PATRIARCHATE OF ANTIOCH AND ALL THE EAST
His Eminence Metropolitan Silouan
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
of the British Isles and Ireland
12 December 2023
Your Eminence,
Your blessing!
According to Saint Ephraim of Katounakia, heresies are wrong opinions of demonic inspiration in collaboration with the pride and self-opinion of some Christians who have distorted and altered the meaning of the Faith. Heresy infests the human mind with passions, blindness, lack of clarity and correct perception of things of this life and especially of the spiritual life. According to Father John Romanides, man becomes mentally ill because of misconceptions about life and the world, which do not come from divine revelation, or which come from a poorly transmitted or altered revelation, and he is healed by the anathemas. [1]The Holy Apostle Paul says, “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema! Maranatha!”[2]
The anathema is the greatest proof of God’s love for those caught in heresy because it gives them a warning and awakens the conscience of heretics. According to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, the proclamation of the anathemas is absolutely necessary and acts as a cure of this disease of the mind.
Following the tradition of the Holy Fathers and of the Ecumenical Councils, in our parish under Your omophorion, we also proclaim the anathemas against all heresies on every Sunday of Orthodoxy and among these are the following:
Your Eminence,
As we are in unity with You in the Church of Antioch, under Your omophorion, Your confession of faith has to be our confession of faith as well. So, we as a parish would like to humbly ask You, do You also accept these anathemas and together with us, do You proclaim them?
Also, the decisions from the 1991 synodal statement of the Church of Antioch on the relations with the ‘Syriac Orthodox Church’ in the time of Patriarch Ignatius IV (12 Nov 1991) have scandalised many of the Orthodox faithful. Among these decisions are the following:
These decisions are in contradiction with the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Ecumenical Councils and allow inter-communion and concelebration with the ‘Syriac Orthodox’ who still continue to follow the heresy of Severus and Dioscorus, and reject the Council of Chalcedon.
Does Your Eminence condemn and anathematise with us these synodal decisions in accordance with the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Ecumenical Councils?
We would like to humbly mention that this 1991 synodal agreement has also been condemned by the Holy Synod of the Church of Georgia in 1998. [5]
Your Eminence,
The written answer to this open letter will be a very important confession of Faith from Your Eminence, especially in these times of ecumenism and apostasy, and will be published in all the main international Orthodox media to the joy of the ecumenical Orthodox Church.
We would also like to inform Your Eminence that we have also written an open letter to His Beatitude Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod, which we have enclosed with this letter.
Our brother in Christ, Father Patrick (Ramsey), also wrote a supplementary letter to the open letter to His Beatitude Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod.
We eagerly await Your response to this open letter.
Kissing Your right hand and asking for Your prayers,
With all my love in Christ,
Protopresbyter Matthew (Ion-Valentin) Vulcanescu
Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland
Enclosure: Open Letter to Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch
[1] Romanides, Religion is a neurobiological disease and Orthodoxy is its cure (in Greek), ch.2.4
[2] 1 Corinthians 16:22
[3] Vulcanescu, The Sunday of Orthodoxy 2023.
[4] Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, Statement of the Orthodox Church of Antioch on the Relations between the Eastern and Syrian ‘Orthodox’ Churches.
[5] Heers, The 1998 Synodical Decision of the Orthodox Church of Georgia on the Chambesy and Balamand Agreements.
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