THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 5

(Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 5

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

Pope Gregory and Emperor Henry IV continued:

    Because Henry ignored the Pope and his council’s decrees, the Pope became very angry and started by excommunicating the Emperor. There was dissatisfaction between the Emperor and the barons of his empire, that was to the advantage of the Pope, who addressed to the prelates and the princes a letter of advice, pointing out to them that this was the moment for electing a new sovereign.  In the same letter he referred to Emperor Henry, saying, if he were permitted to reign, he must be brought to obedience to the church, that he might “henceforth think of the holy church, not as a bond-maid subject to his will, but as a mistress set over him.”

  The haughty and indignant princes welcomed the Pope’s letter, and assemble at Tribur in the autumn of 1076 for conference, which was attended by legates from Rome who were men wisely chosen, and well trained for their task, Bishops from Germany, and barons from the whole empire, but Henry himself was not present.  The discussion continued for seven days; at last the council resolved that Henry’s continuance in power should solely depend on his reconcilement to the head of the church. If the sun should go down on him still an excommunicated person on the 23rd of February, 1077, his crown was to be transferred to another.  This sentence made the Emperor so completely dependent on his nobles, he had no choice but to submit; seeing no other way of obtaining relief, he determined upon a personal visit to the Pope, to beseech the pardon and favor of the Church.

     It was the depth of winter of such extreme severity that the Rhine was frozen over from November to April, and the road to Italy was in those days a bare track, often winding through the mountain passes, blocked up at this season with snow, and sometimes scaling the very ridge of the Alps, from which the snow never departs. . . . The emperor, himself on his hands and knees, slowly made his way from crag to crag. Not seldom the treacherous path failed them, and men were rolled headlong into the deep snow. The queen and her infant son were let down in the skins of slaughtered beasts, by means of ropes, and thus hardships which royalty rarely knows, the journey was accomplished and the imperial pilgrim found himself early in January, 1077, on the Italian side of the Alps.

     Upon reaching the Pope’s residence, he was made to stay for many days in the freezing weather, before the Vicar of Christ” would listen to a syllable of his petition. Ar last, after Henry was just reduced to the verge of despair, he received announcement that he should obtain absolution on one condition – his delivering up to the Pope his crown scepter, and other symbols of royalty, and confessing himself unworthy to bear the name of king, and above all that Henry should do penance in the castle yard before he should receive the pardon of Christ’s Vicar.  Finally the Emperor was permitted to appear before “his holiness”, the now triumphant and exultant Pope.  The gates of the castle were thrown open, and the royal; penitent stood in the presence of the haughty Gregory “From the terrible glance of whose countenance”, it has been told, “the eye of the beholder recoiled as from lightning.”  But the just Judge of the universe did not permit that cruel Pope to persist very long, with his misconduct.  Henry resumed his royal character, took up arms, and in October 1080, defeated and mortally wounded Rudolph, Duke of Snobia, who had been elected Emperor in his stead by order of the Pope. Then he went into Italy, deposed Pope Gregory and caused Guilbert, Archbishop of Ravenna to be elected Pope, by the name of Clement III, and Pope Gregory was exiled where he died.

To be continued

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 4

   (Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 4

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

continued:

   Pope Benedict IX became enamored of the beautiful daughter of an Italian noble, he formally demanded her in marriage. Her father, pretended to be willing, but said he could only consent on condition that the Pope would abdicate his office,  hoping that the throne of the church would fall into his own hands, and that he might sit on it whom he pleased. But Benedict, though in nowise reluctant to part with the tiara, was determined to make the sacrifice a source of pecuniary profit.  He therefore selected a priest, named Gratianus, who had acquired considerable reputation which had proved so advantageous as to greatly enrich Rome for being more than usually religious, and to him he sold the supreme office of church leadership. There was a party who wished for reforms in the church and they aided John Gratianus to purchase the office, in the hope that he would become their instrument in accomplishing these reforms. At all events, said Gratianus, by his own confession, bought the triple crown, and Pope Benedict consecrated with his blood-stained hands this hopeful successor of the Prince of the Apostles by the title of Gregory VI.

    But poor Pope Benedict was yet doomed to disappointment. The father of the intended bride, mortified at the failure of his own schemes, refused to part with his daughter. And assuming that the papacy was still vacant, he nominated another, John, Bishop of Sabina, under the name of Sylvester III.  And now Pope Benedict, enraged at the trick that had been played upon him, resolved to retain the supreme power of the church. He therefore, continued his abode in the Lateran and continued to style himself the most holy Pope. The world beheld in astonishment, three pontiffs at once, living in different palaces, and officiating at different altars in the papal holy city – Benedict performing priestly functions at the Lateran, Gregory in St. Peter’s, and Sylvester in the church of Maria Maggiore. “The afflicted church”, to use the language of that time wedded at once to three husbands, witnessed the celebration of many rival masses in the metropolis of Christendom. 

    We have limited space and cannot narrate all the horrible things that these spiritual combatants  have done. The wars between the parties, the shedding of blood, and how the swords crossed over in battle over the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs is something terrible. The dispute was at last settled by Henry III who convened a council of bishops and clergy at Sutria. At this council, Gregory  presented himself in the hope of receiving the imperial sanction to his claim of popery. He was compelled, however, to confess that his claim rested on no better ground than that of simony, and he with his rivals received one sentence of deposition.  At the return of Emperor Henry III to Germany, he took in his train the three deposed Popes. The new Pope took the name of Pope Clement II. This unfortunate Pope and his successor Pope Damasus both died of poison.

     The dispute between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV is a long story to tell. This Pope whose original name was Hildebrand. He was the first Pope to claim infallibility and who ordered that the name Pope should be applied exclusively to the Bishop of Rome. He also was a champion of Papal supremacy over temporal sovereignty.  He abolished the marriage of priests which he called fornication. The dispute between the Pope and the emperor will be continued.

RJM Note: This is no small thing.  This Pope gives no attention to Holy Scripture and overthrows the  decision of the Lord who established marriage as a holy and beautiful, saying: “It is not good for man to be alone!” Then He made woman for him.  A married priest is not living in fornication, and St. Paul clearly blesses the married state of even a bishop. The Pope is the forerunner of protestantism, interpreting the Scripture, not as the Fathers, but to agree with their corrupted and  inferior minds.

To be continued

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 3

  (Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 3

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

continued:

     In the tenth century Rome was controlled by the licentious Theodora, her daughter Marozia and her son of the first marriage Alberic II. From 904 to 963, they placed their lovers and children on the  throne of the Holy See. In 931, Marozia’s son who acknowledges Pope Sergius III to be his father, and who was only twenty years of age, was given the tiara, and assumed the name of (Pope) John XI.  This profligate youth surpassed, if it were possible to surpass, his predecessors in his utter disregard, not merely of religion, but of the commonest forms of morality.  Truth, honor, decency – were all shamefully defied.  Hardly a vice can be named or imagined of which he was guilty. The gold and silver vessels belonging to St. Peter’s were given as presents to his mistresses and other companions in sensual pleasure.  The female pilgrims who visited Rome were decoyed to the Lateran and ruined; the treasure of the See were squandered away in gambling of every kind. The very show of divine worship was abandons altogether. Or indecently hurried through, and the audacious Pope did not scruple publicly to invoke pagan deities, and mockingly to drink at his revels to the health of the devil.

     Such was the character of Pope John XII, as portrayed by the Romanists themselves. Listen to what Dr. (Karl) Brandes, who is a Roman Catholic, says about this Pope: “In the person of this grandson of Marozia, the papacy was reduced to its deepest degradation, and Rome to its depth of dishonor and humiliation.” Finally this Pope was deposed by a Council for his licentiousness and other crimes, which would fill a volume, if we were to insert them one by one" and yet our brethren, the members of the Roman Church, unblushingly still call on us to believe that this wretch was a legitimate successor of self-denying Peter and Paul and as above all, that he was infallible.

Pope Boniface VII                                            Pope Benedict VII

     Pope Otto the Great was succeeded in 953 by two rival heads of the church, namely Pope Boniface VII and Benedict VII.  The opposition between them was absolute. The Pope of one party was the antipope of the other. What one authority decreed the other strictly forbade. Pope Benedict excommunicated Pope Boniface, and the latter returned the compliment, yet, both of them held the power of binding and loosening, ordained priests and bishops, and bestowed blessings as the Vicar of Christ, etc.

     One of these rival Pontiffs, Vicar of Christ and the successor to the fisherman St. Peter. Pope John XIX, had never been a priest at all; he was Duke of Rome and seized the Papacy by force. On his death in 1033, the Count of Tusculum elevated to the chair of St. Peter a boy of their family, not quite twelve years of age, and gave him the name Benedict IX.  

     As soon as this Pontiff arrived on the verge of manhood, he recklessly plunged into every species of debauchery and crime. No expenditures was too lavish, no act was too daring, that would serve to gratify his passions. All that has been related of John XII might be repeated of Benedict IX and the whole would not be told. The former was a voluptuary, the latter was a voluptuary and a tyrant. To licentiousness he added ungovernable fury and anger, and committed several murders with his own hands. The chroniclers of the age, wearied or disgusted with their task, are fain to sum up the catalog of his enormities in a few words by declaring that the details are too horrible to relate. 

To be continued

Retired Pope Benedict XVI declared that the Orthodox have everything but are wounded, because they do no have ME.

Supreme arrogance is not a trait of Christianity but of this fallen world.

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 2

  (Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 2

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

continued:

  The Roman historians are in discreet silence as to Pope Constantine who succeeded Pope Paul I, lest the opposition for the Popes, all infallible, should become too apparent. By the swords of the Lombards Pope Constantine was forcibly deposed, and having been cruelly deprived of his sight was shut up in a convent. He was succeeded by Pope Stephen IV.  This Pope summoned a council of provisional bishops to assemble in the Lateran Church, which abrogated all the decrees of Constantine, deposed all the bishops whom he had ordained, annulled all the baptisms and chrismations, and, according to some historians, actually sentenced him to be ignominiously scourged, and then be put to death – a decree which was executed by burning him in the nave of the church.

   The emperor Charlemagne owes much of his success to the Roman Pontiffs, whose emissaries sometimes prepared the way for his victories, but more frequently followed in his track and instilled the principles of obedience and fidelity. It was said that, “God has given two swords wherewith to govern the world, the one to the Pope, and the other to the Emperor”.  Charlemagne was not ungrateful for the support thus afforded him, nor slow to recompense the service. It was he who first set the example of compelling the payment of tithes to the clergy, which had before been a voluntary offering. He also decided to be crowned by the Pope himself. At the Mass the Pope anointed Charlemagne and placed a golden crown on his head, as the people declared: “ Long life and victory to Charles, most pious Augustus, crowned by God, the great pacifier of the Romans.”

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD

Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

     “History pictures the Popes of Rome intoxicated by the wine of power, courting the favor of monarchs on one hand, and pandering to the superstitions of the people on the other. When Rome separated itself from the Mother Church and laid claim to universal supremacy over the whole church without any right whatever, the Roman Church ceased to be a spiritual community, and the bishops of Rome became much less the ministers of religion, either true or false, than a temporal king, forgetting their sacred function in the eager pursuit of Wealth and Ruling Power . . . 

    The absence of emperors from Rome gave the Popes the chance to establish their powers. They exercised the fearful engine of excommunication by which the consciences of the people were worked upon to believe that they must either be traitors to their sovereigns, or by disobeying Rome be cut off from all hope, not only in this world, but also in the next. It was by such means that the Popes gained the victory over the emperors.

SPECIMENS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

     Pope Formosus who succeeded Pope Stephan VI was before his election to the Papacy Bishop of Porto’ he was excommunicated by Pope John VIII. The election of this Pope was in direct contradiction to the Canon of the Great Nicene Council which forbids the translations of Bishops/ His immediate successor, Pope Boniface VI, was a man of such profligate character that Formosus declared that he doesn’t consider him a Pope at all.  Were these men, of such characters, the successors of St. Peter and Vicars of Christ?

     Not long after the death of Pope Formosus, a schism arose in the Roman church between his opponents and his supporters, and while one Pope revoked orders conferred by him, another, Pope John IX, in a synod st Rome, rescinded the decree of his predecessor, and reinstated those who had been ordained by him. Does this look like Papal infallibility?

   The history of the Popes of the tenth century is indeed the most revolting profanation of religion in the whole history of Christendom, so that it was commonly said among Christians that the end of the world was at hand. But German emperors and several German Popes in succession redeemed the Papacy from its corruption. But alas the Papacy had fallen back again, so that at one time three deeply simonical Popes occupied the Papal throne . They were so wicked that a writer of that century called them: “the wicked devils.

     The period between AD 1378 - 1417 was one of great schism in the Roman church.  There were two rival Popes, each of them claiming to be the true Pope; one of them resided at Rome and the other at Avignon – no one knowing which was the rightful successor of the “Prince of the Apostles;” each anathematizing the followers of the other, so that whole Western Christendom was under the ban of one Pope or the other. I wonder if St. Peter had any choice between the two.

      Pope John II and Pope Sylvestris both obtained the Papal office by bribery, as did Pope Vigilius.  Pope Sylvestius gave his allegiance to Emperor Justinian, and to his enemies the Goths at the same time.

Note: the sordid history of the Papacy has continued into the modern era, for during WWII the Papal Ustashi slaughtered almost a million Serbian Orthodox.

To be continued

NECESSITY OF TRUE DOGMAS AND UPRIGHT LIFE

 NECESSITY OF TRUE DOGMAS AND UPRIGHT LIFE

  As Orthodox Christians, we are constantly exposed to the teaching of the divine dogmas, especially each time we recite the Holy Creed and its dogmas: “I believe in one God . . . the Virgin birth, the incarnation, the crucifixion and suffering, the death and burial, the Resurrection, the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the heavenly Father and Holy Spirt and Lord Jesus Christ, the Trinity in one essence. 

  Orthodox Christians must all believe the same thing and  be dogmatically correct, for it is only in Orthodoxy that the dogmas, given us by God to keep and preserve, and they are the truths which distinguishes Orthodoxy from heterodoxy. They include dogmas declaring Christ as both God  and man, having  a divine and human nature and two wills. They include our belief  in  One God the Father Almighty,  in one Lord Jesus Christ  and the Holy Spirit, The Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and not from the Son. We believe that the Logos and the Spirit are coeternal with the Father who alone is unoriginate. These are critically important Orthodox dogmas. St. Nicolai Velimirovoc says:

   “If the dogma of faith seems to you to be tough food, you must first try to fulfill Christian moral dogma, and then the understanding of the dogma of faith will be revealed to you. The inquisitive examination of high things, without the effort to rectify one’s life, is of no use whatever.  At one time as group of Egyptian monks was considering Melchisedek, and were unable to come to any clarity about the mysterious personality of the ancient king and high priest. They invited Abba Copres to their place of assembly and questioned him concerning Melchisedeck.  Hearing this, Copres smote himself on the mouth three times and said: ‘Woe  to you Copres!  You have set aside that which God has ordained for you to do, and you investigate that which He does not require of you’  The monks were filled with shame and dispersed." 

            For Consideration , Prologue of Ochrid Vol.1 p59:

   We should all know and understand all dogmas concerning the Trinity, the Incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, for without correct dogmas our faith is in vain, Christ is the truth who came down from heaven and we must all be lovers of truth, and haters of lies.   St. John Chrysostom clarifies the relationship of dogmas and behavior and the need for both.

 The Saint writes: ‘If we hold true dogma and give no thought to our conduct, we shall find this of no use; and also if we give thought to our conduct and neglect true dogma, we shall receive nothing useful to our salvation.  If we wish to be delivered from Gehenna and obtain the kingdom, we must be adorned from both sides, with both true faith and uprightness of life.’

SAINT BENEDICT’S HOLY SISTER, THE ABBESS SCHOLASTICA

SAINT BENEDICT’S HOLY SISTER, 

THE ABBESS SCHOLASTICA

   St. Benedict, as we mentioned earlier, had a twin sister, Scholastica, who had been consecrated to God from infancy.  It was her custom, once a year, to make a pilgrimage to the monastery to see Father Benedict the Abbot.  The man of God did not bring her into his cell, but would go down to meet her at a monastery holding not far from the gate.  On that property was a house, where the saint would come.  Their mountainside meeting place was actually half the distance between her monastery at Plumbariola, some three miles distant, and the men’s monastery.  She arrived with a few of her nuns, just as Father Benedict was coming through the gate.  For this particular visit, he also came with a few of his disciples.  When the siblings were together, one could easily see a striking resemblance between the two, now in their sixty-seventh year.  Their monastic habits were also the same, since her garb was modeled after that which her brother had established at Monte Cassino; a dark wool tunic with scapular and belt. On her head she also wore a coarse black veil. There was a great affection between them.  They were now the sole survivors of their family.  “You are grieved about something,” she said to her brother.  He remarked, “I was thinking of our sixty-seven years.  This century has been a troubled one; but there shall be more wars and suffering, far greater in magnitude.

    Brother and sister then conversed about the spiritual life.  They also gave praise to God as they chanted. When darkness set in, tables were set in different chambers; one for monks, one for nuns and one for the abbot and abbess.  Benedict and Scholastica took their meal together and conversed at table until it was late. After they finished eating, Father Benedict rose up and made ready to leave.  Scholastica then said, “Tarry longer, my brother.  Let us keep talking about the joys of heaven until morning.”  Benedict looked out the window at the sky.  It was very clear, without a cloud in sight.  He then said to her, “But you would not have me break the monastic rule, sister, would you? The sun has set; you must see that, I ought not to be away from the monastery at night. She then asked, “Could you give yourself a dispensation this one time? I am no longer young and my earthly sojourn shall soon come to an end. Do me this favor.”  He then asked, “And set a bad example for my monks” She quickly answered, “no, of course not. Let them stay also.  We should al l wish to hear you converse about God for the rest of the night.”  He asked, “The whole night? What are you saying?  There is time enough not only for me and the brothers to reach Monte Cassino, but also for your return to Plumbariola. Come now, walk with me to the gate.

     She made no response.  She then joined her hands and placed them on the table before her.  She rested her head upon then and engaged in earnest prayer and shedding an abundance of tears.  Benedict looked at her and became uneasy.  What is she doing?” he thought.  Suddenly, as she looked up again at him, there came a burst of lighting and the crashing sound of thunder that shook the house.  These phenomenon were accompanied by such a downpour of rain that Benedict and the brothers could not even step outside.  A cloudless sky a few moments earlier was now the scene of torrential rains and violent winds, accompanied by more thunder and lightning.  Father Benedict had never seen such a fearful storm.  By shedding a flood of tears as she prayed to the Almighty, this holy nun darkened the sky with heavy rains.  The storm began precisely when she finished her prayer.  The two coincided so closely that the thunder was already resounding, even as she was raising her head from the table.  When she lifted her head completely, the rains came.

     The storm was terrible.  Father Benedict perceived he could not return to the abbey, without introducing grave peril to his monks.  He then gazed at his sister.  He was upset and complained, saying, “May Almighty God forgive you, sister! What have you done?”  She gave him a simple  reply: “When I appealed to you, you would not listen to me.  So I appealed to my God and he heard my prayer.  Leave now if you can. Leave me behind and return to your monastery.”  But he was unable to leave. He was made to stay there against his will, since he refused to stay there voluntarily.  As a result, they kept vigil that night, from which both derived great spiritual benefit from the holy thoughts they exchanged regarding the interior life.