Orthodox Tradition has always regarded heretical bishops, even if they had not yet been judged, as not in communion, as being outside the communion of the Faith, outside the communion of the Church. St. Basil the Great believed that communion is not something formal, but a matter of essence, a matter of Faith, a matter of salvation.
Writing to the people of
Euaesina, he prays not to fall away from communion with that part of the Church
which remains on the foundation “of sound and uncorrupted teaching,” since
the correct Faith is the foundation of communion, and communion with the
Orthodox signifies placement in the “lot” of the righteous “in the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ the Righteous, when He shall come to give to each one
according to his deed” (PG vol. 32, col. 937D–940A: Epistle 214 “To
the Euaesenians,” 4). Communion with heretics, according to St. Basil, is
impermissible, since by the rejection—either in whole or in part—of the
Orthodox Confession, they are automatically placed outside the communion of the
Church.
The Revealer of Heaven, already
as a Deacon, broke communion in 361 with the Bishop Dianios of Caesarea, and
fled to the wilderness of Pontus, despite the fact that he loved and deeply
respected him, and despite the fact that Dianios had baptized and ordained him;
why did he do this? Why did he “wall himself off”? Because Dianios, due to
weakness of character, had signed the non-Orthodox confession of faith of the
Semi-Arian council of Constantinople [360, whose leader was the “Homoian”
Acacius of Caesarea in Palestine] (PG vol. 32, cols. 388C–392A: Epistle
51 “To Bishop Bosporius”). Later, as a Bishop, he did not hesitate to sever
even his longstanding friendship with the Arian-minded Bishop Eustathius of
Sebasteia and to cut off all contact with him. Explaining his strict stance, he
wrote:
Now, however, if we neither agree
with those (around Eustathius), but also avoid their like-minded associates, we
will justly and surely be granted forgiveness, “having placed nothing above
truth and our own security” (PG vol. 32, col. 925BC: Epistle 203 “To Bishop
Theophilos”).
***
On June 29, 1995, at the Vatican,
the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and Pope John Paul II signed a
“Common Declaration.” With this text—which is clearly a statement of faith—the
theology of the “Sister Churches” was proclaimed, along with Baptismal
Theology, the possibility “already from now for Catholics and Orthodox to give
a common witness of faith,” the theology of “Common Ministry,” and the prospect
of Interfaith Dialogue (see Archim. Kyprianos of the Monastery of Sts. Kyprianos
and Justina, Orthodoxy and the Ecumenical Movement, p. 19, Athens 1997.
See also the unorthodox and extremely pro-heretical events that recently took
place in Nicaea and at the Phanar, November 28–30, 2025, to bring matters up to
date).
This action, the culmination of
many other similar ecumenistic initiatives, unquestionably constitutes a
fall from the faith; it accepts and proclaims a new “Confession of
Faith,” a heretical confession. How is it possible for the Patriarch of
Constantinople and his like‑minded ecumenist bishops to be “in communion,” when
they clearly and consistently and out of conviction—that is, not from weakness
of character—deny the ecclesiological and soteriological exclusivity of the
One (and Only) Church, that is, Orthodoxy? Furthermore, how is it possible
for the Ecumenists to be “in communion,” insofar as they participate fully in
the Ecumenical Movement and belong organically to its institutional bodies,
within which there is demonstrably cultivated an anti‑Orthodox dogmatic,
canonical, and moral “minimalism”?
If St. Basil the Great were alive
today, would he be in communion with the Ecumenists who come from among the
Orthodox? Most certainly not; and this is because the principle he proclaimed
has eternal authority: “μηδὲν προτιμότερον τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀσφαλείας
τιθέμενοι” (we consider nothing to be preferable to the truth and to our
stability in the right Faith).
Greek source: Ὀρθόδοξος Ἐνημέρωσις,
No. 26 / October-December 1997, pp. 101-102.
Shared by the G.O.C. Metropolis
of Larissa and Platamon:
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