—How do you, our archpastor, the head
of our Church, see the future of Orthodoxy in the so-called New Times?
—Christ said that the further it
gets, the harder it will be for us. There will be wars and rumors of wars,
earthquakes, famines and pestilences; that lawlessness will increase, the love
of many will grow cold, one person will rise up against another and one will
betray another. However, Christ says in another place, we need to prepare
ourselves to withstand it to the end.
Orthodoxy is now ready, and should
always be ready, for these hardships. Christ also said to us: Whoever wants to
follow after Me, let him take up his cross and walk. They persecuted Me and
they will persecute you also. That means that we need to be ready for these
difficulties, endure them and withstand them. He who endures to the end, says
Christ, will be saved. You yourself can see that our misfortunes come not only
from those who are against us, people of other faiths and atheists, but
unfortunately also from people who consider themselves Christians. And now we
can see how certain Christians behave inhumanly... If we were to do the same
thing we would be even more severely condemned—to whom much is given, much is
also asked. It is all a matter of withstanding to the end.
Four years ago I was at the
celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the church of St. Savva in Vienna,
Austria. That morning the [Serbian] newspapers wrote that I had arrived to
throw dust in the eyes of the whole world, and that at fault for all the
misfortunes and wars are the Serbs and the Serbian Church, which called
everyone to go to war. At one assembly of Serbs and Austrians I was forced to
announce, “They are accusing me and the Serbian Church of calling people to go
to war for greater Serbia. But I say that if greater Serbia should and can
survive only through evil doing, I do not give my consent! Let there be no
lesser Serbia either—we will redeem it! But not at the cost of evil doing! No,
never! May we cease to exist, but remain Christ’s people in that disappearance.
We refuse to live any other way, not for anything. This means that the essence
is in this: After all, we know that our ancestors were not free for so many
years and centuries, but they stood fast in the truth; and the Most High, Who
is on the side of goodness, preserved us. If we need to perish, then it is
better to be a dead man than living but inhuman.”
—Your Holiness, in Montenegro we have
one priest who was defrocked by the Constantinople Patriarchate, cast out of
his rank by the Orthodox Church, who presents himself as some self-proclaimed
metropolitan of the “Montenegrin autocephalous church”, and is forming a
peculiar sect of “defrocked Montenegrins” out of other wretches like himself.
But after all, he was once baptized in the Serbian Orthodox Church, was
educated in it, and prepared for worthy pastoral service. What do you think
about this?
—This is schism, and schism is
heresy. Heresies exist, and schisms exist. Heresy is a sin against the Gospel
truth, and schism is a sin against the unity of the Church. I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Mt. 16:18), said
Christ. The apostle Paul says that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth
(1 Tim. 3:15). If a person prefers something in this world over the Gospel
truth, then of course heresy, schism, and ruptures happen. Meanwhile one holy
father says that heretics can have faith in the Holy Trinity, they can have the
Gospel and the Sacraments, but there will be no salvation with them. St.
Cyprian of Carthage says about this: “Whoever does not have the Church as his
mother, does not have God as his Father.” Based on this the Roman Church
separated in 1054 from the Eastern Church. They exalted the principle of this
world over the principles of the Gospel, God’s Kingdom of Heaven—and that is
the crux of the matter. Whoever does not think about his salvation can in no
way take care for his honor. We can only depart from someone who does not take
care for his principles, which are passed down from generation to generation,
and does not care for his own people and Church. We shall all appear before the
face of our Lord at His Judgment, and each of us will answer for our deeds. If
we all remember this, then such problems resolve themselves very quickly. Now
it is clear that a schism is brewing, and we know that if the schismatics do
not repent, they will find themselves in same place as others like themselves.
—Our readers await your archpastoral
blessing.
—May the Lord be with us and we with
Him, and He will never depart from us, ever, if only we will not depart from
Him. And departing from Him and His way means going to sin, to what is not
worthy of the name of our ancestors and of ourselves. May we be with the Lord
and He with us, no mater what happens. And it will be good, because all
goodness comes from God. May the blessing of God, and St. Savva, St. Basil of
Ostrog, and St. Peter of Cetinje, and all our holy martyrs and new martrys be
with all of us. Amen!
From the book on His Holiness
Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, Walking to Eternity.
Patriarch Pavle (Stojčević) of Serbia
Translation by Nun Cornelia (Rees)
Sretensky
Monastery
6/17/2020
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