A Fruitless Argument

Most Reverend Georgiy (Kravchenko), Bishop of Bolgrad and Belgorod-Dnestrovsk (ROCOR-Agafangel)

[Since 2011, Archbishop of Chișinău and Moldova]

 

Unfortunately, the question of whether “official” Orthodox churches in the World Council of Churches (WCC) have grace or do not have grace is a constant issue among anti-ecumenists.  Many of these churches have accepted the new calendar and are continually injecting new heretical “religious” principles into the life of their church, which leads, of course, to the dilution of the doctrinal teachings of the Church, which is a deadly sin in the eyes of God and the Holy Church.  Throughout all of this, the main point is lost, how does one remain faithful when a church has changed from within and not sin before God and the Holy Church?

We are all well acquainted with the Gospel parable of the wheat and tares and know that the Head of the Church, Jesus, forbade Apostles James and John to cast fire from above unto the sinful people, saying, “you do not know what kind of spirit you are of,” for the Son of God did not come to destroy the souls of man, but to save them. (Luke 9:54-55) We also believe that God revealed only as much of Himself as is necessary for our salvation.  All that is left unknown is a divine mystery, which is not known even to the angels.  We do not have the right to direct God on where and how to act, especially as we are taught by the Orthodox catechism that, “The Church is holy, even though it contains sinners.  Sinners who do not purify themselves through true repentance do not prevent the Church from being holy.  Unrepentant sinners or the visible or hidden actions of church officials will be cut out like dead elements from the body of the Church by God’s judgment, and in this way, it remains holy…”

The second half of the 15th canon of the First-Second Council clearly and definitively lays down the law on how the faithful of the Holy Church should act in circumstances similar to those in which we presently find ourselves in: “If one of the bishops, metropolitans, or patriarchs begins to preach any heretical teaching that has been condemned by the councils, then the other clerics and faithful have the right and are even obliged (before the matter is considered by a council, as cited in the 15th canon of the First-Second Council), to immediately leave the bishop, metropolitan, or patriarch they are accountable to.  Note that not only will they not be subjected to any canonical punishment, but on the contrary they will be worthy of praise, for in doing so, they did not condemn or rise up against actual, lawful bishops, but against false-bishops and false-teachers.  They did not cause a schism in the church, but on the contrary prevented a schism in the church and avoided dividing it.” Bishop John of Smolensk, who correctly and in complete accordance with the study of the canons, points out in his commentary of this canon, that a cleric will not be guilty, but rather will be lauded for leaving his bishop, if the latter “is preaching any heretical teaching openly and publicly in the church, revealing that it is premeditated and leading to an obvious contradiction of the church and is not expressing simply his personal opinion, which can just as easily be retracted by him personally, without disturbing the peace of the church.”

St. Maximos the Confessor, martyred for Christ’s Truth, wrote, “I categorically refuse to having anything to do with heretical bishops, but rather hold fast to the faithful course of the historical Church, that of Christ, the Apostles, and the Council Fathers, for if you fall away from the visible Church, you separate yourself from the hidden, which is inseparably linked to the former.  The pure, sinless Bride of Christ, free of any blemish or imperfection, dwells in the being of the historic Church, with its episcopate begun by God, and its salvific mysteries.”

This should be enough for us to understand that the question of grace or the lack of grace should not trouble the anti-ecumenists, but rather, they should concern themselves with the question of the earnestness of their resistance to heresy and the matter of saving souls.  Currently, among the anti-ecumenists, we observe how some of them, who profess to be defenders of the truth, have erased the first part of the 15th canon of the First-Second Council from their memory and are inventing “their” new heresies, which HAVE NOT BEEN CONSIDERED BY THE HOLY COUNCILS OR THE FATHERS.  Then they accuse everyone else of these “heresies” and then triumphantly separate themselves from everyone else “based on the second part of the 15th canon of the First-and-Second Council.”  In this way they transform the act of standing for the purity of the Orthodox faith into something unlawful and calamitous to the soul, for it is exactly such people who are condemned by the first part of this canon.  Those who “under the pretext of various accusations, leave their prelates and cause schisms and divide the oneness of the Church.”  There is but one conclusion, the grace of God is a two-edged sword and depending on the free will of a believer can either spare or cleave that person.  Therefore the tragedy for those who profess to be faithful Christians, but who nevertheless depart from Christ’s Truth either by word or deed and sow discord and temptation in the Church is that the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they knowingly disobey, stands in judgment of them, as stated by Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 9:2-9).  Therefore, the discord, mutual accusations and division among the anti-ecumenists in this question is quite harmful and fruitless and only pleases the enemies of Orthodoxy.

 

Source: The Sower, Vol. 1, Issue 3, August-September 2010, with slight corrections.