THE FUNCTION OF THE PROPHET

By Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas (OCA), August 9, 1995.

The function of the prophet of the Old Testament was twofold: to foretell the future, the coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of the vocation of the Hebrew people; to call them to account for their sins and disobedience and for their departures from God's righteousness. The prophets called them to repentance for their transgressions, chief among which was being influenced by the idolatrous and barbarous religions of their neighbors and adopting their ways.

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in His own prophetic ministry, condemned false religion and false thinking about religion, and, in doing so, He deeply offended the self-righteous religious leaders who were responsible for guiding the people of Israel.

Throughout her history, the Church has been beset by the assaults of the Evil One, heresies that would undermine the doctrine of the person of the Lord Himself (Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophytism, etc.), surrender to pressures for conformity (iconoclasm), and politically motivated alliances (the false union of Florence). Many Christians, at times a majority of them, were attracted by these destructive movements, and were offended at the prophetic voice, which was never lacking, that perceived the real dangers in them. The Church, by God's grace, overcame them all and reached the twentieth century intact.

It is my opinion that many Orthodox Christians today are willing for the Church to surrender to the temptation to conform to the role that contemporary society assigns to religion: to bless this world's so-called progress in the moral and spiritual spheres, to reject all exclusivity or uniqueness in the interest of unity, and to concern itself with the world of the here and now rather than with the world to come. Many are unaware of the primary danger that the Church faces: the gradual infiltration of materialistic, humanistic and secularist thinking, that the ground is being laid for a western captivity far worse than those of the past, latinizations and protestantizations.

Prophetic voices are needed to call us all back to the real-ization that the forces of this world still want to destroy the Church, the precious Truth that has been entrusted to her—to understand that what the Church has is essential for the life of the world and its salvation and that this cannot be mitigated. These voices will offend - so be it!

One such voice is that of the author of "Letters to Father Aristotle." Frank Schaeffer has come to us from where that secularism has already done a great deal of its damage, and he is in a unique position to discern the signs of the times. He is an intensely loyal Orthodox layman, loyal also to his local church and the jurisdiction to which it belongs. He is one of us, and we American Orthodox should give heed to what he has to say.

ORTHODOX HERITAGE.  VOL10, ISSUE 01-02. BROTHERHOOD OF ST. POIMEN.