Mocking our Lord: Commemorating Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
By Archimandrite Maximos Karavas
The
occasion for me to write this article arose from the grief I feel
whenever I hear the bishops of the so called “new lands” of the Greek
Church commemorate Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew—especially
when he is commemorated as “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word
of [Your] Truth,” addressing God, without fear and without shame, during
the holiest moment of the Divine Liturgy.
Priest (intones):
Among the first, remember, Lord, our Bishop (Name). Grant that he may
serve Your holy churches in peace. Keep him safe, honorable, and healthy
for many years, rightly proclaiming the word of Your truth.
Has
the fear of God left the hearts of these bishops completely? Don’t they
understand that by saying these things they mock God, and that it is
“terrible to fall into the hands of the living God, from which no one is
able to snatch someone out?” (St. John Chrysostom). They commemorate the greatest blasphemer and the greatest heresiarch of all centuries of Christendom as
“the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth”! Who?—the one
who has not left any teaching of the Orthodox faith standing! But let us
address a few specific “unspeakable words” by “the one who is
rightly proclaiming the word of Truth,” so that no one may say that we
treat him unfairly.
Follow your orders
In
his message to the 2001 “World Conference Against Racism” held in
Durban, South Africa under UN auspices, he wrote the following horrible
words: “The Orthodox Church
does not seek to convince others about a specific perception of the
truth or of the revelation, neither does she seek to convert them into a
concrete way of thinking”! That is, “Your All
Holiness,” when Christ ordered His disciples, at the time of His
Ascension to Heaven, “Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,” He did
not want “to convert them into a concrete way of thinking” denouncing
their false religions, and accepting the preaching of the apostles?
“The
Lord said, I am telling you the truth: the man who does not enter the
sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a
robber.” (
John 10:1)
How
can “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” teach
contrary to Christ’s teachings? Or, perhaps, the words of Christ, “I am
the Way, the Truth and the Life” are not true, and the false words of
Mr. Bartholomew are true? But probably “the one who is
rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” must be right, since he is called
“the All Holy One,” while Christ is called simply, “Holy,” although He
is God! You see, “His Most Divine All Holiness” has everything in
superlatives! On the one hand, the title “His All Holiness” was acquired
effortlessly on account of his position (Patriarch of Constantinople),
while he has obtained the rest of the titles with great effort and toil
(by being blasphemer and heresiarch), as he travels in great luxury
around the world!
But let us now return to the “unspeakable words” of “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth.”
“No one comes to the Father except through Me…”
In his message to Muslims the world over, on the occasion of the religious feast of Ramadan in 2001, he wrote: “God
takes pleasure in the peaceful coexistence of humans and, indeed, of
those who worship Him, regardless of differences that exist in faith
among the three great monotheistic religions”! So
who speaks the truth now? Christ, who says that, “No one comes to the
Father except through Me,” or “the one who is rightly proclaiming the
word of Truth,” who says that God is pleased with the prayers of the
Muslims (and the Jews)? I wonder how God tolerates this blasphemer and
heresiarch to be called “the one who is rightly proclaiming the word of
Truth” and does not send down fire to burn us—both those who commemorate
him, and us who hear these words and do not protest!
“To
confess Jesus Christ is a great feat, and the Lord promised that He
will glorify, in front of the heavenly Father, those who confess Him
(see
Mat. 10:32).
But when does the Lord esteem such a confession? When it is done in an
environment that is hostile to the faith and when the one who makes such
a confession is in danger of suffering persecution and tribulation
because of it. When one confesses Christ under such circumstances, he
shows that he is ready to suffer martyrdom for Him. This is why his
confession has such a value.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse,
Preaching Another Christ: An Orthodox View of Evangelicalism
Confess “Jesus Christ”!
And
what shall we say about his visit to the Synagogue of the Jews in New
York in 2009, and the “unspeakable words” he uttered there, although the
sacred canons of the Church forbid us Christians—with heavy
penances—even to simply enter a Jewish synagogue! Although he was
talking for quite some time, not even once did he mention the name of
Christ, although he should have cried in a loud voice, “Let
the Jews say how the soldiers lost the king, when they were keeping
watch? And how did the stone not keep in the Rock of Life? Let them
either produce Him who was buried, or worship the One who has risen,
saying with us: Glory to the abundance of Your tender mercies, O our
Savior, glory to You!” (Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers)
Lord, have mercy on… the Saints?
I
will also relate the blasphemous address of the Ecumenical Patriarch
during the Patronal Feast of the Patriarchate, on Nov. 30,1998, to the
papal delegation: “Your Eminence, Cardinal William Keeler and our other
brothers in Christ constituting the delegation of the Church of Rome… We
must not waste time in search of responsibility. Our forefathers who
bequeathed to us the split [Great Schism] were the unlucky victims of
the evil serpent and they already lie in the hands of righteous God.
Therefore we request God’s mercy on them, but it is our duty before Him
to restore their errors!”
So,
“Your All Holiness,” the Saints who protected us from the “abomination
of desolation”—the Pope—whose antichristian chariot you struggle to
strap us in, were instruments of the Devil? Behold the hypocrisy of “the
one who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth”! While he calls these
Saints “victims of the evil serpent,” when the day of their Feast
comes, he will celebrate it majestically! In our region he has even
established a monastery to Saint Kosmas Aitolos, the strictest
anti-papal Saint, who called the pope “the Antichrist”! But “the one who
is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” is so good, that he prays to
God to have mercy on these… anti-papal Saints! Lord, spare us from worse
things to come!
Learn what is holy
Finally,
I will mention how he gave the “Holy Koran” as a gift to the president
of Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent, in Atlanta in the United States in 2009. It
seems that the “Most Holy One” often confuses the words “holy” and
“profane,” so that he calls the unholy Koran “holy” without fear of God
and without shame!
From all these and many
other words and acts of “His All Holiness,” it is evident that “the one
who is rightly proclaiming the word of Truth” is the biggest blasphemer and the biggest heretic of all time!
Despite
all this, I pray from the heart to the loving God to grant us and to
him repentance and confession of the Name of the Triune God—Father, Son
and Holy Spirit—for the salvation of all people and the enjoyment of
eternal blessings. Amen.
Archimandrite Maximos Karavas
Monastery Agia Paraskevi Eordea
Milochorion, Oct. 25, 2016
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