Ecumenism and communism

ORTHODOX ISSUES OF THE DAY

ECUMENISM AND COMMUNISM

By AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LIVING BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

The beginning of the new and redoubled persecution of Christianity within the Soviet Union in this decade coincided with the entrance of the Moscow Patriarchate into the World Council of Churches in 1961. To the Soviet government these are but two aspects of its relentless campaign against religion: to destroy at bome, to infiltrate abroad. But what prompts official Ecumenism to accept such a program with scarcely a ripple of protest? This article, written by a member of that martyric race of Orthodox Christians living behind the Iron Curtain, penetrates to the heart of this question and finds Ecumenism and Communism, despite their outward contradictions, to be brothers and allies in their battle against the Church of Christ. The article was given to Monsieur Elias Rouart, a French Orthodox Parisian, with the request that it be published in the West. The author, for understandable reasons, wishes to remain unknown.

WE ARE NOT going to discuss atheistic Communism here. It is so primitive and barbaric that it is not even worthwhile for one to refute it. Like a wild animal, it knows nothing except to overturn and to destroy, without ever attracting! Meanwhile, next to Communism there is Ecumenism which seeks to ensnare souls by preaching the unity of Christians, lying in wait like a Siren for its victims. However, it is exactly in the countries of militant atheism that "faith" in Ecumenism is becoming more apparent! This is something that should make us doubt its Christian character. In reality, these two brothers, with all their apparent contradictions, are nothing else deep down but children of the same "father of lies," creations of worldwide Freemasonry.1

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1. The kinship of such 'neutrality' with Communism was further demonstrated in November of 1967 by official ceremonies in Geneva by cantonal and municipal authorities to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. A memorial plaque was placed on the house where Lenin lived, and Lenin's stay of several years in Geneva, together with his revolutionary activities there, were commemorated and a booklet issued: "Lenin in Geneva." See Orthodox Russia, 1967, no. 22 (ed. note).


The subject concerns two brothers, the similar sound of whose names symbolizes their common descent. In fact, was it not in Geneva, under Masonic neutrality (which is so characteristic of Switzerland), that Lenin, with the support of the Lodges, formed the great conspiracy which prepared the Revolution of 1917 against Orthodox Russia, with militant atheism being the first point of its program? Was it not in Geneva also that there was formed in 1927—only ten years later – the "World Council of Churches," which is nothing else but a lower, "profane" branch of Freemasonry, such as the Rotary and Scouting? The members of the latter organizations are not necessarily initiated, and for this reason at first glance their relationships with the Lodges are not apparent, but in their aims they follow the Lodges' directives according to the letter.

Just as everywhere else, here also Masonry strives to bring about a confusion of ideas which will help it to assimilate the great masses by applying a principle which is exactly opposite to "divide and conquer"—that is: "combine and govern," and in this way paralyzing all spiritual powers through adulteration and imitation. Thus, Ecumenism strives to replace the true concept of the Church – One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic – by means of the subversive idea of a pan-heretical union. In fact, Ecumenism shows no interest in distinguishing between truth and heresy. On the contrary, it invites all the confessions to combine in a synthesis where the word "heresy" is absent for practical reasons and does not exist even as a possibility. Within Ecumenism the Church ceases to be a unique, living entity, and becomes a general idea, including in an equalizing manner the various types of "Christian Churches." Thus the Church of Christ loses her concrete meaning, her very essence, and is brought down to the level of a general abstraction. This precisely appears behind the ambiguous assertion of the [former] General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Visser ’t Hooft: "Ecumenism is en. titled a 'federation of churches'; it itself is not a church; but, by the will of God [sic], as I see, it may become one day the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church [sic]" (Conseil Oecumenique des Eglises, p. 90). We must also mention the assertion that escaped the mouth of Anderson while speaking to an Orthodox protopresbyter during one meeting in Athens in 1938. "We will not be pedantic any longer," he said. "The next step in Ecumenical activity will be the union of Christians with the faithful of other religions, on the basis of the principle of monotheism."1

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1. Orthodox Ecumenists, thirty years later, have now declared themselves ready for this step. The official statement of the 19th Clergy-Laity Congress of the Greek Archdiocese of North and South America, meeting in Athens in July, 1968, included the following assertion: "We believe that the ecumenical movement, even though it is of Christian origin, must become a movement of all religions reaching towards each other" (ed. note).


The ever-memorable Metropolitan of Samos, Eirinaios, had very correctly observed the total absence of a Trinitarian concept in the dogmatic basis preached by Ecumenism. It is constantly stressed that God is one, without any mention of the Holy Trinity. Thus when after the observation by Eirinaios there was added at the end (so that it could easily be removed) of the Ecumenical "Creed" the phrase: "of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," the whole construction gave the impression of the monistic concept held by the ancient heretical Montanists, who saw in the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity nothing but three manners of manifestation of the single God.

Furthermore, if there were in Ecumenism a true Triadology, this Triadology should have been the basis of Christology, since Christ is the hypostatic incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. However, Ecumenism systematically avoids professing Christ as the Incarnate God. Once, when this concrete formulation was proposed, it was not adopted at all – something which is very characteristic of the secret anti-Christian views of the World Council. Furthermore, the Christology which Ecumenism puts forth in its profession of faith in "Christ – God and Saviour" does not offer any guarantee of Orthodoxy, because under this exceedingly broad label all the heresies of Christianity can fit. Furthermore, will not the Antichrist himself come with the assertion that he is God? (II Thess. 2:4.)

But let us return to the secret relations of Ecumenism with its brother, Communism, which alone can explain the intensification of the position of Ecumenism in the countries behind the Iron Curtain. And first we must stress the exceedingly important point that the entrance of the Russian Church into the World Council of Churches in 1961, coincided with the intensification of the persecutions on the part of the atheists. One would expect that this rapprochement with the World Council would have at least brought about an abatement of the persecution against the Russian Church – and it was without a doubt for her the only valid justification for such an adventurous undertaking. In spite of this, no such thing took place. On the contrary, the atheistic frenzy which was ravaging the Church has doubled its wrath since then!

In the face of this event, how can anyone explain the absolute silence of the World Council which, in spite of the fact that it preaches itself to be a champion of Faith and Order on a world-wide scale, nevertheless tolerates without any protest a militant atheism which acts publicly a disorder so flagrant, a violation so manifest of the most elementary constitutional rights? The justification which Nikita Struve gives of such a defeatist position seems to us strangely naive: "If Geneva keeps silence," he writes, "it is because an official protest would immediately bring a sharp conflict with the representatives of the churches which are behind the Iron Curtain and which recently have been accepted into the Ecumenical Movement" (Nikita Struve, Les Chretiens en U.R. S.S., Paris, 1963, p. 282). But if the World Council was sincerely resolved to defend the Christian Faith (and in this specific case, Orthodoxy) why indeed should it fear to cause a conflict (an artificial one, furthermore) in this matter with the representatives of the churches beyond the Iron Curtain – something which would have been the only means of putting things in order? Furthermore, some two years ago did not the Exarch of the Russian Patriarchate in Western Europe, remaining always faithful to his canonical obedience, protest emphatically in the name of his obedience against the atheistic persecutions, with the danger of bringing about unavoidable conflicts? If, therefore, the World Council melts away in the face of militant atheism, it is because, by reason of its Masonic allegiance, it feels inwardly much more in common with the agents of worldwide Communism than with the representatives of the Orthodox Church. These latter are nothing but pawns, directed willy-nilly in a game of mutual compromises by which political elements will be benefited – elements which, under the pretence that they look with favor upon the Church, finally paralyze her. Thus once more is it confirmed that compromises in religion never lead to victory.

Here we should mention an historical example. As Gaston Boissier has very well demonstrated, the inimical attitude of the Roman rulers toward the first Christians was caused primarily by the intransigence of the latter and by their categorical refusal to allow Christ to be included in that broad pantheon in which Rome had gathered all the gods of idolatry. "It was this stubborn insistence of theirs on separating themselves thus from the rest of the world in order to keep their faith pure from every alien admixture which alone can explain the violence of the persecutions, the victims of which were the Christians for three centuries" (Gaston Boissier, La religion romaine d'Auguste a Antonius, Paris, 1884, pp. 402-3). The ancient Church preferred, therefore, to endure the harshest persecutions (over which she triumphed, furthermore) rather than to participate in an idolatrous syncretism which would have assailed its very Christian essence. Unfortunately, in our days the example of the ancient Church has not been followed. The Ecumenism of Geneva, a tributary of a religious syncretism with a Masonic basis – which for the present is called "Christian" by way of window-dressing—by using the strong arm which its partner, Communism, has lent it, has managed to attract practically the whole of the Orthodox Church into its nets – at least in the person of its official representatives, who of course in this case are far from expressing the voice of the Orthodox people!

And the false position in which the Orthodox find themselves within this Masonic "pantheon" that is the World Council of Geneva, wherein Orthodoxy sees that she is assigned an ecumenically acceptable role at the extreme right of the spectrum of the Protestant "confessions," has already begun to prevail in the awareness of everyone. It is truly tragic that the theologians and "representatives" of Orthodoxy, with very few exceptions, so easily accepted this position, and thus without understanding it found themselves on the same level as the offshoots of competing Western heresies. The blame must be put on those Orthodox who, having accepted the principle of all the "confessions" and applying it to the Orthodox Church, once more betrayed their mission, their very essence, which is something totally different from all these heretical systems and which is the Church herself in all her fullness and unity. The "separate Orthodox statements" which have been added to virtually all the decisions of the great Ecumenical conferences show clearly, in their futility, the feeling the Orthodox representatives have always had—that they are found in an erroneous position – a feeling that explains the continuous anguish of the Orthodox in the Ecumenical Movement.

Furthermore, so that we may speak especially of the great Church of Russia which is entering into even more trials – there certainly could be no thought of her entering the World Council of Geneva without the consent, or rather the pressure, of the Soviet state. Yet one can be sure that this would not have brought the Church to such a compromise if some genuine advantage would not result. This is precisely what Nikita Struve has emphasized: "By looking with favor upon the external relations of the Russian Church, the Soviet Government managed to neutralize the various Western protests which could have lifted their voice for the Christians of Russia" (Nikita Struve, Ibid., p. 282).

The forced entrance of the Russian Church into the World Council is nothing else, therefore, but another form – much more dangerous because it is cunning – of persecution against the Orthodox Church. Thus Masonry and Communism, notwithstanding all their external disputes, put forth their hands in order to destroy – each from his own side – the Church of Christ, just as in the past the Pharisees and Sadducees fought together against Christ Himself. Also significant is the fact that in 1962 – only a few months after the entrance of the Russian Church into the World Council the Archbishop of the Anglican Church, while officially visiting Moscow during the greatest intensity of the persecutions, found nothing better to do than to joke with Mikoyan (Ibid.). And this 'Ecumenical-Communist flirtation' did not begin just lately. Twenty years ago, the Dean of the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, Hewlett Johnson, published a laudatory trilogy concerning the "Socialism," the "power," and the "success" of the Soviets. In conclusion he drew a parallel between Lenin and Christ, since, as it seems, both had the well-being of mankind as their ideal! He ends by proclaiming the Soviet Union to be "an ally with everything that is the best which exists in the religions of the world"!!!

Thus the Orthodox Church behind the Iron Curtain is found subjected by two allied yokes: the yoke of Ecumenism which comes to double the yoke of Communism. This Masonic-atheistic alliance gives birth to disheartening aberrations which make every Orthodox heart bleed. For instance, an address given at the ordination of an Orthodox (a convert from Roman Catholicism) in Paris in a heterodox Church building, had to be mutilated in its very essence and pruned of every criticism of heterodoxy in order to be published in Moscow (compare the two periodicals: Messager de l'Exerchat du Patriarche Russe en Europe Occidental, Paris, 1961, no. 35, p. 7; and Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1961, no. 2, p. 29). This Orthodox Church desires to celebrate a local anniversary but is forbidden to invite other sister Orthodox Churches, whereas it is obliged to celebrate in the presence of representatives of the World Council. The Orthodox Russian clergy, which is forbidden to preach, is obliged to give its place to foreign ecumenists who preach freely in Orthodox temples to the great scandal of the Orthodox people (see Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1964, No. 5, pages 36-39). The professor-ecumenists of the West travel freely in these lands in order to give lectures in the theological academies and there to expound ecumenical subjects.

Ecumenism, a Masonic invention, seeks to reduce all religions to an equal level, to knead them in the same kneading bowl, in order slowly to prepare the paste of religious indifference a foreshadowing symptom of the Antichrist. The so-called "Christian" Ecumenism of Geneva is in reality a disguise for a clearly anti-Christian ideology which compromises with militant atheism. This precisely explains the Ecumenistic reign of terror which rules mainly behind the Iron Curtain, as well also as the silence of the World Council in the face of militant atheism. So that all scepticism in this matter may be done away, let us ask ourselves: what other power beside that of Communism allied with Ecumenism could oblige the Metropolitan of Leningrad, Nikodim, during the recent assembly of the World Peace Conference in Prague, to take part in an Ecumenical "worship service" (culte Oecumeniste) together with Protestant pastors (and in particular to publish a photograph of this service on expensive paper in the eighth volume of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, to the greater scandal of the Orthodox people), in violation of the tenth and forty-fifth Apostolic Canons – which forbid Orthodox, under penalty of excommunication, from any joint prayer (how much more so joint worship) with heretics! Formerly there was no question of more than Ecumenistic common prayer, at which the Orthodox were simply present. Lately there has been devised the term "Ecumenic worship," in which Orthodox clergymen must take part! The next step will undoubtedly be "eucharistic" concelebration, which will also mark the final fall of the allegedly "Orthodox" representatives.

Orthodox Christians! In our days, which are defiled by Ecumenistic madness, we comprise the remnant that is according to the election of grace, this remnant of Israel that has not bended the knee to Baal (Romans 11:4,5). This privilege imposes the imperative duty on us to struggle to preserve Orthodoxy from the Ecumenistic defilement which assails it. To us is turned the gaze of the Orthodox living behind the Iron Curtain, who are reduced to lamentable defeatism as a result of the pressure exercised upon them by atheistic Communism and strengthened by its counterpart, Masonic Ecumenism, which perpetrates an ecclesiological heresy of the most dangerous type! We, by the very fact of our faith in Orthodoxy, are called by Divine Providence to preach the true, Orthodox ecumenism which raises the standard of truth above all else, which without any distinction or discrimination of race, nation, or language receives and embraces all men of good will who honorably and fervently seek original Christianity (which is truly ecumenical), which is nothing else but the pure Orthodox Faith handed down as an inheritance by our Lord Jesus Christ to His Apostles, and which is proclaimed by the Holy Orthodox Church which even the gates of hell have not yet been able, nor shall ever be able, to cast down.