“Fathers on the one hand, papal diplomacy on the other”

 

There are moments in ecclesiastical history when truth shines through conflict, blood, and confession. And there are other moments, more contemporary, when truth is concealed beneath polite handshakes and well-lit ceremonies. The recent meeting of the Patriarch with the Pope at the Phanar unfortunately belongs to the second category — outwardly splendid, but deeply troubling for those who know what the Holy Fathers defended for centuries.

For Orthodoxy did not reach this point through smiles, but through confessors, through councils that stood like walls of fire against delusions. And no delusion has concerned the Church more than that of Papism: the Filioque, the papal infallible authority, the primacy of power that replaces the catholicity of the Church, the artificial dogmas, the Unia which to this day employs methods of religious proselytism.

All these are not historical details. They are the reasons for which the Fathers, from Nicaea to Mark of Ephesus, stood like rocks. They are the reasons why in Florence, despite the pressure of necessity, most Orthodox said “no” to the adulteration of the faith. And they are the reasons why Saint Justin Popovich called Ecumenism a “pan-heresy” — because it seeks to make truth manageable, just enough to fit into joint declarations.

That is why the image of the joint recitation of the “Our Father” in Latin is not “moving.” It is painful. Not because a foreign language was spoken, but because that same Church remains out of communion due to dogmatic innovations which it refuses to renounce. The holy canons were not written to be remembered on anniversaries; they were written to protect us from such confusions.

And the greatest confusion is to celebrate “unity” when truth remains wounded. What Nicaea do we invoke when Rome continues to alter the very Creed of Nicaea? What common witness do we seek when Papism retains the primacy of authority — precisely that which the Fathers rejected? And what kind of “bridge-building” takes place when the foundations of the two sides are, by their very nature, incompatible?

What was heard at the Phanar were sweet words, words of peace and common journey. But the Holy Fathers never spoke in such a way. They said that unity is the fruit of right faith; that there is no love without truth; and that the Church is not built through public relations, but through confession.

And somewhere amidst all that ceremonial splendor, the Phanar seemed to forget that its throne is not founded upon diplomacy, but upon fidelity to Tradition. For if that is lost, then all that will remain is a photograph, a statement, and a great silence — the silence of the Fathers who await us to prove ourselves worthy of their voice.

And nothing is more poisonous to Orthodoxy than to applaud Papism at the very moment when her own saints founded their faith precisely in opposition to it.

 

Source: Χανιά Παρών, November 30, 2025.

Online:

https://imlp.gr/2025/11/30/%cf%80%ce%b1%cf%84%ce%ad%cf%81%ce%b5%cf%82-%ce%b1%cf%80%cf%8c-%cf%84%ce%b7-%ce%bc%ce%b9%ce%b1-%cf%80%ce%b1%cf%80%ce%b9%ce%ba%ce%ae-%ce%b4%ce%b9%cf%80%ce%bb%cf%89%ce%bc%ce%b1%cf%84%ce%af%ce%b1/