Conclusion from the Bulgarian classic, “Orthodoxy and Ecumenism”

By Archimandrite Dr. Seraphim (Aleksiev) (+1993), and

Archimandrite Dr. Sergiy (Yazadzhnev) (+2008)

 

 

Ecumenism, as we have become convinced, is not concerned with the eternal Heavenly Kingdom. At the center of its attention stand purely earthly, political aims. When we carefully examine the direction of its manifestations, we become convinced that it has, figuratively speaking, two faces. The first—the profane one—is intended for the broad, uninformed masses. Through it, ecumenism strives in every way to prove that its aims are exclusively peace-making, humane, and progressive, that the only motive guiding its activity is concern for the future of humanity. With great display and outward impressiveness, at meetings, sessions, symposia, and assemblies of the WCC, various pressing problems of our time are boldly raised and discussed—social, economic, ecological, political, demographic, and many others besides. Against the background of this noise, in which the stream of words seems to strive to conceal the real aims, through the press, radio, and television there is today formed a broad public opinion regarding the positive and socially beneficial activity of the ecumenical factors. Not a few unenlightened Orthodox Christians, deceived by the noise of this publicity, have regarded the ecumenical movement with approval and, through this naive goodwill, have contributed their share to the monstrous construction of the ecumenical Tower of Babel. May God forgive them if they have indeed done this out of naivety and ignorance!

All this is only one—the external side of ecumenical activity. Its harmfulness lies in its purposeful and systematic influence upon public consciousness, in the gradual replacement of centuries-old spiritual values, in their destruction or their skillful falsification.

The other—hidden face of ecumenical activity, which in detail is for now known only to those initiated into the “mystery of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:7), will be shown to some extent in the second part of this book. For vigilant Orthodox Christians this side is already sufficiently perceptible today through its numerous external manifestations. It reveals the true character of ecumenism, and in it, behind the seemingly Christian façade of this movement, its anti-Christian essence becomes visible. The preparation of the kingdom of the Antichrist and his coming—this is the real aim of its behind-the-scenes actions.

Immediately before the first coming of Christ, the divine providence, fulfilling the eternal plan for the salvation of man, through the instruments of a series of political-historical and cultural-social events, united the entire cultural world of that time within the boundaries of a single state—the Roman Empire. In a similar manner, at the end of the earthly ages, before the end of the world, the God-opposing devil will, in a cunning and deceitful way, attempt to unite the whole earth into a single world community. The aims of these two unifications, however, are diametrically opposed. By the first, the providence of God prepared favorable conditions for the wide spread of the preaching of the Gospel, which shone forth for the whole world through the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks to this unification, the apostolic feet traveled unhindered throughout the whole earth in order to carry everywhere the saving good tidings and to lay the unshakable foundations of the holy Church of Christ—this living God-man organism, not a human work but a divine one.

But with the world unification expected in the last times—a work of the infernal powers—the aim will be the creation of such conditions in which the Antichrist, this most cunning instrument of Satan through all the ages, will exercise an unheard-of tyrannical dictatorship over the entire world. He will rise up against God Himself and everything divine (cf. 2 Thess. 2:3–4) and will exert every effort to cast all humanity at the feet of the man-slayer Satan. The material benefits generously promised before his enthronement will be accessible only to his small criminal oligarchy, while the life of ordinary people—who will be subjected to the most terrible physical, psychological, and biological pressures—will no longer have any value.

Such will be the final result of the contemporary movements for unification in the economic, political, and religious spheres, so widely advertised in our days. And if the glorious Second Coming of Christ did not then put an end to this earthly hell, then, as the Holy Gospel testifies, no flesh—that is, not a single human being—would be saved (Matt. 24:22).

Woe, however, to those who today, consciously or half-consciously, build their efforts into the realization of these infernal plans. Even if some of them, upon seeing the events that follow, repent, how will they erase the terrible harm they have inflicted upon countless human souls through their sacrilegious assaults against the holy and God-revealed faith, which for centuries has been preserved and handed down from generation to generation by our forefathers, grandfathers, and fathers?

Today this entire perspective is carefully concealed from the sight of society. Yet the preparation for drawing it into the future apocalyptic events is proceeding at full speed. In it ecumenism has been assigned an important place. It must unite not only all “Christians,” but also establish connections with the other religions and with other world movements, as we shall see later. The WCC most officially declares in its constitution: “Cooperation with representatives of other religions is necessary.” [1]

Justifying their unacceptable concessions, the “Orthodox” ecumenists today speak of a “reasonable” or “healthy” ecumenism. Thus, for example, the Metropolitan of Athens Ieronymos called it in one of his statements. [2] With such softened and artificially embellished concepts it is intended to justify the participation of the Orthodox Church in the ecumenical movement. But after everything that has been set forth thus far, can the Geneva ecumenism be called “reasonable,” when by its words and actions it contradicts that infallible divine reason inherent in the holy Church of Christ, which the holy Apostles acquired and about which one of them, speaking on behalf of all, declares: “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16)? Geneva ecumenism is neither reasonable nor healthy, because it not only fails to spread the “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9), the “sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 6:3), but quite the opposite—it has the tendency to infect even the little flock of Christ (Luke 12:32) remaining on earth with doctrinal false belief and canonical injustice. If this is so, it is inappropriate to speculate with cunningly invented terms such as “reasonable” or “healthy” ecumenism and the like in order to justify participation in an ecumenism that is precisely unreasonable from the standpoint of divine reason and unhealthy. Truly reasonable and healthy is the teaching of the holy Orthodox Church of Christ, pure from doctrinal defects and canonical blemishes, which by its very nature, as the guardian of the God-revealed truth, is universal, because it is called to proclaim to the whole world the divine treasure entrusted to it from above. Whoever, as a living stone (1 Pet. 2:5), has been built into its God-man organism and consciously participates in its life of grace cannot participate in the Geneva ecumenism, which stands in complete contradiction to it and which we reject for the important political, canonical, liturgical, and other reasons set forth above.

In our time many have rushed to make a career through ecumenism. Our contemporary era is even called “ecumenical.” [3] The aspirations for unification today serve as the principal self-justification for all contemporary ecclesiastical betrayals. To stand aside from the ferment of the ecumenical movement is not only considered strange but to a great extent also dangerous for one’s peaceful earthly existence. We know well that with our anti-ecumenical conduct we risk bringing upon ourselves not only a series of unpleasant epithets such as “backward,” “narrow-minded,” “fanatics,” “schismatics,” but also directly exposing ourselves to persecution, according to the testimony of the holy Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 3:12).

Yet despite everything, for reasons of conscience and deep inner conviction, for reasons of faith and obedience to the true universal Church—the Church of the seven Ecumenical Councils—we cannot act otherwise.

It is understandable that the “Orthodox” theologians who have yielded to ecumenism do not approve of the behavior of the anti-ecumenists and, betraying their ecumenical “tolerance,” attack them with the indignation of people who supposedly work for the good of all humanity but are hindered in their activity by “narrow-minded” zealots of the old ways. This is seen precisely in the speech delivered by the now deceased Archbishop Athenagoras of Thyateira, representative of the Patriarch of Constantinople in England, on the occasion of his twentieth anniversary as a bishop. In his speech he vigorously defended the “irenic (peace-making) efforts” of Patriarch Athenagoras and of other primates of the local Orthodox Churches. Expressing indignation at the accusations directed against the ecumenists by certain Athenian theologians who strictly uphold Orthodoxy (for example, Professor K. Mouratidis), he—basing himself on the meetings of Patriarch Athenagoras with Pope Paul VI—boldly spoke of the march toward the “common chalice,” which these theologians characterize as heresy and apostasy from God, and he called their behavior “fanatical Phariseeism.” [4]

Such accusations may tomorrow be directed even against us. But they will not be able to divert us from the firm and fully conscious position we have chosen. Because:

1. We firmly believe both in the saving power of the holy Orthodox faith and that we will perish eternally if we betray it.

2. In taking our position against ecumenism we are guided both by our Orthodox feeling and by our Orthodox reason, which, with many arguments, supports us firmly in following the course we have chosen.

3. We also appeal to the history of the Church, from which we draw inspiration to follow unwaveringly the straight path of the holy and precious Orthodoxy, which today is treated so contemptuously both by its own and by outsiders.

For the present age of religious syncretism, we find an interesting parallel from the time of early Christianity. In a work by the French scholar Gaston Boissier, a specialist in the history of ancient Rome, [5] we read the following about the Church of Christ, which was subjected to severe persecutions already in the first centuries of its existence: “From the general agreement among all cults (in the Roman Empire—editor’s note) only two were excluded—Judaism and Christianity… All the religions managed to reach agreement by the way of mutual concessions. Only the Jews and the Christians, because of the character of their faith, could not accept this compromise.” This aroused strong anger against them in the Greek and Roman world. “Toward the Jews this hatred subsided only when they united with the pagans in order to persecute Christianity together.” Here the author recounts some very notable attempts through which the pagan world, not without the intervention of infernal powers, tried to attract Christians to its side. “Later attempts were made to bring God (of the Christians) into agreement with the others (the gods). Even the oracle of Apollo pretended to praise Him, and the philosopher Porphyry, although a zealous pagan, saw no difficulty in recognizing the divinity of Christ (see St. Augustine, The City of God, Book XIX, ch. 23). It is known that Emperor Alexander Severus placed His image together with the statues of Orpheus and Apollonius of Tyana in his household shrine, where he came every morning to pray to his gods. But this mixture caused horror among the true Christians.” To the promises and threats addressed to them by pagan philosophers, priests, and rulers, they responded with firm arguments from their sacred books and remained unshakable—even unto a martyr’s death—for the sake of their faith in the one true God, who in a wondrous way accomplished our salvation.

And today we are witnesses of the attempts of syncretistic ecumenism, through apparent recognition, material benefits, awards, and promises, to divert Orthodox Christians from the only saving Orthodox faith and to draw them into a destructive compromise. Unfortunately, however, that sacred horror is no longer present with which the ancient Christians rejected the very thought that their holy and undefiled faith might be placed on the same level as the crude pagan cults and that the Savior would take His place beside the impure idols of Apollo and Venus.

The majority of today’s Christians have at the center of their attention the arrangement of earthly life and the securing of earthly goods and pleasures. Ecumenism knows what to offer them: in the name of peace and the earthly well-being of humanity, let all faiths extend their hands to one another. This idea is seductive and is becoming increasingly popular. People want peace and earthly goods, and in their name, they are ready for every kind of religious compromise and religious syncretism. But that this is not pleasing to God, that it is forbidden by the Bible, by the sacred dogmas, and by the Church canons—this troubles them little. The important thing for them is only one: that religious disagreements be removed at the cost of every compromise and that an earthly “peace,” earthly “justice,” and earthly “happiness” be achieved, even if in this way one enters into conflict with God. But here something very essential is forgotten: in hostility toward the Living God and His divine truth, all attempts to establish earthly “peace,” earthly “justice,” and earthly “happiness” are doomed to failure. For “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

Today the ecumenists, like the ancient Roman pagans, are creating a new pantheon in which there is a place for every religious conviction. Orthodoxy also is welcome in this pantheon, provided only that it renounce its “claim” that it alone teaches the correct faith in God. If, however, it continues to emphasize its uniqueness and exclusiveness, then from being tolerated it becomes persecuted—and persecuted precisely by the Geneva ecumenism which has proclaimed “religious tolerance” as its fundamental principle.

What can we say about this misunderstood ecumenical “religious tolerance” or “tolerance,” which by no means wishes to remain within the limits of the good human relations prescribed to us by the Holy Church in the sphere of secular life? It is being imposed ever more insistently in the inviolable domain of faith, which is not subject to fleshly reasoning, in order to persuade the whole world that there is no difference between truth and falsehood (see Part II, basis 14, point “c”). Before this new idol of contemporary society, the Orthodox Church is today being compelled to sacrifice its exclusiveness and uniqueness. The thousand-year bearer of grace and truth must take a modest place among the 400 heretical denominations—those ever-multiplying offshoots of delusion.

But what does it mean for the Orthodox Church to renounce its exclusiveness and uniqueness? And what is it that makes it exclusive and unique?

It is God, Who dwells in her Theanthropic organism and guides her through the Holy Spirit!

It is the divinely revealed truth expressed in Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, entrusted to her by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself—entrusted not to be distorted through corrections and additions according to someone’s taste, but to be preserved, like the apple of the eye, in its unchangeableness and purity.

It is the divine dogmas which sealed the Apostolic faith once and for all through the radiant struggle of the God-bearing Fathers, those holy instruments of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Church canons which have set eternal boundaries for safeguarding the sacred treasure entrusted to us.

It is everything that the Church has received, blessed, and venerated: the living and unceasing testimony in the Holy Spirit of the radiant and victorious martyrs and of our venerable and God-bearing Fathers, whose blood—shed before the throne of God in confession and martyrdom, or in unceasing ascetic struggles—today cries out to the Lord at the repulsive spectacle of universal apostasy.

Only when the Orthodox Church renounces all this sacred treasure of hers—only then can she renounce her exclusiveness and uniqueness. But this would mean that she renounces herself; that is, that she destroys herself! This is precisely what the ecumenists and their hidden inspirers demand of her! This is exactly what is aimed at through the shameful participation of the Orthodox in the God-opposing ecumenism, through the secretly prepared union at the highest level, through the backstage compromise between Orthodox and Monophysites arranged under the aegis of the World Council of Churches.

We are living in the terrible time of the Apostasy. Before our eyes the forces of evil—the “gates of hell”—are striving to prevail against the Church of Christ, shaking the eternal foundations of the faith. Horror seizes us when we see some local Orthodox Churches, which for centuries have been impregnable fortresses of the truth, standing only a step away from the fatal concelebration with heretics, on the very brink of the abyss of complete falling away from the Orthodox faith. All this happens because of our sins, by God’s permission, yet not without human will. We realize that with our weak hands we cannot stop the terrible avalanche of the Apostasy that rushes forward with dizzying force. But we can—this is what the word of God teaches us (see Rev. 18:4–5)—withdraw from it, so that we may not become participants in the sin of the profanation of God’s holy things.

We are convinced that, according to the immutable promise of Christ, the Orthodox Church will remain unshaken until the end of the world. Though small in number, yet supported by the grace of God, she will withstand the cunning and powerful attacks of her enemies. God, despite the immeasurably increasing apostasy from Him and from His holy Truth, will nevertheless preserve for Himself a remnant of people faithful to Him, who will not bow their knees to the ecumenical Baal (cf. 3 Kings 19:18).

For this very reason we have labored to gather here our arguments and considerations against the widely spread pan-heresy of ecumenism, nurturing the living hope that in the difficult contemporary circumstances we will prompt those who still thirst for God and for His righteousness to reflect deeply on the facts presented and, with full inner conviction and determination, to say together with us:

CAN WE, AFTER ALL THIS, BE ECUMENISTS?! — NO AND NO!!!

 

NOTES

1. Tsonevski, Il., T. Sabev. “The Fourth General Assembly of the WCC in Uppsala.” — In: journal Spiritual Culture, no. 55–6, 1969, p. 45.

2. Irenicon, — 4, 1971, p. 541.

3. See: Sabev, T. The Church-Calendar Question. Sofia, 1968, p. 3.

4. Irenicon, — 4, 1970, p. 559.

5. Boisier, Gaston. La Religion romaine d’Auguste aux Antonius. Vol. I. Paris, 1884, pp. 399–401.

 

Bulgarian source: https://bulgarian-orthodox-church.org/rr/lode/serafim-pravoslavie-ecumenism/13.htm

Full text of Православие и икуменизъм, Second Edition, published in Sofia in 1998:

https://bulgarian-orthodox-church.org/rr/lode/serafim-pravoslavie-ecumenism/index.htm