Speakers: Michael Goh and John Walsh – members of the Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland

The main reasons for the cessation of commemoration of our bishop Metropolitan Silouan Oner:

1. The agreements with the Anti-Chalcedonians, the so-called Chambesy agreements (1989, 1990 and 1993) and 1991 synodal statement of the Church of Antioch on the relations with the ‘Syriac Orthodox Church’, that decided to allow inter-communion and concelebration with heretics that have been condemned by the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Ecumenical Councils, and their implementation in our Archdiocese[1].
2. The heresy of the ubiquity[2] of the Grace of Salvation outside the Orthodox Church (as condemned by the Synod of Carthage 258), which states that salvation exists outside the One and Unique Body of Christ. The idea of “incomplete baptism” as found in the Encyclical to the Clergy dated 16 December 2023, is corroborated by the term “ubiquity” of the Grace of Salvation in the Archdiocesan policy document for the reception of the heterodox dated 9 January 2024.
   The term “ubiquity” of the Grace of Salvation is in direct contradiction to the Holy Gospel and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. Whatever is in contradiction with the Holy Gospel and the Holy Fathers is called opinion or heresy. There is only the One and Unique Church that is complete (catholic), where regeneration in Baptism and salvation can be found. The idea of “incomplete baptism” (that is found in the aforementioned policy document) which leads to the idea of “incomplete Churches” is in contradiction to the Holy Gospel and the Holy Fathers.[3]

The agreements with the Anti-Chalcedonians and Archdiocesan statements mentioned above are in direct contradiction to the Holy Gospel and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. Further details of these contradictions can be found in the correspondences linked below.

Open Letter to Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2023/12/16/open-letter-to-patriarch-john-x-and-the-holy-synod/?lang=en

Open Letter to Metropolitan Silouan Oner
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2023/12/17/open-letter-to-metropolitan-silouan-oner/?lang=en

The Response Letter of Father Matei Vulcanescu to the Letter of Metropolitan Silouan Oner to Clergy
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2023/12/22/the-response-letter-of-father-matei-vulcanescu-to-the-letter-of-metropolitan-silouan-oner-to-clergy/?lang=en

Letter of Apologetics and the Cessation of Commemoration
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2023/12/20/letter-of-apologetics-and-the-cessation-of-commemoration/?lang=en

Open Letter in Response to the Archdiocesan Policy on the Reception of the Heterodox
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2024/01/17/open-letter-in-response-to-the-archdiocesan-policy-on-the-reception-of-the-heterodox/?lang=en

References:

1. January-February 2024 issue of The Narthex, the newsletter of St Dunstan’s Antiochian Orthodox Church (Poole, UK) <https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2024/03/17/confirmation-that-the-antiochian-orthodox-church-in-the-uk-communes-monophysite-laity/?lang=en>

2. Ubiquity means the state of being everywhere at the same time, being omnipresent

3. Saint John Chrysostom. Ἅπαντα τά ἔργα 16 Β, Ὑπόμνημα στήν πρός Ρωμαίους ἐπιστολή, Ὁμιλία ΣΤ΄ [Complete Works 16 B, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily VI], ΕΠΕ 71 (in Greek) Greece, 1984, pp. 448-459.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage: “Outside the Church there is no salvation” (Liber de Unitate Ecclesiae 6 PL 4:503A) [Migne, J.-P. Patrologia Latina, Vol. 4, 1841-1855. (PL)]

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov. Ascetic sermons and letters to the laity, Volume IV, “On the “salvation” of heretics”, “Hanul Coltei” Parish Newsletter 176 (in Romanian), 31 July 2016. accessed on 14 Mar 2017 <https://sfantul-ilie.ro/www/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/buletin-nr.176-31.07.2016.pdf> ,

Saint Diadochus of Photice, Ascetic Word 76, Philokalia, vol 1 (in Greek) Athens, 1982, p. 258

Saint Theodore the Studite: “Τό γάρ κοινωνεῖν παρά αἱρετικοῦ ἤ προφανοῦς διαβεβλημένου κατά τόν βίον, ἀλλοτριοῖ Θεοῦ καί προσοικειοῖ τῷ διαβόλῳ” (Letter 220 to the Spatharian named Mahara 2, PG 99:1668D) [Migne, J.-P. Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 99, 1857-1866. (PG)]

Synodicon of the Holy and Ecumenical Seventh Synod for Orthodoxy, Anathema 50 (4th against Barlaam and Akindynos and the 9th chapters), in the Triodion Katanyktikon, Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece (in Greek) Athens, 2017 (5th edition), p. 364. [Συνοδικόν τῆς Ἁγίας καί Οἰκουμενικῆς Ζ΄ Συνόδου ὑπέρ τῆς Ὀρθοδοξίας, ἀναθεματισμός 50ός (4ος στά Κατά τοῦ Βαρλαάμ καί Ἀκινδύνου θ΄ κεφάλαια), στό Τριώδιον Κατανυκτικόν, ἔκδ. Ἀποστολικῆς Διακονίας τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ἀθήνα 2017 (ἔκδοση 5η), σ. 364.)]