"PARTIAL GRACE"
 |
| Icon of numerous heresies and demons attacking Ark of Salvation (Orthodox Church) |
In recent times, a strange teaching about "partial grace" has appeared, which is represented in non-Orthodox confessions and sects as stunted remnants of the first unified and collegial Holy Church.
The teaching of "partial grace" is similar to the teaching of relative truth in philosophy, which in its logical sequence leads man to agnosticism and skepticism. So, "partial grace" is incomplete, imperfect grace, i.e. delusion or deception of Satan.
Grace is eternal divine power and energy, flowing from the bosom of God's being. It is the unreal light from Tabor in which Christ showed his divinity.
The Orthodox Church, following the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas and the Hesychast of Athos, confirmed at a whole series of local (regional) councils in Constantinople (convened on this occasion in the 14th century), called grace the power of God. Can God be crippled, limited and partial? Another thing is that grace can appear in different actions and properties, but in its natural indivisibility it is absolute. According to Roman Catholic teaching, grace is created and appropriate to God's action. Therefore, it is an official force, not converted, turned towards the world by the attitude or desire of God. Grace is called divine and if, in addition, it is limited and imperfect, God himself is limited and imperfect, and that is already a false god. That's why to recognize grace from non-Orthodox confessions, but not God's and not absolute, but some other - means to attribute pseudo-divine power to their cults.
To talk about the operation of one and the same grace in different confessions means to equate Orthodoxy with heresy or heresy (see: Heresy or heresy - St. Ignatius Brjančaninov ) and destroy the very concept of the holy Orthodox Church of Christ. There is another variant of liberal theology: to allow God's absolute grace to work in different confessions, but heresy creates obstacles for people to adopt this grace, and they join it only partially, to the extent that their creed is closer to Orthodoxy. But here the question arises: is grace saving for them in such a case? If so, then why did the Holy Church of Christ carefully guard itself from all heresies and heresies, and especially from the heresy of Roman Catholicism or papism?
To talk about the operation of one and the same grace in different confessions means to equate Orthodoxy with heresy or heresy (see: Heresy or heresy - St. Ignatius Brjančaninov ) and destroy the very concept of the holy Orthodox Church of Christ. There is another variant of liberal theology: to allow God's absolute grace to work in different confessions, but heresy creates obstacles for people to adopt this grace, and they join it only partially, to the extent that their creed is closer to Orthodoxy. But here the question arises: is grace saving for them in such a case? If so, then why did the Holy Church of Christ carefully guard itself from all heresies and heresies, and especially from the heresy of Roman Catholicism or papism?
For then it follows that the word "heresy" loses its sinister meaning altogether, and becomes something called a "second-rate truth" (as merchants say, second-rate fresh produce that does not smell very nice, but can still be eaten).
Nevertheless, the Holy Orthodox Church of Christ teaches that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth who cannot operate in the field of spiritual lies. And heresy is a metaphysical lie. Let us give an example: the heretic Apollinarius taught that Christ received a human body and soul, with the exception of the human mind, which replaced His divine mind. Regarding this teaching, Saint Gregory of Nyssa says: "If Christ does not have a human mind, then my mind is not healed either, if Christ is not a perfect man, then, therefore, I am not saved."
Heresy is an intellectual and dogmatic sin, a mental rot, a lie of reasoning in which the blessing of the mind and soul by God's grace is impossible. A mind that believes in a lie as in truth, opposes the operation of grace. Salvation itself is a synergy of grace and the human will that is obedient to grace. The blessing of the mind is possible with the synergy of theological truth, in which the mind and grace of God are included, and this synergy is possible only with the existence of dogmatic truth if the small mind of man is included in the great mind of the holy Church of Christ: And we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). Belief in a lie equates the mind with lies, therefore excluding the synergy of knowledge and grace. Therefore, the mind of a heretic remains without true knowledge, i.e., foolish. What then does grace act on, what does it bless?
If the soul is foolish, i.e., without Truth in itself, then such a soul does not have its function.
Nevertheless, the Holy Orthodox Church of Christ teaches that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth who cannot operate in the field of spiritual lies. And heresy is a metaphysical lie. Let us give an example: the heretic Apollinarius taught that Christ received a human body and soul, with the exception of the human mind, which replaced His divine mind. Regarding this teaching, Saint Gregory of Nyssa says: "If Christ does not have a human mind, then my mind is not healed either, if Christ is not a perfect man, then, therefore, I am not saved."
Heresy is an intellectual and dogmatic sin, a mental rot, a lie of reasoning in which the blessing of the mind and soul by God's grace is impossible. A mind that believes in a lie as in truth, opposes the operation of grace. Salvation itself is a synergy of grace and the human will that is obedient to grace. The blessing of the mind is possible with the synergy of theological truth, in which the mind and grace of God are included, and this synergy is possible only with the existence of dogmatic truth if the small mind of man is included in the great mind of the holy Church of Christ: And we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). Belief in a lie equates the mind with lies, therefore excluding the synergy of knowledge and grace. Therefore, the mind of a heretic remains without true knowledge, i.e., foolish. What then does grace act on, what does it bless?
If the soul is foolish, i.e., without Truth in itself, then such a soul does not have its function.
The discussion about the fact that there is grace in heresy, but the heretic cannot receive it, is more like the story of the fox and the stork: food is on the table, and the guest remains hungry.
And in general, the teaching about partial and incomplete grace causes confusion. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Orthodox Church (in the person of the apostles and disciples of Christ) received that fullness of grace that made her one with the heavenly Church and gave her the right to be called the Body of Christ the Savior. Man's approach to grace can be, and in essence always is, incomplete, because of his limitations, imperfection and sinfulness. But here it is not imperfect grace, but man. Eternal life itself is an eternal filling with grace, regardless of man's imperfections and limitations.
If grace is partial, stunted and scarce, then it can save only partially, but the Orthodox Church does not know such partial salvation, and does not recognize a third state after death, apart from Heaven and Hell. If we judge the action of grace according to the external fragmentary similarity of non-Orthodox confessions with Orthodoxy, then we will get a picture of grace as a material but refined energy, like some kind of electricity. Certain conditions were met - the machine worked, and current flowed through the wire. The farther the denomination and sect from Orthodoxy, the worse the quality of the conductor and the less strong the current voltage. Here God is excluded as the head of the Church, here the Church turns from a living unique organism into hesychasm, perhaps better than the others, but not the only one. Acknowledging the effectiveness of the secrets practiced in different confessions according to their "similarities" with the Church turns mysticism into magic, and magic is the subjugation of essence to form.
And in general, the teaching about partial and incomplete grace causes confusion. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Orthodox Church (in the person of the apostles and disciples of Christ) received that fullness of grace that made her one with the heavenly Church and gave her the right to be called the Body of Christ the Savior. Man's approach to grace can be, and in essence always is, incomplete, because of his limitations, imperfection and sinfulness. But here it is not imperfect grace, but man. Eternal life itself is an eternal filling with grace, regardless of man's imperfections and limitations.
If grace is partial, stunted and scarce, then it can save only partially, but the Orthodox Church does not know such partial salvation, and does not recognize a third state after death, apart from Heaven and Hell. If we judge the action of grace according to the external fragmentary similarity of non-Orthodox confessions with Orthodoxy, then we will get a picture of grace as a material but refined energy, like some kind of electricity. Certain conditions were met - the machine worked, and current flowed through the wire. The farther the denomination and sect from Orthodoxy, the worse the quality of the conductor and the less strong the current voltage. Here God is excluded as the head of the Church, here the Church turns from a living unique organism into hesychasm, perhaps better than the others, but not the only one. Acknowledging the effectiveness of the secrets practiced in different confessions according to their "similarities" with the Church turns mysticism into magic, and magic is the subjugation of essence to form.
Theosophy talks about the fact that no religion has the fullness of truth, but only relative truth - therefore, it flattens religions in some kind of imperfection. And the heresy of ecumenism, i.e. Ecumenism, being a partial case of theosophy, in its radical form talks about the fact that no religion is perfect, so confessions should learn from each other, and in its "liberal-half-hearted" form it allows certain confessions to have some advantages (among them Orthodox , who participate in the Ecumenical Movement, believe, of course, that Orthodoxy is the greatest form of Christianity). If it is assumed that this is really so, and the difference between Orthodoxy and non-Orthodoxy is reflected in a greater or lesser degree of grace, then the entire history of the Holy Church of Christ up to the 20th century represents either a misunderstanding or a flagrant sin against love. Should heretics be anathema because grace works less in them? However, to allow such an understanding – means to renounce the very concept of the Holy Church as the mystical Body of Jesus Christ the Savior and to transform it into a human society, like a club, party or association.
If salvation is possible in other confessions, then the anathema pronounced by the Holy Church to heretics, and which is repeated every year on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, more like fratricide. Why did the ancient Holy Church cut off heretics from her body as completely sick members? Did she have less love than the modern ecumenists of today? The apostle of love, St. John the Evangelist, forbade Christians to introduce heretics into their homes and even greet them: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or greet him (2 John 1:10), and yet he was the most beloved disciple of Christ the Savior. So , Orthodox Christian love is something else, not liberal indifference towards religion, which hides its indifference towards the Truth under the cloak of love.
The greatest of the God-pleasing, Saint Anthony the Great, came out of the desert to expose the Arian heresy. Saint Nicholas showed special zeal for holy Orthodoxy at the First Council of the Church. Can you imagine a council of the Church of Christ at which Saint Nicholas and Arius, holding hands, exclaim slogans of today's ecumenists and declare that we should pay more attention to what unites and less to what divides?
The first-supreme apostle Peter astonished the gnostic Simon Magus with his prayer to death. How can such an action of the first-supreme apostle be transferred to the "gentle" ' the souls of today's ecumenists - liberals who follow with admiration the rituals of the godless dancers - shamans during the ecumenist council?!
If in the Orthodox Church of Christ there is fullness of grace, and in heresy there is partial grace, then it comes to pass that grace is divided and that the greater grace casts anathema on the lesser. And the anathema pronounced by the Holy Church is a picture and image of the Last Judgment. Then another puzzling question arises before us: why was the non-Orthodox confessions given “incomplete, partial grace”, if not for salvation – that is, for great condemnation? Then it turns into the punishment of God, then it will be better for the ungodly than for the non-Orthodox who perish with such “grace”. The Holy Church equally honors the martyrs who took upon themselves death, both for refusing to offer sacrifice to idols, and for refusing to become non-Orthodox, i.e., to enter into union. In addition, the Church does not care what religion the apostate will accept, because the sin of suicide is equally terrible regardless of whether he poisoned himself, hanged himself or threw himself off a cliff.
The question can also be posed like this: are non-Orthodox Christians at all? If Christianity means faith in Christ the Savior, then they are Christians. And if Christianity is understood as the mystical reflection of the image of Christ in the human soul and communion with the Holy Spirit, then this is possible only in the holy Orthodox Church. Some claim that Monophysitism is a heresy, since it was condemned at the Fourth Council of the Church, and Roman Catholicism cannot be called a heresy since the apostasy of the Roman Patriarchate occurred after the church councils, so the above question remains open. This evidence seems astonishing to us, because Protestantism appeared even later, and according to this logic, Protestants are not heretics. And such sectarian organizations as "Jehovah's Witnesses", "The Salvation Army", in whose metrics the 19th century is depicted, are therefore also not heresies because the church councils could not subject their teachings to anathema?! As for the specific heresy of Roman Catholicism, the synodal conclusions often repeated the prohibition of the Symbol of Faith (Creed) as the basis of dogmatic unity. In this, Roman Catholicism already opposed itself to the holy catholic Church. At the Orthodox councils and councils of the Eastern Patriarchs, Roman Catholicism was called Latin heresy and papism. ( See: ''Circular Letter of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church to All Christians'', 1848, signed by the Eastern Patriarchs and their Synod - Circular Letter of the Orthodox Eastern Patriarchs against the Letter of Pope Pius I X )
If salvation is possible in other confessions, then the anathema pronounced by the Holy Church to heretics, and which is repeated every year on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, more like fratricide. Why did the ancient Holy Church cut off heretics from her body as completely sick members? Did she have less love than the modern ecumenists of today? The apostle of love, St. John the Evangelist, forbade Christians to introduce heretics into their homes and even greet them: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or greet him (2 John 1:10), and yet he was the most beloved disciple of Christ the Savior. So , Orthodox Christian love is something else, not liberal indifference towards religion, which hides its indifference towards the Truth under the cloak of love.
The greatest of the God-pleasing, Saint Anthony the Great, came out of the desert to expose the Arian heresy. Saint Nicholas showed special zeal for holy Orthodoxy at the First Council of the Church. Can you imagine a council of the Church of Christ at which Saint Nicholas and Arius, holding hands, exclaim slogans of today's ecumenists and declare that we should pay more attention to what unites and less to what divides?
The first-supreme apostle Peter astonished the gnostic Simon Magus with his prayer to death. How can such an action of the first-supreme apostle be transferred to the "gentle" ' the souls of today's ecumenists - liberals who follow with admiration the rituals of the godless dancers - shamans during the ecumenist council?!
If in the Orthodox Church of Christ there is fullness of grace, and in heresy there is partial grace, then it comes to pass that grace is divided and that the greater grace casts anathema on the lesser. And the anathema pronounced by the Holy Church is a picture and image of the Last Judgment. Then another puzzling question arises before us: why was the non-Orthodox confessions given “incomplete, partial grace”, if not for salvation – that is, for great condemnation? Then it turns into the punishment of God, then it will be better for the ungodly than for the non-Orthodox who perish with such “grace”. The Holy Church equally honors the martyrs who took upon themselves death, both for refusing to offer sacrifice to idols, and for refusing to become non-Orthodox, i.e., to enter into union. In addition, the Church does not care what religion the apostate will accept, because the sin of suicide is equally terrible regardless of whether he poisoned himself, hanged himself or threw himself off a cliff.
The question can also be posed like this: are non-Orthodox Christians at all? If Christianity means faith in Christ the Savior, then they are Christians. And if Christianity is understood as the mystical reflection of the image of Christ in the human soul and communion with the Holy Spirit, then this is possible only in the holy Orthodox Church. Some claim that Monophysitism is a heresy, since it was condemned at the Fourth Council of the Church, and Roman Catholicism cannot be called a heresy since the apostasy of the Roman Patriarchate occurred after the church councils, so the above question remains open. This evidence seems astonishing to us, because Protestantism appeared even later, and according to this logic, Protestants are not heretics. And such sectarian organizations as "Jehovah's Witnesses", "The Salvation Army", in whose metrics the 19th century is depicted, are therefore also not heresies because the church councils could not subject their teachings to anathema?! As for the specific heresy of Roman Catholicism, the synodal conclusions often repeated the prohibition of the Symbol of Faith (Creed) as the basis of dogmatic unity. In this, Roman Catholicism already opposed itself to the holy catholic Church. At the Orthodox councils and councils of the Eastern Patriarchs, Roman Catholicism was called Latin heresy and papism. ( See: ''Circular Letter of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church to All Christians'', 1848, signed by the Eastern Patriarchs and their Synod - Circular Letter of the Orthodox Eastern Patriarchs against the Letter of Pope Pius I X )
As Orthodox, we believe that the teaching of "relative grace" entails the teaching of relative salvation.
Are the Mysteries celebrated in non-Orthodox confessions? If they are, then they are strange mysteries that do not save. A mystery that has not been adopted by man does not bring him closer, but rather distances him from God; it can serve more as a sign of future punishment.
What then is at work in these confessions, what kind of power? We think that there is a unified field of spiritual inspiration. There can be strong emotions, deep meditations that reach intellectual ecstasies, and stigma: there can be spiritual love that manifests itself in the feat of self-sacrifice. But there is no life of the Spirit there - everything is swallowed up by the soul. Why did the Holy Fathers forbid Christians to pray in pagan chapels and in heretical buildings, making no distinction between participation in pagan and heretical rituals and prescribing the same punishments? Because paganism or paganism means the absence of the truth of Christ the Savior, and heresy is an imitation of the truth, and every imitation is a spiritual lie.
The determination with which the Holy Church of Christ forbade praying together with pagans, heretics, schismatics and all those who are separated from her, testifies to the fact that this is not a simple "pedagogical" principle, but a realistic view that outside the Holy Church there is and cannot be salvation. Praying with heretics is a voluntary entry into that realm of spiritual passions and dark forces that reach for the kingdom of the Logos, beyond the secular border of the Church. Praying with heretics and pagans nourishes doubts about the existence of the one true holy Church. The Church is the mystical body of God. Only through the Holy Orthodox Church can the true image of Christ be reflected in the soul of man; in other confessions this image is corrupted and changed, although it bears the same name.
Belief in the salvation of other religions or only in the possibility of partial sanctification in them constitutes a special ecclesiological polytheism.
Grace, which is present in the Church, acts through priests. Grace itself can be called the spiritual substance of the Church. The canons of the Council forbid taking a blessing from heretics, since "blessing a heretic is gibberish." The Fathers of the ancient Church already said: "To whom the Church is not a mother, God is not a Father."
Eternal life is an eternal refuge of grace, which begins here on earth and has no end. God the Father can be approached only through Jesus Christ in the grace of the Holy Spirit.
HIGHER SERVICE TO HUMANITY
The basis of Christian morality is love, union with justice. Saint Dionysius the Areopagite writes that salvation requires a proper goal, a worthy object, and pure means, i.e., the unity of goal and means.
Justice is a property of love as its outer covering. Love is the content of justice, its life. Without justice, love turns into blind passion, without love, justice becomes a harsh punishment.
Theologians, revealing the symbolic meaning of the Cross, said that here we see the union of justice and mercy.
We may object that the evangelical commandments of love and justice are accepted by all confessions and sects. Why does Orthodoxy consider that only it preserves this teaching in its pure and unadulterated form? Don't Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have an extensive network of charitable organizations on all continents? Haven't they shown the world self-sacrificing missionaries? This question is very important, and it is necessary to consider it not in terms of social reflection, but in its mystical depth.
We will begin with the fact that Roman Catholicism considers the tragedy of man's fall into sin and its consequences differently from Orthodoxy.
According to Roman Catholic teaching, sin deprived man of supernatural grace and thus completely introduced a certain disharmony into his psychological life, but the natural powers of the soul remained intact. In this way, passions are viewed not as a disease of the soul, but as an excess and abuse. Such teaching conceals the catastrophic consequences of sin, deprives the spiritual struggle with sin and demonic power of that intensity, constant feats and vigilance, which are characteristic of Eastern asceticism.
The teaching about constant inner prayer, about the eradication of passions, about repentance or conversion as the basis of spiritual life, is supplanted by external feats and social service. This becomes especially obvious through a comparison of Orthodox and Roman Catholic monasticism as the main indicators of the church spirit.
Monasticism in the East is, first of all, an inner life, renunciation of the world, a striving for constant communion with God. Roman Catholic monasticism is an expression of social service to the Church, and since its methods are diverse, then monasticism (uniquely in the East) in the West created a multitude of orders, i.e. monastic institutions with different rules. In the Roman Catholic Church, monastic asceticism immediately took the form of order and work, that is, organization. Roman Catholicism considers the natural powers of the soul to be inviolable, and begins its sermon with an appeal to love. But love without first purifying the mind from pride and the heart from passion, which is the love of the soul and not of the spirit. It can be fiery and strong, beautiful and emotional; it can carry within it much concern for the suffering of others and tenderness, but it is an earthly love, based on solidarity and debt, it is diluted with sentimentality and is prone to affectation.
Pravoslavlje započinje propovijed pozivanjem na pokajanje ili obraćenje. Samo dugim putem očišćenja duše od grijeha budi se čovječji duh i srce osjeća ljubav i patnju kao novi život, kao osjećaj ni s čim usporediv, kao djelovanje samog Boga u srcu čovjeka. Ta ljubav je lišena potresnih emocija, ona je tiha i duboka, njena osobina je ljubiti Boga svim srcem svojim, a ljude kao sliku i priliku Božju. Duhovna ljubav je djelovanje milosti jer nosi u sebi Božju svjetlost preobraženja i obasjava svijet odbljescima te svjetlosti.
Ovdje se pod riječ ''ljubav'' mogu svrstati razna stanja. Ljubav zavisi od čovjekovog pogleda na svijet, od podviga njegove vjere, od mjere očišćena njegova srca, od prebivanja u Crkvi tj. uključenosti u njenu mistiku i asketiku. Sveti apostol Ivan evanđelist nazvao je Boga ljubavlju: Bog je ljubav (1 Iv 4,8); Krist je rekao da Bog jest Duh: Bog je duh (Iv 4,24). Najviši oblik ljubavi je duhovna ljubav sačuvana u životu svete Crkve. Pravoslavlje uči da Kraljevstvo Božje nije od ovog svijeta, dok je zemaljski put – samo put, pa je ono ''Kraljevstvo …'', slobodno od svjetskih predstava i predrasuda, od njegovih sklonosti i običaja.
Rimokatolička crkva hoće da izgradi Kraljevstvo Božje na zemlji. Ona je široko otvorila svoja vrata za svjetsku kulturu, za svjetsku umjetnost; ona nastoji da iskoristi dostignuća nauke i filozofije, da proširi utjecaj na politiku, da razradi socijalna pitanja. Zato pojmovi istine i pravde dobivaju strateški karakter, težeći da Crkvi pruže svjetsku kulturu; rimokatolicizam pada samo pod utjecaj te kulture, gdje je umjesto pravde – nešto slično pravdi, gdje je istina povezana s evolucijom Crkve, tj. nosi relativan karakter postupnog procesa. Za pravoslavlje su istina, Krist i Crkva živo mistično Tijelo Krista. Prema pravoslavnom učenju, Crkva je uvijek imala i ima punoću Duha Svetoga, te su kriteriji istine u pravoslavlju čvrsti i nepromjenljivi.
Što se pak tiče protestantskog svijeta, on se odrekao asketizma drevne Crkve, i zato su ljubav, istina i drugi dojmovi za njega postali subjektivni psihološki ogledi i osobne predstave. Udaljivši se od jedinstvene Crkve još dalje od rimokatolicizma, on je izgubio sve subjektivne kriterije. Njegova mistika se zatvorila u krugu individualnih ogleda. A, treba znati da mistika bez askeze lako prelazi u vizionarstvo ili magiju.
Rimokatolicizam i protestantizam dali su svijetu što su oni imali. Pokušali su i pokušavaju da patnja i nesreća na zemlji bude što malje. Ali siromašnih, gladnih i bolesnih nije manje; a ako se govori o duševnim bolesnicima, onda ih je više – pate i bogati i siromašni, čitav svijet sliči na obnaženi nerv, koji se skuplja u grozničavom bolu. Divno je djelo utješiti čovjeka koji je izgubio nadu, nahraniti gladnoga, ukazati pomoć bolesnom, a to neće pomoći da se izvede čovječanstvo iz ćorsokaka u koji je upalo – da se zaustavi proces moralne i duhovne atrofije, da se odstrani katastrofa prema kojoj vuče, izgleda, čitav tok ovozemaljske povijesti.
Pravoslavlje nosi u sebi snagu koja može da se suprotstavi svjetskom zlu, svjetlost koju nije shvatio i odbacio je zapadni svijet, označivši je nazivom ''hereza palamita''(učenje sv. Grigorija Palame). Ova svjetlost askeze i sagledavanja čini čovjeka sretnijim usred svih patnji, slično Kristu kad je sišao u pakao i ispunio radošću duše umrlih.
Drevni kršćanski pisci, a među njima i oni koji su pripadali zapadnom svijetu govorili su da je jedino dobro Bog, jedino zlo – grijeh, sve ostalo su međuprostori stanja i situacija. Zato pravoslavlje sa svojim promatračkim karakterom, učenjem o unutrašnjoj molitvi i samoći, vrši najveće služenje čovječanstvu, ono čuva Taborsku svjetlost, otkriva put za stjecanje te svjetlosti.
NA ŠTO TREBA PRAVOSLAVNI OBRATITI PAŽNJU U RAZGOVORU S KATOLIKOM?
The Apostolic Church, according to its structure and self-expression, is a congregational Church. The Parliament, as the highest representation of all members of the Church, realizes the principle of its unity. Even in apostolic times, differences in some questions concerning missionary work among the Gentiles were not resolved by a single vote of the Apostle Peter, but were decided by the council. It is characteristic that at the first Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, Bishop Jacob, not Apostle Peter, presided, and Jacob presented the Council's conclusions in his final speech. The very character of the Apostolic Council testifies to the fact that in the ancient Church, the decision of the council stood above the authority of any apostle. If there was a principle of ecclesiological monarchism in the ancient church - the primacy of the sinless by the actions of the leader, then the idea of a council as such would be unnecessary and meaningless: for all questions of a dogmatic and moral character it would be enough to turn to the Pope of Rome - the "bishop of bishops", the vicar Christ on earth. Having adorned the Roman Pope with superhuman qualities of sinlessness in acts of faith and morality, Roman Catholics cannot explain the contradictions in papal bulls and appearances, such as the denial of Christ by one of the popes (he later repented and became a martyr) and how Pope Honorius received the Monophysite heresy ( for which he was condemned at the Sixth Council of the Church). The Church does not recognize "intellectual sinlessness" that would depend on rank and place of living. The Holy Spirit testifies through the mouth of the prophet David, that every man is a lie (Ps 115, 2). The truth was expressed in all its fullness by the Holy Church of Christ in its conciliar unity. In other words, the purity of faith is in the unity of love.
Filioque is a heresy from a dogmatic point of view (two exits, i.e. the coming forth of the Holy Spirit), and from an ecclesiological point of view - it is a violation of conciliar unity; from the moral side - the manifestation of the spirit of arrogance. The symbol of faith or Creed was established at the First and Second Councils of the Church as a solid basis of Christian belief.
Church councils forbade changing, shortening the Creed or making any additions to it. The Roman Church committed a sin against the unity of the Church by changing the Belief and thereby opposing itself to the holy conciliar Church.
Provincialism is seen in the fact that a part puts itself above the whole, for example: a province stands up for the whole state. The Roman Patriarchate, with a unilateral act of dogmatic dictation, placed its decisions above the decisions of church councils and moved from the principle of love to the principle of leadership.
In its historical being, Roman Catholicism constantly modernizes the Roman Catholic Church itself, adapting it to the ever-changing world, its culture and ideologies, ideas and tastes. That is why the Roman Catholic Church is increasingly acquiring the character of a useful (utilitarian) organization. Here, mysticism degenerates into aestheticism, and asceticism is replaced by charity and sociology.
Are the Mysteries celebrated in non-Orthodox confessions? If they are, then they are strange mysteries that do not save. A mystery that has not been adopted by man does not bring him closer, but rather distances him from God; it can serve more as a sign of future punishment.
What then is at work in these confessions, what kind of power? We think that there is a unified field of spiritual inspiration. There can be strong emotions, deep meditations that reach intellectual ecstasies, and stigma: there can be spiritual love that manifests itself in the feat of self-sacrifice. But there is no life of the Spirit there - everything is swallowed up by the soul. Why did the Holy Fathers forbid Christians to pray in pagan chapels and in heretical buildings, making no distinction between participation in pagan and heretical rituals and prescribing the same punishments? Because paganism or paganism means the absence of the truth of Christ the Savior, and heresy is an imitation of the truth, and every imitation is a spiritual lie.
The determination with which the Holy Church of Christ forbade praying together with pagans, heretics, schismatics and all those who are separated from her, testifies to the fact that this is not a simple "pedagogical" principle, but a realistic view that outside the Holy Church there is and cannot be salvation. Praying with heretics is a voluntary entry into that realm of spiritual passions and dark forces that reach for the kingdom of the Logos, beyond the secular border of the Church. Praying with heretics and pagans nourishes doubts about the existence of the one true holy Church. The Church is the mystical body of God. Only through the Holy Orthodox Church can the true image of Christ be reflected in the soul of man; in other confessions this image is corrupted and changed, although it bears the same name.
Belief in the salvation of other religions or only in the possibility of partial sanctification in them constitutes a special ecclesiological polytheism.
Grace, which is present in the Church, acts through priests. Grace itself can be called the spiritual substance of the Church. The canons of the Council forbid taking a blessing from heretics, since "blessing a heretic is gibberish." The Fathers of the ancient Church already said: "To whom the Church is not a mother, God is not a Father."
Eternal life is an eternal refuge of grace, which begins here on earth and has no end. God the Father can be approached only through Jesus Christ in the grace of the Holy Spirit.
HIGHER SERVICE TO HUMANITY
The basis of Christian morality is love, union with justice. Saint Dionysius the Areopagite writes that salvation requires a proper goal, a worthy object, and pure means, i.e., the unity of goal and means.
Justice is a property of love as its outer covering. Love is the content of justice, its life. Without justice, love turns into blind passion, without love, justice becomes a harsh punishment.
Theologians, revealing the symbolic meaning of the Cross, said that here we see the union of justice and mercy.
We may object that the evangelical commandments of love and justice are accepted by all confessions and sects. Why does Orthodoxy consider that only it preserves this teaching in its pure and unadulterated form? Don't Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have an extensive network of charitable organizations on all continents? Haven't they shown the world self-sacrificing missionaries? This question is very important, and it is necessary to consider it not in terms of social reflection, but in its mystical depth.
We will begin with the fact that Roman Catholicism considers the tragedy of man's fall into sin and its consequences differently from Orthodoxy.
According to Roman Catholic teaching, sin deprived man of supernatural grace and thus completely introduced a certain disharmony into his psychological life, but the natural powers of the soul remained intact. In this way, passions are viewed not as a disease of the soul, but as an excess and abuse. Such teaching conceals the catastrophic consequences of sin, deprives the spiritual struggle with sin and demonic power of that intensity, constant feats and vigilance, which are characteristic of Eastern asceticism.
The teaching about constant inner prayer, about the eradication of passions, about repentance or conversion as the basis of spiritual life, is supplanted by external feats and social service. This becomes especially obvious through a comparison of Orthodox and Roman Catholic monasticism as the main indicators of the church spirit.
Monasticism in the East is, first of all, an inner life, renunciation of the world, a striving for constant communion with God. Roman Catholic monasticism is an expression of social service to the Church, and since its methods are diverse, then monasticism (uniquely in the East) in the West created a multitude of orders, i.e. monastic institutions with different rules. In the Roman Catholic Church, monastic asceticism immediately took the form of order and work, that is, organization. Roman Catholicism considers the natural powers of the soul to be inviolable, and begins its sermon with an appeal to love. But love without first purifying the mind from pride and the heart from passion, which is the love of the soul and not of the spirit. It can be fiery and strong, beautiful and emotional; it can carry within it much concern for the suffering of others and tenderness, but it is an earthly love, based on solidarity and debt, it is diluted with sentimentality and is prone to affectation.
Pravoslavlje započinje propovijed pozivanjem na pokajanje ili obraćenje. Samo dugim putem očišćenja duše od grijeha budi se čovječji duh i srce osjeća ljubav i patnju kao novi život, kao osjećaj ni s čim usporediv, kao djelovanje samog Boga u srcu čovjeka. Ta ljubav je lišena potresnih emocija, ona je tiha i duboka, njena osobina je ljubiti Boga svim srcem svojim, a ljude kao sliku i priliku Božju. Duhovna ljubav je djelovanje milosti jer nosi u sebi Božju svjetlost preobraženja i obasjava svijet odbljescima te svjetlosti.
Ovdje se pod riječ ''ljubav'' mogu svrstati razna stanja. Ljubav zavisi od čovjekovog pogleda na svijet, od podviga njegove vjere, od mjere očišćena njegova srca, od prebivanja u Crkvi tj. uključenosti u njenu mistiku i asketiku. Sveti apostol Ivan evanđelist nazvao je Boga ljubavlju: Bog je ljubav (1 Iv 4,8); Krist je rekao da Bog jest Duh: Bog je duh (Iv 4,24). Najviši oblik ljubavi je duhovna ljubav sačuvana u životu svete Crkve. Pravoslavlje uči da Kraljevstvo Božje nije od ovog svijeta, dok je zemaljski put – samo put, pa je ono ''Kraljevstvo …'', slobodno od svjetskih predstava i predrasuda, od njegovih sklonosti i običaja.
Rimokatolička crkva hoće da izgradi Kraljevstvo Božje na zemlji. Ona je široko otvorila svoja vrata za svjetsku kulturu, za svjetsku umjetnost; ona nastoji da iskoristi dostignuća nauke i filozofije, da proširi utjecaj na politiku, da razradi socijalna pitanja. Zato pojmovi istine i pravde dobivaju strateški karakter, težeći da Crkvi pruže svjetsku kulturu; rimokatolicizam pada samo pod utjecaj te kulture, gdje je umjesto pravde – nešto slično pravdi, gdje je istina povezana s evolucijom Crkve, tj. nosi relativan karakter postupnog procesa. Za pravoslavlje su istina, Krist i Crkva živo mistično Tijelo Krista. Prema pravoslavnom učenju, Crkva je uvijek imala i ima punoću Duha Svetoga, te su kriteriji istine u pravoslavlju čvrsti i nepromjenljivi.
Što se pak tiče protestantskog svijeta, on se odrekao asketizma drevne Crkve, i zato su ljubav, istina i drugi dojmovi za njega postali subjektivni psihološki ogledi i osobne predstave. Udaljivši se od jedinstvene Crkve još dalje od rimokatolicizma, on je izgubio sve subjektivne kriterije. Njegova mistika se zatvorila u krugu individualnih ogleda. A, treba znati da mistika bez askeze lako prelazi u vizionarstvo ili magiju.
Rimokatolicizam i protestantizam dali su svijetu što su oni imali. Pokušali su i pokušavaju da patnja i nesreća na zemlji bude što malje. Ali siromašnih, gladnih i bolesnih nije manje; a ako se govori o duševnim bolesnicima, onda ih je više – pate i bogati i siromašni, čitav svijet sliči na obnaženi nerv, koji se skuplja u grozničavom bolu. Divno je djelo utješiti čovjeka koji je izgubio nadu, nahraniti gladnoga, ukazati pomoć bolesnom, a to neće pomoći da se izvede čovječanstvo iz ćorsokaka u koji je upalo – da se zaustavi proces moralne i duhovne atrofije, da se odstrani katastrofa prema kojoj vuče, izgleda, čitav tok ovozemaljske povijesti.
Pravoslavlje nosi u sebi snagu koja može da se suprotstavi svjetskom zlu, svjetlost koju nije shvatio i odbacio je zapadni svijet, označivši je nazivom ''hereza palamita''(učenje sv. Grigorija Palame). Ova svjetlost askeze i sagledavanja čini čovjeka sretnijim usred svih patnji, slično Kristu kad je sišao u pakao i ispunio radošću duše umrlih.
Drevni kršćanski pisci, a među njima i oni koji su pripadali zapadnom svijetu govorili su da je jedino dobro Bog, jedino zlo – grijeh, sve ostalo su međuprostori stanja i situacija. Zato pravoslavlje sa svojim promatračkim karakterom, učenjem o unutrašnjoj molitvi i samoći, vrši najveće služenje čovječanstvu, ono čuva Taborsku svjetlost, otkriva put za stjecanje te svjetlosti.
NA ŠTO TREBA PRAVOSLAVNI OBRATITI PAŽNJU U RAZGOVORU S KATOLIKOM?
The Apostolic Church, according to its structure and self-expression, is a congregational Church. The Parliament, as the highest representation of all members of the Church, realizes the principle of its unity. Even in apostolic times, differences in some questions concerning missionary work among the Gentiles were not resolved by a single vote of the Apostle Peter, but were decided by the council. It is characteristic that at the first Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, Bishop Jacob, not Apostle Peter, presided, and Jacob presented the Council's conclusions in his final speech. The very character of the Apostolic Council testifies to the fact that in the ancient Church, the decision of the council stood above the authority of any apostle. If there was a principle of ecclesiological monarchism in the ancient church - the primacy of the sinless by the actions of the leader, then the idea of a council as such would be unnecessary and meaningless: for all questions of a dogmatic and moral character it would be enough to turn to the Pope of Rome - the "bishop of bishops", the vicar Christ on earth. Having adorned the Roman Pope with superhuman qualities of sinlessness in acts of faith and morality, Roman Catholics cannot explain the contradictions in papal bulls and appearances, such as the denial of Christ by one of the popes (he later repented and became a martyr) and how Pope Honorius received the Monophysite heresy ( for which he was condemned at the Sixth Council of the Church). The Church does not recognize "intellectual sinlessness" that would depend on rank and place of living. The Holy Spirit testifies through the mouth of the prophet David, that every man is a lie (Ps 115, 2). The truth was expressed in all its fullness by the Holy Church of Christ in its conciliar unity. In other words, the purity of faith is in the unity of love.
Filioque is a heresy from a dogmatic point of view (two exits, i.e. the coming forth of the Holy Spirit), and from an ecclesiological point of view - it is a violation of conciliar unity; from the moral side - the manifestation of the spirit of arrogance. The symbol of faith or Creed was established at the First and Second Councils of the Church as a solid basis of Christian belief.
Church councils forbade changing, shortening the Creed or making any additions to it. The Roman Church committed a sin against the unity of the Church by changing the Belief and thereby opposing itself to the holy conciliar Church.
Provincialism is seen in the fact that a part puts itself above the whole, for example: a province stands up for the whole state. The Roman Patriarchate, with a unilateral act of dogmatic dictation, placed its decisions above the decisions of church councils and moved from the principle of love to the principle of leadership.
In its historical being, Roman Catholicism constantly modernizes the Roman Catholic Church itself, adapting it to the ever-changing world, its culture and ideologies, ideas and tastes. That is why the Roman Catholic Church is increasingly acquiring the character of a useful (utilitarian) organization. Here, mysticism degenerates into aestheticism, and asceticism is replaced by charity and sociology.
From the book: The Secret of Salvation - Archimandrite Rafael Karelin
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar