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Home , Daniel of Moscow, Fulgentius of Ruspe, John of Damascus, Schism in Christianity, Theodore the Studite

FROM THE FATHERS

“WHERE the is, there is the Spirit of ; and where the Spirit of God is, there the Church and every grace. The Spirit, however, is Truth.” Holy Hieromartyr of Lyons, + 202 A.D.

“FROM THIS CHURCH even those who are involved in various errors outside the Church can receive forgiveness of their sins, if, while they are still in this world, they will be converted to this same Church in a correct belief and in contrite and heartfelt humility. Let them hasten, then, while there is yet time, to their legitimate Mother, who diligently sustains and nourishes the sons born in her womb.” Fulgentius of , + 527 A.D.

“LET US RECEIVE the tradition of the Church in simplicity of heart, without vain questioning, since God created man to be straightforward, but he has entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Let us not allow ourselves to learn a new faith, in opposition to the tradition of the fathers.” Ven. John of , + 780 A.D.

“LET US WORSHIP, according to the Orthodox Faith, the eternal will and power and kingdom of the , always covering Arius with infamy. Let us honour thee, O Lady, in a proper manner, as the one who gave birth to God, relying on the of the holy fathers, and leaving aside the vain teachings of .” Ven. , + 826 A.D.

1 “ LIKE WISE o n S u nday[ t h e S u ndayo f O rth o d o xy ] w e all make c o mme morat ion o f t h e O rth o d o x F ait h ands ingh y mnso f t h anks- g ivingt oG o d ,Whoisall - g o o d . Butt h ee vilo ne ,w h oisalw ay s e nviou sofg ood ne ss,se cre t lyst e alsu pone achoft hef ait hf u land invisibl yp u t so nh imt h ec h ainso fs l ackne s sandc are l e s s ne s s… t h e re f o reI re mindy o u t o d ayandmakemyap p e alt o y o u r c h arit y , y o u rp at e rnit y ,t h aty o ud onotinanyw ayo b e yh imw h ow ill sy o uill .” Ven .S ym e ont h eNe wT h e olo g i a n ,+1 0 2 2A . D .

“ THEC HU RCHish o l y ,alt h o u g ht h e reares inne rsw it h inh e r. Thosew hosin,bu tw hocle anset he mse lvesw it ht ruere p e ntance ,d o notkee pt h eC h u rchf romb e ingh o l y .Butu nre p e ntants inne rsarec u t o ff ,w h e t h e rvisibl yb yC h u rchau t h o rit y ,o rinvisibl yb yt h eju d g e me nt o fG o d ,f romt h eb o d yo ft h eC h u rch .Ands oint h isre g ardt h eC h u rch re mainsh o l y .” S a i n tP h i la r e tofMo s c o w,+1 8 6 7A . D .

“ WEK N O W andarec o nvince d t h atf all ingaw ayf rom t h e C h u rch , w h e t h e rintos c h ism,h e re s y ,o rs e c t ,isc o mp l e t ep e rdit ion ands p irit u ald e at h .F o ru st h e reisnoC h rist ianit yo u t s id eo ft h e C h u rch .IfC h riste s t abl ish e dt h eC h u rch ,andt h eC h u rchisHisBod y , t h e nt ob ec u to fff romHisBod yist od ie .” Ne w Hi eroma rty r Hi la r ion of Ver ey, + 1 9 2 9 A . D .

“ THEC HU RCH o f C h rist isO ne , Hol y , U niversaland Ap o s t o l ic.S h eish e rse l fas ing l es p irit u alb o d y ,w h o s eh e adisC h rist , andw h oh ast h eo neHol yS p iritabid inginh e r.Thel o c alp artso ft h e C h u rchareme mbe rso fas ing l eb o d yo ft h eU niversalC h u rch ,and t h e y ,l ikeb ranch e so fas ing l et re e ,arenou rish e db yo neandt h es ame s apf romas ing l eroo t .S h eisc all e dh o l yb e c au s es h eiss anct ifiedb y t h eh o l yw o rds ,d e e d s ,s acrificeands u ff e ringo fh e rf o u nde r,Jes us C h rist , t o w h ich e ndHec ameino rde r t o s aveh u manb e ing s andl e ad t h e mt oh o l ine s s .TheC h u rchisc all e du niversalb e c au s es h eisnot c o nfine db yp l ace ,notb yt ime ,norb ynat ionnorl ang u ag e .The C h u rchc o mmu nicat e sw it hallh u manit y .TheO rth o d o xC h u rchis c all e dap o s t o l icb e c au s et h es p irit ,t e ach ingandl abo u rso ft h e Ap o s t l e so fC h ristaree ntire l yp re s e rvedinh e r.” S a i n tNic olasofOh r i da n dŽ ič a ,+1 9 5 6A . D .

2 Ecumenism and the of Saint of Carthage

Fr Degyansky

SAINT CYPRIAN of Carthage developed with fearless consistency a doctrine of the complete absence of Grace in every sect which had separated itself from the True Church. His doctrine is one of the basic foundation blocks of Orthodox ecclesiology and it stands in direct opposition to the presup- positions of the ecumenical movement. Moreover, his warnings about the enemies of the Church have traditionally guided Orthodox in their response to those outside Her fold: Not only must we beware of what is open and manifest, but also what deceives by the craft of subtle fraud. And what can be more crafty, or what more subtle, than for this enemy...to devise a new fraud, and under the very title of the Christian name to deceive the incautious.¹ Saint Cyprian’s warnings about enemies of the Church who call themselves “Christians” in order to destroy the Faith can be applied to many of those who support unity through the contem- porary ecumenical movement. The fact that such application is seldom made gives us evidence of just how far contemporary ecumenism has removed some Orthodox from the criterion of truth that is their Faith. The essence of Saint Cyprian’s reasoning lay “in the conviction that the are established in the Church.” That is to say, they are effected and can be effected only in the Church, in and in communality. Therefore, every violation of communality and unity in itself leads immediately beyond the last barrier into some decisive outside. To Saint Cyprian every was a departure out of the Church, out of

3 that sanctified and holy land “where alone rises the baptismal spring, the waters of salvation.”² Saint Cyprian was adamant in his position with regard to the Church’s rejection of the validity of an heretical : For it is no small and insignificant matter which is conceded to heretics, when their baptism is recognized by us; since thence springs the whole origin of faith and the saving access to the hope of life eternal. And the divine condescension for purifying and quickening the servants of God. For if anyone could be baptized among heretics, certainly he could also obtain remis- sion of sins. If he attained remission of sins, he was also sanctified.³ Saint Cyprian felt that if the True Church recognizes the sacraments of those outside of Her realm, She gives credibility to heretics and schismatics: For if they shall see that it is determined and decreed by our judgement and sentence, that the baptism wherewith they are there baptized is considered just and legitimately in possession of the Church also, and the other gifts of the Church; nor will there be any reason for their coming to us, when, as they have baptism, they seem also to have the rest. But further, when they know that there is no baptism without, and that no remis- sion of sins can be given outside of the Church, they more eagerly and readily hasten to us, and implore the gifts and benefits of the Church, our Mother, assured that they can in no wise attain to the true promise of divine grace unless they first come to the Truth of the Church.⁴ The teaching of Saint Cyprian on the Gracelessness of those outside the True Church is directly related to his teaching on unity and communality: “Therefore, we ought to consider their faith who believe without, whether in respect of the same faith they can obtain by grace, for if we and the heretics have one faith, we may also have one grace.”⁵ Strictly speaking, the theo- logical premises of Saint Cyprian’s teaching have never been rejected. At the same time, neither has the ever unequivocally applied Saint Cyprian’s conclusions. In fact, the First of Saint Basil, if carefully analysed, suggests

4 that the issue of schism and is more complex, in practical terms, than the theory of Saint Cyprian would suggest. Thus the canonical norms of the Orthodox Church do not state that schismatics are in all circumstances without Grace. Ecumenists have used Saint Basil’s position, at times, to defend their activities (though in the course of deviation from correct Orthodox teaching,it must be noted,many Orthodox ecumenists have come to believe that “schism” and “heresy” are terms with- out meaning, except when they can be used to berate those Orthodox who oppose the ecumenical movement). In fact, however, the ecclesiological teachings of Saint Cyprian comple- ment and stand side by side with those of Saint Basil, since they are unified by the function of “,” by which the the- oretical exactness of Saint Cyprian’s teaching is rendered effective in the oikonomia of practical application. Thus, there are those who quite wrongly think that the Church has in some instances acknowledged that the sacra- ments of sectarians, and even of heretics, are valid. They wrongly assume that the Church admits that sacraments can be celebrated outside of the strict canonical limits of the Church - a perilous assumption, indeed. The Church, for example, may under extraordinary circumstances accept adherents from sects, and even from , not by way of Baptism, but rather by or even by their simple profession of our Orthodox Faith. But in so doing, She does not recognize, as some theologians incorrectly assert,what is outside Her domain; rather, by “economy,” the Church, being the Pan–Mystery, as Archimandrite Justin expresses it, creates Grace where there was no Grace, filling the empty form of a mystery (sacrament) unknown to Her. At the same time, before the emergence of whole bodies of Christians separated from the historical Orthodox Church, there were times when those who had lapsed in their Faith even for a generation were received back into the Church without being baptized. But here, too, it was the correct form of their empty mysteries which the Church accepted, not the validity of their sacraments. By“economy,”then, the primacy of the Church was extended beyond Herself to create Grace in what was done outside Her boundaries. But in so doing, in no

5 way whatsoever did She accept what was beyond Her boun- daries. She acted beyond the Canons, but not in violation of them: As a mystical organism, as the sacramental Body of Christ, the Church cannot be adequately described in canonical terms or categories alone. It is impossible to state or discern the true limits of the Church simply by canonical signs or marks.... In her sacramental, mysterious existence the Church surpasses canonical measurements. For that reason a canonical cleavage does not immediately signify mystical impoverish- ment and desolation. All that Saint Cyprian said about the unity of the Church and the sacraments can be and must be accepted. But it is not necessary, as he did, to draw the final boundary around the body of the Church by canonical points alone.⁶ Saint , espousing opinions clearly out- side the consensus of the , wrote that within the sects and divisions of the “union of peace” had been broken and torn asunder, but in their mysteries the “unity of the Spirit”had not been terminated. This shows,as Father Florovsky observes, “the unique paradox of sectarian existence: the sect remains united with the Church in the grace of the sacraments, and this becomes a condemnation once love and communal mutuality have withered.”⁷ Thus, Saint Augustine directly affirmed “that in the sacraments of sectarians, the Church is active; some she engenders of herself, others she engenders outside, of her maidservant, and schismatic baptism is valid for this very reason,that it is performed by the Church.”⁸ According to Saint Augustine, then, “the Holy and Sanctifying Spirit still breathes in the sects, but in the stubbornness and powerless- ness of schism healing is not accomplished.”⁹ Ecumenists have used Saint Augustine’s thought to confirm that there are valid sacraments outside the Orthodox Church. By the same token, those opposed to ecumenism have con- cluded from the same thought that the rites of the schismatics are not sacraments, but a blasphemous caricature thereof. Some Orthodox conservatives affirm, indeed, that salvation can

6 be found only within the confines of the Orthodox Church, thus arguing that all schismatics are condemned to damnation. The conclusions of the ecumenists are absolutely incorrect. The Orthodox Church accepts no sacrament outside of Her boun- daries except, again, as empty forms. Moreover, Saint Augustine is writing about the undivided Christianity of an age which knew nothing of the hundreds of sects which constitutethe Christian world of our day, many of them so far removed from the historical Church and Her rich doctrines that only by their belief in Christ can they be defined as Christians. It is an act of intel- lectual dishonesty to use his words about sects and heresies in the ancient Church as though they applied clearly to contem- porary times. Nor, as we have pointed out, is the thinking of Saint Augustine about the validity of the sacraments of heretics and sectarians in agreement with the Patristic consensus or internally consistent. At the same time, it is wrong for “conservatives” to interpret the words of Saint Augustine in such a way as to suggest that the Orthodox Church compromises the Providence of God. The Church has always affirmed the dominance of love within the confines of Her exclusive claims that only in Her bosom does salvation rest. Because of God’s love, the Orthodox Church can at once proclaim that salvation is possible only for Orthodox Christians and, at the same time, refuse to compromise Divine Providencebycondemning all otherstodamnation. And because of the love which prompts the Church in Her mission, She at times reaches out in the spirit of “economy” to fill with Her ex- clusive Grace the empty forms of non–Orthodox religious acts. In so doing, however, the Orthodox Church never, until the ad- vent of ecumenism, acknowledged the validity of any sacrament outside Her boundaries. In many ways, the Orthodox Church cannot accept the precepts of modern ecumenism because they also violate the spiritual teachings of the Fathers about personal integrity as a foundation for ecclesiastical validity. In the fourth century, Saint Ephraim the Syrian said, “Pride does not permit a man to accept the teachings handed down by Tradition.”¹⁰ The

7 Orthodox tend to see separation and disunity in Christianity not as the result of a tragic process of mutual alienation, but of pride and sin. Thus, the second major , the Great Schism of 1054, can be seen in the following way: By the anathema against papism the Church proclaimed that the and his followers abandoned the Church, lost the Truth (which is Christ), and were submerged in the depths of error from which Christ came to free them. Their teachings were declared a delusion of the evil one, and a poison to the souls of men, and any communication with them makes us like them by cutting us off from the Grace of God, from His Holy Church, and estranges us from the path of salvation, placing us rather on the road to perdition.¹¹ The root causes of heresy and schism, then, are the intransigence and sin of prideful men. Heresy and schism do not just happen; they are caused. They rise out of spiritual delusion, spiritual disease, and alienation from the ways of God and His Church. Deviation from Orthodox Truth in the form of ecumenical activities has had a negative effect on the Church, as though to prove that schism and heresy are not the products of misunderstanding, but of the wilful deviation of wrong believers from the True Church. For instance, Orthodox theologians have come to reject the Canons of the Church, so that they can justify their ecumenism. Thus the late Archpriest , a well–known spokesman for Orthodox in America, dismisses the Canons which forbid joint prayer with heretics as archaic and no longer applicable to the Church. He claims that these Canons were intended to apply to prayer with conscious apostates from the True Church,“and not sincere Christians who never person- ally left it.”¹² Thus individual responsibility for wrong belief becomes an inessential part of Christian confession-a novel idea, indeed. By the same token, not a few Orthodox theologians and Hierarchs are beginning to see a place for in the ecumenical “branch theory.” While claiming to love the Orthodox Faith, they violate their promises at ordination to defend the Truth and instead openly state that the Orthodox Church is just as guilty of divisiveness as

8 the heretics and schismatics who separated themselves from the Church of their own free will. Again, to hold such views or to participate in ecumenical activities which champion such ideas is to deny the existence of the True Church and Christ’s earthly presence. Thus one who participates in such ecumenism perforce denies Christ.¹³ Ecumenism, in short, has led many Orthodox to deny the very existence of Christ as we Orthodox understand Him. *** From Orthodox Christianity and the Spirit of Contemporary Ecumenism, by Fr. Daniel Degyansky. (Etna: CA, The Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1997 [1992]),pp.76-83.Fr Daniel is a Priest in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). The article is reproduced here with Fr Daniel’s blessing.

Footnotes: 1. St. Cyprian of Carthage,The Unity of the Church (Mahopac, NY: Kursk– Root Hermitage, n.d.), p. 3. 2. Florovsky, Ecumenism I, p. 36. 3.St. Cyprian of Carthage, "Epistle to Jubianus," in Vol. 5 of The Ante– Nicene Fathers,ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986), p. 382. 4. Ibid., p.385. 5.Ibid., p. 380. 6. Florovsky,Ecumenism I, p. 37. 7.Ibid., p. 42. 8. Ibid., p. 41–42. 9. Ibid., p. 42. 10. "Stolen Doctrines,"The Orthodox Christian Witness,Vol. 19, No. 29 (17/30 March 1986), p. 3. 11. Alexander Kalomiros, "The Anathema of 1054" (Seattle: St. Nectarios Educational Series, No. 69). 12. Meyendorff, Witness, p. 46. 13. Lev [Archbishop Lazar] Puhalo, "Can One be an Ecumenist without Denying Christ?" Orthodox Life, Vol. 24, No. 3 (May–June 1974), p. 33. ❇❇❇❇❇❇❇

“IF MARY was silent before the Apostles had taught, why do you wish, now that the Apostles have spoken, to teach rather than to learn?” Saint of Milan, + 397 A.D.

9 What Orthodox Iconography Is By the Ever-Memorable Photios Kontoglou

THE RELIGION of Christ is the revelation, by Him, of the truth. And this truth is the knowledge of the true God and of the spiritual world. But the spiritual world is not what men used to - and still do - call “spiritual.” Christ calls His religion “new wine” and “bread that cometh down from Heaven.” The Apostle Paul says, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away: behold, all things have become new.” In a religion like this, one that makes the believer into a “new man,” everything is “new.” So, too, the art that gradually took form out of the spirit of this religion, and which it invented to express its Mystery, is a “new” art, one not like any other, just as the religion of Christ is not like any other, in spite of what some may say who have eyes only for certain meaningless externals. The architecture of this religion, its , its painting, its sacredpoetry,insofarastheymake useof materialmedia,nourish the souls of the faithful with spirit. The works produced in these media are like steps that lead them from earth up to heaven, from this earthly and temporary state to that which is heavenly and eternal: This takes place so far as is possible with human nature. For this reason, the arts of the Church are anagogical, that is, they elevate natural phenomena and submit them to “the beauti- ful transformation.” They are also called“liturgical”arts,because through them man tastes the essence of the liturgyby which God is worshipped and through which man becomes like unto the Heavenly Hosts and perceives immortal life. Ecclesiastical liturgical painting, the painting of worship, took its form above all from Byzantium, where it remained the

10 mystical Ark of Christ’s religion and was called hagiographia or sacred painting. As with the other arts of the Church, the pur- pose of hagiographia is not to give pleasure to our carnal sense of sight, but to transform it into a spiritual sense, so that in the visible things of this world we may see what surpasses this world. Hence this art is not theatrically illusionistic. Illusionistic art came into being in Italy during the so-called Renaissance, be- cause this art was the expression of a Christianity which, deform- ed by philosophy, had become a materialistic, worldly form of knowledge, and of the Western Church, which had become a worldly system. And just as followed along behind the philosophy of the ancients-so, too, the painting which expressed this theology followed along behind the art of the ancient idola- tors. The period is well named Renaissance, since, to tell the truth, it was no more than a rebirth of the ancient carnal mode of thought that had been the pagan world’s. But just as those theologians were wading around in the slimy swamp waters of philosophy, and were in no position to taste and understand the clear fresh water of the Gospel, “drawn up to life eternal,” so, too, the painters who brought about the Renaissance were in no position to understand the mystical profundity of Eastern liturgical iconography, the sacred art of Byzantium. And just as the theologians thought that they could perfect Christ’s religion with philosophy, since for them it seemed too simple, they being in no position to penetrate into the depths of that divine simplicity: just so, the painters thought that they were perfecting liturgical art, more simply called Byzantine, by making it “more natural.” So they set to work, copying what was natural-faces, clothes, buildings, landscapes, all as they appear naturally - making an iconography with the same rationalism that the theologians wanted to make theology with. But the kind of theology you can get out of rationalism is exactly the kind of religious iconog- raphy you can get out of copying nature. This is why their works have no mystery, nor any real spiritual character. You understand that you have before you

11 some men masquerading as - not real saints. Look at the various pictures of the Mother of God. “Madonnas” who pose hypocritically, and those in tears, weeping, which are even falser yet! Corpses and idols for shallow men! Our people, who for centuries have received a great and profound nurture from Christ’s religion, even though outwardly they seem uneducated, call a woman who pretends to be respectable but who is really not,aFrankopanagia, a “Frankish ,” thus making a clear distinction between the “Frankish Virgin” and the true Virgin, the Mother of Christ our God, the austereOdogitria, she who is “more honourable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim.” In other words, in the simp- lest way possible they make a neat, sharp distinction between the art of the world and the art belonging to worship. Western religious painters who wanted to depict the super- natural visions of religion took as models certain natural phenomena - clouds, sunsets, the moon, the sun with its beams. With these they tried to portray the heavenly glory and the world of immortality, calling certain things “spiritual” which are merely sentimental, emotional, not spiritual at all. In vain, however. Because the blessedness of the other life is not a continuation of the emotional happiness of this world, neither does it have any relation to the satisfaction the senses enjoy in this life. The Apostle Paul, talking about the good things of the blessedness to come,says that they are such that“eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man.” How, then, can that world, which lies beyond everything a man can grasp with his senses - how can that world be portrayed by an art that is “natural” and that appeals to the senses? How can you paint “what surpasses nature and surpasses sense”? Certainly, man will take elements from the perceptible world, “for the senses’ sake,” but to be able to express “what surpasses sense” he must dematerialize these elements, he must lift them to a higher plane, he must transmute them from what is carnal into what is spiritual, just as faith transmutes man’s feelings, making them, from carnal, into spiritual. “I saw,” says Saint

12 Johnof the Ladder,“some men given over with passion to carnal love, and when they received the Light and took the way of Christ, this fierce carnal passion was changed inside them, with divine grace, into a great love for the Lord.” Thus, even the material elements which Byzantine iconog- raphy took from the world of sense were supernaturally transmuted into spiritualities, and since they had passed through the pure soul of a man who lived according to Christ, like gold through a refiner’s fire, they express, as far as is possible for a man who wears a material body, that which the Apostle Paul spoke of,“which eye hath not seen, neither hath entered into the heart of man.” The beauty of liturgical art is not a carnal beauty,but a spirit- ual beauty. That is why whoever judges this art by worldly stan- dards says that the figures in Byzantine sacred painting are ugly and repellent,while for one of the faithful they possess the beauty of the spirit, which is called “the beautiful transformation.” The Apostle Paul says, “We (who preach the Gospel and live according to Christ) are ... a sweet savour of Christ unto them that are saved, and unto them that perish [the savour of death]. Unto them that have within them the smell of death (of flesh), we smell of death; and unto them that have within them the smell of life, we smell of life.” And the blessed and hallowed Saint John of the Ladder says, “There was an ascetic who,whenever he happened to seeabeauti- ful person, whether man or woman, would glorify the Creator of that person with all his heart, and from a mere glance his love for God would spring afresh and he would pour out on his ac- count a fountain of tears. And one marvelled, seeing this happen, that for this man what would cause the soul of another to stink had become a reason for crowns and an ascent above nature. Whoever perceives beauty in this fashion is already incorrupt- ible, even before the dead rise in the common Resurrection.” “Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom.12:2). q8r

13 How to live in accord withtheGospel A translation of a Booklet published by the Synodal Press in Russia in 1905, somewhat adapted to meet the needs of our times. The duty of doing good to those in need THIRDLY, beneficence must always be accompanied by self- sacrifice. We must do good not only when we have plenty, but even when we run short of things, following the example of the poor widow in the Gospels, and we must do it with a readiness to bear with deprivation for the sake of our neighbour. A certain brother, seeing that Abba Nisterus had two garments, asked him, “If a poor man came and asked you for a garment, which one would you give him?” The Elder replied, “The better one.” “And if someone else then asked, what would you give?” “Halfof the other one.” The brother again asked, “If someone again asked, what would you give?” The Elder replied, “I would tear the remaining piece and give him half, and with the remaining half I would make myself a girdle.” Finally the brother asked, “And if someone asked you for the girdle, what would you do?” The Elder answered, “I would give it to him, and would myself go away and would wait until God sent me some clothes and covered me.” Fourthly, we must show tenderness to those receiving the alms and be compassionate towards them. We must not chide them, just as God, according to the words of the Apostles James, giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not(James 1:5), and we must not unnecessarily demean those who are receiving help. We must on no account make them feel that we are bestow- ing a benefaction upon them because of our own generosity. “If

14 you give something to someone in need,” says the Syrian, “then the cheerfulness of your face should pre- cede your giving, and with a kindly word comfort his affliction. When you do this, the sight of your face will do more to comfort him than any alleviation of the body.” Finally, the most important characteristic of beneficence is impartiality. Beneficence embraces all those in need without excluding any, Christians and non-Christians, our own or those foreign to us by nationality, the good and the evil, friends and enemies. Do good to them that hate you … That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:44-45). Jesus Christ said, Give to every man that asketh of thee(Luke 6:30), which means that we must help and do good to all, not discriminating with regard to their looks, their position in life, their origins or their religious confession. The Venerable Isaac the Syrian reflects on this in this way: “If someone, sitting upon a horse, stretches out his hand to you for alms, do not recoil from him, because at the moment he is doubtless hard up and like one of the poor. Do not withhold resources from the poor, whether they are worthy or unworthy. For this good work let all people be equal to you, for in doing so you may be able to draw the unworthy to good, because the soul, through physical things, is soon drawn to the fear of God. The Lord reclined at table with the publican and the harlot, and did not repulse these unworthy ones from Him. In doing good count every person as of equal worth, whether he be a Jew, or an unbeliever, or a murderer, even much more than if he be your brother or one of our own kind.” “If we,” says Saint Chrysostom, “see someone in misfortune, let us extend to him the hand of help. But what, you say, if he is dishonourable and depraved? Listen to what Christ says, Judge not, that ye be not judged(Matt. 7:1). You are doing it for God. But what am I saying? Although it is a pagan that we see in mis- fortune, it is required that we show him goodness, and this also for every person that is found in need, even more for one of the

15 faithful. Listen to what the Apostle Paul commands:Let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the house- hold of faith(Gal. 6:10). True almsgiving is not there when it is refused to sinners and the guilty; almsgiving consists not in sharing with those who are correcting others, but those who are sinners.” “Consider,” says Saint in another place, “how many there are living in the world who blaspheme God, who are depraved, who are deceivers, who are full of every- thing dishonourable,but God nourishes them everyday,teaching us to extend our beneficence to all.” … to be continued. ❇❇❇❇❇❇❇ THE COMING MONTH WE HAVE one day,Cheesefare Sunday,in March this year beforeGreat Lent begins, and so the month takes us to within two days of the Thursday of the Great Canon, one of the most important lenten observances. The Sundays of Orthodoxy, Saint , the Holy Cross, and Saint John of the Ladder all fall within the month. It is on account of the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy that in this issue we have included quotes from the Fathers on the Church’s teaching concerning herself, our main article on Ecclesiology, and Photios Konto- glou’s piece on the holy . It was, of course, at the restora- tion of the icons, after a period of government-imposed icono- clasm, that the feast was inaugurated, which we commemorate by the procession with the icons around the church on that day. The first week of the fast is kept the most strenuously, and from Monday to Thursday, every evening we have theGreat Canon of Saint at Great Compline. This beautiful composition starts with self-reproach and calls us to repentance and amendment of life. But it does not stop there; through examples of the righteous and of the sinners taken from

16 the Scriptures it shows us how we can grow in the spiritual life, and always the mercy and loving-kindness of our Saviour to- wards us is brought to our attention. Those who, because they live far from a church, or because of the present restrictions, cannot attend this service should try to read it at home, both to join with their brothers and sisters blessed to be in church and for their spiritual nourishment. The Athonite Elder the Hesychast (+ 1959) gives this wise warning regarding the keeping of : “Especially now with Great Lent which is coming upon us, many temptations and many troubles come against us by the malicious demons. This is so because at this time we afflict them even more with fasting and prayer, which in turn makes them more enraged against us. Take care therefore to attain crowns in the stadium of this con- test. You must be more brave. You must line up chest to chest against the fleshless ones. Do not fear them.” In this struggle, we need not feel alone, we have not only the company of the saints who are specially commemorated in Lent, but also the help of our “Champion Leader” in this spiritual battle, the All-holy Mother of God herself. And it for this reason that on each of the Friday evenings of the first five weeks of the fast, we chant the Hymn to her. For our community here at Brookwood, the celebration of theMartyrdom of Saint Edward on 18th/31st is of course particularly important, and we observe it with a lenten style Vigil and with the celebration on the day itself of the of the Presanctified Gifts. Among the other saints celebrated this month we have:- TheRight-Believing Prince Daniel of , who is celebrated on the same day as the Venerable Gerasimus of the Jordan,4th/17th March. Saint Daniel was born in 1261A.D., the son of the holy and right-believing . Being the youngest son, he inherited the poor principality of Moscow, which nonetheless through his adroit and peaceful handling of the princely internecine warfare developed into the capital of a united Russian land. He founded the Monastery of Saint Daniel

17 the Stylite in Moscow, in honour of his name saint. While still a youth, Prince Daniel strengthened and expanded his principal- ity, not in unjust or coercive ways, but peacefully and with benevolence. It was a time of unrest. Fratricidal strife among the princes was rife. Often bloodshed was averted, thanks to Prince Daniel and his incessant striving for unity and peace. In 1293 A.D., his brother, the Great Prince Alexander, allied with the Tatars, laid waste to the cities of Murom, Suzdal, Kolomna, Dmitrov, Mozhaisk, and Tver. Prince Daniel decided to join those peoples to Moscow to save them from perishing, for they were not strong enough to resist alone. So it came about that Saint Daniel was compelled to come out against his brother, but his desire for peace prevailed and bloodshed was averted. When, seven years later, Prince Constantine of was making secret preparations for a sudden assault on Moscow, Prince Daniel met his forces with an army, and defeated the enemy, took Constantine captive, and destroyed a multitude of Tatars. This was a first victory over the Tatars, and though not a tremendous victory, it is noteworthy as a first push towards free- dom from their yoke. He did not take advantage of his victory to seize foreign lands or take booty, as was the accepted custom in those days. The holy prince never resorted to arms to seize the lands of others, nor did he ever take away the property of other princes either by force or by treachery. And so the Lord saw fit to expand the boundaries of his princely realm. Prince John of Pereslavl-Zalessk,Daniel’s nephew,was gentle and pious and benevolent towards the poor,and he esteemed and loved his uncle. Dying childless in 1302, he bequeathed his principality to Saint Daniel. ThePereslavl lands together with Dmitrov, had the most inhabitants after Rostov, with the corresponding fortifi- cation befittingamajor city. Pereslavl-Zalessk was well protected on all sides. But the holy prince remained faithful to Moscow and did not transfer the capital of his princedom to the stronger and more significant seat. This annexation allowed Moscow to be considered the foremost principality. Here the principle of the unification of the Russian Land into a single realm was set in place. In A.D. 1303 Saint Daniel fell seriously ill. He was tonsured as a monk into the great schema and requested that he

18 be buried at the . In his deep humility he wanted to be buried not within the church, but in the common monastery cemetery. The holy prince reposed on 4th March. Less than thirty years later, the original Danilov monastery was transformed into the . At the time of Great Prince Ivan III (1462-1505), Saint Daniel reminded his forgetful descendent of his witness. He appeared as a stranger to a youth who attended the Great Prince and said: “Don’t be afraid of me. I was a Christian and the master of this place, my name is Daniel Prince of Moscow, and by the will of God I am here. Tell Great Prince John about me saying: you are enjoying yourself while you have forgotten me, but God has not forgotten me.” After this, the Great Prince ordered requiem services for his ancestor to be chanted in the cathedral. During the time of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the dying son of a barge merchant was healed at the grave of Saint Daniel. The Tsar,struck by the miracle,renovated the ancient Danilov monastery and established a yearly church procession. In A.D.1652 the holy Prince Daniel was glorified by the uncovering of his incorrupt , which were translated on 30th August to a church dedicated to the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Œcumenical Council and placed in a reliquary “to the glory of the Holy Trinity and for the healing of the infirm.” The holyNew Martyr Manuel of Crete ((15th / 28th) was enslaved after the Ottoman Muslim conquest of Crete at a very early age. He was from the town of Sphakia and was taken and circumcised against his will. When he was able, Manuel escaped from Crete and settled on the island of Mykonos, where he went to an Orthodox priest and confessed. Manuel was given a penance and later was received back into the Orthodox Church through Chrismation. Later, Manuel married and was blessed with six children. His wife, however, proved to be unfaithful, but Manuel, fearing God, decided not to punish her in any way; he simply took the children and left his house. His brother-in- blamed Manuel for leaving his wife and threatened revenge. One day, transporting a shipment of wood from the island of Samos to Mykonos, Manuel encountered a ship on which his brother-in-law was serving. Before the Muslims, the latter

19 accused Manuel of having been a Muslim who was now an Orthodox Christian. When taken before the captain, Manuel was asked by him to what religion he belonged. Manuel said, “I have been an Orthodox Christian since I was born.” But the captain corrected him, “You were a Christian once, but then you willingly became a Muslim. So you must return again to our faith, for if you do not agree to do this, I will make you suffer mercilessly and you will die.” Undaunted, Manuel said, “I was an Orthodox Christian, I am an Orthodox Christian, and I will die as an Orthodox Christian.” The captain had him tortured during the entire trip to where he handed Manuel over to the admiral of the fleet, the Kapudan Pasha. When they came to Chios, Manuel asked a fellow Orthodox Christian to find him an Orthodox priest to counsel him and to hear his confession. But none of the priests would come, for they were afraid. One did send him advice through a third party. This encouraged Manuel so he could say to himself, “It is all the same with me whether I die today or tomorrow. The world is transient. Rather than die tomorrow a sinner, it is better to die today for my Faith and save my soul.” The Kapudan Pasha had Manuel brought before him for questioning. When he asked Manuel what he was, Manuel responded, “I am an Orthodox Christian.” But the Kapudan kadi had Manuel's trousers taken down and he saw that he was circumcised and asked how that had come about. Manuel responded by saying, “I am an Orthodox Christian since birth, but I was enslaved when I was very young and forced tobecome a Muslim. Now I am an Orthodox Christian again.” The admiral responded by ordering his immediate execution. Manuel's reaction to this was, “Glory to Thee, O God.” They took him to the Old Fountain where Manuel willingly knelt and awaited the executioner's sword. The executioner, however, was inept and was not able to behead Manuel with a single stroke. Enraged over this, the executioner took hold of Manuel as though he were a sheep and cut his throat, separating his head from his body. They then ordered Manuel's body be weighed down and thrown into the sea. The Orthodox Christians who witnessed Manuel's martyrdom were greatly moved by it, for this act validated and strengthened their own faith. Thus Manuel, the

20 slave from Crete, sacrificed his life for the love of Jesus Christ on the island of Chios on Monday, 15th March, in the year 1792. The life of St. Manuel was recorded by Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain. ❇❇❇❇❇❇❇ POINTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE “I HAVE READ a variety of answers. I think that the general consensus is that the Orthodox Church does not distinguish be- tween what the West calls Mortal and Venial sins. If certain sins do not cut you completely off from God, how is it that we can lose our salvation? Would it take complete apostasy from the Faith?” -W.H., Wales - by email. I THINK we have to take a step back. Traditionally Roman Catholics regarded our salvation in juridical terms - it was almost as if we had an account with God. Commit a sin, and you have a debit; do something good and you have a credit. Commit a great sin and you can bankrupt yourself. This is simplistic, but has elements of truth in it. Orthodox do not look at things that way. If we even began to think of an account with God - we would always be very deeply in the red! (Matt.18:24). For us sin is the manifestation of a malady - we need healing. Of course there are lesser and greater sins. Having milk in your coffee on a Friday is usually a sin, but not as great as murder! Also the same sin might be committed by two different people, and be more serious for one than the other. If a rich boy robs another of a fiver, that is probably more serious than if a beggar boy does the same because he has nothing to eat. There are a host of varia- tions, and so we do not make a clear cut division between mortal and venial - what we do in going to confession is the same as what we do when going to a doctor. We explain our symptoms and hope that he can diagnose our illness and prescribe reme- dies. For this reason even the slightest symptoms are not without importance. The sin that truly separates us from God is a refusal to repent or try to repent. For instance, among some

21 modern Russians there are stories that Stalin repented on his deathbed. He was probably one of the vilest and greatest mass murderers in history. These stories are probably apocryphal, but, had he doneso, then he may have been saved.

“YOU MENTIONED, when you sent out the second version of the Prayer in the Time of the Present Affliction and Tribu- lation, that it was a better version. Why is it?” -B.H., London, S.W.19 PRIMARILY, because it was the version put out by our church people and therefore I assumed, maybe wrongly, that they would have a better insight into what the original said. Secondly,because it replaced the mod-Orthodox term“temples” which has become prevalent, particularly in America, - it seems to be an attempt to ape, rather than translate, a Russian term - with the traditional word for a place of worship in English, church. Bishop Ambrose once preached a beautiful sermon here, pointing out the significance of the fact that in most languages the word for the whole assembly of the faithful, living and departed, and the word for the building in which we gather for communal worship is the same. In English, it is church. There is one word I would change in the second version, and that only for those of us living in the United Kingdom, and that is the reference to our “state.” We do not live here in an artificially established or contrived state; we live in a country! q8r “KNOW THAT GOD rules the world; He has no unrighteous- ness. But His truth is different from human righteousness. God rejected human truth because it is characterised by sin, lawless- ness, and the fall from Paradise. God established His all-holy truth, the truth of the Cross, which opens Heaven to us. It pleases Him that we enter the Kingdom of Heaven through many tribulations (Acts 14:22).” Saint Ignatius of the Caucasus, +1867 A.D.

22 NEWS:ICONOSTAS COMPLETED THE NEW ICONOSTAS in Saint Edward’s Church has now been completed; the whole project: rebuilding, obtaining the carved wooden doors and panels from the craftsmen in Romania, and lastly the six hand-painted icons for the Royal Gates from theConvent of the Holy Angels, Afidnai, Greece,took about three years, but was well worth it! The beautifully painted icons arrived at Brookwood on the Sunday of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia (25th January / 7th February), being brought on their last lap from London by Anastasia Panagiotidou and her son,Rafael. On Saint John Chrysostom’s day, the Tuesday, they were professionally fitted within the gates byMax Maxim. And the new iconostas was blessed before the on the great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, 2nd /15th February. Our warmest thanks are due to all the people mentioned here and especially to Daniel Ciupercovici and his helpers and associatesfor seeing the whole project through from start to finish. May they all receive many blessings in this life and in the life of the age to come, and may Saint Edward, whose church they have beautified, ever keep them under his protection. ❇ ❇❇❇❇❇❇ PRACTICAL TIP ONE of the most noticeable features of the Lenten Services is the number of prostrations that are made, and so, as we often see people floundering doing them, perhaps some guidance on how to make a prostration would help. First of all some “do nots.” If you are aged, physically infirm, disabled or heavily pregnant, do not make full prostrations and injure yourself, just make a deep bow. Secondly and importantly, do not use this as an excuse if you could make them! The lowest point in the exercise is to be kneeling on the floor with your body

23 bent forward and your forehead on the ground. However, to reach this, do not begin by crashing down on both knees and then flopping forward. You could seriously damage your knees. Do not start as if you are “taking the knee” because of some in- vogue convention, and then wobble down while you get the other knee down, and again flop forward. Start from the other end. First make the sign of the Cross, then bend forward and reach down towards the ground in front of you with your hands. As your hands near the ground, you will need to bend your knees a little. When your hands are firmly placed on the ground you may then bring down your knees completely, at the same time bowing your head so that your forehead touches the ground. Then to rise up again, do not shuffle about getting off your knees first, but push up on your hands and then engage the knees to straighten out. This way you will be able to make the reverence neatly and relatively quickly, and will not harm yourself. Also, when in your prayers at home you have to make several prostrations one after the other, you will find it easier to do them. hhhhhhh “LIFE without conscience! And this is so not only among open atheists and enemies of God, of whom there are more now than ever before, but also among people who are supposed to be believers and who have not renounced the Church,as they them- selves, at least, proclaim. Sometimes they take an active part in the life of the Church and – this is especially terrible … Instead of pleasing God and instead of the humility and obedience to the Law of God and the Holy Church commanded by Christ, there now flourishes as never before truly diabolical pride: self-love, conceit, self-glorification, self-exaltation, vanity which oozes out of every pore, and seeking after popularity and earthly glory. This all leads naturally to hatred, envy, malice, and uncontroll- able hostility, leading at times to frenzy, instead of to the mutual love and goodwill commanded by the Gospel, instead of to mercy and mutual aid.” Archbishop Averky of Jordanville,+1976 A.D.

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