Theology > Historical Issues > Anti-Ecumenism

Anti-Ecumenism

   

From the very outset, the anti-ecumenist Old Calendarist Orthodox unwaveringly opposed the destructive inroads of the heresy of ecumenism and the concomitant calendar innovation.

After a critical confrontation between ecumenism and anti-ecumenism for nearly a century, by the Grace of God the following results have been achieved:

1. Communities of Old Calendarist anti-ecumenists have been established in almost all of the local Orthodox Churches and in the Diaspora, as well.

2. The message of Orthodox anti-ecumenism has now been made known at the local, regional, and international levels.

3. Anti-ecumenist theology is now being cultivated in a more resolute and serious manner.

4. The narrow confines of sterile opposition to the New Calendar have now been surmounted and the identity of the Old Calendarist Orthodox is now clearly and steadfastly anti-ecumenistic.

5. This consistent and responsible stand has contributed to the awakening of Orthodox anti-ecumenism at a pan-Orthodox level.

6. At the close of the twentieth century, two local Churches, those of Georgia and Bulgaria, broke off relations with the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical organizations.

7. In 1998, the Georgian Church condemned the fundamental deviations of the ecumenical movement.

8. Fifty years after its founding, the World Council of Churches and, more broadly, the ecumenical movement are passing through a dramatic identity crisis.

• Anti-ecumenists always have before their eyes the exhortation of St. John of Damascus:

“Wherefore, brethren, let us stand on the rock of the Faith and the Tradition of the Church, not removing the boundaries which our Holy Fathers have established, not giving ground to those who wish to innovate and destroy the edifice of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of God. For, if license is granted to anyone who so desires, the entire Body of the Church will gradually be destroyed” (Third Apologetic Discourse Against Those Who Slander the Holy Icons, §41, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. XCIV, col. 1356CD).

Texts

• The Decree (Ὅρος) of the Holy Orthodox Church of Christ Concerning Latin Pseudo-Baptism, Issued in 1755 (English pdf, 738 KB; Greek pdf, 118 KB)

1. Greece

• “Memorandum Concerning Ecumenism” (English pdf, 57 KB; Greek pdf, 144 KB)

• “Ecumenism Certainly is a Heresy” (Greek pdf, 173 KB)

2. Russia

• “The Current of Anti-Ecumenism in Russia Is Becoming Constantly Stronger” (Greek pdf, 206 KB)

• “The Wave of Anti-Ecumenism in Russia Is Becoming Constantly Stronger” (Greek pdf, 198 KB)

• “A Strong Current of Anti-Ecumenism in Russia” (Greek pdf, 315 KB)

3. Bulgaria

• “The Bulgarian Orthodox Church Also Withdraws from the Conference of European Churches” (Greek pdf, 73 KB)

• “The Bulgarian Orthodox Church Discontinues Its Participation in the WCC” (Greek pdf, 188 KB)


4. Georgia

• “The Georgian Orthodox Church Gives Still Greater Impetus to Anti-Ecumenism” (English pdf, 55 KB; Greek pdf, 120 KB)

• “The Georgian Orthodox Church Ceases Its Participation in the Ecumenical Movement and Withdraws from Its Institutional Organs” (Greek pdf, 396 KB)


5. Serbia

• “A Volcano of Anti-Ecumenism Erupts in Serbia” (Greek pdf, 225 KB)

• “The Orthodox Stand Against the Heresy of Ecumenism” (Greek pdf, 101 KB)

• Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren to the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church (Greek pdf, 135 KB)

• Uneasiness about Modernism and Ecumenism in the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate (English pdf, 36 KB; Russian pdf, 62 KB))

• “The Serbian Church and the Ecumenical Movement” (Greek pdf, 109 KB)

• “Ecumenism and Anti-Ecumenism in Serbia” (Greek pdf, 178 KB)