Saint Basil the Great on the Need to Defend the Faith Wherever it is Endangered

St. Basil the GreatThere are not a few clergy today, under the influence of the spirit of the world in the form of philetism or ecumenism, that neglect to come to the aid of Orthodox outside of their Local Church who are struggling against innovations and heresy. They suffer from indifference. In the first instance, out of a mistaken ecclesiology which claims that only the Ecumenical Patriarchate can speak to internal challenges of Faith in the Local Churches. This mistaken ecclesiology is itself born out of an experience of the Church heavily influenced by philetism, where the Church of Christ amounts to the Church existing in the boundaries of the Ethnos (i.e. Greek, Russian, Serbian Orthodoxy). In the second instance, they suffer from an indifference to Dogma and the Truth of the Faith since they are senseless to the direct connection of Faith and Life, of that which we confess and believe and that which we live and experience. This senselessness often times is a result of these clergymen’s association with the heterodox and with the religions of the world. They have, in turn, made the Church and Revelation into Religion, reverting to a pre-Incarnational state of mind, undoing the implications and continuation of the Incarnation in the life of the people.

The following words of Saint Basil the Great apply to all of us, but especially to the clergy in our midst who are indifferent to matters of Faith, to the struggle for the Faith “once delivered.” Saint Basil was writing to men who were far less deluded by the spirits of this world, but who nonetheless exhibited indifference to the fate of the churches abroad. May we all take the Saint’s words to heart and lend a helping hand to all of our brethren who are outside of our diocese or local church but in urgent need of our support and encouragement.

“We stand in the arena to fight for our common heritage, for the treasure of the sound faith, derived from our Fathers. Grieve with us, all you who love the brethren, at the shutting of the mouths of our men of true faith, and at the opening of the bold and blasphemous lips of all who utter unrighteousness against God. The pillars and foundation of the truth are scattered abroad. We, whose insignificance has allowed of our being overlooked, are deprived of our right and free speech. Enter into the struggle for the people’s sake. Do not think only of your being yourselves moored in a safe haven, where the grace of God gives you shelter from the tempest of the winds of wickedness. Reach out a helping hand to the churches that are being buffeted by the storm, lest if they are abandoned, they suffer complete shipwreck of the faith. Lament for us, in that the Only-Begotten is being blasphemed, and there is none to offer contradiction.” --- Letter CCXLIII to the Bishops of Italy and Gaul

Today, there is hardly a church which is not being buffeted by the spirit of secularization and ecumenism, that is to say, the spirit of antichrist. The Ecumenical Patriarch and his small band of deacon-bishops live in the mouth of this dragon, so given over to the methodology of this worldly spirit as to be one with it. The Moscow Patriarch and his circle of leaders, emerged in the working and ways of the Soviet dictatorship for their entire life, follow, together with the E.P., a more papist model of governance, ignoring for all practical purposes the conciliarity of the Church. The Church of Greece, especially since the ascent of the present Archbishop, suffers under the same papalization of the hierarchy, such that conciliarity has ceased to exist - especially on matters of Faith. The Church of Finland has become so emersed in the Western way of living and thinking that the Metropolitan of Helsinki and several of his clergy can speak openly in favor of homosexual marriage and the ordination of women to the priesthood for several years without fearing in the least ecclesiastical discipline. Indeed, those who speak out against these perversions are in fear and stand ready to seek refuge elsewhere. . . The faithful of the churches everywhere are being abandoned by thieves (John 10:1) to the wolves of this world and are in need of a helping hand, lest they suffer “complete shipwreck.” The Son of God and His Body are being blasphemed, so let us all “offer contradiction.” —Fr. PAH

Posted on 04/21/07. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • The Contemporary World • Before the Face of Antichrist: How Shall we then Live? • • Email This Entry