Archbishop Averky: The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt and Roman Catholic Papism

 

In the times through which we are living, when so many false statements are heard about the so-called “union of the churches,” when the “ecumenical movement,” which arouses the enthusiasm of many, is expanding and gaining strength, and the [Second] Vatican “Ecumenical Council” periodically convenes for its next “session,” it would be timely for all truly Orthodox Christians to recall the opinion of Roman Catholic papism held by our great righteous man and wonderworker, Saint John of Kronstadt, whose glorification we have just splendidly celebrated. Here, for example, is what he writes in his Thoughts on the Church (p. 13):

“No confession of the Christian faith other than the Orthodox can lead a Christian to perfection in the Christian life, or holiness, and to complete cleansing from sins and incorruption, because the other, non-Orthodox confessions hold the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18), have mingled vain wisdom and falsehood with the truth, and do not possess those God-given means of purification, sanctification, rebirth, and renewal which the Orthodox Church possesses.

The experience of the centuries, or the history of the Orthodox Church and the other churches, has shown and continues to show this with striking clarity. Recall the multitude of saints in our Church, both in former times and today—and their absence, since the division of the churches, in the other, non-Orthodox churches: Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican.”

And here are some striking thoughts of the holy righteous Father John, directed precisely against the latest “ecumenical” decree of the Vatican Council:

“There exist many separate Christian confessions, with different external and internal structures, with different opinions and teachings, often contrary to the divine truth of the Gospel and the teaching of the holy Apostles, the Ecumenical and Local Councils, and the holy Fathers. They cannot all be considered true and salvific: indifference in matters of faith, or the recognition of every faith as equally salvific, leads to unbelief or a cooling of faith, to negligence in observing the rules and ordinances of the faith, and to a cooling of Christians’ love for one another. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat (Luke 22:31). This is precisely what he, Satan, has done and continues to do—that is, he has engendered schisms and heresies. Hold firmly to the One, True Faith and Church: One faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all (Eph. 4:5)” (p. 31).

In what does the immeasurable superiority of our holy Orthodox Church consist?

“The Orthodox Church surpasses all non-Orthodox churches, first, in her truth, in her Orthodoxy, preserved and won by the blood of the apostles, hierarchs, martyrs, venerable fathers, and all the saints; second, in that she guides people to salvation in the surest manner (along a level, straight, and certain path), and unfailingly purifies, sanctifies, and renews through the hierarchy, divine worship, the Mysteries, and fasts; third, in that she guides people in the best possible manner to repentance, amendment of life, prayer, thanksgiving, and glorification of God. Where are there such prayers, doxologies, thanksgivings, and petitions, such wondrous divine worship as in the Orthodox Church? Nowhere” (p. 38).

How forcefully and eloquently the holy righteous Father John speaks of the utter absurdity of the cornerstone of papism’s dogmatic system—the false teaching concerning the supremacy of the Roman pope as the infallible “Vicar of Christ”! Here are his words:

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). The Lord Himself is always present in His Church—why, then, is a vicar—a pope—needed? And can a sinful man be the Lord’s vicar? He cannot. There can be, and indeed are, vicars of a king or of a patriarch in a particular city, but no one can be the vicar or substitute of the Lord, the King without beginning and Head of the Church. This is certain. Catholics are in error. Impress upon them, O Lord, that those who assert such things are foolish and are clothed with pride as with a necklace” (pp. 43–44).

According to Father John, all the evil in papism also derives from this pernicious false “dogma,” as from its root:

“The most harmful thing in Christianity,” he says, “in this divinely revealed heavenly religion, is the supremacy of a man in the Church—for example, the pope—and his supposed infallibility. It is precisely in the dogma of his infallibility that the greatest error lies, for the pope is a sinful man, and woe if he imagines himself to be infallible. How many grievous errors, ruinous to human souls, the Catholic, papal church has devised—in dogmas, in rites, in canonical rules, in divine worship, in the deadly, malicious attitudes of Catholics toward the Orthodox, in blasphemies and slanders against the Orthodox Church, in insults directed at the Orthodox Church and Orthodox Christians! And for all this the supposedly infallible pope is to blame, along with his doctrine and that of the Jesuits, their spirit of falsehood, duplicity, and every kind of improper means ad majorem Dei gloriam (for the greater glory of God)” (p. 44).

“It is necessary to belong to the Church of Christ, whose Head is the Almighty King, the Conqueror of hell, Jesus Christ. His Kingdom is the Church militant, which battles against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, who skillfully form an organized kingdom and wage war against all people with extraordinary experience, intelligence, precision, and strength, having thoroughly studied their passions and inclinations. Here, one man alone cannot win the battle; even a great community, if it is not Orthodox and is without the Head—Christ—can do nothing against such enemies: cunning, subtle, constantly vigilant, and thoroughly versed in the science of their warfare. An Orthodox Christian needs strong support from above, from God and from the holy warriors of Christ who have overcome the enemies of salvation by the power of Christ’s grace, and from the Orthodox Church on earth, from pastors and teachers, and also from communal prayer and the Mysteries. It is precisely the Church of Christ, to which we belong by God’s mercy, that provides such help to the Christian in the struggle against invisible and visible enemies. Catholics have invented a new head, thereby belittling the One True Head of the Church—Christ; Lutherans have fallen away and remained without the Head; Anglicans likewise: they have no Church, their union with the Head has been severed, there is no all-powerful help, while Belial wages war with all his strength and cunning, holding them all in his delusion and perdition. Multitudes are perishing in godlessness and depravity” (p. 52).

And here is what, as the holy righteous John so profoundly and aptly points out, constitutes the root cause of evil in Roman Catholic papism:

“The cause of all the falsehoods of the Roman Catholic church is pride and the recognition of the pope as the actual Head of the Church—and, moreover, an infallible one. From this comes all the oppression of the Western church. Oppression of thought and faith, deprivation of true freedom in faith and life—the pope has laid his heavy hand upon everything: hence the false dogmas; hence the duplicity and deceit in thought, word, and deed; hence the various false rules and decrees concerning the confession of sins; hence indulgences; hence the distortion of dogmas; hence the fabrication of saints of the Western church and of nonexistent relics, not glorified by God; hence the exaltation against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:5) and every kind of opposition to God under the guise of piety and zeal for the greater glory of God” (p. 58).

“The pope and the papists have become so proud and exalted themselves so highly that they have presumed to criticize Christ Himself, the very Hypostatic Wisdom of God, and have carried their pride so far (under the pretext of the development of dogmas) as to distort some of His words, commandments, and ordinances, which must remain unchanged until the end of the age—for example, His statement concerning the Holy Spirit and His commandment concerning the Cup of His most pure Blood, of which they have deprived the laity. They have disregarded the words of the Apostle Paul: ‘For as often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes’ (1 Cor. 11:26); instead of leavened bread, they use unleavened bread at the Liturgy” (p. 59).

This pride became the source of the boundless fanaticism and murderous hatred toward all who think differently for which Roman Catholic papism has become so notorious throughout history:

“Hatred of Orthodoxy, fanaticism, persecution of the Orthodox, and murder run like a common thread through all the centuries of Catholicism’s existence. By their fruits you will know them. Is this the spirit Christ commanded us to have? To whom, if not to Catholics, Lutherans, and Reformers, can one always say: ‘You do not know what spirit you are of’ (Luke 9:55)” (p. 58).

This is where replacing Christ, the Head of the Church, with the pope has led Roman Catholics!

“Among Catholics, the Head of the Church is, strictly speaking, not Christ but the pope, and Catholics are zealous for the pope, not for Christ; they wage war for the pope, not for Christ, and their zeal for the faith invariably turns into passionate, misanthropic, frenzied fanaticism—a fanaticism of blood and sword (burning at the stake), of implacability, duplicity, falsehood, and cunning” (p. 87).

In our Orthodox Church, according to the holy righteous John, even divine worship itself constantly reminds us of our spiritual unity under the Head common to all of us Christians—Christ. This unity has been completely destroyed among both Roman Catholics and Protestants, who have distorted the very idea of the Church.

“At every church service,” says the holy righteous John,

“whether in the home, private, or public, the thought, the idea of a single spiritual body is presented to the spiritual vision of the Orthodox Christian. This is the Body of Christ, the pillar and ground of the truth, whose Head is Christ God Himself. This Church of Christ, or spiritual Body of Christ, consists of three divisions—the heavenly, the earthly, and the netherworld. Therefore, the holy Church on earth (or the earthly division) intercedes daily before her Head for the forgiveness of the sins of those who have departed in faith and repentance and for their admission into the Heavenly Kingdom. As mediators in her intercession, she invokes the members of the heavenly Church and the very chief of the Church’s spiritual edification—the Mother of God—that through their prayers the Lord may cover the sins of the departed and not deprive them of the Heavenly Kingdom. For us, the members of God’s Church living on earth, it is profoundly heartening and comforting always to believe, know, and hope that our spiritual Mother, the holy Church, prays unceasingly, day and night, for us also, and that we are always under the grace-filled protection of the Lord Himself, the Mother of God, the Holy Angels, the Forerunner, and all the saints. Among Catholics, the head of the Church is the pope, a fallible man (although he has wrongly been proclaimed infallible), who, as such, has permitted many errors in the Church of Christ and has shown himself to be fallible by his very deeds. He has distorted the very concept of God’s Church and fettered the spiritual freedom and conscience of Catholic Christians, while at the same time subjecting the holy Orthodox Church, the pillar and ground of the truth, to the unjust blasphemy and hostility of Catholics. Among Protestants—Germans and English—the concept of the Church is utterly distorted, for they have neither the grace of a lawful priesthood nor Mysteries, except for Baptism and (the most important) Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ; they have no heavenly division—the heavenly Church: they do not recognize the saints. Nor do they have the division in the netherworld—they do not recognize the departed and do not pray for them, considering this unnecessary. Glory to the Orthodox Church! Glory to Christ God—the Most Holy Head, the sole Head of God’s Church on earth! Glory to God in Trinity that we have not fallen into blasphemy against God, have not acknowledged, and will never acknowledge a sinful man as the head of the holy Church!” (pp. 65–66).

And here is how the holy righteous John regarded all those who do not belong to our holy Orthodox Church:

“I thank the Lord, who has heard and continues to hear my prayers, offered before the all-saving and awesome Sacrifice (the Body and Blood of Christ), for the great communities that have gone astray in faith, which are called Christian but are essentially apostate: the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and others” (p. 59).

“What does the rite of conversion from various religions and confessions and reception into the Orthodox Church show? The necessity of abandoning false religions and confessions, renouncing errors, confessing the True Faith, repenting of all former sins, and promising God to preserve and firmly confess the undefiled faith, to guard against sins, and to live virtuously” (p. 57).

Here is Saint John of Kronstadt’s clear and categorical condemnation of the “ecumenism” so fashionable today, which has already seized all the Local Orthodox Churches; here is a forceful and decisive answer to all “ecumenists” who, under the pretext of a supposed “Christian love,” promote the equal value and equal standing of all religions and confessions!

In conclusion, we must mention, as a vivid and striking illustration of our holy righteous Father John of Kronstadt’s words about the “spirit of falsehood” in Roman Catholic papism, how Roman Catholic priests in our western region zealously spread the slander that the holy righteous John had supposedly converted to Catholicism and had therefore become so renowned for his clairvoyance and miracles. This slander, despite its utter absurdity, continued to be repeated afterward. In 1932, in the city of Vilna, a certain priest, Siemiacki, was not ashamed to publish the following lines in the Jesuit journal “Toward Union”: “Father John of Kronstadt performed many miracles while he was a Catholic, but as soon as he renounced Catholicism, the power of working miracles left him.”

Here is how the holy righteous John himself answers such a fantastic fabrication in his address delivered in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Vitebsk on April 7, 1906:

“I greatly desired, dear fathers, brothers, and sisters, to speak with you here, in your city and church, to the glory of God and of our holy, undefiled faith and Church, and to strengthen you on the path of salvation. Why did I so earnestly wish to speak with you? Here is why. Having lived and served as a priest in Kronstadt for what is now my fifty-first year, I have recently received many letters from the western Polish region, especially the provinces of Grodno and Vilna, written, so to speak, in tears of blood, with bitter complaints against Catholic priests and their accomplices, Catholic laypeople, concerning their persecution of Orthodox Christians and their use of every kind of coercive measure to force them to convert to Catholicism. In doing so, the priests, without the slightest pang of conscience, slandered me by claiming that I had supposedly converted to the Catholic faith, and that even the Tsar himself had allegedly become a Catholic and was ordering everyone to embrace the Catholic faith. By slandering me and the Tsar so shamelessly, Catholics have forced many Orthodox peasants to embrace Catholicism and imposed an alien faith upon them. Is this the spirit of Christ? Do not the priests demonstrate by their conduct that the Catholic faith has no vital power within itself capable of winning over a person’s mind, heart, and will to follow it freely, and that its adherents entice right-believing people only through violence and deceit?

Dear fathers and brothers! You know of my steadfast adherence to and service in the Orthodox Church for fifty years now; perhaps you also know of my constant zeal for the true faith. You know of my numerous writings to the glory of God and the Orthodox Church, and of the numerous signs of God’s power manifested not only upon Orthodox Christians, but also upon Catholics and Lutherans, and even Jews and Mohammedans, when they turned in faith to the intercession of my prayers. Newspaper reports and the truthful, reliable testimony of eyewitnesses bear witness to this.

I too testify now before all of you and before the All-Seeing God that miracles of healing continue unabated among us to this day. Does this mean that the Orthodox Faith is a dead faith, as Catholics slanderously claim? Does it not continually bear witness to its vitality, its power to save, and its being pleasing to God?

I do not wish to call upon the impartial history of a thousand years as a witness to every kind of Catholic wrongdoing: it is sufficiently well known to the entire educated world. The memory of the ill-fated Unia of the seventeenth century here in Russia is still fresh; fresh, too, is the memory of the fanatical hatred with which Catholics destroyed Orthodox churches in the western region. Still remembered are all the dreadful insults and abuse heaped upon the Orthodox faith, the Orthodox Church, and the unfortunate Orthodox Christians. Now the days of the Unia have returned once again. And when? When Catholics have been granted complete freedom—freedom, of course, not to persecute Orthodoxy and the Orthodox, but to live peacefully and fraternally with their Orthodox fellow citizens.

At the beginning, I quoted the words of the Apostle Paul concerning the Church as the Body of Jesus Christ, and Christ as the Head of the Church, ‘…which is the fullness of Him who fills all in all’ (Eph. 1:23).

We firmly believe in this one Head of the Church, and we cannot acknowledge another, visible, infallible head, for one cannot serve two masters. The one Head, all-righteous, all-knowing, almighty, and all-filling, is entirely sufficient for us (the fullness of Him who fills all in all). This Head governs us, protects us, and strengthens us in faith through the Holy Spirit, celebrates the sacred Mysteries, enlightens, saves, and leads us to perfection.

And if you wish to see the glorious and God-pleasing fruits of our Orthodox faith, we shall point our enemies to the multitude of heavenly eagles who have soared from our land to heaven, to the very Sun of Righteousness—all our saints, ancient and new, glorified by their angelic lives, the incorruption of their relics, and countless miracles.

In conclusion, I shall say that the truth of our faith lies within itself, in its very essence; in it is ‘Yes,’ and in it is ‘Amen.’

And I conclude my address with the word—amen.”

For all who devoutly venerate our newly revealed great saint of God, the holy righteous Father John of Kronstadt, his testimonies quoted above are more than sufficient, especially since their truthfulness and persuasiveness are confirmed by life itself and impartial history.

What trust, then, can we place in Roman Catholic papism, founded upon falsehood and thoroughly permeated with it, until it resolutely and publicly renounces its pernicious falsehood and the errors it has engendered, which are ruinous to human souls?

There can be no compromises with it and no communion, for what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what communion does light have with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14).

The only right path in our deceitful age, filled with every kind of falsehood and deception, is the path indicated by this same great righteous man of ours:

“Struggle against every evil, extinguish it immediately, wage war against it with the weapons God has given you: the Holy Faith, divine wisdom and truth, prayer, piety, the Cross, courage, devotion, and faithfulness!” (From a sermon by the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, August 30, 1906.)

 

Russian source: «То, что имеешь, держи»: Православие и католицизм в трудах русских святых и церковных мыслителей, edited and compiled by E. V. Semyonova, Traditsi, Moscow, 2016.