ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF SAINT EDWARD THE MARTYR
AND SAINT PARASKEVI OF ROME
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland
His Eminence Metropolitan Silouan
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
of the British Isles and Ireland
17 January 2024
Your Eminence,
With reference to the recently published policy document of the Archdiocese, the Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox [1] (made public on 9 January 2024, and updated on 11 January 2024), with pain of heart, my humbleness would like to bring Your attention to the very grave dogmatic errors in this policy document which are contrary to the Dogmas of Church, and has scandalised many of the Orthodox faithful. It contains contradictions, new definitions of well-established concepts, misinterpretations of the Holy Canons and of the teachings of the Holy Fathers, mistranslations and misuse of historical synods as arguments for the heretical theories of “incomplete Baptism” and “incomplete Churches”.
His Eminence, Damianos, Archbishop of the Autonomous Church of Sinai and Igumen of the Monastery of Saint Catherine, states in the Confession of the Orthodox Faith Against All Heresies, on 26 January 2018 [2], that “We show ecumenism as heresy and we publicly reject it and all its manifestations:
15. the heresy according to which there would be saving grace outside the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and that there would be valid baptism and working grace of the priesthood outside the Holy Church (the mere historical presence of a succession from the Apostles and the mere recital of the formula of the Holy Trinity, do not validate the “sacraments” of heretics).
17. the heresy which states that we cannot know where the boundaries of the Church are, and that the entire mankind would be incorporated in an “unseen Church”. According to the Orthodox teaching, the Church is historical, visible, with Apostolic succession which kept the Right Faith (the dogmas formulated at the Ecumenical Synods and the anathemas that delimit the Dogmatic Truth from the heretical lie). The Right Faith is carried on to the end of the ages only in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
19. the transformation of economy (oikonomia) into dogma or rule; according to the Orthodox teaching, economy is a temporary deviation from exactitude (akriveia), from the rule of faith, due to human weakness, in exceptional circumstances, where its purpose is to bring people to Orthodoxy, despite any obstacles. Economy is applied only in cases of force majeure, for a good purpose in unfavourable circumstances. However, when in the absence of exceptional circumstances, the application of economy continues, it disturbs and circumvents the canonical order; then this adaptation is not a wise measure, but in defiance of the Holy Tradition, which leads to the disregard of Orthodoxy.”
In this policy document, the terms ‘economia’ and ‘akribeia’ have been redefined contrary to their well-established meaning according to the teachings of the Holy Fathers and to the Holy Canons as follows: “Two common misconceptions are to think that economia means a dispensation and that akribeia is the norm. In fact, economia means ALL the possible rules of the household, akribeia being the strictest of those.” [3] In fact, there is no misconception, as according to Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, the well-established definition for ‘akribeia’ is exactitude, meaning the use of the formally valid canons, and the definition for ‘economia’ is tolerance regarding the temporary, exceptional adaptation of the Holy Tradition for the spiritual benefit of persons who find themselves in exceptional situations. In other words, ‘akribeia’ is in fact the rule whereas ‘economia’ is the exception [4].
Then, the term ‘salvation’ is given a different definition as follows: “‘Salvation’ in this context meant spiritual health. This approach mandated the exceptional remedy of baptism, NOT as some rigorists today suppose, for ALL heretics or schismatics, but for some of them.” [5] This new interpretation and definition is contrary to the actual meaning of Salvation: being united to Christ in His One and Unique Body. Also in the statement: “There was ‘no salvation outside the Church’” [6], the past tense is used, which presents the teachings of Saint Cyprian of Carthage as obsolete. According to the Holy Scriptures, Our Saviour Himself said that “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” [7] Baptism is not “an exceptional remedy” but is the only door of entry into the Kingdom of God, which is the Orthodox Church. It is also contrary to Canon 1 of the Third Council of Carthage held during the time of Saint Cyprian himself (258), which states that: “we declare that no one can be baptised outside of the [Orthodox] Church, there being but one baptism, and this being existent only in the [Orthodox] Church.” [8]
Baptism is the dogma of the Church: one baptism in the Orthodox Church, as we confess in the Creed: I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. There is no dogma of the Orthodox Church that states that those who have “a Trinitarian faith are to be received by Profession of Faith and Chrismation.” [9] It is forbidden to use canons of economia to make theology and dogmas from them, as evident in Section G2 of the policy document: “Nonetheless, pastorally not dogmatically … this Archdiocese does allow [catechumens] to choose an Orthodox baptism instead of chrismation.” [10] The transformation of economia into dogma is actually the heretical theory taught by Metropolitan Ioannis Zizioulas. In the Confession of the Orthodox Faith of His Eminence Damianos, Archbishop of Sinai, His Eminence publicly rejects “the transformation of economy (oikonomia) into dogma or rule” [11] as one of the manifestations of the heresy of ecumenism. His Eminence has himself baptised many into the Orthodox Church, who have been ‘received by Chrismation’, which the policy document calls ‘corrective’ baptism. It is a misnomer to call it ‘corrective’ baptism, it is actually the one and unique Baptism in the Orthodox Church.
The Apostolic Canons have also not been mentioned in the list of Holy Canons pertaining to the reception of heretics in the policy document. The Apostolic Canons are established by Canon 2 of the Fifth-Sixth Ecumenical Council and Canon 1 of the Seventh Ecumenical Council as divinely inspired and of Apostolic authority [12]. The two Apostolic Canons on the reception of the heretics are as follows:
Apostolic Canon 46: We ordain that a bishop, or presbyter, who has admitted the baptism or sacrifice of heretics, be deposed. For what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath a believer with an unbeliever? [13]
Apostolic Canon 47: If a bishop or presbyter baptises anew one having had a baptism according to truth or if not baptising one polluted [baptised] by the impious [heretics], let him be deposed as mocking the Cross and the Lord’s death and not discerning presbyters from pseudo-presbyters. [14]
The aforementioned policy document also introduced a new idea in the updated edition (v1.1 of 9 January 2024) that “the reception of a convert by Chrismation is not a recognition of the validity of non-Orthodox baptism. Instead it is an act in which Chrismation perfects whatever was lacking in their non-Orthodox baptism.” [15] This idea comes in contradiction to the statement in the encyclical of Your Eminence to the clergy of the Archdiocese on 16 December 2023 [16], that “it is forbidden to baptise twice”, which declared that there is regeneration in baptism among the heretics and so there is a priesthood and the Church among the heretics.
The clause of non-recognition of non-Orthodox baptism is correct and to be appreciated, but in this current statement, it is self-contradictory as well. The first clause rejects non-Orthodox baptism, but at the same time, the next clause accepts that non-Orthodox baptism would have something that needs to be perfected by Chrismation, falling into the heretical theories of ‘incomplete Baptism’ and ‘incomplete Churches’. In my discussion with Emeritus Professor Demetrios Tselengidis of the University of Thessaloniki on this specific quotation, he raised the blessed question, “Can a woman be partially pregnant or a little pregnant (ολίγον έγκυος)?” This leads to the logical conclusion that baptism can only be completely valid or completely invalid.
These heretical theories of ‘incomplete Baptism’ and ‘incomplete Churches’ were in fact developed by Jesuit theologians Karl Rahner and Yves Congar, who were the instrumental theologians in the papist Second Vatican Council [17]. In the Orthodox world, these heretical theories were used by Father Georges Florovsky in the composition of the Toronto Statement (1950)[18] of the “World Council of Churches”, which was adopted by the Council of Crete (2016) [19], and by Metropolitan Ioannis Zizioulas. This new theology defines a different ecclesiology which is contrary to Orthodox ecclesiology. His Eminence Damianos, Archbishop of Sinai has also publicly rejected the heretical theories of ‘incomplete Baptism’ and ‘incomplete Churches’ as mentioned above.
In order to support the heretical theory of ‘incomplete Baptism’, references to the Holy Scriptures have also been completely omitted in the policy document. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself established the rule for the reception of all converts when He said to the Holy Apostles: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [20] It is the Holy Apostles and their successors who have been given the commandment by the Lord to baptise, to “make disciples of all the nations”, and to teach their disciples “all things that I have commanded you.” The heretics who are not successors of the Apostles by the laying on of hands and by continuing in the Apostolic Faith, are not disciples of Christ nor members of His One and Unique Body. Heretics who are cut off from the Orthodox Church cannot unite their followers to the Orthodox Church. [21] Therefore, there can only be one redeeming Baptism which is only in the Orthodox Church, the One and Unique Body of Christ, which has kept the Apostlic Faith, as taught by the Holy Apostle Paul: “There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.” [22]
When an Orthodox presbyter performs a baptism, he fully immerses the person three times in water sanctified by the Holy Spirit (in accordance with Apostolic Canon 50 [23]). The heterodox who are outside the boundaries of the Orthodox Church, who are cut off from the Apostolic succession and the Orthodox Faith, cannot sanctify baptismal water as they are devoid of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, even if they ‘baptise’ in the name of a Trinity, it is not the Holy Trinity as taught by the Holy Apostles, the Holy Fathers and in the Ecumenical Councils, and it is not performed in sanctified water and the person is not born again of water and the Holy Spirit.
In the policy document, the Archdiocese has also promulgated a ‘new canon’ of the Church without any synodal approval in Section F which states that: “Any lay person who receives a ‘corrective’ baptism will be excommunicated and a clergyman will be deposed. This is a serious offence breaking the unity of the Church and as such, is dealt with in an uncompromising manner.” [24] where ‘corrective’ baptism is when a person receives an Orthodox baptism after being received by Chrismation only. The justification for this ‘new canon’ is that this prevents the “breaking the unity of the Church” but the promulgation of a ‘new canon’, especially without synodal agreement, itself serves to cause divisions between the dioceses of the Church of Antioch.
The accusation was also made against the laity and clergy [also “in some monasteries (including Mt. Athos) and perhaps in some jurisdictions”] who desire the Orthodox baptism of all non-Orthodox, as “a minority and often schismatic tendency in the Orthodox Church” and “extremists” [25]. A question that arises: Is Elder Parthenios of Saint Paul’s Monastery on Mount Athos, who has performed hundreds of ‘corrective’ baptisms, and is the spiritual father of Patriarch John X of Antioch, an “extremist” with “schismatic tendencies”?
Saint Paisius Velichkovsky describes the experience of the Iasi Archdiocese during the 18th century, when Uniates from Transylvania who were initially received through Chrismation, were baptised later by the Metropolitan of Iasi on Holy Saturday. In his correspondence with Hieromonk Dorotheos Voulismas, the saint tells him to baptise without fear and without hesitation all those who were received by Chrismation as if they were never chrismated, because this is in accordance to the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who did not command His disciples to “chrismate them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, but “baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the HolySpirit” [26];neither did our Saviour say that “whoever believes and is chrismated will be saved”, but “whoever believes and is baptised will be saved” [27], nor did He say who is “born of myrrh and the Spirit”, but “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”[28] The first necessary step for our salvation is Baptism and no other sacrament.[29]
Clement of Alexandria (150-215), following the Apostolic Tradition regarding heretical ‘baptism’, shows that heretics, being outside of the Church, do not have the true Baptism: “…‘Depart, do not stay in her place.’ It equivocally called the gathering of heresy a ‘place’; it did not call it the Church. Then the Scriptures continue: ‘For so you will cross foreign water’, considering heretical baptism is not from Her own and clean water. ‘And pass through a foreign river,’ that takes you along and drags you down into the sea; where the one who deviates from the safe path of the truth is cast away, being stolen again by the pagan waves.” [30]
With reference to the decisions of four councils that were cited in Section B of the policy document to support the reception of heretics by Chrismation [31], my humbleness would like to highlight that these council decisions have unfortunately been either misinterpreted or mistranslated. The 1484 Council of Constantinople was convened to officially declare the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1439) a false council and the Latins to be heretics, and to call back to the Orthodox Church, those former Orthodox who began to commemorate the Latin Pope of Rome following the false council. [32] In the decrees of the council, the “Latins” mentioned were primarily Uniates who have submitted to the Pope of Rome after the false council but have been previously baptised in the Orthodox Church. The synodal decree was done according to economy (economia), for that specific time, due to the tyranny of the Latin states which controlled territories of the former Byzantine Empire, according to Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite and Saint Athanasius Parios [33]. St. Nicodemus continues to state that, “There is a time limit to economy, and it is not perpetual and indefinite.”[34]
The decision from the 1642 Council of Moldova as quoted in the policy document: “This mystery [of baptism] once received is not again to be repeated, provided the person who provided the baptism believed in an Orthodox manner in three Persons in one God”,[35] is not addressing the validity of ‘baptism’ by heretics. Instead, it actually affirms that a true Orthodox baptism into the Orthodox Church cannot be repeated, in accordance with Apostolic Canon 47. Therefore, the decision of this Council cannot be used to support the reception of heretics by Chrismation.
The 1666-1667 Council of Moscow was called by Tsar Alexei I of Russia and was attended by Patriarch Paisios of Alexandria, Patriarch Macarius III of Antioch, and bishops from Russia and other local Churches. As cited in the policy document, it was “upon the insistence of Patriarch Macarius III of Antioch” which overturned the decision of the 1620 Council of Moscow that required the baptism of Latins and other heretics. In the record of this Council’s proceedings, where referring “to earlier Council statutes whereby it was forbidden to re-baptise even Arians and Macedonians in the event of their coming into Orthodoxy” [36], this is a misrepresentation of the canons of the Ecumenical Councils. Canon 7 of the Second Ecumenical Council and Canon 95 of the Fifth-Sixth Ecumenical Council permitted by temporary economy (economia), for Arians and Macedonians to be received by Chrismation, but the canons did not forbid reception by baptism. There are no canons of any Ecumenical Council which forbids the reception of heretics by baptism. The reference to Saint Mark of Ephesus and the 1484 Council of Constantinople also has been misrepresented at the 1667 Council as “not to re-baptise the Latins” but as mentioned above, the decree of the 1484 Council was done according to economy, for the reception of former Orthodox who have submitted to the Pope of Rome. An important point to note also is that Patriarch Macarius III of Antioch, who has been very insistent and influential at the Council to stop the baptism of Latins coming into the Church, had secretly submitted allegiance to the Pope of Rome prior to his attendance at the 1667 Council of Moscow.[37]
Decree 15 of the 1672 Council of Jerusalem as cited in the policy document is based on a mistranslation which has led to the false conclusion that there is “valid baptism” among the heretics. According to Protopresbyter Theodore Zizis, Emeritus Professor of the University of Thessaloniki and Father Seraphim Zizis, a more accurate translation from the Greek is: “We also reject, as something unclean and polluted, the teaching that some imperfection of faith prevents the celebration of the sacrament. For heretics – whom the Church accepts after they renounce heresy and join the Catholic (Orthodox) Church – despite their imperfect faith, they receive perfect baptism, and therefore, when they further acquire perfect faith, they are not rebaptised.” [38] Father Theodore and Father Seraphim point out that in Decree 15, Patriarch Dositheos is not addressing the validity of the baptism of those outside of the Orthodox Church but is addressing the question of whether the operation of the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism relies on the degree of faith of the person being baptised.[39]
In the policy document, the Synod of Constantinople (1756) has been described in Section C as “dissenting voices” and that “this Synod has not stood the test of time because it overturned the consistent teaching and practice of the Church as received canonically from antiquity.”[40] This statement is in contradiction to the synodal decision (no. 8) issued by the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch in 1933, that all heretics are to be baptised, which adopted the decree of the 1756 Synod [41], and this synodal decision is the last official decision of the Church of Antioch on the reception of heretics. In the interpretation of Bishop Nikodim Milaš cited in the policy document which states that the decision is “contrary to the practice of the Eastern Church of all centuries and particularly, to the practice of the Greek Church itself” after the Great Schism, the Bishop was unfortunately mistaken on the history of the Orthodox Church between 1054 and 1756. There has in fact been various sources during this period, including Latin and non-Orthodox sources, which testify that all heretics are received into the Orthodox Church by baptism, in faithfulness to the Holy Gospel, and the teachings of the Holy Fathers and the Holy Canons. [42]
Your Eminence,
With prayer and love in Christ, we await the moment when Your Eminence will publicly and officially reject and anathematise the heresies that are the cause of our cessation of Your commemoration. These heresies are: the heretical theories of ‘incomplete Baptism’ and ‘incomplete Churches’, the pan-heresy of ecumenism, the participation in the ‘World Council of Churches’ (WCC), 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]. As the letter of Your Eminence of 23 December 2023 [43] has sealed the fact that You are preaching heresy in public with an uncanonical, null and void deposition instead of trying to demonstrate that my humbleness is in error and that You are not a heretic, we await the moment when Your Eminence will be led by Your Orthodox conscience to annul the aforementioned letter and by this proving Your Orthodoxy. All the actions mentioned above will then allow us to resume the commemoration of Your name at all the holy services of the Church.
Remaining faithful to the Orthodox Church of Antioch,
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
The letter continues with the signatures of the parish members, with endnotes and with bibliography.
Endnotes
[1] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox.
[2] Tasthyras Tasthyras, Archbishop of Sinai, Damianos: Orthodox Confession of Faith Against All Heresies
[3] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, p. 1. op. cit.
[4] Refer to: Footnote 12: Orthodox Ethos Publication. On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church: The Patristic Consensus and Criteria, p. 20.
[5] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, p. 1. op. cit.
[6] Letter 72 of Saint Cyprian of Carthage, para. 21: Schaff, ANF Vol. 5, p. 911
[7] John 3:5.
[8] Canon 1 of the Third Council of Carthage during the time of Saint Cyprian: Agapios and Nicodemus, The Rudder, pp. 485-488 op. cit.
[9] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, Section G2, p. 7. op. cit.
[10] Ibidem. op. cit.
[11] Tasthyras Tasthyras, Archbishop of Sinai, Damianos: Orthodox Confession of Faith Against All Heresies
[12] Canon 2 of the Fifth-Sixth (Quinisext) Ecumenical Council and Canon 1 of the Seventh Ecumenical Council: Schaff, NPNF Vol. 14, p. 635 & 1029. See also: Orthodox Ethos Publication. On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church, pp. 35-40. op. cit.
[13] Schaff, NPNF Vol. 14, p. 1093. op. cit.
[14] Ibidem. op. cit.
[15] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, Section G2, p. 7. op. cit.
[16] Metropolitan of the Orthodox Christian British Isles and Ireland, Letter to Clergy December 2023.
[17] Heers, The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II, pp. 21-31, 95-105 & 182-213.
[18] World Council of Churches, Toronto Statement.
[19] ‘Holy and Great Council’, Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World
[20] Matthew 28:19-20
[21] Orthodox Ethos Publication, On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church, pp. 193-194 op. cit.
[22] Ephesians 4:4-5
[23] Apostolic Canon 50: If any bishop or presbyter does not perform the one initiation with three immersions, but with giving one immersion only, into the death of the Lord, let him be deposed. For the Lord said not, Baptize into my death, but, “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”: Schaff, NPNF Vol. 14, p. 1093. op. cit.
[24] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, Section F, p. 6. op. cit.
[25] Ibidem, p. 2. op. cit.
[26] Matthew 28:19
[27] Mark 16:16
[28] John 3:5
[29] Ica, On Chrismation and Baptism in Moldova in the year 1785, p. 29.
[30] Refer to: Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 1, Ch, 19: cf. Schaff, ANF Vol. 2, p. 693.
[31] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, Section B, pp. 3-4. op. cit.
[32] Runciman, The Great Church in Captivity, p. 228; Orthodox Ethos Publication, On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church, pp. 214-217. op. cit.
[33] Metallinos, I Confess One Baptism, p. 91. op. cit.
[34] Orthodox Ethos Publication, On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church, pp. 214-215; Footnote 66 to the Canons of the Holy Apostles: Agapios and Nicodemus, The Rudder, op. cit.
[35] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, Section B, p. 4. op. cit.
[36] Ibidem. op. cit.
[37] Runciman, The Great Church in Captivity, p. 234; Raheb, Conception of the Union in the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch; Orthodox Ethos Publication, On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church, pp. 262-265. op. cit.
[38] Orthodox Ethos Publication, On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church, pp. 284-285 op. cit.
[39] Ogorodnik, Perfect Baptism of ‘Imperfect in the Faith’ (In Russian)
[40] Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, Section C, p. 4. op. cit.
[41] Lacombe, Échos d’Orient, vol. 33, no. 173, (Paris, 1934), p. 99. (in French); Orthodox Ethos, On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church, p. 299, op. cit.
[42] Extant sources available: Canon 4 of the papist Council of Lateran IV (1215), Pope Honorius III (1216-1227), Pope Gregory IX (1241), Patriarch Kallistos of Constantinople (1350-54, 1355-63), Queen Elizabeth I of England (1590), Nicholas Varkoch, ambassador of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1593), Sylvester, Archbishop of Vologda (1613), St. Hermogenes the Patriarch of Moscow (1610), Caucus, Latin Archbishop of Corfu (17th century), Latin priest Richard Simon (17th century) and French Latin priest Francois Richard (1657): Dragas, The Manner of Reception of Roman Catholic Converts into the Orthodox Church; Troitsky, The Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christian Communities; Ware, Eustratios Argenti, p. 67.
[43] Metropolitan of the Orthodox Christian British Isles and Ireland, Letter to the Archdiocese.
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