“Whatever is unlike cannot be in fellowship.” (Aesop)

“For he who receives a heretic becomes subject to the same charges as he.”

 

Adamantios Tsakiroglou, historian and philologist

 

 

Amid the general confusion that heresy has deliberately imposed, there are faithful who become indignant when those Bishops and priests are criticized who, in words, expose heresy and heretics, but in deeds remain in communion with them, thereby allowing them and their false teachings to become established and the faithful to be contaminated. Indeed, they accuse those who write against such clergymen, exposing their inconsistency and expecting from them the consistency demanded by their pastoral role, of being zealots without knowledge and dangerous to the Church, as though they themselves were responsible for the spread of false teachings and an alienated mindset, and as though the Holy Fathers of our Church had not spoken about how we should associate with those who are inconsistent and hypocritical.

Therefore, in order that I too may contribute, as far as I am able, to avoiding confusion and to confronting the heresy of Ecumenism with clarity, I thought it would be very useful for all of us to recognize that not only our Church, but even the pagans and sages of this world (secular wisdom), throughout the centuries and regardless of their origin or cultural background, emphasize the danger arising from communion with harmful people and advise us to avoid association with the wicked (editor’s note: heretics) and the evil influence (editor’s note: defilement) they exert.

Indeed, to make the agreement between these sayings, both Patristic and non-Patristic, clearer, I have placed the quotations side by side, so that each reader may draw his own conclusions.

“Evil associations corrupt good morals” (Menander) / “Do not be deceived: Evil associations corrupt good morals” (Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 15:33).

“Those who sleep with dogs wake up with fleas” (Chinese proverb) / “Associations with the wicked are harmful. Just as in places that breed disease... the air deposits a hidden illness in those who dwell there, so association with the wicked (ecclesiastical communion) leaves great evils in souls” (St. John of Damascus, P.G. 96, 353D).

“Whatever is unlike cannot be in fellowship.” (Aesop) / “What communion does light have with darkness? And what agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. 6:15–16); “Let him who communes with one who is excluded from communion be himself excluded from communion” (Canon 2 of the Council of Antioch).

“It is disgraceful for a drunken man to be among sober men, and equally disgraceful for a sober man to remain among drunken men” (Theognis, Elegies, I, 627) / “For he who receives a heretic becomes subject to the same charges as he” (Letter of the Athonite Monks to Emperor Michael Palaiologos, Historical Essay by Monk Kallistos Vlastos, 1896 edition, pp. 97–107).

“If you want to soar like an eagle, avoid running around with turkeys” (Sam Ewing) / “For those for whom commemoration and communion are causes of perdition, cessation and separation become the foundation of salvation” (Joseph Bryennios).

“Like always draws near to like” (Plato, Symposium) / “We are in communion with those whom we commemorate, and we commemorate those with whom we are in communion” (Dositheos of Jerusalem).

“Always avoid the company of a wicked man” (Menander) / “We must also avoid communion with those whose mindset we reject” (Gennadios Scholarios, in The Struggles of the Monks, p. 303).

“Every person, to some extent, eventually becomes like the people with whom he associates” (Lord Chesterfield, English poet) / “What has chaff in common with wheat? What communion can a wolf have with a lamb? So it is with a sinner and a godly man. What communion can a pot have with a cauldron? It will strike against it and be shattered” (St. John of Damascus, Sacred Parallels).

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for some good people to do nothing” (Edmund Burke) / “Those who are in communion with heretics are also enemies of God” (St. John Chrysostom, P.G. 99, 1048).

“Better to be alone than in bad company” (Thomas Fuller) / “Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly” (Apostle Paul, 2 Thess. 3:6).

“If you sleep beside a cross-eyed man, you will squint in the morning” (Greek proverb) / “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt. 15:14).

“For many speak justly but act unjustly, whereas no one who acts justly can be unjust” (Xenophon) / “Those who pretend to confess the sound Orthodox faith, but are in communion with those of different beliefs, if they do not separate from them after admonition, must not only be regarded as excluded from communion, but must not even be called brothers” (St. Mark of Ephesus, Confession, CFDS, Series A, vol. X, fasc. II, p. 133 [24–28]).

“Do not fear the enemy who attacks you, but the false friend who embraces you” (Saying) / “For Chrysostom declared, in a loud and powerful voice, that not only heretics, but also those who are in communion with them, are enemies of God!” (St. Theodore the Studite, P.G. 99, 1049A).

Therefore, after reading all this, I ask whether these secular thinkers, ancient and modern, were also zealots; whether these worldly men, pagans and otherwise, were also unjust and exerted unjust pressure; whether we must finally understand that, in order to combat the worst heresy in the history of the Church and to protect Her flock—each of us according to his abilities and his role—we need consistency and agreement between words and deeds, that is, the cessation of communion with those who, according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, are shown and proven to be heretics; or whether we must finally understand that, by putting on a theatrical performance at the expense of the Faith, we cease to be unlike them and end up becoming like them and, in the words of the Lord, become “workers of iniquity.”

For “whatever is unlike cannot be in fellowship.” (Aesop)

 

Greek source: https://eugenikos.blogspot.com/2026/10/blog-post_571.html