Showing Us Their Fruits: The Patriarchates Kicking Off 2024 with an Ecumenist Bang!

By Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A.

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As the first month of 2024 comes to an end, many Orthodox Christians have been confronted with their Patriarchate already starting off the New Year in a celebratory ecumenist fashion with the usual going into churches of heretical confessions and raising their hands in joint prayer in direct violation of the canons of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Of course, this is all done with the approval and blessing of each of their respective synods and local churches. Some of the participants in the Ecumenist New Year celebrations that we have come across and that have been blasted all over social media have, of course, come from the usual offender of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In the Diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Italy, in the City of Lucca, the Ecumenical Patriarchate joined the papists in their church for a “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” [1]. On January 18th, 2024, in Bucharest the Romanian Patriarchate participated in a “meeting dedicated to the unity of Christians” which included joint prayer by all those invited at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Joseph in Bucharest, Romania [2].

In early January, here in the United States, we have pseudo-bishop and heresiarch Elpidophoros along with the apologetic Bishop Athenagoras participating in an Ecumenical meeting with the Armenian Monophysite Bishop Mesrop ironically to “extend his warmest greetings on the joyous occasion of Armenian Christmas celebrated on January 6,” Old Calendar Christmas [3]. According to the Orthodox Times regarding the meeting, this “momentous occasion not only strengthens the spiritual bonds between the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and the Armenian Church, but also exemplifies the spirit of reconciliation and the quest towards unity that transcends confessional boundaries.” As we can see, they have in mind a transcending of ecclesiastical boundaries, not based on a pure confession of Orthodoxy or the Armenian repentance from heresy, but just based on the heresy of Ecumenism and what one heretical retired bishop calls an “ecclesiology of love.”

In addition to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Romanian Patriarchate, and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOARCH), we also have the Antiochian Patriarchate and their Patriarch John X who, on January 20th, 2024, was photographed and video recorded by the official Instagram page of the Middle Eastern Council of Churches (MECC) praying with Protestants, Papist, and Monophysites. Patriarch John X is, according to the Middle Eastern Council of Churches, the President of the MECC for the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Middle East. According to the MECC official photo caption below, Patriarch John is reciting the “Trinity Magnificats” at the Ecumenical musical ‘Beirut 2024’” [4].

Many of those in the conservative modernist movement would like you to believe that these are, in fact, isolated incidents of Ecumenism from bishops that have fallen into heresy. However, as we can see, these heretical practices of Ecumenism are par for the course, synodally sponsored and endorsed by nearly all of the patriarchates and primates in all of the so-called local churches. These bishops preaching and teaching heresy for the world to see have no problem with bringing their flock with them. How sad these events truly are to the Orthodox world. As one priest online has said recently, the preaching and teaching of heresy is not the beginning of their departure from the faith but the end result of their apostasy and the Holy Spirit departing from them. Lord have mercy on these heretical bishops and those who follow them and even support their unfortunate actions!

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References

[1]. “Ecumenical gathering as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity,” Orthodox Times, accessed January 25th, 2023, https://orthodoxtimes.com/ecumenical-gathering-as-part-of-the-week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity/?fbclid=IwAR2zNnNRoq5dXF4684E7GDsD4FakuG_g1W3lnFnsZvQx2Y81R5qrpSKRqQM

[2]. “Întâlnire dedicată unității creștinilor la Catedrala Sfântul Iosif din București – 2024,” Agentia De Stiri — Basilica.ro, accessed January 26th, 2024, https://basilica.ro/intalnire-dedicata-unitatii-crestinilor-la-catedrala-sfantul-iosif-din-bucuresti-2024-foto/?fbclid=IwAR3ZlmbdWa-vtvYg2f7ehSD_p4ijFmE_85WZfnzqsSTkpOnoaFH8FwJiaCE 

[3]. “Archbishop of America visited Bishop Mesrop during the season of Armenian Christmas,” Orthodox Times, accessed January 26th, 2024, https://orthodoxtimes.com/archbishop-of-america-visited-bishop-mesrop-during-the-season-of-armenian-christmas/ 

[4]. “Trinity Magnificats,” Middle Eastern Council of Churches – Instagram, accessed January 26, 2024, https://www.instagram.com/p/C2VJoPUtekx/