When the Patristic Teaching is Distorted…

Hieromonk Theodoretos (Mavros) the Hagiorite

 

 

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

Exactly the same applies in the ecclesiastical sphere. No heretic could thrive if he did not have those who would applaud—or at least silently tolerate—his heresy, commune with him, and follow him.

And to become more specific: Ecumenism has been characterized as a pan-heresy by theologians and clergymen of all fronts. Though it began timidly under the slogan of love, it has ended up today proclaiming “with head held high” that Orthodoxy is not the Church, but that together with the other heresies—Papism and Protestantism—it jointly constitutes “the Church”! And the ecumenist patriarchs achieved this because they had as assistants and co-conspirators in their unholy endeavor hundreds of bishops and thousands of priests and monks, who either applauded or remained silent regarding the betrayal!

Thus, the heresy of Ecumenism has two characteristics which the old heresies did not possess:
first, a universal assault against the Orthodox Church—not merely against one dogma; and second, the almost universal acceptance of the heresy by the leading clergy and theologians of Orthodoxy, with very few exceptions among the ranks of priests and monks.

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

The most sorrowful aspect in this matter, however, is the justification put forth by these robed men of every rank in order to support their position. They characteristically say that they act this way because they wish to remain within the Church, since—as they claim—if they were to break communion with their heretical superiors or with those who commune with them, they would immediately find themselves outside the Church. What a distortion of Orthodox teaching!

While the Holy Canons and the entire chorus of confessing Fathers characterize the breaking of communion with those who preach heresy as a salvific reaction and a protection of the Church, these men claim the exact opposite!

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

A most evident proof of their subjective and utterly unorthodox position is that they offer not a single testimony to support their claims. And in the absence of Patristic arguments, they continuously invent new ones on the spot, for the consolation of their followers—since every so often the heretical ecumenists whom they follow, through word and deed, render their former arguments useless!..

We write the above because an article was recently published in the Orthodoxos Typos (issue of 12.3) by the abbot of the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou on Mount Athos, in which—while the "ecumenist delusion" of our days is condemned—it is simultaneously emphasized that “we remain in our Holy Church, because we believe that it is within the Church, and not outside of it, that we are able to struggle.”

The truth, however, in this case is that their stance places them outside the Church that is struggling against heresy and, consequently, in the company of the heretics with whom they commune. And if one takes into account that the Athonites commemorate Bartholomew—the chief of the ecumenists—then one can grasp the tragic nature of the abbot’s above statement, who unfortunately expresses the common belief of the Athonites (except, of course, for the zealot fathers).

Even the words alone of St. Athanasios the Great, who urges the faithful to pray in the open countryside in order not to commune with the Arians (ΒΕΠΕΣ, 33, 199), and of Saints 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. 1164 A)—completely overturn the aforementioned article of the abbot from its very foundations.

The tragic thing is that the Athonite abbot, at the end of his article, invokes the prayers of the confessors who "struggled unto death" against heresy. Yet it is historically proven that resistance "unto death" against heresy was undertaken only by those who broke communion with it—and for this reason they were exiled or put to death.

On the contrary, the ministry of those who are supposedly “struggling within the Church” is perfectly expressed by the following statement of St. Basil the Great: "But for us, in addition to the open war from the heretics, there has also arisen an attack from those who appear to be Orthodox, which has brought the Church to the utmost weakness.” (Epistle 92)

 

Greek source: Ο Αγιορείτης, March 1999.

Online: https://neataksi.blogspot.com/2014/11/blog-post_14.html