Sunday of Orthodoxy
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We have just heard the Gospel reading concerning the Israelite in “whom there is no guile” (John 1:47) who received the word of God and straightway became a disciple and Apostle of Christ. One might ask, what does it mean to receive the word of God without guile? It is to accept the word of God with one’s whole heart, on His terms and without any reservation. Which leads us to the theme of this, the first Sunday of the Great Fast, the Sunday of Orthodoxy. We celebrate this feast on the first Sunday of the Fast because our struggle is not merely a physical exercise, but rather a spiritual endeavor for union with Christ. Our efforts in fasting and prayer must be joined to professing God’s Truth. As Saint Justin Popovich wrote:
Our God-bearing Fathers, who governed all things in the Church of God in a proper and God-pleasing manner, have left to us as a sacred heritage the God-given teaching, just as they themselves had received from the Holy Apostles, that the confession and defense of the True Orthodox Faith is the greatest of virtues. No other virtue, they tell us, is so great before God and so profitable for the Church. For the Truth is God, and love and confession of God’s Truth – that is to say, the True Faith of the Church – frees, enlightens, and saves us men.
–Saint Justin Popovich, from the Life of Saint Photios the Great.
Thus, the Holy Fathers have laid down that in our efforts to strive in virtue we also commemorate the triumph of true doctrine in this feast, which commemorates the triumph of the sacred doctrine concerning the holy icons; but also, all of the triumphs of Christian truth achieved in all of the councils of the Orthodox Church that have upheld Apostolic Tradition. For this reason it is customary to read the Synodicon of the Holy and Ecumenical Seventh Council for Orthodoxy on Sunday evening.
The Synodicon points out to us the many errors of the past; but the great error of our day is Ecumenism. This heresy seeks to unite truth with falsehood and it misrepresents the essential nature of the Church. In the days of Saint Philaret the New Confessor of New York, the Russian Church Abroad unanimously decreed an anathema against this heresy in the following words:
TO THOSE who attack the Church of Christ by teaching that Christ’s Church is divided into so-called branches which differ in doctrine and way of life, or that the Church does not exist visibly, but will be formed in the future when all branches or sects or denominations, and even religions will be united into one body; and who do not distinguish the priesthood and mysteries of the Church from those of the heretics, but say that the baptism and eucharist of heretics is effectual for salvation; therefore, to those who knowingly have communion with these afore-mentioned heretics or who advocate, disseminate, or defend their new heresy of Ecumenism under the pretext of brotherly love or the supposed unification of separated Christians: Anathema.
From the beginning the Apostles taught of the importance of guarding the singular truth of Christianity and authentic Church unity, as Saint Paul expressed in his Epistle to the Ephesians:
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Eph 4:1-6)
In light of the 2,000 year witness for the truth in the Orthodox Church and the witness of the Synodicon of Orthodoxy and the teachings of so many God-bearing Fathers of the Church, how is it then, that Ecumenism has spread throughout so many Churches? One reason is that the clergy of these local Churches have cast away spiritual vigilance, forgetting the words of the Apostle Jude who wrote, "it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 1:3). Many ecumenist bishops are enabled by ill advised, but well meaning priests who, when they are confronted with departures from Holy Tradition, say things like, “our bishops love us and we have to trust them.” This type of response is an example of a misguided appeal to emotion used to divert attention from our responsibility to “contend for the faith,” as Saint Jude exhorted. Authentic saving love for men and love for Apostolic Tradition are always in agreement with each other.
Saint Paul warned the Christians of his own day that false doctrine could come from a seemingly impossible source, exhorting us with the words:
But though we, or an Angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema. As we said before, and I say now again, If anyone preach any other Gospel unto you than that which ye have received, let him be anathema. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet sought to please men, I would not have been a servant of Christ. (Gal 1:8-10)
Saint Paul said this to emphasize that even a man who originally taught Apostolic truth could go astray and become a teacher of falsehood and that as Christians we cannot be respecters of persons, but rather we are required to trust in God and guard the faith in a spirit of humility and fear of God. In other words, if there seems to be a departure from Apostolic Tradition or Canonical order, it is perfectly correct to require of one’s bishop that he make clear how his teachings and actions agree with Apostolic Tradition.
Did not our senior clergy do precisely this after the repose of Saint Philaret when there was an ever-increasing number of canonical infractions and concelebrations with the ecumenists by the clergy of the Russian Church Abroad back in the day when we were members of that Church? This was the beginning of a paradigm shift in the Russian Church Abroad that culminated in that jurisdiction entering into full communion with ecumenist “world orthodoxy” and its eventual subjection to the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007. May God enlighten them and protect us from going astray in a similar fashion.
Throughout the history of the Church and as recorded in the lives of the saints we have "a great cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1) of people from every walk of life that were unafraid to confront deviations from Apostolic Tradition and reject them. We need only follow their examples.
Another reason that ecumenism has spread so easily, especially in the United States is that many have lost the basic understanding of the structure of the Church. In obedience to Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Apostles ordained that there be one ruling bishop that oversees a given geographic area and is responsible for guarding the Apostolic Faith and the Eucharist. Every Baptism or Eucharist in that local Church can only be performed by the local ruling bishop or by priests who are authorized by him to serve within his diocese. Thus, the local bishop oversees and is responsible for all of the Mysteries in a given local diocese. If a bishop is condemned for heresy and attempts to continue to oversee the local Church, faithful Orthodox Christians are required to break communion with him and establish communion with a right believing bishop that is near by.
In the United States, many who think they are Orthodox Christians have lost this understanding and are influenced by Congregationalism. Congregationalism is a view of the structure of the church that was concocted during the Protestant Reformation, wherein local congregations of laity declared that they did not recognize any higher church authority or tradition. In other words, church hierarchy has no significance for them. In the ecumenist jurisdictions, there are many Christians who reject ecumenism, yet they ignore the fact that their bishop is an ecumenist heretic. They think that their personal faith is what matters and that the faith of their hierarchical authority, that is, their bishop, has no significance. This is not what the Holy Fathers taught. The faith of a local ruling bishop has a direct impact on the efficacy of the mysteries of the local Church entrusted to him.
Another disorder in North America that has caused confusion is what some have labeled Jurisdictionalism. Jurisdictionalism is an accident of history. A large population of immigrants, which included Orthodox believers, settled in North America. The local Churches from the Orthodox homelands sent clergy to minister to their flocks without making an effort to preserve the ecclesiastical model given to us from the times of the Apostles, that was established from the beginning in each Orthodox homeland. As a result, in North America, there are many examples of Church jurisdictions that have the same faith and have established intercommunion with one another, yet they also have established territorial dioceses that overlap. One can find in this country a single geographic area ruled by two or more bishops in “parallel local churches.” This is completely against the canonical order of the Church.
These conditions have created confusion and caused many to lose the proper understanding of the mystery of the union within the local Church established through the right believing local bishop who oversees the teaching of the Church and guards the Mysteries of Baptism and Eucharist. Because of this, many began to perceive bishops as simply administrators. If a bishop is considered simply an administrator, then if he promotes the heresy of ecumenism the local priest and parishioner can develop the false idea that their own personal faith alone is important, and the faith of their bishop is not significant, ignoring the relationship between the faith of the Bishop and the grace or lack thereof in the Eucharist within a local Church.
At every liturgy we pray:
For the peace of the whole world, the good estate of the holy churches of God, and the union of all the faithful, let us pray to the Lord.
During these times of confusion it is essential that we know what “the good estate of the holy Churches of God” really means. It is not Ecumenism. It is not congregationalism. It is not Presbyterianism. It is not Jurisdictionalism. We cannot be swayed by emotional arguments! We must not allow guile from ourselves or others to influence us – we must respond to our Savior on His terms, not ours. We must embrace saving Apostolic Tradition.
Alas, most of the synods of bishops in North America that call themselves Orthodox are participants in the heresy of Ecumenism. By their words and deeds they deny the singularity of the one Faith and one Baptism that our one Lord has established.
Yet, there are some Traditionalist Christian Churches other than our own who have struggled to “keep the faith once delivered unto the saints” and it is our duty to reach out to them and establish proper Church relations. For those who wish to follow Apostolic Tradition, isolation and jurisdictionalism are not options. For this reason, we, your bishops, have initiated a dialogue for union with the Holy Synod of the Genuine Orthodox Christians in Greece and their local Eparchial Synod, the Genuine Orthodox Christians in America.
For the sake of the good estate of our local Church in North America and the good witness of the Church throughout the world, it is our Christian duty to seek out all Orthodox Traditionalists of like mind. I ask you to pray that we can move forward in our effort to honor the traditions that have been given us by the Apostles themselves. And I ask that you struggle to show forth a Christian life to those around you so that we may confess Christian truth in word and deed unto our salvation and the salvation of those around us. Amen.
Website of the G.O.C. in America
Churches, Missions, and Monastery of the G.O.C. in America
Websites of the G.O.C. in Greece