Author: orthodoxaustralia

Dear Father Neketas,

Evlogeite! Many thanks for your letters, and please forgive our usual long silence. As you notice, our OW is again late. Cold weather struck us already a month ago, and we were finally forced to finish our winter preparations; most likely we will have our hardest winter so far. Then two weeks ago I cut my finger badly in the linotype (carelessness) and had to have it stitched up. But God willing, the new issue will he out before Thanksgiving, and then we start on the calendar, which this year we will force upon our readers as the Sept.-Oct. issue, hoping to publish it regularly hereafter as a separate publication. We will see what the response is. It is slightly corrected from last year, and hopefully much more improved in future years.

Alexey Young was here several weeks ago, and we tried to give him as sober a view as possible about starting a new periodical; but he’s still enthusiastic, so, God willing, the project will go on. We hear now that there is to be a new official Synod newspaper under Vladika Vitaly. May God prosper all there new shoots; but as for results, we will just have to wait and see. Sometimes a seemingly solid foundation just does not produce the expected results, and vice versa…. We only mentioned incidentally to Alexey an idea we have long had, for a newspaper to be called Orthodox America, somewhat modelled on Orthodox Russia, and viewed somewhat as an extension of your own Newsletter. In fact, we thought of you as the most likely to produce such as thing. But it’s been only a vague dream with us. Doubtless the future of genuine American Orthodoxy itself will govern the possibility of such a periodical. In the meantime, we printers have to be patient and “humble ourselves” before reality….

Strange… we thought we would be the winners in our proposed trade arrangement. By the way, could you send us 5 copies of Bp. Ignaty’s Arena?

Sorry to hear about John Shaw’s offensive letter. We met him last year at St. Herman’s canonization, and then he came here for a few hours with a group of seminarians. He’s a Jordanville graduate of this year, a convert and orphan (some kind of descendant of G. B. Shaw) who, as I understand, was raised by Fr. Dimitry Alexandrov (who has the mission to Old Believers, which has always seemed to us rather an academic thing) and made himself noticeable at Jordanville by his adherence to some Old Believer customs. Recently he wrote an article in Orth. Russia on a visitation to Bp. Peter in Astoria, and he may well have picked up some hostility to Fr. Panteleimon there. But most of all he probably has a bad case of what Russians call “self-opinion,” or just plain conceit (of the convert-young graduate type), and it’s probably incidental to him just how he proves that he’s “more Orthodox” than you or anyone else. Doubtless this will pass, but how he will end up is another question. I’ve always found this type of petty bickering very sad, when the primary question of Orthodoxy itself is what is really at stake. Even some fundamental differences on minor points are not that important; but half the time the supposed differences are no more than temporary circumstances, as is the case with your new church building. Surely the few true Orthodox Christians of these last times should have more sympathy for each other, a disposition to believe the best possible and not the worst, and if necessary, to forgive the forgivable!

Some of the decrees of the recent Sobor of Bishops were encouraging, but some of the “undertones” worry us, if you know what I mean! But doubtless we will hear more of these and have something more solid to talk about in the future. From the first “milk” I drank in as an Orthodox Christian in the Synod, I was taught that we have two kinds (or perhaps “traditions”) of bishops: on one side Vladikas John, Averky, Leonty, Nektary, Savva; on the other, those who now seem to have the governing positions. (Metr. Philaret would classify as an “independent,” and as long as he is Metropolitan I see Vlad. Ioann’s influence as somehow present.) Not to say that anyone is a heretic or enemy of any kind; but nonetheless the two characteristic dispositions, rather difficult to define, do seem to exist. The one group of bishops has now just about died out, and from them we have inherited some things which, I fear, may make us somewhat “out of fashion” in the Synod in the future, about which we’ve already had some hints. But perhaps this is too cryptic, or in any case is more suitable for oral communication than written. (Next August, perhaps?)

We were saddened to hear that Fr. Theodoritos didn’t accept ordination. But thereby is only emphasized the necessity in these dangerous times for all of us to make an extra podvig of sympathy and understanding for our fellow True Orthodox Christians.

We anxiously await your service to St. Nectarios in 1972. In the meantime, could you send us a copy before his Feast next week, of the Paraklesis Canon to him? All we have is the Vespers and whatever is in the French version.

Please pray for us, and forgive my idle talk.

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

P.s. How is your progress on the “Convert’s Manual”? Can you tell us some of your specific ideas for it?

Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey,

Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ. We read your two letters with great interest. Little did I suspect, when I casually mentioned Orthodox America in my letter, that it would evoke such a response! We have thought of such a periodical — actually a newspaper — as something to be realized only in an indefinite future, and rather along the lines of Fr. Neketas’ Newsletter, only greatly expanded. An American version of Orthodox Russia. But your idea is actually quite different, so it should have its own title and its own content and governing idea.

Which brings me to the point. There is no doubt that more Orthodox material in English is greatly needed, and there is definitely room for another Orthodox periodical in America. But before a single line is printed, the whole thing should be thoroughly thought — and probably also suffered! through. Vladimir has just written us of his concern that such a periodical might tend to duplicate the coverage of one of our existing Synod periodicals — i.e. Orthodox Word, Orthodox Life, and Fr. Neketas’ publications. The fact that you are interested in serializing the “Shroud” article, when a similar article has already appeared in Orthodox Life, might tend to confirm this fear.

In our experience, the single most important thing for such a periodical is to have its own distinct “personality,” its definite guiding idea together with the way this idea is expressed. This “personality” is seen not merely in the content, format, and editorial policy, but as well in the style, and the revelation of who is behind it (not anyone personally, but what kind of person: scholar? preacher? instructor? the voice of a “jurisdiction”? a convert speaking to and with other converts, etc.) and to whom it is directed (a scholarly audience? popular or semi-popular? converts? etc.). All this is not too easy to define, but it has to be at least felt if the periodical is in fact to have its own personality and not be merely a miscellaneous collection of materials.

Father Herman and I would be happy to be your “advisors” (in this sphere our two heads are definitely better than one!) in this, but that function is limited to general advice, plus any specific comments on content. The “creative” burden — specifically, the creation of a “personality,” and that not as an artificial thing but as coming out of a definite desire to meet a definite need — will rest right on you and your collaborators.

But first of all: be warned. You are a convert, and a pretty new one at that. It is characteristic of converts to start out with big ideas, usually on an insufficient foundation, and most of their projects fall flat, leaving wounds behind them. I say this not to scare you, and certainly not to discourage you, but to encourage your sobriety! When convert schemes fail there are definite reasons. Sometimes it is trusting oneself too much and “knowing better” than anyone else; most often, perhaps, it is the lack of the down-to-earth dimension of practical wisdom and deep determination. A few years ago one convert wanted to build a boat, go to Alaska, and “open a monastery, orphanage, or what have you.” One can almost guarantee that whatever he starts is not going to work out, because he himself does not reveal the specific determination to do one definite thing, and his schemes are not based on a specific need (not even his own) but rather an idle dreaming.

Having said this I’d like to encourage you to do some thinking on the “personality” of your proposed publication. Specifically you mention, besides the “Shroud,” the departments of “Fathers” and “Orthodox Heritage.” These are fine, but they do not yet give a personality or tone to the publication. In fact, this “personality” is so important that the very same article present in magazines of entirely different personality will be read and understood quite differently.

Father Herman and I discussed this matter at some length the other day, and we came up with something that may give you a “hint”; take it for what you find it to be worth. One thing that is largely lacking in our American Synodal publications is what might be called a sense of the “life” or “pulse” of the American mission. Perhaps this pulse is still faint, but it’s the foundation of whatever will be in the future. Fr. Neketas keeps us informed of his parish’s activities, but that’s about all we hear. Are the rest of the American Orthodox, then, just isolated individuals in a Russian sea, or is there really something that ties us all together, which means: that we can help each other. A periodical could help to bring together, which means: that we can help each other. A periodical could help to bring together and mutually encourage our widely-separated brethren. If one looks, one finds quite a few who want the real Orthodoxy for which the Synod stands, as against the spinelessness of what passes for “American Orthodoxy” in general. There is Fr. George Lambros’ parish in Buffalo, Fr. James Griffiths in NYC, Fr. Michael Azkoul s in St. Louis, the new parish in Tucson: and of course Fr. Neketas in Seattle and Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston (and its daughter convent there); and even our predominantly Russian monasteries at Jordanville and Novo-Diveyevo have their part in our true American Orthodoxy; not to mention Fr. Peter Carras and his spectacular Greek mission in Toronto (which has attracted 1000 families in less than two years!); and our many individual converts scattered throughout the land. By the way, Vladimir could write a very interesting report on his trip this last summer. In fact, if you want to know whom to consult, you should consult people just like yourself and put out a periodical by and for converts.

All of this is, conceivably, the raw material for a periodical; the use that would be made of it would be up to you. There could be good articles on various Orthodox topics by Dr. Johnstone, Fr. Michael Azkoul, and others; “reports” from parishes or missions; just plain “letters to the editor,” if they were somehow revealing or significant; etc. etc. There are three of you now interested in this: you, Vladimir, and Dr. Johnstone; all American converts with families. We would hope to see coming out of this common situation something answering to the common needs of Orthodox Americans. In fact — to repeat myself again — “need” is probably the key word to the whole project. It should be undertaken not merely as a “good idea” or something perhaps usefiil — but only as and if it tries to meet a definite and even desperate need. How do you view this need, and what have you to offer?

Another question which is a whole field in itself: Orthodox material for children, which is badly needed. Whether and how that can be included in your project is, of course, another question.

All this I write not in the form of “suggestions,” but rather to give you something to “react” to and to help make your own ideas more definite.

There are many “secondary” questions that are important too, and they should be thought through: practical questions of printing, format, cost, circulation, etc. We will be glad to discuss some of these with you when you come in two weeks (Oct. 23 is fine).

Concerning the title: Orthodox Spirit is already the title of a pan-Orthodox newspaper in Cleveland!

Reflect, consult, pray. Pray to Vladika John. There wouldn’t be any Orthodox Word today without him.

Yes, it will be appropriate, when the project is definite, to get the blessing of Vladika Anthony, and you have the right to tell your readers so, as it is a part of your “personality.”

Concerning the “Shroud”: it is wise to take seriously (even when you may not agree!) Fr. Neketas’ opinions, which generally reflect the views of Fr. Panteleimon and traditionalist Greeks in general. To this day we are not sure the Greeks are right about Zeytoon (they denounce it as a demonic apparition), but in deference to their strong views we will print nothing more about it, barring some spectacular development. Frankly, we don’t know whether the “Shroud” falls into this category or not, as we have not studied it carefully, even though we have been disposed to accept it on the authority of Jordanville. But certainly Fr. Neketas’ objections should be studied and his further opinion (after reading Sarah’s manuscript) taken seriously. Neither of us read it yet, so we can’t comment ourselves.

Many thanks for the offer to bring us anything. If there is anything specific we need, we’ll write a few days before you come. We’ve already had two cold spells, and our warm weather of the last 2 weeks seems to be fading again today. We’d better get our stove established in the trapeza, or you’ll suffer!

With love in Christ our Saviour,

Dear Father Neketas,

Evlogeite! To answer your requests immediately: the manuscript is going to Fr. Michael [Azkoul] in today’s mail (but please send us a complete copy as soon as its out!) The 1968 copies are going to you likewise today. The stapler is Acme #1. Enclosed is the new OW, whose mailing has been delayed because we ran out of staples!

Concerning the whole Church situation which faces us, we had two interesting and indicative encounters this week. On Friday we [were] visited by Fr. Theodoritos, and what joy there was in meeting and praying with this true Athonite zealot. We were only confirmed in our judgment that, if the Greeks look to our Synod bishops for confirmation of their stand for true Orthodoxy, we in the Synod look to you zealot Greeks for inspiration in true and unbending Orthodoxy. Then, a few hours after Fr. Theodoritos left, we were visited by Hieromonk Theodore, newly moved to S. F. (surname Hoeins, not the one who was tonsured by Fr. Panteleimon) — and it turns out that he fully recognizes Athenagoras “until he preaches a heresy” (long since!), and is against the Old Calendarists and views the Athonite zealots as fanatics who will end in priestless sectarianism. I fear his views are all too close to the “organizational view” that prevails among many of our priests, and, one fears, even higher. This Sobor will doubtless reveal much concerning this. Please remember that we are with you Greek zealots in this, and keep us informed of crucial developments, decisions, etc. The day of “unconscious Orthodoxy” is past, and truly it is not enough for Russians to sit aloof and just wait for the restoration of Russia — which, when it comes, may take a surprising form and find most Russians off guard! We are more than ever concerned to preserve the independence of our monastery so that if — God forbid! — there should come a division in the Synod, we will be free to act according to conscience.

After you left us our weather turned abnormally cold, but now has turned hot again; but in general people are warning us of a cold winter. Our Orthodox friends in Redding have been overwhelming us with their benefactions, which include a gas refrigerator and a 1000 gallon water tank, for which we must now devise a water collection system from rain and snow. But already we have running water on our front porch!

Pray for us.

With love in Christ our Saviour,

Dear Brother in Christ, Dimitry,

Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray this finds you safely returned — although from what we hear not all your fellow-pilgrims left unscathed from Mt. Athos!

Alas, I’ve done it again! My letter has inspired you to take a decision — a leave of absence from the seminary. But after reading your new letter I very much doubt that that is a wise thing for you to do now. If you give up the seminary (and a leave of absence amounts to that), it should be only because it has become a spiritual dead end and because you have at least a promising alternative to it. But what’s your alternative — Getting a job (if you can) and waiting for God to do something. Not much chance! You have to show an effort, some kind of “podvig,” first. However discouraging you may find the Jordanville atmosphere, it is still a Church-saturated atmosphere and it gives you valuable Church learning. Whereas a job in the world, with no definite spiritual orientation or goal, is all too likely to be precisely a spiritual dead end for you.

Forgive me again for my frankness, but I sense that you are in great danger. You are floating in a cloud of indefiniteness, no definite goal in mind, waiting for something up happen; and meanwhile feeling somewhat sorry for yourself and piling up some negative experiences and (probably) attitudes. For example: how have you taken your trip fiasco? Are you still thinking: that Nikita did this to me! Or are you thinking as you should: even though by worldly standards I “deserved” this trip, still, God, for my sins and my completely foul, complacent, and self-centered attitude toward serving Him, deprived me of seeing the holy places. Which of these is closest to your attitude? — that should be a key to your spiritual state.

Your letters give this impression: you’re a great big spiritual baby who needs, first of all, a good spanking, and second of all some good hard work; and then you might be in a position to start thinking of your spiritual needs. If you are going to take any “advice” from me, I would give this advice: stick through this year of the seminary and do your best to catch up; and only then stop to think about what’s next. Pray hard for guidance from God and from the God-pleasers — pray to Vladika John; but pray in the midst of some kind of labor to please God — the seminary is a good such labor — and not in a cloud of indefiniteness unaccompanied by hard labors, without a definite goal. IF YOU HAVE NO OTHER DEFINITE GOAL, THEN AT LEAST KEEP THE GOAL OF FINISHING THE SEMINARY, ONE YEAR AT A TIME, and God will surely send you guidance beyond that.

This is primary; other questions, such as frequent communion, will have their meaning and place only after you have sweated through more basic labors and attained a more definite idea of your goal and aims.

Nonetheless, to answer briefly your questions: About frequent communion, we discussed this recently with Fr. Neketas Palassis, and we found ourselves quite in mutual agreement on the question. Our present state “without sacraments” (but actually we do partake of the Mysteries about once a month or sometimes two) is temporary and has its place in our whole “plan,” the first and absolutely essential step of which was to get free of the world and its ties, and not to do anything that will drag us back to it; and the context in which the priesthood has been offered to us so far has only promised to drag us back to the world we had escaped, and so we remain in our present state and await a more favorable sign. But that’s a complicated story which can’t be gone into by letter.

As for the restoration of Russia — we can only wait to see what happens, when it will be and what form it will take, and act accordingly. We feel God’s guidance strongly up to this point, and pray he will not deprive us of it in future. May His holy will be done in us all!

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

P.s. We don’t recall ever writing up the Munich podvizhnik!

Dear brother in Christ, Alexey,

Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ. After I resolved finally to put off no longer writing to you, but to do it unfailing today — I realized that the feast celebrated today is that .of the Icon for which you have such devotion. And so I congratulate you on the feast, which according to the Russians is the “Third Saviour” — i.e., the third feast of the Saviour in the summer, the others being the feast of the Cross on Aug. 1, and the Transfiguration.

Please forgive my long silence, but in addition to our printing labors (which include a Russian Orthodox Word devoted to the Life of Archbishop John, which we finished the day before the 5th anniversary of his repose), we have had quite a bit of company — comparatively speaking. Seven people in a week is quite a crowd by our wilderness standards!

We read the article you sent with great interest; in fact, I read it several times, the last time just now. I find nothing wrong with it, and could think of only one possible change in the English, which I noted. The point is a good one, aptly illustrated by Holy Scriptures and ancient and recent Fathers, and it is written with feeling, not as an idle academic exercise. It is not at all “vain and presumptuous” for you to write such an article, for if nothing else it helps you to clarify and develop your own ideas and feelings and check them against the “sources” — both Scripture and those who have lived the Faith which we profess and try to live ourselves. I can even think of a place where it might suitably be published: in a newspaper called Orthodox America, which, besides giving Orthodox news, enlightenment, and the proper Orthodox viewpoint on contemporary issues, has a section where Orthodox converts and all the dispersed children of “Orthodox America” in general share some of their ideas, insights, hopes, etc. Unfortunately, such a newspaper doesn’t exist! Maybe it will one day. Nonetheless, even without a newspaper, it doesn’t hurt for converts to share ideas with each other. Dr. Johnstone, for example, would probably be interested in seeing it.

Some years ago I wrote brief articles somewhat in the same vein, at the insistence of Archbishop John, who wanted at least a page or two of English material in the San Francisco diocesan bulletin (now defunct). I don’t know who if anyone read them, and looking back on them now I find them, despite the “feeling” I put into them, somewhat “abstract,” the product of thinking that hadn’t had too much experience as yet either of Orthodox literature or Orthodox life. Still, for me, they served an important function in my understanding and expression of various Orthodox questions, and even in my Orthodox “development,” and Vladika John “pushed” that.

Therefore, if you feel moved to write similar articles, by all means do so. You mention an important point: the great usefulness of citing the works of the Fathers. To this I would add: the great usefulness also of citing incidents from their lives, when appropriate. Especially in our days, clever “theologians” are able to quote the Fathers and twist them far enough to confuse the faithful. But what the Fathers did is often so clear and unequivocal that it can’t be twisted. As an example” There is much talk now of the approaching “Eighth Ecumenical Council,” how binding it will be on all Orthodox Christians as the ultimate authority in the Church, etc. — and then one remembers that the Orthodox already had such an “Eighth Ecumenical Council” — for the representatives of all the Patriarchates signed the decree of the Council of Florence. Nonetheless, because one bishop, St. Mark of Ephesus, stood up for the truth against the whole council, rejecting its decree (the Unia) because it contradicted Orthodox tradition — the whole Orthodox Church eventually likewise rejected it. Even so today the proponents of reform and unia will have many and subtle arguments, and we will oppose them not only with arguments and citations from the Fathers, but even more with the example of St. Mark of Ephesus.

If I have any suggestion for your future articles, then, it would simply be to keep in mind the lives of the saints. In this very article, in fact, there are at least two points that would be made more forceful by references to the lives of the authors of citations (one saint and one modern-day confessor). On p. 3, you quote St. John of Kronstadt on “love” — but he is not merely a great Orthodox saint of this century, he is a very incarnation of the love he talks about, and there is scarcely to be found a parallel in the lives of other saints to his absolute self-crucifying love and service to others, blessed by God in the manifestation of an abundance of miracles that can only be compared to those of St. Nicholas.

Again, or p. 2 where to quote I. M. Andreyev on Christianity as an “all-embracing new principle of life,” this becomes yet more forceful when you know that this statement comes out of his experience of the horror of Soviet reality, and was born in prisons and catacombs and the awareness that was forced upon him there, that now one can’t be a half-hearted Christian, but only entirely, or not at all; Christianity is either everything for one, or it simply will not stand the test of Soviet reality.

In this same line of thinking, by the way, you will probably find the enclosed little book of interest, a contemporary witness of Orthodoxy in the face of the same unbending Soviet reality. You can keep the book, as we were sent several.

Now that I’ve begun in this vein, I can think of other examples. On grace, for example, the Egyptian Father St. Paisius the Great failed to recognize his own disciple after he returned from a brief trip to Alexandria. It turned out that the disciple had met a heretic and had agreed with him that “perhaps” some Orthodox dogma was not true after all — and grace left him, and this was literally seen by his elder — so real is grace, and so carefully must it be kept.

I’ve said enough for a while. Give our regards to Susan and Ian. Tell Ian we have two baby deer with spots. Perhaps we will see you again before winter? Rumor has it the winter will be early and harsh, and it’s true that our summer, except for a short period, was abnormally cool, and today is actually cold. We had three spectacular thunderstorms too.

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

Dear Brother in Christ, Laurence,

Thank you for spending the feast day with us. Our services for some reason today took 3 hours, so you were probably to Williams before we finished. With Uspeniye we go on autumn time, and getting up time becomes pre-dawn, as you aptly reminded us.

In the last few hours we’ve reflected a little on your problem and will offer the fruits of it, in the form of a few principles and recommendations, which perhaps, when put together, will help you on the way to a decision.

1. Keep the “spiritual” and the “worldly” distinct: both spheres have their own logic. Your decision to join us, and later on to remain with us, God willing, should be taken according to spiritual logic; but preliminary questions such as trip, job, etc., are still subject to worldly logic. It is a dangerous mistake to start applying spiritual logic too early or in the wrong place, for that can hinder one later from making a safe retreat back to the world. Our wandering and ex-monks are living examples of what not to follow; if one is to live in the world (and one can do so fruitfully, from the Christian point of view), it should be with the independence and advantages of anyone else living in the world, and not with the handicap of the spiritual crippling that comes from not knowing where one belongs, trying to mix monastic and worldly life, having regrets about past decisions, etc.

Monastic rules give precisely a trial period of at least 6 months, during which time one’s worldly rights, while as it were suspended, remain intact. Therefore it is simply not appropriate for you to make a once and for all decision now about staying with us. We welcome you and hope that you will eventually make this decision, since it appears to us that you would be most fruitful here; but that decision belongs at the end of the trial period, during which period all previously incalculable questions should be resolved. Therefore, definitely, if at all possible, you should take a leave of absence, so that if you do decide to return to the world you will have maximum freedom and security in which to bring forth what fruit you can bring forth in the world (the calendar is a good first fruit) without using up your psychic-spiritual energy on vain regrets and job insecurity.

2. One of your important debts to the world is the visit to your mother, which from what you have said and the way you apparently feel, should be made if at all possible this year.

3. The first two principles being, apparently, mutually exclusive, perhaps you should change some other element in the equation to make them both possible. What about visiting your mother, relatives, and Boston on your vacation (3 weeks?) on borrowed money which you would pay back after Christmas (when your $400 debt will be finished?), and then joining us in spring instead of November? Of course, I don’t know what sums of money this would involve or how long it would take you to pay it back, but your trip would obviously have to be as modest as possible.

Beyond this we don’t know what to say or recommend, as we don’t see any other alternatives. Pray about it to Vladika John.

We forget to mention: Father Theodoritos (Mt. Athos monk, formerly John Mavros, who wrote articles and helped us set type in 1965) is now visiting Fr. Panteleimon, and will be coming to S.F. this week or next to spend several weeks with his brother. He would like to visit us,.and Fr. Panteleimon is giving him your phone number. Please do whatever you can to get him here: giving instructions (in case his brother might bring him), notifying us where and when to pick him up (we’ll be going to the PO at least every other day) in case he comes by bus or plane, or maybe even bringing him yourself (we’ll gladly pay for your trip). He’s written two books in Greek, of which we are getting a partial Russian summary made: one on the life of St. Nectarios, another consisting of anti-ecumenist dialogues. In any case you would do good to meet him — his brother, Anthony Mavros, is [in] the phone book; call him if he doesn’t call you in a week or two.

Pray for us. And watch out; besides the human factor, the devil is likely to try and disturb you or mix you up in future weeks. Don’t trust your feelings too much, and make sense at least by worldly logic. [Letter ends.]

Dear Brothers in Christ [Fr. Panteleimon et al.],
Rejoice in the Lord!

Thank you for the card and manuscripts (Arkady and Transfiguration). We note that Jordanville celebrates St. Herman on July 27 — but somehow this feast hasn’t caught on with us. What does the monastery do with St. Panteleimon?

The Arkady ms raises several questions, about which I will be frank. Of course, we appreciate it, but right now it will go into our file and we have no idea when we can make use of it. Wasn’t it you who once called for a task force for the problems facing Orthodoxy? Well, in the general scheme that won’t work, but in specific areas such as the New Martyrs it’s probably just what’s needed. The New Martyrs can be presented, not just at random, but according to a definite scheme. The Polsky volumes are just a first collection of materials, a starring point, for a presentation of the New Martyrs. Few of them can or should be presented just the way they are — which is why we recently gladly promised Vladika Vitaly that we won’t go into competition with him by printing vol. 1. And these volumes have the great weakness of understating the sources — they’re stuck at random in the back, and half of them are pseudonyms or initials. On the contrary, one of the first things one should know is who is telling the story — and most of the material is simply quotes, improperly or not at all identified as such. We are in contact with a number of the sources of this material, and they supply some supplementary material; we also have some manuscript material, which should be added. As a result, of our New Martyrs of the past year, only Bp. Maxim is a more or less straight translation from the text. The rest of them are compiled from various sources, and the witnesses identified.

Therefore: a systematic approach, all the way down to an index of all martyrs mentioned in Polsky and elsewhere, which we are doing. (Part I of the System, as you can see, is: witnesses of the Catacomb Church). But this requires hands and minds. So far 90% of our hand and mind labor is devoted to the sheer physical problem of printing (and chopping wood, etc.), and our translation and intellectual work is snatched fitfully between hours at the printing machines. (That’s not a complaint — it’s probably our salvation!) Therefore our presentation of the New Martyrs comes out painfully slow; but the plan is there, and there is quite a bit of material. In this plan, by the way, our next need is for a translation of the whole of Archbishop Seraphim of Uglich (vol. 2, pp. 12-18), which was written by Alexei Rostov (formerly “S. Nesterov”), who has also given us some additional information; and hopefully we will also be able to get something on Archbp. S’s years in America.

Your epistles are too cryptic. Send us a word — not necessarily about your “plans,” but about your souls. Where are your hearts? Give us a word or two.

With love in Christ our Saviour,
Seraphim, monk

p.s. Thanks also for the Theophil translation of some months back, which we’ve read several times to guests at trapeza. Is the monastery coming out with the book soon?

This heresy was well captured and presented in the writings of Blessed Seraphim Rose and Herman Podmoshenski of Platina Monastery, the spiritual offspring of the Elders from Optina monastery. As some may know, but perhaps most have not learned yet, parts of the written work of these two saintly fathers were censored, books published were edited in later editions, paragraphs removed, not to mention the fierce battle to discredit them both, the suspicious death at only 47 years of Father Seraphim after a very short and sudden affliction, the slanderous accusations against Father Herman that were not proven in court etc. After all it is only to be expected that they had to suffer for the truth just like their predecessors, and i would like to mention here the numerous false accusations their spiritual Father Saint John Maximovic had to endure as well. After all, false accusations is what Christ had to endure Himself, and since the servant is never greater than the Master, all those in the truth must expect them.

One of the most important works of these two Fathers, and one of the least known for the obvious reasons was the “Orthodox Survival Course” which was only published in recent years on the above mentioned website.

For a number of years, in the 70s, during summer, many pilgrims would come from around the world to hear and see what the news of started to spread quickly. This course that was being held at the Platina Monastery was drawing in many pilgrims, and thousands converted to Orthodoxy just by understanding the truth being presented to them. Many were also ordained priests.

Based on this hidden treasure and some of the letters of these fathers that had also not been known to the world for the same reasons, the Orthodox mission Orthodox Australia tried to put together this spiritual heritage with recent events and developments in the social and political realms in the world in an attempt to bring to light a world view that would make sense in an Orthodox context .

I will try to outline some of the main ideas.

The heresy of “Social Gospel” is mainly based on the premise that the mission of the Church is not mainly to preach to the world the kingdom of God that is to come, but to become an active participant in the effort to make the world a “better place”, a place where all poverty, lawlessness, injustice, disease, suffering, etc are eradicated and the humanity can, finally, get to live in a world rid of all these afflictions, in other words the sort of “paradise on Earth”, achieving the very same goals of the utopic humanist ideologies and ideals.

It is well known in the Orthodox doctrine that injustice, lawlessness, poverty, deprivation, disease etc are consequences of the fall from Paradise and sin. God allows each of us, more or less, according to His own right judgement, to have a cross to bear in life, and this Cross is the cup of salvation, the cup of afflictions each one of us must drink from in order to be saved. So these afflictions are an essential part of God’s plan of individual salvation of every man and woman, and I say individual salvation because it’s very important, for we can now start to observe efforts trying to push us in the direction of a new form of salvation: “collective salvation”.

By trying to make the world a better place through the means of social efforts, and setting the goals of eradicating all these afflictions in society and in everyone’s life in this way, nothing more than removing the very mechanism of salvation left to us by Christ is attempted, because in the end to reach the perfect society here on Earth where lawlessness, corruption, injustice, poverty, illness, suffering, are all done away with means removing the Cross from the world! Such an attempt would only lead to more suffering for mankind as a result of such apostasy.

These goals are not vain words but ideals stated in one of the documents adopted recently by the Council of Crete, and we are especially referring to point F in the Mission Declaration: “The mission of the Orthodox Church as a witness of love in service”. It is impossible not to observe the choice of the words used in drafting of this document to be very similar to what one would expect to hear from the modern communists, yet they appear in an official document of the Church. The very same old communist ideals have now become part of the Church doctrine, a doctrine that did not exist in the Church until today, a new doctrine that will have to be preached going forward ! What is interesting to note is that upon close examination, the very same goals are found on the United Nations agenda, known as the Agenda 2030 (or Agenda 21 as known previously). If the old communists spoke of “exploitation of man by man” as a desideratum for bringing about of a new form of social order, now having changed the words a little and having mixed in some theological terms, we are being presented with an improved version of the same manifesto.

In one of the letters (No. 78 on site) Fr. Seraphim wrote this:
http://orthodoxaustralia.org/2016/05/03/letters-of-fr-seraphim-rose-078-25-march-7-april/

“But with the Soviets, the aim is much deeper: ultimately, to destroy the Church entirely, using the Church’s hierarchs Themselves (when possible) as the agents of this scheme; and, on the way to this end, getting the Church to defend Communism abroad and to Preach the “Communist Christianity” That prepares the way ideologically for the coming triumph of world communism, not only as a universal political regime, but as year ideological and pseudo-religious Tyranny as well. In order to appreciate this one has to realize what Communism is: not merely the power-mad political regime, but year-religious ideological system whose aim is to overthrow and supplant all other systems, most of all Christianity. ”

It’s hard to not notice that in fact the new document (Mission Church in The Contemporary World) is just the materialization of this prophecy. The Orthodox Church teaches that Christ’s redemption of every soul happens in a mystical and individual way, acting on every soul through participation in the sacraments, individually. But the new doctrine teaches that the work of salvation must now contain, besides the Church sacraments (which are individual), also a “social element”, which if not adhered to leads to exclusion from the Church for not following the new doctrine. Thus we are witnessing the emergence of a new concept, that of “social salvation”, or “collective salvation”, and that apart from the Church and all that Her ascetical and patristic tradition prescribes. It is worthy of note that, according to Protopresbyter Theodore Zisis, the idea for the “Missions” document and its contents were actually forced into the agenda for the Pan-Orthodox Council via Russian bishops who were acting at the behest of the Soviet government.

For better understanding of how the heresy of “social gospel” is to be identified, I would like to use an example:

http://www.barenakedislam.com/2016/08/11/uk-romanians-beat-the-crap-out-of-muslims-after-they-tried-to-stop-them-from-drinking/

This is a classic example of “social gospel” in action! Trying to be the justice enforcer! Not that drinking was good, but repentance is individual, driven by conscience, and nobody should try to enforce it like that!

Now this becomes a very important aspect because it shows the roots of the heresy of “social gospel”. This heresy is particularly dangerous because it tries to create a “super conscience”, a “social conscience”, or a “common conscience” that is above the individual conscience. This is very communist in nature, and can be used to justify the system of “universal spying” in the name of the “common good”. Some religions have always had this baked in from the beginning, but the danger is now entering our Holy Church.

The Orthodox Survival Course makes the case that because the atheist communist experiment failed to produce the desired outcome and to uproot the spirituality from man’s soul, there will be another attempt to try a spiritualized form of communism, which would involve corrupting the Church of Christ from within and making her subservient to the beast. According to the holy Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios, this beast “does not entail atheism alone but every secular state.

For this satanic effort to succeed, a spirit must be brought to the forefront, a catalyst that would embolden people to partake into it. It’s the same charismatic spirit father Seraphim Rose perfectly described in his writings, which is actually the same spirit that stormed Western Christianity from the time of the schism from Orthodoxy, and which is most obviously manifesting in the Protestant Churches today. The first form of this charismatic spirit can be observed in Francis of Assisi, who can also be credited with bringing forth the first signs of the “Social Gospel” heresy in the Christian world. In catholic writings we can find many references to the real reasons for which he began preaching one of the first forms of this heresy known as “The Joy of Poverty”. Characteristic to this philosophy is the social promotion of the idea of poverty as a way of salvation, made not in the spirit of the Holy Fathers (that of leaving this corrupt world for the purpose of uniting with God away from society), but in order show “that no man anywhere there must be poorer than he” (Francis of Assisi), if we were to quote directly from the source. The goal was obviously to create a social effect and set an example for the world, and not to give up the world in search of God:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-14/st-francis-of-assisi-on-joy-of-poverty-and-value-of-dung.html

So we can already see how this charismatic spirit goaded him to do all sorts of “acts of humility” not for God’s glory, but for his own glory seeking rather the praise of society. This charismatic spirit is omnipresent in the West today and has already made its way deep in some Orthodox countries. Will take Romania for example. Here we can already hear of people that crawl around Churches on their knees and elbows in front of everyone else to see, and we hear how such practices are spreading more and more. Again Francis of Assisi can be considered the founder of this kind of practice by his famous “proof of humility”, where he would put his disciple to tie him by the neck with a rope and crawl him around in markets whipping him to show the world how sinful he was. So we see that the work of salvation starts to shift from the individual and mystical realm into the social (collective) realm !

Since the times of Francis of Assisi the Western Christianity travelled much farther down this perilous road, and aided by science, this form of perverted Christianity has grown to become the tool of the Antichrist who is preparing to make his way on the world scene. The Antichrist will come as “the father of all charismatics” for he will force all to do the “good deeds” in public view. For this reason the heresy of “Social Gospel” is the final stage in preparation for the enthronement of Antichrist, and was the end goal of the heresy of ecumenism because the aim was to rally everyone around this bigger cause.

The terms most often heard today that define this new heresy are “social justice”, “financial or economic justice” (the elimination of exploitation of the poor by the rich), “climate justice”, “religious justice” etc. etc.

When we look around today, we can see how each of these elements have created a social movement on its own. I think it is already becoming apparent that virtually all of the world’s problems today are artificially created by a small group of man, the “elite”, set to destroy humanity and bring about a “new world order”. They are the ones that created and financed all riots and social uprisings (from the French revolution to ISIS), they created this utterly corrupt financial system that will soon collapse (and the social justice movement did not fail to appear: Occupy Wall Street), they also manipulate the climate in order to push us to accept all the new communist values as defined by Agenda 21, they are the ones who politically push for the legalization of homosexuality and abortion etc. Of course the aim is to force the unity of faith and the formation of a common front in the fight against all these iniquities, lawlessness and corruption, because there is no religion that would accept such aberrations.

You might remember the passage from the scripture (Revelation) which speaks about the antichrist who will perform great signs, including that of making fire come down from Heavens to Earth, in his attempt to make humanity bow down before the raging beast of the apocalypse (communism). It was only two or three months ago when the news came out about some freak storms in France and Germany that produced lightning out of cloudless skies, just like fire coming down from Heavens. All this is done with the power of Satan and his tool of deception, science, which is used today to change the weather, can create droughts and even bring destructive rain. All this is done to frighten us and make us bow down and worship the beast.

As for what “religious justice” is concerned, everyone can see that today we are all pushed towards political correctness and we are not to discriminate against any other faith, including Islam.

So you see, our dear reader, how on absolutely all fronts the situation in the world today is becoming increasingly difficult. And war will follow, but first comes the financial meltdown, so the prophecies say …

In order to deceive the world, they are trying to create a false Antichrist, so that the one coming after him will be a “liberator” from under the tyranny of this false one, thus so that the world will receive him as the messiah! This real antichrist will bring the universal justice and welfare, will publicly punish all the elites and workers of iniquity and shall cast out the corrupt. All done in public. Dostoyevsky called him “The Grand Inquisitor”. We see how this new heresy is meant to prepare the throne for this antichrist.

The false Antichrist will be the leader of what is today presented in the press as “the new world order”, the coming regime of oppression and persecution of all, irrespective of religion, done for the same purpose of forcing them to unite in the same cause, against the “common enemy”. This political system will have a dictator in power. In this dictator the world will see the Antichrist, but it will not be. He may come either as the leader of an Islamic empire that arises amid the fall of the West, or he may be another Hitler who comes from the West.

The real Antichrist will come about as a result of the general uprising, the last revolution, the one for “social justice” because the situation will get increasingly worse. The West will collapse and financial and social troubles will become unbearable. Through these terrible trials, Satan hopes to rally everyone into accepting a new just system, free of corruption, lawlessness, poverty, disease and affliction, paradise on earth!

It should be mentioned that not too long ago, in Septemver 2015, for the first time in history, the Pope (Francis) appeared before the US Congress and before the UN assembly, heralding exactly the same agenda of universal justice.

Here’s how dear brothers and sisters in Christ the ideals of communism have came to be preached to the whole world …

In the Orthodox Survival Course it is clearly shown how the French Revolution was the beginning of the uprisings and social movements aimed at overturning all existing social orders, eliminate all Christian monarchs, and instilling a new social and political order, and how it will all end with the last revolution that will enthrone the Antichrist.

“Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite” it is being shouted once again, this time from inside the Church of Christ!
…

Lord have mercy.

DUMITRU BORDEIANU V15/28 August 1921 – 3/16 August 2002

 The following details presented are excerpts taken from the book “Confession from the Bog of Despair”, written by Dumitru Bordeianu, a Romanian Martyr. We will also try to remember some details from his direct confessions, as Elder Dumitru explained on a Sunday, after the Church service and in front of many of us, some of the horrible tortures that he suffered in the communist extermination camps. It was approximately fifteen years ago when Dumitru Bordeianu clarified succinctly to us such demonic aspects:

“We were tortured day and night; many times we have been forced to sit or stand in impossible positions: pressed against the cold wall with the arms in the air, or to sit cross-legged with heavy objects on the back and head; beaten on the feet and buttocks with heavy rods until the torturer got tired, or stretched and pushed while we had to utter intense blasphemies against the Lord and His Saints; or to witness extreme pain inflicted upon friends and then forced to continue the torture… “

Elder Dumitru also wrote: “The methods used in exposures (a term used to identify the psychological ways of forcing the faithful to abandon own spiritual upbringing, Orthodoxy, as if you were a criminal who had to be re-educated), in regards to physical torture, was taken from the “Pedagogical Poem” belonging to the Bolshevik teacher Macarenko, method that was previously used in USSR mainly on common law prisoners. Although the diabolical scheme of torturing the soul was developed and well tuned by the demonic heads of the Muscovite and international occult. The essence of these methods was beating, a continuous torture without a stop and of the greatest intensity. The tortured one had no knowledge when the torment will end.”

“The 30 ones hit us so cruelly (it is about the prisoners who became ‘re-educated’, so they could be used to inflict even more pain on the still standing Orthodox) with their boots, with the bars, with their fists, that in the morning the cell was full of blood puddles…  I do not remember now as I did not remember on that day for how long was that beating (….) I could not reason, as I was living a nightmare. Everything was unreal, and my physical power left me. On that moment, it crossed my mind that would be better to die. But death did not arrive. I received a wet napkin around my waist. Only the first blows I did not feel. Later, I woke up when I was thrown on the cement floor. We all were completely disfigured; the wet and cold pavement was good…”

“Our martyrs did not have graves, and they have not been buried in cemeteries, so that next generations could say a prayer for their souls… The Satan’s servants wanted to wipe any trace forever, as those tormentors could not kill our souls. We, the young legionnaires (the members of the Legion of Archangel Michael), did not give up our dream and we will guard from above to teach generations to come. And these generations will believe us, because they were not tempted by the spirit of the unclean one… “

“The honest and clean souls of the young, the young who did not know the dirt of sin, political passion, love for power, and hate, will remember us. Not the passionate, not the traitors, not the ones activated by animalistic desire, not the ones who sold their souls to the devil or to any occult organisation are having the right to speak on our behalf as a people…”

“Those of us who were murdered redeemed our weakness through own sacrifice. This Legion of the Archangel Michael will live through her martyrs, her heroes and her fighters. We wished our death every moment, without being allowed to die. The purpose of the torment, in its essence, was not to kill, because such a crime would be a genocide, but to make us criminals as well, or informers. That is the final purpose of the communist re-education: to remove God from the heart of man, leading to his fall in the abyss. “

Once that the Christian ecumenism is ‘resolved’ (see the present ‘pan-orthodox synod’ from Crete), another synthesis towards a ‘higher’ inter-religious joining is to happen, which would be the ‘updated’ Judaism, according to Isaac M Wise in his “Triumphant Judaism”, from AJS Review, 1982.

The primordial target, in Romania at least, is the Orthodox Monasticism. Aiming at the scientific community and the general public without knowledge, a specific terminology is used for discrediting our millennia old tradition. ‘Pathological Reclusion’ is the name of this shrewd assessment! In other words, moving away from this ill social society and resisting to re-education is treated as a pathological development. In the same time the effort to ‘make’ Christ a simple man or maybe an extraordinary preacher and a public moralist will be doubled by these fake theologians! The greatest demonstration will be the ‘discovery of Christ’s body’, shown to the whole humanity as an un-doubtful finding! It will also be an attempt to ‘close’ the Mediterranean region as the main evangelizing area of the first century After Christ. Moreover, the guilt for our Lord’s Crucifixion will be passed to the Romans, as the Jews would be ‘absolved’ of deicide…

There are ongoing efforts targeting Christian societies, especially the Orthodox ones, to allow ‘discriminated’ groups like the LGBT to be freed of that prohibition, so this particular ideology will be accepted into the ‘new’ Christianity. The old economic determinism would be replaced with a cultural one, where the perverse sexual minorities will make the Christian flock more ‘tolerant’!

The second-last stage in a ‘hybridization’ of the human being is reached, being actually the alchemic dream of cabala. This nightmare is about the human being without anything determined yet, a-sexual, a synthesis of man and woman, which is the androgenic archetype as theorized by all Far-Eastern religions.  So the living creature is freed of sexual ‘constraint’, being able to freely choose what is convenient from the LGBT acronym. The new man becomes a mockery, as emerged from these pseudo-scientific centers. And they will continue, by giving him a ‘new’ body and a ‘new’ mind to make him immortal, to annul all steps towards Salvation, forever…

The ‘swan song’ will be Transhumanism, a demonic agglutination of man with the machine, the final attack over the human being. This implementation on a large scale is correlated to the changes of the society at large. Considering the information from various specialized literature, this metastasis could be reached in about 25 to 30 years, until all systems must become operational: man will be ready to accept in his life these new access codes, being desirable as they are labeled scientific.

At that moment in time, the mastery summit in the war against man will be reached. These elites are using all kind of resources, such as Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”: ‘to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence: supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting’. In American universities, during modern times, this type of war has a certain code name: ‘neocortical warfare’. It aims to attack and subtly take over the centers of command and control of the enemy, in a socio-political bluff, so to speak. But cognitively, it means the paralysis of superior centers from neocortex, seeking to destroy all functions of analysis, synthesis, plan and control, simultaneously with augmenting responsible centers for adaptation, stimuli/answers, and management of vital functions of feeding and survival.

(For further details in this particular realm of ‘warfare’: http://www.iwar.org.uk/iwar/resources/airchronicles/szfran.htm and http://www.au.af.mil/info-ops/perception.htm)

The process will be facilitated by implants, which are to practically facilitate a takeover of man’s superior functions and direct them to serve the stability and coherence of the new system, practically towards a comunitarian intelligence. Guided from the center and founded on infallible principles of efficiency, effectiveness and control, humanity will become a ‘unique office and factory’, as named by Lenin, where everyone will undertake the same employment with the same wage according to the egalitarian principle; the world will turn into a real prison, in a satanic overturn of the Christian order.

In this ‘sad paradise’, the human being looses all coordinates of God’s Kingdom and acquires reflex behavior pertaining to the Antichrist’s kingdom, becoming permanent once that the ‘new baptism’ is officialized.

(The following paragraphs deal with specific local / international issues in regards to the Orthodox country of Romania. Father Teodot from this Holy land, who is the commentator of the above article sent by one of his spiritual sons, gives a few details about the present situation in Romania herself.)

I tried to understand why there is such demonic craving in these people to consider themselves the ‘chosen people’. All that I understand is that they hate Christ from ‘all their soul and their entire mind’, because their kingdom was stolen from them, some 2000 years ago. I know that they have a passion for history and humanistic / social sciences generally. From what I remember of my university years, all professors and academic teachers have been ‘specialized’ in USA or France. All are anti-traditionalists and reformers (…)

It is good to mention the fact that beyond means of ‘visible’ persuasion, from schools and universities, there are also used witchcraft methods such as ‘divining’, which is also named ‘parasympathetic magic’, on a large scale. As an ex-practitioner, I can put forward the number of 5,000 people who ‘work’ constantly for the support of diverse political people to gain or to stay in power. One of the ‘beneficiary’ dear to these inner-circles is the Romanian ex-president (Traian Basescu), whose Head of the Senate Defense Committee congratulated the divining ‘team’ for the effort…

Generally, the students that they make are identical copies of such teachers, and they also become idolatrous of the Western culture and methods. These students are given master degrees, various grants and PhDs, and later are co-opted in different ONGs and foundations, which are real ideological armies of auto-occupation, heavily financed from European Union resources. All these people are building this modern utopia, and they are looking at technology as the latest panacea, also believing that it will also fix the social problems.

Therefore, these indoctrinated individuals are pushed forward as facilitators and ferments of this new and techno-globalist society. The success of this introduction at a universal scale is given by own makeup: advancing gradually with supposed beneficial use in professional and relational plans. The perfect religious correspondent of these technologies is the far-eastern religions, in their depersonalized structure, which is ‘unifying in a great whole’, of a manner similar with technology.

The ‘popularity’ of these changes that we are going through could be identified by the followings: facility, sexual permissiveness, polymorphic existence, compatibility with social control because individuals are ‘happy’ in their passivity, therefore reality turns into illusion, because everything is ‘pre-destined’…  Also, everything is obtained only through ‘own’ effort by technology, without God’s help, so you can ‘illuminate’ yourself!

The motivation for the gradual introduction of different instruments and electronic gadgets into the human body will be medical – to real time control of the organism’s parameters to avoid illnesses, and also to invoke the necessity to take a burden from the medical system in regards to money spent on pills and hospitalization…

Then, the economic motivation will come: due to competitiveness pressure, all employees will have to ‘perform’ at rates close to the analytical power of machines, for not to be sacked. The principle of survival of the most ‘adapted’ one will be self-imposed, where the adapted ones will avoid a collapse only through the use of the technique of pleasure, consumerism and comfort, obtaining the illusion that their work and lives are ‘important’ for the community…

As a prize, they will be told that they can reach venerable ages and even ‘immortality’ in a new body, obtained through cloning, or by symbiosis through artificial organs grafted on the actual body when it started to crumble. Similar with promises offered by shamanism and the renaissance’s magicians, these people will obtain infallible memory which is to be transferred to any other body, and they will be processing information as cyborgs.  And people wishing to check on these offers will be so numerous.

Due to programming predictive techniques used in film studios, such phantasmagorias of immortality are heavily implanted into the subconscious of the young citizens, so they are ready to embrace everything that they like as a ‘personal development’. In reality, they are the product of this long-time coaching, which makes them believe anything, under this cover of progress and happiness. The re-education process is finalized!

In this socio-political rapport, the elites prefer the Chinese system, which they glorify, because it is a top dictatorship, an oligarchic corporatist economy at its core, and a submissive society, with credit system compatible, at its base. Actually, they think to implement it into Europe and not just there… Countries which do not understand this persuasion will be taken to submission through war, even through a global war.

Dan Petre, the International Relations professor from Political Sciences Faculty within Bucharest University, used the following phrase in regards to the American Diplomacy power: ‘United States has two major diplomatic channels related to the rest of the world, and these channels are US Air Force and US Navy’. This very distinguished individual also wanted to underline that Romanian Orthodoxy is on the ‘right track’, even that some minuses could be observed, such as monastic life and the Divine Dogma present in the Orthodox Church… Of course, things could be ‘reformed’! As the major duty that the Church has is a ‘non-combat’ one, isn’t it? Obviously, political leaders are all just buttons to be pushed, according to their master’s evil schemes.

The only way to move out of this demonic paraphernalia is the Church Herself, but to select this choice everyone of us must abandon science and this fallen logic, and to humble oneself. This is a very improbable thing to happen. But let us wait and see, because God’s mercy is great and everything else is in His Providence. It depends on how a human being would use own great trophy, Freedom, as we are masters on our decisions and become slaves of the consequences.

As long as the Church services are clean and clear, let us continue to go to these services. In regards to the appointed servicemen, the Priests, do not get disconcerted if they usually say nothing about present day troubles. But if they affirm heretical teachings, we MUST reply strongly, to avoid sinning! Trying to convince them, to have the consciousness and courage to confess Christ, will fail on many instances. Due to cowardice and treason to the side of these bishops and priests, there is no ‘formal’ Orthodox force against satanic energies which are well organized, even that their number is so small, in reality.

It is ridiculous to know that in Orthodox countries like Romania the number of faithful is much, much greater than the number of the demonized ones, the ones who push the buttons. We know that Christ the Lord will help us, if we want to be helped by Him. May God strengthen us in the fight with the dark angels. The Mother of God and especially the Holy Martyrs, these Saints who suffered in extermination camps, under the communist yoke, will help us, if we will remain faithful to Him!

Part 1:

http://orthodoxaustralia.org/2016/06/05/the-plan-of-sealing-the-people-with-the-mark-of-the-beast-part-1