We have deep
respect for many traditional Roman Catholics like Josef Pieper, Dr Russell
Kirk, Louis de Bonald, and others. And
we appreciate good-hearted folks like Fr Longenecker for trying to enculturate
Roman Catholicism within the South:
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2020/11/being-southern-fried-catholic-dwight-longenecker.html
However, to
use Fr Longenecker’s fried chicken imagery, for the Southern fryer to follow
the road to Roman Catholicism would end with that bird being burned to an
unappetizing crisp. This is because of
the loss of balance in Roman Catholicism that leads to onesidedness (thus
overcooking one side of the chicken!), to extremes of different kinds, which
have manifested themselves in various ways within Roman Catholicism:
--in the self-wounding
practiced by Francis of Assisi, Angela of Foligno, and others:
https://orthochristian.com/42352.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellant
--in the sterile,
life-strangling rationalism of the Scholastics;
http://www.oodegr.com/english/papismos/disintegration_western_theology.htm
https://orthochristian.com/66082.html
--in the
flirtatious attitude towards God of Theresa of Lisieux, etc.:
https://stjohndc.org/en/orthodoxy-foundation/why-orthodoxy-true-faith-osipov-ai
--in the
overemphasis on unity/uniformity that follows from making the bishop of Rome
the replacement of Christ as Head of the Church on Earth; its consequences were
well described by Fr Andrew Phillips, though he was referring to another
subject when he said, ‘This imperialism is marked by the imposition of a single
language and a single culture, centralisation and bureaucracy. This is
inevitably part of a controlling tyranny, of the bullying and intimidation of
both clergy and people at the grassroots. By creating fear and injustice, it
hopes to obtain the property and wealth of the people, their church buildings.
By mistreating the clergy, this imperialist centralism discourages the
missionary impulse, often persecuting any missionary initiative in the name of
control and ‘protocols’. Such a mentality is death to the soul and death to the
spiritual life of the Church: imperialism is always spiritual death.’ (http://www.events.orthodoxengland.org.uk/the-inevitable-struggle-for-the-inevitable-local-church/)
See
also: http://www.oodegr.com/english/papismos/diafores_2.htm
In this age
when relativism has taken its place as one of the cardinal virtues, it upsets
folks to speak plainly about truth and falsehood. But that is what the South needs to hear when
it comes to Roman Catholicsm (and Protestantism). In this wise, the Holy Elder Ambrose of
Optina has some important words that ought to be heeded:
In vain do some of the Orthodox marvel
at the current propaganda of the Roman Church, at the feigned selflessness and
activity of her missionaries and at the zeal of the Latin sisters of mercy, and
incorrectly ascribe to the Latin Church such importance, as if by her apostasy
from the Orthodox Church, the latter remained longer such, and has the
necessity to seek unification with the former. On rigorous examination, this
opinion proves to be false; and the energetic Latin activity not only does not
evoke surprise, but, on the contrary, arouses deep sorrow in the hearts of
right-thinking people, who understand the truth.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, from
apostolic times until now, observes unchanged and unblemished by innovations
both the Gospel and Apostolic teachings, as well as the Tradition of the Holy
Fathers and resolutions of the Ecumenical Councils, at which God-bearing men,
having gathered from throughout the entire world, in a conciliar manner
composed the divine Symbol of the Orthodox Faith [the Creed], and having
proclaimed it aloud to the whole universe, in all respects perfect and
complete, forbade on pain of terrible punishments any addition to it, any
abridging, alteration, or rearrangement of even one iota of it. The Roman
Church departed long ago into heresy and innovation. As far back as Basil the
Great, certain bishops of Rome were condemned by him in his letter to Eusebius
of Samosata, "They do not know and do not wish to know the truth; they
argue with those who proclaim the truth to them, and assert their heresy."
Apostle Paul commands us to separate
ourselves from those damaged by heresy and not to seek union with them, saying,
A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject;
knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of
himself (Tit. 3:10-11). The catholic [universal] Orthodox Church, not two
times, but multiple times tried to bring to reason the local Roman Church; but,
despite all the just attempts at persuading the former, the latter remained
persistent in its erroneous manner of thinking and acting.
Already back in the seventh century, the
false philosophizing that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son was conceived
in the Western Church. At first, certain popes rose up against this new
reasoning, calling it heretical. Pope Damasus proclaims in a Council
resolution: "He who thinks rightly about the Father and the Son but
improperly about the Holy Spirit is a heretic" (Encyclical § 5). Other
popes, such as Leo II and John VIII, also affirmed the same thing. But most of
their successors, having been carried away by rights of domination and finding
many worldly benefits in this for themselves, dared to modify the Orthodox
dogma about the procession of the Holy Spirit, contrary to the decisions of the
seven Ecumenical Councils, and also contrary to the clear words of the Lord
Himself in the Gospel: Which proceedeth from the Father (Jn. 15:26).
But just as one mistake--which is not
considered a mistake--always brings another one in its train, and one evil
begets another, so the same happened with the Roman Church. This incorrect
philosophizing that the Holy Spirit proceeds also from the Son, having just
barely appeared in the West, already then gave birth to other similar
offspring, and instituted little by little other novelties, for the most part
contradictory to the commandments of our Savior clearly portrayed in the
Gospel, such as: sprinkling instead of immersion in the mystery of Baptism,
exclusion of laypersons from the Divine Chalice and the use of unleavened bread
instead of leavened bread in the Eucharist, and excluding from the Divine Liturgy
the invocation of the All-Holy and Life-Giving and All-Effectuating Spirit. It
also introduced novelties that violated the ancient Apostolic rites of the
Catholic Church, such as: the exclusion of baptized infants from Chrismation
and reception of the Most-Pure Mysteries, the exclusion of married men from the
priesthood, the declaration of the Pope as infallible and as the locum tenens
of Christ, and so on. In this way, it overturned the entire ancient Apostolic
office that accomplishes almost all the Mysteries and all the ecclesiastical
institutions--the office, which before had been preserved by the ancient holy
and Orthodox Church of Rome, being at that time the most honored member of the
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (Encyclical § 5, item 12).
Nevertheless, the main heresy of the
Roman Church is not in subject matter, but in action; there is the fabricated
dogma of supremacy, or rather, prideful striving for dominance of the bishops
of Rome over the four other Eastern Patriarchs. For the sake of this dominance,
supporters of the Roman Church placed their pope above the canons and
foundations of the Ecumenical Councils, believing in his infallibility. But
history truthfully testifies as to just what this papal infallibility is. About
Pope John XXIII, it was stated in the decision of the Council of Constance,
which deposed this pope: "It has been proved that Pope John is an
inveterate and incorrigible sinner, and he was and is an unrighteous man,
justly indicted for homicide, poisoning, and other serious crimes; a man who
often and persistently before various dignitaries claimed and argued that the
human soul dies and burns out together with the human body, like souls of
animals and cattle, and that the dead will by no means resurrect in the last
day." The lawless acts of Pope Alexander VI and his sons were so monstrous
that, in the opinion of his contemporaries, this pope was trying to establish
on Earth the kingdom of satan, and not the Kingdom of God. Pope Julius II
reveled in the blood of Christians, constantly arming--for his own
purposes--one Christian nation against another (Spiritual Conversation, No. 41,
1858). There are many other examples, testifying to the great falls and
fallibility of popes, but there is no time to talk about them now. With such
historical evidence of its impairment through heresy and of the falls of its
popes, is it warranted for the papists to glory in the false dignity of the
Roman Church? Is it just that they should abase the Orthodox Eastern Church,
whose infallibility is based not on any one representative, but on the Gospel
and Apostolic teachings and on the canons and decisions of the seven Ecumenical
and nine Local Councils? At these Councils were God-inspired and holy men,
gathered from the entire Christian world, and they established everything
relating to the requirements and spiritual needs of the Church, according to
the Holy Scriptures. So, do the papists behave soundly, who, for the sake of
worldly goals, place the person of their pope above the canons of the
Ecumenical Councils, considering their pope as more than infallible?
For all the stated reasons, the
Catholic Eastern Church severed its communion with the local Church of Rome,
which had fallen away from the truth and from the canons of the catholic
Orthodox Church. Just as The Roman bishops had begun with pridefulness, they
are also ending with pridefulness. They are intensifying their argument that
allegedly the Orthodox Catholic Church fell away from their local Church. . . .
The rest is at https://orthochristian.com/63657.html
.
The Southern
hen won’t reach the perfection of crispiness, juiciness, spiciness, etc.,
outside the kitchen of the Orthodox Church, however hard the other religious
cooks may try. For the Master Chef and
His true apprentices are found only there.
Put yourself in their holy and skillful hands, Dixieland!
***
A very
helpful summary of the differences between the Orthodox and Roman Catholics:
Via https://www.monomakhos.com/contrasts-between-roman-catholicism-and-orthodoxy/
.
Also, a
couple of related videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Fl9XZCDwg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAlS6T-KePs
--
Holy Ælfred
the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to
the Union!
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