The Dogmas of Orthodoxy are Nourishment for the Soul. Their Violation Separates us from God and from the Church.

Hieromonk Lavrentie | March 9, 2025

 

On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the first of Great Lent, we honor those who fought for the defense of the right faith and we become aware of the danger of heresies. From this, we learn that the unaltered preservation of the dogmas is vital for eternal life. It is not about a theoretical and abstract effort, but about living the teaching of Christ without transforming it into a human tradition. It is not so much the mistaken understandings that are rejected, as the fallen mind which cannot fully receive and preserve unaltered the words of the Lord. We do not honor so much the rhetoric of the Saints who formulated the dogmatic truth against the heretics, as their zeal for the God-illuminated understanding and the spiritual knowledge through which we receive eternal life.

I consider it useful to highlight certain aspects: 1. the dogmas are not rational theorizing, but holy thoughts in which God is hidden and through which He works, 2. the distortion of the teaching of faith is closely connected with the sickness of the soul, 3. morality, love, and any deed detached from the right glorification of the Lord are not salvific, and 4. deviation from the right faith is of capital importance and has always been sanctioned by exclusion from the Church, whereas moral falls do not lead to separation from it.

1. The dogmas are words full of life, not logical theoretical systems

As Christ Himself says, His words, that is, the evangelical teachings of the Church, are spirit and are life (John 6:63). Their fulfillment is immortal nourishment for the soul, bringing eternal life into the spirit and heart of the believer. And these are not simply moral commandments, but dogmas and revelations about God and His kingdom, which enlighten and revive the spirit and heart to learn to avoid evil and to love authentic good.

The fundamentals of the faith are acquired within a certain spirituality, not simply through the power of the mind, but through the life of prayer. As St. Basil the Great writes, spiritual knowledge is different from the other sciences in that in those, faith comes first (e.g., that "A" is read and pronounced in such a way), and then knowledge, whereas in spiritual matters the knowledge of doctrinal elements is followed by faith, from which worship springs (Epistle 235).

In their turn, dogmatic formulations express the spirituality behind them; they are not empty abstractions. The distortion of teachings of the faith affects and, even before that, arises from a defective spirituality. For this reason, the stake of dogmatic correctness is a very great one, vital, and it does not lie in words and expressions, but in the meaning and spirit behind them.

The doctrinal struggles that took place throughout time led to the establishment of various dogmas against the heresies that attacked certain points of faith, thereby distorting its entirety. Thus, a rather abstract theological science was born, through definitions made as precise as possible rationally, in order to avoid confusion and falsifications. However, the understanding of these subtleties with the mind does not by itself reveal the life that is hidden in the evangelical teaching. Although this science is useful, it must be framed within personal living so as not to remain dead and devoid of spirit and of divine grace. More precisely, it is not useful to know only the disputed points, but the entire body of apostolic tradition, which, in its turn, must be received through lived experience, not with indifference.

The insistence on finding ever clearer formulations that exclude misinterpretations arises from the need to make a distinction from various deviations. What was essential was not quarrelling over words, but the correct grasping of meanings. For example, the term homoousios = consubstantial was initially condemned along with the heresies of Paul of Samosata, but then, over a century later, it was adopted at the First Ecumenical Council with a different meaning, against the Arian understanding. Similarly, St. Cyril of Alexandria initially spoke of one composite nature of Christ, only for an expression to later be reached that would exclude the fusion of His two natures, namely: two natures in one Hypostasis. From all these we must retain not necessarily the terminology, but the meanings behind it. That is why some may arrive at a pure faith without being familiar with the theological refinements of the Church's treasury, by grasping the authentic spirit. Whereas others happen to remain void of the life behind the words, and even with defective rational understandings.

2. Heresies have behind them a distorted spirit

Faith cannot be received by carnal men, it does not fit into the logic of their thinking, for it is heavenly, by revelation from God, and requires detachment from earthly attachments and a longing for the kingdom above. That is why the Savior said: “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you cannot hear (fulfill) My word” (John 8:43) or: “How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44). And the Apostle Paul shows that deviation in faith comes from a strictly human understanding: “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, turning away from profane and vain babblings and contradictions of the knowledge falsely so-called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith” (1 Tim. 6:20–21), and elsewhere: “For we are not as many, which corrupt (peddle) the word of God” (2 Cor. 2:17).

The very Gospel of Christ was little understood by those who listened to Him because it required liberation from superstitious and earthly conceptions, which people often prefer. In this way, the word of the Lord is nullified and replaced with human traditions (Mark 7:13) and with distorted understandings of various aspects, such as the resurrection of the dead, the laws of marriage, the service of God, and so on. The appearance of separate groups based on particular doctrines, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees, was an early phenomenon. Even Christians were initially considered a sect or heresy by the Jews (cf. Acts 24:5).

Then heresies also arose within Christianity even during the time of the apostles. The Apostle Peter bears witness to these, speaking of “destructive heresies” (2 Pet. 2:1), as does St. John the Evangelist, who refers to the appearance of many antichrists who had gone out from among the Christians (1 John 2:19), who denied the coming of Christ in the flesh. Later, St. Ignatius the God-bearer also writes about these Docetists, who believed that the Lord suffered and lived only in appearance. Also known from the time of the apostles are the Judaizing heretics, condemned at the Apostolic Council, and the Nicolaitans. And a notable heretic, who became a reference point through time, was Simon the Magician, whom St. Irenaeus of Lyon later presents as the prototype of heretics.

Later, Arius became the most well-known heretic by the fact that he was condemned at the First Ecumenical Council. However, the line of heretics did not begin with him, nor did it end with him. But all have as a characteristic the fact that they distorted the truth for fame or for the sake of certain advantages, not being content with the glory from above, but seeking that which is from below. Thus it is that heresies, as groupings and religious systems, distort the divine revelation, replacing it with truncated understandings out of the inability to submit wholeheartedly to the Gospel.

St. Ignatius the God-bearer expresses the danger of heresy very succinctly: “The heretics, in order to appear worthy of belief, mix Jesus Christ with their own thoughts just like those who give poisoned drinks mixed with honey and wine; the one who does not know takes the poisoned drink with pleasure and dies because of that evil sweetness. Beware of them!” (VI, 2 – VII, 1).

3. Morality derives from dogmatic teaching

It is also important for faith to be right because from it springs moral conduct. It leads to the fear of God and to proper behavior. As St. John of Damascus writes, “Faith is tested by works” (Dogmatics, Book Four, IX), as an echo of the apostolic saying: “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Moreover, it gives the power of correction, making room for God to work in the soul. And a distorted faith is of no use, according to the word of the Lord, who says through the prophet Isaiah: “In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9).

Therefore, morality depends on dogmatic teaching in two fundamental aspects. The moral reference points must be correct, not truncated and distorted, and on the other hand, without a sound veneration of God, we do not invisibly receive from Him the power of correction in order to fulfill what is good. The things that are impossible with men are possible with God (Luke 18:27) through grace, that is, to live according to His commandments, without deviations.

Righteousness is from faith, whereas moral living without faith is subject to passions and weaknesses. Non-Christian reference points and efforts toward good are at a material level or of an erroneous spiritual order. Civil law or the shame before men or the aspirations of Eastern spiritual elevation are much inferior and even false in relation to Christ’s demands that we guard not only against evil deeds, but also against thoughts (the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5 of the Gospel according to Matthew). If there is no future Judgment, human good is precarious, formal, and powerless. If there is no uncreated grace, spiritual aspirations will be misguided and lacking the light of the Holy Spirit.

The overcoming of sin and passions is not achieved by chance. Effort is needed, but not only at an external level—it must be a struggle and a good unrest. In fact, the first obstacle in the path of righteousness is ignorance or lack of knowledge. And the one who has the good seeking will find the truth; God will guide him. That is why the majority of those who guard their conscience come also to the knowledge of right-glorifying faith.

Surely the commandments of God are hard, as if they draw the soul out of man (John 10:24). They cannot be fulfilled just in any way, but require the taking up of the cross, the renunciation of all things. Even through pure faith they are difficult to keep, but without this simple disposition, like that of an innocent child (Matt. 18:3), without guile (John 1:47), no one can acquire the kingdom of God within his soul. Human thoughts mixed into the knowledge of the Lord, which do not come from the cleansing of the mind from passions, corrupt even the virtues.

4. The sin of heresy has always been sanctioned by the Church through exclusion from it, whereas moral deviations do not have the same gravity

All sins separate us from God, from His grace. All deprive man of the ability to participate in the services if he remains in them and does not repent of them. But the one who falls into heresy is excluded from communion definitively and is received back, if he returns, through chrismation. Common sins do not lead to this kind of excommunication, no matter how grave they may be.

This has always been the tradition of the Church, from the apostles, to excommunicate heretics and to consider them outside of it. The Apostle Paul speaks about the Judaizers of his time as taking the appearance of apostles (2 Cor. 11:14), while in reality they are not. The Apostle John writes about the Docetists that they had gone out from among them. St. Ignatius the God-bearer insists on the connection with the clergy and on not entering into association with the heretics of that time. St. Justin Martyr exemplifies in his time several groups of heretics who took their name from their founder: Marcionites, Valentinians, Basilidians, Saturnilians (cf. Dialogue with the Jew Trypho, Book I, 35). Most clearly, St. Cyprian of Carthage extensively argues in the third century that heretics are not in the Church and have no Mysteries, and must be received through baptism if they repent. And the later tradition, recorded by various Councils and especially by the Ecumenical ones, confirms the fact that heresies were cast outside the Church.

This attitude stems from the words of the Savior to guard ourselves against false teachers, false christs, and false prophets, and to be watchful concerning them. He also called for vigilance against the leaven of the Pharisees, that is, their teaching. More than that, and more precisely, the Church itself is founded on the rock of right faith, as Christ said to Peter (Matt. 16:18), not on approximate conceptions about God. We simply preserve this same attitude received from the apostles, of holding to the right faith as an indispensable condition for belonging to the Church.

It must also be said that heresies are oppositions to the truth and distortions of it. Something else is the lack of knowledge and dogmatic errors arising from lack of instruction. The latter do not remove a person from the Church. In fact, there are even examples of holy people who held erroneous beliefs (for example, that Melchizedek was Christ, that God has a human form, that the Holy Mysteries are figurative symbols), but who had grace from God and who corrected themselves when they came to know the truth.

On the other hand, heresies do not separate a person from the Church automatically, but only to the extent that he departs from it because of those convictions which draw him out, or when he is officially excluded. Only synodal condemnation seals the heretical mindset of the one in question. Until then, he is still a full member, even holding various ranks in the Church, as was the case with some Patriarchs or bishops. A case that illustrates this fact is that of the Blessed Theodoret of Cyrrhus, who was an opponent of St. Cyril of Alexandria—practically a heretic—but who renounced his error before the Fourth Ecumenical Council and was retained in his episcopal seat, being on the verge of anathematization.

Another aspect is that there are heresies not condemned by a synod because the necessity for this has not arisen. For example, anthropomorphism was not anathematized in any Synod because its theological refutation was sufficient for it to be abandoned. Likewise, the erroneous conceptions about Communion as being the dead body of the Savior which comes to life in the one who receives it did not receive synodal condemnations, but were rejected by the ecclesial conscience.

However, the declared heresies and those imposed through various robber councils have all received condemnation at the same level—that is, synodally. For this reason, I consider that the Council of Crete must also be met with a rejection at the synodal level, for the heresy of ecumenism sealed in its documents and for all its other errors.

In conclusion, vigilance in faith and right understanding constitute the soul of authentic ecclesial life. And this must not be a formal ticking of boxes, an office matter, from the tip of the lips or with proletarian anger, but with the fear of not losing our souls to the claws of delusions that lie in wait on the path of salvation both on the right and on the left. Those anchored in the faith must have the strength and love to draw after them the hesitant and unstable ones, so that they may not be swallowed by heresies, but drawn to the side of right glorification of God.

 

Romanian source:

https://theodosie.ro/2025/03/09/dogmele-ortodoxiei-sunt-hrana-pentru-suflet-incalcarea-lor-ne-desparte-de-dumnezeu-si-de-biserica/