverend Fathers, beloved
children in the Lord: May the Most Blessed Theotokos protect us and
guide us on the path of salvation!
1. The Necessity
of an Orthodox Confession
It is truly good and sweet for
Monastics to live a life of prayerful stillness, and what is more, this is
their calling. However, when times are difficult, as they are today, when the
spiritual Ship of the Holy Orthodox Church is suffering the deadly plagues of
the last times, to acquiesce is a denial of the Faith, and the lack of a
consistent confession in deed and word is completely inexcusable.
St Theodore the Studite is very
clear and unambiguous: "For it is a commandment of the Lord that we
should not keep silent at a time when the Faith is in peril. Hence when it is a
matter of Faith, one cannot say, 'Who am I?' A Priest, perhaps? That has
nothing to do with it. A ruler? Nor does this. A soldier? So what? A farmer?
This, too, is beside the point. A pauper, perhaps, who only provides his daily
sustenance? '...I have no stake or interest in the matter.' Woe, the stones
would cry out, and you are silent and unconcerned?" (Epistle
II.81; PG 99:1321B).
Unfortunately, the shepherds of
the official Church, when they are not preaching in an un-Orthodox manner, keep
their lips closed in sinful silence. This is precisely what academic theology
is doing. I hoped in my prayers that some barrage and censure would be directed
against all of the uncanonical and un-Orthodox activities which are taking
place in the Church, and which are increasing day by day at a most alarming
rate rather than diminishing.
2. Un-Orthodox
Philopapism
Everyone is aware of the
so-called "dialogue of love," which the unfortunate Patriarch
Athenagoras inaugurated and which his like-minded successors Demetrios and
Bartholomew have continued, with the heretical and anti-Greek Pope.
The Holy Hieromartyr and
Equal-to-the-Apostles Cosmas of Aitolia denounces the Pope of Rome as ANTICHRIST
and urges us to curse him for all of the tribulations which, on his account,
will assail our blessed nation and our Holy Orthodoxy.
The Latin-minded Patriarch
Athenagoras preached that the Orthodox Church, prior to him, was in error, and
he officially lifted the anathemas against pan-heretical Papism, while the
Papophiles who have continued his anti-Orthodox course formally proclaimed
only last year in Balamand, Lebanon, that Papism and Orthodoxy are
"Sister Churches" in the full sense of the term.
The deceitful slogans and sermons
concerning love and peace overlook the true unity of the Faith and promote a
love without Truth, even though Love and Truth are inseparable.
The great Joseph Bryennios writes
the following about this false peace: "It is good for all to be at peace,
as long as they agree on piety..., because there is evil concord just as
there is good discord. Thus, it is possible to be correctly separated
and incorrectly to agree. For to those for whom friendship is an occasion
for perdition, hatred becomes the basis for virtue. And disagreement for the
sake of dispassion is better than agreement" (The Complete Works of
Joseph Bryennios, Vol. I, p. 482).
3. Sinai's Fall to
Ecumenism
For thirty consecutive years I
served faithfully at the Holy Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, where
God walked. I was a daily Priest, a Spiritual Father, a chanter, and a hermit
at the Holy Hesychasterion of the Monk-Martyrs Galaction and Episteme.
For many years I endured the
insults and slights that came forth from the Patriarchate of Constantinople
against the spotless Bride of Christ, the Most Holy Orthodox Church!
I exercised oikonomia for
a period of time, awaiting—albeit in vain—the repentance and return of the
innovators to the correct path. However, the spirit of heretical Ecumenism has
soaked to the marrow not only the clergy of the Phanar, but unfortunately also
the clergy of other local Orthodox Churches, the official Church of Greece
being no exception.
Unfortunately Damianos, the
Archbishop and Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Sinai, was also attacked by the
virus of ecumenism, and, in particular, he ceased to commemorate Patriarch
Diodoros of Jerusalem after the relevant decision of the so-called "Great
and Extraordinary Synod" of the Phanar, which was directed in a spirit of
persecution against His Beatitude in July of 1993.
In this way, Archbishop Damianos
sides with the friends of Papism and Protestantism, prays with them, and
contributes to the apostasy of ecumenism.
I personally, as much as other
Fathers of the Monastery, in private and in gatherings, censured him, because
we could not tolerate joint prayers with innovators and the friends of
heretics.
However, he "did not want
to understand." He continued and continues to preach with bared head
in words and deeds whatever the Latin-minded Patriarch Bartholomew of
Constantinople and the others who hold the same views preach and practice. And
not only that, he publicly insults the Spiritual Father of the Holy Monastery
of St. Catherine, Patriarch Diodoros, in an unseemly fashion.
We reproached Archbishop
Damianos, who had deviated terribly, for unjustifiably breaking off
commemoration of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, insofar as those living in the
Monastery are canonically obligated to commemorate the Presiding Bishop of the
Holy City, Jerusalem, since from its creation the Holy Monastery of St.
Catherine has been spiritually subject to the Patriarch of Jerusalem; ...but to
no avail!
4. The Termination
of My Relations with the "Official" Orthodox
In the light of all of these
considerations, and of many others which are neither written down nor
described, I decided to break ecclesiastical communion with St. Catherine's
and to relieve myself of my responsibilities.
My soul is distressed, brethren,
Fathers, and children beloved in the Lord, because Holy Orthodoxy is being
beheaded by the sword of ecumenism. Holy things are being given to dogs and the
Pearl is being trampled by swine.
I abandoned the security of the
Holy Monastery of St. Catherine and went forth into the struggle, because it
was not possible for me to do otherwise.
Orthodoxy was in peril; Piety,
our Mother, was being blasphemed; the worship handed dozen by the Fathers was
being betrayed. How could I put up with this, when I had been fighting for
Orthodoxy for the whole of my life up to the present?
I went to Australia to meet my
brother (according to the flesh), and there I preached against ecumenism and
all the heresies. From the pulpit I censured all those who undertake joint
prayers and dialogues with the Papists, the ecumenists, and heretics of every
kind.
The Papophile and ecumenist
Archbishop Stylianos was very bothered, since his views were not in accordance
with what the Sacred Canons of our Holy Orthodox Church prescribe.
Naturally, I did not go to take a
blessing from the impious Archbishop Stylianos, because he preaches with bared
head the pan-heresy of ecumenism and blasphemes the Name of the Holy Trinity
with his anti-Orthodox proclamations.
I did the very same thing during
my visit to Canada, because Bishop Sotirios of Toronto, a subordinate of the
arch-ecumenist Iakovos, has the same views as Archbishop Stylianos. About the
unfortunate Archbishop Iakovos, what can I say? His unorthodox views have been
notorious for many years.
5. My Break with
the Metropolitan of Zakynthos
After my return to Greece, I went
to my native place, the island of Zakynthos. There the Metropolitan of the
official Church, Panteleimon (Bezenitis), is well-known for his ecumenist
views. I was flabbergasted when he stated to me privately that the Latins
are not heretics...!
Naturally, I broke off all
ecclesiastical communion with him.
On my father's property in the
village of Pianos, Zakynthos, there was an old family Chapel, which I renovated
in order to Liturgize. The Latin-minded Metropolitan Panteleimon responded
with persecution: he ordered the police to seal up the Chapel.
However, the pious laypeople
should be informed that Metropolitan Panteleimon was one of the many Orthodox
who took part in the Seventh General Assembly of the World Council of Churches
in Canberra, Australia (February 1991), where there were prodigies and
omens, and sky-high blasphemies against the Holy Spirit were heard.
The Ecumenist Metropolitan
Panteleimon was not bothered by the heretics of all kinds who wander around the
blessed island of St. Dionysios, nor by the church of the heretical Latins on
the island. The only thing that bothered him was my own return to the genuine
sources of our Holy Faith and the consistency of my Orthodoxy.
6. My Accession to
the Orthodox in Resistance
Indeed, to the extent that I
resolved to struggle for my Confession, I knew that I would experience warfare,
which has begun and which continues.
Not having anything to reproach
me with, the ecumenists spread the rumor that I was in a state of delusion [plani].
Why? Because I ceased to commune with the ecumenists, because I wage war on
ecumenism, because I do not accept joint prayers and friendships with the Pope
and the Papophiles, and finally, because I sided with the Orthodox in
Resistance, who follow the Old Calendar.
In fact, I went over to the Holy
Synod in Resistance of Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili, since it is the
duty of Orthodox to break off ecclesiastical communion with and commemoration
of innovating Hierarchs, to distance themselves from them, and to commune only
with those Orthodox who are genuine in deed and word.
This cessation of relations with
ecumenist shepherds is called a "walling-off" (Canon 15 of the
First-Second Synod).
We ought to wall ourselves off
and separate ourselves from a Bishop who "is manifestly at fault either
in point of piety or in point of righteousness, that is to say..., is
manifestly either heretical or unjust" (Canon 31 of the Holy Apostles,
Interpretation of St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite).
When Bishops preach heresy
publicly, then they are "pseudo- Bishops," and all those who
"wall themselves off" from such pseudo-Bishops are not only not
subject to penalties, but on the contrary are worthy of "honor"
(Canon 15 of the First-Second Synod).
St. John Chrysostomos says in
this regard that when the Bishop is "wicked in regard to Faith,"
we should "flee and avoid him, not only if he be a man, but even if he be
an Angel come down from Heaven" (Homily 34 on Hebrews; PG 63:231).
St. Theodore the Studite states
very plainly that "we have a precept from the Apostle [Paul] himself, that
if anyone teaches or enjoins us to do anything other than what we have received
and what the Canons of the universal and local Synods prescribe, we should
regard him as unacceptable and not consider him to belong to the holy
clergy" (Epistle I.24; PG 99:988A).
When the Faith is in peril, then
silence is reckoned to be a violation of a commandment of the Lord: "It
is a commandment of the Lord that we should not keep silent at a time when the
Faith is in peril" (St. Theodore the Studite, PG 99:1321B).
Therefore, when heresy is
preached, the Orthodox should (1) not culpably keep silence, but
should speak the word of Truth with boldness, should (2) "wall
themselves off" from false teachers and false Bishops, and should
(3) vigorously fight the good fight "of the Orthodox and
God-pleasing resistance" (St. Theodore the Studite, Epistle I.39, PG
99:10450).
Orthodox resistance means
opposition and struggle against those who uncanonically reformed the
Ecclesiastical Calendar handed down by Tradition and who preach the pan-heresy
of ecumenism.
Orthodox resistance means
that we exercise the right, which belongs to the People of God, to reject
anything un-Orthodox imposed on us by shepherds who do not teach aright the
word of Truth.
A decision in the Orthodox Church
is never imposed from above, as it is by Papism: the People of God are the
defenders of the Faith, wielding a veto, rejecting whatever is contrary to
Tradition, and even judging the Orthodoxy of any (Ecumenical Synod that can be
characterized as a "Robber Synod."
The Holy Synod in Resistance
of Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili carries on this struggle of an
"Orthodox and God-pleasing resistance" with consistency and
discernment, walking the royal path of moderation and working for the union of
the divided Orthodox Church through the convocation of a unifying Orthodox
synod, which would condemn the pan-heresy of ecumenism and reinstate the
traditional Ecclesiastical Calendar, for the reconciliation of the pious people
and the unity of the Orthodox festal Calendar.
It is abundantly clear
that the Holy Synod in Resistance does not aspire to create "another
Church," but to preserve the continuity of the One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church, that is, the Orthodox Church, to which the erring Orthodox
clergy and laity, who have embraced the deceitful slogans—which are deadly to
the Church—of the so-called ecumenical movement and who participate in the
pan-heretical "World Council of Churches," are called to return in
repentance.
7. Do Your
Orthodox Duty
Beloved children in the Lord:
I have concisely delineated the
reasons which impelled me to the very serious step of breaking communion with
the ecumenists and of joining the Holy Synod in Resistance of the True (Old
Calendar) Orthodox Church of Greece.
This action of mine, which was a
fruit of prayer and agony for the preservation of my Orthodox confession, does
not have a merely personal character.
I acted in this way because I was
oppressed by the weight of responsibility for all my spiritual children, who
await from me a word of salvation and correct guidance.
With the present letter I ask you
to examine in depth all of the points that I mentioned above, to study the
subject of the pan-heresy of Ecumenism more closely, to think long and hard
about it, and, when you have prayed to our Lady Theotokos, to do your
Orthodox duty.
The times are extremely critical;
the signs of the times are being fulfilled; the "Apostasy" is
culminating with the participation, unfortunately, not only of the New
Calendarists, but also of all the Orthodox ecumenists.
We will have to answer terribly
on the Day of Judgment if we keep silent, if we commune with the innovators and
the Latin-minded, and if we do not imitate our Holy Ancestors, who made no
concessions on matters of Faith.
Do not forget that St. Theodore
the Studite proclaimed the following: "Chrysostomos loudly declared
that the enemies of God were not only the heretics, but also those who commune
with such people" (Epistle I.39; PG 99:1049A).
"Let us stand aright! Let
us stand with fear!"
In concluding this humble letter
of mine, I appeal with sincere love to the ecumenists and the other enemies of
our Holy Faith, and I remind them that our Orthodox Church always conquered,
conquers, and will conquer Her adversaries, because She is watered by the
blessed blood of countless Holy Martyrs and Confessors of our Savior Jesus
Christ.
So let the Latin-minded, the
ecumenists, the innovators, and the heretics repent, and let them return to the
Holy Orthodox Ark of salvation, because, as St. Photios the Great says: "There
is one Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, not more, nor even two;
congresses other than this are synagogues of wicked men and a synod of
dissenters; thus do we the true Christians think, thus do we believe, thus do
we proclaim" (Epistle 284, Against the Heresy of the
Theopaschites).
Sunday of Holy Pentecost
June 6, 1994 (Old Style)
+ Archimandrite
Adrianos
formerly of Sinai
English text (slightly
corrected) by Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, Etna, CA, 1994.
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