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authorities
throu Archbishop NATHANIEL (Lvov)
On the Question of Renewed Censure of Jurisdictional
Groups
Learning that within church circles, the question of the resumption
of censure upon those who have broken off from the Russian Orthodox
Church Outside of Russia has arisen, one wishes to express the
following thoughts:
The severe accusations against the groups who have left us,
declarations that they have no grace, that their mysteries are
not Mysteries, but the "food of demons," have always
been fruitless, fanning the flames of enmity and often becoming
obstacles for returning to the true path.
The Lord did not give us concrete facts with which to judge:
has one Mystery or another been manifested? One thing we do
know, witness and attest to, is that in our pure, holy and true
Church and in all churches having communion with Her, the Mysteries
are truly manifested with the Grace of God, and in accepting
the Eucharist, we truly partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Regarding those who have left us, we do not know, nor can we
know, whether the Holy Mysteries are manifested with them or
not. Ignoramus et ignoramus.
We can, however, judge the positions taken by the groups who
have left. The Lord gave us the power of reason and a conscience
for this purpose, and we know that the positions they have assumed
are false, incorrect.
Let us hold fast to that which has been revealed to us by the
Lord, and let us not try to fathom the mysteries which are hidden
from us.
We must fear the possibility that we err and fall into horrifying
blasphemy, lest we call the "food of demons" that
which is the true Body and Blood of Christ.
Even when the great bishop, Metropolitan Anthony, in 1927-29,
used this expression, it was not beneficial. Indeed, Metropolitan
Anthony used it very rarely. Most often it was used by Metropolitan
Seraphim of Paris, who later left us.
But in those times, such severe words had a reason, and a foundation.
Two groups have split off from our Church, who had been under
our authority, for whom we bear responsibility. We placed them
under censure, as persons subject to us, and they refused to
obey. We had every right to the harshest judgment of them.
But after some time, the great bishop and Abba recalled the
censure, making peace with Vladyka Evlogii, and blessed the
reaching of a concord with the Parisian and American groups,
which brought about a partial peace into the Russian Church
abroad before the beginning of the war, which allowed hundreds
of thousands, millions, of Russian prisoners and workers during
the war to see the Church not rent asunder, but united.
I spoke in detail about this beneficence in the brochure "The
Church Abroad," which was approved by our Synod last year.
A few dozen parishes in Germany joined our diocese there at
the time. This act contradicted the claim that the ecclesiastical
acts of those who had left us were without Grace, since we did
not rebaptize anyone, did not re-marry anyone, did not reordain
anyone.
Father George Grabbe once wrote to me that the ship of the Church
Abroad cannot be steered on a zig-zag. We cannot allow such
a thing. Let us preserve the path of Metropolitan Anthony and
Metropolitan Anastassy. Despite even the fact that Metropolitan
Evlogii crassly violated the agreement of 1935, and returned
to the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate, Metropolitan
Anthony did not renew his previous censure of him.
Why resume this now, when we have no canonical right to do so?
They are not under our jurisdiction. They have been under another
jurisdiction for almost half a century, that of Constantinople.
We are not authorized by anyone to judge the Patriarch of Constantinople
and the clergy under his omophorion. "Who are ye to judge
another's servant," asks Apostle Paul. We are not give
the title of "Universal Judge," which belongs to the
Patriarch of Alexandria.
We are the part of the Russian Church that is abroad standing
in the truth. And our obligation in regard to the Russian Church
and the Russian people we must hold sacred. We must carefully
preserve the treasure left to us from the centuries of our history:
the unharmed piety of our people, the spiritual and material
property of the Russian Church found outside of the borders
of Russia.
We must follow with a loving, attentive gaze all spiritual processes
which occur within our people. We must in every way halp them
in their quest for truth.
But we do not need to judge outsiders. If they try to tempt
our spiritual children, we must resist this with meekness and
humility. The epistles of our Metropolitan Philaret to the Patriarch
of Constantinople, or the Metropolitan of Thyateira are correct
and highly beneficial in this regard, showing the error of their
declarations. But we cannot take the offensive ourselves.
Even in regard to those who crucified Christ the Savior, the
high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the Apostles preserved their
respect for them and attended their services, in the temple,
and partook in the services of the temple headed by them, until
they were expelled from participation.
We must heed this example. We will not separate ourselves from
communion with the Local Orthodox Churches. If they expel us,
then we, emulating the Apostles, will shake the dust from our
feet before them in witness, and will await the Judgment of
Christ. We should not hasten to excommunicate those church communities
and groups that are not under our aegis.
Let us note that the greatest enemy of Christ is seeking our
expulsion by all the other Local Churches--the Soviet gh the
Moscow Patriarchate. And our old and constant friend has defended
us from this for the sake of the common good of the Church--the
Serbian Church.
This alone should serve as an indication that such expulsion
is harmful to the Church. May we not meet it halfway. |
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