ON THE DOGMA OF REDEMPTION
By: Vladimir Moss

Contents

Introduction

The "Juridical Theory"
The Meaning of "Justification"
The Sacrifice for Sin
The Prayer in the Garden
Gethsemane vs. Golgotha
The Theory of "Moral Monism"
Original Sin

Conclusion: Love and Justice

7. Original Sin

What mystery is this concerning us? How have we been delivered to corruption? How have we been yoked to death? All this, so it is written, is by the command of God.

Triodion, Saturday of Souls, Vespers, "Lord, I have cried…", Glory…

     An integral part of Metropolitan Anthony's critique of the so-called "juridical theory" is his onslaught on the doctrine of original sin. The Bostonite bishops summarise his critique as follows:

     "1) The Scholastic dogma of our inherited guilt of `Original Sin' is false. We are not morally responsible for Adam's sin, we do not bear any guilt for his sin, (nor, in reverse, is he responsible for all our own subsequent sins).

     "2) From Adam we do inherit mortality and a proclivity towards sinning. By his sin, Adam was exiled from Paradise to this corruptible world. We are his children born in exile.

     "3) God is not unjust in allowing us to receive this fallen nature as descendants of Adam, because He foreknew that each of us would sin, and that even if we ourselves had been in Adam's stead in Paradise, we nevertheless would have transgressed in like manner as he. Thus, our fallen nature is neither a burden unfairly placed upon us by God, nor is it an excuse for our personal sins. Man is free and morally responsible.

    "Many of Metropolitan Anthony's critics, including Archbishop Theophan of Poltava, seem to have utterly failed to comprehend the great gulf that separates the patristic Orthodox doctrine concerning the Ancestral Sin of Adam from the heretical Augustinian doctrine of Original Sin." (p. 18).

    Unfortunately, it is not Archbishop Theophan, but the Bostonite bishops who have "utterly failed to comprehend" the essence of this matter, as we shall now try to demonstrate.

     Much of the argument has revolved around the correct translation and interpretation of the words: "By one man sin entered into the world, and so death entered all men by sin, because – or, according to another translation: for in him - all have sinned' (Romans 5.12).

     Archbishop Theophan writes: "His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony in his Catechism gives a new interpretation of the cited words of the Apostle Paul, and, in accordance with this interpretation, put forwards a new teaching on original sin, which essentially almost completely overthrows the Orthodox teaching on original sin."[133]

     In the opinion of Metropolitan Anthony, these words from the Apostle Paul are translated incorrectly in the Slavonic translation: "Let us consider the original Greek text: the words `in that' translate the Greek `ej' w', which means: `because', `since' (Latin tamen, quod)… Therefore, the correct translation of these words of the Apostle Paul is: `and so death passed upon all men, because all have sinned' (and not just Adam alone)".[134]

     Now we may agree with Metropolitan Anthony that the strictly correct translation of Romans 5.12 is: "death passed upon all men, because all have sinned" rather than: "death passed upon all men, for in him [i.e. in Adam] all have sinned".  Nevertheless, the fact that not only all the Orthodox Latin translations and Latin fathers read "in him", but also the famous Greek translators of the Bible into Slavonic, Saints Cyril and Methodius, should make us pause before accusing these very distinguished Fathers of error. Indeed, Bishop Theophan the Recluse, for reasons which will become clear later, considered that the translation "in him", though freer and less literally accurate, in fact conveyed the underlying meaning more accurately.

     If we follow the correct translation, according to Metropolitan Anthony, "Adam was not so much the cause of our sinfulness as he was the first to sin, and even if we were not his sons, we still would sin just the same. Thus one should think that that we are all sinners, even though our will be well directed, not because we are descendants of Adam, but because the All-knowing God gives us life in the human condition (and not as angels, for example), and He foresaw that the will of each of us would be like that of Adam and Eve. This will is not evil by nature, but disobedient and prideful, and consequently it needs a school to correct it, and this is what our earthly life in the body is, for it constantly humbles our stubbornness. In this matter this school attains success in almost all its pupils who are permitted to complete their whole course, that is, live a long life; but some of God's chosen ones attain this wisdom at an early age, namely those whom Providence leads to theHeavenly Teacher or to His `co-workers'".[135]

     As he put it in another place: "God knew that each of us would sin in the same way as Adam, and for that reason we are his descendants… Knowing beforehand that every man would display Adam's self-will, the Lord allows us to inherit Adam's weak, ill, mortal nature endowed with sinful tendencies, in the struggle with which, and still more in submitting to which, we become conscious of our nothingness and humble ourselves."[136]

     Metropolitan Anthony objects to the Russian Church's traditional teaching on original sin as expounded in, for example, the Catechism of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, which he regards as Latin and scholastic in origin: "`As from a polluted spring,' we read in our textbook, `there flows corrupted water,' etc. But, if you will, a spring and water are one thing, whereas living, morally responsible human beings are something else. It is not by our own will that we are descendants of Adam, so why should we bear the guilt for his disobedience? Indeed, we must struggle greatly in order to appropriate Christ's redemption: can it be that the condemnation of each man because of Adam befell men despite each one's own guilt? After all, the Apostle says here `that the gift was poured out more richly than the condemnation' (cf. Romans 5.15), but with the juridical interpretation the result is rather the opposite".[137]

     Here again we may agree with Metropolitan Anthony that Adam, and Adam alone, was personally responsible for his transgression. Thus St. Basil the Great writes that what we inherit from Adam "is not the personal sin of Adam, but the original human being himself", who "exists in us by necessity".[138]

     Again, St. Cyril of Alexandria says: "What has Adam's guilt to do with us? Why are we held responsible for his sin when we were not even born when he committed it? Did not God say: `The parents will not die for the children, nor the children for the parents, but the soul which has sinned, it shall die' (Deuteronomy 24.16). How then shall we defend this doctrine? The soul, I say, which has sinned, it shall die. We have become sinners because of Adam's disobedience in the following manner… After he fell into sin and surrendered to corruption, impure lusts invaded the nature of his flesh, and at the same time the evil law of our members was born. For our nature contracted the disease of sin because of the disobedience of one man, that is, Adam, and thus many became sinners. This was not because they sinned along with Adam, because they did not then exist, but because they had the same nature as Adam, which fell under the law of sin. Thus, just as human nature acquired the weaknessof corruption in Adam because of disobedience, and evil desires invaded it, so the same nature was later set free by Christ, Who was obedient to God the Father and did not commit sin."[139]

     Again, St. John Chrysostom writes: "'Through the wrong-doing of one man many became sinners'. There is nothing improbable about the proposition that when Adam sinned and became mortal, those who were descended from him should become mortal also. But how should it follow that from his disobedience anyone else should become a sinner? For unless a man becomes a sinner on his own responsibility, he will not be found to merit punishment. Then what does `sinner' mean here? I think it means liable to punishment, that is, condemned to death".[140]

     However, while this appears to dispel one paradox and apparent injustice – that we should be guilty for a sin we did not commit – it by no means dispels other, no less difficult ones. For is it not unjust that we should inherit a nature inclined to sin and doomed to death before we have done anything worthy of death? Metropolitan Anthony's explanation is that God, foreseeing that we would sin like Adam, gave us a corrupt and mortal nature in anticipation of that. But this implies that whereas in the case of Adam death is clearly the wages of sin and the just punishment for the crime he committed, in our case the punishment precedes the crime, and therefore cannot be perceived as the wages of sin. Is this not just as unjust? Nor is it convincing to argue, as does the metropolitan, that we are encumbered with a sinful and mortal nature, not as a punishment for sin, but in order to humble us, that is, in order to prevent worse sin in the future. For first: if we needed to behumbled, we clearly were already in sin – the sin of pride. And secondly: how can sin be reduced by endowing us with a nature inclined to sin?! Why not provide us with a sinless nature to begin with?

     But God did provide us with a sinless nature to begin with, and it is we, not God, who have caused its corruption. Metropolitan Anthony, however, is forced by the logic of his argument, which denies that our sinfulness was caused by Adam's original sin, to attribute to God Himself the corruption of our nature. As he writes: "Let us now ask: Who was responsible for fashioning human nature so that a good desire and repentance are, nevertheless, powerless to renew a man in actuality and so that he falls helplessly under the burden of his passions if he does not have grace assisting him? God the Creator, of course."[141] This is perilously close to the assertion that God is the author of evil – or, at any rate, of the evil of human nature since Adam, which is clearly contrary to the Orthodox teaching that God created everything good in the beginning, and that there is nothing that He has created that is not good. Even those things, such as the differentiation of the sexes, which, inthe opinion of a small minority of the Holy Fathers, were created in prevision of the fall, are nevertheless good in themselves. God did not create death: death is the consequence of the sin of man, which in turn is the consequence of the envy of the devil. So the idea that God created sinful natures, natures subject to death, is contrary to Orthodox teaching. The only possible reason why human beings should come into the world already tainted by corruption is that their corrupt nature is the product of sin. And if not of their own personal sin, then the sin of an ancestor. That is, the forefather's or the ancestral or the original sin…

     Thus St. Cyril of Alexandria writes: "[All men] have been condemned to death by the transgression of Adam. For the whole of human nature has suffered this in him, who was the beginning of the human race."[142] Again, St. Symeon the Theologian writes: "When our Master descended from on high He by His own death destroyed the death that awaited us. The condemnation that was the consequence of our forefather's transgression he completely annihilated."[143] Again, St. Gregory Palamas confirms that the ancestral sin was Adam's and nobody else's: "Before Christ we all shared the same ancestral curse and condemnation poured out on all of us from our single Forefather, as if it had sprung from the root of the human race and was the common lot of our nature. Each person's individual action attracted either reproof or praise from God, but no one could do anything about the shared curse and condemnation, or the evil inheritance that had been passed down to him and through him would pass to his descendants."[144]

     Some clarification can be introduced here by distinguishing two senses of the English word "sin": sin as the act of a human person, and sin as the state or condition or law of human nature. This distinction is in fact made by St. Paul in the passage in question, as Archbishop Theophan points out: "The holy apostle clearly distinguishes in his teaching on original sin between two points: parabasiV or transgression, and amartia or sin. By the first he understood the personal transgression by our forefathers of the will of God that they should not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, by the second – the law of sinful disorder that entered human nature as the consequence of this transgression. ["I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at work with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members" (Romans 7.22-23).] When he is talking about the inheritance of the original sin, he has in mind not parabasiV or transgression, for which only they are responsible, but amartia, that is, the law of sinful disorder which afflicted human nature as a consequence of the fall into sin of our forefathers. And hmarton - sinned in 5.12 must therefore be understood not in the active voice, in the sense: they committed sin, but in the middle-passive voice, in the sense: amartwloi katastaqhsontai of 5.19, that is, became sinners or turned out to be sinners, since human nature fell in Adam."[145]

     Thus the original sin of Adam, in the sense of his personal transgression, the original sin which no other person shares, has engendered in consequence sinful, corrupt, diseased, mortal human nature, the law of sin, which we all share because we have all inherited it, but for which we cannot be held personally responsible. And if this seems to introduce of two original sins, this is in fact not far from the thinking of the Holy Fathers. Thus St. Maximus the Confessor: "There then arose sin, the first and worthy of reproach, that is, the falling away of the will from good to evil. Through the first there arose the second – the change in nature from incorruption to corruption, which cannot elicit reproach. For two sins arise in [our] forefather as a consequence of the transgression of the Divine commandment: one worthy of reproach, and the second having as its cause the first and unable to elicit reproach".[146]

     We have inherited the "second" original sin, the law of sin, in the most basic way: through the sexual propagation of the species. For "in sins," says David, - that is, in a nature corrupted by original sin, - "did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 50.5).[147] It follows that even newborn babies, even unborn embryos, are sinners in this sense. For "even from the womb, sinners are estranged" (Psalm 57.3). And as Job says: "Who shall be pure from uncleanness? Not even one, even if his life should be but one day upon the earth" (Job 14.4). Again, St. Gregory of Nyssa writes: "Evil was mixed with our nature from the beginning… through those who by their disobedience introduced the disease. Just as in the natural propagation of the species each animal engenders its like, so man is born from man, a being subject to passions from a being subject to passions, a sinner from a sinner. Thus sin takes its rise in us as we are born; it grows with us and keep us company till life's term".[148] Again, St. Gennadius Scholarius, Patriarch of Constantinople, writes: "Everyone in the following of Adam has died, because they have all inherited their nature from him. But some have died because they themselves have sinned, while others have died only because of Adam's condemnation – for example, children".[149]

     Christ was born from a virgin who had been cleansed beforehand from all sin by the Holy Spirit precisely in order to break the cycle of sin begetting sin. As St. Gregory Palamas writes: "If the conception of God had been from seed, He would not have been a new man, nor the Author of new life which will never grow old. If He were from the old stock and had inherited its sin, He would not have been able to bear within Himself the fullness of the incorruptible Godhead or to make His Flesh an inexhaustible Source of sanctification, able to wash away even the defilement of our First Parents by its abundant power, and sufficient to sanctify all who came after them."[150]

     The fact that original sin in this sense taints even children is the reason for the practice of infant baptism. And this practice in turn confirms the traditional doctrine of original sin. Thus the Council of Carthage in 252 under St. Cyprian decreed "not to forbid the baptism of an infant who, scarcely born, has sinned in nothing apart from that which proceeds from the flesh of Adam. He has received the contagion of the ancient death through his very birth, and he comes, therefore, the more easily to the reception of the remission of sins in that it is not his own but the sins of another that are remitted".

     Still more relevant here is Canon 110 of the Council of Carthage in 419, which was confirmed by the Sixth and Seventh Ecumenical Councils: "He who denies the need for young children and those just born from their mother's womb to be baptized, or who says that although they are baptized for the remission of sins they inherit nothing from the forefathers' sin that would necessitate the bath of regeneration [from which it would follow that the form of baptism for the remission of sins would be used on them not in a true, but in a false sense], let him be anathema. For the word of the apostle: `By one man sin came into the world and death entered all men by sin, for in him all have sinned' (Romans 5.12), must be understood in no other way than it has always been understood by the Catholic Church, which has been poured out and spread everywhere. For in accordance with this rule of faith children, too, who are themselves not yet able to commit any sin, are truly baptized for the remission of sins, that through regeneration they may be cleansed of everything that they have acquired from the old birth' (cf. Canons 114, 115 and 116)."

     "It follows," writes Archbishop Theophan, "that it is Metropolitan Philaret who has correctly expounded the teaching of the Orthodox Church on original sin, and not Metropolitan Anthony. The attempt of the latter to give a new interpretation to the text of Romans 5.12 violates the ban laid in its time by the Council of Carthage, a ban on similar attempts with the laying of an anathema on the violators of the ban. But since the canons of the Council of Carthage were confirmed by the [Sixth] Ecumenical Council in Trullo, then for the violation of the indicated decree Metropolitan Anthony's Catechism falls under the anathema not only of the local Council of Carthage, but also of the [Sixth] Ecumenical Council in Trullo".[151] 

     Thus Metropolitan Anthony's teaching on original sin, which links our sinful and corrupt state, not with Adam's past sin, but with our own future ones, encounters several powerful objections. First, it is contrary both to natural justice and to the doctrine of the goodness of the original creation that the punishment should precede the crime and that we should receive corruption and death before we have sinned. Secondly, although, in the case of children who die young, the punishment precedes a non-existent crime in that they have not sinned personally, Church tradition still commands the baptism of children precisely "for the remission of sins". But thirdly, and most importantly, the Apostle Paul specifically excludes the idea that our death is the wages of our personal sins, as opposed to the original sin of Adam.

     Thus he writes: "Until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not reckoned where there is no law. But death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression… Apart from the law sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died" (Romans 5.13,14, 7.8-9). For "sin is lawlessness" (I John 3.4), transgression of the law, so there can be no sin where there is no law. In other words, death reigned from Adam to Moses in spite of the fact that the men of that time did not sin as Adam did, and that personal sin was not imputed to them.

     Let us turn to the Fathers for further understanding of this passage. St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes: "Paul's meaning is that, although Moses was a righteous and admirable man, the death sentence promulgated upon Adam reached him as well, and also those who came after, even though neither he nor they copied the sin of Adam in disobediently eating of the tree".[152] Again, the unknown fourth-century Roman Father commonly referred to as Ambrosiaster writes: "How is it then that sin was not imputed, when there was no law? Was it all right to sin, if the law was absent? There had always been a natural law, and it was not unknown, but at that time it was thought to be the only law, and it did not make men guilty before God. For it was not then known that God would judge the human race, and for that reason sin was not imputed, almost as if it did not exist in God's sight and that God did not care about it. But when the law was given through Moses, it became clear that God did care about human affairs and that in the future wrongdoers would not escape without punishment, as they had done up to them."[153] Again, Blessed Augustine writes: "He says not that there was no sin but only that it was not counted. Once the law was given, sin was not taken away, but it began to be counted".[154]

     Thus before Moses the personal sins of men were not imputed to them, and they were not counted as having committed them. And yet they died. But death is "the wages of sin" (Romans 6.23). So of what sin was their death the wages? There can only be one answer: Adam's.

     St. Paul goes on to give a still more powerful reason for this interpretation: the exact correspondence between Adam and Christ, between Adam who made all his descendants by carnal birth sinners and Christ Who makes all His descendants by spiritual birth righteous: "As through one man's transgression [judgement came] on all men to condemnation, so through one man's act of righteousness [acquittal came] to all men for justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Law came in to increase the transgression; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5.18-21).

     St. John Chrysostom writes: "Adam is a type of Christ in that just as those who descended from him inherited death, even though they had not eaten of the fruit of the tree. So also those who are descended from Christ inherit His righteousness, even though they did not produce it themselves… What Paul is saying here seems to be something like this. If sin, and the sin of a single man moreover, had such a big effect, how it is that grace, and that the grace of God – not of the Father only but also of the Son – would not have an even greater effect? That one man should be punished on account of another does not seem reasonable, but that one man should be saved on account of another is both more suitable and more reasonable. So if it is true that the former happened, much more should the latter have happened as well."[155] Again, St. Ephraim the Syrian writes: "Just as Adam sowed sinful impurity into pure bodies and the yeast of evil was laid into the whole of our mass [nature], so our Lord sowed righteousness into the body of sin and His yeast was mixed into the whole of our mass [nature]".[156] Again, St. Ambrose of Milan writes: "In Adam I fell, in Adam I was cast out of paradise, in Adam I died. How shall God call me back, except He find me in Adam? For just as in Adam I am guilty of sin and owe a debt to death, so in Christ I am justified."[157] Again, St. Gregory Palamas writes: "Just as through one man, Adam, liability to death passed down by heredity to those born afterwards, so the grace of eternal and heavenly life passed down from the one divine and human Word to all those born again of Him".[158]

     Thus just as Adam sinned, and so brought sin and death on all his descendants, even though they had not committed the original sin, so Christ brought remission of sins and eternal life to all His descendants (the children of the Church), even though they have not rejected sin as He has. If the original curse and punishment was "unjust", the freedom from the curse and redemption is also "unjust". But the one "injustice" wipes out the other "injustice" and creates the Righteousness of God. It is therefore vain to seek, as does Metropolitan Anthony, a rational justification of our inheritance of original sin. It is unjust – from a human point of view. And the fact that we later sin of our own free will does not make the original inheritance just. However, this "injustice" is wiped out by the equal injustice of Christ's blotting out all our sins – both original sin, and our personal sins – by his unjust death on the Cross. As Archbishop Seraphim of Lubny writes: "If we bear in mind that by the sufferings of One all are saved, we shall see no injustice in the fact that by the fault of one others are punished."[159]

     It is not only the parallel between the old Adam and the new Adam that serves to overthrow Metropolitan Anthony's concept of original sin: the parallel between the old Eve and the new Eve, the Virgin Mary, does so no less effectively. Let us consider the metropolitan's words: "Knowing beforehand that every man would display Adam's self-will, the Lord allows us to inherit Adam's weak, ill, mortal nature endowed with sinful tendencies…" However, there is one human being of whom we know that she would not have displayed Adam's self will, and who is glorified above all human beings precisely because she rejected Eve's temptation, putting right her sin: the Mother of God. And yet the Mother of God was born in original sin. This is the teaching of the Orthodox Church, which rejects the Catholic doctrine that the Virgin was conceived immaculately in order to preserve her from original sin.

     St. John Maximovich writes: "The teaching that the Mother of God was preserved from original sin, as likewise the teaching that She was preserved by God's grace from personal sins, makes God unmerciful and unjust; because if God could preserve Mary from sin and purify Her before Her birth, then why does He not purify other men before their birth, but rather leaves them in sin? It follows likewise that God saves men apart from their will, predetermining certain ones before their birth to salvation.

     "This teaching, which seemingly has the aim of exalting the Mother of God, in reality completely denies all her virtues. After all, if Mary, even in the womb of Her mother, when She could not even desire anything either good or evil, was preserved by God's grace from every impurity, and then by that grace was preserved from sin even after Her birth, then in what does Her merit consist? If She could have been placed in the state of being unable to sin, and did not sin, then for what did God glorify Her? If She, without any effort, and without having any kind of impulses to sin, remained pure, then why is She crowned more than everyone else? There is no victory without an adversary…"[160]

     Logically, Metropolitan Anthony's theory leads to the Catholic doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin. For since God knew that she would not sin as did Adam or Eve, there was no reason to give her a sinful nature. The fact that she did inherit a sinful nature shows that it was not her own sin which caused her sinful nature (by anticipation, as it were), but the original sin of Adam…

Part 9 - Conclusion: Love and Justice

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Also: Hang Up Telephone Calls constantly get to you?

We get them all the time.  But one thing we do many are unaware of... We keep an automatic telephone log and then we turn them over to the same group who monitors and interacts with the hackers, etc.

It no longer matters if the caller telephones once in a day, every other day or every day or several times a week, once a week or for several months... All get logged, even those who think they have escaped notice by using the actual I.D. Caller number of "000-000-0000" which is has been used, even those who don't show up on caller I.D. as hang-ups now. With new technology being what it is it only takes one ring at a person's (receiving phone to activate some of the new technology being used which locks the caller's phone number in, even when they use by-pass alternate numbers to make shrewd calls).  We are advised one caller is facing terrorism criminal charges even though he used three different go-through numbers ranging all around the world, but were found to originate their call from California.  Hmmm.... what does this tell you?   Others, we are advised were found to be out of Michigan, Ohio, even Illinois and another state.

It is known that a telephone number showing up on some caller I.D.'s may actually be a telephone service provider phone number, yet... they too keep logs and information as to each individual cellular or local (their locale) phone usage... 

In the not-to-distant future, we intend to post some of those telephone numbers and, hopefully, persons, which constantly show up as "harassing hang-up" callers.  May be, you too have the same? 

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Those who do such unscrupulous things, 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 or other jurisdiction(s) of the same or similar name of which we are, in some instances, their former MOTHER CHURCH (as is the same named Toledo, Ohio based, an offshoot, who had once been a part of us and unknowingly to our unworthy selves, were once a part of the clergy but they did not obtain permission to leave the jurisdiction they were under, according to Canon, and thus obtained for themselves re-ordination and consecrations, several times... and then using a variety of church names, including our own after they were defrocked and excommunicated, having more than three (3) times being excommunicated by other legitimate apostles/bishops); having joined in and with  "Independent" churches who have nothing to do with us or even true Orthodoxy.  We have the information on their numerous "Paper Church" names and name changes.  But the real issue is whether they were ever truly an ordained Priest and bishop?

It is true that when one is ordained to the priesthood, the old saying of "Once a Priest, always a priest forever..." holds true... But where there has been or is deception and fraud involved, the old saying is invalid altogether which is the stool kicked out from under any subsequent consecrations as a Bishop for the Episcopacy has then been obtained on a sheet of lies and therefore they are frauds, wolves in sheep's clothing.  The problem here is with civil authorities and agencies. 

Any documents a false one obtains from those who ordained him, including subsequent documents relating to consecrations; civil authorities never (or hardly ever) verify their validity and thus issue their own documents and errantly recognize the individual. 

These false sheep in wolf's clothing seek to go out of their way to character assassinate and disparage religious web sites who do not meet their own brand of standardization and those who know where the proverbial "bones are buried on them" which is evidence of the wolf not being "Orthodox" "Christian" or even "Catholic" no matter what their nomenclature corporate name may be.  The Toldeo, Ohio based same or similar named person/group under his/their so-called leader has been deposed, defrocked and excommunicated more than three different times by various bishops/apostles.  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.  It matters not now... whether they use the so-called name of "Athonite" "Benedictine" "Celtic" "Old Roman" "Old Catholic" - etc..  A name does not make one Christian. Their ultimate aim and goal is destruction to those from whom they had either originated from or gone through to obtain the same or similar named "church" they claim to hold to by the state's civil law in which they reside alone.  They are not a "Schema-monk" or even a true "monk" for they were deposed and excommunicated for violations of the Holy Rule they claim to subscribe to, giving and openly providing false misleading and inaccurate information about other more honorable clergy.  These 'wolves in sheep's clothing attract other nefarious and questionable persons whose aims are similar: for fame, image, power and glory, and if it should be that 'fortunes' come along, all the more is their power based.

    Remember, anything that is a HALF TRUTH is not truth 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 us, verify first by hitting your "reply" button and ask, "I received this e-mail but would like verification if 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, 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 persona that gives the appearance of both secular and religious bearing 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, it would seem to appear that the courts are in agreement!

 Those kinds of people, organizations, etc. who misuse and abuse communication technologies 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 his actions whether real or imagined, and to give his forgiveness to those who have harmed him before taking the Holy Body and Blood in the Eucharist, Jesus the Christ.  The reality of this understanding is bound up in and with the findings for which cause he, himself, had been character assassinated by his detractors who claim the courts 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!  It is for these and other reasons that you are urged to read what true repentance and forgiveness means for real "Christians".

  The Founding of Orthodoxy 

How Many Times

It is one's duty as a true Christian which rests upon the Orthodox Catholic Christian Faith established by Jesus Christ, that one continues on the path, the struggle in this life to: Learn the true meaning of Pascha (Easter) and the Life of Christ, His teachings and their importance for all who call themselves "Christian" which means "a follower of Jesus Christ":

He Is Risen Indeed

Click on either the above Icon or any of the following links to learn more!

Pascha -  Lenten Season - Easter

● Lent Message

● The Institution of Lent  ● Turning The Other Cheek  ● Hating One's Parents  ● Violence and the Kingdom  ● The Last Events of Christ 

● A word for the People of God

and Other Hard Sayings of Jesus Christ

● Who are the Modern Day Pharisees and Sadducees who abuse the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ?  ● What is a Safe Church

And More...

Apostasy Index

• About "Old Roman Catholicism" which include the Declaration of Utrecht of 1889 New

• APOSTASY & THE ROMAN JURISDICTION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

• The Great Apostasy

• America and the United Nations

• Day of the Lord and Signs of His Coming -  Covering

• About the "Oratory Catechism"

• A Review of the Oratory Catechism and Overview of Sedevacantism in General

• Responses to Review and Overview

• DECLARATION On John Paul II’s death, succession

• Who Decides in this war between Christ and Chaos?

• What Is The Indefectibility of the Catholic Church?

  Other Links - Other Articles of Importance

  About Pius XII

• Is Christianity Collapsing?

• Who are the Modern Day Pharisees and Sadducees who abuse the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ?

• ECUMENISM -- A PATH TO PERDITION

A Message from Our metropolitan Archbishop - UPDATED

A Very Special Message....

Our Primate's Message Archives - 2006

Our Primate's Message Archives 2004-2005

Go To: Apostasy & the Roman Jurisdicition of the Catholic Church 

Go To: Abouna Gegroi 2 cents worth  Go to: Daily Commemorations.

When Viewing a News Article click on the link to Return to "Home Page" or Daily News for 2006. For Daily/weekly News and Information Archives click on one of the follwoing:

2006 NEWS ARCHIVE

2005 News Archive

2004 news Archive

2003 News Archive.

About:

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.

Any good article or piece of information will be considered so long as it is not defamatory or slanderous toward an individual when not based on TRUTH or FACT, or which is altered out of context from its original publishing by recognized sources. All new articles submitted, after viewing and recommendations, are passed to our Editor, our Vladyka, +Joseph Thaddeus, OSB, SSJt., Ph.D.

“I prefer a defeat accompanied by humility to a victory accompanied by pride.”

                                                                               --An Elder

    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 his actions whether real or imagined, and to give his forgiveness to those who have harmed him before taking the Holy Body and Blood in the Eucharist, Jesus the Christ.  The reality of this understanding is bound up in and with the findings for which cause he, himself, had been character assassinated by his detractors who claim the courts 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!  It is for these and other reasons that you are urged to read what true repentance and forgiveness means for real "Christians".

   "It would be better to have ten (10) true repentant X-felons who ask for and give true forgiveness than it would be to have one (1) non-x-felon or common person whose self-righteousness exceeds even the Pharisees, Sadducees, the gossip mongers, slanderers and un-repentant; for the repentant x-felon understands the true meaning of the Church's purpose as being the spiritual hospital." (siq) +Joseph Thaddeus, OSB, SSJt., Ph.D., Metropolitan Archbishop, Archabbot, Primate

Yes... "Prejudice Makes Prisoners of the Hated and the Hater..." (1992-Fr. Alan Stanford)

One can ask, "What part of 'Prejudice' and 'hate' do you not understand?  Are you a complacent person?  In light of the saying, examine yourself!  You may be surprised if you are honest with yourself for your soul may convict you before Jesus Christ convicts you in the times to come!

"When tested by some trial you should try to find out not why or through whom it came, but only how to endure it gratefully, without distress or rancor."

St. Mark the Ascetic.

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit." Psalms 32:1-2
 

    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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Keep Up-To-Date by clicking on:

Quotes from Metropolitan Archbishop +Joseph Thaddeus, SSJt., Ph.D. Continuously updated

If You have a question that you wish to ask, please feel free to submit it.  However, may it be suggested that you review all previous questions for the Month and also the Archive of questions previously asked for your question may have already been answered. 

Click Here For Archive Quotes

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Twenty First Century Desert Fathers

Who Are: The Thaddeans?

Lines of Apostolic Succession of His Eminence

 AOC CLERGY

In The Shadows

Suggested Reading:

Privacy Watch NOTICE to VISITORS ABOUT OUR E-MAIL, Telephone and Response POLICY - Updated

Saint Jude Thaddeus (Helper of the Hopeless) and  The Thaddean Fathers (SSJt.)

MAN: To Err, the Church and Holy Spirit

The True meaning of Repentance and forgiveness

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY

Is Christianity At The Cross Roads?

As The World Goes, So Goes The Church

Anomalies in Ecclesiology of Contemporary Orthodox Churches

Attempts at Coming to An Understanding of Orthodox Catholic Christianity

A Response to two articles: “Pedophilia Condoned (Approved) By Islam” & “Dalai Lama With Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Others"

-

GRAMMATA ON THE MEANING OF CANONICAL

The Definition and Meaning of "Orthodoxy"
 

Orthodox Catholic Christian Fasts, Feasts, and Daily Prayers

See the Main Page for Weekly-Daily listings/Commemoration's Page

To Change the Nation and the World

• Salt of Christians and Christianity

• America & the World - What is in Store..

• The Meat of Christianity

• The Seat of Moses, Its Powers and Perils

• Problems of Orthodoxy in America

• Anomalies in Ecclesiology of Contemporary Orthodox Churches

• Attempts at Coming to An Understanding of Orthodox Catholic Christianity

• THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH A most Important Article -  NEW

• Celibacy and the Priesthood In These Modern Times

• An Invitation to Dialogue

• Various Divine Liturgies

•  The 2005 Declaration of the Holy Synod of Bishops and Clergy

  of the American Orthodox Church / North American Orthodox Church / American Orthodox Catholic Church

•  Statement on Sexual Misconduct in the Church

  American Orthodox Church / American Orthodox Catholic Church / North American Orthodox Church

A Dictionary of Orthodox Terminology

PROPER ATTIRE FOR ORTHODOX CLERGY

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