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.
