EKKAHCIA T@N FNHCION OPEO.ACLON. XPICTIAN@N THC EAAA AOC ‘Mletropolia ortodossa bi Aquiless ‘Areidiocest bi Alene VIA SAN GREGORIO 5 20124 MILANO Oct 27/14 2010 A Reassertion of the Stand against Ecumenism in the Modern Era It has become apparent that the many theological controversies of the Twentieth Century among the various Christian denominations have caused confusion within the Orthodox Church among many of the Orthodox Clergy and faithful. For this reason, it is most important for us once again to state our long-time opposition to the collection oftheological ideas that have been introduced by the concept that has come to be grouped together under the label of Ecumenism. While much scholarship and research into history has been done in the last century, it has become all too easy to assert new ideas that are not a part of the theological beliefs of the Holy Orthodox Church as in fact representative of earlier Orthodox understandings of belief. These new erroneous interpretations of theology have been spread by many sources coming from outside the Orthodox Church, including the forces of certain German Protestant theologians as well as the false scholarship of the Jesuit schools that are committed to reconciling the Orthodox Churches with the political assertions and agendas of the Papal hierarchy. Thus today we must go beyond the standard conciliar statements condemning Arianism, Nestorianism, and Monophysiticism to include even the veiled hidden assertions of Adoptionism and Monothelitism that still remain popularly held by many today even though they were fully denounced at the Ecumenical Councils. For this reason, it has become all the more urgent to assert that the theological position of the Orthodox Patriarchates including the Patriarchate of Constantinople as it was kept preserved up to and including the first two decades of the Twentieth Century must be reaffirmed as the standard of the understanding of Orthodoxy even up to the present time. Anything that has been developed as additional theories or understandings since that time that in any way run counter to this must be considered initially as suspect, and can only be properly evaluated by a preponderance of evidence derived from all sources of Orthodox theological discussion and thereupon blessed by the universal conscience of the Orthodox hierarchy. Thus when we identify ourselves as Traditional Orthodox it is with such a definition in mind, and where other forms of theological speculation have influenced any of us in the past few decades, it has become essential for us now to distance ourselves from such theological speculation. Having said this, there is at no time a legitimate reason for us to disassociate ourselves from the very principles of Christian charity that are at the very root of the Gospel of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and that have been the underlying principles of Christian reconciliation all through the eras of the recognized Seven Ecumenical Councils that in their decrees and canons remain for us the source of the specific statements of our Orthodox belief and praxis. Therefore, let us always treat with charity and the utmost courtesy even those that we disagree with, whether they be Orthodox Christians or not, even as we explain in detail our reasons for separating ourselves from their theological positions. For only for this reason can we truly manifest a love for their souls, and thus plead with our Divine Lord and Saviour to help us to bring about their eternal salvation together with that of our own and that of the souls of the Orthodox that God has placed under our guidance. In Aquileia, See of Saint Cromatios and Saint Paulinus, Patriarch --Milan, See of Saint Ambrosius in the month of October, 2010, ‘opoltan of Aquileia Archbishop of Milan Spreircoye da AAs lows Mato fr d Mri, ree aoe |