NOTE: This was sent to me via e-mail. It is a translation of an article that appeared in Русская народная линия (Russian People’s Line). The link to the original can be found here.
I also realize that this was posted on the "Voices from Russia" blog, which I do not endorse in any way. The article has merit, however, regardless of it being posted on that site.
And I also understand this to be a canonical Orthodox Bishop serving in Russia who supports Patriarch Kirill, so these statements are not coming from a Bishop part of a schismatic group outside the Church.
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These are the Bishop's thoughts:“Masonic ecumenism promotes a ‘religion’ of ‘ecumenical meetings’, a ‘mere Christianity’, as it were. It’s a new ecumenical Baha’ism, seemingly quite innocuous, yet each of these religious practices has a goal and purpose.
"They are to pave the way for a federal world government or world superstate, a Supreme Tribunal and an international executive body, with a future ‘deified’ leader, to suppress any country, community, or individual who dares to resist it”, according to a post of Vladyki Pitirim entitled Масонский экуменизм (Masonic ecumenism) on the official diocesan website.
“Misguided Christian ecumenists embrace outright enemies of the Church such as the Freemasons; they say ‘nice’ things rather than accuse their interlocutors of paganism and ignorant heresy. All of them parrot groundless expressions not found in Holy Scripture or the Fathers, such as, ‘As they are imprisoned in a ghetto, (Orthodox) society suffers from a lack of tolerance (relativism, etc)’… ‘Ecumenism is the spiritual foundation of tolerance’… ‘We suffer from spiritual illiteracy’.
"For example, the ecumenist KK Ivanov (a PhD who has wormed his way into the Church) said, ‘Get out of here with that point of view’… ‘Diversity in confession is our treasure’… ‘The most poisonous sorts (those who call themselves Orthodox) say there is only one truth’… ‘Their faith is a dangerous addiction’… ‘Everything that they talk about is a catastrophe’… ‘Catholics and Protestants have achieved such success that we have even not dreamed of’… ‘What unites us is greater than what divides us’… ‘I did not use reason when I came to Orthodoxy’… ‘The church is just a different kind of family’… ‘When we speak of our faith, we mustn’t put Christ at the centre of it all’ ”[!].
As another example of ecumenism, Vladyki Pitirim cited a statement of Archpriest Georgi Mitrofanov. Fr Georgi said, “This is Christianity at its core … it’s a choice between godlessness and religiosity. When an Orthodox priest attacks sectarianism from the pulpit, he betrays the memory of the recent persecution of all Christians in our country. I do not understand the inferiority complex of the Orthodox who think that they are succeeding when they denounce non-believers”.
In response to these remarks, Vladyki Pitirim said, “Are they saying the Holy Great Martyr George the all-Victorious had an inferiority complex? Up to his death, he never ceased to denounce the pagans. Thus, ecumenists preach in all human sincerity, but not the truth. The only ecumenism that we can practice is one that stresses the oneness of Orthodoxy, for good reason, without any sort of common prayer. Heathens and heretics must repent of their separateness (this includes all the denominations), as the Holy Fathers of the Church taught us”.
19 May 2010
2 comments:
May the Lord God send us more bishops like him!
Amen, my friend.
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