Sermon: Sunday of Orthodoxy
Today we celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy. On this day we remember the triumphs of Orthodoxy over every heresy. This is a particularly trying time for us Orthodox Christians because we too are confronting a heresy which is attempting to undermine the Church. This is the heresy of Ecumenism. Ecumenism is an ecclesiological heresy. The Ecumenists teach that the Church consists of all the various Christian denominations who all equally posses a portion of the Truth and they seek to unite all of the denominations into one. They attempt to achieve this unity by means of dialogue. This is based on the false notion that Truth is relative and not absolute and that the Church of Christ is divided and that we have to reconcile the divided Church. The Truth cannot be negotiated; it is not subject to dialogue. If two different Christian denominations sit down to dialogue in the hope that they may find the Truth, they thereby confess that neither of them posses the Truth but that the Truth lies somewhere in between them. For the Ecumenists, the Truth is not something they posses but something they seek.
Many so-called Orthodox also subscribe to this heresy and as such they have engaged in Ecumenical dialogues for over fifty years now. We Orthodox Christians object to such dialogues for the reasons stated above but the so-called Orthodox Ecumenists persist in their dialogues and even condemn us anti-ecumenists with the most vile epithets; calling us schismatics, charlatans and self-ordained, all simply because we object to the ecclesiological syncretism they have adopted. They claim that they do “not fear dialogue because truth is not afraid of dialogue”. They claim that “the great Fathers of the Church never feared dialogue with the spiritual culture of their age – indeed even with the pagan idolaters and philosophers of their world – thereby influencing and transforming the civilization of their time and offering us a truly ecumenical Church.” Yes, the Church Fathers transformed the civilization of their time into an Orthodox Christian one, they did not compromise the Truth of Orthodoxy by accepting that both we and the non-Orthodox posses the same Faith.
We are not opposed to having contacts with the non-Orthodox, even with non Christians. St Gregory Palamas and Ecumenical Patriarch Genadios Scholasrios explained the doctrines of Orthodox Christianity even to the Muslims. What we object to is what is actually agreed upon during these Ecumenical dialogues. The Ecumenists say that we accuse them of abandoning the doctrines of the Ecumenical Councils and of the Church Fathers without providing the slightest evidence. So, let us look at some of these joint statements signed by both Orthodox and heretics.
During a meeting held between the Orthodox and Roman Catholics which met in Balamand Lebanon in 1993 they stated that the Orthodox and Catholic Churches profess the same apostolic faith and therefore both posses apostolic succession; they participate in the same sacraments, and above all share one priesthood celebrating the one sacrifice of Christ. Furthermore they state that "...everyone should be informed of the apostolic succession of the other Church ("Orthodox" and Catholic) and the authenticity of its sacramental life." In 1990 the Ecumenist Orthodox stated in a joint agreement with the Monophysites, who were condemned by the 4th, 5th & 6th Ecumenical Councils that "...we have now clearly understood that both families (i.e. "Orthodox" and Monophysites) have always loyally maintained the same authentic Orthodox Christological faith, and the unbroken continuity of the apostolic tradition, though they have used Christological terms in different ways." So the Ecumenists of 1990 now clearly understand what the Fathers of three consecutive Ecumenical Councils did not; namely that the Orthodox and the Monophysites posses the same Faith?
It is because of the pan-heresy of Ecumenism that we are separated from the rest of the Churches and not because of this or that calendar. Let us therefore strive to keep our confession of Orthodoxy pure through the intercessions of our Most-Holy Lady Theotokos and of all the Saints. Amen