False Union With Rome
Some of our hierarchs and "professional theologians" today are saying
that the Orthodox Church has never "officially declared" Roman
Catholicism to be heretical. They call Rome a "Sister Church"
(See the "Balamand Agreement", below) and will tell you that
there is a "new openness" to Rome, that we "understand
things better in light of new developments" (e.g., "eucharistic
ecclesiology"). For example, here is a quote from Bishop
Maximos of Pittsburgh, a person whom many consider to be one of the most
conservative and erudite bishops in the GOA. The quote is from his Foreward
to The Quest for Unity: Orthodox and Catholics in Dialogue (Crestwood,
NY: St. Vladimir Seminary Press and Washington, DC: United States Catholic
Conference, 1996), ed. by John and John Borelli:
Common prayer and participation as far as possible in the prayer life of the other church
has also been part of our lives together in dialogue... We have responded
to the work of the Joint Theological Commission for the dialogue between
our two sister churches, the "two lungs" of the one Church
of Christ. These two have to synchronize anew their breathing, so that
the Church of Christ may begin breathing properly again. (p. 3).
As an antidote to this kind of innovation I offer the documents below. It will leave
no doubt in your mind what the Church has declared regarding the Latin
Communion. Then ask yourself: "What has changed since these were
written?" The answer is nothing. Rome has repented of none
of her errors. In fact, they have only gotten worse since Vatican
II, as the video report will show.
An excellent short book on false union with Rome is by Archpriest Alexey Young: The Rush
to Embrace (St. Nikodemos Publication Society). It can be found in
many Orthodox bookstores. Also recommended is Against False Union
by Dr. Alexander Kalomiros.
St. Mark of Ephesus
Read about his involvement
in the Council of Florence, and
the aftermath to his repose...
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A Protest to Patriarch Athenagoras:
On the Occasion of the Lifting of the Anathemas of 1054. See also the
numerous Sorrowful Epistles and other writings of Metropolitan
PHILARET.
Are Protestantism and Roman Catholicism Heretical?:
compiled by Patrick Barnes.
Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs (1848):
A Reply to the Epistle of Pope Pius IX, "to the Easterns."
Patriarchal Encyclical of 1895: A Reply to
the Papal Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII (1895) on Reunion.
Video Report: "The
Role of the Vatican in the Continuing Inter-Religious Movement and the
Great Fall of the Orthodox Ecumenists."
A Desperate Appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch:
by the Blessed Elder Philotheos Zervakos (1968). On hasty false union
with Rome.
St. Gregory Palamas and the Pope of Rome:
from an Orthodox Tradition Q&A, vol. XIII, no. 2. "Hesychasm
is a direct condemnation of Papism."
Florence 2000?: An
Open Letter To All Roman Catholics and Orthodox On The State of Rome and
Orthodoxy, by Father Alexey Young.
Papism as the Oldest Protestantism: by the Blessed
Father Justin (Popovich)
"Branch Theory" Openly
Preached at Recent Ecumenical Gathering. A report from L'Osservatore
Romano, 30 June-1 July, 1998.
The Vatican and Russia, by Deacon
Herman Ivanov-Treenadzaty. This article is very favorably cited by Hieromonk
Patapios Hagiogregorites in a forthcoming article for Orthodox Tradition
which touches on the Uniate problem. Appended to it is a short article
on Josaphat the Malevolent, considered a Saint by the Roman Catholics.
The Tragedy of Our Uniate Brothers, by
Hieromonk [now Bishop] Auxentios
Never, O man, is that which concerns the Church put right through compromises: there
is no mean between Truth and falsehood. But just as what is outside the
light will be necessarily in darkness, so also he who steps away a little
from the Truth is left subject to falsehood.
—Letter to George Scholarios, (as quoted in Orthodox Word, III, p. 1)
There is one Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, not more, nor even two; congresses
other than this are synagogues of wicked men and a synod of dissenters;
thus do we the true Christians think, thus do we believe, thus do we proclaim.
—Epistle 284, Against the Heresy of the Theopaschites
(as quoted by Elder Adrianos, formerly of the Monastery of St. Catherine,
Mount Sinai, in his "A Letter of Orthodox Confession")
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