A brief missive about the fathers of the church

the fathers of the church

A Brief Missive About The Fathers of the Church

The following comes to us from Elder Paisos the New of Mount Athos, a letter from which excerpts are taken, addressed to the nuns of the Holy Monastery of the Evangelist John the Theologian in Souroti, Greece, written on the Feast of Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, November 21, 1975. These excerpts contain a most important understanding for clergy in these times.

Apostle1.com, with the permission of the Archabbot, Metropolitan Archbishop +Joseph Thaddeus, AMERICAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, directs these excerpts to those who follow and practice the diseases of Correctness and Scholasticism or Acadmia, both East and West, North and South primarily because those who attack other clergy and in defense feel it necessary to provide rebuttal… are causing a most serious distressing relationship to God not only for themselves, but the faithful and those who may come to Holy Orthodoxy.

The problem in these times is that there are some who believe they are fully “Orthodox” and do not recognize that they are only travelers on the path of “Orthodoxy” and have no time and no room to criticize other clergy and faithful without first making self-critique of themselves, which is apparently not being done by some with true and sincere repentance, seeking forgiveness by acts to show forth their fruits, demeaning and disfiguring for self gain of rights to call themselves “Orthodox” or even to claim they are the sole repository of faith and teaching of Holy Orthodoxy.

Our Archabbot and Metropolitan Archbishop has said of himself that he may be in err by posting such that has been a rebuttal and defense to those who claim they are the AMERICAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, or even “Mother Church of” a particular” liturgical rite which has never before been heard of until recent times,” arguing such in a manner with claims they have sole right to the use of the name because they consider themselves so “Orthodox,” but if in this error that we are all guilty of… it makes clearer the fact that the Church is not a political machine or an institute for ‘who is’ or ‘is not’ more ‘holier than thou’ as some have been portraying themselves, for all of us have fallen short of the mark and deserve not to call ourselves holy!

In these endeavors the Greek Orthodox, the Russian Orthodox, the Antiochians, various Patriarchates and others have been unofficially contacted in order to obtain a more true spiritual understanding.

We have been told that what is going on here in the Americas leaves much to be desired when jurisdictions interfere with and besmirch other jurisdictions and clergy to such a degree that they have been viewing recently.

They advise that the following article should be taken rather seriously by the aggressor out of a northeastern state of the United States (they named the person or persons as well as the city and state…with little thought as to what they believe and think) for in their or his haste to besmirch the Church and clergy of other jurisdictions, they indicated, shows forth prelest, and they said “…it would appear that they are not of true Orthodox learning and even violate sacred canons.” As for our unworthy selves, we too have been upbraided by those holy men of God, with understanding as to the causative factors involved for our taking a defensive approach which does not, in and of itself, mitigate the situation either.

We make this known to you the viewers so that you too will hopefully understand that we do not hold our unworthy selves out as being something we have never proclaimed, but to proclaim the Gospel and call all to repentance and forgiveness. In this we have been told, we are truly Orthodox strugglers out of pain of heart for the faith once delivered for all.

the fathers of the church

In former days, the Holy Fathers first withdrew into the desert, becoming themselves a desert void of their passions by struggling. Without plans or programs of their own, they left themselves in the hands of God, avoiding honors and power, even when they arrived at measures of sanctity—unless Mother Church had need of them. They did obedience to the will of God, and they glorified the name of God with their holy life. They became spiritual blood donors, for they had acquired good spiritual health in the desert with good spiritual food and vigilant patristic watchfulness.

In our day, however, many of us, who are unfortunately influenced by worldly love, which can make no spiritual pledge, supposedly venture to do good, to donate blood, but our blood is full of spiritual bacteria and we do more harm than good.

If, however, we were living patristically, we would all have spiritual health, which even all the heterodox would envy, leaving their sick delusions aside to be saved without preaching. Now, however, they are not moved by our Holy Patristic Tradition, for they want to see how we continue the Patristic Tradition, to see our true kinship with our Saints.

Unfortunately, in our day, words and books have multiplied and experiences have diminished, because the worldly spirit, which pursues all conveniences and avoids all bodily effort, influences people. Most of us find rest in much reading but little or no implementation. We simply marvel at the holy athletes of our Church without realizing how much they've labored, for we have not toiled so as to be able to understand their toil, to love them and to struggle out philotimo in order to imitate them.

Those, however, who struggle with philotimo and do not give themselves rest, removing their egos from every one of their actions, help very positively. For only then are the souls in need of help given rest, and only then will their own souls find inner rest, in this life as well as in eternity.

Those who pursue power while being overpowered by passions, who pass off their personal interests as spiritual, and who resort to worldly authorities in order to solve their ecclesiastical problems are left abandoned by the Grace of God....

When someone tries to settle ecclesiastical matters in an Orthodox way, but his goal is to better establish himself, how can he be blessed by God?

Neither should anyone be impressed by those who settle ecclesiastical matters exceptionally well—even "orthodoxically"—if these same people are not well situated in the life of the Church, but rather trouble Her with imprudent excessiveness or frivolity.

The two extremes always weary Mother Church, as well as those who hold to them, because the two extremes as a rule stab one another. ... In other words, it is as if the one extreme is held by a possessed man who is spiritually insolent (and feels contempt for everything), and the other extreme is held by a madman who is childishly zealous with narrow-mindedness. God forbid—these two ends could strike at one another continually and no one could find an "end to it all."

Those who are able to bend these two extremes and make them unite, will be crowned by Christ with two imperishable crowns.

We should neither create problems in the Church nor magnify the minor human disorders that occur, so as not to create greater evil and make the wicked one rejoice.

He who is irritated about a minor disorder and abruptly rushes to ostensibly correct it (with vehemence and petulance) resembles the light-headed sacristan who sees a candle dripping and abruptly dashes to fix it, stumbling over people and candlesticks, and thus causing an even greater disorder during the Divine Service.

Unfortunately, in our day, there are many who weary Mother Church. Among these, those who are educated have grasped the dogma with their mind and not with the spirit of the Holy Fathers.

Others, who are unlearned, have grasped the dogma with their teeth, which explains why they grate their teeth when discussing ecclesiastical themes. Hence it is that they cause more serious harm to the Church than the enemies of our Orthodoxy.

There are people who justify their wickedness by examining others and not themselves, or by publicizing predicaments of the Church to the world—even things that should not be said in public—using as a pretext the "tell it unto the church" (Matthew 18:17) of the Gospel. Let them do this first for their small church, their family, or their brotherhood; if they think this is good, let them then disgrace Mother Church as well. Good children, I believe, never accuse their mothers. Unfortunately, however, many inconsiderate people offer a wealth of live ammunition to heretics, enabling Jehovah's Witnesses and other heretics to seize Orthodox cities and villages and expand their missionary work.

It is well known to discerning spiritual fathers that this demonic practice (namely, deriding the clergy and the Church) has turned many people into Jehovah's Witnesses. It is also known to the whole world that not even one Jehovah's Witness has become Orthodox thanks to this un-Orthodox practice.

The Good God, on the other hand, endures us lovingly without ridiculing anyone, even though, as the Beholder of hearts, He knows our pitiful state well. The same thing applies to Saints who never insulted a sinful person in the presence of others, but with love, spiritual nobility, and in a hidden way, helped in the correction of the evil. We, notwithstanding the fact that we are sinners, do the opposite (like hypocrites).

Only a man possessed by a demon is justified to mock people in the presence of others and tell them about their past (inasmuch as the demon has rights, of course), in order to make weak souls falter. The unclean spirit, naturally, does not reveal people's virtues, but only their weaknesses. Those who are liberated from their passions, however, since they no longer possess wickedness, correct the evil by their kindness. If sometimes they see a little uncleanness that is not easily cleaned, they cover it up with a plate, so that others who might see will not be disgusted by it. Those, on the contrary, who reinvestigate the rubbish, resemble scavengers....

An honest and straightforward person is neither he who speaks the truth to your face nor he who publicizes it, but rather he who has love, lives a true life, and speaks with discernment, when he should, saying the right word at the right time.

Those who admonish others without discernment are spiritually darkened and hardened and haplessly view people as lifeless logs. And, although they hack at them unmercifully, and the people suffer, they rejoice over the "rectangle" they've made out of their lifeless logs (cubism!).

Those who rush to play the role of the spiritual father, while still being filled with many spiritual toxins, resemble the unripe, sour quince fruit: no matter how much sugar one adds, sufficient sweetness cannot be produced, or if it is produced, it quickly turns sour. Sweet words and great truths have value when they come out of truthful mouths and find a place within good-intentioned souls and those great people who have pure minds.

The internal purity of the true man's beautiful soul beautifies his external person as well, and the divine sweetness of God's love sweetens even his countenance. The internal beauty of the soul, apart from spiritually beautifying and sanctifying man externally, with Divine Grace revealing him to others, also beautifies and sanctifies the ugly clothes the graced man of God wears.

Of greater worth is the blessed man who has changed internally and been sanctified also externally, than those who continually change externally (their clothes) but internally maintain the old man with his "antiquated" sins.

Of greater value is one word of a humble man who has spiritual experience, coming with pain from the bottom of his heart, than a whole array of learned words from a superficial man, coming with great speed from his learned tongue. His tongue does not enlighten souls for it is fleshly and not that fiery tongue of Holy Pentecost....

DISCERNMENT

Discerning asceticism, together with humility and love, sanctify people very quickly, with less physical strain.

The more a person progresses in the spiritual life attending to himself, the wider the eyes of the soul open and the more clearly he discerns his mistakes and the many benefactions of God. Thus man is humbled and inwardly crushed, and then the Grace of God—divine enlightenment—comes naturally and he becomes more discerning.

God does not help the greatly sensitive and philotimo man to become conscious either of his sinfulness or of the many benefactions of God, so that the man will not despair. The more the man progresses, however, and gradually becomes stronger, the more God reveals to him. The same applies to the man with pride: God does not help him cut off his passions, so that the man will not become even prouder. When finally the man is disgusted with himself because of his constant falls, he becomes aware of his weakness and is humbled; then God's Grace draws near him and helps him climb the spiritual stairs two at a time.

For this reason, we must not weigh the holiness of our fellow men with human scales, because only God, Who knows the hearts of men, has knowledge of their depths.

The thing that will move God more on the Day of Judgment is the work each one of us has done on his old man.

Greater worth has he who has acquired virtues through struggle than he who was born with inherent virtues and who therefore must double them so as to hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant...."( Matthew 25:21).

Certainly, we all have some discernment, but unfortunately most of us do not use it on ourselves but on our fellow men (so that we ourselves will not be ... discerned), and we contaminate it with criticism, condemnation, and the demand for others to correct themselves. We should, rather, demand this only from ourselves, who do not resolve to struggle fervently, cut off our passions, liberate our souls, and fly into Heaven.

« Those who do not resolve to begin their struggle with philotimo, but spend their life in the "indefinite tense" will be constantly dazed and found to be both spiritually and physically ill. Finally, the gifts that God has given them and for which He will require an answer will be rendered useless.

The bright and discerning man not only makes use of the gifts the Good God has given him, as well as the kindness of others, for his spiritual progress, but also makes use of the injustices, contempt, etc., of his fellow men, which he attributes to the manslayer's evilness. He is saddened by the frightful misery caused by the evil one in the same way that he feels grief for the wretchedness of his soul, and he asks for the mercy of God.

Self-accusation and self-criticism greatly help the scales fall from our soul's eyes, so that we might see clearly.

Sensitive people must be very careful of self-accusation, because the devil tries to convert it into despair (through hypersensitivity). Self-accusation must always be accompanied by hope in God. When someone feels anxiety in this case, he must realize that the evil one has his tail in it.

When a person feels great pain for his sinfulness or his ungratefulness towards God, but hopes very much in God, he is greatly consoled by Him.

We should not despair when we struggle but see no progress, remaining continuously at zero. All people earn zeros with their human strength, some more and some less. Christ, seeing our small human effort, places the number one before our zeros, and thus they acquire value and we can detect some improvement. Thus, we must not despair, but hope in God.

We should only despair due to our ego and try as much as we can to extinguish it quickly before it extinguishes us. Those who struggle egotistically with fasting, vigils, etc., trouble themselves without any spiritual benefit, for they beat against the air (Cf. 1 Corinthians 9:26) and not the demons. Instead of driving away temptations, they receive more of them; as a result, they encounter many difficulties in their struggle (they feel as if strangled from stress). Those, however, who struggle hard, with great humility and great hope in God, feel that their hearts rejoice and their souls flutter.

Every single act of ours and every single virtue has need of humility, love and discernment, the latter being the salt of the virtues. This is why Christ tells us in the Gospel: "Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt."( Mark 9::49)

It is better for someone to eat a little twice a day and have more humility and a lighter stomach, than to eat once a day, have a full stomach and a head full of pride.

Discernment greatly aids the advent of inner peace in our soul. It contributes much to asceticism, for it nurtures the soul and body with more strength than material food can provide. When there is no inner peace, even the best food is poisoned by the ample gall that drips continuously and harms man both spiritually and physically.

Those who are sustained by the love of God often neglect material food, or, when they eat, are oblivious to the taste, for feeling the presence of God intensely, they are even then nurtured by the sweet blessing of His love.

The desire for good food is a trap of the evil one. Whoever does not get rid of this desire is caught by the enemy's hook and is fried in his own fat by his burning flesh. On the contrary, the desire for spiritual nourishment takes the heart away from earthly things and raises the soul to Heaven, where it tastes the food of angels.

A double misfortune awaits those who do not restrain their hearts from material desires, which are unnecessary—not to mention carnal desires—and who do not gather their minds within their hearts so as to offer everything, along with their souls, to God, but instead leave them ungoverned.

When vigilance is absent, absent also are our minds from our heads (they are stolen by the devil), and we remain with our bodies alone, without our minds, like logs. Later, when we collect our minds, they are heavy-laden with trash, which the cunning devil uses as kindling wood to light the log of our flesh on fire. Then he mocks us, leaping for joy from wickedness.

In order for our minds not to wander, we must accustom them to suckling on the sweet name of Jesus inside our hearts, so as to make spiritual progress. For, when the mind is absent, it is as if the master of the house is absent, and that's when the house becomes a wreck.

If our minds are not present at the hour of spiritual study, we receive no benefit, but simply dally about and tire ourselves in vain, since we cannot remember anything. It is like a printer who has his mind elsewhere and does not put ink in the machines, for then the printing press runs in vain, without printing anything.

Likewise, those who are mindful in spiritual study, but only so as to entertain themselves, without employing it for their spiritual progress, resemble farmers who are too bored to grab the plow and instead snatch a spot in the dense shade. There they read agricultural books continually and learn of many theories, but in practice they remain inactive and miserable.

Women also enjoy and find rest in reading and are able to be benefited more than men since they are lacking in much logic and have more faith. Unfortunately, however, few are those who are benefited and make progress. Most, when they lay hold of themselves, are in turn seized by the "funeral dirge," and continually wail and complain, conducting microscopic spiritual tests on themselves, without first cutting off their weighty passions and later the minor ones, which, by the Grace of God, gradually vanish by themselves.

Although most women have great prerequisites for the spiritual life, they make little progress. They have less logic, a trait that is not harmful but rather beneficial in regards to faith, whereas men undermine their faith with their logic. While women possess love in their nature and can dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to God, men need work in order to make their hearts beat for God. When man's heart does not work for God, he is in no way different from a stone statue.

Hence, we all have prerequisites for the spiritual life, both men and women. We have no excuse, for it is sufficient for us to want to utilize the abilities God has given us respectively, so that we might attain Paradise near Him—so that He may rejoice and that we, His children, may rejoice with Him.

Inasmuch as the Good God treats us with love and kindness and invites us to Paradise, so must we not treat our fellow men barbarously, setting our conscience at rest with the thought that we send souls to Paradise with our cruel ways.

Whoever behaves in a barbaric way, ostensibly to benefit souls spiritually, is worse than Diocletian, for Diocletian was an idolater and not a Christian.

Christ does not commend killing people with cruel behavior and sending souls to Paradise, but He wants us to help our fellow men so that we might all go to Paradise together. Those who endure martyrdom from Christians receive a greater reward than the Martyrs, if they suffer with joy and do not judge those who torture them, but are grateful to them for the recompense of their sins, or, if they were not blameworthy in their life, for the reward and crown they will receive from Christ.

When an impassioned person rebukes an egotist, then it is that the pistol strikes the flint and fires erupt. If, however, this indiscreet man reproves a sensitive person, he wounds him severely. He becomes like the violent man who uses a thick scrub brush to clean mucus from the eye of a baby.

Similarly, he who preaches the word of God egotistically and in a frenzy (from his passions) resembles the porcupine that transports grapes on its spikes in order to feed its children, but by moving about nervously it increasingly makes them bleed—especially if they are sensitive—instead of feeding them.

Those who have much discernment, have noble love and humility as well. They even sweeten bitter truth with their kindness and express it with much simplicity. They help more positively than do sweet words, just as bitter medicine is more beneficial than sweet syrups.

Inner love is evident to people because it sweetens the person externally and beautifies him with Divine Grace, which cannot be concealed due to its radiance.

The angel, as an angel, always spreads what he possesses—heavenly joy and delight. The demon, however, who is disguised as an angel, spreads unrest (what he possesses), or stimulates the heart carnally in order to deceive the soul with the pleasure of the flesh, ostensibly presenting it as spiritual and divine.

A humble man, even if inexperienced, is able to discern an angel of God from a demon, for he has spiritual purity and is related to the angel. The egotist and carnal man, on the other hand, besides being easily deceived by the cunning one, also infects others with deceitful-ness and carnality, damaging weak souls with his spiritual germs.

The graced man of God imparts Divine Grace, transforming carnal people and liberating them from the slavery of passions; and, in this way, he draws them near to God and they are saved.

Those who withdraw themselves from Christ are deprived of divine enlightenment, for like fools they forsake sun-drenched places so as to retire to the shade. Hence, it is natural for them to be cold and fall spiritually ill. God has endowed us all with gifts, but not all of us utilize them for the salvation of our souls and the salvation of our fellow men. Instead, most of us, most of the time, use them to the detriment of others and ourselves.

If a man who is gentle or dispassionate by nature is assisted by his character once in his spiritual progress, then he who is lively and short-tempered is benefited twice by the strength his character offers, provided that he directs it against his passions and the evil one.

Let those who were careless in their life in the world and acquired bad habits patiently accept the enemy's war, without embracing evil desires. By struggling in this way they will be purified and enjoy the fate of the pure, who neither knew great sins, nor acquired bad habits, nor suffered great warfare from the devil. Great care is required of us all so as not to accept the wily calls of the enemy (evil thoughts), that we not defile the temple of the Holy Spirit (Cf. I Corinthians 6:19), for then the Grace of God deserts us and we fall into darkness.

He who pays attention to and preserves his spiritual purity, preserves Divine Grace also, and always sees clearly. He turns even unclean things to his advantage, making them clean in his good spiritual factory. He turns useless paper into clean napkins, notebooks, etc. He transforms broken bronze into candlesticks and chandeliers, and gold into holy chalices. On the contrary, the man who assents to deceit and thinks deceptively, transforms good into evil, not unlike the factory that produces war supplies and that makes gold into bullets and cartridges for cannons, since for this purpose its machinery was constructed. Hence, let us never consent to an evil thought; let us always energize the good if we wish to transform the evil factories of our hearts into good factories.

One should not struggle, however, with sick scholastic meticulousness and be choked by stress (fighting with thoughts), but should simplify his struggle and place his hope in Christ and not in himself. Christ is all love, kindness and consolation, and He never stifles man, but possesses an abundance of spiritual oxygen—divine consolation. Thorough spiritual work is one thing and sick meticulousness is an other; the latter chokes with its inner anguish (due to thoughtless external strain) and afflicts the forehead with splitting headaches.

Neither should we pressure others with such scholastic pedantry, causing ourselves headaches in order only to persuade them, repeating the truth many times when they are ignorant of it, aware only of lies. (It is like winding a clock whose spring has come off its spindle.) There are also those who know the truth but adopt it in their own way in order to support their ideas. It is better to avoid such people so as not to tire oneself in vain and squander the great truths, for when the wall is built of clay (In earlier times, many homes were built with small rectangular clay bricks, which were left out in the sun to dry), plaster from lime will not take hold, but only a mixture made of clay and straw.

Those who are in a state of anger and agitation and hammer away at matters in order, ostensibly, to bring spiritual serenity and kindness to the world, resemble the strong and furious wind which strikes and threatens the sea with the foaming waves it creates, so as to finally deliver calm. Instead, however, it sinks ships both at sea and in the harbor.

We must not seek to supposedly bring calm to others when we ourselves lack internal serenity in our souls. Neither should we seek for external serenity from our spiritual father, if we don't first reconcile internally with the person we have wounded or wronged (if the possibility of finding him exists). Nor should we use excuses in our confession, because these become a burden on our conscience.

We must not admonish the humble and sensitive man harshly, for he may take upon himself more blame than he deserves, and the fear is that he will break down.

We should insist on humbling the egotist and hard-headed not with words but with prayer and humility. For if we persist and he becomes enraged, we will become exhausted, perspire and feel distressed.

Oftentimes, inconsiderate behavior does worse damage than the seriously crazed behavior of those who crack heads, for, with their piercing words, the inconsiderate wound sensitive hearts, even often fatally injuring them (bringing souls to despair).

Worldly politeness is also very bad since it is hypocritical. Being fooled by it, people open up their hearts and ultimately waste their devotion on a worldly person who does not know what devotion means. (It is like giving golden liras to people who only know about bronze drachmas).

Neither should we pointlessly lose our time lecturing others spiritually, while they find enjoyment in worldly conversations, egotistically volunteering their opinions.

With those close to you, when there is no common subject for discussion, it is best to take care while conversing, for although the conversation begins as spiritual it ends up as womanly gossip. It is not enough that one loses one's time, but through criticism one also loses one's soul. We have no right to judge anyone, nor situations. However, after our painful discussion, if we are able we should help the situation. Neither should we condemn the dead, for each and every soul is, fortunately, in the hands of God, and I believe we will find mercy.

What is necessary for every Orthodox Christian is to stimulate within the heterodox a blessed discomfort, so they might realize that they are in delusion and not falsely put their mind to rest, being deprived of the rich blessings of Orthodoxy in this life and the much greater and eternal blessings of God in the next.

He whom we must judge harshly, and have the right to do so, is our own evil self. If, in this life, we do not punish him on our own for the misdeeds he has done and do not cut off our evil desires, these deeds and desires will punish us eternally.

Consequently, it is not necessary for us to know when the Second Coming of the Lord will take place, for when someone dies he is judged according to his state when death finds him.

May the Good God give us a good repentance, that, as His children, we might inherit Paradise, which He has prepared for us as a Loving Father. Amen.

NOTICE to VISITORS ABOUT OUR sending and receiving - E-MAIL POLICY

At:

Apostle1.com, Apostle1.org and Apostle1.net

We are an educational, News-informational and research Web Site dedicated to providing such as befits those who seek things pertinent to the Orthodox Catholic Christian Faith and life.

There are unscrupulous people on the internet these days. Some of them are not who they claim to be and in order to disrupt honest spiritual pursuits, they are known to send out e-mail under someone else's name or the name of another church or jurisdiction with attachments. Anyone can do this, if they want. Some of them exist in Ohio... Some in Texas... Others in Michigan (an alleged young violent teenager who is a known hacker, whose step-father is an ex-con), California and many other places... Some are "haters of truth" who follow (whether they are willing to admit it) those who have sway over less educated or ignorant... as their are also those who do not even know what they are doing because they seek glory to satisfy their own vanity and selfish pride to take over a church or jurisdiction of another, or to wreck havoc over those whom they hate without considering the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ.

If you should ever receive an e-mail with an attachment purporting to be from anyone at "apostle1.com" - "apostle1.org" or even "apostle1.net" - - - know that our policy is to not send out e-mail from any of our domain names with an attachment. Therefore, don't open it! If you receive any e-mail from apostle1.com, apostle1.org or apostle1.net and have never before communicated with us... even if you have communicated with us... verify, verify and again, verify.

Unless we know exactly from whom an e-mail comes... nothing is clicked on or opened, not even attachments! You would be surprised from whom 'hate' e-mail arrives and what attempts and extremes they go to make their e-mails "look" official when it is a lone person or persons who hate TRUTH and love lies, hate anything from being posted that involves TRUTH because they may be affected with exposure to the LIVING TRUTH of Jesus Christ's Love.

They HATE some of the news, quotes, and such as to inform the general public. Some of them pose as clergy, while a few are actually clergy from various "other" offshoot AMERICAN ORTHODOX CHURCH jurisdiction(s) of the same name of which we are, in some instances, their former MOTHER CHURCH (as is the same named Ohio based an offshoot); having joined in and with "Independent" churches who have nothing to do with us or even true Orthodoxy, but seek to go out of their way to character assassinate and disparage religious web sites who do not meet their own brand of standardization which is evidence of their being not truly "Orthodox" "Christian" or even "Catholic" no matter what their nomenclatured corporate name may be. The Ohio based same name group under their so-called leader has been deposed, defrocked and excommunicated four different times by various bishops. He, and several others, have become just as bad as the modern day Ecumenists of the National Council of Churches, World Council of Churches, the World Council of Bishops and more. Their ultimate aim and goal is destruction of those from whom they had either originated from or gone through to obtain the same named "church" they claim to hold to by civil law in their state.

Remember, anything that is a HALF TRUTH is not truth at all, but a lie! Many there are that you may know who fit those descriptions... pray for them. Pray that God will send his Spirit of Truth upon them and lead them to Salvation through tears of Repentance, conversion of their cold and calculating hearts toward seeking forgiveness from God and those whom they attempt to harm.

Those who receive e-mail from us, know who we are and from where we send mail. There are also many who know that they can send e-mail under another group or person's e-mail address, which has been happening. If you receive e-mail that purports itself to be from any one or all of us, verify first by hitting your "reply" button and ask, "I received this e-mail but would like verification that it is from you."

If you are of another jurisdiction, you too could find that your parishioners, clergy and faithful might become subject to the same as we have recently found.

Let this be a warning to visitors so as to be safeguarded against unscrupulous e-mails which contain viruses, worms and unsavory material from person(s) organizations or institutions that are more self-serving than uplifting and informatively news worthy.

For ourselves, we have, as in the past, so once again, acquired the assistance of those who are able and capable of tracing e-mails back to their source and taking appropriate action in North America.

We have learned that the organization we subscribe to, whose members come from various legal and law enforcement backgrounds amongst other areas of society, are committed to the faith even though they may hold different theologies. Yet, in their monitoring of electronic communications of various persons or people, be it in California, Michigan, Ohio or other states, they do not always make haste to bring perpetrators to justice until after enough evidence has been gained in order to build a solid case.

We do not always know what information they have gained, but we do know the organization, whom we've been asked not to name; has had a 97% success rate in bringing to justice and obtaining a conviction against individuals, people, and sometimes even religious organizations of a person that gives the appearance of having both secular and religious bearing interests, but who abuse and misuse technology. The organization views those who abuse and misuse the internet and other technologies as nothing more than a form of "domestic terrorism" and "hate crimes"- - - - and, it would seem to appear that the courts are in agreement!

Those kinds of people, organizations, etc. who misuse and abuse communication technologies, who commit domestic terrorism and hate crimes are no different than those who attempt to use coercive measures, and in some instance, even blackmail for the same idea is involved... to cause havoc and wreckage, to destroy the spirit and activity of those who struggle in the faith out of pain of heart for the Orthodox Church which is TRUTH. The degree that some have been known to go to, as seen by other jurisdictions, is to take advantage of questionably mentally challenged or those who have a lack of education and understanding to get them to make statements, even outright lies, in writing, in order to destroy. Such persons or groups are spiritual terrorists for unholy and un-Orthodox causes, aims and goals.

Yes, our Metropolitan Archbishop, +Joseph Thaddeus, SSJt., Ph.D. strongly defends the Seals of the Confessional for such leads to true Repentance in thought, word and deed whereby the penitent is required to make amends, where possible, to seek forgiveness of those harmed by one's actions whether real or imagined, and to give forgiveness to those who ask for it, as required by the injunction of Jesus Christ... those have intentionally caused harm must seek forgiveness before taking the Holy Body and Blood in the Eucharist. The reality of this understanding is bound up in and with the findings for which cause our Metropolitan Archbishop had been character assassinated by the hate monger who errant makes the claim that "...the court prevented him from breaking the Seals of the Confessional" which is not the truth at all.... Click here to see what another bishop's findings are...

The workings of Holy Spirit will not be daunted by those who attempt to cause disruption through alleged "Hate Crimes" and internet terrorism! It is for these and other reasons that you are urged to read what true repentance and forgiveness means for real "Christians".

For further information about how spammers, hackers and those who are angry with you can or will attempt to do damage, we offer the following link as regards some of the computer - internet problems:

http://msn.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,116258,00.asp

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