Spiritual Adultery: The Ecumenical Patriarchates Illicit Affair with the Pope of Rome
- Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A.
- 23 hours ago
- 12 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
By Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A.
The community within World Orthodoxy was thrown into ecclesiological turmoil yet again by the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Patriarch of Alexandria for their brazen joint prayer and for the signing of yet another heretical joint declaration signed by both the heresiarchs of New and Old Rome. During the multi-day event, both Patriarchs Bartholomew of Constantinople and Theodore of Alexandria united in joint prayer with the Arch-Heresiarch of Rome, whereby they recognized him as the legitimate and canonical successor to Saint Peter despite his many heresies, continually referring to him as their common brother in Christ.
During their joint prayer service for the 1,700-year commemoration of Nicaea, both Bartholomew and Theodore joined in common prayer not only with the Latin Papists but also with the ecumenically condemned Nestorians and Monophysites, as well as multiple heretical Protestants who were also present with them. As all Orthodox Christians know, these events were nothing less than a blatant violation of the holy canons, which forbid joint prayer with heretics. However, this event was more than just a violation of canons. It was another grievous display of what the Synods of Constantinople and Alexandria truly believe. They believe that the Latin Papists, despite all of their heresies, are just as much a part of Christ’s Church as they are. Both of these heretical World Orthodox patriarchates have adopted nothing less than Vatican II theology, wherein despite being separated over issues of dogmatic theology for nearly a thousand years, they nonetheless profess by their actions that somehow the Latins remain part of the Church in some form or fashion. The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Alexandria believe in “the idea that ‘elements’ of the Church, such as Baptism, can be extracted from the whole and still have life to give,” which is why they de facto recognize the mysteries of the Latin Papists [1].
These last few days have shown the Orthodox world yet again that the purity of Orthodox doctrine and faith is not the priority of these two heretical patriarchates or those that remain in communion with them. Their priority is unity at all costs regardless of doctrinal differences. Again, this is nothing new for the two patriarchates, least of all for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has been captured by heretical ecumenists since the 1920s. They continue to sign documents and participate in joint prayer regardless of the canons and, worst of all, in spite of their own flock’s negative reaction to these events.
In this heretical joint declaration between Patriarch Bartholomew and the Pope of Rome, we can see that the document is filled with ecumenistic heresy, something that should not surprise anyone after one thousand years. In this jointly-signed document, right at the beginning, it immediately endorses a branch theory theological statement in which it states that both jurisdictions are continuing “to walk with firm determination on the path of dialogue, in love and truth (cf. Eph 4:15), towards the hoped-for restoration of full communion between our sister Churches” [2].
Of course, in Orthodox ecclesiology the only sister churches that exist are those with which one is in full ecclesiastical, doctrinal, and eucharistic communion. In the very same paragraph, they again promulgate the heresy of ecumenism by saying that “we invite all the members of our Churches – clergy, monastics, consecrated persons, and the lay faithful – earnestly to seek the fulfilment of the prayer that Jesus Christ addressed to the Father: ‘that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you... so that the world may believe’ (Jn 17:21)” [3]. At first glance, this sounds very nice and who would not want such unity? However, we must think about this from an Orthodox ecclesiological framework. Here again they recognize each other as part of the Church and call for unity. Is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, that is, the Eastern Orthodox Church, not already one? Are not the Latin Papists who have maintained their heresies for more than a millennium outside of that?
Further in the heretical declaration, we read that the Ecumenical Patriarchate and all jurisdictions under his omophorion recognize the Latin Papists as having the Nicene faith of the Orthodox. The declaration reads:
We must also recognize that what binds us together is the faith expressed in the creed of Nicaea. This is the saving faith in the person of the Son of God, true God from true God, homoousios with the Father, who for us and our salvation was incarnate and dwelt among us, was crucified, died and was buried, arose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. Through the coming of the Son of God, we are initiated into the mystery of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and are invited to become, in and through the person of Christ, children of the Father and co-heirs with Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Endowed with this common confession, we can face our shared challenges in bearing witness to the faith expressed at Nicaea with mutual respect, and work together towards concrete solutions with genuine hope [4].
As you will notice, there is something very significant missing from this paragraph: that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone (John 15:26). This omission appears despite the fact that the Latin Papists maintain the heretical doctrine of the filioque, which states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, contrary to the Gospel. If we look at the official Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, it teaches clearly that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, quoting the false Council of Florence. The Roman Catholic Catechism reads:
246 The Latin tradition of the Creed confesses that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque)”. The Council of Florence in 1438 explains: “The Holy Spirit is eternally from Father and Son; He has his nature and subsistence at once (simul) from the Father and the Son. He proceeds eternally from both as from one principle and through one spiration... And, since the Father has through generation given to the only-begotten Son everything that belongs to the Father, except being Father, the Son has also eternally from the Father, from whom he is eternally born, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son” [5].
Ask yourself now, if the Roman Catholic Church in their official catechism put out by the Vatican teaches this doctrine, how then do the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Latin Papists accept the Nicene faith when the Papists dogmatically reject our creed as it was established by the Council of Nicaea?
They continue on in the heretical document by putting forth a statement that is a clear adoption of Vatican II ecclesiology when they recognize other “churches” even beyond the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Latin Papists. They say, “We are deeply grateful to all the leaders and delegates of other Churches and ecclesial communities who were willing to participate in this event” [6]. This document, as you would expect, refers to the non-canonical lifting of the 1965 anathemas and praises this action, saying:
This year we also commemorate the 60th anniversary of the historic Joint Declaration of our venerable predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, which extinguished the exchange of excommunications of 1054. We give thanks to God that this prophetic gesture prompted our Churches to pursue “in a spirit of trust, esteem and mutual charity the dialogue which, with God’s help, will lead to living together again, for the greater good of souls and the coming of the kingdom of God, in that full communion of faith, fraternal accord and sacramental life which existed among them during the first thousand years of the life of the Church” [7].
What is most concerning is that the Ecumenical Patriarchate signs this document asserting that his participation in ecumenistic and heretical dialogue is nothing less than led by the Holy Spirit. He attempts to influence all those who reject his ecumenical activities by declaring that they “exhort those who are still hesitant to any form of dialogue, to listen to what the Spirit says to the Churches” [8].
This document blends ecumenist theology with Vatican II ecclesiology and represents a clear departure from Orthodox ecclesiology. This heretical joint statement by the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Pope is far from inconsequential, despite what Father Peter Heers recently taught his followers on YouTube.
To understand how significant and truly consequential this heretical joint document is, we can briefly look at the writings of Saint Mark of Ephesus concerning those who have adopted the heretical filioque. In Saint Mark’s Confession of Faith at Florence he states:
“Therefore, according to the decree of this Council, as well as the Councils before it, considering it necessary to preserve the Sacred Symbol of Faith unaltered, just as it was issued, and accepting what they accepted and rejecting what they rejected, I will never receive into communion those who dare to add a novelty to the Symbol concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit, as long as they persist in such innovation. ‘For whoever is in communion with those excommunicated from communion,’ it says, ‘let him also be excommunicated.’ […] And what need is there to say more?!—All the Teachers of the Church, all the Councils, and all the Divine Scriptures urge us to flee from those of different opinions and to withdraw from communion with them” [8].
As we can see, Saint Mark of Ephesus teaches on this very issue that we must flee and break communion with anyone who would alter the Creed, as well as with those who remain in communion with individuals who distort the Nicene Creed. Is what the Ecumenical Patriarch is doing in any way the methodology used by the saints, such as Saint Mark? Did Saint Mark address the heretical pope of his time as a brother in Christ or recognize the papists as a “sister church”? The answer is absolutely not. He clearly taught that every Orthodox Christian must flee all those who preach another gospel and break communion with them.
Lastly, we will read what Saint Mark of Ephesus did to those who were in communion with such people and all those who remained in communion even tangentially with those who adopted this heresy. On his very deathbed, Saint Mark of Ephesus instructed the faithful to break communion with all those in communion with heresies, saying:
“I wish to express my opinion in more detail, especially now that my death is approaching, so as to be consistent with myself from beginning to end, and lest anyone should think that I have said one thing and concealed another in my thoughts, for which it would be just to shame me in this hour of my death.
“Concerning the patriarch I shall say this, lest it should perhaps occur to him to show me a certain respect at the burial of this my humble body, or to send to my grave any of his hierarchs or clergy or in general any of those in communion with him in order to take part in prayer or to join the priests invited to it from amongst us, thinking that at some time, or perhaps secretly, I had allowed communion with him. And lest my silence give occasion to those who do not know my views well and fully to suspect some kind of conciliation, I hereby state and testify before the many worthy men here present that I do not desire, in any manner and absolutely, and do not accept communion with him or with those who are with him, not in this life nor after my death, just as (I accept) neither the Union nor Latin dogmas, which he and his adherents have accepted, and for the enforcement of which he has occupied this presiding place, with the aim of overturning the true dogmas of the Church.
“I am absolutely convinced that the farther I stand from him and those like him, the nearer I am to God and all the saints; and to the degree that I separate myself from them am I in union with the Truth and with the Holy Fathers, the Theologians of the Church; and I am likewise convinced that those who count themselves with them stand far away from the Truth and from the blessed Teachers of the Church” [9].
Does Saint Mark of Ephesus say that this is “inconsequential” and that you can tolerate those who sign heretical joint statements with the Latin Papists? Or does he teach — without any ambiguity — that we need to break communion with those heretics who have adopted this heresy, as well as those who remain either in prayerful spiritual communion through joint prayers in violation of the canons or in eucharistic communion, which is the culmination of the betrayal of Christ that began not in their joint communion but in their adulterous prayer with heretics?
Many within World Orthodoxy continue to dismiss this as merely a problem of the bishops, claiming that none of it has any effect on the “traditional priest” or on the actual institutions of their church. That, however, is entirely false, and we can see how false it is by the very publications of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s (GOARCH) Department for Religious Education and their homilies to their children, indoctrinating them into this ecumenist way of thinking.
In an e-mail sent Tuesday, November 18th, 2025, from the GOARCH Department for Religious Education—directed by none other than Bishop Athenagoras, the heretical ecumenist bishop known for openly praying with pagan Hindus in their temple—they published a “Kids Sunday Sermon Series” entitled “1700 Years from the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325–2025 AD)” with the theme “We Believe! The First Council of Nicaea.” In this heretical ecumenist sermon series, which teaches parents to indoctrinate their children into the pan-heresy of ecumenism, it states:
Beloved Parents and Religious Educators,
This week, we celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. In this extraordinary edition of the Kids Sunday Sermon Series, find all the resources you need to teach our children about this historic event. Let’s help our children discover that the bishops at Nicaea taught the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. Let’s teach our children that the Creed we say each Sunday began there and still unites all Christians in faith. Let them know that this year the four Patriarchs of the East and the Pope of Rome will gather to celebrate this great event, reminding us to always say with joy, “I believe in one God” [10].
In the official e-mail from the Department for Religious Education of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the teachers in their PDF lessons provided by the archdiocese are encouraged to indoctrinate their students into the heresy of ecumenism, to recognize the Arch-Heresiarch of Rome as just another bishop of the “Church,” and to teach them that this sad and heretical event is nothing but joyous. They are instructed to present the Greek Orthodox Patriarchates and the Pope as praying together and confessing the same faith. The teachers’ lessons for all targeted grades state:
“WHAT DOES IT MEAN? At the Council of Nicaea, the bishops came together to protect the truth about Jesus Christ. They declared that Jesus is truly the eternal Son of God who shares the same divine nature as the Father. When we say the Creed in church, we repeat the same words the bishops proclaimed long ago to guard the true faith. This year is very special. From November 28 to 30, the four Greek Orthodox Patriarchs — of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem — will meet with the Pope of Rome in Constantinople and Nicaea to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of this holy Council. They will pray together and thank God for the faith we all share: “I believe in one God.” How wonderful that the truth about Jesus has never changed from the very beginning” [11].
In addition to the teachers’ lessons, the student lessons are also freely distributed to the parents and teach exactly the same thing: that the Pope is nothing less than another bishop of Christ’s Church; that we both confess the same faith despite the Latin Papists retaining the heretical filioque clause among their multitude of other heresies; and that joint prayer with these confessing heretics is presented as joyous and celebratory rather than shameful and a clear violation of the Holy Canons put forth by the August Fathers of the Holy Orthodox Church.
Is this of “no consequence,” as Father Peter Heers and other preachers of the “resist from within” ecclesiological heresy continue to teach? In years past, people would dismiss the actions of these bishops as nothing that affected them, insisting that it was merely something the bishops did and that it was of no concern to those at the parish level. Now you can clearly see that it is, in fact, affecting the parish level. Your local “traditionalist priest,” despite what you have been taught, is entirely irrelevant because, at the end of the day, all clergy are answerable to the bishop, who is the only authority in the Church. In this heretical patriarchate, and in those in communion with it, they are directly teaching the pan-heresy of ecumenism through their Department for Religious Education. They are influencing their teachers to promote this heretical message and are directly including it in the curriculum of children so that they are inoculated from the truth of Holy Orthodoxy and fully inculcated into the pan-heresy of ecumenism, preparing them for even more ecumenist actions in the future.
It’s time to follow the Fathers and flee these World Orthodox bishops who are not servants of Christ and His Church but are nothing less than servants of antichrist who poison the spiritual minds of the faithful and their children.