(I wonder what is more dangerous: a NWO that is openly hostile to Christianity? or a NWO which presents a ‘pious and deceptive’ substitute for genuine Christianity? On which soil will the Antichrist be manifested?)

“…we desperately need to address the world with a united voice. Without being one Church, could we not act as one Church? Could we not present ourselves to secular society as a unified body?

I strongly believe that it is possible for the two Churches to speak with one voice; there can be a united Catholic-Orthodox response to the challenges of secularism, liberalism and relativism. Also in the dialogue with Islam, Catholics and Orthodox can act together…

The Roman Catholic Church has dealt with these questions in many documents of the magisterium, the most recent of which being the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, compiled by the Pontifical Commission “Justitia et Pax” and published in 2004.

In the Orthodox tradition the most significant document of this kind is the “Bases of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church,” published in 2000.

Both documents promote the priority of religious values over the interests of secular life. In opposing atheist humanism, they foster instead a humanism guided by spiritual values.

By this is meant a humanism “that is up to the standards of God’s plan of love in history,” an “integral humanism capable of ***creating a new social, economic and political order***, founded on the dignity and freedom of every human person, to be brought about ***in peace, justice and solidarity***.”

Comparison between the two documents reveals striking similarities in the social doctrines of the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. If our understanding of social issues is so similar, why can we not join forces in order to defend it?

I believe the time has come for all Christians who choose to follow the traditional line, notably the Catholics and the Orthodox, to form a common front in order to combat secularism and relativism, to conduct responsible dialogue with Islam and the other major world religions, and to defend Christian values against all challenges of modernity.”

– Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

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What some Saints, Elders and trusted Orthodox Christians have said about such ideas:

1) Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos: “Nor can I imagine St Gregory Palamas joining a council with Barlaam, Akindynos, Gregoras and their supporters to deal with various social problems of their time.”

2) Fr. Seraphim Rose: “Contemporary spokesmen for Orthodoxy present as their goal the attainment of a time of ecumenical harmony, tolerance, and mutual respect — not a crusade for the conversion of souls.”

“This is outright heresy; or perhaps something even worse: the turning aside of the Church from her very purpose – the saving of souls for eternal life – and giving them over to the devil’s kingdom, promising a false blessedness on earth and condemning them to everlasting damnation.”

“We have seen a reform of Christianity that does away with the Church as an instrument of God’s grace for men’s eternal salvation and replaces it with the social gospel.”

“Is it possible, then, for an Orthodox Christian to stand with the very leaders of these religions and, for the moment, “forget” what distinguishes and divides the Church of Christ from all other religions and agree upon common “religious” aims that have nothing to do with salvation? … a “religion in general”, a religion of humanity concerned solely with earthly, human things – those “universal” worldly aspirations which, however elevated and desirable in themselves, have nothing to do with Christianity and the Christian spiritual life. He who ceases, even for a moment, to preach salvation in Jesus Christ in order to support the aims of this “universal” religion, ceases at that moment to be distinct from the world and its religions, ceases, in a word, to be a Christian…”

3) Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios: “Before the False Prophet arrives, a state of affairs – not persons – that are projected as systems of global justice, philanthropy, love etc., will already be in place and all of them will be subservient to the Antichrist.” and “It (Christianity) did not come to travel and journey along with the other religions or to coexist peacefully with them, and to learn to get along. It came to dissolve the false faiths once and for all.”

4) Fr. Constantine Zaitsev of Jordanville: “What then is the all-inclusive task for a “sovietified Christian” consciousness? The setting up of a state of well being on earth, realized simultaneously by both the faithful and atheists. But this is precisely the contemporary task of the communists! In addition, for both these and the others there exists a kind of common “evil”, opposed to both, with which they are jointing struggling.”

5) Metropolitan Augoustinos (Kantiotes): Here is what the serpent says: O, Orthodox Church! Why do you keep your distance? Why are you afraid of me? I am no dragon; I am a sweet angel bearing the message of love. I am not going to hurt you. Keep your dogmas and your traditions. Leave these things to the theologians … I invite you into my room to discuss other matters. Let us make a common stand against hunger, against poverty, against atheism, against communism, against war.”

6) Metropolitan Pavlos of Glyfada: “the dominant trend … (is) for the various Christian confessions to work (together) so as not to be seen as divided before (the) non-Christians as a result of doctrinal differences and to further show unity by placing a priority on issues of social justice and oppression of social classes. In other words, these Christian denominations said ‘look we cannot get together on doctrine, we cannot resolve our differences, at least let’s put those aside and lets work together on social issues – on helping the poor, on creating better opportunities for poor nations, and fighting the oppression of social classes.’ But what is wrong with this? … This steers the missionary and preaching efforts to give 1st priority to the formulation of methods of restoring social justice as opposed to spreading the truths of the gospel … So, it does not reveal the one truth and further degrades missionary work to a sociological instead of soteriological (related to salvation) perspective.”

7) The new Martyr Fr. Daniel Sysoev: “They say there are traditional religions. – They’re ‘good’, because they are ancient. And because they have to co-exist peacefully for the sake of strengthening the state and society … (but) Religion does not exist to strengthen morality, nor to strengthen the state, but to communicate with God.

8) St. John Chrysostom: “I reminded you many times about the atheist heretics, and now I implore you not to compromise with them on anything, do not eat or drink with them in the name of friendship, better relations, love or peace, because he who is swayed and compromises with them renders himself foreign to the Catholic Church.”

9) From the Resolution of the Symposium of the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus on the Theme “Patristic Theology and Post-Patristic Heresy” which occurred in 2012: “…has been borrowed from Protestantism where it has been used for more than forty years to state the need, as they see it, for weight to be given to the witness of “churches” in social affairs, not in matters of the faith, because “dogmas separate”.

10) Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky: “A third similar mistake: if one combines the various Christian confessions which are weak in faith, weak in spirit, and weak in their influence on social life, then, in our age of religious skepticism, a power will be created, a power which would be able to oppose the anti-Christian powers of the world … In terms of ecumenism, what does “the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth” mean? It means the social erection of the future world on earth. The new world must replace the former, old, decrepit, and supposedly destined-for-wreckage, social structure on earth. Now all attention, all strivings of Christianity, must be directed towards the idea, not of the personal salvation of each person, not concerning one’s soul, not about the future eternal life, but of building a society on new foundations.”

11) Metropolitan Vitaly (ROCOR): “The so-called ‘Social Doctrine’ of the Moscow Patriarchate is a purely Roman Catholic concept which is foreign to the Orthodox Church and which, regardless of its possibly well-meaning intentions, holds nothing profitable for the Orthodox Christian.”

(These quotes are but a small sampling of what could be presented.)