Remains of heaven on earth. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt about Catholicism What John of Kronstadt said about Catholics flowers
The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, by his own living example, his zeal, desire to live in God and with God, tried to point the direction towards the path of salvation along which all humanity should follow. He strove for a constant, inextricable connection with the people around him, and he passed on all the experience of spiritual life to his flock, for whose members he was more than just a priest.
Content:
1. Ministry of the Good Shepherd of Kronstadt
2. John of Kronstadt and Russian reality of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.
3. Teachings of St. right John: the purpose and meaning of life Orthodox Christian
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt is a great spiritual shepherd and teacher of the Church. No other public figure had such an influence on all layers of the Russian people as the holy righteous John had, such fame as the loving shepherd and philanthropist enjoyed, and they knew about him even outside our country.
Ministry of the Good Shepherd of Kronstadt
The Kronstadt shepherd was born in 1829 in the Arkhangelsk province. He graduated from the Arkhangelsk parish school, then studied at the seminary there, after which he was admitted to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, which he graduated in 1855. At the same time, he met the daughter of the recently deceased rector of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Kronstadt, Elizaveta Konstantinovna Nesvitskaya. He proposed to her and they soon got married. Kronstadt became the city in which Father John was destined by God's providence to bear his pastoral cross until his death. At that time, all poor and unsettled residents from St. Petersburg, among whom there were many vicious people, were sent to Kronstadt. Poverty and suffering reigned everywhere. But it was these people who were close to Father John.
After fifteen years of his service, Kronstadt became sober, bright, and clean. The transformed city turned into a place of all-Russian pilgrimage. The poor found homes and jobs here. Atheists and skeptics returned as deep believers. From the city of sin, Kronstadt turned into the city of Saint Righteous John - faithful servant of the Lord. People were drawn to him from all places.
Up to five to six thousand worshipers gathered in St. Andrew's Cathedral. More than twenty thousand pilgrims visited Kronstadt every year. Almost every day, Saint Righteous John celebrated the Divine Liturgy, with the exception of those days when he was sick. Listening to his pastoral instructions, many corrected their lifestyle and brought true repentance. There were so many people wishing to confess to Saint Righteous John that this desire was physically impossible to fulfill. Therefore, he conducted general confessions for all those present. Father John received a huge number of letters. People expressed their love for Father John in various gifts, which very often went to the needs of the poor.More than twenty thousand pilgrims visited Kronstadt annually
In all his trials, he resorted to God and the Most Holy Theotokos. The Lord and the Mother of God never abandoned their servant with Their mercy. When Father John prayed, it seemed to everyone that he saw God before him and boldly spoke to Him. In the last years of his life, the popularity of Father John of Kronstadt reached completely extraordinary proportions. “As soon as he appeared in the capital, - he was almost torn to pieces, transported from house to house... on the street it was difficult for him to get to his carriage; a crowd was running behind his carriage, clutching the wheels with their hands, ready to expose themselves to all sorts of dangers, just to see the dear face of Father, only I would like to hear his word, catch his gaze."
In the last three years of his difficult life, he was often sick. On December 9, 1908, he served his last Liturgy in St. Andrew's Cathedral. From that day on, he became completely weak and stopped leaving the house. Every day a priest came to him and gave him communion. Therefore, Father John found great consolation in union with the Lord. He had already stopped eating, only drank a little holy water. Fifteen years earlier, during the laying of the foundation stone for a new cathedral in Kronstadt, Father John seemed to predict his death, saying: “When the walls of the new church are brought under the roof, I will no longer exist.” And so it happened. At seven hours and forty minutes on the morning of December 20, 1908, the holy righteous John of Kronstadt peacefully departed to the Lord. Hieromartyr John Vostorgov said in his sermon on December 22, 1908: “When this lamp burned out, when this candle of God went out, - general feeling unspeakable grief seized all hearts. It’s as if everyone has lost a loved one, loved one, as if everyone had suffered personal, unrewarded deprivation! There was not a corner and not a single small settlement on Russian soil where the news of the death of the All-Russian shepherd and prayer book was not greeted with tears of grief and prayer. Cry, Russia! Get sick, orphan! To whom will countless sufferers come for prayer and a word of consolation? To whom will they write and send pleading letters and telegrams? Who will they look for? miracle prayer? Cry, Russia!
One of latest photos St. John of Kronstadt
John of Kronstadt and Russian reality of the late 19th - early 20th centuries
Charitable activities of Father John
At the end of the XIX - At the beginning of the 20th century, a strong decline in faith and morals was observed in the spiritual life of Russian society. Disbelief reigned everywhere, especially in the educated part of society. The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, in his sermons since the late 60s of the 20th century, speaks of falling away from God. At this time, the traditional foundations of life in Russian society are being destroyed. The intelligentsia gradually ceases to recognize and understand the primary role of Christ in their lives. The difficulty in the ministry of Father John was that Kronstadt was a port city and, as already mentioned, served as a place of deportation for all vicious and incompetent people. There were many drunks in the city, many people begged for alms, and some committed robberies and robberies at night. Poverty reigned everywhere, people lived from hand to mouth.
John of Kronstadt himself visited the houses of the poor and vagabonds, providing them with both spiritual and material support. He tried not to refuse anyone any help he could. Father John, regardless of the condition of these people, comes to them to fulfill their needs and instruct them on true path salvation. Thanks to such selfless activity of the shepherd, the flame of salvation and hope began to kindle among these seemingly completely lost people. John of Kronstadt talked with them while sitting over dinner or tea, thanks to which all barriers between them were finally destroyed. John of Kronstadt himself grew up in a poor family and knew how difficult life was for the poor. Therefore, with great pastoral love, he cared for all the needy and burdened.John of Kronstadt himself visited the houses of the poor and vagabonds, providing them with both spiritual and material support
Gradually, word spread about the charity and compassion for the poor of this wonderful shepherd. Therefore, gradually many beggars and disadvantaged people began to follow him, looking for support. And John of Kronstadt, as the true shepherd of Christ, never refused, and could not refuse them anything. It happened that when returning home late in the evening, a beggar would approach him, but Father John no longer had anything to give him. Therefore, he took off his shoes and outer clothing and gave them to the beggar, and in this form he went on to his home.
John of Kronstadt gave out alms and called on all the people around him to do the same. He reproached wealthy people who did not give to the poor and disadvantaged, but spent their huge funds on entertainment. He also reproached shopkeepers who do not do charity work, although they have a huge amount of goods that are not for sale, which they could use for their intended purpose.
However, there were a lot of poor people in Kronstadt. Therefore, Father John wanted them to earn their own bread through their own labor and thereby completely eliminate poverty. In 1881, the House of Industriousness was organized in Kronstadt for the homeless and beggars. Over time, all kinds of workshops, a pharmacy, a library appeared here, a school for the poor was organized, and even an Orthodox church operated. In addition to the House of Industriousness, John of Kronstadt supported other charitable organizations to help and support all those in need.
About the Church and Salvation
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt provided great pastoral care and concern to children in whom he saw the future of Russia, because thanks to them, sometimes their parents gradually came to God if they were far from Him. This was a special way of instruction on the true path of salvation, which was so necessary at that time of general unbelief and spiritual crisis in Russian society.
Throughout his entire pastoral practice, John of Kronstadt spent a huge amount of time traveling to all corners of Russia, everywhere performing prayers and services, thanks to which he brought a huge number of people closer to the true path of salvation.
The All-Russian pastor in his sermons explained the Divine economy of salvation for all Orthodox people, the meaning of worship, prayers, and showed the importance of the personal participation of each person in the matter of his salvation in order to achieve eternal life in unity with God - The creator of our world and all humanity. John of Kronstadt said only what he himself lived, what he himself experienced in his personal experience. All his words were imbued with pastoral love, cordiality, sincerity, and spiritual unity with his flock. All his sermons penetrated the soul of every listener and were distinguished by deep faith and devotion to the Lord.
John of Kronstadt considered the Church a real school for the salvation of all mankind. He saw in the Church the unity of all people who are inextricably linked with God and considered the Church the guardian of the truth. On the pages of his diaries and sermons, John of Kronstadt constantly warns against Catholicism and Protestant denominations, as well as against all kinds of sects that have spread so widely and multiplied and have stood in the way of the salvation of all mankind and are hindering it. He constantly says that only in the Orthodox Church is dogmatic teaching undistorted and therefore true. John of Kronstadt constantly says that it is without the Orthodox Church that there is and cannot be salvation.
The holy righteous John of Kronstadt believed that worship and liturgical life play a huge role in the Christian improvement and education of every Christian. With the help of the divine service, the All-Russian shepherd lit the saving flame of faith in everyone who came to the temple. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt made it his duty to celebrate the Divine Liturgy daily, the celebration of which attracted a huge number of believers. The central place in the spiritual life of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt was occupied by public worship and his celebration of the Divine Liturgy, which he treated with special reverence and awe, completely withdrawing into himself. The people around him were greatly impressed by the zeal with which the Kronstadt shepherd served. While reading prayers, he cried, smiled, and exclaimed words from the service. All this zeal of the shepherd, of course, was transmitted to the flock around him, attracting more and more parishioners. Thanks to this, the entire flock began to participate together with their shepherd in this wonderful divine service. As you know, the state of prayer during worship is conveyed through the singing of the choir. Therefore, the holy righteous John of Kronstadt paid great attention and importance to this, thanks to which many people came to the true path of salvation. Ordinary people really liked church singing, especially if it was imbued with great enthusiasm and deep faith. Even John of Kronstadt himself climbed to the choir and began to preside, which gave the service a special character.
About the sacrament of the Eucharist
The central place in the life and pastoral practice of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt was occupied by the Sacrament of the Eucharist, about which he wrote so much of his experiences and reflections on the pages of his diaries and about which he spoke in his sermons. People believed that one should take communion no more than once a year. Therefore, the Sacrament of the Eucharist ceased to occupy a central place in the life of every Orthodox Christian.
At the end of 19 - At the beginning of the 20th century, all officials, military personnel and students were required to partake of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ once a year. Therefore, Communion for some part of Russian society was forced, and sometimes purely legal in nature. Thanks to his liturgical practice, the holy righteous John of Kronstadt broke the established order of infrequent communion. In his sermons and teachings, he calls everyone to frequent and regular Communion, to Eucharistic communion. The pastoral activity of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt is liturgical progress, transformation in the life of the Church, revival of the liturgical life of Russian society at the end of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century. This is the enormous merit of the Kronstadt shepherd.
About the Sacrament of Repentance
Saint John of Kronstadt attached great importance in the spiritual life of Russian society to the celebration of the Sacrament of Repentance, on which much depends on the spiritual prosperity and improvement of every Christian walking along the path of salvation. When John of Kronstadt confessed, he strove for the confession to be fruitful. He tried to confess as deeply as possible to everyone who came and avoided formal and very short confession. The Kronstadt pastor insisted that everyone who came to confession repented with all his soul, reflecting on his entire life. Very often he accepted the confession of one penitent for several hours.
Gradually, word of this began to spread throughout the country. Over time, people began to come to this wonderful shepherd huge number penitents whom he simply could not confess due to lack of time. Therefore, with the blessing of the highest church authority, he resorted to the practice of general confession, which was accompanied by all kinds of teachings and instructions in spiritual life. For this general confession, several thousand penitents gathered at St. Andrew's Cathedral in the city of Kronstadt, who, without being embarrassed by the people around them, shouted out all their sins. The conduct of such a general confession left a very great impression both on John of Kronstadt himself and on all those confessing, thanks to which the barrier between the shepherd and the penitents was broken.
ABOUT prayer
The holy righteous John of Kronstadt considered prayer to be the basis of spiritual life. In his diaries, he gives instructions on how to pray and shows what invaluable benefits it brings in the spiritual life of every Christian seeking salvation. John of Kronstadt does not recommend in spiritual life during the feat of prayer the practice of imagining the physical appearance of the Savior, Mother of God and saints. Thanks to the feat of prayer, the spiritual life of every Christian is transformed. Prayer is a tool that helps you get closer to God - to our Creator. Therefore, prayer to God should be an integral part of the life of every Christian walking along the path of salvation. John of Kronstadt himself showed by his example how it is necessary to go through the feat of prayer. Through the prayers of this wonderful shepherd, in front of the people around him, by the grace of God, all kinds of miracles and healings were performed, many took the true path leading to salvation.
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt called on everyone to love and be lenient towards the people around them, to endure all kinds of insults and insults that are so often found in the world around us. He called for all efforts to be directed toward acquiring spiritual peace, which is so necessary for everyone walking along the path of salvation.
John of Kronstadt and Leo Tolstoy
When Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy appears on the arena of public life with his false teachings, the holy righteous John of Kronstadt directs all his efforts to denounce him, as well as to denounce the educated intelligentsia, which had a negative impact on the spiritual life of Russian society.
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy completely distorted the meaning of the Gospel and all Holy Scripture; renounced the Church, which was founded by the Savior Himself; He seduced many after himself and destroyed them. He completely trampled the grace of Communion, Repentance and all the sacraments. Tolstoy, through his activities, destroyed the foundations of the spiritual life of Russian society that had been established and existed for several centuries. He completely denied the Church, invented his own teaching about God, and distorted all of Christianity. Leo Tolstoy opposed the Church and God, denied the Resurrection of Christ. Tolstoy's followers insisted on preventing school-age children from going to church - future generation of Russian society. Leo Tolstoy had many followers. Tolstoy's followers stopped going to the Orthodox church, confessing and receiving communion. They said that it is necessary to live according to your carnal life and satisfy all the needs of your flesh. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, the immortality of the soul, or the Judgment of God.
The holy righteous John of Kronstadt devoted a lot of energy and time to exposing the teachings of Tolstoy and his false Christianity; to guide all those who have succumbed to this temptation to the true path. John of Kronstadt calls Tolstoy an enemy not only of Orthodoxy, but of all of Russia and society. The Kronstadt shepherd constantly says that everyone needs to pray to God that He will open the eyes of the entire Russian people and everyone who follows Tolstoy.
John of Kronstadt about Russia and faith
In 1881, the assassination of Alexander II occurs, which shows the severe spiritual crisis of Russian society at the end of the 19th century. Terror reigned everywhere. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt called everyone to repentance and change their lives, moral transformation. He saw the spiritual crisis of Russian society in the government itself, which largely contributed to various unrest.
The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, in one of his sermons in 1907, said that the Russian Kingdom is wavering, wavering and close to falling, and if things continue to go like this in Russia and it does not cleanse itself of all this, it will become desolate, as if wiped off the face of the earth by God justice to the ancient kingdoms and cities for their godlessness and for their immoral life. But the Lord, in His mercy and love, leads Russia on the path of revival and does not leave it in a disastrous state.
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt tried with all his might to transform Russian society and direct him to the true path of salvation. He denounced all the time, spoke only the truth, regardless of the life of society, fearing no one. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt saw the revival of Russia and modern society only in life with God, being in the Church, as well as in love for the Tsar and, of course, one’s Fatherland.
Teachings of St. right John: the purpose and meaning of the life of an Orthodox Christian
Human earthly life as preparation for eternity
If we look at our modern world, then we will see the most diverse understanding and understanding of human life. For some, the goal is her material development, the achievement of fame and honors. Others believe that happiness lies in acquiring earthly riches. Because of addiction to earthly goods, the human heart becomes empty.
John of Kronstadt said: “This is all the wisdom and merit of a Christian, to reject all earthly passions, to despise sweets, self-interest, earthly beauty, earthly glory, for, having despised all this, we conveniently love God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves, and not We will have occasions to be indignant, oppressed, and despondent.”
Through our daily activities, the attachment to earthly goods grows and strengthens and the love for the people around us cools. “Why are we often seduced by earthly things? Because we love the flesh and the world very much and are careless about the immortal soul, because we love to eat sweetly, drink, dress elegantly, but do not engage in the thought of God and spiritual contemplation.”
“Consider earthly blessings so unimportant and insignificant that because of them never even think of losing spiritual blessings.” - love, which there is nothing higher in the world, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; never change the latter for the former. Having the latter, one can be happy and blissful without the former, but having the former without the latter, one can never be happy. Always remember this."
“If we leave passion for ourselves and for earthly goods, then our hearts will be ours, and we will save our souls; and if we do not leave passion for earthly goods and for ourselves, then our hearts will be in the hands of the devil, and we will perish... A great loss for piety - addiction to earthly things and destruction of mental and physical energy.”
“For there is no other way for the enemy to sow evil in our hearts than through addiction to earthly things, and no other way to ensnare us into destruction than through addiction. A person partial to earthly goods is subject to pride, and malice, and envy, and luxury and intemperance, and fornication temptations, and murmuring with impatience, and blasphemy, and hardness of heart, which is so fatal, especially in a Christian, and unbelief, and despair, and others countless sins. And he who despises earthly goods has all the opposite virtues. Attachment to earthly things serves as an extreme obstacle for a Christian to Christian perfection» .
Too many people view their lives and the world around them incorrectly. They forget about the perishability, impermanence and disappearance of all material goods and practically do not think about the purpose of their life. “The purpose of our life (and our creation) is union with God, from Whom we have fallen and are falling away through sin. Union with God and experiencing heartfelt peace in Him begins here, - All church services and sacraments are directed towards this, especially Baptism, Repentance and Communion, the sacred rites of the Church, - and will be completed finally in the next century. This is why now there are fasts, fasts, going to services and intense feats of prayer, Repentance, Communion.”
The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, on the pages of his diary, is surprised at the lack of understanding many people have of human life. "Strange affair. Most people, caring very little or not at all about achieving the Kingdom of Heaven, about cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, think that the Kingdom of Heaven will come to them by itself; don't care about Christ - in communion, and then - out of dire necessity, and then - as if according to a custom accepted by others."
Unfortunately, many people throughout their lives never find Christ and do not understand their true purpose, both in this life and in the eternal one. “Those who have not found Christ live in this life without heartfelt faith, they think and care more about everyday things: how to have fun, drink sweets and eat; how to dress more elegantly, how to satisfy their lusts with which they burn day and night; like killing time, which they don’t know what to do with, although time is looking for them and, not finding them, quickly rushes in their eyes: days after days fly by, nights after nights, months after months, years after years, until finally the last one strikes , a terrible hour and they will say to him: stop, your course is complete, your time measure, your sins and iniquities have all come before you, and with all their strength they will fall upon you, and with their weight they will forever suppress you.”
“At times we must grieve our earthly life so that, due to constant enjoyment of it, we do not become attached to this life and forget about the future. For this purpose, the Lord allows us to be upset by human untruths, illnesses, misfortunes, losses, temptations.”
“Know, man, your greatness and insignificance. Know that you are born into the world with a nature corrupted by sin and you will have to struggle with sins all your life. Know that you have to give an account to God, who created you, throughout your life; remember that you will die and that death is now subject to private judgment.”
If we look, we can see that no luxury, no pleasure can make a person truly happy. Having achieved one, a person does not calm down and begins to look for another, and so on. If a person does not find complete happiness in this world, then there must be another unearthly happiness. And this unearthly happiness lies in life with God, the Creator of our world. Therefore, the main goal for man is life in God. This life with God is what man should strive for.
Spiritual life and its necessity in the matter of human salvation
A prerequisite for salvation is the spiritual life of every Christian. “The life of a true Christian cannot be imagined otherwise than by constant vigilance over oneself, attention to oneself, and the fight against the old man, inherited from our forefathers, which is decaying in the lusts of the deceitful. Yes, the life of a Christian is a constant struggle with passions and lusts, with a world lying in evil, with the principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spirits of wickedness in high places. The life of a Christian is a constant spiritual war... Then, the life of a Christian is a constant exercise in self-sacrifice, mercy, cleansing oneself from all worldly addictions, exercise in contemplation of Divine beauty and goodness...”
“Who among people is worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven? One who tries with all his might to become like God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in holiness, goodness, mercy towards his neighbor, who tries to become like the saints in repentance, prayer, abstinence, patience, meekness, quietness, obedience, humility, unfeigned love. In the sky - a place only for holiness, love, like-mindedness, one holy and immaculate will.”
“A person’s heart energy should be directed towards God, towards His love, towards fulfilling the holy commandments, towards the fight against evil or sins of all kinds, towards preserving spiritual peace, meekness, humility, freedom of spirit, sympathy for humanity in its weaknesses. Meanwhile, the enemy intensifies to direct all the energy of our heart and will towards vanity, towards the passions of the flesh and spirit, towards the love of the world and everything in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and, thus, constantly steals the most precious good of man - salvation of the soul."
“But don’t think that if you are called Christians, if you go to church and take communion - that’s how you’ll be saved: that’s not the case! If you do not correct yourself and do not repent, then you are falsely called Christians and - you will die. Do you want to be saved? So correct yourself, make humble from the proud, good from the evil, chaste from the adulterous, generous from the money-loving; be kind, wish - it would be good if they did! - give alms and do it as much as possible.”
Every Christian must be sure that God is constantly concerned about his salvation, that he is not left for a minute by God without concern for the salvation of his immortal soul. “A Christian must maintain peace of mind in the face of all human temptations and untruths. What am I saying? Even if the world begins to collapse, then he should be majestically at peace in his spirit, being confirmed in his heart in Christ. The sign of a truly Christian soul - constant inner peace and tranquility. What are we like? We worry about everything, and we ourselves give space to restless thoughts in our hearts: grow and multiply for your soul’s trouble.”
the main objective human life on earth is to achieve mental peace and tranquility. “There are moments in the life of a Christian when not a single bright thought shines in your head and does not respond to the call of your soul, and you feel only terrible darkness and confusion in your soul. At this time, a dark force covers the soul. Here we learn from experience that we ourselves - not our own, but God’s, and from Him we receive strength.”
“What is the sign that a Christian person is close to Christ? A person close to Christ often turns to Christ with faith and love, often pronounces His sweetest name, often calls on Him for help, often turns his eyes to Him, because he cannot help but pronounce, turn his eyes and call on: filling his thoughts and heart , Christ God naturally appears on his tongue and in his eyes, because without Christ he is weak, powerless, joyless. A person who is far from Christ rarely, rarely turns his thoughts to Christ, and then not with heartfelt faith and love, but - only out of some necessity, and then as to a Person who is little familiar to his heart, who does not please or delight his heart, has no attraction for him.”
Concluding the conversation about the life and some teachings of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, one cannot help but note one thing: it is surprising that throughout his life John did not have a spiritual father. Throughout his life, he was completely guided by the Holy Scriptures and the patristic heritage and lived by them, constantly seeking in them the path to salvation. It is also surprising that the Kronstadt shepherd spent his pastoral feat in the world with its all kinds of temptations and temptations. Many were surprised at this high pastoral dedication in Everyday life. The whole life of John of Kronstadt was in Christ and only in Him, it was the fulfillment of His commandments. This is the main reason for his all-Russian popularity and people’s devotion to this wonderful shepherd. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, by his own example, showed those paths of salvation that are necessary for every Christian who wants to inherit eternal life with God - Creator of the world and all humanity.
Hierodeacon Pitirim (Anufriev)
Keywords: John of Kronstadt, shepherding, sacraments, Church, repentance, history of Russia, churching
Albitsky Peter, Archpriest. O. John of Kronstadt as a shepherd and public figure / In the world of prayer. - New York, 1987. - P. 125.
Word spoken on December 22, 1908 in Moscow in the Church of the Diocesan House at a memorial service performed by Metropolitan Vladimir in the concelebration of five bishops //
Holy righteous John of Kronstadt(† 1908): “We still all agree and unanimously believe in this Creed and do not add a single iota to it, so as not to lose salvation for a false increase, like Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans” (Living Kolos. Extracts from the diary for 1907 -1908, St. Petersburg, 1909, p. 4).
“Whoever would like to unite the Orthodox with Catholics or Lutherans and be one with them - in Christ, one Church, one community of believers! But which of the members of these spoken churches, especially the primates called popes, patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, or priests, priests, will agree to renounce their errors? Nobody. But we cannot agree with their heretical teaching without harming our spiritual salvation... Is it possible to combine the incompatible - a lie with the truth? (Ibid., p. 31).
“The Catholic Jesuits, to please the pope and their selfish lower views and goals, perverted the law of conscience and the law of the Gospel, arguing that to achieve selfish goals or religious goals, Catholics can use all sorts of illegal means; means killing... and burning Orthodox Christians at the stake” (Ibid., pp. 31-32).
“The words of our Savior Jesus Christ are true: whoever is not with Me is against Me (Matthew 12:30). Catholics, Lutherans and reformers have fallen away from the Church of Christ... they are clearly going against Christ and His Church... they do not respect fasts, they transform the dogmas of faith into saving ones. They are not with us, against us and against Christ” (Ibid., pp. 32-33).
“The popes imagined themselves to be the heads of the Church and its foundation, and even the vicars of Christ, which is absurd and incompatible with anything. And hence all the arrogance of the Roman popes and their long-standing claim to supremacy and unauthorized control of the entire Ecumenical Church. Well, the popes have already created various tricks in their papal church, various false dogmas leading to falsehood both in faith and in life. This is a completely heretical church” (Ibid., p. 35).
“If Jesus Christ had intended to give His Church, upon His ascension into heaven, another head in His place, or a vicar, as the popes say, considering themselves vicars of Christ on earth, then He would have clearly announced this before His ascension, for this is so dogma important for the salvation of human souls; Yes, the apostles would have announced this, or one of them would have called himself a vicegerent, otherwise none of them said anything, remembering the words of the Lord: whoever wants to be great among you, let him be your servant (Matthew 20:26); yet you are brothers (Matt. 23:8)” (Ibid., p. 35).
“The papists, recognizing the pope as the head of the church, placed him on the throne instead of Christ and deified him, and put Christ in the background. The Pope was made the vicar of Christ, while Christ remains with us all the days until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). But look how many errors are allowed in the papal (and not Christ’s) faith, strange errors, blasphemous ones - and you will turn away from it with indignation and horror! - Oh, human pride! Oh, satanic pride! Dad seems to be infallible! Oh, Jesuitism! (Ibid., p. 36).
“The one head of the Church, heavenly, earthly and underworld, is Christ God. Can a human pope be the head of the Church that is in heaven? Can not. And in general, can a pope, a sinful man, be the head of the entire earthly Church and control the fate of earthly and beyond the grave?.. Read the history of the popes: what were they like? How many of them were worthy of their seat? And only in the first centuries there were several worthy ones, but in subsequent centuries there were so many unworthy and vicious ones, to the shame of the entire Roman Church! Are these the heads of churches? (Ibid., pp. 37-38).
“Catholics have transformed the teaching of the All-Wise Christ Himself, the heavenly Teacher, without Whom no one knows the Father, but He alone is the Son. Christ says that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, and meanwhile Catholics and Lutherans and Anglicans say that He is from the Father and the Son Yes, finally, stop blaspheming the Holy Spirit and making lies against Him: those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this nor in the next century. And you have forgotten the words of the Apostle: even if we or an Angel from heaven began to preach the gospel to you. Let what we preached to you be accursed (Gal. 1:8). Is this a terrible word or not? Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away (Matt. 24:35)” (Ibid., p. 38) -39).
“The popes and Catholics have rejected this all-giving Blood for the laity and do not give it to them, probably out of economy, so that less wine comes out! And with what frenzied zeal they drag the Orthodox into Catholicism, into their pernicious faith: Protect, Lord, Orthodoxy from fierce Catholicism, in which everything is subject to the arbitrariness of the Pope and the Jesuits” (Ibid., p. 40).
“It is precisely in his dogma of infallibility that the greatest error lies, for the Pope is a sinful man and it will be a disaster if he imagines himself to be infallible. How many great errors, disastrous for human souls, have the Catholic and Papal Church invented in dogmas, in rituals, in canonical rules, in worship, in the deadening, malicious attitudes of Catholics towards the Orthodox, in blasphemies and slander against the Orthodox Church, in curses addressed to the Orthodox Church and to Orthodox Christians! And in all this the supposedly infallible Pope is to blame, his and the Jesuits’ doctrine, their spirit of lies, double-mindedness and all sorts of wrong means ad maiorem Dei gloriam (to the supposedly greater glory of God)” (St. John of Kronstadt. Christian Philosophy. SPb. 1902, M., 1992, p. 99).
“Hatred of Orthodoxy, fanaticism and persecution of Orthodox Christians, murders run like a red thread through all centuries of Catholicism. By their fruits you will know them. Is this the spirit commanded to us by Christ? If anyone, then Catholics, Lutherans and Reformers, one can say: “You do not know what spirit you are” (Luke 9:55)” (Ibid., p. 116).
“The pope and the papists became so proud and exalted themselves that they decided to criticize Christ Himself, the very Hypostatic Wisdom of God and extended their pride (under the pretext of developing dogmas) to the point that they distorted some of His words, commandments and institutions, which should not be changed until the end of the age, for example, the word about the Holy Spirit, the commandment about the cup of His most pure Blood, which they deprived the laity of, made nothing of the words of the Apostle Paul: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until it comes.” "(1 Cor. 11:26); instead of leavened bread, they use unleavened bread at the liturgy” (Ibid., p. 117).
“Catholics fell away from the head of the entire Church - Christ, choosing an earthly head - a sinning pope” (Ibid., p. 119).
“Come to us, you who call yourselves Catholics, but condemn us as schismatics, and let us become exhausted, look impartially, according to God’s truth, according to God’s qualifications, at your saints, glorified by the Pope, and not by God, and compare them with our saints, God Himself witnessed by countless miracles of healing and various consolations of the Orthodox who resorted to them with faith! Who cares! How the truth of our faith shines and with its light darkens your faith, darkened by heresies and false wisdom” (Ibid., p. 127).
“Oh, human superstition! Oh, deceit, oh, the intricacy of lies! The papists deprived the laity of the Blood of Christ, shed for cleansing from sins. Oh, headless leadership, acting contrary to the true head - Christ God! (Ibid., p. 157).
Saint Photius of Constantinople:“The Latins not only introduced other iniquities, but reached such an excess of insolence that even into the holy Symbol of Faith, which all council decrees are ordered to keep unchanged, they dared to introduce a lie (oh, the tricks of the evil one!), that the Holy Spirit is not only from the Father, but and comes from the Son, and thus they distorted the basic dogma of the Holy Trinity.”
“Who would not close his ears to listen to this excessive blasphemy (filioque), which is contrary to the Gospel, contradicts the holy Councils, rejects the blessed and holy Fathers... This blasphemy and God-fighting voice, which takes up arms against all the taken prophets, apostles, saints , martyrs and even the very words of the Lord... we collectively and with a divine voice condemn these deceivers and fighters against God. ...We again resorted to the light and we set forth everything that was determined at previous Councils and the judgment of the apostolic decrees... So also those, since they persist in their manifold errors, we exclude them from all Christian communion... only because of blasphemy on the Holy Spirit... and this is enough to impose on them countless anathemas... so that we separate the gangrene of blasphemy from the body of the Church... in order to eradicate the germ of evil" [Ιω. Καρμίρη, Τα Δογματικά και Συμβολικά Μνημεία της Ορθοδόξου Καθολικής Ε κκλησίας, εν Αθήναις 195].
Saint Mark of Ephesus:
“We have alienated the Latins from ourselves for no other reason than that they are heretics. Therefore, it is completely wrong to unite with them.” “The Latins are not only schismatics, but also heretics. Our Church was silent about this because their tribe is much larger and stronger than ours.”
“If they (the Latins) have completely deviated, and then in relation to the theology of the Holy Spirit, blasphemy against Whom is the greatest of all dangers, then it is clear that they are heretics, and we cut them off as heretics.”
“So, we turned away from them as heretics, and therefore dissociated ourselves from them... they are heretics, and therefore we cut them off as heretics... Where did they suddenly appear to us as Orthodox, those who for so long and in the judgment of such great Fathers and Teachers were considered heretics?...We must flee from them, as one flees from serpents,...as from Christ-sellers and Christ-merchants” [Ιω. Καρμίρη, ενθ. σελ. 353-362].
“So, brothers, flee from Latin innovations and their introducers and rooters, and from love related friend with a friend, gather together into our single Head - Christ.”
Saint Gregory Palamas:
“Even the angels (heavenly intelligent powers) cannot move the Latins and induce them to take medicine against false confession" τους μετακινήσουν, προσφέροντάς τους το φάρμακο στη ψευδο-δοξία θετο της Ορθοδοξίας), εκδόσεις Γρηγορίου Παλαμά τ. 1 σ. 194].
“And is not this the opinion of the Latins, for which they were expelled from the boundaries of our Church - that it is not grace, but the Holy Spirit Himself, sent from the Son and poured out through the Son?” [Ὑπέρ ἡσυхαζόντων 3, 1, 3-5 Γρηγόριου του Παλαμᾱ. Συγγράματα. Επιμέλια Παναγ. Ρήστου. Θεσσαλονίκη 1988, τομ.Α´, σελ. 618, 9-10].
“Therefore, we will never receive you into fellowship as long as you confess that the Spirit also proceeds from the Son.” "" , Περὶ τῆς ἐκπορεύεσεως τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, Λόγος Α ́, ΕΠΕ Γηγορί ου τοῦ Παλαμᾶ. Ἔργα 1, σελ. 74.5].
“How dare you accept that (Filioque) ... which He (i.e., Jesus Christ) did not testify to and about which He (i.e., Jesus Christ) did not inform His beloved, who declared everything that He heard from the Father and came directly for that reason, to testify about truth? (John 18:37) How dare you introduce an alien addition into the definition of faith that you spiritually wrote? chosen Fathers at the general Council and handed it over (to us)” [Γηγορίου τοῦ Παλαμᾶ. Περὶ τῆς ἐκπορεύεσεως τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, Λόγος Α Ἔργα 1, σελ. 76].
St. Simeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica in his work “Against all heresies” he characterizes Western Christians as a heresy that “grew up in the Church after the VII Ecumenical Council.” εσσαλονίκη σ. 32-40]
Saint Simeon in the chapter “Κατά Λατίνων” of his work “Διάλογος εν Χριστώ κατά πασών των αιρέσεων”, Κ ́, PG 155 There is no information about the council (879-880) convened under St. Photius the Patriarch of Constantinople and says: “And his Acts, among what happened regarding the innovation of the Latins, gives the most reliable teaching and this council pronounces anathema on those who dare to say that the Spirit proceeds from the Son. All this became the reason for the great fall of the church of the Latins” (PG 155, 97D). He also calls them “members severed from Christ” (100 D).
St. Simeon of Thessaloniki names among the errors of Catholics not only the addition to the Creed “but also many other things that they introduced contrary to the original custom of the Church” for which they “ expelled from the Church"(PG 155, 101A) [Συμεών Θεσσαλονίκης, Επιστολή δογματική, 15, 603-604, David Balfour, Αγίου Συ μεών, ό.π., 216. μωμήτου ημών πίστεως των Χριστιανών θείον και ιερόν Σύμβολον, PG 155, 792B-793C]. He calls them " as blasphemers of the Holy Spirit» Επιστολή περί των Μακαρισμών, 5, 151-155, David Balfour, Αγίου Συμεών, ό.π. , 226.
Venerable Nicodemus the Holy Mountain:
“The Latins are heretics” [comments in 43 canon of the Holy Apostles, Πηδάλιον, εκδ. Ρηγόπουλου, 1991, σελ. 55].
Saint Cosmas of Aetolia:
“The Pope is the Antichrist” (Διδαχή Η΄), “Curse the Pope, because he will be the cause (of retreat)” [Prophecy].
St. Nektarios, Bishop of Pentapolis:
“As they say that the pope is the head of the Church when he is expelled from the Western Church of Christ... It is the excessive pride of the pope, this desire for monarchy that has given rise to so many heresies.”
Venerable Theodosius of Pechersk:
“Do not join the Latin (Catholic) faith, do not adhere to their customs, avoid their communion and avoid all their teaching and abhor their morals.
Beware, children, of crooked believers and all their conversations, for our land is filled with them. If anyone will save his soul, then only by living in the Orthodox Faith, for there is no other faith better than our pure and holy Orthodox Faith.
Living in this faith will not only get rid of sins and eternal torment, but you will also become a partaker of eternal life and will rejoice endlessly with the Saints. But those who live in a different faith: Catholic, Muslim, or Armenian will not see eternal life.
It is not appropriate to praise someone else's faith. If someone praises someone else's faith, then he becomes a blasphemer of his own faith. If he begins to constantly praise both his own and others, he will find himself holding two faiths and not far from heresy.
Show mercy to everyone, not only your own faith, but also that of others. When you see a naked or hungry person, suffering from the winter cold or some kind of misfortune, be he a Jew or a Saracen, a Bulgarian or a heretic, a Latin or a pagan - have mercy on everyone as best you can and deliver them from misfortune, and you will not be left without God's reward. After all, God himself preserves both pagans and Christians in this life. Pagans and non-believers in the present century have been given care from God, but in the future they will be alien to good reward. And we, who live in the right faith, remain here preserved by God, and in the next century we will be saved by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Child, if you have to die for this holy faith for the Lord’s sake, then do not abandon this right faith, but die boldly for the faith of Christ. For the saints, he said, died for the faith, and now they live in Christ. And you, child, if you see some people of other faiths arguing with the Orthodox about the faith and trying to seduce the ignorant faithful away from the right faith, then you, who are well-versed, do not hide your knowledge within yourself, but help the true believers against the crooked. If you help them, you will deliver them like sheep from the mouth of lions. If you remain silent, it is tantamount to as if, having taken them away from Christ, you handed them over to Satan, for he taught the crooked their faith.
And if someone arguing with you tells you: “God gave both faiths,” you, child, tell him: “You seem to think that God is two-faith!” Haven’t you heard...as the Scripture says: “One God, one faith, one baptism.”
“With the multitude of their heresies they (the Latins) dishonored the whole earth... There is no eternal life for those who live in the Latin faith.”
Rev. Paisiy Velichkovsky:
“Latinism broke away from the Church and fell into the abyss of heresies and delusions, and lies in them without any hope of rebellion." [Essays about the sign of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross. Rk. BAM. 13.1.24, ch. 11, l. 39, l. 88 rev.]
“Union is a separation from the holy Eastern Church: and union with an adulteress, let me not say to the Roman Church. She has the charm of the devil: she ensnares the ignorant into destruction" [In the all-honorable priest Father John about this short message. - Rev. Paisiy Velichkovsky Polemical works of teaching letters Russian St. Panteleimon's Monastery on the Holy Mountain. 2009., p.180]
“It’s so hard to stop talking about heretics like the Romans. Do they not also blaspheme like the Pope, saying: For the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son; which is the first and most important heresy of their heresies: for there is an evil and unjust and contrary to the Holy Scripture about God in the Trinity: in this regard, they are equal with Arius and with all the others heretics. And even if someone confesses in this way that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son, he has no hope of salvation even if he has kept all the commandments of Christ...” [Ibid., p.181].
Venerable Lavrentiy of Chernigov:
“Christ created One Church (not churches), which even the gates of hell cannot overcome. There is only one Orthodox Church, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Others who call themselves churches are not churches, but the tares of the devil among the wheat and the congregation of the devil.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov:
"...papism; that's what they call heresy, which declared the West, from which various Protestant teachings sprang, like from a tree of branches. Papism assigns the properties of Christ to the pope, and thereby rejects Christ. Some Western writers have made this renunciation almost explicit, saying that it is much less of a sin to renounce Christ than to renounce the Pope. The Pope is the idol of the papists; he is their deity. Because of this terrible error, the grace of God departed from the papists; they are devoted to themselves and to Satan, the inventor and father of all heresies, including papism.
In this state of darkness, they distorted some dogmas and sacraments, and deprived the Divine Liturgy of its essential meaning, eliminating from it the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of the offered bread and wine, in which they are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. This essential part of the Liturgy was in all the Liturgies delivered by the Apostles of Christ throughout the universe - it was also in the original Roman Liturgy. “No heresy expresses so openly and brazenly its exorbitant pride, harsh contempt for people and hatred of them.”
“Don't play with your salvation, don't play! Otherwise you will cry forever. Start reading the New Testament and the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church (not Teresa, not Francis and other Western crazy people whom their heretical church passes off as saints!); study in the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church how to correctly understand Scripture, what kind of life, what thoughts and feelings befit a Christian.”
Venerable Maxim the Greek:
“In my writings I denounce all Latin heresy and all Jewish and pagan blasphemy...”
“The errors of the Latins, which serve as a barrier between them and us, are so great, and their destructive teaching and wisdom are such and are so far removed from the teaching of the Church that only God alone can correct them” [St. Maxim Grek. Creations. STSL. 1996, part 2. Reply to Nicholas the Latin. Page 323].
St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna: “The papacy is like a fruit whose bark (shell) of Christian churchliness, inherited from antiquity, gradually disintegrates to reveal».
its anti-Christian core
From Apostolic times to this day, the Orthodox Eastern Church has observed both the Gospel and Apostolic teachings, as well as the tradition of St., unchanged and undamaged by innovations. fathers and the resolutions of the Ecumenical Councils, at which God-bearing men, having gathered from the entire universe, collectively compiled the divine Symbol of the Orthodox Faith and, proclaiming it aloud to the entire universe in all respects perfect and complete, forbade with terrible punishments any addition to it or subtraction, or change, or rearrangement of at least one iota in it. The Roman Church has long since succumbed to heresy. and innovation. Even Basil the Great accused some of the bishops of Rome of this in his letter to Eusebius of Samosata: “They do not know the truth and do not want to know; with those who proclaim the truth to them, they argue, and they themselves affirm heresy” (District, last § 7).
...Back in the seventh century it was born in Western Churches the wrong wisdom is that the Holy Spirit also comes from the Son. At first, some popes rebelled against this new thinking, calling it heretical. Pope Damasus speaks about him this way in the Council definition: “Whoever thinks right about the Father and the Son, but wrongly about the Holy Spirit, is a heretic” (District last § 5). The same was confirmed by other popes - Leo III and John VIII. But most of their successors, seduced by the rights to predominance and finding many worldly benefits for themselves, dared to change the Orthodox dogma of the procession of the Holy Spirit, contrary to the decrees of the seven Ecumenical Councils, and also contrary to the clear words of the Lord Himself in the Gospel: “Who is from the Father comes forth” (John 15:26).
But just as one mistake, which is not considered a mistake, always entails another and one evil gives rise to another, so it happened with the Roman Church. As soon as this incorrect wisdom had time to appear in the West, that the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son, it itself gave birth to other similar offspring and little by little introduced with itself other novelties, for the most part contradicting the commandments of our Savior clearly depicted in the Gospel, such as: sprinkling instead of immersion in the sacrament of Baptism, taking away the divine Chalice from the laity and using handkerchiefs and unleavened bread instead of leavened bread, excluding from the Liturgy the divine invocation of the All-Holy and Life-Giving and All-Accomplishing Spirit. It also introduced novelties that violated the ancient apostolic rites of the Catholic Church, such as: the exclusion of baptized infants from Confirmation and the reception of the Most Pure Mysteries, the exclusion of married persons from the priesthood, the recognition of the pope as an infallible person and as the locum tenens of Christ, etc. Thus, the entire ancient apostolic rite of administering almost all the Sacraments and all church institutions was subverted...
But the main heresy of the Roman Church, not in essence, but in action, is the invented dogma of supremacy, or rather the proud search for the predominance of the bishops of Rome over the other four Eastern Patriarchs. For the sake of this predominance, adherents of the Roman Church placed their pope above the rules and institutions of the Ecumenical Councils, believing in his infallibility. But what this papal infallibility is, true history testifies. ... There are many other examples testifying to the great errors of the popes; but now is not the time to talk about them. With such historical evidence of the damage of heresy and the errors of the popes, are the papists rightly exalted by the imaginary dignity of the Roman Church?
...For all the reasons stated, the Catholic Eastern Church cut off communication with the private Roman Church, as having fallen away from the truth and from the rules of the Catholic Church.
...The truth testifies that the Roman Church fell away from the Orthodox Church.
...she rejected the resolutions of the Ecumenical Councils, following her wrong reasoning.
...In the Orthodox Church it is believed that bread and wine in the sacrament of the Eucharist are transubstantiated by the invocation and invasion of the Holy Spirit. But the Latins, as stated above, considered this invocation unnecessary and excluded it from their liturgy. So, let him who understands understand about the Latin Eucharist.”
“Would it be prudent to seek unity with Catholics? Is it worth surprising at the imaginary zeal and imaginary selflessness of these figures, that is, the Latin missionaries and sisters of mercy? They are not trying to convert and bring people to Christ, but to their dad.”
« Roman Church, since she does not keep the sacred conciliar and apostolic decrees, but has deviated into innovations and wrong wisdom, then does not belong at all to the One, Holy and Apostolic Church". (Collected letters of the Optina elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose to lay persons of blessed memory, part 1. Sergiev Posad. 1913, pp. 231, 232, 235)
Saint Theophan the Recluse:
“There was one Church on earth with by one faith. But temptation came - dad and his people got carried away by their own wisdom and fell away from the united Church and faith».
“As you, of course, know, Christian churches are called, in addition to our Orthodox Church, the Latin Church and many Protestant Christian societies. But neither the Latin Church, nor even the Protestant communities should be recognized as true Churches of Christ- because they are inconsistent with the Apostolic dispensation of the Church of God.
The Latin Church is of apostolic origin, but has departed from the apostolic traditions and has become damaged. Its main sin is the passion for forging new dogmas... The Latins damaged and spoiled the Holy Faith, betrayed by the Holy Apostles...”
“To believe that the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father is an obligatory dogma, but to believe in Latin that He also comes from the Son is a deviation from the Church, a heresy.”
“In appearance, we have many similarities with the Roman Catholics: the dogmas are the same, except for the new ones they invented about the origin of the Holy Spirit and - the recent one - about the non-participation of the Mother of God in original sin. They also have a dogma - and the primacy of the pope. The sacraments are the same; but they They have almost everything changed in form and differ in it not only from the Eastern Church, but also from their ancient rites. They have Vespers and Matins and Liturgy and other church prayer services, just like ours. But if you look at how soulless everything is; It’s even pointless! When you trace the details, it’s obvious to everyone how far they are from the truth.
Crafty propagandists confuse general overview, hiding the differences. The same differences that stand out too much, they soften with misinterpretation. For example, in Gagarin... “With you,” he says, it is unclear how to believe about the origin of the Holy Spirit; Therefore, for you, the belief about the procession of the Holy Spirit and from the Son is a private opinion, which, if accepted by anyone, is in no way subject to the judgment of his Church.” Do you see the sophistry? But isn’t the Church’s constant belief that He does not come from the Son the voice of the Church? When their dogma is not accepted, has not the whole Church said that they should not believe it? And the council that was under Patriarch Photius and Pope John VIII, didn’t it anathematize those who accepted the procession of the Holy Spirit and from the Son? Then all the theological writings in the east, all the catechisms, what do they mean if not an expression of the teachings of the Orthodox Church? For all this, to believe that the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father is an obligatory dogma, but to believe in Latin that He also comes from the Son is a deviation from the Church, a heresy. Strengthen yourself against this sophistry.
They also say: “What prevents us from believing the origin of the Holy Spirit and from the Son? This does not destroy your dogma, but adds new truth to it; knowing five truths is certainly better than knowing four.” What tricks! It is good to add truth to truth, but if they add falsehood, they distort it. Bitterness added to honey destroys honey. The judgment is written strictly for those who will add.
With such and similar sophisms, they smooth out too sharp differences. I think the simple meaning is enough to understand the trick. They won’t even tell anyone who knows, but they randomly throw soap bubbles into the air, just in case someone takes a peek.
The spirit of earthly Catholicism. They have a church, and in their opinion there is a political corporation, supported by human forces and means, such as: the Inquisition, indulgences, with a visible head. Orthodox Church there is a spiritual union of all in Jesus Christ and through Him mutually. The Church is invisibly ruled by the Lord and heading towards its end. Their dad is taking her, and where?!! That's enough for now.
For the Lord’s sake, beware of these flattering spirits, and protect others.”
“Rumors are also reaching our forest that Catholics are sowing their wicked teachings, and as if with success. They are masters of throwing dust in the eyes.”
“Therefore, it is necessary for everyone to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit descended directly only on the apostles; after them, the grace of the Holy Spirit is communicated to believers no other way than through special means, or sacraments, at the direction of the Lord by the Holy Spirit through the apostles. And these sacraments are entrusted to St. Orthodox Church and the essence of it is one.”
"St. The Orthodox Church is a treasury of the blessings of salvation. Whatever you need for salvation, you will find it all in her, and only in her. Apart from this, the Lord himself does not give these benefits. This is how He himself deigned to arrange it. Having become the Head of the Church, He acts for our salvation in no other way than through this body of His. And do not seek any other access to His treasures of salvation. He's gone."
“Whoever is in the true Church is delivered from sin, curse and death, he is a son and heir of God and a joint heir with Christ, to him belong all the gifts of grace here and all the blessings of the inheritance in heaven. So there is something to take care of so as not to fall away from St. Churches. Whoever falls away is deprived of all these invaluable benefits and destroys his soul. In St. The Church, and only in it alone, everything is arranged for our salvation - why does one who falls away from it have nothing with which to save himself. For salvation you need grace: where can you get it outside the Church? Grace is given through St. sacraments, and the Sacraments are kept in St. Churches. To perform the sacraments you need a priesthood, and the true priesthood exists only in the Church. It has become that whoever is outside the Church is without the priesthood, without the Sacraments and without grace. How can he save his soul?! So he dies outside the Church.”
"Are there a hundred truths? One truth. Are there a hundred paths? One way. Are there a hundred Gods? One God, One Faith, One Baptism... So how is it all the same?.. And it’s as if it’s the same with us, where there is no priesthood, no Holy Communion and repentance? How will our sins be resolved?.. And what will our spirit be nourished with?.. All this philanthropy is like nothing else. They don’t know how to solve the question: what are other confessions? But due to the fact that we cannot solve it properly, we should not interpret it crookedly and understand what is absolutely correct.”
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt:
“Who would not want to unite the Orthodox with Catholics or Lutherans and be one with them - in Christ, one Church, one community of believers! But which of the members of these spoken churches, especially the primates called popes, patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, or priests, priests, will agree to renounce their errors? Nobody. But we cannot agree with their heretical teaching without harming our spiritual salvation... Is it possible to combine the incompatible - a lie with the truth?
“The words of our Savior Jesus Christ are true: whoever is not with Me is against Me (Matthew 12:30). Catholics, Lutherans and Reformed people have fallen away from the Church of Christ... they are clearly going against Christ and His Church... they do not respect fasting, they are transforming the dogmas of faith into saving ones. They are not with us, against us and against Christ.”
“The popes have imagined themselves to be the heads of the Church and its foundation, and even the vicars of Christ, which is absurd and incompatible with anything. And hence all the arrogance of the Roman popes and their long-standing claim to supremacy and unauthorized control of the entire Universal Church. Well, the popes in their papal church have done various tricks of various false dogmas leading to falsehood both in faith and in life. This is a completely heretical church" [Live ear. Extracts from the diary of 1907-1908. St. Petersburg 1909., p. 4].
“If the Roman pope were completely of one mind and of one mind, of the same teaching with the Lord, he could, although not in the proper sense, be called the head of the Church, but since he is diverse and contrary to Christ, then he is a heretic and cannot be called the head of the Church and teach the Church: for she is the pillar and affirmation of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), and the pope and the papists are a reed shaken by the wind, and have completely perverted the truth of Christ both in teaching and in worship (unleavened bread and without proskomedia), and in government, enslaving their heresies all of Catholicism and making it incorrigible, for the pope, with all his heresies, is recognized as infallible by the Catholic Church and, therefore, incorrigible, counter-thinking.”
« Papacy in its development is a mockery of the truth and righteousness of God, the truth of Holy Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, over the truth of the words of the Savior. He clearly taught that the Holy Spirit comes from the Father, and nowhere did he say that He also comes from the Son: and the popes, contrary to this teaching, this truth, accepted the lie that the Holy Spirit also comes from the Son and elevated this teaching to a general dogma the beliefs and confessions of the Roman Catholics, and both in this teaching and in many other teachings contrary to the Gospel, they called themselves infallible; and we call them incredibly proud and unrepentant sinners who do not want to realize their obvious and absurd mistakes, for example: that the Bishop of Rome is the head of the Church, while in Scripture everywhere the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is called the Head of the Church as His Body, etc. Thus, the papacy fell into blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, allowing and confirming an obvious lie, spewing blasphemy against the teaching of Christ, as against the immutable message of the Holy Spirit, accepting absurd teachings as the truth of God and thereby blaspheming the Spirit of Truth.”
Rev. Justin Popovich:
“In the history of mankind there are three main cases of fall: Adam, Judas, the Pope... the papacy with its morality is more than Arianism... the dogma of papal infallibility is not only a heresy, but also an all-heresy. Because none of the heresies has risen at the root and so all-encompassing against the God-man Christ and His Church as papism did with its infallibility as a human pope. There is no doubt about it. This dogma is a heresy of heresies, an unprecedented rebellion against Jesus Christ"[Ιουστίνου Πόποβιτς, Άνθρωπος και Θεάνθρωπος, Αθήνα, 19705, σ. 141-162].
St. Gennady Scholarius, Patriarch of Constantinople:
“So, if we unite with the Latins, then we will be separated from God and subject to eternal disgrace” δ. Τήνος, 1996, σ. 89, 161].
Council definitions of the Church on the heresy of Catholicism
Cathedral 879, in Constantinople condemned the heretical error of inserting a filioque into the Creed.
Council of 1450 in Constantinople(the last council in the Church of Hagia Sophia) condemned the union adopted at the Ferraro-Florence Council and the heretical teachings of the Latins.
Council of 1722 in Constantinople: “avoid lies... distance yourself from the innovations and innovations of the Latins, who did not leave a single dogma and sacrament of the Church. which would not be ruined or distorted.”
Council of 1838 in Constantinople:“In order to save the true children of the Eastern Church from the blasphemies of papism... from the abyss of heresies and the soul-crushing falls of papal error... let you know how different we Orthodox are from Catholics, allowed to fall into error because of something else due to the sophisms and innovations of these soul-corrupting heretics. ..their vainly invented and satanic heresies" [Ιω. Καρμίρη, σ. 900].
“The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church... now again proclaims to the congregation that this new opinion that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, there is a real heresy and its followers, whoever they are, are heretics; the societies that are composed of them are heretical societies and any spiritual liturgical communion with them by the Orthodox children of the Catholic Church is lawlessness.”
“Of the heresies that spread, as God knows by fate, in most of the universe, there was once Arianism, and now - papism. But this last one (like the first, which has already completely disappeared), although still in power, will not prevail to the end, but will pass away and be cast down, and a great voice from heaven will proclaim about him: cast down (Rev. 12:10)!”
“The newly appeared doctrine that “the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son” was invented contrary to the clear and deliberate saying of our Lord on this subject: who proceeds from the Father (John 15:26), and contrary to the confession of the entire Catholic Church, attested by seven Ecumenical Councils in the words that come from the Father (Creed).
It violates, although singular (enekin) from one beginning, but different (eteroedi) the origin of the Divine Persons of the blessed Trinity, confirmed by the testimony of the Gospel;
Attributes heterogeneous and unequal relationships to equal and worshiped Persons (Deities), merges them or mixes them up...
With rude and unheard of impudence it touched the very Symbol and changed this universal pledge of Christianity...
As soon as it had time to appear in the Western Churches, it either itself gave birth to the most vile fiends, or introduced with itself, little by little, other novelties - for the most part contradicting the commandments of our Savior clearly depicted in the Gospel, which were carefully observed before its appearance, and in those Churches where it introduced, such as: sprinkling instead of immersion, taking away the Divine Chalice from the laity and communion with only one type of bread, the use of wafers and unleavened bread instead of leavened bread, the exclusion from the Liturgy of blessing, i.e. the Divine invocation of the All-Holy and All-Accomplishing Spirit - also violating the ancient Apostolic rites of the conciliar Church, such as: the exclusion of baptized infants from Confirmation and the reception of the most pure Mysteries, marriage rites from the Priesthood, recognition of the pope as an infallible person and as the locum tenens of Christ, etc. Thus, the entire ancient Apostolic rite of the celebration of almost all sacraments and all church institutions was subverted - an rite that was maintained by the ancient, holy and Orthodox Church of Rome, which was then the most honorable member of the holy, catholic and Apostolic Church...
Such a teaching bears in its very essence and properties all the signs of a non-Orthodox teaching; and every wrong teaching concerning the dogma of the Catholic Church about the blessed Trinity, about the origin of the Divine Persons, as well as about the procession of the Holy Spirit, is and is called heresy, and those who think like this are heretics, according to the definition of the Most Holy Damasus, Pope of Rome (who says this): “Whoever thinks right about the Father and the Son, and wrong about the Holy Spirit, is a heretic”...
Therefore, the one, holy, conciliar and Apostolic Church, following the Holy Fathers Eastern and Western, as it proclaimed in ancient times under our Fathers, and now again proclaims collectively, that this newly introduced opinion that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son is a real heresy, and the followers him, whoever they are, heretics, according to the mentioned conciliar definition Holy Pope Damas; The societies made up of them are heretical societies, and any spiritual liturgical communion with them by the Orthodox children of the conciliar Church is lawless, according to the force of especially the seventh rule of the Third Ecumenical Council.”
Signed by the four Eastern Patriarchs - Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem and members of their Synods.
(Dogmatic messages of Orthodox hierarchs of the 17th-19th centuries about the Orthodox faith. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. 1995. P. 206-207)
Council of 1895 in Constantinople:“...there are significant differences that relate to the God-given dogmas of our faith and to the God-established canonical structure of governing the Churches... The Papal Church...not only rejects a return to the canons and definitions of the Ecumenical Councils, but at the end of the 19th century widening the existing gap... she officially proclaimed infallibility... Today the Roman Church is a church of innovations, distortions of the works of the Fathers, reinterpretations of the Holy Scriptures and the definitions of the Ecumenical Councils. Therefore, she is excommunicated wisely and justly and is excommunicated because she remains in her error.”
Professor-theologian Pan. Simatis reports that in addition to the Ecumenical Councils, there were many other local cathedrals of our Orthodox Church after the scism of 1054, which condemned the heretical teachings of papism (1089, 1233, 1273, 1274, 1282, 1285, 1341, 1351, 1441, 1443, 1484, 1642, 1672, 1722, 1727, 1755, 1838, 1848, 1895).
Excerpts from the diary of Father John of Kronstadt.
The Holy Church is the greatest, holiest, most benign, wise, necessary institution of God on earth: this is the true tabernacle of God, which the Lord erected, and not man, not Luther, not Calvin, or Mohammed, or Buddha, or Confucius and other similar sinners, passionate people. The Church is a divinely established union of people united by faith, teaching, hierarchy and sacraments: this is the spiritual militia of Christ, armed with spiritual all-weapon against the armed countless hordes of the devil; for “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, and against the powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). This is a spiritual Clinic, where humanity, sickened by the ulcer of sin, is healed by grace-filled healings given from God - repentance and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ - the Body and Blood of Christ, and - by the word of God, instructions, advice and consolations of the shepherds of the verbal flock of Christ; it is the common font of purification, regeneration and sanctification; this is the sanctuary of God, in which everything is sanctified by the Holy Spirit through baptism, confirmation and other sacraments and worship; this is the spiritual sun in the world, enlightening and reviving everyone in darkness and the shadow of death who dwells and is killed by sins.
God is one, faith is one, and the Church of God is one, for its Head is Christ God and the Pilot, who animates the entire body of the Church - the life-giving Spirit of God, who fills and revives the entire universe.
Without the Head of Christ, the Church is not a Church, but an unauthorized gathering. These are the Lutherans, Russian schismatics, Pashkovites and Tolstoyans. “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The Lord Himself is always present in His Church; why is the Pope the vicar? And can a sinful person be the Lord’s vicegerent? Can not. The vicegerent of the Tsar, the vicegerent of the Patriarch in any city can and does exist, but no one can be the vicegerent, the deputy of the Lord, the beginningless Tsar and Head of the Church. Right. Catholics are wrong. Instill in them, Lord, that they are absurd and are surrounded by pride like a necklace.
The most harmful thing in Christianity, in this revealed, heavenly religion, is the primacy of a person in the church, for example the pope, and his imaginary infallibility. It is precisely in his dogma of infallibility that the greatest error lies, for the Pope is a sinful man and it is a disaster if he remembers that he is infallible. How many great errors, disastrous for human souls, have been invented by the Catholic and Papal Church - in dogmas, rituals, canonical rules, in worship, in the deadening, malicious attitudes of Catholics towards the Orthodox, in blasphemies and slander against the Orthodox Church, in curses addressed to the Orthodox Church and to Orthodox Christians! And the supposedly infallible Pope, his and the Jesuits’ doctrine, their spirit of lies, double-mindedness and all sorts of wrong means ad maiorem Dei glorian (to the supposed greater glory of God) are to blame for all this.
The Pope shackled the spiritual freedom and conscience of Catholic Christians.
Catholics are jealous of the pope, and not of Christ, they fight for the pope, and not for Christ, and their zeal for faith always turns into passionate, misanthropic, frenzied fanaticism, fanaticism of blood and sword (bonfires), intransigence, double-mindedness, lies, cunning. Protestants - the Germans and the English - have a completely distorted concept of the Church, for they do not have the grace of the legal priesthood; there are no sacraments except baptism and (the most important) communion of the Body and Blood of Christ; there is no tribe of heaven - the Church of Heaven: they do not recognize saints; there is no tribe of the underworld - the dead are not recognized and they do not pray for them, considering this unnecessary. Glory to the Orthodox Church! Glory to Christ God - the most holy Head, the only Head of the Church of God on earth! Glory to God in the Trinity that we have not fallen into blasphemy against God, have not recognized and will not forever recognize a holy sinful man as the head of the Church!
To Anglicans and Lutherans: you want there to be no images so that they are not venerated! Yes, this is absurdity, absurdity. Man is the image of God, and you honor him in the person of father, mother, rulers, the Sovereign, and various benefactors; and the image of God in the flesh, the Father, the Author of faith. Don’t you want to honor the King, Savior, Benefactor or His Most Pure Mother the Virgin, the supreme Cherub and all creation, prophets, apostles, martyrs, hierarchs, and saints? After all, the Saints are His friends, temples, His members, in whom He rests. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you? (Cor. 3:16). Yes, and we all are His body, of His flesh and of His bones (Eph. 5:30), His sons and daughters, His birth. How can one not honor their images?
Plants in the house of the Lord, in the courtyards of our God, will flourish (Verse on verse by St. Basil). Only in the Orthodox Church of God is there incorruption of relics, but outside the Church - not, i.e. neither among Catholics, nor among Lutherans, much less among Jews and Mohammedans. Hold on to the Orthodox Church with a sincere heart!
In the Catholic faith there is no idea of the Church. It has gone down the drain: there is no proskomedia in it, the most pure Blood is not given to the laity, but it is precisely what is needed. Drink from it, all of you, says the Lord, this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:27-28).
Lord, you are the true Lord of creation. What are the Finns, Poles, and Germans plotting against Russia and against Your Holy Church, who have distorted Your Gospel, who have fallen away from Your Church! Lord, what are they up to! They want to completely devour us and destroy Your Church, Your temples, Your worship, Your statutes, the decrees of the holy apostles and holy fathers, ecumenical and local councils. What have we come to?
Did you not sow good seed in your (Thy Church) field? where does the tares come from (Matthew 13:27): heresies, schisms, the admission of new dogmas, all sorts of vices, the desire to dominate, supremacy in the Catholic Church, distortion of worship, sacraments, rituals (unleavened bread)? The Lord answers: the enemy man did this (Matthew 13:28), human pride and malice, but the Lord allows everything to grow to the end, and in the next century he will evaluate everyone according to his deeds.
Lord, lead Russia to the true and salutary path for all the suffering and martyrdom from the deadly weapons of her faithful children, so many in all parts of her. Lord, plant firm faith in the hearts of all her sons, so that Your Church may shine with Orthodoxy and unfeigned piety; Teach all classes to believe and walk in the ways of Your commandments.
Who would not want to unite the Orthodox with Catholics or Lutherans and be one with them - in Christ, one Church, one community of believers! But which of the members of these spoken churches, especially the primates called popes, patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, or priests, priests, will agree to renounce their errors? Nobody. But we cannot agree with their heretical teaching without harming our spiritual salvation. And their enmity towards us is eternal. Prejudice against us, their belief that we are schismatics, is not this a great obstacle to unity? So try to connect. Is it possible to combine the incompatible - a lie with the truth?
Catholic Jesuits, to please the pope and their selfish lower views and goals, perverted the law of conscience and the law of the Gospel, arguing that in order to achieve selfish goals or religious goals, Catholics can use all sorts of illegal means: that means killing, and being malicious in every possible way, and persecuting Orthodox faith, calling the faith schismatic and dog-like, and burning the Orthodox at the stake, like Huss and others.
As a result of the deviation from the truth of the Gospel, the pope and Catholicism became the subject of heated controversy for the sake of truth, and Catholics, defending their untruth, are angry with the Orthodox, hate them, revile them with all sorts of unrighteous and blasphemous words, and revile our true faith itself in every possible way. So that in order to restore truth and peace they would renounce their false, harmful and destructive opinions and come into agreement with Orthodoxy, but no: they consider themselves to have the right to stand for lies and affirm lies, to the destruction of themselves and Catholics. Catholics, come to your senses, wake up! You have been misled! Return to the truth!
The core of Catholic pride and Catholic lies in dogma, in government and moral teaching is the primacy of the pope, an imaginary and incorrect understanding of the Savior’s saying: you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). All the holy fathers of the first and subsequent centuries, and the very first Orthodox popes, recognized that by the main Stone we must understand Jesus Christ Himself - the Stone was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). As proof of this truth, the truest and most obvious, I cite a word that has a similar turn in the Gospel of John: destroy this temple (John 2:19). (By temple we mean the temple of the Body of the Lord not made with hands, and not the Temple of Jerusalem; this is clear from the flow of speech.) By church the Lord means His most pure Body, just as by the Foundation Stone we must mean Christ Himself, and not the successors of Peter the Apostle or Peter himself. It is clear. And the popes imagined themselves to be the heads of the church and its foundation, and even the vicars of Christ, which is absurd and incompatible with anything. And hence all the arrogance of the Roman popes and their long-standing claim to supremacy and unauthorized control of the entire universal church. Well, the popes have done various tricks in their papal church, various false dogmas leading to falsehood both in faith and in life. This is a completely heretical church.
Is the Pope the head of the church? No, this is ridiculous. The Church embraces both the saints and the angelic council - this is one body under the head of the One Christ. What does sinful dad have to do with it!
If Jesus Christ had intended to give His church, upon His ascension into heaven, another head in His place, or a vicar, as the popes say, considering themselves vicars of Christ on earth, then He would have clearly announced this before His ascension, for this is such an important dogmas for the salvation of human souls; and the apostles would have announced this or one of them would have called himself a vicegerent, otherwise none of them said anything, remembering the words of the Lord: whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant (Matthew 20:26), nevertheless you are brothers (Matthew 23:8).
If the Roman pope were completely of one mind and of one mind, of the same doctrine with the Lord, he could, although not in the proper sense, be called the head of the church, but as he is diverse and contrary to Christ, then he is a heretic and cannot be called the head of the church and teach the church: for She is the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), and the pope and the papists are a reed shaken by the wind, and have completely perverted the truth of Christ both in teaching and in worship (unleavened bread and without proskomedia), and in government, enslaving them to their heresy all Catholicism and making it incorrigible, for the pope, with all his heresies, is recognized as infallible by the Catholic Church, and, therefore, incorrigible, counter-thinking.
Catholics, recognizing the Pope as the head of the church, lost Christ, the real Head of the church, and were left without a Head. The entire history of the papacy testifies that Catholics do not have a Head, because they do inappropriate things, they fight against the Orthodox Church not spiritually, but according to the flesh - with hatred, malice, revenge, all sorts of curses, murders from around the corner, arson, riots, rioting , disobedience, separatism, despite the fact that the Poles in Russia live freely, preferentially, permissively, in contentment for everyone, like other nations. The hatred of Catholics for the Orthodox is historical, the most frantic: Catholic priests and bishops, and many Polish intellectuals are ready to swallow us alive. Enlighten, enlighten and save them, Lord! Where is their Head of the Church - Christ? He is love, goodness, meekness, mercy, long-suffering, and Catholics have nothing of the kind. And in dogma there are so many heresies, innovations, and deviations from the truth! O disastrous papal system!
The one Head of the church of heaven, earth and hell is Christ God. Can a human pope be the head of the Church that is in heaven? Can not. And in general, can the Pope, a sinful man, be the head of the entire earthly church and control the fate of earthly and hereafter? Did dad crucify himself for us? Was Christ divided? Can the solid foundation of the Church, existing through all centuries, be a person, so to speak, one-day and constantly changing, like a kaleidoscope, in thoughts, dispositions, intentions, and enterprises? Read the history of the popes: what were they like? How many of them were completely worthy of their seat? And only in the first centuries there were several worthy ones, but in subsequent centuries there were so many unworthy and vicious ones, to the shame of the entire Roman Church! Are these the heads of churches? Catholics point out that in our liturgical books Peter is called the head of the church, but he is not called in the proper sense, but as the primate of the Roman Church, but not the universal one. In this sense, the metropolitans were called the heads of the Russian church Ancient Rus'- Peter, Alexy and others.
Petition of blood. I believe in the all-cleansing intercession of the most honorable Blood of Christ God, shed for the remission of the sins of the whole world (who believes accurately and in truth) and my sins, I believe in the all-powerful intercession of this Blood, which speaks (intercedes) better than Abel’s. Popes and Catholics have rejected this all-giving Blood for the laity and do not give it to them, probably out of economy, so that less wine comes out!
And with what mad zeal they lure the Orthodox into Catholicism, into their destructive faith! Protect, Lord, Orthodoxy from fierce Catholicism, in which everyone submits to the arbitrariness of the Pope and the Jesuits.
The enemy of our salvation, the devil, knowing all the saving power of our union with God through faith and the church and the grace of God, tries with all his strength and cunning to break our connection with God through sin, through carnal passions, worldly addictions. We must all hold firmly to the union with God and the Church, observing the laws of the Lord.
In the Catholic faith, which claims truth and infallibility, blatant incongruities and deviations from the truth have appeared: the laity is not given the most pure Blood of Christ and considers it unnecessary in a separate form; instead of the supremacy of Christ, they preach the absurd viceroy of the pope and completely obscure Christ; the proskomedia in the liturgy was destroyed, instead they give unleavened bread to show their Catholic enmity towards Orthodoxy, faithful to the covenants of the Savior, the laity is not allowed to read the Bible and the Gospel for fear that the laity will expose the pope and his bishops of heresy, recognize the supererogatory virtues of the saints, as if the pope could impute them to Catholics, poor in good deeds, they wrongly believe in the purgatory of souls, which is not recognized by the Universal Church. It is not worth talking about the insufficiency of salvation and the falsity of Protestantism and Reformation as special faiths: everything there is perverted, the entire system of faith and worship. What can we say about Mohammedanism, Judaism and paganism? This is not faith, but fanaticism, not the truth, but a destructive satanic lie. Oh, how we, Orthodox Christians, must value our faith and firmly live by it and be saved, “finally achieving through faith the salvation of souls” (1 Pet. 1:9), according to the words of the Apostle Peter.
Catholics fell into a great error by establishing a new dogma about immaculate conception Ever-Virgin. Having allowed the virgin conception by Her parents, Joachim and Anna, and the virgin birth, they thereby refute the teaching about the universality of sin and its inheritance by the entire human race and, thus, consider the Blessed Virgin not subject to redemption and salvation, for from what to redeem, from what to save the poor? sin, conceived immaculately! Meanwhile, the Mother of God Herself says: “My spirit rejoiced in God My Savior” (Luke 1:47).
Who would not want to unite the Orthodox with Catholics or Lutherans and be one with them in Christ, one Church, one community of believers! But which of the members of these spoken Churches, especially the primates called popes, patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, or priests, priests, will agree to renounce their errors? Nobody. But we cannot agree with their heretical teaching without harming our spiritual salvation. And their enmity towards us is eternal. Prejudice against us, their belief that we are schismatics, is not this a great obstacle to unity? So try to connect. Is it possible to combine the incompatible - a lie with the truth?
Due to the misunderstanding by Catholics of the words of the Savior: “you are Peter, and on this rock (on Christ, whom Peter confessed to be the Son of God) I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), depend all the errors of Catholics and popes, and especially the imaginary primacy of the pope in the Church and the viceroy of popes. They are only ministers, co-workers with the apostles.
Exposing Catholic lies. Catholics recognize the pope as the head of the Church on the basis of the words of Jesus Christ, which they incorrectly interpret: “on this rock (Christ, and not Peter - in our opinion) I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Why do Catholics attribute the words of the Savior on this stone not to the Savior, but to the Apostle Peter? Because before these words the Lord said to Peter: you are Peter, and after that he said: and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We affirm that by the words on this stone the Lord means Himself, and not Peter, for Christ is everywhere called the Stone of faith and the Church in Scripture. The Apostle Paul, when he speaks of a stone in the desert that miraculously produced water for the Jews and quenched their thirst, means Christ by it. But for greater and clearer proof that by the words on this stone one must understand Christ as the Foundation of the Church, I cite a similar passage from the Gospel of John: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). What did the Lord mean by church here? The Church of His Body not made by hands, and not the Temple of Jerusalem. So in the above words I meant not Peter, but Himself.
Is the Pope the head of the Church? No, this is ridiculous. The Church embraces the saints, and the angelic council is one body under the head of the One Christ. What does sinful dad have to do with it! (4) the words of the Lord: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26), “yet you are all brothers” (Matthew 23:8).
If Jesus Christ had intended to give His Church upon His ascension into heaven another head in His place, or a vicar, as the popes say, considering themselves vicars of Christ on earth, then He would have clearly announced this before His ascension, for this is so important for salvation souls of human dogmas; and the apostles would have announced this or one of them would have called himself a vicegerent, otherwise none of them said anything, remembering the words of the Lord: “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26), “Yet you are brothers” (Matthew 23:8).
Catholics. Why don’t you have a great litany and these irreplaceable words glorifying with all the saints our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, etc. You only magnify the pope, but you humiliate the Mother of God and the saints and Christ Himself: you have blasphemously ascended, proudly! The Holy Church with the Head and members: The Head is Christ (cf. Eph. 5:23), the members are the Mother of God, the holy apostles, prophets, saints, martyrs, saints, unmercenaries, righteous and all saints; then on earth the members are the bishopric, the presbytery, the deaconry, all the pious laity; then in faith the departed saints, priests, kings and people of every worldly rank and title: with God they are all alive (cf. Luke 20:38). Here is the Church with its Head and members. Do Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans have this?
The Roman popes worked for more than a thousand years in favor of arrogance and pride and all lies, and not of Christ, not of His Church, inventing many false teachings - about the primacy of the pope in the Church, about infallibility, about unleavened bread in the liturgy, about communion in one Body without Blood, purgatory, etc.; piled up so many new, unheard of dogmas (about the virgin birth) that it is impossible for anyone to be saved, (but) it is possible for one who professes Catholic faith and those who recognize Catholic lies as truth. “A good tree produces good fruit, but an evil tree produces evil fruit. By their fruits you will recognize them” (cf. Matt. 7:17, 20). Do not be arrogant, Catholics, God himself condemned you in lies, like Christ did the Pharisees and Sadducees and the high priests of the Jews (see Matt. 16:1-12). It is not for nothing that the Jews and Poles act together, in the same spirit.
The word of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is true: “He who is not with Me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30). Catholics, Lutherans and reformers have fallen away from the Church of Christ - and they are not with us, they are strongly at enmity against us, they persecute us to death, oppress us in every possible way for our faith, ridicule it and us and do all sorts of dirty tricks to us, especially in the main places of their settlements; they clearly go against Christ and His Church, they do not respect Life-giving Cross, holy icons, holy relics, they do not respect fasts, they distort the holy dogmas of the saving faith. They are not with us, but against us and against Christ. Turn them, O Lord, to Thy true Church and save them.
“Either judge the tree to be good and its fruit to be good; or judge the tree to be bad and its fruit to be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). The Catholic Church has not had a single saint since its separation from the Eastern Church, but the Orthodox Church has always had and has many saints glorified by God in it.
Where is the apple, the core of the discord and hatred of the Catholic Church towards the Orthodox? In the too exaggerated opinion of the popes about themselves, about the superiority of the Eastern Orthodox hierarchs over the bishops, in their immense pride; in a false interpretation of the words of the Lord spoken to the Apostle Peter: “you are Peter, and on this stone...” (Matthew 16:18). The stone is Christ, and not Peter, who denied three times, although he atoned for his rejection with tears of repentance and was accepted as an apostle...
The idea that the Lord allegedly created the Church on Peter, and not on Himself, this idea, which lay in the heads of the popes and Catholics and interpreted by them in favor of Peter's successors, the popes, as the heads of the Church and the vicars of Christ, turned everything upside down in the Catholic Church : they, in their opinion, are the vicars of Christ with unlimited power, with dominance over the entire Church of Christ; as if they were the judges of all bishops; they are the founders and interpreters of dogmas; They can supposedly change the very Sacraments in the Church at their own discretion; they canonize saints they do not have; they deprive the laity of the Blood of Christ; they pour water over babies being baptized rather than immersing them in water, etc. Communication Catholic Church with the heavenly Church - completely pitiful, cold, short, lifeless, not like in the Orthodox Church - living, wise, complete, all-sincere, all-reverent. Everywhere and everywhere dad and dad; he is given honor everywhere, and not the saints; The saints of the East and West are diminished, hidden, put into obscurity and are sometimes only shown to believers, especially tourists, for show. And the dismissals of the liturgical services in the Catholic Church are so careless and cold: go, mass is over. And we, in the Orthodox Church, have such reverent, modest, hope-filled cries of Christ: Christ, our true God, through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother and all the saints, will have mercy and save us, as He is Good and Lover of Mankind. The Pope controls the fate of the heavenly and earthly Church, disposes of the merits of the saints at will: he brings them into purgatory and takes them out at will, indulges (distributes indulgences to believers). It would just be ridiculous if it weren't extremely sad and harmful. And how do the popes, cardinals, prelates, priests, and Jesuits themselves not notice this? After all, the Catholic faith was established hastily. Everything is sold; The pope took everything into his power, the entire salvation of Catholics. And that is why Catholics now have no, no glorified saints; there are only fabricated ones, made according to papal arbitrariness. And the Orthodox Church, like the Garden of Eden, is seated with saints; Here is a new saint - Joasaph Gorlenko, Archbishop of Belgorod, how many miracles he has performed, but has not yet been canonized. So many are ready to open! O Orthodox Church! How vital, how holy, how venerable you are! How beloved by all true Orthodox Christians!
Catholics are to blame, among other things, for unfairly considering us heretics and schismatics, for scolding and cursing our holy, immaculate Catholic and Apostolic Church; they do not want to trace our Orthodox teaching, our liturgical books, canons, hierarchy; out of contempt, pride and disgust, they do not even want to set foot in our church, considering it a desecration. Satanic hatred!
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt
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