Magdalenbrother
January 7th 2005, 04:55 AM
THE ANATHEMAS
AS ACTS OF LOVE
by Deacon Lev Puhalo
If someone were to be driving over a difficult road and, coming to a sharp and dangerous curve overlooking a deep canyon, is moved by concern for fellow travellers to gather material to build a guardrail and post warning signs along the way, we would greatly admire that person for his love and compassion.
If another person was to come along later and remove those guardrails and warning signs, we would think him wicked in the extreme, even though he might claim, "I am doing it out of love for mankind because the railing and the signs clutter up the view of the people. I want people to feel a greater unity with nature and signs and guardrails are a hindrance to this."
Of course, if a person plunges over the side of the unprotected curve, he will no doubt become more "united with nature".
Heresy is the product of man's self-will being guided by Satan to create a teaching or system of teachings which will hinder the salvation of the faithful. Such false teachings will undermine and obscure the Gospel of our Saviour and lead the faithful to plunge over the curve into the abyss of falsehood.
Our holy and God-bearing fathers of the Ecumenical councils and the canonical local councils have seen the dangerous precipices of heretical teachings and the dangerous curve of flowery words and philosophies which appear on their edges. Dwelling in the truth of the Holy Spirit, the fathers have drawn forth from the Gospel and the Christ-filled life of the Holy Church, guardrails and warning signs and have erected them for the safety of the faithful. These guardrails and warning signs are the Anathemas and they have been proclaimed out of the purest and most Christ-like love. In fact, it has been the Holy Spirit, working through the Councils, which has established the Anathemas. Bear in mind that it is not people who have been anathematized, but falsehood and corrupt teachings.
In recent years, many travellers of the second type have appeared on the road__the type who wish to break down the guardrails and warning signs.
The Holy Spirit has given us the Anathemas for the protection of the faithful. What God has established man cannot possibly destroy. The ecumenists have pretended that they have "lifted the anathemas". What they claim to have done, therefore, is to have superseded the Holy Spirit, to have overridden God and rescinded His truth. This is, in fact, that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit about which the Saviour issued such a stern warning, and it is really an act of unmitigated hatred.
No person could possibly lift any Anathema which has been laid down by the Holy Church. It is not people who have been anathematized, but precisely falsehoods which have been anathematized. It is not the Anathemas which are separating one people from another; it is falsehood and the passions which separate one people from another.
The Anathemas were laid down, first, to protect the faithful from falling away from their salvation and, second, to warn those who have already fallen away to repent and turn back to the truth of Christ and His Holy Church.
The ecumenists, on the other hand, have invited the faithful to lose their souls and encouraged those already in darkness to further draw their blinds and sink more deeply into darkness.
Beloved of Christ, the Anathemas are great monuments of love and compassion and we beseech all Orthodox Christians to become familiar with, to study and come to understand them and cherish them as living symbols of the constant and active concern of our Creator and Saviour for His flock.
(reprinted from the Canadian Orthodox Missionary, January 1974 issue)
AS ACTS OF LOVE
by Deacon Lev Puhalo
If someone were to be driving over a difficult road and, coming to a sharp and dangerous curve overlooking a deep canyon, is moved by concern for fellow travellers to gather material to build a guardrail and post warning signs along the way, we would greatly admire that person for his love and compassion.
If another person was to come along later and remove those guardrails and warning signs, we would think him wicked in the extreme, even though he might claim, "I am doing it out of love for mankind because the railing and the signs clutter up the view of the people. I want people to feel a greater unity with nature and signs and guardrails are a hindrance to this."
Of course, if a person plunges over the side of the unprotected curve, he will no doubt become more "united with nature".
Heresy is the product of man's self-will being guided by Satan to create a teaching or system of teachings which will hinder the salvation of the faithful. Such false teachings will undermine and obscure the Gospel of our Saviour and lead the faithful to plunge over the curve into the abyss of falsehood.
Our holy and God-bearing fathers of the Ecumenical councils and the canonical local councils have seen the dangerous precipices of heretical teachings and the dangerous curve of flowery words and philosophies which appear on their edges. Dwelling in the truth of the Holy Spirit, the fathers have drawn forth from the Gospel and the Christ-filled life of the Holy Church, guardrails and warning signs and have erected them for the safety of the faithful. These guardrails and warning signs are the Anathemas and they have been proclaimed out of the purest and most Christ-like love. In fact, it has been the Holy Spirit, working through the Councils, which has established the Anathemas. Bear in mind that it is not people who have been anathematized, but falsehood and corrupt teachings.
In recent years, many travellers of the second type have appeared on the road__the type who wish to break down the guardrails and warning signs.
The Holy Spirit has given us the Anathemas for the protection of the faithful. What God has established man cannot possibly destroy. The ecumenists have pretended that they have "lifted the anathemas". What they claim to have done, therefore, is to have superseded the Holy Spirit, to have overridden God and rescinded His truth. This is, in fact, that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit about which the Saviour issued such a stern warning, and it is really an act of unmitigated hatred.
No person could possibly lift any Anathema which has been laid down by the Holy Church. It is not people who have been anathematized, but precisely falsehoods which have been anathematized. It is not the Anathemas which are separating one people from another; it is falsehood and the passions which separate one people from another.
The Anathemas were laid down, first, to protect the faithful from falling away from their salvation and, second, to warn those who have already fallen away to repent and turn back to the truth of Christ and His Holy Church.
The ecumenists, on the other hand, have invited the faithful to lose their souls and encouraged those already in darkness to further draw their blinds and sink more deeply into darkness.
Beloved of Christ, the Anathemas are great monuments of love and compassion and we beseech all Orthodox Christians to become familiar with, to study and come to understand them and cherish them as living symbols of the constant and active concern of our Creator and Saviour for His flock.
(reprinted from the Canadian Orthodox Missionary, January 1974 issue)