"Lots
of silence! Why?" In these hard and revealing days we see with much
pain and sadness the defilement of the holy tabernacles and sacred
places of Orthodoxy, not only by the simple appearance of heretic
leaders and heretics but in addition, the openly and tedious common
prayers explicitly forbidden by the incontrovertible sacred Canons of
the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, sealed with His
all holy blood.
Most
provocative is the co-celebrations of the Archpriests with heretics
(and not simply schismatics). Level inter religious ecumenical
conferences where the Orthodox Archpriests are degraded and ridiculed
during their participation in televised co-celebrations, they not only
vilify themselves but also our unblemished and holy Orthodoxy. And all
this goes beyond the boundary of patience, sufferance, and scandalizes
the Orthodox flock. And while the Orthodox people worry, struggle and
mourn every time such sad events take place, with the crowning lately
being the visit by the Pope at Phanar as well as that of the Archbishop
of Athens to Rome. And while respectable Professors and others write
and complain with clear intention and conscientious dogmatic
sensitivity, those that bear the spiritual responsibility for their
flock not only they keep silent but also give no explanation of their
inexplicable and inadmissible ecumenical conflicting steps.
And
we proceed. We bear no ill will and we do not believe ourselves to be
unblemished and clean in front of the all good God. We do not feel
comfortable as monks to question our shepherds or anybody else. In the
contrary we know we must practice self incrimination, "always judge
yourself" and to be cognizant that our sins bring everything bad.
However, on the issue of Faith with heavy heart (if not mourning) we
owe it to let go the "inopportune silence" and to consider the
"opportune word" to follow diligently in the footsteps of the great
Holy Godbearing Fathers of the desert, who would leave or rather
sacrifice their greatly prized silence and their tear soaked caves and
descend to the cities for the love of Orthodoxy, for support and
salvation of their brothers that was achievable, only within the holy
Orthodox Church, the keeper of the Word of Truth.
With
this and no other wish or intention we write these lines with heavy
heart wishing to ask. Why do the holy Archpriests keep silent, as do
the holy Abbotts and Spiritual Fathers?
Often
we hear from pilgrims severe complaints and accusations. Is it possible
we are fearful of the cost of our protest? Is it possible we are afraid
of the loss of favour and support of the hierarchy for internal issues
of our Metropolis? Is it possible the denial of the hope of an
anticipated and anti-canonical and illicitly pursued move? Is it
possible the loss of the bishop's mantia (cloak) and "throne" (and not
the Cross)? Is it possible the loss of financial subsidies and non
completion of different building projects? And many more which we could
write but avoid to so that we may not scandalize any further . Are they
worth it, holy Fathers to sacrifice and trample so much our Orthodox
conscience which loudly cries and protests against all these things we
observe to occur in our evil days?
And
if our Archbishop (Despot) Christ in His Holy Bible says "But I say
unto you, that every idle word that men speak they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment" (Matt: 12:36) then for our guilty and
"inopportune silence" how much explaining shall we have to give? And if
we keep silent for all these things that happen, because we are busy,
absorbed and troubled by many (renovations, reconstructions etc) Luke
10:42, our silence becomes guilty.
And
why so much study, so much grey matter, so much trouble and ceaseless
care, so much uncertainty and continuously increasing obligations and
(at least suspect) bickering for the preservation of the cultural
heritage? It is fine all these blessings and the "worthy is the reward"
of so much hardship. However, for our spiritual heritage of our Faith
which we received from our holy Fathers and is continuously betrayed in
our days, what should we do? What do we do? What shall we do?
What
shall we do for the spiritual Apostolic heritage of the Orthodox Faith
which our holy Fathers kept and not only with their sweat but with
their blood so many times? What shall we do for what was handed to us
to protect as sacred inheritance, spotless, uninfected, unadulterated
and unblemished from all miasma of heresies and the guarantee of the
implementation without breach of the holy Canons? What shall we do for
this sacred heritage of the Orthodox unblemished Faith, which was
passed down to us by unanimously telling us: "Receive this heritage and
protect her till the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ that you
may claim her from Him".
And
where is to-day the Lavra of Great Euthymius? Only traces of ruins
survive and these are in foreign hands. However, St Euthymius who
struggled vigorously against the heresy of his time and braced the
Orthodox faithful and helped with his stance, confession and holy life,
a multitude of even heretics returned to the Truth, he remains Great.
Where are the magnificent Catholic and imposing buildings of the Studio
and the rest of the historical monasteries of the City? The Byzantine
ornamented buildings of the sacred monasteries of Olympus of Bithynia?
They are in ruins and are trampled underfoot by non Christians.
Yet,
those that did everything possible and struggled without yielding to
preserve complete the holy heritage of the unblemished Orthodox Faith,
the only one that saved the Truth, the only unshameful hope of this
transitory and wretched world. They remain our symbols to this day.
They remain our marching leaders, the unshakable Forts and early
fighters of the Orthodox Faith.
Why
then this "much silence" brothers and Fathers? Holy Patriarchs and holy
Hierarchs we have come to abuse the holy Canons, infallible and
inviolate, innocent and blameless without us ever giving any
explanations in the struggles and scandals of the Orthodox flock which
was entrusted to you by the Despot (Archbishop) Christ?
All
these thoughts we had during the holy sleepless Sunday of Orthodoxy.
These "why's" gave us a lot of pain. And hearing the troparia and
reflecting on the holy Father Confessors, we let our sad intellect to
transport us noetically on the roads, the dark alleys and the horrible
prisons of Constantinople and to see there the holy confessors being
dragged and mercilessly tormented, in chains, sworn at and ridiculed for their confession of the Orthodox Faith.
But were they not afraid?
Where did they find such strength? Everybody stared at them with horror and puzzled.
Where
did they find such strength honourable Hierarchs, humble monks and
skeletized ascetics? Didn't they calculate the cost of their protest?
Truthfully
they did not need to fear losing anything. They had already given
everything away. They had only diligently kept even by sacrificing
their lives, the only thing they needed, "A soul and Christ (the
Orthodox Faith), according to the blood soaked words of the hieromartyr
and their successor the holy Cosma the Etolos. Their body had already
melted away from their asceticism. Their vain and foolish ambitions and
lust for primacy after unending and tough struggles had ceased their
voracious expectations. They finally retreated in front of the
victorious power of the holy virtues after harrowing (completely)
beastly battles which only the Bridegroom of their souls knows to this
day. And above, the divine love of the Despot Christ understood their
clean and pure hearts with no margin for other lesser ..... loves. They became "as an eye" and would not
tolerate the smallest disturbance of their conscience whether monastic
or dogmatic or....... They were irreconcilable. Crystals. That is why they
revolted against the then adulteration of the Orthodox Faith. At this
point we returned deeply affected in our earlier questions since we had
already received their answer.
We
do not have therefore Orthodox Confession, because we do not have
Orthodox spiritual life. We have firstly betrayed Orthodoxy and her
holy Canons in our personal life and later with our non-Orthodox
"confession" in the ecumenical conferences, to the Synods (continuing,
extraordinary etc) at the meetings ("double" or single) at our pseudo
self- checks. We have continuously violated and trampled our
conscience, adapting her to our worldly life, and for this we trample
our dogmatic conscience as well. We have become worldly and that is why
we prefer the social compliments, pursuits and acknowledgment of this
world's honours to the priceless holy Orthodoxy of the holy Father
Confessors. We have unfortunately acquired unorthodox (papist and
protestant) habits and as a result we have an "unorthodox" confession.
And
so unequivocally why should it bother us the shredding of the Apostolic
dogmatic Traditions by those who naturally place papism ahead, when we,
ourselves, have become accustomed to ignore and trample the holy canons
explaining them according to our personal goals and by exploiting
wrongly the renown "economy"? And when we became accustomed to
contravening the all holy Will of the all Pure God in everyday personal
life? It is therefore natural and logical consequence that we do not
hesitate to relocate the "boundaries" which the Godbearing holy Fathers
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, placed them as beacons in this
immutable and stormy life. It does not bother us. We do not protest.
We
abandon this life, and we abandon the confession of our holy Fathers.
The ascetic Fathers, of the ascetic life, of the purification, of the
denials, of the prayers of the heart and of the unremitting attention.
The Fathers whose hearts before the confession and submission to
hardships, submitted themselves under the divine love of the Despot
(Archbishop) Christ, of our Saviour and Builder of the One Holy and
unchanging Church.
It
follows, we believe the problem is not the ignorance of the Orthodox
Theology and of the heretic falsehoods, because our Arch-hierarchs and
the rest of our Shepherds are mostly educated and informed. Many of
them (of the silent ones) certainly are highly educated, some are
academics, others are teachers, and even some are Professors of
Universities. The solution of this problem should have been easy after
some study and some dogmatic and canonic acquaintance. Unfortunately
the problem is deeper. We all suffer in the spiritual life. That is
where our deficiency is.
We
must therefore rectify our life and adjust it according to the way of
the Fathers, so that we may acquire a clear conscience, struggling,
vigilant and protesting against all "foreign" and "from the adversary".
Oh
holy Fathers and Confessors, intercede in these days when the Orthodox
Faith and Confession is continuously betrayed that our Lord makes known
to us holy hierarchs and confessors (even a few), holy Abbotts and
Spiritual Fathers who would stand up for their Orthodox Faith and
confess loudly (at the Patriarchal, hierarchal and monastic synods).
"We stand with fear, we stand with terror". Them we hope for, for them
we pray night and day. Them we shall support while being supported by
them. May it happen.
By the prayers of the holy Fathers and Confessors of our Orthodox Faith, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Amen.
Orthodox life and Ecumenism
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