Orthodox Reflections

Look at that photo: The Vatican boss Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis), with his Roman nose and glare, framed by two Eastern bishops (Bartholomew and Ieronymos), eyes downcast, and trailing the pope like geishas. Despite Bergoglio’s ample girth, this is a photo of “Men Without Chests.”

Please pray for these men without chests, EP Bartholomew, Pope Francis, and Archbishop Ieronymos.

C.S. Lewis, the incomparable British writer, used that metaphor to describe men who lack stable sentiments to mediate between their intellect and their base animal instincts.

In his 1947 book The Abolition of Man, Lewis explains:

“As the king governs by his executive, so Reason in man must rule the mere appetites by means of the ‘spirited element.’ The head rules the belly through the chest — the seat, as Alanus tells us, of Magnanimity, of emotions organized by trained habit into stable sentiments. The Chest — Magnanimity — Sentiment — these are the indispensable liaison officers between cerebral man and visceral man.”

Only God knows how Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch (EP) Bartholomew have been groomed and compromised by worldly powers for their role as global arch-ecumenists. But one also wonders what internal flaws led them to this point. Did they set out to betray the Truth? Can they not discern the Truth? If they cannot, then why are they in top leadership positions in religious institutions devoted to the Truth? Someone else may have a better read on the situation, but I think Lewis’ insights about the arrested development of the Chest — Magnanimity — Sentiment are spot-on.

Lewis goes on to explain the connection between a well-functioning chest and a devotion to truth:

It may even be said that it is by this middle element that man is man: for by his intellect he is mere spirit and by his appetite mere animal. The operation of [relativism and hyper-rationalism] . . . is to produce what may be called Men [W]ithout Chests. It is an outrage that they should be commonly spoken of as Intellectuals. This gives them the chance to say that he who attacks them attacks Intelligence. It is not so. They are not distinguished from other men by any unusual skill in finding truth nor any virginal ardour to pursue her. Indeed it would be strange if they were: a persevering devotion to truth, a nice sense of intellectual honour, cannot be long maintained without the aid of a sentiment. . . . It is not excess of thought but defect of fertile and generous emotion that marks them out. Their heads are no bigger than the ordinary: it is the atrophy of the chest beneath that makes them seem so (emphasis mine).

I therefore ask: Can I blame “the atrophy of the chest” in men — and the resultant disregard for truth — for most of the world’s problems?

What hath an entire century of rampant secularism, relativism, and other “isms” wrought in men? Whatever it is, it ain’t pretty.

Along with scores of other powerful men, are the pope and the EP clever but hobbled? Have they traversed their entire lives with core character deficits nurtured and rewarded instead of corrected and healed? I’m sure they think they have everything figured out. I’m sure they believe they are making the world better. But with “atrophy of the chest,” aren’t they fundamentally flawed? Basically untrustworthy? Chronically out of whack? If they are missing the stable sentiments of love, humility, and compunction, what honor, truth, or godliness should I expect from them?

Lewis notes deftly that “no justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous. Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism. I had sooner play cards against a man who was quite skeptical about ethics, but bred to believe that ‘a gentleman does not cheat,’ than against an irreproachable moral philosopher who had been brought up among sharpers.”

The worldly-wise pope and EP must have learned long ago that cheating at poker is for pikers. All the world’s their stage. They have the ear of presidents, princes, and paupers as they make their exits and entrances. They can execute ploys and deceptions and then hide behind an aura of innocent goodwill. They can make their home among the deep weeds of rationalization and hairsplitting. Matthew 7:15-16 provides the cheat sheet for this state of affairs: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.”

Exhibit A: The pope says that a Catholic priest can bless a gay couple as long as it is not a “liturgical blessing.”

Huh, what? Where are the clowns? Send in the clowns.

Meanwhile, on the controversial topic of gays, the unassuming EP Bartholomew lets his protégé, the ticky-tacky Greek Archdiocese capo, Elpidophoros, do the heavy lifting. Elpidophoros ran roughshod over clerics in Greece in order to underhandedly baptize the children of a gay celebrity couple there in 2022 and posed in the photo to prove it. Brazen, no? What a fabulous camarilla of “Men Without Chests”!

Please pray for Archbishop Elpidophoros & Co.

The EP and Elpidophoros — and their handlers — know that siege warfare of the entire planet is more fun when you drop a few bombs like that. Then they continue on their merry way, dissembling and scheming while their flocks shake their heads.

The pope and the EP pulled a good one a few days ago — and if you’ve been paying attention, you saw it coming.

The headline of the article by the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) conveys the essence of the story while simultaneously cutting the EP Bartholomew down to size. It reads: “Head of Phanar announces joint Easter celebration with the Pope in 2025.”

The ambitious Bartholomew might prefer the title “Eastern Pope.” Nonetheless, the story reports that he will participate in “a joint Easter celebration with Catholics” in Nicaea, Turkey, in late May 2025, along with celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea with the pope.

Which doesn’t make sense, because Western Easter and Orthodox Pascha will coincide the month before (as sometimes happens). Will the pope and the EP concurrently celebrate both Easter late and the Council of Nicaea on time? Or will they celebrate Easter in Rome on April 20 and then celebrate the ancient council’s anniversary in Turkey in May with other members of the World Council of Churches? Details are spotty.

Other questions arise. Remember the Nicene Creed? At their gathering in May, is the pope going to repudiate the Filioque “and from the Son” verbiage that the Roman Catholics formally added in the 11th century? Or will Francis go for broke and suggest new wording borrowed from the liberal Lutherans’ “sparkle creed”? Who knows for sure?

Most likely, the EP Bartholomew will announce that the Orthodox parishes that answer to him will be able to recite either version of the Nicene Creed validly — with or without the Filioque. (And I say: Feet, do your stuff! Flee from that ecumenist parish!)

For the Orthodox, that would be, shall we say, a major innovation. But wait — it gets better. The upcoming event in Nicaea also will be used to launch a new regularly occurring common date for all Christians to celebrate the Resurrection, going forward. Voilà, with a wave of the hand and a stamp of the imprimatur, the pope and the EP will harmonize the Gregorian calendar’s Easter date with the ancient Julian calendar’s Pascha date. The UOJ article hints about using the Orthodox reckoning for the calculation: “establishing a common date for [Easter’s] celebration every year, in accordance with the Easter of our Orthodox Church.” But don’t count out the World Council of Churches as the final arbiter.

In reaction to all of this news, Fr. Zechariah Lynch of “The Inkless Pen” blog wrote on Instagram: “Who does not desire that unity could be reached? Of course! But it must be achieved along the path of Truth. Modern ecumenism has abandoned this path for that of relativism and perennialism. Unity for unity’s sake is not a Christian principal [sic], authentic Christian unity is founded upon the Fullness of Jesus Christ and His living Body, the Ecclesia.”

The EP Bartholomew warned last November that he and the pope were on an “irreversible path to the unity of all Christian churches.” That would be the false union with Rome that Orthodox saints and others have warned about. That would be a union achieved at the expense of dogmatic Truth. That’s kind of a big deal.

Bartholomew, you can join the Catholics et alia and sail your ecumenist boat on the open sea of humanity, as the pope declaims. I left the Roman Catholic Church decades ago. I am grateful for my 14 years of Catholic schooling and for my upbringing by my late, great, humorous Catholic dad, whose own upbringing was pre-Vatican II. But I consider my departure from Roman Catholicism a godsend. For Orthodox Christians, praying with, worshipping with, or participating in sacraments with other groups always has been heretical. Remember the ancient Council of Laodicea? It was overseen by men with Chests who loved the Truth, and it declared: “One must not join in prayer with heretics or schismatics.”

The upshot of the false union will be that the EP and his parishes around the world will be in communion with Rome. Roman Catholics and the Orthodox who go along will be allowed to receive Holy Communion in each other’s churches, and the Orthodox who do not accept this new union will be smeared as schismatics. How do I know?

In a blog post, Fr. Zechariah explained the nature of the temptations heading your way: “This assault is not so much jackboot but rather subtle — retain your outward vestiges of Orthodoxy but receive a new heart, a new faith, a new kingdom. As the current persecution against Orthodoxy in Ukraine is making clear — accept the ‘new’ faith or suffer discrimination and persecution from the powers of this world.”

Nicholas of “Orthodox Reflections” echoed this sentiment in a recent article but also foresaw the eventuality of non-Christians being communed in the ecumenist parishes:

The biggest threat to Orthodox Christians is that the unwary will accept some kind of false union because ‘nothing much is changing.’ . . . [K]eeping as much as possible the same in each church is a deliberate strategy to convince the congregations that everything is okay. When you show up on Sunday, you’ll still have the same liturgy, the same priest, the same icons, the same hierarchy, etc. Only now, you will be able to go to [C]ommunion with everyone, even your unconverted, non-Christian spouse! Think of how good that will be for the children! You get to keep everything you have today, but it will be even better!

This climate makes finding and supporting the non-ecumenist Orthodox parishes and monasteries in your area a priority. Any non-ecumenist Orthodox strongholds also will be a guiding light for those still searching for the True Church.

Friends, Roman Catholics, countrymen, lend me your ears. Roman Catholic ecclesiology rests upon the pope? Isn’t that position becoming untenable, if you’re honest? A few days ago, your ecumenist pope told an audience of young people in Singapore that “every religion is a way to arrive at God.” If that is true, the pope should disband his operation, give up his cushy job, and become a Muslim or a Hindu. Get thee to an ashram, Francis!

Isn’t the pope making it obvious that anyone who wants to be a Christian needs to come home to the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Orthodox Church? Are you interested in the historic faith, doctrine, and practice of Christ’s Church? And the Church’s therapeutic nature versus the legalism of the West? And the long-standing problems with the papacy? Then please watch two videos with Fr. Peter Heers: eight minutes here and an engaging two hours here.

A few brave souls have resisted ecumenism and papism wherever they find it. I had a chuckle in late 2021, when Fr. Ioannis Diotis, an elderly Greek Orthodox priest, heckled the pope on his visit to the Archbishopric of Athens.

“Pope, you are a heretic!” Fr. Ioannis shouted in Greek three times from a nearby sidewalk, before some heavies bum-rushed the old priest, caused him to fall, and then bundled him away.

Separately, this heroic Fr. Ioannis was an early thorn in the side of Bartholomew and Ieronymos (see top photo) for their support of the overthrow of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, still in progress. Another source has told me that a few years ago an Orthodox bishop actually kneeled at Bartholomew’s feet and begged him to stop supporting the Ukrainian schismatics. Bartholomew appeared nonplussed at the appeal and carried on as usual. Methinks the “60 Minutes” cameras caught “Black Bart” on his very best behavior during their charming on-site profile a few years back.

The political situation in Ukraine is such a disaster that Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol is preparing his flock to go “underground” and “to follow Christ to the end.” Met. Luke says he is telling his priests “‘to prepare, to preserve everything necessary for worship, to look for places {where people could gather for prayer, – Ed.}. We are preparing our people for this.’” Doesn’t your heart skip a beat, reading that?

In the midst of Ukraine’s distressing ecclesiastical and humanitarian catastrophe, and in real time, you are witnessing the creation of Orthodox saints, martyrs, and confessors. But woe to you, O politicians and sycophants and hired guns!

The secularized clerics I’ve mentioned in this piece are welcome to sincerely repent and make amends for their wrongdoing and thereby throw a wrench into the dastardly ecumenist events. I invite them to do so ASAP. But I won’t hold my breath.

Fortunately, Met. Luke, Fr. Ioannis, Fr. Zechariah, and many others are great examples of clergy standing strong for the Orthodox Faith and their flocks. But they will remain the exception in a world dominated by “Men Without Chests.”

Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios gets the last word. In Revelation: The Seven Angels, he writes:

“Finally, the early Fathers, especially the ascetics, were repeatedly asked about the state of the clergy of the later days. Their answer was that the clerics would not differ much from lay people. They will be more concerned about their own self-interests. . . .

“We readily see these opportunistic clerics flow along with these ideologies and betray the Church. According to Saint Cyril, this is a sign of the end of times, and that the Antichrist is approaching when it becomes so easy for clerics to betray the mother Church. May God have mercy on us.”

—Cassandra St. John, an Orthodox Christian