The impasse of “Orthodox” evolutionism ~ Priest George Maximov

 

The impasse of “Orthodox” evolutionism

Priest George Maximov

    

As we once again embark on our Lenten journey to the Lord's Cross and Resurrection, the Church once again returns us to our common origin. A sizable portion of the book of Genesis is read throughout the course of the Lenten services, as our goal, or telos, is inextricably bound up with our beginning, fashioned from dust and placed in Paradise to reign over all the earth.

To know where we are going, we must know from where we came, precisely because the life in Christ that we seek is itself a return to the paradisaical state from which we fell, as St. Gregory of Nyssa states: "Now the resurrection promises us nothing else than the restoration of the fallen to their ancient state; for the grace we look for is a certain return to the first life, bringing back again to Paradise him who was cast out from it. If then the life of those restored is closely related to that of the angels, it is clear that the life before the transgression was a kind of angelic life, and hence also our return to the ancient condition of our life is compared to the angels."[1]

If man’s original life, his original mode of nature was something angelic, then it remains for the theologians who converse with the angels, and themselves live the angelic life, moreover conversing with God Himself, to speak to us about the newly-created world, before the Fall, and thus the Orthodox Church continues to set forth, through her saints, the Patristic teaching on the creation of the world and man’s original life in Paradise—a life of incorruption and full of virtue.

Fr. George Maximov is a well-known missionary priest in Moscow, who travels throughout the world to spread the light of Orthodox Christianity. He was a close friend of the martyred Fr. Daniel Sysoev, who served as secretary for the Shestodnev ("Six Days") organization which propagates the Patristic teaching on Genesis, and he continues his missionary endeavors. Fr. George wrote the present article in defense of the Patristic teaching on Genesis, in response to remarks of Sergei Khudiev, a Russian Orthodox journalist and radio personality, in his answer to an agnostic biologist on various topics.

* * *

I would like to discuss the phenomenon of so-called “Orthodox” evolutionism—a teaching which tries to incorporate into Orthodoxy the Darwinian view of the origin of animal species and mankind.

When adherents of the present views debate about “scientificity,” they feel very confident, looking down from on high on those Orthodox who still maintain faith that the creation of the world, life, and mankind happened just as is written by God in His Word. The confidence of the followers of this new teaching contributes to the prevalence of evolution in the scientific community and in modern culture in general.

However, “Orthodox” evolutionists begin to feel very insecure and uncomfortable when the conversation turns to the Holy Fathers—inasmuch as in Orthodoxy the patristic heritage enjoys an exceedingly high authority, and the Holy Fathers, like it or not and no matter how disconcerting, are by no means on the side of the evolutionists. Therefore, “Orthodox evolutionists” often try to sidestep this uncomfortable situation, pretending that the problem simply doesn’t exist.

Unlike many others, Sergei Khudiev acknowledges that a radical discrepancy between the patristic and evolutionary understandings of the six days of creation exists. And he offers the following argument to eliminate the problem:

Personally I find it inconsistent to refer to the Holy Fathers, rejecting the theory of evolution, but for all that to accept the Holy Fathers, who, like all educated people of their time accepted Ptolemaic conceptions, and geocentrism. In fact, if we take the Holy Fathers as instructors in the natural sciences, then honesty and consistency demands us to accept the whole of patristic cosmology and biology—without exception. But if we accept that the Holy Spirit inspired the Fathers (as also the biblical authors) on the path of salvation, but not in the rotation of planets or the formation of species, then we won’t mistakes apples for oranges, and scientific theories for heresies.

By this argument, the author apparently hopes to neutralize generally all the Holy Fathers and their whole legacy which is uncomfortable for evolutionists. However, we can hardly say that he was successful.

The present argument assumes that the patristic teaching on the origin of the world and mankind is part of the antique views of the natural sciences, supposedly uncritically adopted by the Holy Fathers. God’s creation of the world out of nothing and the creation of man’s body from the earth, in the opinion of Sergei Khudiev, should be considered a single whole with Ptolemaic conceptions of the orbit of the sun around the earth and other outdated scientific views.

But where does the author get this from? The biblical and patristic teaching on the creation of the world was never “theirs” of the antique traditions, much less a “single whole” with them—neither Ptolemy, nor any of the ancient natural philosophers ever taught of the creation of the world in six days. The Holy Fathers didn’t borrow their teaching of creation from the pre-Christian past, but rather they took it entirely from Divine revelation.

St. Basil the Great—the Church's preeminent authority on creation

If we open the Hexaemeron of St. Basil the Great or the Hexaemeron of St. Ambrose of Milan, we will see there apologetic passages, aimed at defending the biblical teaching against the criticisms of “outsiders.” Why did it need to be defended? Because for the secular intellectuals of the time, the teaching of the creation of the world by God in six days was a great scandal, just as for modern evolutionists.

In the ancient tradition there were several views on the origin of the world (including a view according to which the world is in general “uncreated,” eternally existing). In their specifics, these views, from the point of view of modern science, appear naïve, but according to the original premise they are much closer to evolutionism than to creationism, because these ancient hypotheses tried to comprehend the origin of the world as a natural process, not positing any kind of supernatural intervention from God.

For the Holy Fathers the doctrine of the creation of the world was never a part of cosmology, but a part of theology. As a piece of cosmology, these questions can be considered only if we are speaking of a natural process—that is, about how the world came about on its own. But the Holy Fathers didn’t consider the world to have emerged on its own. For them the origin of the world, life, and mankind was the result of a miracle, a supernatural event, a creative act of God, which “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

Sergei Khudiev errs when he supposes that the Holy Fathers, like modern “Orthodox” evolutionists, obediently followed the naturalist views of their times. It seems to him that the Fathers “like all educated people of their time accepted Ptolemaic conceptions.” But if we look at the Hexaemeron of the holy hierarch Basil the Great, we see otherwise.

In a few places the hierarch actually provides a short overview of the then-existing naturalist views, but ends with the words: it’s for the scientists to refute one another, but we will turn to that which God says to us in Scripture.

Thus, the Holy Fathers were aware of the hypotheses of their time and were not afraid to acquaint their readers with them, but didn’t confuse them with Divinely-revealed truths. Sometimes for illustrative purposes they were able to use this or that naturalist view of their time—including erroneous ones—but they never placed them at the foundation of their theological assertions, and never insisted that they were absolutely true.

The Fathers took great care in relation to science. This is well demonstrated by St. Gregory Palamas who says that:

In the case of outside wisdom it is necessary from the beginning to kill the serpent, that is, to destroy the arrogance that comes from it; then it is necessary to amputate and cast aside as undisputed and utmost evil the head and tail of the serpent, that is, patently fallacious ideas about things intelligible, divine, and primordial, and fables about creation; and the middle section, that is reasonings about nature, you should with the help of the intellective and contemplative faculties of the soul isolate harmful intellectualizations, as pharmacists cleanse the flesh of serpents by fire and water, extracting it … From serpents we also receive benefit, but it’s necessary only to kill, dissect, and make a drug out of them, and then to apply it with wisdom against their own bites.[2]

Mr. Khudiev should try very hard to find confirmation of his thesis about the geocentrism of the Holy Fathers, but it is unlikely that he will find anything more than the hitherto employed phrases “the sun rises” and “sets.” And it’s not because the Holy Fathers were heliocentrists, but because for them the question was wholly unimportant and uninteresting. But the question of the creation of the world was for them a foundational one, because it is directly connected to the doctrine of God.

Following the Bible they looked upon the creation of the world as a miracle of God, as a supernatural act. And miracles are by no means within the realm of the natural sciences, but rather the realm of theology. This is an area which any Holy Father understands better and in which he knows more than every biologist taken together, both past, present and future.

    

Sergei Khudiev considers that for the Orthodox consciousness the question of which cosmic bodies revolve around which and the question of how the world arose are phenomena of the same order. But in Scripture not a word is said of whether the earth circles around the sun or the sun around the earth, but here the description of the creation of the world and man is allotted not even simply a significant place, but one of great honor—with it begins the Book of Books. Not a word is spoken in the Creed about geocentrism, but that God is “Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible” Sergei Lvovich repeats at every Liturgy together with all the faithful.

The creation of the world is a question not of abstract cosmology but of dogmatics. It touches upon teachings about God Himself and His relationship to us and ours to Him (as Creator and creation). Just as God does not simply call Himself Judge in His Word, but He explains precisely how He will judge people, likewise He does not simply call Himself Creator, but describes precisely how He created us and our world. And for the doctrine of every Holy Father living before Darwin, as for those living after the publication of The Origin of Species, there was an inherent simple childlike trust in God and His description of creation coupled with an unshakable conviction that the Creator Himself knows about how He created the world, much more than all the wise and learned men put together.

Having such a trust, the Holy Fathers weren’t afraid to appear foolish in the eyes of the secular intellectuals of their time and weren’t ashamed to insist upon the literal understanding of the six days of creation.

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian writes:

No one should think that the six-day creation is an allegory; likewise it is impermissible to speak as if … names herewith presented in the account signify either nothing, or signify something else.[3]

And St. Basil the Great says:

I know the rules of allegory … There are those who, accepting what is written not in its plain sense, say that that which is called water is not water, but some other substance, and to plants and fish they give a meaning of their own discretion. But hearing of grass, I understand grass; and plants, fish, beasts and livestock—everything—as it is called so I receive, not being ashamed of the Gospel (Rom. 1:16) … It seems to me it is this which has not been comprehended by those who, according to their own understanding, have set out to give some soaring and panoramic importance to the Scripture. But it means to set up oneself as wiser than the sayings of the Spirit and under the guise of interpretation to introduce one’s own thoughts. Therefore we will understand it as is written.[4]

Why would we not understand it just as it is written? In the days of the Holy Fathers the “outsiders” did not accept the teachings on the six days, and in our times they don’t accept it—why would we not also demonstrate in regards to this dogmatic point such principled adherence, unwaveringness, and independence as had the Holy Fathers?

No matter how much I read the wittings of “Orthodox” evolutionists, clear answers to these questions are not found. For all their arguments, only one thing shines through: “shame before the world”—before the very world with which friendship is enmity with God (Jas. 4:4).

“Orthodox” evolutionists believe that we should bow our heads before secular science because, allegedly, it studies the world created by God and from there, supposedly, draws its knowledge and ideas. Indeed, the world, as the creation of God, is often called in the Christian tradition the book of “natural revelation,” because the reverent study of it ably leads man to a conclusion about the existence of the Creator. But science is not identical to the world.

Even if this or that scientist is convinced of the validity and even the proof of his hypotheses and theories, these hypotheses and theories remain nothing but his interpretation of the world. This interpretation can find very convincing evidence, when it comes to those phenomena which we can observe and study now, and those processes which are accessible for observation and reproduction.

But when scientists leave the sphere of experimentation and cross over into the realm of history, into the realm of speculations about unique past events, which are impossible to repeat—those such as the origin of the world and man—scientific comprehension is involuntarily limited to but indirect evidence. And if, given all this, we see that based on circumstantial evidence the interpretation of the world, offered by the fallen human intellect, comes into conflict with the testimony of the very Creator of the world, then for believers it becomes the basis upon which to subject to questioning the former, and not the latter.

St. John of Kronstadt spoke about this, and precisely within the framework of the theory of evolution and the resulting geological models of an “old earth,” as contradicting the narration of the six days of creation:   

The Holy Scriptures speak more truly and more clearly of the world than the world itself or the arrangement of the earthly strata; the scriptures of nature within it, being dead and voiceless, cannot express anything definite. "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?" Were you with God when He created the universe? "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counseller, hath taught Him? (Is. 40:13)" And yet you geologists boast that you have understood the mind of the Lord, in the arrangement of strata, and maintained it in spite of Holy Writ! You believe more in the dead letters of the earthly strata, in the soulless earth, than in the Divinely-inspired words of the great prophet Moses, who saw God.[5]

Here we come to the dead end, to which “Orthodox” evolutionism leads its followers. Surprisingly, I have been writing about this for more than ten years already, but the adherents of this dismantled teaching continue to pretend they don’t notice. Well, let’s talk about it again, in more detail.

According to the Church’s faith, the origin of the world is a supernatural act, a miracle. The Bible describes it thusly, and the Holy Fathers understood it thusly. Science has as its goal, contrarily, the creation of a naturalistic view of the emergence of the world. It is a fundamentally insurmountable contradiction. The theory of evolution arose and received such wide and active support in scientific circles namely as an alternative to the supernatural picture of the creation of the world.

Therefore any attempt to “reconcile these two viewpoints” is doomed to failure. Because if you seriously try to bring into the evolutionary view any miraculous elements, of direct Divine intervention, it will be explicitly and categorically rejected by science, standing on secular positions.

And if you try—as do “Orthodox” evolutionists—to introduce into Orthodoxy a radical reinterpretation of the six days of creation, which presents it not as a supernatural act, the miracle of the creation of the world by God, but as a natural process, in which God is allotted the passive role of observation, and in the best case scenario, of the initiator of the first stage of the process—it will be rejected by believers who know that the whole two thousand-year Tradition of the Church teaches otherwise.

Secular science, we repeat, has as its task to describe the emergence of the world as a natural process, originating without any supernatural intervention. Within the framework of such a task the theory of evolution truly is the best that you can come up with. No one is arguing that. But in the Bible God describes the creation of the world as a miracle, as a series of supernatural acts perfected by the Trinity. Inasmuch as secular science a priori doesn’t work with the supernatural, accordingly the questions of the origin of the world, life, and mankind find themselves outside of the sphere of scientific competency.

If it nonetheless infringes upon these questions, remaining all the while in a secular posture, it inevitably errs, creating a false explanation there, where the true explanation finds itself outside the scope of its competency.

Likewise an historian, when he writes about the birth of Christianity, is faced with that the earliest sources testify that Christ is risen. But the scientist, remaining in a secular position, knows that natural processes don’t allow for a resurrection from the dead. Therefore, considering this question, he comes to the conclusion that more deserving of attention is the hypothesis that “the disciples stole the body,” or the hypothesis that Christ in reality did not die on the Cross, but simply lost consciousness, and then came to, or something similar, in agreement with the “scientific worldview.” If a scientist plainly states that Christ truly resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven, then his article wouldn’t be carried in a single serious scientific journal.

But here there is no room for compromise. Either He miraculously arose, or He remained dead and underwent the same natural processes as undergoes every body of the dead. It is the same with the origin of the world—either a supernatural miracle of creation, or a natural process of evolution. It is as much a fundamental contradiction as is generally possible.

Fr. George remembering the martyred Fr. Daniel Sysoev

I will venture to illustrate this with a small story from my life. Once the Lord worked on me an obvious miracle. It was in December 2010. I was seriously ill, but when I communed of the holy Mysteries of Christ, the sickness passed. It happened instantly. Not only the symptoms disappeared, but also my weakness. I had just been seriously ill, but now suddenly I became completely healthy and full of strength. And moreover, it was a complete surprise for me—I had already resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be sick, and I wasn’t looking for a miracle.

If you were to show me to a doctor in the midst of the sickness, and then to inform him that I had recovered, then he would at least be able to estimate how much time should have been necessary for my recovery according to the natural course of things, depending on the chosen type of treatment. He is unlikely to take the story of my immediate recovery after Communion seriously, as it is “unscientific.”

But it is a fact, it is part of my experience. And if I, for the sake of not contradicting the “scientific view of the world” in order to not appear foolish in the eyes of the “modern and enlightened,” start saying that I recovered in two weeks and finally, thanks to pills, stood on my feet, then I will be a liar. I would betray God. Yes, God is able to heal me with pills within two weeks, but what happened, happened. It was a miracle. It is my duty to tell everyone what happened, and not what is more comfortable for secular people, constructing their worldview on materialistic principles, to hear.

Indeed, God can do anything, and He could have created the word through evolution. But He created it otherwise, and He spoke in His word about how He created and He interpreted through His friends and beloved children—the Holy Fathers. And if we reject this testimony and begin to substitute the speculations of men, which agree with the spirit of this age, then we lie. And a lie about God and His acts is very serious. Actually, every heresy is in essence a lie about God Himself or His acts.

“Orthodox” evolutionists really don’t like the word “heresy.” Here Sergei Lvovich objects: Please, do not confuse scientific theories with heresies.

But no one is confusing them. By itself the theory of evolution is not a heresy—it’s just generally accepted in the modern secular science framework for interpreting particular facts and phenomena. We can say it’s an erroneous interpretation, but we don’t call it a heresy. Heresy is a word from the theological lexicon.

But the so-called “Orthodox evolutionists” completely fall under this definition. And it is because, dear “Orthodox” evolutionists, that when you begin to discourse on the theme “God created with the help of evolution,” you leave the field of naturalism, leave the field of science and encroach upon theology. And here you are held responsible for what you say in a different way.

“Orthodox” evolutionists have taken on a strange view of theology from somewhere. The natural sciences, in their view, are serious, everything must be strict and exact, there is no room even for a shadow of a doubt but only to proceed strictly in the wake of modern scientific views. But Orthodox theology, in their view, is an open field for self-expression, where anyone can say everything that catches his fancy, and rightly reinterpret Christian teaching as he pleases. But this is a fallacious opinion.

If in science we deal with the fruits of fallen human reason, trying to comprehend the world around us and in this endeavor incessantly doubting, disputing, and denying the old in order to establish the new, then in Orthodox theology we have the truth, opened by God Himself, and our task is to grasp it precisely and so precisely pass it on to others. It is the most precise of sciences, and the fullness of knowledge.

Scientific knowledge is obviously incomplete, and therefore science must constantly “move forward” and undertake a colossal endeavor to at least partially compensate for its imperfection. This is why in science “new” is a positive term. But Orthodox theology already possesses the fullness of knowledge, the fullness of truth and takes care to preserve that which it has received.

The means of expressing the faith may change, but not the content of the faith, new clarifications of dogmatic formulas arise, but not dogmas themselves. This is why in Orthodox theology “new” is a negative term, such that St. Vincent even said that the saints:

left for their heirs a worthy example of how, from thenceforth, to crush with the authority of sacred antiquity the audacity of the obscene novelty of every delusion … in the Church there persists the tradition that the more God-loving someone is, the more likely he is to speak out against new concoctions.[6]

And this is so because if imperfection needs something new that is capable of improving it, then perfection—as is our faith—needs no innovation, additions, or changes, because changes introduced into perfection, serve only to corrupt perfection, transforming it into imperfection, as happens with every heresy.  

Therefore the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council say:

We follow the ancient enactments of the Catholic Church. We maintain the definitions of the Fathers. Those who add anything to the teaching of the Catholic Church and those who remove anything from it, we commit to anathema.

Like it or not, “Orthodox” evolutionism qualifies as neither an “ancient enactment” of the Church, nor a “definition of the Fathers.” I think that to claim that the fantasy of a free-thinking Englishman of the nineteenth century on the origin of man from apes is “the faith of the Apostles, the faith of the Fathers, the faith of the Orthodox, the faith which has established the whole world,” even the most ardent supporters of “Orthodox evolutionism” dare not do.

All that remains for them is to either suppress the problem, or teach the Protestant-ism that the Holy Scriptures are unimportant for us and the Holy Fathers are hopelessly obsolete compared to us—“so smart and progressive”—or to maintain that the traditional Church teaching about the creation of the world and man and about the coming of death into the created world is an inconsequential trifle which has nothing to do with dogmatics and which therefore we can neglect for the sake of such a “great purpose” as friendship with the world.

But none of these options will find a basis in Divine revelation, expressed in Scripture or Orthodox Church Tradition.

I would like to end with the words of St. Justin (Popovich):

This theology, which bases its anthropology on the “scientific” theory of evolution, is nothing but “contradictio in adjecto” (a contradiction of definition). In truth, it is a theology without God and anthropology without man.[7]

Our holy forefathers, Sts. Adam and Eve

  

Originally appeared in Russian at Pravmir.

Priest George Maximov
Translated by Jesse Dominick

3/16/2016

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[1] On the Making of Man 17.

[2] St. Gregory Palamas, Triads C32-33.

[3] Venerable Ephraim the Syrian, Collected Works vol. 6, M., 1995, C. 211. (in Russian: Прп. Ефрем Сирин. Творения Т.VI.. М., 1995. С. 211). 

[4] St. Basil the Great, Collected Works vol. 1, Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, 1900, Cc. 137-138 (in Russian: Свт. Василий Великий. Творения Т. I. Свято-Троицкая Сергиева Лавра, 1900. Сс. 137-138).

[5] My Life in Christ pp. 41-42 (Jordanville, 2000).

[6] St. Vincent of Lerins, Memoirs, M. Peregrina, 1999, C.14 (in Russian: Св. Викентий Лиринский. Памятные записки Перегрина. М., 1999. С.14.)

[7] St. Justin Popovich, The Way of the God-Man. Valaam Monastery, 1999. C. 188. (in Russian: Прп. Иустин (Попович). На богочеловеческом пути. Спасо-Преображенский Валаамский монастырь, 1999. С.188.).

thanks to source:

https://orthochristian.com/91496.html

Orthodox Bishops Correct Pro-Abortion Comments From Archbishop Elpidophoros

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2022
A Statement on the Sanctity of Life

Four presiding hierarchs currently participating in the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, including His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph of the Antiochian Archdiocese, are responding to controversial remarks made at January’s “March for Life” in Washington, D.C. that received attention in traditional and social media.

Orthodox Pro-Life Statement

 

The Orthodox Church has consistently and unequivocally recognized the full humanity of every person beginning at the moment of conception. This position is informed by Scripture and Holy Tradition and is validated by modern science, which confirms that a new, distinct human organism comes into existence at conception. The Orthodox Church is, and always has been, unabashedly pro-life, regarding abortion as the killing of another human being.

 

In recent weeks, this position has been called into question, and, consequently, we, Orthodox Presiding Hierarchs representing several canonical jurisdictions in the United States of America, are compelled to proclaim the only true and correct teaching of the Church on this matter. We reiterate the words of the Lord’s Teaching through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations (the “Didache”), which dates to the earliest generations of the Church: “Do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant” (οὐ φονεύσεις τέκνον ἐν φθορᾷ οὐδὲ γεννηθέντα ἀποκτενεῖς).

 

The Orthodox Church strives to stand above politics; yet, the Church also stands for order, against the forces of chaos and lawlessness. All civilized societies prohibit the intentional taking of the life of one human being by another human being, except under extreme and unusual circumstances. The United States of America is certainly no exception: in every state, intentional homicide is outlawed. Yet our laws are inconsistent, banning the killing of some humans but not others. There is no basis in either law or science, and certainly not in morality or religion, to draw a distinction between a human who is in the womb and a human who is outside of it. Thus, the Orthodox Church calls upon the civil authorities, not only in the United States but globally, and especially in traditionally Orthodox lands, to treat all humans equally under the law, and thus to forbid the evil practice of abortion.

 

It is true that the Most Holy Theotokos gave her consent to the Incarnation of the Uncreated Word of God. The Lord did not impose Himself on humanity, but took on our nature with the permission of us humans, represented by the greatest of us, the Virgin Mary. Once this consent was given, the Incarnation took place: the Word became flesh at that moment. The Orthodox Church embraces this paradox of the Incarnation, of the Uncreated becoming one of His creatures. Yet while paradoxes of this kind are essential to our faith, so too is clarity: the clarity that the newly-conceived human – including the Lord Himself at the moment of His conception – is a full human. Here, then, the consent of the Theotokos ends, and her duties as a mother begin: once she conceived the Lord, she had the sacred responsibility of nurturing and caring for Him, which she fulfilled perfectly.

 

This same Lord Who became incarnate of the Virgin Mary on the Feast of the Annunciation loves every human being He creates, from the moment of their conception. He loves their mothers, along with the fathers, who suffer and sacrifice for their children. The Church, and, indeed, all of humanity, has a duty to care for and support these children and their mothers.

 

No less equally, the Lord also loves the mothers who, victims of deceitful pressures from this world, make the tragic choice to have their children killed. For these mothers, the Church offers forgiveness, compassion, and healing through repentance and reconciliation both to God and to their lost children.

 

The Lord loves those fathers and other men who, failing in their duty to provide and protect, instead pressure and even force mothers to have their children killed.

 

The Lord loves those physicians and other practitioners who, themselves victims of deceit, have allowed themselves to become instruments of evil in the murder of innocent children.

 

Finally, let us all implore the same Lord, Who desires that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, that His all-encompassing love and mercy will enfold all who are affected by the tragedy of abortion and bring healing to our land.

 

Metropolitan Joseph

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

 

Bishop Longin

Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America

 

Metropolitan Nicolae

Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas

 

Metropolitan Joseph

Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada, and Australia

 

A PRAYER FOR THE SANCTITY OF UNBORN LIFE

 

O our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Who in the beginning fashioned man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life so that he became a living soul, Who knowest the time of life and name of each even from his mother’s womb, Who numberest even the hairs of our heads, and Who keepest a watchful eye over every living thing in Thy creation, do Thou now look upon Thy creation which Thou hast fashioned according to Thine own image, and grant to those who are in their mother’s wombs and to their mothers the protection that Thou gavest Thine own Virgin Mother when she carried Thee, and fill them with the Holy Spirit even as Thou once filled Elizabeth such that John the Forerunner leaped in her womb at encountering Thee.

 

As Thou becamest incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became true man, hidden within the veil of Thy Mother’s flesh, joining Thy divinity with our humanity, join Thyself now with us and all Thy human creation through Thy grace.  As Thou didst enter into the womb of Thy Mother, be present also in the wombs of all mothers, with them and with their children.  Protect them from all assaults of the evil one and his foul spirits, that in due time all may come unto Thee, as Thou didst say, “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

 

O Thou Who at Thy birth heard the weeping of Rachel in lamentation, who would not be comforted for her children were no more, crying out at the slaughter of the innocents by the wicked Herod for Thy sake, hear also the weeping of all those who lament the deaths of Thy little children, who cry out for Thy love and peace in the midst of terror and inhumanity.

 

As Thou once granted true contrition of heart to David and to Manasseh and to Peter, who sinned against Thee, grant true repentance to all who in malice or greed or desperation or hopelessness or ignorance sin against Thee and Thy creatures in the untimely taking of their lives.  Receive their tears as the tears of the Publican, which flow from the depths of their hearts, as Thou didst receive David, who had taken life unjustly, and Manasseh, who had permitted the worship of idols, and Peter, who thrice denied Thee.  Receive them as the Prodigal, with eagerness and rejoicing, clothing them with the robe of holiness and glory and celebrating with them the feast of faith.

 

Speak words of justice into the hearts of our rulers, that they may be guided by divine wisdom in protecting and nurturing life in every good way.  Give strength and love to those who minister to all who suffer in desperation and need, granting through them every spiritual and earthly blessing.  Protect the widows and orphans and the abandoned, be Father to the fatherless and hope to the hopeless, raise the young, protect the bond of marriage in peace and concord.  Remember the forgotten and bring them to mind in all of us who pray unto Thee.  Grant eternal rest to the fallen, and raise them up at the last day.

 

O Christ our God, Who knowest us all in our depths and receivest the supplications of Thy servants who call out to Thee in our own transgressions and imperfection, hear this our humble prayer and give us all Thy divine blessing from on high, for Thou are ever glorified with Thy Father Who is from everlasting and Thine all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.  Amen.

thanks to:

https://orthodoxreflections.com/orthodox-bishops-correct-pro-abortion-comments-from-archbishop-elpidophoros/

Coronavirus and the Triumph of Orthodoxy (What Saints Said & Bishops Tried to Hide) ~ Fr. Josiah Trenham's sermon

 

Coronavirus and the Triumph of Orthodoxy (What Saints Said & Bishops Tried to Hide)

One priest preached the truth. The Leadership wanted him silenced. His sermon was deleted from the internet. Erased from his website. Thankfully, before that happened, someone downloaded a copy and saved it.

"The last thing America needs are weak-kneed Orthodox, mealy-mouth confessors, who don’t know what they believe, and don’t have conviction to maintain what our fathers gave us. That’s the last thing our nation needs . . . "

Fr. Josiah TrenhamMay 21, 2020 | 4910 words  3,313  Comments

MORE:Explaining Orthodoxy COVID

EDITOR'S NOTE: For 2000 years, Christians have encountered many deadly plagues and epidemics. Unbelievers were so impressed by how Christians responded to those plagues, that many of them converted to the Faith. In many cases, this is how the Church grew.

Sadly, many Christians today are cowards who fear death, reacting to the Coronavirus no differently than unbelievers. They tremble at the plague more than they believe in the Resurrection. They fear the raven more than they trust the dove.

Fr. Josiah Trenham, considered by many to be one of the best preachers alive today, delivered a powerful sermon, clearly explaining how faithful Christian Saints have responded to epidemics throughout history. He explained why we have nothing to fear, and why a proper response to plagues can serve as a catalyst, helping to convert numerous people to the Christian Faith.

But it's not a story that the Leadership wanted told. So they covered it up. Deleted it. Buried it. At this time, it cannot be found online anywhere.

Thankfully, one of our faithful readers had already saved a copy of Fr. Josiah's sermon, and they provided us with a copy. Fr. Josiah has told the truth, and the truth needs to be told, so we are providing you with a copy of his amazing sermon, right here.

You may enjoy the homily in its entirety, or you may jump directly to the part of the sermon where Fr. Josiah says we should never close the churches, and we should never stop taking Holy Communion (10:10 on the audio file).

You may also be interested in reviewing the section of Fr. Josiah's sermon, where he explains how the Orthodox Church's reaction to plague, historically, has been a major factor for our triumph, for the victory of the Gospel in the world (13:04 on the audio file).

There is also a wonderful part of the sermon where Fr. Josiah discusses how Orthodox Saints have consistently responded during plagues and epidemics (16:01 on the audio file).

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Here is a complete audio recording of Fr. Josiah's stunning sermon:

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TRANSCRIPT

The Coronavirus and the Triumph of Orthodoxy

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Blessed First Sunday of Lent to all of you, brothers and sisters. Glorious celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy!

I suspect if you engaged, as most of you have, you had your usual first week of Lent. I suspect it was hellacious as usual. I remember my very first Lent, Bishop Basil telling me, “Abouna,” he said, “Be ready on the first day of Lent. The doors of Hell will be thrown open and the demons will come out in force.” And that has been my experience, and yours, no doubt. Every Lent, they know that Lent is their end. The more we embrace Lent, the more they lose power in our lives. Their influence dwindles, dwindles.

I received a call from his eminence Metropolitan Joseph this week on Friday, and I asked him, I said, “Sayidna, how are you?” He said, “Fighting demons all week long.”

Fighting demons, this is our life. This is the value of Lent. They have been defeated, and they’re losing what little they have left, in our lives and in the world. I encourage you not to be bothered by them.

Yesterday, after a very long and exceedingly difficult week, I grabbed two of my sons. I said, “Let’s go wash the cars,” in the afternoon, before I had to get back for meetings and catechism and everything else that happens on wonderful Saturdays of Lent. So we went down and we were at the carwash and we were washing, and we got done. We got the two cars cleaned up. I was feeling really good. — "Presbytera’s gonna be happy!" — We were getting to the vacuuming, and we just finished the vacuuming. Garrett’s scrubbing the mats, Luke’s polishing the windows . . .

And then all of a sudden, I hear a noise. I look up, and there is this bizarre flock of black birds. I have never seen anything like this in my life. Weird. They weren’t crows. They were bigger than crows. All black, about a hundred of them right above our cars circling, pooping all over our cars!

Literally, I looked — my windshield, my hood, the roof of my car. I just stepped back, and all I could think of was that scene in Lord of the Rings, where Legolas looks in the distance and he says — I think they’re called, my son-in-law says they’re called Crebain or something. — "Crebain! Those birds are Crebain from Dunland! They’re spy birds sent out to spy us out." I thought to myself, we were visited on Saturday by the Crebain from Dunland. Kyrie Eleison. Nonetheless, we shall continue to move forward, nonetheless.

What a day this is. I’m titling my homily, brothers and sisters, The Coronavirus and the Triumph of Orthodoxy. You know as well as I do that our culture — as it seems, many countries throughout the entire world — are gripped right now by a deep concern about the Coronavirus. Lots of panic, in our country at least, lots of overreaction, and for sure, very thick fear. COVID-19 has our attention.

I sent out, on my pastoral email to you all, two different statements this week — two letters. One from our dear friend, his grace, Bishop Irenei, who will be visiting us two weeks from this weekend to give a wonderful retreat here, and who wrote a superb counsel to his diocese there in London and Southwest Europe about the virus. And then the very next day His Eminence, Metropolitan Joseph, our father in God, sent out a statement to all the priests, and I found nothing in there that couldn’t easily have been sent to you, so I forwarded His Eminence’s statement on to you as well. Both of the statements were beautiful, essentially saying the same thing. Two basic things: 1. Use common sense — Use common sense, precautions, attend to your hygiene. 2. Go on loving God, and living your Orthodox life.

It’s good, I think, to reinforce the subject of basic hygiene, Coronavirus or no. I appreciate the opportunity to have it addressed. When we come to church we should come to church clean. You should wash, brothers and sisters, before you come to church. You’re presenting yourself before the Lord God. You should come clean. You should come washed. Your clothes shouldn’t be dirty. We don’t wear dirty clothes to church. Your hair should be combed, or tied, or whatever you do. Your face should be washed. This is basic respect for the Lord and His house, especially when you’re going to interact so intimately with the priests, with the chalice, with each other.

We should be taking good care of ourselves. If we’re sick, we should be careful. If we’re really sick, we should stay home. If you’re just a little sick, and you’re fine, but you think you might be contagious, cover yourself, wear a mask. Don’t kiss people if you’re sick.

This is the place that cures sickness. I’m not saying if you’re sick, don’t come here. If you’re really sick, and you’re super contagious, we’ll come to you! For sure! We’re not afraid of that. We’re not afraid of any illness or any sickness. The church exists to heal us. But we’re going to kiss each other. That’s what we do here. We should have ourselves well cleaned for that.

If you cough, in general, cover your mouth. It’s very basic courtesy. Cover your mouth. Wash your hands. And especially, parents, keep your children clean!

I can’t tell you how difficult it is, as a priest, when we serve holy Communion, to serve holy Communion to children with snot running out of their nose. It happens every single Sunday. It’s a disrespect. I’m not saying it’s some sort of plague, or like all the parents do it. But I’m asking you to pay closer attention to making sure that when you come and your children come, that you pull their hair back. Make sure that their hair’s combed when they come to the chalice. Do you know what it’s like to serve Communion to children with their hair falling in front of their face? And I have to be there, pushing their hair aside and putting it behind their ears just so I can serve them Communion. That’s your job. Be a good parent. If you’re going to bring your child to Communion, make sure that their hair is back, that it’s not hanging in their face. If they have a runny nose, it’s okay, it’s not the end of the world. Take a Kleenex before you approach the chalice, and clean their nose, so that they’re clean. Nothing’s on their lips when they come to Communion. This is respectful living.

The second portion of the counsel from our fathers, is to go on living the Christian life.

The idea that we would in any way abandon that which gives us resurrection life, such as reception of holy Communion, gathering together in sacred life-giving koinonia, or venerating icons. The idea that we would stop doing any of those things is absolutely ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous. Am I clear? Those things not only do not convey death; they are the solution to death! They are the healing of disease. The idea that "if we all just retract to our houses, and shut the doors, and don’t kiss anybody, we’re gonna be okay," is guaranteed death! This [church] is the place of life. There is nothing to fear here. Nothing at all.

There is no life without the Eucharist, and if you have a thought, at all — "Oh my gosh, someone who was sick went up and took the Eucharist off the same spoon! I shouldn’t go." — Banish the thought from your mind! It is a thought of unbelief sent from the devils. If you can’t banish it, by no means approach Communion then or ever, because you are unworthy! You do not believe in the life-giving Eucharist if that is a thought that you actually embrace. Banish it from your thoughts, brothers and sisters. Save your souls by participating in the food of Heaven. Death-conquering, deified, human Body and Blood of Jesus Christ — that’s what you’ve come to receive.

No [faithful] priest would forbid anyone who has the Coronavirus from receiving Holy Communion, and no priest would ever himself not consume what remains after he has served Holy Communion to a person with Coronavirus, without a thought at all. No priest in the history of the church has ever died from serving Communion to someone who was sick. No priest has ever contracted any sickness or disease through the life-giving chalice. It is impossible.

With these holy things that God has given us, to give us Heaven on Earth, nothing can touch us and we’re perfectly safe in God’s will. Panic, brothers and sisters, panic, is not our way. We have lived through numerous epidemics, and numerous plagues, for thousands of years. This is not new. We know how to trust in God in times of the outbreak of disease.

In fact, our reaction to plague has been a major historical factor in the triumph of the church in the world. Let me repeat that, because that is a very important thing for us to think of today. The Church’s reaction to plague, historically, has been a major factor for our triumph, for the victory of the Gospel in the world. How? How did a tiny and obscure messianic movement in Judea, the edge of the Roman Empire, dislodge classical paganism and become the dominant faith of Western Civilization? How did a hundred and twenty people in the upper room win one half of the Roman Empire in three centuries, experiencing a 43% (on average) growth rate every decade for three hundred years?

Now, there are many astonishing answers to that question, brothers and sisters. But one of them, right at the heart of our radical growth, is our response to epidemics — our response to plagues. We have a lot of history about this, and a lot of Saints have commented on it.

For instance, the great plague of A. D. 165. This is during the imperial rule of Marcus Aurelius. 1/4th to 1/3rd of the population of the empire died from the first recorded outbreak in the West of what most think was smallpox. In fact, the emperor himself died of it in 180 in Vienna. Only about 85 years later, in 251, another major epidemic hit the empire. This time most people think it was measles. In a very influential work by a scholar named Hans Zinsser that is entitled Rats, Lice, and History, the scholar pointed out these words — he said,

 “Again and again, the forward march of Roman power and world organization was interrupted by the only force against which political genius and military valor was utterly helpless — epidemic disease. And when it came, as though carried by storm clouds, all other things gave way, and men crouched in terror.”

Sound familiar? “Abandoning all their quarrels,” — (that doesn’t sound familiar) — “undertakings, and ambitions, until the tempest had blown over.” This is the impact of epidemic.

Our Holy Fathers who lived during those two plagues I just mentioned, wrote a lot about plague, and our reaction to plague. Men like St. Cyprian of Carthage and St. Dionysios of Alexandria, as well as the famed church historian Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea. They in fact argued that these plagues were major contributors to the propagation of the Gospel and success of the church in the world.

St. Dionysios, in one of his Easter letters, his pastoral letters, he wrote this, quote: “Out of the blue came this disease, a thing more frightful than any disaster whatsoever” - unquote. Something like two-thirds of his city died.

And the contemporary church historian, Rodney Stark, in his work, The Rise of Christianity, he said this about epidemics:

“Epidemics swamped the explanatory and comforting capacities of paganism and Hellenic philosophies. Pagan religion — false religion — simply could not address plague. It had no solution for disease. Christians had far higher rates of survival of disease than pagans.”

Why? Why did so many Christians survive plagues when pagans didn’t? Our thriving through and after plague appeared to the pagans to be a sheer miracle. Plague brought confrontation with death, and confrontation with death always shakes the world. It always shakes nonbelievers who can’t think about death, because they have no solution for death.

Pagan theology, the worship of the gods, was no help to them at all. "Did a god send this misery?" they asked. "Are they involved at all? Do they care at all? Why have the pagan priests all fled the city?" — Which is what they did, universally. — "Why have the highest civil authorities and the wealthiest families left all the cities, and gone to their summer estates?"

Natural law explained nothing. But we believers — during these epidemics — we had a very clear message, a very strong word for the pagan world. We sat next to the pagans and the believers who were dying, and we said, "Look, they look exactly the same, but these two people have completely different destinies." This is what we said.

Christians facing death did not grieve like pagans did. And this, according to St. Cyprian, deeply impacted pagans who were surrounded by death. When they saw how Christians were at peace, and were not afraid of death, they were gripped by interest, because they did not share that opinion of death.

St. Athanasius the Great, of Alexandria, said, “It’s our ability to look death in the face and smile, that provides an opening for the Gospel.”

St. Dionysios of Alexandria wrote about the heroic nursing efforts of local Christians universally. Many Christians who died, died because they were walking into the plague. They insisted on being near the dying, and to nurse them unto the end. These are his words, quote, St. Dionysios: “Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another.”

They hardly retreated from one another because of sickness, brothers and sisters. This idea that somehow we shouldn’t gather, or we shouldn’t kiss; dream on. Dream on. More than ever, more than ever, we should!

“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty; never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger.” Heedless of danger, the saint says!

“They took charge of the sick, attending to their every need, and ministering to them in Christ, and with them, departed this life serenely happy. For they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors, and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. The nurses saved their patients and voluntarily — in happiness — died themselves."

"The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner,” St. Dionysios says. “A number of priests and deacons and laymen winning high commendation, so that death in this form — the result of great piety and strong faith — seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.”

Wow. The full impact of this way of life, brothers and sisters, fell upon the unbelievers and brought them to the Gospel. This is what St. Dionysious says, quote:

“The heathen behaved in the very opposite way. At the first onset of the disease they pushed the sufferers away, and they fled to their dearest hiding places. They threw their diseased into the roads before they were dead. They treated unburied corpses like dirt, hoping to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease, but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.”

During the plague in the second century - (that was a commentary on the third century plague) - During the plague in the second century, the time of Marcus Aurelius, the most famous physician in the entire Roman empire — the famous Galen — was so afraid that he fled and hid in the countryside.

Paganism — and we could translate that to secularism today, the dominant religious force in our own culture — Paganism as a religion has no solution for plague, no answer to death. They had no exultation of love for gods, and no concept of God’s love for people. Often, it was just the opposite. Pagan religion was a game of appeasement. "What did I need to do so that I don’t fall out with the gods?"

It was a strange sight for pagans to see Christians who said that their way to love God was to love one another. It was an ethic they had never seen. They were so attracted to it. When they met people who lived Matthew 25, where our Saviour says, “In as much as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me”, when those who are sick you visit them, when they’re in prison go to them, when they’re naked, you clothe them — When believers embraced that way of life, it won the hearts of unbelievers, especially in the time when death showed its awful face in contagion and disease.

The famous ecclesiastical writer Tertullian says, quote:

“It is our care of the helpless, our practice of loving-kindness to the needy, that brands us in the eyes of our opponents.”

This is what they thought of us, and this is what we showed. And what was the result? The result was a radical mortality difference. Due to Christian nursing, there was something like a difference between an average 30% mortality ratio among the pagans, to about — it’s estimated — a 10% mortality rate among Christians. Not only did we nurse each other, and not abandon people to their diseases, but we also developed immunities that the pagans never could develop, because they wouldn’t allow themselves to be near people who were sick.

That worked a huge shift in demography, as well as conversions, and even the pagans that survived, were much more positively disposed to us because we had helped them. And they were also shaken to their core about their pagan beliefs. All of this created a stew that was just right, for massive conversion to the Christian faith. All in God’s providence, bringing many to taste of eternal life.

This is our attitude, brothers and sisters. We have nothing to fear. The only thing we have to fear is unbelief, and we should be very afraid of that. That could undo us. That could cause our treasure to slip right through our fingers.

Today is the Triumph of Orthodoxy. Today is the Sunday on which we rejoice in the truth, like no other Sunday. Every single Sunday, we celebrate the victory of the church over death, and over sin, and disease. This day, on the first weekend of Great Lent, we particularly celebrate our triumph over that which is the greatest of all plagues — heresy.

The most dangerous of all diseases is the virus of heresy. It’s worse than any smallpox, worse than any measles, and certainly, worse than the Coronavirus. Those of you who have been in our Bible study on Wednesday night at the St. John Chrysostom Catechetical School, know that we’ve been going through the epistles of Peter, and it just so happens that we ended on Wednesday, providentially, with Peter explaining that all the saving works of Jesus were prophesied by the prophets, and that these men who foretold Jesus’ coming and his victory for us, did not speak by any of their own human impulse. Prophecy is not a matter of one’s will, but moved by the Holy Spirit, they spoke from God.

And then having said that, in the beginning of Chapter 2 — which we will study soon, coming up — he says, after affirming true prophecy, he says,

“But know this: false prophets also arose among the people then, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”

Peter is simply repeating Jesus’ words at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, when he warned us to beware of false teachers, or Paul’s words where he says the same thing Peter does:

“From your own midst will wolves arise, teaching horrible things.”

Brothers and sisters, the real virus, the real concern that we as believers must have — if we are heeding the Lord and the apostles — what we should really beware of, is not this or that disease which has nothing to do whatsoever with our souls. We should beware of heresy, of false teaching, because it’s destructive.

You know, every time I come in the church for the liturgy, I always venerate the icons of Saints Peter and Paul, on either side of the Lord’s icon in the narthex. You know what I ask St. Paul every Sunday, right? I think I’ve told you lots of times. I tell you, because I'd like you to ask him too. More converts. 50 catechumens. Minimum, 50 catechumens. I am unworthy. I am unworthy. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten above 40, 41, so I need your help with that.

But do you know what I ask St. Peter? I kiss St. Paul’s feet; I ask him that. But I don’t think I’ve ever told you what I ask St. Peter. The same thing, every Sunday, for all these years. I kiss his feet. — This is the one who confessed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the one who Jesus calls the rock of the Church (his confession of faith). — I kiss his feet, and I beg him,

"Holy Apostle Peter, please, keep me and the entire flock free from heresy. Keep us free from heresy. Don’t let us be destroyed by that which is the most dangerous, the most destructive of all."

Some years ago, quite a few now, I did a class, a Wednesday night class on heresy. It was called The Doctrines of Demons. Some of you might’ve been there. It was a long time ago. We surveyed heresies throughout church history, and I got the title from St. Paul. That’s what he calls heresy — the "doctrines of demons". I summed up what the Church Fathers say about heresy in general, in four simple statements, and I want to repeat them to you now, on this Sunday of Orthodoxy, so that you can renew your vigilance against heresy:

1. The Orthodox Catholic Faith of the Christians was once and for all delivered to the saints. It is revealed and it is pure.
2. Heresy is a parasitical innovation, an alteration of the true faith, and is always incoherent and deficient. It is reductionistic, which is expressed in its being named often after its own founders. Montanism, Marcianism, Arianism, Nestorianism, etc.
3. Heresy is almost always a deliberate deviation from the apostolic norm, due to sin. It’s not just a sin of the mind and of the confession, it usually arises by an immorality that is wanting to be justified. Common motivations are a love of the new, discontent, pride — just think of the heresy of papal infallibility, and what you think is behind that! How could that monstrosity have arisen, except fueled by incredible, episcopal arrogance? — Common motivations are a love of the new, discontent, pride, indiscrete curiosity, trying to define the indefinable, love of power, and greed for ecclesiastical office.
4. Lastly, heresy develops under the providence of God, and is the fulfillment of New Testament prophecies. Christians ought not be surprised by the appearance of heresies, and should accomplish God’s work in opposing them. This work includes loving the heretic, and making efforts at his recovery, as well as the acknowledgement of, and a fixation to, those teachers of the Church who are approved by God.

Paul says this to the Corinthians, he says,

“It is necessary that heresies and schisms arise among you, so that those who are approved may become self-evident.”

When heresies arise, it shakes the church up, and we find out who’s who. Who do we really want to listen to? Who should we affix ourselves to? Who can really maintain the Faith? St. Paul says this is a benefit of God’s providence.

Heresy is so terrible, dear ones, because, it separates us from Jesus, who is the living Truth. Truth saves. Heresy does not save. It’s the worst form of violence because it doesn’t just lead to earthly destruction; it leads to destruction in eternity. We Orthodox believers do not build our lives upon opinion. We do not confess possibilities. That’s not our Faith. We are not free to choose what portions of holy Orthodoxy we like, and then to reject the portions of the Church that we don’t. No. We confess the Faith that upholds the universe, and it upholds us, and we anathematize its opposite.

On this Sunday of Orthodoxy, we are continuing to live our holy tradition. Ever since the restoration of the holy icons against the terrible heresy of iconoclasm, that we celebrate today, and have been celebrating on this Sunday since 843. Ever since that time, we read a proclamation at the end of the service, and we do it outside, as we will today, because the truth is not just for us — it is for the world.

We read a proclamation about the value of truth and the danger of heresy. We confess what our fathers confessed, and we reject what our fathers rejected. What they approve, we approve. What they oppose, we oppose. We have received the truth from them, and we are resolved to pass it on to our children, and to those who make themselves children of the Church. This is the very heart of holy tradition. This is what holy tradition is. We sing many years to those who fought for the truth at great personal cost. And our upholding the truth publicly, brothers and sisters, is exactly what the world needs from us to be saved.

The last thing America needs are weak-kneed Orthodox, mealy-mouth confessors, who don’t know what they believe, and don’t have conviction to maintain what our fathers gave us. That’s the last thing our nation needs. There’s plenty of that.

The Synodicon read by the Church publicly on this day says this, it always begins with these words,

“A yearly thanksgiving is due to God, on account of that day when we recovered the Church of God with the demonstration of the dogmas of religion, and the overthrowing of the blasphemies of wickedness and heresy.”

That’s how we’ll begin, and we’ll make our confession soon, at the end of this liturgy.

And so I encourage you, dear ones, on this Sunday of Orthodoxy, be thankful. Be not afraid of anything from the earth. Entrust your whole selves and each other into the hands of Christ our God, and boldly hold fast the truth, so that you with me can be numbered amongst the faithful, and inherit a kingdom which is more glorious than we’re capable of speaking about. I want you to trample down every fear, and every heresy under your feet, and shine, and shine, on this glorious day. Blessed feast!

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