The Fourth Ecumenical Council: The Moscow Patriarchate’s Official Rejection & Nullification of its Dogmatic Decree

Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A.
2 minutes ago
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Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A.

On March 27th, 2026, in a brazen act of ecumenist heresy, the Moscow Patriarchate, with the full approval of the Patriarch and the Patriarchal Synod, rejected and nullified the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council by sending an official delegation to a Divine Liturgy of the Malankara Monophysite Church to pray with them and witness the consecration of the Myron, or Chrism, for these ecumenically condemned heretics. The Moscow Patriarchate sent Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations as well as Secretary for Inter-Christian Relations, Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), and Priest Nikolai Vasin, Secretary to the DECR Chairman [1].

This act of heretical ecumenism, which was officially sanctioned by the Moscow Patriarchate, is a severe violation of the canons of the Orthodox Church and violated Apostolic Canons 45 and 64, and Canon 33 of the Council of Laodicea, which state respectively:

Canon XLV: Let a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, who has only prayed with heretics, be excommunicated: but if he has permitted them to perform any clerical office, let him be deposed [2].

Canon LXIV: If any clergyman or layman shall enter into a synagogue of Jews or heretics to pray, let the former be deposed and let the latter be excommunicated [3].

Canon XXXIII: No one shall join in prayers with heretics or schismatics [4].

However, it is not only the violation of canons that makes this so severe and so out of the ordinary for the Moscow Patriarchate, but specifically the event they went to attend, namely, the consecration of Chrism by these ecumenically condemned heretics. Why is attendance at this particular event so abnormal and such an outright rejection of the Fourth Ecumenical Council? First, we have to acknowledge what Chrism within the Orthodox Church actually is. Holy Chrism, or Myron, is a mystery of the Church that is explicitly connected to the grace-filled mysteries of the Church. “In apostolic times, the transmission of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was effected by the laying of the Apostles’ hands on the head of the newly enlightened. Later, anointment with holy Myron was established” [5].

In the mystery of Chrismation, which is completed with the Myron consecrated by the First Hierarch of a Church, “the grace of the Holy Spirit sanctifies man in his entirety” [6]. When a catechumen becomes an Orthodox Christian through the rite of Baptism, he is immediately Chrismated and “anointed with the holy Myron and in this way he himself becomes the anointed one, that is, a living image of Christ,” and he is filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit [7]. “The power of imparting the Holy Spirit was reserved for the Apostles, as it is for the bishops and priests, their successors, still to this day” [8]. What is truly problematic about this event is that the Moscow Patriarchate, from the Patriarch himself to the Patriarchal Synod, recognized this event as sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit, despite these heretical Monophysites having been ecumenically condemned at the Fourth Ecumenical Council. Chrism is not only used for the newly illumined entering the Orthodox Church but is also reserved for the consecration of Orthodox churches, as well as for receiving back those who have fallen into heresy and schism after leaving the Orthodox Church.

This is where the matter becomes extremely problematic because of that last point. If an Eastern Orthodox Christian falls into heresy or schism, for example, if an Orthodox Christian joins one of these so-called “Oriental Orthodox Churches” and then eventually returns to the Eastern Orthodox Church in repentance, that person needs to be Chrismated because of that separation. However, because of this event, the Moscow Patriarchate is stating that these Monophysite heretics have the grace of the Holy Spirit in their own chrism and that they are in fact equally part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, despite the ruling of the Fourth Ecumenical Council.

This, however, has now been rejected officially by the Moscow Patriarchate through its official representative and chairman of the Department for External Church Relations. This delegation is of significant importance because of their statutory roles within the Moscow Patriarchate structure. In the Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church, “Chapter VIII. The Moscow Patriarchate and the Synodal Institutions,” it describes the institutional role of the DECR as having the sole right to officially represent and act on behalf of the Patriarch of Moscow and the Patriarchal Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate. In this primary source document of the Russian Orthodox Church it explicitly states:

The Moscow Patriarchate and the Synodal institutions shall have an exceptional right to be plenipotentiary representatives of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod within the scope of their activities and their competence [9].

The sentence means that the Moscow Patriarchate and its Synodal institutions have a unique and exclusive authority to act on behalf of both the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod. These bodies are described as “plenipotentiary representatives,” a term that means they have full power to carry out decisions and represent the authority of those who appoint them—in this case, the highest governing bodies of the Church. In practical terms, this means that when these institutions act, speak, or issue statements, they do so with the full backing and authority of the Patriarch and the Synod. For example, when Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, as the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, issues a statement, signs an ecumenical agreement, or participates in interfaith activities, he does so not merely as an individual bishop but as the authorized representative of the entire Moscow Patriarchate.

Now, at this heretical Monophysite liturgy, which was attended by the official representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate through the Department for External Church Relations (DECR), Metropolitan Anthony gave his address to the congregation of the Malankara Monophysites, saying:

Your Holiness and dear brothers, Bishops, dear Fathers, brothers and sisters in Christ,

It is a true honor and a privilege for us, the representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church to be here with you today and we have brought you sincere greetings and regards from His Holiness, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kyrill, his love to His Holiness, the Catholicos, with whom they have been friends for many years, since the times when His Holiness was a student of the Leningrad Theological Seminary and Academy, the love of our Patriarch towards your ancient church.

And it’s a great honor for us to be here especially on this special occasion on the occasion of the blessing of the holy chrism, which is a true sign of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ who said that he would found his Church and even the gates of hell will never conquer it. This is a true sign that the church continues its life, continues its ministry, continues to bring the Gospel to new generations of Christians in this land.

On behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church, I would like to wish all of you many blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ so that the Malankara Orthodox Church for many, many years to come will continue its great ministry to bring the Gospel of Christ to the people here in India and worldwide.

Thank you so much for the invitation and the opportunity to be here with you today. Thank you [10].

As we can see from these heretical statements of the “plenipotentiary representatives of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod,” they are, in fact, being applied to a jurisdiction that has been condemned for its heresy by the Fourth Ecumenical Council. The Moscow Patriarchate recognizes these Monophysite clergymen as bishops and priests, recognizes that they are an ancient church that has continued to be a church despite its professed heresy, that “the gates of hell will never conquer it,” that they have the gift of the Holy Spirit within their heretical chrism, and they wish that Our Saviour bless their heretical ministry and spread their heresy across the world.

Time Stamp: 7:37:00

For many years, the Soviet-created Moscow Patriarchate has recognized that these heretical Monophysites have had a grace-filled baptism, since this has primarily been the work of the ecumenist movement for many years, especially in the world of the heretical World Council of Churches. However, this is the first time that the Moscow Patriarchate has recognized that their Chrism is legitimate and that it bears the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is entirely problematic because they have, in essence, recognized unequivocally that this heretical jurisdiction, despite the ruling of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, is truly Orthodox, that they have in full what the Orthodox Church has, and that even if one of their own members were to join the Malankara Monophysites and return, there would be no need for repentance or chrismation, because the ecclesiastical boundaries between the two are one and the same, save for the rite in which they celebrate their services.

We have to look briefly at the ruling of the timeless and divinely inspired decision of the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon which says to the Orthodox faithful,

These things, therefore, having been expressed by us with the greatest accuracy and attention, the holy Ecumenical Synod defines that no one shall be suffered to bring forward a different faith (ἑτέραν πίστιν), nor to write, nor to put together, nor to excogitate, nor to teach it to others. But such as dare either to put together another faith, or to bring forward or to teach or to deliver a different Creed (ἕτερον σύμβολον) to as wish to be converted to the knowledge of the truth, from the Gentiles, or Jews or any heresy whatever, if they be Bishops or clerics let them be deposed, the Bishops from the Episcopate, and the clerics from the clergy; but if they be monks or laics: let them be anathematized.[…] This is the faith of the fathers: let the metropolitans forthwith subscribe it: let them forthwith, in the presence of the judges, subscribe it: let that which has been well defined have no delay: this is the faith of the Apostles: by this we all stand: thus we all believe [11].

This passage from the ruling of the Fourth Ecumenical Council makes it clear that these Monophysite are outside of the Orthodox Church, that they have been condemned and are in fact graceless, that this decision was made with the full weight of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church under the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit and that anyone who believes otherwise is themselves Anathema.

How then does the Moscow Patriarchate and its Patriarchal Synod justify themselves in recognizing these ecumenically condemned heretics as being filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit and for all intents and purposes part of the Apostolic Church and the Body of Christ? It is now more clear than ever before that the Moscow Patriarchate, together with its autonomous jurisdictions under its omophorion, has now, as a Patriarchal Synod, entirely nullified and rejected the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council and completely gone into apostasy from the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church through its blasphemous recognition of the Myron of the Malankara Monophysites as grace-filled and salvific.

References

[1]. "The Chairman of the DECR attended the rite of consecration of Holy Chrism in the Church of India," Department for External Church Relations -Moscow Patriarchate, accessed March 29th, 2026, https://web.archive.org/web/20260330013353/https://mospat.ru/ru/news/94134/

[2]. The Canons of the Holy and Altogether August Apostles, “Canon XLV,” in Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 14, ed. Philip Schaff & Henry Wace (Peabody: Hendrickson Publications, 1999), 597.

[3]. Ibid., 598.

[4]. The Canons of the Synod Held in the City of Laodicese, “Canon XXXIII,” in Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 14, ed. Philip Schaff & Henry Wace (Peabody: Hendrickson Publications, 1999), 150.

[5]. Hieromonk Gregorios, The Orthodox Faith, Worship, and Life (Columbia: Newrome Press, 2020), 176.

[6]. Ibid., 176.

[7]. Ibid. 177.

[8] Fr. George Dokos, Made for Union: The Sacramental Spirituality of St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain (Columbia: Newrome Press, 2020), 82.

[9]. “VIII. The Moscow Patriarchate and the Synodal Institutions,” Department for External Church Relations – Russian Orthodox Church, accessed November 3rd, 2025, https://mospat.ru/en/documents/92094-viii-the-moscow-patriarchate-and-the-synodal-institutions/

[10]. “വിശുദ്ധ മൂറോന്‍ കൂദാശ | കാതോലിക്കേറ്റ് അരമന, ദേവലോകം,” Gregorian TV YouTube Channel, accessed March 29th, 2026, https://www.youtube.com/live/vHBUtZ18maM?si=ytv9HFJRQwAU47NG&t=27418

[11]. Fourth Ecumenical Council, “The Definition of Faith of the Council of Chalcedon,” in Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 14, ed. Philip Schaff & Henry Wace (Peabody: Hendrickson Publications, 1999), 265.