"...their stance places them outside the Church..."

 

Hieromonk Theodoretos (Mavros)

"O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that here we lie, persuaded by their words."

(... obedient to his words)

 

Approximately 35 years have passed.

It is a self-evident truth in the political sphere that no dictator could stand without collaborators.

The exact same applies to the ecclesiastical sphere. No heretic could thrive without those who would either applaud him or at least silently tolerate his heresy, commune with him, and follow him.

And to be more specific: Ecumenism has been characterized as a pan-heresy by theologians and clergy from all fronts. While it initially began timidly with the slogan of love, it has now come to proclaim "with head uncovered" that Orthodoxy is not the Church, but that together with the other heresies of Papism and Protestantism, it constitutes the Church! The Ecumenist patriarchs achieved this because they had as helpers and co-participants in their unholy endeavor hundreds of bishops and thousands of priests and monks, who either approved or remained silent about the betrayal!

Thus, the heresy of Ecumenism has two characteristics that the old heresies did not have: first, a universal attack against the Orthodox Church, not just against a single doctrine; and second, the almost universal acceptance of the heresy by the leading clergy and theologians of Orthodoxy, with only a few exceptions among priests and monks.

It should be noted that these exceptions refer only to the theoretical field, that is, to words and writing, without any practical expression of resistance, such as the cessation of communion with the heresy, etc.

What is most sorrowful in this case, however, is the justification that these cassock-wearers of every rank put forward to defend their position. They characteristically say that they act in this way because they wish to remain within the Church, since, as they claim, the moment they cease communion with their heretical superiors or those who commune with them, they will immediately find themselves outside the Church. What a perversion of Orthodox teaching!

While the Holy Canons and the entire chorus of Confessor Fathers characterize the cessation of communion with those who preach heresy as a salvific reaction and a protection of the Church, they claim the exact opposite!

Thus, not only do they ally with heresy and strengthen it by keeping their flock unsuspecting at the side of the heterodox, but they also insult all the Confessor Fathers of the past, labeling them as having struggled outside the Church—since, as is well known, they did the exact opposite of what these individuals do today.

A most clear proof of their subjective and utterly unorthodox position is that they provide no testimony to support their claims. Lacking patristic arguments, they continuously fabricate new ones on the spot to console their followers, for every so often, the heretical ecumenists they follow render their previous arguments useless through their words and deeds!

We write the above because a recent article was published in Orthodoxos Typos (12 March [year not recorded]) by the abbot of the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou on Mount Athos, in which, while the "ecumenistic delirium" of our days is condemned, it is simultaneously emphasized that "we remain in our Holy Church because we believe that we can struggle within the Church and not outside of it."

The truth in this case, however, is that their stance places them outside the Church that is struggling against heresy and consequently among the ranks of the heretics with whom they commune. If one considers that the Athonites commemorate Bartholomew, the leader of the ecumenists, then one can grasp the tragic nature of the abbot’s statement above, which, unfortunately, expresses the common belief of the Athonites—except, of course, for the zealot fathers.

The very words of St. Athanasius the Great, who urges the faithful to pray outdoors rather than commune with the Arians (VEPES, 33, 199), and those of Saints [John] Chrysostom and Theodore the Studite, who emphasize that the enemies of God are not only the heretics but also those who commune with them, even if they theoretically reject the heresy (P.G. 99, 1164A), utterly overthrow the abbot's article from its foundations.

The tragic aspect is that the Athonite abbot, at the end of his article, invokes the prayers of the confessors who struggled "unto death" against heresy. However, it is historically proven that only those who ceased communion with heresy resisted "unto death," and for this, they were exiled or put to death.

P.S.

Someone once asked me, "Where do you stand?"—meaning ecclesiastically. I asked him what is written here: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and injustice. Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside of them may also be clean." (Matt. 23:25-26)

He answered correctly, so I continued by saying: "I am inside the cup—verse 27 differs slightly—and I am cleansing it as much as I can."

He shook his head and left.

 

Greek source: https://orthodox-voice.blogspot.com/2024/12/blog-post_30.html