Archimandrite Philoteos Zervakos
The union will succeed only by humbleness, repentance and return to God, to the Orthodox faith, to the one and only catholic, apostolic Church and at the apostolic and patristic traditions, not by councils and debates, by useless and meaningless dialogues, by vain reunions.
If they do not give up on their pride and do not humble themselves, if they do not repent and do not return to God, all the efforts, the insistences and labors for this union will prove useless, even harmful, cause and reason for divisions, schisms and wars.
No conscious and sane Orthodox Christian with some fear of God will ever accept the union with the heretic Catholics, who ignore the seven Ecumenical Councils, the apostolic Tradition and the Holy Fathers.
The patriarch should ponder well and do not fool himself thinking that the union of the churches is easy and that the true Orthodox will follow him and he will be able to delude their consciousness that much so that they might easily disregard the Holy Tradition and Canons of the Holy Apostles and fathers inspired by God. These for supporting the Orthodox faith and the One and Only Holy catholic and apostolic Church strived, toiled, kept vigils, fasted, suffered pains, oppressions, imprisonment, death and would they accept now the traditions imposed by the Pope?
The good shepherds, the divine Fathers of the Church for keeping the Bride of Christ, the Church pure and unaffected by the multitude of heresies (as they received it from Christ, the Bridegroom) strived, were slandered, imprisoned, persecuted , suffered pains and torments and some of them were killed.
But by an ardent faith in God and being strengthened by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit drew away from the Church the heretics, the contagious wolves and anathematized them forever. And God glorified them in heaven and on earth.
And despite the fact that the Holy Fathers, the good and true shepherds drew away the heretics, the contagious wolves, the ecumenical patriarch Athenagoras invites the heretic pope, the enemy of the Orthodox Church, the breaker of the Holy Tradition embraces him, begs him, recognizes his primate, opens the door of the Orthodox Church for him and tells him: `Come on, get in first and I come after you with my flock!
Alas my soul! Sigh, cry and lament like Jeremiah from afore not for the earthly Jerusalim, but for the chosen Bride of Christ, the pure and flawless, one and only apostolic, catholic Church, the spiritual mother of the Orthodox Christians, the one that was made known to us by the holy apostles, the martyrs, the hierarchs, the teachers, the pious and the righteous.
Cry for this because its bishops and guardians fell asleep and its shepherds opened widely the doors for the contagious wolves to let them enter and to sacrifice, to kidnap and scatter the sheep for whom Christ shed His blood.
To receive the help of God we need beside prayer to be steadfast and brave to cnfess the Orthodox faith and to say bravely to those who rush and urge to a false union and to the other friends of the pope and traitors of Orthodoxy the golden words of the wise saint Joseph Vrienios said to the messengers of the pope:
`We won’t give up on you beloved Orthodoxy, we won’t lie to you, ancient glory. We won’t leave you, mother of piety. We were born in you, we live in you and we shall repose in you. And if times demands it, we will die for you a thousand times!
`No sane, aware Christian orthodox with the power to distinguish and with fear of God will ever accept such a false union, that separates us from God and unite us with the false teachers, with the heretic workers of darkness.
So I ask you, blessed pope Paul of Rome and Athenagoras, patriarch of Constantinople, tell me everything that was set to be guarded by the 367 God bearer Fathers gathered at the 7th Ecumenical Council in the Ist Canon and the Holy Councils before these are these true or not? And if these are true, why don’t you follow them?
Learn not from me but from the Holy Fathers who gathered at the seven Holy Ecumenical Councils, from the divine apostle Paul, the voice of Christ that if you don’t follow and don’t guard those announced, preached, taught by them and left in writing and by word of mouth then you are under the doom of anathema.
When Christ says: `Whoever wants of you to be the first should be smaller than all.` and the patriarch Athenagoras tells to the pope: `You are the first in rank and I am the second`, tell me, whom should I listen, whom should I believe? Christ, the Real Truth or the pope and patriarch who unjustly call themselves without sin and most holy? If you tell me that should be the last ones, I won’t listen to you and I won’t believe you.
You are deluded and I advise you to repent, to confess the truth that neither the pope nor the patriarch are without sin and most holy and they must repent, they must humble themselves. If the men don’t have humbleness, their ranks don’t make them flawless and most holy, but proud, deluded and heretic.
I learnt from the humble and meek Christ, the Real Truth to confess and defend the truth. From apostle Paul, the voice of Christ I learnt not to discuss with the workers of darkness before searching. From prophet David I learnt to speak against the kings and I told the villains not to breach the law, from the most holy of men saint John the Baptist I learnt to say: `repent cause the kingdom of heaven is near.`
To confess and defend the truth when you see that the words, the laws, the teachings, the advice and the commandments of God, the dogmas, the Holy Canons and the Holy Tradition are disregarded it is not forbidden but compulsory.
If there hadn’t been brave warriors in the desert and monasteries but also in towns, patriarchs, bishops, clerics and laymen, teachers and theologians, defenders of the truth and of our Orthodox faith, fighters against the darkness, delusion, heresies and heretics, then today there wouldn’t have been any Orthodoxy and righteous teaching.
What I wrote in this book I wrote out of love for the defenders of the truth, of the One and Only catholic and apostolic Church and of the apostolic and patristic tradition.
I wrote out of love for the pope and patriarch and for all those who disregard the apostolic and patristic Tradition, who stand against it t make them realize their mistake and repent, coming back from the delusion where they fell and removing any innovation.
The pope should remove everything was wrong and unlawful from what was settled by the popes from the old times from the moment they separated of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church and until nowdays/
Anjd to introduce what was left for us by the holy apostles and fathers by the seven ecumenical councils.
And the patriarch, Athenagoras, should stay away of all the innovations that are against the apostolic and patristic Tradition. And for achieving a perfect union blessed by God and true the heads of the two great churches, the Eastern and the Western one, the pope and the patriarch should learn how to hunble themselves not from me the sinner, but from God , our Lord Jesus Christ.
And when they draw away those mentioned before together with the pride and shameful sin and they will clad themselves in the meekness and humbleness of our most sweet Saviour Jesus Christ, only then the most desired union will take place, the peace and the salvation of the leaders and the shepherds of the Churches…They should humble themselves and repent. But we should repent too, because we are all guilty (and the first one is me) We are all proud and because we are all guilty God gives to the leaders what’s in accordance with our hearts and since we are all guilty we all have the duty to repent. If we repent and humble ourselves we shall save our souls, if not we will perish. If we don’t repent all of us there will be no union blessed by God. And if it is done, will be temporary, will be a false union!
The only means for making the union of the Churches succeed is humbleness. If they don’t give up on their pride and humble themselves following the Lord they won’t achieve this union and they will enhance the separation and will cause many follies, disorder, confusion and great harm in their flocks…
All the bad things that tae place and are about to come are caused by pride. Pride is the reason, the root and the case of all the wickedness and misfortunes.
On the other side all the good things are brought by humbleness. Humbleness is the reason for all the good things.
We should put our faith, hope and love in God and He will not leave us.
God will not leave His Church, but we should do what we can. Blessed are those who until death remain loyal to the Orthodox faith, to the Orthodox confession…A moral man steadfast in his faith is worthier than thousand of vicious and wicked men. Do not kneel before Baal but defend the faith of your Fathers like the seven Maccabees, like the Holy Apostles and Martyrs. Fight against the traitors of God, of Orthodoxy and of the inheritance of our ancestors.
