The ever-memorable Father Theodoretos (Mavros) on defilement from communion with heresy

 

However, there comes the tragic moment — as is our era — when the majority of priests commune with heresy (i.e., Ecumenism) and support the heresy. All those priests who do so knowingly (for there may be some completely unlearned little priest, like Papa-Planas, who didn’t even know who the Prime Minister of Greece was, who may not have heard anything about heresy), but all those who are aware of the heresy — what happens then? A dramatic event takes place. Neither do they receive the Body and Blood of Christ unto illumination, but unto condemnation. And those who knowingly follow (pay attention: those knowingly — which means, “I know what Bartholomew is doing, what the Archbishop is doing, I know what all of them are doing, and yet I still follow the priest; I don’t care about anything”) — they too suffer the same as the priest, that is, it is as though they are both partaking in the Mystery of the Eucharist unworthily, and thus they do not receive Grace, but punishment; illumination does not come, but rather darkening.

People, however, unfortunately view things in a very material way, and while for the body we can go to London and New York, and even sell our properties, we are not as concerned about the blasphemies uttered by the bishop, the archbishop, and the priests who follow him... This is the tragedy of our age. And so, we have unbaptized children (for when I immerse you only up to the knees, what kind of baptism is that…), darkened priests, darkened bishops, and a flock that does not know its right hand from its left... We shall all give account before God “on that Day,” for we are rational sheep — and especially the shepherds — and we must know where we are going, and what we are seeking. And if we do not fulfill our duties, which are to know the Gospel, and to know what the Fathers say, to read at least a little from the lives of the saints to see — as with the saints of our times — one being burned, another having his legs slowly cut off. Why did they do all this? To escape sin, to confess the faith, and to gain the Kingdom.

We, then, do not want to be troubled at all. And from this very point one may understand what a lofty ministry is served by the sacred struggle of the Old (calendar), which possesses a pure altar. There is nothing more honorable and more blessed in our times than an altar that does not commune with heresy. All the other altars are defiled, and you go to find Light, but find condemnation instead. And let them call us schismatics, heretics... It is just as the proverb says: “The harlot is the first to shout at the chaste woman, ‘you are a harlot,’ so that the chaste woman cannot turn and say the same back to her.” The Fathers and the Gerontikon say these things. Therefore, let us glorify God, firstly because through the sacrifices and the sweat of the fathers, we now have three hundred, five hundred pure altars in Greece with the Old Calendar, where the faithful, those who desire, can find salvation and purity. As for the others, the indifferent ones, God will judge them according to their circumstances and their knowledge, and so on. Let us glorify God for this, but let us also have vigilance — that we too must be watchful, to know whom we follow, what we confess. Otherwise, we too shall be in danger at any moment, as the Lord says, in the final years, in the last days in which we now live and walk — when He comes, shall He find faith on the earth? This is what He emphasized most. “When the Son of Man comes upon the earth, shall He find the faith?” — this faith which He granted from Golgotha, along with our salvation. Therefore, that is the thing in danger. And whoever preserves the faith and also has works, then he has within himself hope and boldness, that he shall behold the face of God and also enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.

 

Greek source: https://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2017/05/blog-post_2.html