About attitude to the UNORTHODOX
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY COUNCIL OF THE ANCIENT-ORTHODOX CHURCH
“One Lord, one faith, one
baptism” (Ephesians 4:5).
“Be not deceived: evil
communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
The first of God’s ten
Commandments says “I am the LORD thy God…
thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2,3). That is why, we,
Ancient-Orthodox Christians, have faith in One and Only God. We believe that
the One God established One and Only Church, for Christ did not say “I will
build my churches” but He said “I will
build my church” (Matthews 16:18). And just as there may not be for us
another True God but a Triune God, there may not be for us another True Church
but the Orthodox Church, as the Apostle said: “One Lord, one faith” (Ephesians 4:5). Thus, we have faith and profess
that there is only One True God, only one true faith in Him and only one Church
established and headed by Him in which we live as we boldly believe about us.
The knowledge about True God
was given to the man initially. And the Devil decided to tear the man away from
this very truth. He put into the ears of Eve the first heresy in the mankind
history via the serpent. Wishing to lead away our forefathers from True God to
other, false gods the Devil resorted to insidiousness having placed his wily
nets through the cunning serpent: “Now
the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every
tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely
die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5).
Thus, the man’s heart became
the battlefield for God’s truth and the Devil’s lie and the man failed to
remain strong in the faith… Thus, the Devil stepped on the path of war against
the humanity constantly leading men away from the path of salvation into the
path of diabolic convictions, devising for the man various false gods, false life
values and goals.
We may read in the Scriptures
several times about deviations of God’s people from their Heavenly Master: “And the children of Israel did evil in the
sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: and they forsook the LORD God of their
fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods,
of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto
them, and provoked the LORD to anger.”
(Judges 2:11,12); “And the children of
Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and
Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab,
and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and
forsook the LORD, and served not him.” (Judges 10:6).
And if the Devil failed to
make the people completely forsake the faith in True God, the Devil tried to entrap
man in the net of religious syncretism [1]
and eclecticism [2]
whereby God’s Truth is mixed up with lies and whereby ungodly habits and
convictions penetrated from unfaithful and perverted heathenish people in the
true faith of God’s people, sometimes fully obscuring the path of the Truth: “For so it was, that the children of Israel
had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the
land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared
other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out
from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had
made… So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both
their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they
unto this day.” (2 Kings 17: 7,8,41). And even some of the righteous ones were
drawn in the ungodly paths allowing worship of the Creator of times to be combined
with shameful worship of idols: “For it
came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after
other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the
heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the
Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did
evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David
his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab , in the hill that is before Jerusalem
And several
times God brought misfortunes upon His people for their betrayal of the faith
so that the afflictions brought unto them would convince them that they had no defence
and hope from false gods. So God the Almighty says: “I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of
Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your
yoke, and made you go upright. But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not
do all these commandments; and if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul
abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye
break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you
terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and
cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies
shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before
your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when
none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I
will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of
your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: and your
strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase,
neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. And if ye
walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times
more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts
among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and
make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. And if ye will
not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; then
will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for
your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of
my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send
the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread
in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye
shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto
me, but walk contrary unto me; then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury;
and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall
eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will
destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon
the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your
cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell
the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell
therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen,
and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your
cities waste… And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their
hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall
chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall
when none pursueth. And ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat
you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your
enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine
away with them.” (Leviticus 26:13-39).
Nevertheless, God did not
immediately punish them for their perfidy but patiently weathered their iniquities
due to His unlimited love to the fallen men. He called the men to repentance
several times by sending through His pleasers the warning about forthcoming
misfortunes for the sins of the backslidden and showing the path to the peace
with Himself: “Yet the LORD testified
against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers,
saying, turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes,
according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to
you by my servants the prophets.” (2 King 17:13); “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord
GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23);
“O house of Israel Israel
But if insolent men blinded
with mischief and various superstitions did not wish to repent but persisted in
their wickedness reaching forth their impure arms to the messengers of God of
whom we read “others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others
had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were
slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being
destitute, afflicted, tormented;” (Hebrews 11:35-37).
Although, undoubtedly, there
were others who despite their totally backslidden endeavoured to keep the faith
in purity, without any contamination of idolatry: “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what
the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh intercession to God against Israel
Following the example of these
righteous men and the call of God’s prophets many men and even nations came to
repentance and turned to God.
Thus, the Israelites heard the
accusing call of Micah and turned to God: “Micah
the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to
all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be
plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the
house as the high places of a forest. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah
put him at all to death? Did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and
the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them?” (Jeremiah
26:18,19).
Likewise, the preaching of
Jonah brought the people of Nineveh to
repentance: “So Jonah arose, and went
unto Nineveh Nineveh Nineveh Nineveh Nineveh
And God not only undid the
people’s pending misfortunes but immediately removed from them any sorrows
which had afflicted them and made their lives safe for them to observe His
promises: “And the covenant that I have
made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods. But the LORD
your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your
enemies.” (2 King 17:38-39).
However, brief moments of the
triumph of devoutness in the men’s hearts were intervened with large periods of
moral relapse and retreat from the True Faith. The humanity lived century after
century in this spiritual wavering each time fallen pray to Satan.
But when the saving light of
Christ’s Advent shone on the humanity engrossed in the darkness and the shadow
of death and all the prophecies about Christ were accomplished and He
established His Church on the foundation of the true and right faith in Him,
then the enemy of the human race started sending Christians lots of manifold
heresies.
Saint Cyprian of Carthage
But in the course of time the
number of those struggling with the Church
of Christ
Here are just few of precious
spiritual gems of holy fathers’ teachings calling on every Christian to stand
firm in the Orthodox faith and avoid any heretical ‘false wisdoms”:
“Therefore, brethren, let us take our stand on the rock of the faith, and
on the tradition of the Church, neither removing the boundaries laid down by
our holy fathers of old, nor listening to those who would introduce innovation
and destroy the economy of the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of God.” (St John Damascene).
“The points touching the Faith, where to deviate a little is to commit a
sin unto death and even smallest disregard of the tradition leads to full
oblivion of the Faith dogmas” (St. Photius the Great).
"No man can find salvation except in
the Church. One can have honour, one can have sacraments, one can sing
alleluia, one can answer amen, one can have faith in the Name of the Father and
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and preach it too, but never can one find
salvation except in the Orthodox Catholic Church." (St. Augustine
Since the influence
of heresy is so dangerous, vile and perilous, the holy fathers taught
Christians the rule not to have any communication in prayer with heretics, not to
visit liturgies, not to allow them to attend Orthodox prayer, not to organize
any special prayer meetings together with them:
“Let any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon that merely joins in prayer with
heretics be suspended, but if he has permitted them to perform any service as
Clergymen, let him be deposed” (the 45th Canon of
Holy Apostles);
“If anyone pray in company with one who has been excommunicated, he shall
be excommunicated himself” (the 10th Canon of
Holy Apostles);
“If any Clergyman, or Layman, enter a synagogue of Jews, or of heretics, to
pray, let him be both deposed and excommunicated” (the 65th
Canon of Holy Apostles);
“No one shall join in prayers with heretics or
schismatics” (XXXIII Canon of the Council
of Laodicea);
“If anyone among the Bishops, or Presbyters, or
Deacons, or anyone of the Canon, should appear to be communing with those who
have been excluded from communion, he too is to be excluded from communion, on
the ground of seemingly confusing the Canon of the Church” (II Canon of the Council of Antioch);
“Question 9: Whether a Clergyman ought to pray when
Arians or other heretics are present, or it does not matter, at a time when he
himself is making the prayer, that is to say, the offering? Answer: In the
divine anaphora, or offering, the Deacon addresses before the embrace the
congregation, saying: “Those of ye who are not in communion, Take a walk.”
There ought not, therefore, to be any persons present such as those mentioned,
unless they promise to repent and to leave the heresy.” (Canonical answers of Timothy of Alexandria);
“If any Christian conveys oil to a temple of heathen, or to a synagogue of
Jews, in their festivals, or lights lamps for them, let him be excommunicated” (the 71st Canon of Holy Apostles);
“The temple of heathen may be entered only when there is a need and only as
a simple house and only when a cross is set in the centre, one may sign here;
but it is prohibited to enter the altar, to burn cense, to light lamps or
candles” (the 46th Canon of St. Nicephorus the Confessor);
“Question 3. About temples fouled
by priests who communicate with heathen and occupied by them: may one enter
them for prayer and for singing psalms? Answer. One shall not enter such
temples for the said goals for it is written: behold, your house is left unto
you desolate (Matthew 23:38). Truly it is said that as heresy is introduced,
the guardian angle of those places flies away, as Basil the Great said; and
such temple becomes a simple house. A psalm singer says he shall not enter the
temple of heathen. And the Apostle says: And what agreement hath the temple of God
“Question 5. About holy
relics: may one enter their reliquaries and pray and bow if they are occupied
by foul priests? Answer. For the above reasons the canon disallows to enter such
reliquaries for it is written: Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the
other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? (1 Corinthians
10:29); - only if needed, only to honour the holy relics one may enter (St.
Theodore the Studite)[5].
The reason for compiling
the said Church canons is self-evident since a joint prayer envisages joint
appeal to God but it is impossible to pray together for those who have the
Orthodox faith in the Holy Trinity with those who fear other gods. Neither are
we allowed to pray with those who, though, have faith in the Triune God but
turn away from and do not wish to follow other religious dogmas and Orthodox
traditions which were handed down to us by God through Holy Apostles and Holy
Fathers. For the Holy Scripture says: “He
that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be
abomination” (Proverbs 28:9); “The
sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 15:8). So
why, joining in the prayer with those whose sacrifice is not pleasing to God,
should we also make our prayer unpleasant to Him”? It will never be so!
But not only
by joint prayer but also by close friendly communication any man may absorb
other people’s opinions and habits including immoral and ungodly ones for it is
said: “Be not deceived: evil
communications corrupt good manners” (1
Corinthians 15:33). Hence, holy fathers on behalf of Ecumenical Councils call
on Christians to avoid close relations with people leading an improper life and
moreover with those who favour opinions contrary to those of the Orthodox faith:
“It is not lawful to receive portions sent from the
feasts of Jews or heretics, nor to feast together with them.”; “It is not
lawful to feast together with the heathen, and to be partakers of their godlessness” (the 37th and 39th Canons of
the Council of Laodicea);
“The members of the Church are not allowed to meet in
the cemeteries, nor attend the so-called martyries of any of the heretics, for
prayer or service; but such as so do, if they be communicants, shall be
excommunicated for a time; but if they repent and confess that they have sinned
they shall be received” (the
9th Canon of the Council of Laodicea);
“No Christian shall forsake the martyrs of
Christ, and turn to false martyrs, that is, to those of the heretics, or those
who formerly were heretics; for they are aliens from God. Let those, therefore,
who go after them, be anathema” (the
34th Canon of the Council of Laodicea);
“The members of the Church shall not
indiscriminately marry their children to heretics” (the 10th
Canon of the Council of Laodicea);
“It is riot lawful to make marriages with all
sorts of heretics, nor to give our sons and daughters to them; but rather to
take of them, if they promise to become Christians” (the 31st
Canon of the Council of Laodicea);
“Let no Orthodox man be allowed to contract a marriage with a heretical
woman, nor moreover let any Orthodox woman be married to a heretical man. But
if it should be discovered that any such thing is done by any one of the Christians,
no matter who, let the marriage be deemed void, and let the lawless marriage
tie be dissolved. For it is not right to mix things immiscible, nor to let a
wolf get tangled up with a sheep, and the lot of sinners get tangled up with
the portion of Christ. If, therefore, anyone violates the rules we have made
let him be excommunicated” (the 72nd Canon of
the Sixth Ecumenical Council);
“It is unlawful to receive the eulogiae of
heretics, for they are rather alogiai, than eulogiae” (the 32nd Canon of the Council of
Laodicea);
“As for baptizing, when there is no Orthodox church
and when we asked where to seal,
instruct and baptize, and who shall be parents and godparents?” – Answer: “One
shall neither enter the church occupied by heretics nor, moreover, commit the
above said. But if there is no church one shall enter the purest part of the
house and shall baptize on consecrated altar or table. Godparents shall be
those who have no relation to heretics, just as the parents shall not be
related to heretics” (St. Theodore the
Studite)[6];
“If anyone reads to the public in churches the books of impious writers
bearing false inscriptions and purporting to be holy, to the injury of laity
and clergy, let him be deposed” (the 60th Canon of
Holy Apostles);
“With regard to the falsely compiled martyr-lists fabricated by the enemies
of the truth, as if with an intention to dishonour the Martyrs of Christ and to
lead those paying attention to it into disbelief, we command that it must not
be read publicly even in the churches, but that these things must be consigned
to fire. As for those who accept them and recognize them as veridical, or those
who bestow any attention upon them as true, we anathematize such persons” (the 63rd Canon of the Sixth Ecumenical Council);
“All boyish whimwhams and mad bacchanalia, the false writings that have
been brought forth against the venerable icons, must be turned in to the
Bishopric of Constantinople to be put away
together with the rest of heretical books. If, on the other hand, anyone should
be found hiding these, if he be a Bishop, a Presbyter, or a Deacon, let him be
deposed from office; but if he be a layman or a monk, let him be
excommunicated” (the 9th Canon of the Seventh
Ecumenical Council).
Thus, the holy fathers ban us
from visiting services in unorthodox churches even for the reason of remoteness
of the Orthodox church, burn candles there, celebrate their feasts set to
honour their gods or those people who are considered saints by them. We are
banned from visiting the places honoured by the unorthodox and from paying
homage to their relics. We are banned from marrying the unorthodox until they
accept the Orthodox faith. We are banned from appointing them godparents while
baptising Orthodox children. We are banned from reading and distributing books
which contain their opinions contrary to the Orthodox faith.
However, if the attitude to the unorthodox is so strict, Christians should
be absolutely banned from communicating with them, moreover, should we hate
them? No, and never!
Every man on the earth is created by God, He loves all, He came to this
world for the sake of all, He shed His Immaculate blood on the Cross of
Golgotha for the sins of all. And if God loves every man, so we should love
every man without distinction for nationality, faith or social position. Christ
said: “But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he
maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the
just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:44-45). So we should make good,
godly acts both for every man and together with every man. We should stay away
from fallacies, godless convictions and non-Christian ways of life and try to
free all the men who have strayed away from them.
No encouragement of vice is allowed since through our silence and,
moreover, participation in ungodly acts we create the reason for the people who
have gone astray to think that their false convictions and ways of life are
quite godly. And by doing so we shall not save them from the darkness of fallacies,
on the contrary, we shall only further confirm them on their erroneous and
perilous path. Let us pay heed to what Maximus the Confessor, the holy advocate
of the Orthodox faith, says about it: “I
write these things not wishing to cause distress to the heretics or to rejoice
in their ill treatment—God forbid; but, rather, rejoicing and being gladdened
at their return. For what is more pleasing to the Faithful than to see the
scattered children of God gathered again as one? Neither do I exhort you to
place harshness above the love of men. May I not be so mad! I beseech you to do
and to carry out good to all men with care and assiduity, becoming all things
to all men, as the need of each is shown to you; I want and pray you to be
wholly harsh and implacable with the heretics only in regard to cooperating
with them or in any way whatever supporting their deranged belief. For I reckon
it misanthropy and a departure from Divine love to lend support to error, that
those previously seized by it might be even more greatly corrupted”.
John Chrysostom, the Holy Master of the Church, echoes the Godly Maximus “Ought we not despise even enemies and
pagans? We ought, yet not them but their teaching, not the man but his vicious
life and perverted will. A man is
God’s act and superstition is devil’s act. Thus, do not mix up that of God and
that of devil. Jews blamed, pursued and insulted Christ and spoke much evil
about Him, but did Paul hate them, the one who loved Christ more than anybody?
No, on the contrary, he loved them and did his best for them; he said “my
heart's desire and prayer to God” about them “that they might be saved” (Romans
10:1); and also «for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ” for
them (Romans 9:3)… If we start hating the ungodly and the malfeasant, then,
further on, we shall hate sinners too; and taking this path, little by little,
we shall separate ourselves from the greater part of the brethren, or, even,
from all of them since there is nobody without sin. If we ought to hate the
enemies of God, then we ought to hate not only the ungodly ones but sinners too;
thus, we shall become worse then beasts turning away from everybody and filling
ourselves with pride as Pharisee does”[7].
“But what do you say if he is evil and
vicious? Listen what Christ says
"Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). Do what is pleasing to
God. But what I say? Even if we see a pagan in trouble, we ought to do him kind
and to all men in trouble, moreover, to a faithful layman. Listen what Paul commands:
«let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of
faith” (Galatians 6:10). I’m not aware of where (the opposite opinion) comes
from and how this (disgusting) habit has become stronger with us. Who is
looking for only the monks, who wants to do good only to them and yet make
difference between them and says: if he is unworthy, if he is not righteous, if
he does not make the sign of the Cross, I shall not help him, - such takes away
the major part of the alms and also destroys the rest in the course of time; on
the contrary, that alms is true when it is given to sinners or the guilty; the
alms pardons not those who are righteous but those who sinned … we learn to
care about everybody equally and do good not only to those who are in the
household of faith and think about everybody. So you do when you see somebody
in need, do not study anything about him; he has the right for help only
because he suffers. If you help the donkey when you see it dying and do not ask
who his master is, even more you should not ask about the man who his master is;
God is, even if he is pagan or a Jew. Even if he is unorthodox, yet he needs
help. If you were allowed to study and judge you could say so, but now the very
trouble does not allow you to study. If one ought not to judge the living and to
study others’ acts, moreover one ought not to study the acts of the needy”[8].
And if we ought to love any man and perform kind deeds to every man, then,
a part of these kind acts should be the prayer for every man, and if he is
unorthodox, the stronger our prayer should be so that he might return from the
perilous path to the Church
of Christ
St, John Chrysostom writes: “We ought
not to hate but to give alms; if you
hate how you can return the one who has gone astray, how you would pray for the
unorthodox? And we should pray for him, listen what Paul says: “I exhort
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
giving of thanks, be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1); but at that time not
all were faithful as everybody knows. Further on: “For kings and for all that
are in authority” (verse 2); but they were ungodly and malfeasant, as is also
known. Then, showing the reason for the prayer, he adds:“ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (verses 3-4)»[9].
We read the words of venerable Nikon Montenegrin in the “Bok of Cyril”
about the same. “If we ought to pray
about the pagan, it is evident that we ought to pray about the heretics and in
general about all people we ought to pray and not drive them away. Christ died
for the pagan too, whereas you do not want to pray for them! And so Reverend
Theodore Studite commands about the same. We shall care not only about
ourselves but pray about the world, pardoning and benevolent to all: to those
whose life is perverted, who is drowned in heresies, who is fallen into
spiritual deception, who is obsessed by idolatry. And just about all people as
the Apostle commanded us saying “I
exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks, be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1). As for the
heretics we ought to pray about the living ones, while we ought not to pray
about the dead heretics – this law is by set holy fathers”. [10].
Following this teaching of the holy fathers the Church of Christ
unceasingly prays “for the peace in the
entire world” and calls on
God “strengthen the aged; give courage to
the faint hearted; reunite those separated; bring back those in error and unite
them to Your Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church”; “prevent schism in the Church; pacify the
raging of the heathen. Quickly stop the uprisings of heresies by the power of
Your Holy Spirit. Receive us all into Your kingdom. Declare us to be sons and
daughters of the light and of the day.” [11].
We should bring to the world the saving light of Christ’ teaching through
this Evangelic path, by personal example of our life: sincere prayer, spiritual
counsel and our kind deeds.
Neither force nor violence is allowed in the issues of the faith. God
wishes that people should bring the worthy fruit of repentance and
conscientiously, sincerely turn to the True God. At Ecumenical Councils the
holy fathers banned all force in the issues of the faith “Then when all things had been considered and treated of which seem to
conduce to the advantage of the church, the Spirit of God suggesting and
admonishing us, we determined to act leniently and pacifically with the
before-mentioned men, although they were cut off from the unity of the Lord’s
body by an unruly dissent... “that
perchance,” as the Apostle says, when we have corrected them with gentleness,
“God should grant them repentance for the acknowledging of the truth”, and that
they might be snatched out of the snares of the devil, who are led captive of
him at his will (2 Timothy 2, 25)” (the Council of Carthage, the 77th
Canon).
Having suffered persecution, inhuman for cruelty and unprecedented for
length, for loyalty to the faith in Christ the Ancient-Orthodox Church itself
has no wish to be among the persecutors and condemns any religious extremism,
any violence in the issues of the faith and justification of such violence as
no violence may put in the human heart pure convictions and sincere faith but
only “with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness” (Romans 10:10).
But at the same time we are unable to remain silent about our faith in the truth
and the exclusivity of the Orthodox Christianity “for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45) and
“and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).
We may not only be silent about our faith but should not be silent for our
Lord Jesus Christ told us “Whosoever
therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father
which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32, 33).
And not only we should not keep silent about the Christian Faith but we
have no right to keep silent, on the contrary, we are obliged to speak openly
about it, preach it to every man both by word and our virtuous life as our
Saviour and God declared “What I tell you
in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach
ye upon the housetops” (Matthew
10:27); “Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19,20); “Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew
5:16).
Nowadays, it is of
special importance to understand the right way and follow the above said for especially
now the devil struggles for the humanity not only through increased godlessness
but through omnipresent propaganda of immoral way of life: lasciviousness, ambition,
pride, greed for money and other vices. Disguising this ungodliness with
deceitful words about fictitious personal freedom and substituting the notion
of the free moral choice with permissiveness of vice.
And one of the most regrettable disasters of the current times is
incredibly increased and still increasing dissidence and perverted convictions
of those who have faith in Christ as Our Lord.
God bequeathed the world to us through his Disciples, commanded us to hold
dear the unity and strive for Him as He Himself prayed to his Heavenly Father
saying “Holy Father, keep through thine own
name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are… Neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may
be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17: 11,20,21).
Thus, dissidence in the faith is not pleasing to God and we should strive
to overcome such dissidence and achieve the total unity bequeathed to us by God
and peace in Christ. But this is where the devil awaits the faithful by putting
in their minds the defected aspiration for just formal unity and not the true
spiritual unity based on the Evangelic teaching. Such peace is not pleasing to
God for unity with dissidents and those who fell away from the Orthodox unity
without their correction and return to the Church from which the fell away is
equal to reconciliation with the one who is guilty of their falling away from
the Orthodox, with the very one who put haughty and blasphemous thoughts in the
minds of their ancestors and leaders – with the devil. Not without reason the
Church severed its link of the Church unity with heretics, and not without
reason ceased considering them brothers in faith, therefore, correction of this
situation and achievement of the desired unity, without doubt, is possible only
through resorting to the remedy of the original cause of divisions. The sanctified
Gregory the Theologian writes “You shall
not think that I confirm that we shall value any peace. For I know that there
is wonderful dissidence and most perilous
oneness; we ought to love good peace having good purpose and uniting us with
God”[12].
Exactly, that is why our pious ancestors strove not for mechanical union
with those who fell away from the Church unity but truly wished to return them
to the Church through gentle persuasion, patient explanation and meticulous
denunciation of those wrong convictions which divided the brethren who used to
be united and tore away from the unity with the Orthodox Church those who were
carried away by unorthodox thoughts.
We may find in the
80th Canon of the Council of Carthage an example of how to make a
dialogue with dissidents, how it should be organised and what goals and tasks
is should have “That a legation be sent
to the Donatists for the sake of making peace. It further seemed good, that
when these things were done, legates should be sent from our number to those of
the Donatists whom they hold as bishops, or to the people, for the sake of
preaching peace and unity, without which Christian salvation cannot be
attained; and that these legates should direct the attention of all to the fact
that they have no just objection to urge against the Catholic Church.”
Thus, we should go out to the
external ones and with love admonish them to return to the unity by showing
them the injustice of their deviation from the Orthodox faith. And this is the
only way to achieve the complete unity in the unified Church. But if we search
for the unity without agreement in the issues of the faith or at the cost of theological
compromises, then it will be merely the illusion of the unity, self-delusion
leading to absolute religious indifference and, finally, to godlessness.
Yet, nowadays many of those
who name themselves Christians take this very path. The wish for the unity,
anxiety about growing internal divisions cause many people in the entire world
to seek for paths of communication and spiritual unity with each other, but,
alas, this procedure has taken the wrong way from the very outset. We have
already said that the only right way for such unity is the return of those who
acknowledge Christ as Lord to patristic understanding of Christianity. However,
instead of returning to the spiritual origins the theological thought free from
any boundaries went still further away from the Orthodox teaching by adding new
false convictions to the old ones.
The teaching on the Church of Christ
In 1838 the theologian of the Anglican
Church William Palmer wrote the Treatise of the Church of Christ
The falseness of this theory
is evident for the Scripture says that Christ is “the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18) and “Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13).
No, but “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5) and
“the church is subject unto Christ” (Ephesians
5:24), it is “the pillar and ground of
the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15) and “the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). That is why
the Church never divided and cannot divide, just as Christ, the Head of the
Church, can never divide. The Church unity is the unity in faith and not in an unlimited
multitude of controversial opinions. Thus, over the course of history, when Christianity
was baffled by various heresies it was not the Church which divided for the
reason of dissidence in faith but those who did not wish to accept and follow
the Orthodox faith safeguarded by the Church fell away from it.
However, despite disagreement of
the aforementioned theory of branches with the Holy Scriptures, this ecclesiological
heresy quickly spread in the world having united numerous religious confessions
which, one way or another, call themselves Christian.
As an alternative position other
theologians put forward the idea about not non-equivalence of confessions but
about confessions being variously distanced from the Church in proportion to
dogmatic differences from the Orthodox teaching accumulated by them. But
speaking about existence of just only one right faith, at the same time, these
theologians admit that the confessions with the damaged faith, however,
administer beneficial and salvific sacraments. If it is really so, and the Holy
Spirit did not forsake the heretics who fell away from the Orthodox teaching and
who were condemned for it, then, despite all theological errors, all these
heretical confessions also live in the Church of Christ as only the Church provides
salvation and beneficial liturgical life, only in the Church the Holy Spirit
lives. Hence, the protestant theory of branches, despite its visible negation,
was re-stated in another, disguised format, therefore, more perilous for the
soul.
So, we see that the above
theologian’s concepts are actually not different from each other as both of
them dilute the criteria to identify the Church of Christ for as the dogmatic
differences have no value and effect on a man’s salvation and as the heretics
have the Eucharist, a bloodless sacrifice is made, subsequently, they have full
communication with Christ and their wrong convictions in no way distanced them
from this godly communication.
The first of them is the
protestant theory of branches which, in its essence, is the heresy of religious
syncretism as it admits that various theologian opinions of numerous separate
Christian confessions enjoying some part of the truth are only all together
have complete knowledge of God. Thus, numerous theological wrong convictions
are mixed up, merged and united in the new faith which is alien to the Orthodox
faith.
The second theory of the
seemingly divided Church is the heresy of religious eclecticism, as on the one
hand, confirming the true nature and exclusivity of the Orthodoxy; on the other
hand, it admits the presence of salvific and benevolent life in the unorthodoxy,
therefore, artificially, mechanically uniting communities with various
theological opinions in one church.
These agitations and
wanderings of theological thought are reflected in the new theological term
“heterodoxy”. This term has the idea that the communities which fell away from
the Church, nonetheless, did not fall away from serving God but glorify Him too.
This statement by itself is untrue, as wrong convictions of those who fell away
are not just some marginal issues but are immediately related to the ecclesiastical
doctrine, to the faith in God, i.e. the heretics have a different faith in God,
not the one He taught us through His Holy Disciples and Apostles. Any
distortion of the truth which, in our opinion, is the orthodox patristic dogma,
may not be pleasing to God but is insulting Him, and this insult is blasphemy
and not glorification. God may be glorified only in the right way and the
notion of the Orthodoxy originates from here. What glorification may be different
from the right one? Only the wrong one, therefore, ungodly “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer
shall be abomination” (Proverbs 28:9). No doubt, all communities which fell
away from the Church think about themselves that they glorify God while the
Orthodox Christians may not and should not consider godly the offerings and praises
of those who fell away from the Church unity. Thus, from the point of view of the
orthodox faith, any heresy is not some “heterodoxy” but is the unorthodoxy
which, in its essence, is a wrong faith.
Yet, our opponents justify
themselves saying that “The wind bloweth
where it listeth” (John 3:8), that, allegedly, nobody may order the Holy
Spirit to stop acting in this or that society and that the court of human
Councils has no authority over God’s Spirit. Yes, it is truly so, but why the
unorthodoxy are so sure that the Holy Spirit blows in their communities? What
evidence do they have that their path is pleasing to God? The Scripture
testifies about the faithful ones that “God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he
called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand
fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or
our epistle” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-15). So, God Himself
through His Holy Apostle testifies that the Holy Spirit lives among the
faithful ones and the faithful ones are those who were brought to the faith by the
sermon of Holy Apostles and who invariably keep the faith received from Them.
That is why those who do not keep the Apostles’ faith, evidently, may not speak
about themselves that they have God’s Spirit. And only those who invariably try
to follow the Apostles’ gospel have the boldness to speak about themselves as Saint Paul
That is why the unity with the
unorthodox based on religious syncretism and religious eclecticism being the
forms of perilous dual faith, spiritual fornication defying the first commandment
of the law of God is inadmissible “Thou
shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). The Scripture wording
also rightly testifies about such false unity “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25).
We also consider as such ways
to death the aforementioned theologian’s concepts stated in the spirit of
religious syncretism and eclecticism, therefore, disagreeing and incompatible
with the Orthodox dogma on the Church and with the patristic definition of
heresy as a dangerous, non-benevolent and non-salvific unorthodoxy “because the origin of separation arose
through schism, and those who had apostatized from the Church had no longer on
them the grace of the Holy Spirit, for it ceased to be imparted when the
continuity was broken. The first
separatists had received their ordination from the Fathers, and possessed the
spiritual gift by the laying on of their hands.
But they who were broken off had become laymen, and, because they are no
longer able to confer on others that grace of the Holy Spirit from which they
themselves are fallen away, they had no authority either to baptize or to
ordain.” (St. Basil the Great)[13];
“They [heretics] became so mad that they forfeited
the gifts of the Holy Spirit and lost God’s heritage, that is the former truth
of the faith” (St. Jerome of
Stridonium) [14];
“They have repeatedly excommunicated
themselves … Additionally, they have been cut off and stripped of priesthood by
the council. What Mysteries, then, can they perform? And what spirit descends
on those whom they ordain?” (St. Maximus the Confessor)[15];
“Let you not be
seduced by meetings of heretics
because baptism for them is not illumination; they accept baptism by body and
are not illuminated by soul. Just like Simon [the Magician] was baptised and
not illuminated; they are just the same” (St. John Chrysostom)[16].
So, we too, not
wishing to “remove not the ancient
landmark, which thy fathers have set” (Proverbs 22:28), after them condemn
all unsuitable heretical “false wisdoms” and perilous dual faith,
anathematising on both religious syncretism adding up to the Orthodox teaching
various theologian wrong convictions and heresies and religious eclecticism
artificially uniting the Orthodoxy with the unorthodoxy through acknowledgement
of the communities which fell away from the Church unity as non-alien to
benevolent life and the fate of the saved ones.
Yet, we do
not pronounce the final judgment on anybody as the judgment is entirely in God’s
hands. We care only about meticulous retention and safeguard of the Orthodox faith;
therefore we excommunicate anybody whose thinking is contrary to the Orthodox
faith. At the same time we consider it our duty to preach peace in Christ to
all people on the earth and promote return to the Orthodox faith of all people
who were torn away by force or by their own will.
We give
positive assessment that nowadays many nations and religious persons of the
world having become aware of and having admitted the non-exclusivity,
imperfection and, subsequently, untruth of their religious convictions take the
path of the spiritual search. The Ancient-Orthodox
Church
Finally,
since the humanity has recognised the imperfection of its path, let it turn the
eyes to the perfection of the holy faith, the Orthodox faith and that in this
faith, as Christ said, “they also may be
one” (John 17:21)!
The city of Moscow
23 April (6 May) 2010
For the memory of the Glorious
Martyr Saint St. George the
Victorious
ALEXANDER, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia
Priest and Representative of His Eminence Joseph, the Bishop of Belorussia and the Ukraine
Eminent SERGIY, the Bishop of Siberia
Eminent SAVIN, the Bishop of Lower Volga
Priest and Representative of His Eminence Jacob, the Bishop of Sion and Western Europe GEORGIY (NOVIKOV)
Eminent VASILIY, the Bishop of Upper Volga
[1] Religious syncretism (from Greek συγκρητισμός — amalgamation, merging) — the
amalgamation of different religions into unified religious system.
[2] Religious eclecticism (from Greek εκλέγω “choosing”) — Inorganic, purely
external amalgamation of religious convictions, teachings which are internally
incompatible and contradictory.
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