A Voice crying in the wilderness, 8

The common voice of all of the fighters for the purity of faith and faithfulness to the Orthodox Church could be heard at the Sopocani Monastery Meeting, which was held in February of 2001. From this gathering of monastics, priests and faithful children of the Orthodox Church, guided by concern and love toward the tradition of St Sava in their mother Church, an “Appeal-plea” was sent to the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which reads as follows:

* That it carry out its decision from 1997 regarding the withdrawal of our Church from the WCC without delay, pointing out that every local Orthodox Church has the authority to make and carry out such a decision for itself, as they joined the WCC individually. The conclusions of the Thessalonica Summit are not and cannot be an obstacle to this;

* That it re-examine its attitude toward Roman Catholicism, which all the Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church, from Photius the Great to Mark of Ephesus and Justin (Popovich) of Chelije consider a heresy, not a “sister church,” and to stop all common prayer with the Roman Catholics and the Pope of Rome under the guise of “brotherly love;”

* That under no circumstances should it accept the frequently announced visit of the Pope to the Serbian Church and that certain (frequently heard) motions toward the introduction of the New Calendar in our Church be stopped because such an attempt would result in a great schism within our Church, as in all local Orthodox Churches that have introduced the New Calendar;

* That an inter-church dialogue be initiated in the Serbian Orthodox Church regarding all contested issues of spiritual life and theology, because it is the lack of well-intentioned dialogue that leads to internal divisions among the people into followers of various liturgical, theological and pastoral schools, some of which introduce innovations foreign to the Holy Tradition.

Conclusion: A Gathering of Trumpeters

Finally, the Sopocani Meeting ends its Appeal by quoting the words of the holy Bishop, St Nikolai (Velimirovich) regarding the need for zeal and alertness in the battle for the salvation of our soul: “...If someone says: The danger to our Church was in the past, and today the danger is gone, he is terribly wrong. He is a trumpeter who plays to put us to sleep. And in this age we need as many trumpeters as possible who will play to awaken us, to rouse us, to prepare us, to defend ourselves. For the unmentionable, whom our sacred people and their clergy prevented from becoming ‘embodied in the form of law’ [referring to the Concordat of 1937] nevertheless still walks upon this earth like a ghost, like a spectre - agitating, agitating, agitating.”

We would like to conclude our presentation with the prayerful wish that our Thessalonica symposium, the Inter-Orthodox Conference on Ecumenism, become a gathering of trumpeters who by their testimony and their zeal will awaken the slumbering consciences of the representatives of all of the local Orthodox Churches, so that all together or each individually, following its internal voice, withdraw from the WCC, stop prayerful and practical participation in the heresy of ecumenism, and thus attest before the face of the entire world that the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church was, is and will forever remain the Orthodox Church, and that outside it, there is no Church, and that without the Church and unity with the Church, there is no salvation. This is the only true service to our neighbour, to those close to us, the only true love toward all non-Orthodox or heterodox individuals and peoples in the modern world because, according to Fr Justin, “The only true love is that which ensures those close to us life eternal.”

Bishop ARTEMIJE Of Raska and Prizren
Translated by Snezana Ivanisevic De Berthet

“We accept all seven Œcumenical Councils...and also we acceptall the Holy Councils which in the Grace of God gathered in various times and places for the sake of the strengthening of the Orthodox doctrines which the Orthodox Church accepts. And those whom the Holy Fathers denied we deny as well; those whom the Holy Fathers placed under condemnation, we too place under condemnation.”
Saint Sava of Serbia.

(1) The only exception to this rule, unfortunately, is the Œcumenical Patriarchate, which is in fact the promoter of all ecumenical events and trends globally. So far not one voice of opposition has been heard from within this local Church in opposition to the ecumenistic activity, in word and deed, of the head and representatives of this church. On the contrary, from there one could frequently hear only words of condemnation and attack against those throughout Orthodoxy who strive to preserve the “pledge of faith” unsullied by sick ecumenical evil-belief. - [This footnote is in the original although strictly it is not quite correct: on numerous occasions the Fathers of the Holy Mountain Athos have raised their voice against ecumenism, and they fall within the fold of the Œcumenical Patriarchate - ed].