The world is littered with abandoned cities. Not little towns either, but giant, monumental cities that housed large populations and sat at the centers of impressive civilizations. Cities built by some of the most skilled craftsmen to ever live. Cities that took generations and vast riches to build. Then, they were simply left to rot. The jungle, the forest, the desert allowed to come and swallow them up till they were completely forgotten, even by those whose ancestors used to live in them.
In some cases, a military defeat emptied the city. In others, the climate changed making the cities no longer habitable as the sea retreated, fresh water dried up, or deserts advanced. A volcano, earthquake or other catastrophe overtook the city and repairs were impossible. Natural resources could be exhausted, leaving the city with nothing to offer in trade. In some cases, the entire complex system of trade and taxation on which cities depend would collapse or be destroyed by enemies.
Cities are complex and hard to maintain. Their existence is often dependent on the connections between civilizations. Historians have written about several known instances, around the Mediterranean basin, when multiple, interconnected cities and their civilizations all collapsed in sequence like a line of falling Dominos. The collapse of one deprived another of needed trade goods, which then caused it to collapse which then deprived another of needed goods and on and on it went. High civilization is a very fragile thing.
Whenever the cities became unlivable, the people fled them and went back to farming in small villages. The ones who didn’t die, of course. Because any time a civilization collapsed, the deaths of many was the inevitable result. Not everyone has the health, the skills, the tenacity or the luck to go from being a maid or a bureaucrat or a stone cutter to being a dirt farmer in a hut. Many would rather die. So they did. And so they will.
A good, working definition of modern hubris – believing that we are so advanced that calamities which have befallen generations of our ancestors could never happen to us. You would be shocked how easily our own cities could empty out as starving people go in search of food and fuel. Two things which the Climate Change policies of our current ruling elite threaten to make very scarce.
Is this the end? It can easily be an end, even if Jesus Himself does not come back and the Antichrist is not yet ready to appear. It might be better for all of us if it were, but there are no guarantees. We may have decades of struggle ahead of us. With that in mind, we offer John Lee’s recommendations below as food for thought. Now is a good time to learn a skill. To make friends with other people who have skills and resources that complement your own. To get your soul right with God, from Whom all blessings flow.
Our world is more fragile than you think. There are millions of Ukrainians shivering in the dark, their power having been cut by Russian air attacks, who are putting many of these recommendations into practice as you read this. They are not the only ones in the world doing so. War, famine, disease, political violence, and economic collapse are stalking many lands right now.
John Lee may very well be wrong about some of his concerns involving technology. It probably doesn’t matter, since in a serious societal collapse the communications infrastructure will not survive. In any case, we have been so lied to by our elite ruling class, that it should surprise no one if they deployed unproven, potentially dangerous technology to increase their profits and their control.
All food for thought. John Lee’s article begins below the line.
—OR Staff
Discerning friends, voices, leadership, who can you trust?
Evaluate the people around you, for putting your lives in the hands of the wrong people in a crisis can be deadly.
- Purity of heart. Some who seem well meaning are really wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are untrustworthy, because when it comes right down to it, they will abandon you or stab you in the back. They have conflicts of interest. This is a heart issue. Under close observation, the little things are very telling. The wolf cannot hide everything. 80% of the time two things tell you what you need to know: how he spends his money and what his children are like. There is no guarantee he will reveal himself clearly. However, usually multiple “red flags” will appear if you know what to look for. Pay attention.
- Competence in a field. If one is honest, it does not mean he knows what he is talking about. Is he in his “wheel house”? Can he take whatever he talks about, spin it around and articulate it from every direction? An honest man is not always a competent man and the competent man is not always trustworthy. If you have to choose between the two, take the honest man. The honest man will usually know and admit to his limits. The honest man stops, goes back to repair his mistakes. The dishonest man just keeps going.
- Of what relevance is he/she to you? God puts the Church together as He sees fit. Life flow or supply comes from the joints (St Paul), where bones are joined bone to His bone. Correct relationships are edifying, fulfilling, and trustworthy. Knowing where, and with whom, you belong goes a long way.
Knowing Your True Friends
During your life you will have three kinds of friends—the 3 C’s:
- Constituents. These are those that generally hold the same values as you; they stick with you as long as in some way they profit from the relationship. Whenever they—for whatever reason—no longer need you, they will leave and go elsewhere. As long as you provide some form of comfort, service, or affirmation to them, they will be there. Without that they go away.
- Comrades. These are stronger than the first group because they are motivated by anger or fear. It is those with whom you share a common enemy. As long as you are fighting the same battle, being mad at the same people or events, they are with you. As soon as you leave that fight or find another enemy, they will abandon you.
- Confidants. These are those that will be there with you. no matter what. If you end up in the gutter, they will be the ones who will come and get you out – no matter what it costs them. These are those who live by covenant. Those that God has placed near you. You may only have one or two in your entire lifetime. These are those with whom you can share your deepest secrets.
Never share the deep things of your heart with the first two. Guide all things by the axiom, “appropriate for”. By that I mean, whatever commitment you have toward somebody it must be measured according to what is appropriate for that relationship and in balance with reciprocity—what their level of commitment is toward you.
In the last days of the last days, hard choices will have to be made. Gather up the fragments of your soul—attachments to anything or anyone not God—and go all out seeking God. Maximize your prayer life in and out of the temple. Nothing less will bring safe journey.
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Hard Times Coming: Prepare Now
Let us start with some basic operative presuppositions and suggestions.
- What you don’t know can and will kill you and your children. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. Strive to understand what you need to know; don’t be trapped in a rabbit hole that has no impact on your life; don’t be distracted from the essentials. Don’t expect to understand everything that is happening. As conspiracies in conspiracies, within conspiracies continuously unravel, our understanding of the world changes every day.
- A new—really very old—evil is afoot. Face it: malevolent forces are now in control, and they have a goal in mind: universal dominion and destruction of mankind. Many things have changed since 2019. If you live as you have for decades, it will probably be fatal. Everything, of this world, will let you down. Trust only God for health, healing, and supply. Only use doctors for repairable injuries (e.g. broken bones). Get out of debt, get off all meds (sensibly), but do it with God’s guidance. Learn what you need to know to self-treat conditions. Start with detox: detox is to the body what repentance is to the soul.
- Know God is in control. All that is happening—while full throttle evil—is God’s preparation for the Kingdom and eternity. Seeking first the Kingdom will bring everything you need to know to escape, even thrive, in hard times.
- Be flexible. The proud man is inflexible. He cannot accommodate changes in his environment. He thinks he has it all figured out. An old saying: “as long as you are green you will grow, but once you are ripe you will rot”. Live life as a student, learning new things every day, which means we adapt to change very quickly. There are three kinds of people. One group prefers to ignore what is going on in the world, living as if nothing has changed. This is terminal. The second group is so tuned into the evil, he/she offers no solutions, optimism, or faith in God to answer our prayers. They only expound upon the bad things happening and are of no aid to others. In the third group—those who will go through fine—they can see the world clearly and adapt as necessary. If you are stuck in a rut—a grave with both ends kicked out—make changes and do things differently. With one eye tracking evil’s every new move, our main focus is on Christ. If you trust any man—including your priest (as good as he is)—to get you through, you’ll be disappointed. Take responsibility for your own salvation.
- Learn a valued skill for dystopian survival. If all you can do is computer engineering, you will be totally worthless in the situations to come. But if you can sew, cook, can and store food, frame a house, grow crops, wire a socket, others will need you. Time to go “old school.”
Somewhere in each Christian is a hidden skill yet to be developed that will be a component for survival in the evil days to come. As God prepared everything for Adam before Adam was made, so also God has placed everything we need to survive the coming difficult days. It’s all there, just look for it, grasp it before it goes away. In nearly every problem, the solution is nearby—easily within reach— if we can only see it. All wilderness skills will be needed: hunting, fishing, farming, ranching, butchering, all kinds of repairs.
- For what you don’t know, find those that do; know how to network with the RIGHT people. Illustration: three men are riding in a car. One is a bishop, one is a priest, and one is a paramedic. Who is the most important? Who has the most authority? If you had to leave one or two behind, which would you choose? Think about it. Coming upon an accident, several people are laid out on the highway bleeding to death. In this situation: who has the most authority? The bishop? The priest? OBVIOUSLY, the paramedic does not need the bishop’s permission to treat those bleeding to death, nor should he take the time to go to confession to be sure his soul is clear on all channels, or get a “blessing” to act. He/she must spring into action; the bishop and the priest must yield—defer —to the right man for the job. Every skill carries an authority according to the dominion mandate of creation.
- Know the hazards of RF. Get the damn cell phone away from your head, stop microwaving your brain, hard wire all computers—shut off WiFi. Toss away the microwave oven, it disables nutrition. The frankenshots are activated by cell phone technology; cancers, spontaneous death—especially in the athletic young—, and every conceivable malady are inflicted by electromagnetic radiation. Don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself.
- Create sacred space. For some centuries now, the world has been free of extreme evils—giants, Nephilim, Egyptian type sorcerers, and demonic lying wonders. But, that is changing, and much of that will be returning as the gates of hell are more and more being opened. That which prevails against these gates of hell, is defined as the true Church—the Church that Christ builds. Those that succumb, are faux-church. The home is to be a church within a church, within the Church. Set up home devotions every day. If your children go out for school, lay your hands on them and pray over them building a “prayer shield” against the evil you are sending them into. Even some of our own bishops have a propensity to shut down churches; your Faith must survive and thrive even when priests, bishops, and temples are unavailable. Dads, be the high priest of your home, do it now. Sanctify yourselves from every habitual sin. If Satan has any hook in you, at some point he will reel you in; you and all around you will suffer damage.
For several years now, the Holy Spirit has been prompting me—over and over again— to prepare for hard times in the ways natural to my skills set. I know I don’t have the full picture, but others can fill in the gaps. Interestingly, my neighbor has an underground greenhouse and grows veggies year round. What are your neighbors doing?
In my next installment—Lord willing, the Creeks don’t rise, and the charity of the editor—, I’ll bring some concepts I am employing to prepare for food shortages, energy shortages, and a toxic environment. BTW: Alex Jones is a Mormon. The Mormons are the world’s foremost experts in long term food storage because of their eschatology. Every devout Mormon family has a room—not just a closet—of stored foods. Alex Jones sells food supplies and other products for those preparing for hard times, but buying from him means supporting the Mormon eschatology of Mormonism eventually ruling the world. Be careful when buying, and be sure to know whom your money is supporting.
Also be careful how much advice you take from someone like Alex Jones. Like Donald Trump, Jones is another conspiracy within a conspiracy – some good things wrapped around an ulterior motive. You can go with them so far, but you have to know where and when to get off that bus. Mormonism, New Age, Luciferianism, Free Masonry, it’s all the same traps of the New World Order in different wrappers; a few elites sitting atop a bunch of ignorant peons doing their dirty work.
Seeing the signs of the times, preparing for the future is less about filling a 401k, than getting your hands on hardware, tangibles needed for survival. In the future, currency will be those things needed for daily life and the skills you have that others need. My garage is full of tools. My craftsmanship can be traded for food. So can yours.
Becoming the Church—that prevails over the gates of hell—, means having to learn interdependence for the things we need. God often humbles us by giving His gifts to us through somebody else—that way we learn to rightly discern and appreciate the body of Christ, beyond what we see in the clergy.
It would not be a bad idea to create a network of advisors, especially within your parish, in specific things for assistance in time of need. Do you know a valued survival skill? Can you skin a rabbit? Can you raise chickens? Can you garden? Can you gun-smith? Can you fix cars? Do you know how to block 5g? (I do).
John Lee – an Orthodox Christian
The Field- Cultivating Salvation, by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, Ch. 4 ‘Do not read [or listen to] books on Christianity that were written by heretics’[“Do not read [or listen to] books on Christianity that were written by heretics” St. Ignatius Brianchaninov on reading books [or listening to] that contain false teaching]
Once again, I address you, faithful son of the Eastern Church, with a sincere, good word. This word is not my own—it belongs to the Holy Fathers. All my counsels come from them. Keep your mind and heart from false teaching. Do not even speak about Christianity with people who have been infected by false thoughts; do not read books on Christianity that were written by heretics. The Holy Spirit accompanies all Truth. He is the Spirit of Truth. The devil accompanies and acts together with every lie. He is false, and the father of lies. He who reads the books of a heretic immediately communes with an evil, dark spirit of falsehood. This should not seem strange or incredible to you—this is the unanimous opinion of the Holy Fathers. If your mind and heart are still a blank slate, let Truth and the Spirit inscribe on them the commandments of God and His spiritual teaching. http://orthodoxaustralia.org/2016/12/30/st-ignatius-brianchaninov-do-not-read-books-on-christianity-that-were-written-by-heretics/
Look, we did the “twenty-acres” thing on two different farms for nearly 20 years, plus the home-schooling thing going on 17 years. We planted and harvested a lot our own food, had bees and orchards, raised livestock, cows, pigs, goats and chickens –did our own butchering, smoking and the like. I get it. Realize though, this Western-Protestant-Christian ‘by-the-boot-strap’ self-reliant individuality we are raised with and spoon-fed via media and film, glamorized and glorified by Hollywood and its American “icon” –John Wayne – idealized via his movies – not only feeds the passions of autonomy – self-will and individualism –cutting oneself off from relationships –but from an Orthodox perspective, is deluded and the antithesis – the OPPOSITE – of the Church’s understanding of personhood and community. FYI: Don’t get your theology, or anything else for that matter, from your former heterodox [heretical] confession or Hollywood. Looking back in hindsight however, our decision to put our “acreage” [out in BFE] first took a serious negative toll on our children in the formation of developing and having friendships within the parish–lasting or not; along with their connection to the Church, Her worship, and understanding. Your children need that closeness with their Orthodox peers where they learn to develop their positive, healthy character outside of the family home, especially within the parish – within the community. They need to bond with their peers within the community and without. This is part of that “formation of the soul” Bl. Fr. Seraphim Rose and the Fathers talk about. Isolated [due to extensive distance, infrequent attendance, etc.] and cut-off from peer-bonding within our Orthodox community—and without – limited attendance for the Divine services, the Fasting periods and Feasts; and the chance to have your children attend gatherings at the parish and within the homes of parishioners – will have serious reverberations that at the time are incalculable. They are missing out because of some “dream” you’re trying to fulfill. That’s YOUR want and desire; not theirs. Been there, done that, seen that…and the consequences. You say “oh, I’m teaching them life-survival skills…” Really? The only TRUE life and survival skills they need to learn and develop that aid in being and continuing to be an Orthodox Christian – and their SALVATION is to be found only in the Church – in community. Doubt me? Read the Holy Fathers teachings on stability of place and where true salvation is found –and Bl. Father Seraphim’s confirmation of that and his “Orthodox Survival Course.” Read Vol 1 of the Evergentinos: St. EvthymiosIf someone thinks that he cannot practice virtue here, let him not suppose that if he goes elsewhere, he will succeed more easily in his purpose; for the accomplishment of good does not depend on the nature of the place, but on our intention. p. 335 From St. Ehpraim 6. When the Evil One wants to snatch yet another brother away from the monastery, he will put different thoughts in his mind, saying to him: “Look, your disorderly conduct is well known here, and all the brothers are aware of your negligence; this is why you cannot live any longer in this place…. Go somewhere else, where people do not know you, and make a new start in the spiritual life, and in this way, you will be pleasing to God and men.” P. 346 Stability, vigilance, steadfastness –‘to work out your salvation where God has placed you’ Blessed Fr. Seraphim (Rose) of Platina: On Stability and Christian Striving Christianity in practice, and monasticism above all, is a matter of staying in one place and struggling with all one’s heart for the Kingdom of Heaven. One may be called to do the work of God elsewhere or may be moved about by unavoidable circumstances; but without the basic and profound desire to endure everything for God in one place without running away, one will scarcely be able to put down the roots required in order to bring forth spiritual fruits. Learn first of all to be at peace with the spiritual situation which has been given you, and to make the most of it. If your situation is spiritually barren, do not let this discourage you, but work all the harder at what you yourself can do for your spiritual life. –Bl. Fr. Seraphim Rose; Introduction to Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky
Follow the Fathers! Endure! :
“I will endure all for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” -St Nikolai Velimirovic; Prologue June 14th Reflection
Doxa to Theo, John D
These are all good points. We didn’t take John Lee’s article as a call to John Wayne-style individualism. He clearly pointed out that no one can make it alone. In the most recent collapse of civilization following the end of Roman rule in the West, civilization was preserved in the monasteries around which villages and town. Survival takes villages, with God at the center. We are lacking in monasteries, but we do have parishes.
One problem John is pointing out – villages need to contain people who have actual skills. Too few of us can do anything that doesn’t involve pointing and clicking. While there is time, we can remedy that through education and preparation. Several contributors to OR actually grew up on farms. Not “survivalist” farms, but farms that had been in the family for generations that were run as businesses. We went to public school, knew all the neighbors, traded livestock and crops, etc. We went to church on Sundays. There was no sense of isolation. Rural life can be very good for kids.
Hi John D, I guess, I got your attention. I did not think anybody past the editor read my stuff. This encourages me and that you have taken issue shows me somebody is paying attention. I have been tempted to just say something really stupid to see if or not I was just speaking into an echo chamber; but I knew it would not pass editorial muster.
I’m still trying to figure out what your complaint is.You do have an issue, rite? I am not suggesting anybody leave the Church, but rather take it home with them and be the Church 24/7. Let us live the Church everyday of the week by making the home an expression of the Church. If it is as good as we say it is, let’s do it everywhere, all the time. When our Faith never leaves the 4 walls of the temple it does nobody outside the Church any good. The vast majority of Jesus’ (and St Paul’s) ministry was in the market place, not much in the temple or synagogue.
So I’ll take a stab at alleviating your concerns. As I understand the Orthodox priesthood, its value as icon of Christ is not a substitute or negation of everyone else’s priesthood–the Protestant view of us– but the forebearer, standard bearer, root of everybody’s priesthood. Priesthood is a cosmic principle that all Man is part of inherent in Man as the Image of God, manifested fully in Christ the “Last Adam.”
My biggest contention with the Orthodox is that they fail to be true to their own stuff. We talk the talk, but we do not walk the walk. Now comprise is setting in nearly everywhere. So far no one has proven anything I have posted to be contrary to the essential and core of Orthodox teaching and dogma (nice try).
My formal Orthodox education came from the Ss. Cyril and Athanasius Institute of distance learning taught by Archimandrite (now ROCOR Metropolitan of England and all Western Europe), Irenei; one of the greatest Orthodox minds in the modern world. Only about a dozen students were that fortunate to get that privilege; its now closed due to Met. Irenei’s promotion. I made good marks. I have read many Fathers: Irenaius, St Justin Martyr, Athanasius and many primary Church docs, like “Letter to Dianetus” (spelling?), and the Didache. I was schooled in the Ecumenical Councils, the Holy Trinity, the Early Church, Orthodox Liturgy, the spirituality of icons, and had to endure (yes, I did) Pomazanski (really dry stuff).. Regularly (for fun), I research the Church fathers through CCEL.org and New Advent (it’s a real pity we Orthodox have to rely upon Protestant [I think Anglican] and RC translators for English versions of the Fathers, but that is fact. Virtually all quotations are by non-Orthodox translators—go figure, its’ our own failure. I have read Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa (my favorite), St Basil, and…….(drum roll please..) Dionysius the Aeropogite and actually can understand most of it.
As for Seraphim Rose, I would consider him a mixed bag (eat the meat, spit out the bones). For me the manner and timing of his death are a red flag along with that others of his day had objections. His acceptance is not universal as authoritative, yet he said many good things but on the authoritative scale there are questions. Whenever anyone gets of quoting Rose, I usually tune them out because they do not ritely discern the body and what place he stands in.
The reason the Protestants have dulled perceptions is they take an either/or approach to everything (read Losky’s Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church [I have] this book solidified Met. Jonah’s conversion). While we sit and criticize the “Sola Scriptura” crowd, we Orthodox do the very same thing but expand the venue to include the fathers. With a larger corpus it is far easier to “proof text” the fathers—make them say whatever you want them to say— than merely the Scriptures, and we do it all the time (me too).
BTW: FM Green said, 100% of the Fathers were right 80% of the time. On the core—those things codified by the E Councils— all agree. Some said the Ark of the Covenant was Christ, some said it was the Virgin Mary. Who is rite? Both, because we are Orthodox two things can be true at the same time. Christ is Fully God and Fully Man; the lens through which we see everything and live our lives.
A thing that drew me to Orthodoxy was the concept that the closer you get to the point of origination more accurate you’ll be, because everything corrupts over time—no good thing to date is yet incorruptible including the Church. Just take a look around. This means, the best, truest, most representative of the original will be the Early Church Fathers. To understand Orthodoxy, that is where to start.
Each Father has his niche. In his wheelhouse he is authoritative, outside not so much. No Church Father was ever considered totally authoritative (some actually pretty close) all by themselves, on every single thing because that is papism at the core. Take Augustin of Hippo for instance. Like it or not (many do not like it), he is a canonized saint, for good reason. On many things he is solid, but on things related to original/ancestral sin, not so much. And I’ll spare you to not elaborate.
BTW2: many of our best Orthodox minds read things outside the Church. I have heard some of our most reputable priests quote C. S. Lewis, Chesterton and Anglican theologians. So what gives? Orthodoxy’s best endorsement comes from those outside the Church that take obvious Orthodox train of thought. Met. Irenei considers himself a connoisseur of western religious art (different from icons): does that make him contrary to Orthodoxy?
Think about this: Other churchmen of St John Chrysostom’s day advised the folk never to go to theater (ancient version of movies), but St John used theater as an object lesson for life that this life is only a theater and that our true identities will be revealed in eternity (sermons: Richman and Lazarus). Modern Orthodox authorities have been known to mix it up, like St Paisios and Prophyios (I think). St Paisios taught on the end times, Prophyrios said to avoid it altogether. Ok, boys will be boys and mix it up once in a while. It’s a family, not an institution—we bond through conflict.
We do not process any literature in the way the Protestant do—not supposed to, but we do anyway by default—in ignorance. All literature is subject to weaknesses because human language is a moving target. We don’t read the Scripture or the fathers as a lawyer would read the U.S. Constitution.
Taking the fathers words that are outside what has been codified by universal agreement in the Councils and Vincentian Canon—is the same error the Protestants do with the Scripture. That’s not Orthodoxy, but Orthodox-ism. We handle such as Wisdom, to be applied when and where it is appropriate for the situation.
John D. Are you still reading or did I bore your to sleep.
This article got over 1,000 reactions on Gab. Not so much on Twitter, but it set Gab on fire. Tons of comments as well. Lately, people have been commenting a lot on the articles on social media, but not leaving so many comments on the site. Why is much your guess as mine. This article also got thousands of reads. Haven’t run the numbers, but it could easily be your most read post.
This is astounding levels of arrogance, God help us if these are the Orthodox remnant. Perhaps you should re-read the comment from your Orthodox brother John D.
I research the Church fathers through CCEL.org and New Advent (it’s a real pity we Orthodox have to rely upon Protestant [I think Anglican] and RC translators for English versions of the Fathers, but that is fact. Virtually all quotations are by non-Orthodox translators—go figure, its’ our own failure. I have read Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa (my favorite), St Basil, and…….(drum roll please..) Dionysius the Aeropogite and actually can understand most of it.
The Lord God put us all in a particular time and place, you cannot just skip the Saints, the friends of God He gave us to follow because you think you can graspe the Holy Fathers.
So I’ll take a stab at alleviating your concerns. As I understand the Orthodox priesthood, its value as icon of Christ is not a substitute or negation of everyone else’s priesthood–the Protestant view of us– but the forebearer, standard bearer, root of everybody’s priesthood. Priesthood is a cosmic principle that all Man is part of inherent in Man as the Image of God, manifested fully in Christ the “Last Adam.”
This is delusion.
I’m quite worried for you John Lee. The OrthodoxReflections editors should not be publishing your words as its feeding your delusion. This is so much protestanism with a veneer of using the words Orthodox, read AB Averky, all of this shows a falling away into apostacy, a apology for protestants, a promotion of reading heretical works, a picking and choosing of what to believe, citing non-Orthodox on what Orthodox dogma is.You are being irresonsible editors. THIS IS NOT ORTHODOX.
Perhaps you have so many shares and gabs because Gab is full of “we can do it ourselves” protestants who still think the “great American” is going to somehow save itself.
John Lee quotes:
A thing that drew me to Orthodoxy was the concept that the closer you get to the point of origination more accurate you’ll be, because everything corrupts over time—no good thing to date is yet incorruptible including the Church.
This is 100% not true, you were not catechized into the Orthodox Christian Church. The Holy Fathers of the Church exist in every single age, and they speak with One Voice – the Voice of God, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity. The Saitns you are dismissing as “modern” are literally the Holy Fathers in a continuous golden chain (St Symeon the New Theologian).
FM Green said, 100% of the Fathers were right 80% of the time.
Frederick Mathews-Green is not a Saint, she is not a Priest, she is not incorrupt (she is not dead), she is not an authority.
BTW2: many of our best Orthodox minds read things outside the Church. I have heard some of our most reputable priests quote C. S. Lewis, Chesterton and Anglican theologians. So what gives? Orthodoxy’s best endorsement comes from those outside the Church that take obvious Orthodox train of thought. Met. Irenei considers himself a connoisseur of western religious art (different from icons): does that make him contrary to Orthodoxy?
The best minds of the Church are literally the Saints, the friends of God, not heterodox writers and authors.
does that make him contrary to Orthodoxy?
This is western-mind “If this person says this, and which means that, therefore you can’t argue with me.” You’ve set this up like Met. Irenei is infallible. Nobody is infallible, I can ignore his western religious art interest, and never think about it again.
The dear saint was cradle Orthodox, living among cradle Orthodox, in early and mid 19th century Russia, let that soak in for a minute.
The New Martyrs of Russia are a typos of exactly what we are going through in America. You don’t want to see that, because from your comments, you don’t care about the Saints.
Many modern Orthodox Christians call Protestants out as “heretics”. In the historical Church, heretics were defined by a process of discernment—a form of trial. If something, someone was found to be a “heretic” a list of anathemas were read publically. I’m still waiting for these public anathemas to be read by any Orthodox bishop—no priest has the rank—for all the Protestants to hear.
Your unaware of the 18th C synod which anathemetized much protestanism. Prostants believe heresies, they are heretics. The Saints call to use the word hetereodox in missionairy, and especially for those who are ignorant. Those aware of Orthodoxy, and still build their own theology and “choose their own religion” are heretical. You can read Met. Philaret of NY on “Will the heterodox be saved” on Orthodoxinfo. Met. Philaret’s body has not decomposed. He is alive before the throne of God. He is a Saint of our age, he is a friend of God, much like Fr Seraphim Rose, and all of the other contemporary Saints. Where is your citation or reading of the contemporary Saints, those who are before the throne of God? St John of Shanghai, St Raphael, St Paisios, Archbishop Averky?
This is why MANY authoritative Orthodox clergy (e.g. T Ware, Met. Irenei) call Protestants, heterodox—”not Orthodox”
Met. Kallistostos Ware unfortunately started promoting non-Orthodox things in his later years. This is very common knowledge, up to and including that buddhists and muslims have God withotu Christ the Lord God and Savior, the Word of God, promoting the disgusting rag “The Wheel” etc. In his long academically proud mind that produced this nonsense. He is well known for doing much great work, and then falling into ecumenism filth. May God grant him paradise and that he found repentance befor.
Many Orthodox Christians are employed by the various Protestant ministries here. Some even raise the funding for them (all approved by their bishops).
Raising money for heretical groups that are in full delusion is lunacy, a betrayal of the faith – how can you profess “One Holy Catholic and Apostlic Church” and then raise money for deluded heterodox? Bishops have also blessed covid shut downs, so now you are just picking and choosing what seems “good” to you, and not our Saints, the Holy Fathers, and the Holy Spirit.
I have read many Fathers: Irenaius, St Justin Martyr, Athanasius and many primary Church docs, like “Letter to Dianetus” (spelling?), and the Didache. I was schooled in the Ecumenical Councils, the Holy Trinity, the Early Church, Orthodox Liturgy, the spirituality of icons, and had to endure (yes, I did) Pomazanski (really dry stuff).. Regularly (for fun), I research the Church fathers through CCEL.org and New Advent (it’s a real pity we Orthodox have to rely upon Protestant [I think Anglican] and RC translators for English versions of the Fathers, but that is fact. Virtually all quotations are by non-Orthodox translators—go figure, its’ our own failure. I have read Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa (my favorite), St Basil, and…….(drum roll please..) Dionysius the Aeropogite and actually can understand most of it.
You need to read what the Holy Fathers say on delving into dogmas and the danger of falling away from the Church. None of this is Orthodox, none of this is humility.
As I understand it, correct me if I’m wrong—Protestant books (or RC) were extremely rare in Russian during the 19th century. German? Yes. Dutch? Yes. English? Yes. Russian? You got to be kidding me; this is a joke, rite?
You were given St Paisius V to read, Russia has been fighting protestanism and roman catholic uniates for centuries, and St Ignatius Brianchaninov was well versed in the multitude of heresies and the falling away of Russian Orthodox in his days, same with St Theophan the Recluse. You are literally 100% wrong.
Are you aware of St John of the Ladder, and that to feed ones ego, the demons will help someone correctly interpret Scripture? How about the Holy Fathers?
The vast majority of Jesus’ (and St Paul’s) ministry was in the market place, not much in the temple or synagogue.
The Lord Jesus Christ literally always preached first in synogogues – there are theological reasons He did this. St Paul did the same. You need to read Bl Theophylact, and go back to basics.
John H, Thank you for your responses. In my response, I hope my replies will rise to your level of honesty, diligence, and love for the Church. This sort of discussion is profitable as it comes more toward the core issues we face.
Bottom line up front: I am not the Church’s enemy, I am not contending with the Fathers, the saints, but only those moderns who are subverting the Church fostering everything inconsistent with the Faith “once delivered”.
I’ll try to take it point by point.
FYI: I went through my catechism 2 and a half times. In other words, I went well into my third year of the same catechism—long after I was baptized— before I stopped going. If that caused my error, you’ll have to blame the priest who taught it. At the same time I attended the Ss Cyril and Athanasius Institute for distance learning taught by one of the most remarkable modern Orthodox educators, Archimandrite (now ROCOR Metropolitan of all England and Western Europe) Irenei (Steenberg). I was the only student who paid for the entire course up front.
That “the closer you get to the point of origination the more accurate you’ll be” was one of the two major things that brought me to Orthodoxy. The other being, Orthodoxy’s faithfulness to gender in not having altar girls—but, that’s all being tossed out by Elpi. This is true. The Fathers have always defined the Church as the “Faith ONCE delivered” (Jude 3). This is fact, even Adam created good, complete, and incorrupt, was corrupted. From the beginning of the Church corruptions were setting in as is demonstrated in St Paul’s letters. Very soon other corruptions set in, Gnostisism for example. Technically, it cannot be called a heresy until it comes into the Church. “Heretic” carries the meaning of leaving a previous held estate or position.
According to my teacher Met. Irenei, the Church’s motivations in establishing dogma, was never to fix it unless its broke. In other words; in the course on the Ecumenical Councils, the ONLY impetus for calling the councils was that something went wrong. Arianism by that time was in the majority, not even a small sect to be excised. The fragment heretics could be cut out and removed. But removing the majority would never work, that was the impetus behind the most defining events of our Faith, the Ecumenical Councils. These councils are the starting point for many things including how we define, treat, and remove heresy. You cannot remove what is not inside. Calling any outsider a “heretics” is not consistent with the Faith historically. What that also means is that any Ecumenical Council called now, must be driven by the same situation. Just to call one to foster ecumenisism would be bogus as happened just a few years ago.
That holy fathers exist in every generation is true, and I believe I have drawn from one of the best in this: Met. Irenei. (of course, whether or not he would own me is something altogether different, and I hate to be a name dropper, because folks should just take what I say and measure it against the fathers of all generations).
If you have been following me, I am not questioning the fathers in any age, but rather our own fidelity to them. My contention is, we—in this generation— are not true to the fathers or the Faith, but rather have made major departures on many fronts. To think not, is to ignore everything the EP and Elpi are doing to destroy the Church. Just because a man dons the vestments, does not mean he is an honorable man, or has the Fathers in his heart.
Through nearly every generation the Church has faced destruction from the inside and the honest Orthodox had to fight the heresy and the apostasy. The evil in the Church we face now is not a heresy like Arianism but rather a loss of morals, some, too many priests participating in demonic cults.
No, Greene is not a saint and not a priest. At the same time, no Orthodox woman in history has had more books widely accepted. Her books load the shelves of nearly every Orthodox church bookstore. For you to deny her place is to counter every priest who buys her stuff; do I trust you or them? Her acceptance is extremely broad and her books are given by priests—though she is not one—more than any other to catechumens other than possibly T. Ware. When she said, 100% of the fathers were right 80% of the time, she totally reflects two things of note: 1. The reality of things as they were. And, 2. How the Orthodox handle all the fathers and source documents.
Here is a few examples: St Constantine’s theology was skewed: fact: he made room for Arius and Arianism to return after it had been rejected. Do we remove him from sainthood? No, theology was not in his wheelhouse, but legalizing and promoting Christianity was. The Protestants argue day and night his actions were purely motivated by politics; the Orthodox say it was a heart conversion to the Faith: I say it was both. He was not only an honest convert, he was also a smart leader knowing the dispositions of his flock. By the time of Constantine, Christianity had become the majority religion meaning the vast majority were Orthodox Christians. In the historical context, only a small minority were actually martyrs. Am I therefore against the martyrs? Absolutely not. I’m just saying, there were many, many, many Orthodox Christians who lived out their daily lives relatedly in ordinary fashion as is depicted by the Letter to Diagnus.
Without angelic intervention Arianism could easily have been reinstated and become another extension of the debate. Gregory of Nyssa had leanings toward universal salvation. St Augustin of Hippo was suspect on original sin, yet in everything else he was solid.
The point I have been making is that the Church Fathers can be proof texted more easily than the Protestants proof text the Scripture, make them it say whatever they like. Just because somebody claims backing of fathers, is no proof he is being honest with it. Greene’s statement is consistent with the Faith and to think otherwise is to adopt a form of papism that somebody, anybody can be infallible. The Church never did it that way.
As for C.S Lewis et al, all Christianity had some distant link in the past with Orthodoxy. Somewhere in every Protestant denomination, there is an instinct to recover the missing parts, to find its way home. We see that in Lewis, Chesterton, Guyon, Nee, and many others. When we see them as orphans rather than heretics, we go a long way toward showing them the way home as happened with Gilquiest and company. Of course, the best Orthodox minds are saints. Yet to think all saints were masters of Orthodox thinking is also erroneous. In fact, most never ventured there and to think I take offence with them is erroneous.
I am in no way disregarding the new martyrs of Russian. Where do you get that? That is crossing the issues and making it personal as an inference on my character. Don’t do that. I love the martyrs, they gave the ultimate sacrifice I know. At the same time, we must focus on the problems in our generation.
“Your unaware the 18th C synod with anathematized much of Protestantism.” That many things in Protestantism can be categorized as “heresy” is true. When these particular errors are taken up by properly initiated Orthodox Christians then they themselves can be labeled heretics. But to label Protestants as heretics, is to first assume they had somewhere been Orthodox.
Arian was a “heretic” because he was first of all Orthodox. Going through the process was necessary because most of the faithful thought him consistent with the Faith. But if he were on the outside, it would not matter as many things were on the outside.
That some saints, bodies do not decompose is totally irrelevant to this argument. Many Egyptian mummies are to some degree incorrupt. So what. Bringing it in to make a point as to who is heretic and how is not is bad logic. The two are totally unrelated. Using it as a basis for your argument is erroneous.
That Ware may be corrupting now is my point exactly, even good things corrupt. At the same time, we do not disregard his books, notably, they were written earlier in his life and are still held by many priests as good for beginners.
What you say about those who work for Protestant ministries is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. I am neither condoning nor condemning, trying to present both side of a dilemma with no workable answers. There is no win-win. Working for nearly every other corporation amounts to enabling all of their hidden investments in the porn industry, shares in big pharma etc. Any Orthodox nurse or doctor working for any hospital, medical establishment that does abortions, or that has other doctors who do is far worse, would you not say???
No Roman soldier convert was ever held accountable for the atrocities of the Roman army including the biblical story of St Cornelius. St Tertuilian discouraged enlistment among the faithful because the oath of office was made with idols. St Tertuillian understood principles of covenant and detested duplicity.
To reiterate: to in fact or in spirit anathematize everything Protestant is to place false assumptions on them. To be “heretics” they must first have been—in their lifetime—Orthodox. Am I defending Protestantism at the expense of Orthodoxy? Absolutely Not. But I would defend them as a better alternative than outright paganism. I don’t put everything in the same basket, if it is not Orthodox, it is heresy.
To call them heretics is to assume they were born or baptized Orthodox, then departed. To declare them heretics is to give them too much credit from which to fall from. Gnostisism was NEVER called heresy until it came into the Church.
I have read what the fathers have said about falling away from the Church, the Protestants now days, never had that opportunity and should not be called heretics. Actually, to call Protestantism heresy is a defense of Roman Catholic, the tree from which it fell. Can you say, RC and Orthodox are one and the same? Protestants actually think they are. They don’t know the difference.
“None of this is Orthodox, none of this is humility” What does humility have to do with anything. That I am not humble has absolutely nothing to do with me being Orthodox. That I was catechized, then baptized, is what makes me Orthodox. Until some other action is taken by the proper authorities to undo that I am still Orthodox. Those insinuations are a joke, rite?
I can show you many Orthodox who are not humble and I can show you many Protestants that are more humble. So, what its irrelevant to the discussion.
I have read St John of the Ladder, That Russian Orthodoxy fought Protestantism and RC I would concede for sure. At the same time, I seriously doubt the level of literacy and sheer availability to Protestant documents. My statement regarding Orthodox malcontents seriously needs to be considered. Orthodoxy has been warring from the beginning against heresies on the inside far more than the outside. I would really like to know—you have no proof—that St. Ignaius’ were or were not a response to Protestant books or Orthodox malcontents—maybe both? Orthodoxy has always had malcontents, and in the end some actually proved to be rite.
Here is where you err big time: to assume I am assaulting the Church, the Fathers, or the Faith: I am not, I am going after that—just like St. Ignatius B—that which is inconsistent with the Faith, the Fathers, and the ethos. While I am no clergyman, monk or professor, I see no bishops, priests, openly taking the current apostates to task. If there are, point them out so I can join them.
At heart, I am as you are, I love the Church. And to love it means to work ever toward preserving her sanctity which is right now being totally trashed by those who truly can be called “heretics”—because the term heretic means they should know better; Protestants do not rise to that level.
Look around you my brother, I am not the enemy: IN the coming months YOU will see GOARCH take moves toward universal ecumenism; binding themselves to “heretics”. YOU will see, the further advancement of the LGBT agenda by properly ordained Orthodox clergy. YOU will see many other clergy outed as also being participants in “secret societies.” If you doubt it, just wait and see.
In the meantime, I join my prayers with yours that our Faith would be restored to the point it can turn the world upside down with its salvific zeal, open fulfillment of the Great commission, and desire to see the lost come to know the Truth in a personal way. We have no less obligation to the present generation of humanity that is drowning in delusions.
We hesitate to censor comments, as we try to maintain as open a forum as possible. We routinely publish comments that are critical of this site and its content. That being said, portions of John Lee’s recent comments are highly, highly disturbing and are causing some strains in our normal commitment to free discourse.
However, for now, we still feel it is better to let people hash out their differences and let others decide for themselves.
When Jesus said for us to pray for our enemies, it was not that those prayers would somehow prosper their estate in life (even though prayer can do that), but that the evil influences of this world would be disengaged, so our enemy can think clearly and using his God given will, step through the door and take a new path.
Like it or not, no one escapes the influences of the world—we are born into it[1]—and our priests, our bishops, and, indeed, we our own selves are made to be our enemy by the influence of the Prince and Power of the air—the very air we breathe tends toward delusion. Fundamentally, to whatever extent the Church does not transform the world around it, it will be either persecuted by it or fully infiltrated by it, the two are at war with each other until one or the other wins; they are mortal enemies with eternity at stake for the souls of men.
From the beginning, God knew Man’s greatest battle would be—not the total disregard for God—but the bringing together of the way of Life and the way of death through duplicity in the same house, church, in the same person. God—Himself—put enmity between the Seed of Woman, and the Seed of Satan; they are totally incompatible and cannot be allowed to dwell together in the end. In the mediatorial construct of Man, the two can dwell together, but only for a time, one must be defeated. In this, Man becomes conflicted and at war with himself, like Rebecca, two nations—peoples, paths, natures—struggle within.
It’s not about where you are, but the trajectory, which path you are on. One can only walk one path, heading toward one destiny.
The authority of binding and loosing goes way beyond the confessional and is part and parcel of the inheritance of every Orthodox Christian starting with baptism, “Do you renounce Satan?” “Yes, I renounce Satan,” “Go and spit on him.” We should be spitting on him every chance we get.
Those who channel the world—including globalist sympathizers—into the Church are in fact under a spell, in Satan’s hand, under demonic influence. Yet, this—in the short term— is easily broken. For permanence, any vacated house, must be filled with God, or the evicted come back with reinforcements and the latter condition is worse than the former.
Praying simply prayers of binding and loosing, we can silence the demons that drive our clergy to behave badly (or our very own children). Doing so sets their minds and wills free to step through the door and onto the road of genuine repentance. Without that, their ministry will be mixed and in time slide further from the truth and fidelity to the Church. Fidelity of the Church to its self, is never an automatic; it takes every generation’s recovery of the Faith once delivered for themselves in their generation.
Pray this everyday, twice a day, or as often as it comes to mind:
“In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Soon Returning King of Glory, I bind away every delusion from….(insert the name of your priest, bishop, or yourself); demons be gone!”
If enough do this, we will see change for the better. Just try it, there is nothing to lose. Speak it out load if no one is around; pray it always within yourself otherwise.
In order for this to work, many have to keep doing it. Whatever ground the person has conceded to the enemy will be taken back, usually by the end of the next day. At some point, they must take steps according to the fathers on their own behalf to recover the ground of sin that gives standing for demons. For a time, a dispensation of freedom is given, confusion leaves, clarity comes, the choices become clear, courage to do rite and be rite swallows the passions.
Make no mistake, while there is a Ladder of Ascent (good morning St John), there is also a latter of decent—just as marked by steps— taken by some who choose attempting a dual path in life. There is now time to repent even for the vilest offender, but that door is never held open forever. No one is outside of this hope, yet, while God’s mercy knows no limit, every person’s ability, opportunity, wherewithal of will to repent, does not. At some point the soul reaches its last opportunity provided by providence, and no more will remains, eternal felicity becomes unrecoverable.
[1] Commentary on the human situation: I am reminded of a hit song from my generation (1971) “Riders on the Strom” Upfront is the punchline, “Into this house you’re born, into this world you’re thrown.” Listen to the whole thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv8GW1GaoIc
I would like to address the article linked by John D.
The article by Fr. Willow embodies exactly what I have been saying: We Orthodox “proof text” the fathers as bad as or worse than the Sola Scriptura bunch proof text the Scripture. Here is a lesson in life: those who grasp for authority among the faithful using the fathers as a stick to beat people with, will grasp for power in the Church and abuse it.
These kinds of things make us look stupid, and betray an intoxication with power to wield the sword of Patristic verbiage dishonestly. Any truth can become a destructive battering ram, just decipher where the article targets the guilt trip. Luckily for Fr. Willow the article dates 2016 and perhaps he has grown wiser after all the COVID meltdown.
Here is Fr. Willow’s first error. It is to assume, St Ignatius Brianchaninov would say the exact same thing today in America. That his advice in that generation is to be applied as if it was a canon of the Second Ecumenical Council or that it is generationally verified by the application of the Vincentian Canon echoed by many fathers through all generations. In neither case does it rise to the authority Willow gives it. The genius of Orthodoxy is its geographical construct in which the local bishop judges all things—all things not canonical— on the ground in real time (well used to be). What we have now and is demonstrated by this article is a form of papism placing infallibility on some one. By quoting that authority as a universal, the speaker/writer is assuming himself a pope even though he is utilizing another authority. Even popes can’t just make things up, they have to quote somebody they agree with.
The dear saint was cradle Orthodox, living among cradle Orthodox, in early and mid 19th century Russia, let that soak in for a minute.
Here is Fr. Willow’s second serious error: by pulling Brianchaninov out of context—just like the Protestants do with Scripture—it forces many false assumptions on the part of the reader. These false assumptions are in reality hidden lies used by politicians. When Brianchaninov, said “heretics” we have no clue what books he was referring to; do we? Help me out here if I have missed something. As I understand it, correct me if I’m wrong—Protestant books (or RC) were extremely rare in Russian during the 19th century. German? Yes. Dutch? Yes. English? Yes. Russian? You got to be kidding me; this is a joke, rite?
The books referred to, were most likely written by Russian Orthodox malcontents. Possibly—here I am stretching things—, alarmist—like me—who saw the handwriting on the wall and a Russian revolution coming—who really knows?
When the American reader, reads this he/she automatically assumes—falsely—that the Russian heretical Parishioner went out to the local Barnes and Noble and picked systematic theology by Bullenger, or something by Jim Baker (Lord have mercy), or Billy Graham (not born yet? Ok, then Billy Sunday; who preached against vodka). If it happened, it was rare, too rare to make it a blanket judgment.
These kinds of articles constitute Orthodox-ism, not Orthodoxy, assuming authority where none exists.
Many modern Orthodox Christians call Protestants out as “heretics”. In the historical Church, heretics were defined by a process of discernment—a form of trial. If something, someone was found to be a “heretic” a list of anathemas were read publically. I’m still waiting for these public anathemas to be read by any Orthodox bishop—no priest has the rank—for all the Protestants to hear.
That Fr. Willow finds great benefit from St Ignatius, means nothing as a standard to apply to everyone. When St Anthony heard the Gospel message to “go and sell all” and become a hermit, this cannot be, must not be applied to everyone.
This is why MANY authoritative Orthodox clergy (e.g. T Ware, Met. Irenei) call Protestants, heterodox—”not Orthodox”. If we believe the True Church to be what we claim it to be, NOTHING more needs to be said. By bashing heterodox as heretics, we are showing doubt about, and insecurity in, and a profound ignorance of our own Faith and how it works—used to work.
Fr. Willow’s article would not fly in this town. Many Orthodox Christians are employed by the various Protestant ministries here. Some even raise the funding for them (all approved by their bishops). Imagine with me for one moment, those Orthodox Christians who get on the phone, call up retirees with lots of money and sell the virtues, greatness, converts to, and wonderful accomplishments of XYZ Protestant ministry? Even Praying with them. Or would Fr. Willow rather have them quit their jobs and go sell reverse-mortgages taking advantage of retirees, funding the new world order system? What a conundrum; I’m just glad I don’t have to sort it, the bishop already has. His judgement is to let them work their jobs—unless he wanted to fund their unemployment. If you tell somebody to quit their job under the duress of being excommunicated as a heretic, that bishop must be willing to pay the freight, help out.
We must rethink Orthodoxy’s relationship with heterodox. The term heterodox was coined because you cannot technically call them heretics, because they adhere to the Nicene/Constantinople Creed. When Orthodox clergy attach the label “heretic” to anything they distain, they are departing from tradition—canonized tradition of how these things were handled. They are doing exactly the same thing that brought the filioque—a unilateral fiat with no consensus. For something to be “heretical” it must go through some judgment by a committee of clergy.
Rite now, the influx of converts is the life stream of American Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy—corruption aside—is Protestantism’s greatest threat. By that I mean, we can, and should be plundering the brain trust as Protestantism is crumbling, people are tired of anything that moves—morphs— beneath their feet. Take Josiah Trehnam for instance. He is one of our greatest assets but it is also notable he is not cradle Orthodox. Where—I ask you—would Conciliar Press—aka Ancient Faith— be without the Gilquest influx? Non-existent I dare say.
Anything we do to alienate our greatest and easiest mission field, is shooting ourselves in the foot. Not smart. If Fr. Willow has two dozen catechumens, 15 lined up for the next baptism this week, a budding building program with plans on the drawing board for a mission church and a new temple, I’ll retract everything I said and quickly and publically issue an apology, and kiss his ring.
The proof is in the pudding.
As for John D’s comments, I think his experience in agriculture is to be cherished. Soon we all may be calling on him for advice. Me first of all.
Great article. For anyone seeking to understand where things are heading, I would recommend reading Jacques Ellul’s ‘The Technological Society’.