NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE PAPACY DANGEROUS AND IMPOSSIBLE!

NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE PAPACY

DANGEROUS AND IMPOSSIBLE!
It is time to get out!

  There has been a great deal of conversation, and Orthodox negotiators have made concessions, incurred large expenditures for hotels, air travel, food, etc.,  and poorly informed clergymen have been engaged  in  illicit negotiations for  union (denomination) with/by the Popes of Rome.  The papacy is not  really seeking union and they admit it, for it is their firm desire for total domination, hence the great importance of  the destruction of Orthodoxy which stands in its way. How can any form of union benefit the Orthodox, which the last Pope says “has everything”?  Rather union would strip her of divine grace  and  merciful help, leaving her naked and ugly and a lifeless corpse.  An important question needs to be brought up:  Why does the Pope seek union when he has over a billion subjects?  The truth is the papacy abhors union but desires  something else, which is “just commemorate my name.”  This is how the Pope stripped the Uniates of their Orthodoxy and their salvation. These former Orthodox who keep their “Orthodox” traditions, became Orthopapists, and only commemorate the name of the Pope, but are no longer Orthodox and are not in communion with the Orthodox Church, in fact they treat it with contempt. For they have bowed to the Pope and accepted him as Christ’s representative.

 The previous Pope Benedict said this: “The Orthodox have everything, but they are defective as  they do not have me.” All the Pope wants is commemoration of his name. All the Devil sought from Christ was even less, just a single bow!

  When all the “Orthodox” signed a union pact with the papacy, in the fifteenth century, St. Mark of Ephesus, who stood alone, in his person preserved the Orthodox Faith.  History will be  repeated in our time. A powerful force always  remains standing in opposition to any type of union and this force is more powerful than the Papacy and the unionists. This is the great spiritual power of one or more genuine Orthodox Christians who piously follow the warning of the Holy Spirit who spoke through St. Mark of Ephesus, who warns us to shun union and “flee from  unionists as from a serpent.”   Why?  Rome graciously smiles and is courteous toward us, but the papacy is not our friend and has been  inimically disposed toward the Orthodox for a thousand years,

  The papacy is not energized by Christ, and seeks only to devour and transform our faith which is white as snow which they would defile to make it blacker than coal. In vain do they keep trying, but they will never succeed in seizing and putrefying the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church with their impious dogmas and doctrine, especially their placing the Pope on an equal plane with Christ, as infallible head of the Church. It is a well known fact that Rome will never abandon the papacy and return to Orthodoxy, for reasons which we will mention. Faithful Orthodox Christians firmly believe in but one  union – union with Jesus Christ. The Papacy chose to severe union with Christ by their apostasy from the true Church, followed by their establishment of a counterfeit church. What is counterfeit has no value and will be destroyed.

     Although Orthodoxy is in the world, it avoids the spirit of  the world and unites us with the Holy Spirit sent by Christ as our Comforter and Guide. Enemies cannot understand Orthodoxy and the great willingness of multitudes to gladly surrender their lives to preserve their Orthodox faith.  Orthodox are aware that we are the Body of Christ and He is our only Head, nor do we acknowledge any human leader as our infallible guide.

    The majority of  the contemporary Orthodox negotiators give little attention to St. Mark who warns all the Orthodox to flee from those who seek union with the Papacy. They fail to heed the cry of St. Kosmas Aitolos, who says: “The Antichrist stands over us and the other sits in Rome; curse the Pope, he is the cause of all evils.”  History proves the Saint to be right, for the bloody crusades, the sack of Constantinople, the 450 years of captivity, the demonic inspired inquisitions, the slaughter of almost a million  Serbian Orthodox in WWII by the Ustashi headed by Anton Pavalic and blessed by Cardinal Stepinac, (who is now on the road to papal "sainthood"  all give witness to the true nature of the papacy. These stand as a powerful witness against the Papacy and what it represents. Incidentally we hear criticism in our days,  to our stand by some unionists, who remarked that St. Kosmas Aitolos was harsh, nor did they offer kind words for Saint Mark. But they failed to  speak of the terrible harshness of the papacy in bloody Crusades sordid massacres, the torturous Inquisitions, the  slaughter and genocide of the Serbs, and all the bloody wars of Europe which they fomented. Added to this was the open unashamed immorality of the Popes and papacy which inspired the reformers to attack their own mother and form churches without  the papacy or Christ.

  The main purpose of engagement with the papacy, during the days of  Saint Mark, was the hope of assistance to save the Byzantine Empire  and the city of Constantinople by seeking military assistance from the papacy, who demanded union under the Pope as the price for military assistance.  During that period,  Moslem Turks were seeking the great prize of conquering the city and the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire.  The great Saint Mark of Ephesus, who was sent to Italy to negotiate with the Papacy, was interested in preserving the purity of Orthodoxy, and bringing the Latins back to the Church. He  sought help only from God, and preserving in steadfastness and  purity of soul, he was glorified by the Church. Being  filled with Holy Spirit, courageously, with no support from the other 22 bishops, who were solidly opposed to the Saint, Mark fought alone against union with the Papacy and with divine help, and he put the Pope’s theologians to shame. St. Mark fought and won the battle with the greatest heresy of Christianity, the Papacy, which, due to its many iniquities mothered the entire Protestant error. For out of hatred for their papal mother the Protestants waged war against almost all dogma.  

     Mark stood apart from the 22 Bishops who were for union at any price, to save the “City” Constantinople; the papacy’s price for help was Orthodoxy’s submission to the authority of the Pope of Rome. Mark was maligned and insulted by his fellow bishops who were unionists, and was derided and mocked because “with pride” he stood alone, but he was never really alone, in fact, all heaven rejoiced in his firm courage and faithfulness. The 22 betraying Bishops rebelled against the Holy Spirit who spoke the truth through St. Mark of Ephesus, who always remained faithful, saying nothing of his own but spoke as the Spirit directed him. 

 St. Mark of Ephesus, teaches all of us Orthodox Christians a wonderful lesson to be applied. As members of the Body of Christ, one person alone  can be victorious with the two-edged sword of  truth and love, which is more powerful than an entire army. We all must remain faithful to the truths of Orthodoxy, for the Church is the Living Body of Christ who its Head.  He is the living God who became man,  Jesus Christ who descended from heaven, whom we Orthodox Christians adore and exalt, not the Pope of Rome, who abandoned the true Church and built his worldly empire on lies and forgeries.  It is well recorded that the Popes do not even claim to have received their superior authority and infallibility from Jesus Christ, for if this were so Christ would certainly inform everyone, that people would not go astray. The Father gave His Son authority making it clear, saying:  “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him!  . . ." And we all recognize  the authority of the Son, who tells us: “All authority has been given tome in heaven and earth . . .”   Christ passed the authority, to the Holy Spirit who then passed it to the Apostles. Christ also said: “I will not leave you  orphans, but will send you the Spirit of Truth who will remind you of all that I have said.” “Go forth and preach this Gospel to all nations . . . 

The proof that the Papacy was founded by men and not by God, is also testified to in their history books. For therein it is written that the papacy with the Pope as its head, was established after their apostasy from the true Church.  According to their  historical accounts, the Papacy was built upon the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, from which they derived their spiritual authority, and the forged Donation of  Constantine the Great, from which they established their secular and worldly authority. They ended up raising huge armies to fight wars, and protecting their real estate in Italy known as the Papal States. All that remains of that empire today is Vatican City.

   Anyone that seeks union with the Pope becomes ipso facto an enemy of Orthodoxy and renders themselves into fools. What could be more foolish that to exchange the Glory of Jesus Christ for the pseudo glory of the Pope, and the glory of the Guide of our Church, the Holy Spirit in exchange for a different spirit?  The proof that there is a different spirit in those who seek union with the Papacy is in their dialogues. The Papacy makes it clear that they will not abandon their authority in the West, and would have to find some other way to deal with the Orthodox. This means that there would establish a new church or a type of Unia.”  The main  reason why St. Mark of Ephesus is so important, is that he demonstrated that God will never abandon, a single person who stands  firmly against heretics in defense of the true Orthodox Church.  I for one, with the Lord’s blessing, would choose to be that one person and each of you that read this can choose to be another and another, this will grow into an army,  then certainly the Church will survive.  

    Christ says: “No man can have two masters.”  No one can  be united to our Master Christ and then commemorate  another master called the Holy Father. There is one final point. The future is everlasting life or the second death. Those outside the Church, being separated from its mysteries are not walking on the path of salvation but are headed toward perdition, for heresy is not piety and falsehood is not truth. The Orthodox leaders who meet with the papists and Protestants, Jews or Moslems,  should not be conversing with them except to offer them the Orthodox  truths and baptism attempting to save their souls. Their plea to the  papists ought to be: “abandon your heresies and errors, return to the Church and we will welcome you through baptism in the true Orthodox Faith.”  In failing to do this, they abandon  those with whom they communicate leaving to perish in their apostasy, for Christ, not the Pope has the keys to heaven . Where then is their love for man? Shame on you leaders! Where is your sensitivity toward the salvation of others?  When you hide the truth, you cause the loss of their salvation and thus lose your own salvation. Great shame!  The Moslems, Jews and Catholics all say what they believe but the Orthodox hide the truth.   Lord, let us never hide the truth but firmly proclaim it from the rooftops, whenever possible. “For whoever confesses me before men, him will I confess before my Father who is in heaven.” Let us never be ashamed of our Christ but confess the true Christ of Orthodoxy who is far above all the pseudo-christs of the world.  For we are His body and  therefore  we must acknowledge before all,  our glorious Head. All Orthodox Christians ought to proclaim to everyone they can:  “Christ alone  is true God, true man, the Truth which comes down from heaven who is with us and will always be with us even to the close of the ages. Amen.”