September 29, 2025
Transcript
Monk Seraphim: Saint Mark
of Ephesus, in the last quote you mentioned, in his last letter, says “neither
to pray together nor to concelebrate”. Therefore, people should not come to us
and say that “common prayer” is only when you concelebrate, or that the problem
will arise only when Orthodox concelebrate with the Papists or others.
And “not to commune” that is, to
take part in the services and to pray together – yes, it is sinful; it is a
sin. Those who commune with heretics, place themselves on the same level with
them whether they serve the Liturgy together or pray together. And it’s not
just this.
The other thing I would like to
say is that Fr. Theodoros has known these things for decades, and I remember at
least 15 years ago, based on the things he was telling me and we were
discussing, he always used to say: “I do not want to die in communion with
these people since they are unrepentant, since they change in nothing. I do not
want to die in communion with them. At some point we must separate from them,”
which is what eventually happened, glory to God.
And what is very important for
me, especially now, because a certain need has arisen and I am gathering
material on cessation of commemoration, not only based on the 15th Canon of the
Council in Constantinople (the so-called “First-Second” Council), but also
based on other sources. Pay attention to the point here: the 15th Canon of the
First-Second Council, although it has great authority, perhaps does not yet
have as much authority as to override the 31st Apostolic Canon, which oversees
the cessation of commemoration for many more reasons.
Still, it does have great
authority because, if the Eighth Ecumenical Council is recognized, the
First-Second Council will go along with it—they are considered one council
(from 879). In that case, the 15th Canon becomes a Canon of an Ecumenical
Council.
Fr. Theodoros: They
recognized it, Father, in Kolymbari.
Monk Seraphim: More or
less, yes… an attempt… in quotation marks…
Fr. Theodoros: They
themselves recognised it! (laughs)
Monk Seraphim: And the
15th Canon of the First-Second allows one to wall off only from someone who
himself openly (“bare-headed”) publicly preaches heresy in the Church. But what
do we see today? We see that in earlier times, the Constantinopolitans and in
this forementioned case as in other cases as well, not only fence themselves
off from those who openly preach bare-headed heresy, but also from those who
were in communion with them.
Those parishioners who did not go
to the priest, did not go to him and did not bring him prosphora for the Divine
Liturgy, as Father Theodoros told us during his discourse, did so not because
he himself preached heresy, but because he attended the procession for the
enthronement of the Latin-minded new Patriarch Metrophanes (who was like an
ecumenist today).
Is this a unique case? No, it is
not unique. Joseph Bryennios, at the beginning of the 15th century, before the
fall of Constantinople, said that the Church of Constantinople would not unite
with the Cypriots who wanted union. Those people had an Orthodox mindset; they
had not joined the Latins. But because of the Latin oppression in Cyprus, they
were in partial communion: they prayed together with the Latins, they
recognized the Pope as bishop, etc. (though they did not commemorate him), and
they did not have a full… they did not have liturgical communion, they did not
receive Holy Communion together but separately.
Nevertheless, Constantinople did
not accept union with them. And these were not Latin-minded, they were not
ecumenists, we might say, they were people forced to be in communion with
them(the Latins). And Joseph Bryennios says: “If one is in communion with the
Latins, have no communion with them.” If someone is wearing vestments and prays
together with them (the Latins) do not have communion with them. And
Constantinople did not have communion with them. Two hundred years earlier,
Patriarch Germanos II of Constantinople said the same things again regarding
the Cypriot issue: “Do not receive the blessing of priests who are in communion
with the Latins, for otherwise you will incur the same damnation as they have.”
So if you go and receive a
blessing because you have not fenced yourself from someone who prays together
with the Latins, you will share the same damnation with him. Therefore, the
Church has applied stricter measures and stricter practices than the 15th Canon
of the First-Second Council.
Saint Gregory Palamas himself, at
the end of his second reply to Patriarch John Kalekas, who was neither a
heretic nor openly defending heresy, but supported it in another way, by trying
to distort and present in a distorted manner the decisions of the Hesychast
Council of 1341, that is, by undermining the Orthodox response and shifting the
matter elsewhere. He said: Barlaam was not condemned for theological issues,
but was condemned for procedural matters and issues of the canons. Saint
Gregory Palamas considered this distortion to be heresy, and what did he say?
That no one can be Orthodox who has not separated from Patriarch Kalekas. Let
those who think they are Orthodox because they themselves believe correctly,
but who nevertheless remain in communion with those who Latinize and promote
ecumenism, hear this. Thank you!
Fr. Theodoros: Yes,
Father.
Well, is it so hard to
understand? I mean, I say that I have never obliged anyone, neither priest nor
layperson, to wall off. I have not made anyone do that. But from what I say,
can they not understand what they ought to do? You laypeople, you must fence
yourselves from them, with all of them, with all of them. You must not attend
to…. Go, for example, to Father Theodoros, or to some others… I won’t mention
names now. This is the solution.
Until now, we used to say that
there are some clergy of Orthodox conviction who do not accept all these things
and, by ‘oikonomia’, you could also go there. But this creates
corruption and complacency. For example: “Father, I know such-and-such
clergyman; he has an Orthodox mindset…” an Orthodox mindset in words only. The
only action justified by the canons of the Church for us priests, as a reaction
and a form of resistance, is this: fencing off (cessation of commemoration).
And for you laypeople, it is to follow the clergy who have ceased
commemoration, and to have no communion with the others.
You saw how they reacted in
Constantinople: they did not bring him offerings, they did not go to the
church! Do not go to church. Imagine, in your own parish (I don’t know where
you are), imagine if in your parish there was such guidance, so that the priest
came and found half the people there, or only a quarter. He would say: “What
happened here?”
But when you all go, and they
have the faithful, they say, “Ah, everything’s fine, the people are with us!”
The uncatechised people, the uninformed people, don’t know and they keep going.
But whoever knows and has find out must decisively, without hesitation cut off
(from evil)!
People from the public: Yes, but
there are also clergy who react…
Fr. Theodoros: React? How
do they react? They react with words…
Not in words, but in deeds, as we
said… Thank you very much!
Monk Seraphim: With what
Father Theodoros said, Saint Mark of Ephesus through Father Theodoros, and with
what I said, we are not abolishing ‘oikonomia’. ‘Oikonomia’ can
be applied; that is, one may go to priests who did not fence themselves but
they confess. But we must know that ‘akribeia’ – and we have never
denied this – is to have no communion even with them. That is ‘akribeia’!
We ourselves did not apply it,
others applied it. We judged that it should not be applied. But ‘oikonomia’
also has certain time limits. The situation is getting worse, and naturally, as
it gets worse, we must take more drastic measures, because complacency will
lead where it always leads: we become complacent, and we end up in communion
with heresy.
But this requires some sacrifice.
Of course, you cannot find priests who have ceased commemoration everywhere,
nor can every priest cease commemoration. What can we do? If someone is 500
kilometers away from any priest who has ceased commemoration, they will
necessarily have to apply ‘oikonomia’. But where there are priests who
have ceased commemoration, and you can go to them, go there. Glory to God, here
in Thessaloniki there are such priests, and elsewhere as well. So, that is how ‘oikonomia’
is applied.
Source: https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2025/09/29/monk-seraphim-and-father-theodoros-zisis-remaining-in-communion-with-the-ecumenists-can-no-longer-be-justified/?lang=en
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