Excerpts from "The Robbers of Divine Teaching"

 We will react after they hold a Common Chalice with the heretics. This is our "red line."

Today, we ["resist from within"] anti-ecumenists have introduced yet another criterion, that of the Common Chalice, that is, the participation of heretics in the Divine Eucharist, in the common "bread." Of course, this has already taken place and continues to take place mainly outside Greece, and "not a leaf was stirred." However, I think it is important to note that we have not encountered this criterion anywhere.

Never did the Fathers reach such levels of retreat as to set such a "red line," which seems akin to the General Staff deciding that it will declare war on Turkey when the Turks dare to raise their flag on the Acropolis! This "red line" is a new, original, and "refined" idea that touches upon "neo-patristic theology," if it does not embrace it tightly!

 

Is Walling Off optional?

In no instance of Walling Off in ecclesiastical history was it ever proposed or taught by the Holy Fathers that there is an option for those who wish to wall themselves off and for those who wish to remain and wait for some Synod to address the matter. In other words, those who wish to be persecuted, to suffer, to be tormented, to be murdered in order to receive the crown of Divine blessedness, but also those who will sit comfortably in their homes and follow heresy and the heterodox Bishop—"until the right time"—will all go to paradise!

Such an evident absurdity would also bring about a terrifying consequence: the majority of the Holy Confessors of the faith would have to be deemed insane because they suffered martyrdom needlessly and without being asked. The "optional" nature of Walling Off is a "neo-patristic" neologism, not of the Ecumenists, but unfortunately of the anti-ecumenists!"

 

Is every believer competent to discern heresy?

Most unfortunately, in the conclusions of the Conference on Walling Off organized by the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus (Nov. 27, 2014), the new episcopal opinion is included, which states that: "Not every member of the Church is competent to identify and safely diagnose heresy, because they do not possess the necessary spiritual prerequisites, that is, they do not have the gift of discernment."

I pity myself and my brothers in the Church who thought that through Holy Chrismation we had received all the gifts of the Holy Spirit! And that: "The true light enlightens every man who comes into the world."

At this Conference, we learned that it was decided to revoke the gifts of the Holy Spirit that were given to the people! Thus, according to those who "enslave the word of God," from Nov. 27, 2014, every baptized and chrismated Orthodox Christian ceases to be a priest, prophet, and king.

 

Is "Walling Off" schism?

Their immediate reaction, with which they hope to frighten both laity and clergy, is to proclaim that Walling Off is schism. They align themselves with the position of Fr. Epiphanios Theodoropoulos, who writes: "Schism is not caused by deviations from the Holy Canons but by the cessation of communion and its denunciation."

This is certainly a distorted definition, as it treats schism as an administrative-external phenomenon and isolates it from its spiritual-internal dimension. Such a definition leads to the unacceptable consequence that a bishop may believe whatever he wishes and preach whatever he wishes, as long as the commemoration of other bishops is not interrupted. This is precisely what we are experiencing today.

This monstrosity, which is foreign to Orthodoxy, is not without origin—it has at least one mother. It is the Protestant theory of "Inclusivity," which states exactly this: that one may believe whatever they wish, as long as they remain in the "church" in communion with others. This is also the foundation of the vast "Branch Theory," which accepts every heresy as part of the truth.

 

What was the stance of Saint Maximus in Rome?

When Saint Maximus was in Rome, he was visited by the imperial envoy Gregory, who had gone to Rome to urge the Pope toward Union (with the Monothelites). Gregory sought to achieve Union based on two entirely heretical documents, the Typos and the Ekthesis. When Maximus realized this, he reacted negatively.

Gregory responded to him, saying, "The Typos does not erase divine teaching but merely silences it in order to accommodate peace." To this, the divine Maximus replied:

"Is there silence and erasure in divine Scripture… If for the sake of economy the saving faith is obliterated within heresy, then this so-called economy is a complete separation from God and not a union according to God. For tomorrow, the ill-named Jews will say: 'Let us accommodate peace between us and unite. Let us remove circumcision, and you remove baptism, and let us no longer quarrel among ourselves.' This was also once proposed by the Arians in the time of Emperor Constantine, saying: 'Let us remove homoousios and heteroousios, and let the Churches be united.' However, our God-bearing Fathers did not accept their proposal but preferred to be persecuted and to die."

Then someone shouted, "With what you are saying, you have torn the Church apart!" To which the Saint replied:

"If the one who speaks the words of the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers is tearing apart the Church, then what shall it be said that he causes to Her who erases their doctrines—without which even the very name of the Church cannot stand?"

 

The "Zealots" and "Old Calendarists"?

For nearly a century now, groups of believers (called "Zealots" or "of the Patristic Calendar") have proceeded with Walling Off against Ecumenism. How, then, will the Lord judge each one? "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?"

Could it be that, in the eyes of God, these "hasty" walled-off Zealots, who "leapt away as from a serpent" from heresy without the support of a Synod, will be the first to be received by God as "laborers of the first hour" in comparison to the "lukewarm," non-walled-off, and those communing with heresy—those so-called "Orthodox" whom He will ultimately "vomit out"?

 

Should we wait to receive a revelation from God?

Some are waiting for certain truly holy Elders to receive a "revelation" from God in order to sound the alarm for Walling Off. I want to record that nowhere have I encountered the protagonists of Walling Off stating that they proceeded with it because they received a "revelation" from God. Their guide was Holy Scripture, the teachings and lives of the Saints, the Synods, and the Holy Canons. That was the "revelation" from God!

Whoever is not convinced by the teaching of Scripture and the Fathers will not be convinced even if a dead man is raised, nor if a "revelation" is given to some Elder. This is what the Lord teaches us in the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus. And from the anti-heretical life of the Church, we see that it is not "revelation" that protects against heresy, but the handed-down teaching.

 

Which Synod will condemn the Ecumenists?

Once, dear reader, a Synod was convened that condemned Arius, Sergius, Bekkos, Kalekas, and all those who communed with them. Perhaps one day it will be God's will for a Synod to be held that will anathematize Metaxakis, Athenagoras, Bartholomew, and all those who communed with them—that is, us! And if such a Synod never takes place on earth, it will certainly take place in heaven, where our Judges will not be the bishops and spiritual fathers of this world, but the Confessors and Martyrs of the Faith.

Whoever prepares himself will face fewer disturbances and dangers, according to "I prepared myself, and I was not troubled." Those who wish may take heed, for "the night will be very long and very dark."

Walling Off is not popular because it stands in opposition to the "tyranny of pleasures." It pertains to the "narrow gate and the difficult way that leads to life, and few are those who find it."

The one who knowingly walls off, allow me to say, using the words of Saint Gregory the Theologian, is the "perfect refugee of the perfect divinity." He is the one who "does not wish to give even the smallest part of his soul to the devil, because he knows that the rest will be useless to God."

 

Excerpts from the Greek work, The Robbers of Divine Teaching, Part II: An Essay on Walling-Off, by Ioannis Rizos, published in 2015. Headings added.

Greek excerpts online: https://entoytwnika1.blogspot.com/2015/12/blog-post_64.html