In the modern world there are quite a few phenomena that would cause such contradictory assessments as ecumenism. The range of human reactions here varies from enthusiastic appeals to extreme denial. In this article we will try to figure out who these ecumenists are.
What is ecumenism
There are more than two billion Christians on our planet. They all believe in one God, but the Gospel can be interpreted differently. This is what caused the existence of various denominations and churches. However, some Christians believe that all Christian religions need to unite into one church, with common principles and dogmas.
In simple words, ecumenism is the ideology of pan-Christian unity.
The basis of this movement is the recognition of the triune God. The dogmatic worldviews of ecumenists are based on one postulate: “Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.”
Origin of the word
The name of the movement comes from the Greek word “oikoumene”, or “ecumene”, which means world, universe.
Meaning of the concept
This concept was first proposed in 1937 by theologians at Princeton Theological Seminary. The term is used to designate an interfaith initiative that encourages greater collaboration among Christians.
In the Christian understanding, it is used to mean cooperation between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. In the modern world, ecumenical ideas are understood as ideas of a religious and philosophical movement of a liberal nature, positioning the unification of all Christian denominations into one.
What happened there at the meeting?
The meeting of representatives of two such close, but so far from each other religious faiths - Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis - excited all of humanity.
The heads of the two churches managed to discuss many issues regarding the direction of development of Orthodox-Catholic relations. Ultimately, after the conversation, a declaration was concluded and signed to draw the attention of humanity to the problem of Christians in poverty in the Middle East region. “Stop the war and immediately begin peace operations,” the document calls for.
The conclusion of the declaration and the phenomenal beginning of the dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches is the first step towards a thriving interreligious movement. When meetings of this level take place, the future becomes brighter and doors open leading to full-scale interfaith and interreligious cooperation. The latter will contribute to solving global economic and social problems of civilization. The generation of humanity, in whose heart there is a place for God, also has hope for peaceful coexistence, without aggression, pain and suffering.
What is the ecumenical movement
What is
This movement is a community of people advocating the unification of different Christian movements into one religion. The most active propagandists of such theories are representatives of the Protestant Church.
Historical reference
Even during the period of the Reformation, churches were common in Germany, where it was practiced for different faiths to hold services in turn. But still, before the onset of the 20th century, various faiths were rather opposed to each other.
In 1918, the first world missionary conference took place in Edinburgh, at which the represented faiths agreed to move closer together. At the beginning of 1920, the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne in Constantinople, Metropolitan Dorotheos, issued the encyclical “To the Churches of Christ throughout the World,” in which it was indicated that the metropolitan favorably viewed the idea of bringing together the various branches of Christianity. He proposed forming a “Society of Churches” and adopting a single calendar of Christian holidays.
In the summer of the same year, the Patriarchate of Constantinople participates in the Geneva Conference, which considers the principles in accordance with which the unification of churches will be carried out. The next important milestone was the “Pan-Orthodox Congress” held in 1923 in Constantinople.
Five local Orthodox churches took part in it:
- Constantinople;
- Cyprus;
- Serbian;
- Hellasic;
- Romanian.
Congress established changes in the church calendar and second marriages for the clergy. Some of the representatives of these churches accepted the changes.
At the same time, in 1948, a “Pan-Orthodox Conference” was held, in which representatives of such churches as:
- Antioch;
- Alexandria;
- Georgian;
- Serbian;
- Romanian;
- Bulgarian;
- Greek;
- Polish;
- Russian.
The resolution of the meeting indicated the categorical protest of these faiths and refusal to participate in the meeting. However, ten years later, Metropolitan Nikolai of Krutitsky and Kolomensky actually canceled this decision. The Patriarch declared a change in position regarding ecumenism in the Orthodox Church.
The main reason for this was the desire to preach among the heterodox. After the appointment of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) to the position of chairman of the conference, a period of active participation in ecumenical activities began for the Russian Church.
In 1948, the “World Council” took place. And in 1961, some Christian denominations joined this council, giving new impetus to this movement.
Currently, the World Council sees its role as preserving and supporting the ecumenical ideology.
This made it possible to take for granted some fundamental things for the orthodox:
- interchurch services;
- holding interfaith prayer and discussion groups;
- holding meetings and church festivals for representatives of different religions;
- the possibility of providing church theological advisory assistance.
In addition to the classical ecumenist movement, in the modern world there are also separate groups working in church communities with the goal of maintaining and strengthening tolerant interfaith relations.
Causes
The essence of ecumenical ideology is most fully reflected in the prayer from the Gospel of John:
“Let them all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so may they also be one in Us.”
(John 17:21)
The acceptance of this idea and the desire to level out interfaith hatred were the main reasons for the emergence of this movement on a global scale. Along with this, it can be noted that in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century there were many Protestant churches. Most Protestant rituals and traditions have a lighter version, which ensures closer contact with each other and achievement of mutual understanding.
Many Christian missionary organizations do not belong to any denomination; simply believing in God and being a Christian is enough, which also contributes to unification. In addition, in the pre-war period, Europeans began to think about the need to unite in the face of a new enemy.
Purpose of movement
According to scientists, the main goal of this trend can be considered not the visible unity of all church organizations, but the cleansing of Christian denominations from lies and sin. Restoration of dogmatic faith, as well as positions that determine the spiritual life of a Christian as they are given in the Holy Scriptures.
Organization's activities
The World Council of Churches (WCC) consists of about 350 churches - representatives of 120 countries.
The members of the WCC include a number of Orthodox churches (the Russian Orthodox Church is also a member of the council), 20 Protestant denominations, including:
- Anglican;
- Lutheran;
- Calvinist;
- methodical;
- independent.
The Georgian and Bulgarian churches left the council. The Council is governed by an Assembly that meets every seven years. The Assembly elects a presidium, which consists of eight presidents, a secretary general of the council, whose responsibilities include general management of the council between meetings, and a General Committee, which consists of 150 people. Also at the next meeting of the Assembly, the future policy of the WCC is determined and the results of the implementation of previously approved programs are summed up.
The Council cannot force its members to make any decision. Each denomination has the right to accept or not this or that decision of the council. The main activity of the WCC is to establish live contacts between different faiths and discuss issues related to achieving unity.
In addition, this is the implementation of support programs for various faiths in the event of a conflict situation. The organization sends delegations of priests to the conflicting parties, whose task is to achieve reconciliation and justice.
Much attention is paid to the situation in the Middle East and the need for peaceful resolution of conflicts. The Council regularly holds conferences, seminars, meetings, theme weeks, interchurch services, prayer and discussion groups and many other events to achieve its goals.
Interpretation No. 3. The unification of world religions as a task of ecumenism
Esoteric writers consider ecumenism as a method of solving the problem of interreligious wars and misunderstandings. Ideas about a world dominated by a single religion are also characteristic of neo-pagans, fans of the worldview of the new era (New Age). Such an ideology is a utopia not only for logical reasons: for example, such ecumenism is not supported in the Orthodox Church. And the position of the Patriarch of All Rus' on the issue is expressed in the complete denial of the false teaching about the creation of a “universal” religion.
Ecumenical Jury Prize
The ecumenical jury recognizes films that touch on sensitive social issues. The jurors of this jury are present at thirty festivals around the world, taking a position of interfaith parity.
Description of the award
The award is an independent award approved by Christian filmmakers, journalists, and critics. When awarding, both the artistic value of the film and the presence of a plot touching on issues of a religious, social, and humanistic nature are taken into account. The jury consists of six members who are elected in the Catholic and Protestant film centers.
Such juries work at many world festivals, including:
- Cannes Film Festival;
- Berlin Film Festival;
- festival in Locarno;
- Montreal World Film Festival;
- Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, etc.
As a rule, jury members advertise and promote prize-winning films in their countries.
History of the award ceremony
The ecumenical jury first began its work in 1973 at the Locarno festival. The ideological inspirer was Moritz de Hadelna, who sought to attract the Christian public to participate in film festivals. The next jury worked in 1974 in Cannes. It is no longer possible to imagine a modern film festival without such a jury; it has become an integral part of it. In 1989, the Orthodox Church also took part in the meeting of the Ecumenical Jury as part of the International Film Festival in Moscow.
Notable laureates
Throughout the history of the award, films from different countries have received the award. These are mainly representatives of Europe: Italy, Germany, Poland.
There are also unique cases. The only person to receive the award three times was Andrei Tarkovsky.
And the only female director, also from a Muslim country, was Samira Makhmalbaf. Among the non-Christian countries that received the award are Japan and China. Also in 2009, Lars von Trier was awarded the antipodean award for the first time for the film Antichrist.
Persecution of other religions and Christianity
The history of the world and the history of Christianity contains many stories of intolerance (and many of them unpleasant) when Christians of various branches were persecuted. One of the most terrible pages in Christianity was St. Bartholomew's Night, when Catholics massacred many Huguenots and the waters of the Seine in Paris turned red with their blood.
Intolerance in the Christian world is a widespread concept and most often due to theological and historical differences.
Persecution of Christians in the first centuries
If you dive into the history of Christianity and the martyrs of the first century, it becomes clear that the Roman rulers were a kind of ecumenists - they demanded that Christians recognize all religions as equal, which they refused and went to execution. Being tolerant of many pagan religions, the rulers expected the same from Christians. But Christians claimed (and still claim) that there is no God except the Lord Jesus Christ, and other gods are pagan idols.
Later, with the recognition of Christianity as the official religion in the Roman Empire, the persecution and destruction of manifestations of other religions began - temples and idols were destroyed, libraries were burned. This has been observed throughout the history of Christianity. Even the baptism of Rus' by Prince Vladimir is violence against people and a manifestation of intolerance.
Today there is no such obvious aggression towards representatives of other faiths, at least no open clashes and acts of vandalism. However, a dismissive and aggressive attitude is still present, as it was many centuries ago. This comes from many different denominations, each of which is convinced that its faith in Christ is the most faithful and it is the bearer of Christ's grace, as well as salvation.
Important! Switching to another church is considered a falling away from the true teaching, therefore, as such, there is no real ecumenism in the world today
Ecumenism in religions
Religions, for the most part, have for centuries taken a position of denial in relation to ideas of the ecumenical type.
In Orthodoxy
Orthodox priests who took part in the Pan-Orthodox Conference expressed a sharply negative assessment of this movement. At that time, they were also supported by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
Today Orthodoxy is one of the most conservative branches of Christianity, although representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church are ready for interfaith dialogue, despite the assertion that only the Orthodox faith has full divine grace.
In this interpretation, it looks like an edification to other faiths: it is necessary to repent and return to the bosom of the true religion.
According to representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, the ecumenical movement is currently in a state of crisis, the cause of which is Orthodox conservatives. At the last meeting of the World Council, representatives of all Orthodox local churches made a statement that fundamental changes were needed in the activities of the WCC and the entire movement.
Time passes, but there are no changes in the rapprochement of theological positions or the establishment of dialogue between believers. However, little by little the Orthodox community is beginning to come to the understanding that dialogue between different faiths is vital, otherwise there is only one option - war.
In Catholicism
The official position of the Catholic Church is based on the fact that it positions itself as the only Christian religion that possesses the fullness of the true faith. The main task of Catholics is to spread papal power and increase the number of adherents of their faith.
The Roman Catholic Church was not and is not a member of the Council. But he takes part in some events. Catholics are now actively engaged in ecumenical dialogue in an attempt to be tolerant. However, they always try to take a position above the opponent, and not next to him, and they always connect any of their activities with their own missionary initiative.
In Protestantism
Over time, the “branch theory” emerged among Protestants, which suggested that all Christian religions were branches of the same tree. And also the “theory of dogmas”, according to which the fundamental postulates of the doctrine were recognized as important, and the secondary ones were left to the personal discretion of the believer. As a continuation of these trends, an ecumenical ideology appeared, which involves either a syncretic combination of confessions, or the finding of a certain minimal fragment of religious teaching that is common to all.
In general, Protestants accept the existing division of Christianity. Unity in this case can be expressed in reaching agreement on fundamental issues of doctrine. On other theological issues, they give representatives of other faiths freedom of choice, believing that “unity does not mean uniformity.”
In sects and other faiths
In addition to large confessions, various religious groups and sects joined the ecumenical movement:
- Mormons;
- Jehovah witnesses;
- Assyrian Church of the East, etc.
For many religious communities, this is an opportunity to establish a dialogue and reach agreements. However, there are also opponents who express categorical protest against ecumenical ideas. For example, the Orthodox youth movement “Soboryan”. Its representatives defend the position of “One Supreme”, the inadmissibility of contacts with “non-Orthodox” and the dogmatic purity of Orthodoxy.
Why does the Orthodox Church deny ecumenistic ideas?
The Creed clearly states the doctrine of the true Church of Christ:
“I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”
Here we are not talking about a new united structure, but about the existing and unchanged Orthodox Church for many centuries. This Church was created on the rock of Christ's Truth, and not on the sand of all kinds of heresies and errors. The Church would not be united if arbitrary approaches to dogma were allowed. Actually, the result of such interpretations has a historical example - the presence of a huge number of Protestant movements.
Ecumenists reject the immutable apostolic rules (10th and 45th). They talk about the impossibility of prayerful communication with heretics. And any Orthodox Christian who deviates from this prohibition must be excommunicated from the Church.
Ecumenism also tends to belittle the significance of the patristic works. It is presented as human creativity, not divine revelation. Sacred Tradition ceases to be Sacred, it is no longer considered as authority. The first place is given to interpreting the Bible at your own discretion, which leads to significant misconceptions.
Such a view is alien to Orthodox doctrine, since divine truth has remained unchanged for more than 2000 years. In ecumenism, true impartial faith is replaced by a “convenient” surrogate. There is an opportunity to adopt “unmodern” dogmas and establish their own rules.
Opinions of church leaders
In one of his interviews, Patriarch Kirill said that information openness and a thorough study of the issue are necessary:
“Our people really don’t know anything about ecumenism. Hence another misconception: that we in the ecumenical movement are betraying Orthodoxy. So, in order to evaluate the activities of Russian theologians participating in the ecumenical movement, in order to understand what the ecumenical movement is, we need complete publicity about it.”
The Patriarch does not express categorical assessments of this activity, trying to take a tolerant position in his judgments.
At the same time, back in 1972, Patriarch Nicholas VI of Alexandria, along with other Orthodox priests, spoke out quite clearly against this idea, saying that this is not just a heresy, but a “superheresy” directed against the Orthodox people, posing the greatest danger to them .
Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church take an active position in the ecumenical dialogue and try to talk about their loyalty, tolerance and desire to unite with other faiths on an equal basis.
Holy Fathers about the Church and Salvation
“The most terrible thing is to fear anything more than God.”
Saint Gregory the Theologian
Metropolitan John Snychev on ecumenism. “...As for ecumenism, today many faithful children of the Orthodox Church are concerned about its uncontrolled development. Moreover, the Holy Synod determined: to bring the question of the permissible limits of our participation in the ecumenical movement to a council of bishops...” “...The word “ecumenism” itself has been used for quite a long time, however, earlier, before the revolution, let’s say, they put a completely different meaning into it. Orthodoxy, with this understanding, did not pass through the sieve of an empty talking shop and did not dissolve in “general” opinions, but only testified to the non-Orthodox the purity of its life, church teaching and, as it were, said: “If you want to join this spirituality, here are the sources of life for you, to them come and quench your thirst. But there can be no other way.” There is no truth outside of Orthodoxy! This has repeatedly confirmed the conciliar identity of the Church of Christ at ecumenical councils. It unequivocally condemns all those false teachings that today, after a thousand years, are trying to present as a “new word” in religious thought...” “...I distinguish false, harmful ecumenism from the ecumenism of the permitted, blessed by the Church. Only that which is understood as ecumenism, witnessing to the truth of Orthodoxy, with the desire to introduce everyone to its life-giving shrines, is allowed. Here at the World Council of Churches, at all these countless conferences and meetings, Catholics, Baptists and others say: “Let us live in love and seek union. Even though we have a difference in our views - dogmatic and others, the main thing is still love. Know the commandment! They deceive - a commandment is a commandment, but at what cost? Even one and a half thousand years ago, the greatest saint, “the mouth of Christ,” John Chrysostom, said that a pious life in itself will not bring us benefit and salvation if the dogmas of Orthodoxy are violated.” Based on the book of Bishop John “Overcoming Troubles”
www.optina-pustin.ru/1678-ya-otlichayu-lozhnyy-pagubnyy-ekumenizm-ot-ekumenizma-dozvolennogo-blagoslovlennogo-cerkovyu.html
Metropolitan John Snychev (1927-1995): on ecumenism:
What fellowship does righteousness have with iniquity? — “Truth cannot be compared with lies” — About the Eighth Ecumenical Council — Peace with evil is not acceptable
“See, do not be horrified: for all these things must come to pass” (Matthew 24:6), Christ once taught his disciples, warning future humanity about the hardships and turmoil awaiting them at the “end of times.” Over the course of two thousand years of the Christian faith, the process of apostasy—departure from the truths of faith—predicted by the Savior, has been steadily developing. Now, it seems, he is already close to victory - in the godless (or even downright godless) world, only small islands of sincere and deep piety remain, and even those are increasingly exposed to the violent gusts of the dark elements raging among distrusted peoples.
...It was not for nothing that the Holy Fathers said that “the devil is the monkey of God.” Not being able to create anything on his own, Satan only “mimics” the divine order of things, parasitizing on blessed energies, perverting them, trying to create his own “parallel” world, subject to the laws of darkness and evil.
In such a world there is also its own “analogue” of conciliarity - a devilish surrogate, paving the way for the coming Antichrist, preparing the unification of a faithless world not under the cover of the Law of God, not in the bosom of the saving Truth of Christ, but under the yoke of “the man of sin, the son of perdition” (2 Thess. .2, 3), “whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the Spirit of His mouth and destroy by the appearance of His coming” (2 Thess. 2, 8). In the religious field, this evil undertaking is covered up by the false teaching about the need to unite all faiths (regardless of the truth or error of any of them) - ecumenism. In the area of government - false teaching about the inevitability of the future unification of humanity into a single superstate with a common World Government at its head (mondialism).
Both of these false teachings flourished in the twentieth century. Both of them are destructive for the world and for the human soul. On the path of both of them today, perhaps the last obstacle remains Russia - weakened, bloodless, but still not giving up, not submitting...
Hiding behind the “noble” goal of “eliminating interreligious strife” and “reunifying believers in a single fraternal family,” the theorists of ecumenism forget to mention the main thing: that in such a “reunification” the greatest treasure will be lost - the truth of the Law of God, buried under the weight of human false wisdom . Like any heresy, ecumenism lies, offering to “fraternally combine” Truth with lies, slyly pretending that it does not understand the unnaturalness of such a connection, hoping that people, bewitched by the nobility of slogans, will not notice the terrible substitution.
If this destructive blindness prevails in Russia, then not only will the purity of the Orthodox faith be hopelessly damaged. The very possibility of reviving Russian statehood will be called into question, for the construction of a state is unthinkable without a clearly realized moral and religious ideal, without a clear division of good and evil, without nationwide conciliar unity around the shrines of the living faith. To those who - out of ignorance or maliciously - want to muddy these shrines, to obscure the Truth of Christ, the holy supreme apostle Paul said two thousand years ago: “Do not be unequally yoked with the unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What does light have in common with darkness?.. What is the compatibility of the temple of God with idols?” (2 Cor. 6, 14-16).
All this must be remembered when preachers of ecumenism talk about its “peacemaking” character and try to present it as a purely intra-religious issue, not directly related to the life of society.
The first and main lie of ecumenism is the thesis about the “historically occurring division of churches.” The Church that Christ founded and which contained the fullness of saving Truth, say ecumenists, over time, under the influence of historical reasons, was divided into various branches. These branches: Orthodoxy and Catholicism, Protestantism and its many varieties are completely equal. They are the result of human activity, a consequence of political and national differences, and therefore all are equally imperfect. Today, finally, the time has come to eliminate these artificial differences and reunite the various religious denominations, returning to the original, early Christian unity...
The cunning of such reasoning lies in the fact that in reality no division of churches ever occurred. The history of Christianity unequivocally and clearly demonstrates that in reality there was a gradual falling away of Western peoples and Western European confessions from the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
This Church exists intact to this day, having accepted the name Orthodox, that is, rightly glorifying God. Any unbiased historical research will show. That Orthodoxy is not at all “one of” many faiths. It is precisely that first Christian, apostolic confession, from which subsequently - following the lead of their own pride and false reason - all other Christian “confessions” fell away. And the desire to “equalize the rights” of the Russian Orthodox Church with some Protestant sect is nothing more than an attempt to drag Russia into that disastrous process of spiritual degradation that has turned the West today into a soulless and faithless “consumer society”!
The second lie of ecumenism is inextricably linked with the first and is its logical continuation. This is the thesis that “each of the divided churches keeps its own part of the Divine Truth, and no one can claim to possess Its fullness.”
“Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:13) - the Apostle Paul exclaimed twenty centuries ago, reproaching those who tried to illegally lay claim to the possession of church grace. Today the number of applicants has multiplied many times over. At the same time, for some reason, they all bashfully forget to say that their claims are claims of impostors trying to substantiate their imaginary rights with the help of crafty overexposures, deliberate omissions and outright fabrications.
Here it would be appropriate to once again point out the mortal danger of such attempts not only for Russian religious self-awareness, not only for Orthodoxy and the Orthodox, but for Russian statehood in general, for our entire society as a whole. Today, it is obvious to any political scientist that the improvement of state life is unthinkable without the consolidation of the public worldview, without the pacification of mass consciousness. In turn, such pacification is possible only within the framework of a clear and understandable national-state ideology, which must contain fundamental moral values and moral guidelines - the ideals of national life. These ideals are inevitably rooted in the religious sphere of human consciousness, for it is religion that claims to contain the absolute Truth, it is religion that answers questions about good and evil, about virtues and vices, about the meaning of human life.
A people that has lost faith loses its vitality. And all sorts of reasoning that “all confessions have an equal right to the Truth” objectively devalues the entire thousand-year history of the Russian people, who from century to century tried to realize in their lives precisely the Orthodox moral and religious ideal.
From a dogmatic point of view, the claims of ecumenists look completely unfounded. For the first ten centuries, the entire Christian world believed exactly as the Orthodox Church still believes. At the same time, all attempts to distort this doctrine were suppressed by the Church with all severity, for they threatened to violate the purity and integrity of Divine Revelation. Only starting from the 11th century, after the West fell into the heresy of Catholicism, did the fragmentation of Christianity begin into newly invented “confessions”, which now, within the framework of ecumenism, demand that their false teachings be recognized as “equal” with the truths of Holy Orthodoxy!
The third lie of ecumenism is the lie that its moral basis is love, obeying the call of which ecumenists try to destroy all disagreements and divisions in the religious field, to establish peace and unity everywhere.
Love is the first and main virtue of a Christian. The Apostle Paul proclaims: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, then I am like gossamer... If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can remove mountains, and I don’t have love, then I am nothing. And if I give away all my goods and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:1-3).
But this love, without which the very existence of the world is impossible, without which human life loses its meaning, is, first of all, love for God, for those Divine Truths and gracious Revelations that allow a person to overcome sin and acquire eternal and blissful life in the abodes of heaven . “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment,” Christ the Savior taught His disciples (Matthew 22:37-38).
Such love does not tolerate any attacks on the truths of faith. Such love mercilessly, to the last drop of blood, to the last breath, fights against heresies that encroach on the purity of the Divine commandments. Such love will not allow even the thought of the possibility of equating the true Church of Christ with disastrous heresies, filled with destructive human delusions. And this love has nothing to do with those crafty excuses that ecumenists use to cover up their unseemly goals.
Real Christianity, full of living faith, is infinitely far from the vague “humanistic” beliefs of the parachurch intellectuals who now constitute the main support of ecumenism in Russia. There can be no peace between truth and falsehood - this is exactly what the Lord had in mind, obliging His disciples to wage a constant war against disastrous errors, saying: “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword...” (Matthew 10:34). Every Christian should carry this spiritual sword of holy Truth with him and resolutely use it if he sees encroachments on his native shrines. In the fight against untruth, we have a direct command from the Lord: “Now... sell your clothes and buy a sword...” (Luke 22:36). So, evasion from protecting the shrines of faith has no excuse either in bodily weakness or in material need! Whoever avoids such warfare under the pretext of falsely understood “love” will bear the great sin of an apostate and traitor...
The ecumenist's fourth lie is the widely advertised claim that he is “apolitical.”
Fearing that the anti-state, anti-national essence of ecumenism will attract the attention of patriotically minded politicians, its supporters strongly emphasize the “non-political” nature of their movement. In fact, the desire to present ecumenism as a purely “intra-religious” phenomenon is frankly opportunistic in nature and does not withstand even a superficial check of facts.
Firstly, the “world religion” itself, common to all humanity - and it is precisely this that is the ultimate goal of all the efforts of ecumenists - is nothing more than the ideological basis of mondialism, the ideological foundation of the “new world order”. It is this single false religion that must “spiritually” justify the need for the destruction of sovereign national states and the unification of all humanity into a single superstate with the World Government at its head.
Today it is no secret to anyone that after the collapse of the USSR, the West, led by the United States, openly lays claim to a planetary dictatorship. Within the framework of the UN, the individual structures of the future World Government, relying in its activities on the colossal military power of NATO, are now quite clearly emerging. The defeat of Iraq, the strangulation of Yugoslavia, the barbaric bombing of the Orthodox Serbs - all these punitive actions clearly show what fate awaits the rebellious opponents of the “new world order”...
The connections between ecumenism and world Freemasonry are also undeniable. Back in 1946, at the dawn of the ecumenist movement, the French Masonic magazine Temple wrote: “We are asked why we interfere in religious disputes, in what part are the issues of unifying churches, ecumenist congresses, etc. may be of interest to Freemasonry? The problem raised by the project of unification of churches is of close interest to Freemasonry. It is close to Freemasonry, as it contains the idea of universalism... In any case, when the first ecumenistic congresses arose, the intervention of our brothers was decisive..."
From a Christian point of view, attempts to create a “universal” religion are assessed unambiguously - as preparation for the accession of the Antichrist. It is not surprising, therefore, that many Orthodox hierarchs spoke very harshly about ecumenism.
“I condemn ecumenism and consider it not just a heresy, but a super-heresy,” declared Patriarch Nicholas VI of Alexandria in 1972. – This is the repository of all heresies and evil beliefs. We are well aware of the anti-Christian forces that control ecumenism behind the scenes... Ecumenism is directed against Orthodoxy. It represents the greatest danger today, along with the unbelief of our era, which deifies material attachments and pleasures.” Several years ago, His Beatitude Patriarch Diodorus, Primate of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, announced the cessation of all ecumenistic contacts.
And the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad quite officially included in the liturgical rite (Followment on the Sunday of Orthodoxy) an anathematism for ecumenists with the following content: “Those who attack the Church of Christ and teach that it is divided into branches, ... and those who have communion with such heretics, or contribute to them , or defends the heresy of ecumenism, considering it a manifestation of brotherly love and unity of disparate Christians - Anathema!
In this regard, the inconsistency of the current “Orthodox ecumenists” who use the fifth lie to justify themselves is clearly revealed - the thesis that they remain within the framework of the ecumenistic movement only to “witness to non-Orthodox about the truths of Orthodoxy.” Such testimony is the entire life of the Orthodox Church in its gracious, miraculous fullness. From century to century, the saving grace of the church attracted tens and hundreds of millions of people who longed to save their souls and find the highest meaning of life. No additional “evidence” of the truth of God’s Revelation is required. To assimilate them, all that is required from a person is repentance for sins and good will. And nothing more...
What fellowship does righteousness have with iniquity?
“Do not give your hand to the wicked to be a witness of iniquity” (Exodus 23:1)
“Do not approve of what the wicked approve of: remember that they will not correct themselves until hell” (Sir.9, 15)
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship has righteousness with iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial? Or what is the complicity of the faithful with the infidels? (2 Cor. 6, 14-15).
