PROOF - Orthodox Christian religion is the ONE !

It's ok, I also feel sorry that Artintel left us, especially if you said he brought a good contribution on this site :(. Maybe that was supposed to happen in this post, I believe everything in this world plays a role even if we don't understand it and if this has happened with this post maybe this was supposed to happened. I'm sorry again too and maybe he will return back soon. Yestarday I saw accidently a catholic forum where they were talking about \"why God gives miracles to the orthodox church if we consider them schismatiches? Wouldn't be more simple if God would have left only us (the catholic church) to receive His grace and in this way to show to the world that we are the ONE religion? It's a very hard test which our Father is giving us to go through, by searching the right ONE religion.\" - these were the questions/doubts of a (I supposed strong catholic since he had a profile on a catholic website). And he received plenty of answers, mainly \"I don't know\", others said \"you know they are doing pretty powerful stuff, you'd be incredible what it may happen in their churches, I was in Russia and I saw some incredible things but I was afraid because I didn't understand them\", another guy was saying \"you know my spiritual father, Fr...., told me once to respect also their Liturgy because our Lord respect it too 'cause he participated once in Italy to an orthodox Liturgy and a big miracle has happened in front of him, the bread which you communicate with they are putiing it in wine and in the moment they were praying the wine turned into blood in front of his eyes and he was stunished and the orthodox priest told him that this was a miracle done by our Lord for him to believe also because this doesn't happen usually\", others were commenting on the Holy Light from Jerusalem during orthodox Easter, and about people getting healthy while praying to orthodox saints and icons and so on, I felt sorry for them talking between them, and one even said that \"these miracles are so big that I was very closed to convert once to them but I was still very afraid and turning back here because I can't understand them\" I felt pity for them because this is the religion in which they got born, in catholic religion, and their fault is little, their bishops faults who made the change in 1054 is; I'm looking at their communication for example \"only with bread\". Our Elders also say that they are doing \"trade\" with sins, because Pope is allowed to SELL!! indulgences to sinner, because he says that if you have too many sins you can take forgiveness by donating money to the Pope (the sum depends on sin) and like this the Pope has the right to erase all your sins, and in our church we know that \"forgiveness\" you can't receive by paying, only God forgives us and our \"paying\" is doing prayer to our God in order to forgive us, I have a canonical book in which holy Saints have established for each sin how many days of not communication you can receive, how many prayers and so on, of course if you have stealed maybe you should pay back what you stealed (if you can, to whom you stealed from) or giving something to poor people, and if you WANT and if you can, you can give a mercy to church also. But if our Patriarch would be able to sell indulgences this would mean that only rich people who have eanough money to pay their sins will be SAVED. In Romania for example we are not supposed to pay anything to church (maybe abroad is different because the life for priest is more expensive there and they have families to feed) but here their are around 20.000 of churches, which are almost full every Sunday but there is no law/obligation to pay anything to the church, but everybody is giving a little gift on Sunday, but nobody is coming in the church with a bowl to pay anything to church, if you want, you go by yourself with your gift at Altar and give it, I remember now from the Bible when our Savior saw rich people put in the temple bowl money and then a very poor lady put \"5 money, if I remember well\" and our Saviour said that this old poor woman's gift is more appreciated by our Father because she is very poor, and it's like she can't afford it. But still, as I've already said, we should feel pity for the other confessions lay people if they born like this, because it is not their fault, and our Elders tells us that for other confession christians \"we do not guarantee their SALVATION\" because they don't have all the canonical laws intact \"it is something like 2 men are going to climb a mountain, one is full, with all the limbs and organs; and the other has no feet, but it is not his fault he bornt like this; who do you think it has more chances to arrive on top? The second one is at the mercy's Lord, and his struggle should be maybe double than the first's one, the first one gets more powerful by purely being full.\" Of course the 2 of them are at the mercy's of Lord but we should understand the difference, like this is, even if here on earth both of them are healthy physically, the orthodox church still gives him also a healthy communion with Lord in plus. So we should feel pity for them and I'm sure maybe those of them who live a clean life, in prayers, fasting and so on, will see the light one day. In Christ!

And to add something in contuining my last post, is that, the danger is not that the other christians decided to keep continuing their faith in this modernized, new way; but the danger is that by trying to convince us (our orthodox bishops) to have an Ecumenical Synod with them and unite all in one religion they are trying to make our religion \"handicapated\" also, and when time will come and the Big Evil will appear in the world to rule it, we will all be handicapeted in face of his evilty, and very easy to be manipulated by him, because we will not be full in our religion anymore as we are now, 'cause our strength now lays in our fullness, as St Seraphim of Sarov was saying that \"the scoup of our life is the receiving of Holy Spirit\", He makes us strong in face of obstacles \"And everything which we do, prayers, Liturgy, fasting, have the scoup of bringing the Holy Spirit inside us\", so if \"prayers, Liturgy etc\" are kept by us as they are now, old like hundreds of years ago they are very powerful and bringing to us full Holy Spirit, as a river which flows large and continuous and smoothly, but if all these masses are done in a modern way, changed in time and so on, they may bring us like a river which got stucked in a place and it left only a single little course which still flow with little water towards us. And in this way, if we are not careful, in time we can loose it all the river for good, 'cause once modernized you will always modernize them.

I don't believe, that there is the danger of uniting the Orthodox with Roman Catholic and Protestant Church. I feel sure that no one envolved in the Ecumenical Dialog has this in mind. That will not happen. True union can only be if the other churches and christian communities deny their errors and come back to the fullness of the orthodox faith. Sofia, I, too, believe, that only the Orthodox Church has this fullness of faith. The eldress of a greek monastery we viseted some time ago (herself a german and raised as protestant), said: \"Here (in the Orthodoxy) I found the christian main values in a much more intensified form. All the others are like diluted wine.\" (Weil ich hier die christlichen Grundwerte in viel intensiverer Form gefunden habe. Alles andere ist wie verdunnter Wein.\") I think, if we speak about the difference between the orthodox and the other christian believers, then we don't have to speak about true and false, but about all this, what the others are lacking in their faith. A devout rom.catholic and even a devout protestant may well go to heaven, but they miss so much. Sometimes I think, that in countries where are hardly orthodox christians and where they have hardly the chance to get to know the orthodox faith, that there the romcath. and the protestant church are a kind of place-keeper (I don't know how to say it better in english). Were there not the protestant church in Germany in wich I was baptized and raised, I hadn't had the chance to meet God and the christian faith. There I made my first steps in the christian faith and God became my hope and the one I longed for. Sure, I also learned false things and I had to be able to do without so much of the fullness of the faith. But, being a christian and a faithful, began then and there, not only when I converted to Orthodoxy. I think, it makes a big difference whether someone breaks with the Orthodox faith willingly and so becomes a schismatic or whether someone has grwon up in a church that almost 1000 years ago cut off, and he today knows no better. In this sense I would consider a romcath or protestant christian my brother or sister in Christ, who is not at all damned to hell by God, not one, who has the false faith but has not yet recogniszed the fullness of the faith. Can you agree with this? Jannis

I'll write you again the answer to this question, as I wrote a page and everything disappeared (I was not Logged on :( ). To write you breefly until tomorrow when hopefully I'll send you the detailed again: No one knows this, if the others will be saved or who from them will be, this only our Lords knows, but I'll senD you some quotes from St Siluan and other Saints who said that \"if this will happen anyway, and someone will get saved from the others, will be only because of Grace of God and as exceptional cases, but, we, as orthodox, can hope for sure salvation.\" I'll send you tomorrow the quotes again and a declaration of a lots of Bishops and priests from Greece regarding this subject. In Christ!

We can sit here and debate dogma and religious practices till the end of time. But as it was stated before, we cannot blame those born and raised in another faith for what they believe. Going with that, I know many people who were born and raised in the Orthodox faith, and they couldn’t care less about their religion. If a man finds God through another church or faith then let them worship and glorify Him the way they choose. If a person and Hindu and leads a good life, should we forget his life and only look at their religious views to say “you were wrong”. I was listening to a priest tell a story once of an atheist woman, and a Christian man who lived in the same village. The woman gave herself and all she had to help anyone who needed it without asking anything in return. The man who was Christian cared only for himself and lived a bad life, but assured himself that he would be fine in the end because he had faith in God. The point of the story was finding God through actions of others, and that being associated with the church will not ensure you a place in heaven. I have friends of many different faiths, and we all agree that it is not how you glorify God, but the fact that you are glorifying Him that truly matters. -God bless

I don't know what to say, we should love all the people and pray for them but I don't know what to say about salvation, I'll send you tomorrow more quotes and their sources. But I want to add only one now, St Ignatie Briancianinov wrote a letter called \"About the unbeliever's (heretics) SALVATION\" maybe you can find it in English too, it's very good to read, though has like 3 pages, I have it in Romanian on an orthodox website, shortly is written something like: \"this letter was written as a response to a lady who didn't believed in the words \"a lot of people is called but only few are selected\" and that those selctede are indeed the orthodox, and he answered her \"What a pity spectacle seeing christians who don't know what christianism is about. Very rarely we can meet around nowadays christians, real christians. Question: \"Why should not islamic (mahomedans), pagans or herectics should not be SAVED? Around them we can meet lots of good people who don't hurt anyone, to loose all these people would be against Lord's mercy. And heretics are also christians. To consider ourselves only us who can hope at SALVATION and the others lost would be too much pride. St Ignatie Briancianinov answered \"You christians, you don't even know what SALVATION is all about but you're talking about SALVATION. Listen here the christian truth regarding SALVATION. We lost our SALVATION when Adam & Eve have sinned in Heaven (I'll shortly everything now because it's a long letter) .... All human mankind is a sinner mankind with a dead destiny. We are borning ourselves in sins. St Patriarch Jacov in the Old Testament was saying \"I'll go down crying to my son, in hell.\" And this he was saying about himself and about his son Josef, who was a virgin and a wonderful boy. In the Old Testament they were going to hell not only bad people but also all good people, and they all knew that those times. So only so much is what the kindness/goodness of man can do to the SALVATION of tthat man. This showed us that we, as humans, no matter how good we are, we are powerless in face of dark powers if we don't have The Holy Spirit inside us, to help us, which comes from our Father. So the price for Adam&Eve sins and for all our sins was payed by the our Saviour, He took all the sins of human kind onto Him and born us as new people, so the Son of God has let Himself being crucified by us to take us out from the devil's hands because of our sins. And took out from hell those who were cathed there. And He told us No one will get to our Father by not getting threw Me. So how can we say then that only goodness will save us, we saw what is the power of goodness in the life after death, it can do nothing if we are not bornt again threw Holy Spirit which comes from our Father. About heretics I'll tell you that SALVATION doesn't mean only to believe in the existance (devil's also believe) but to accomplish God's commandemnets. Have you seen our Patriarch Avraam from Old Testament what did? Our Lord put at test his belief in Him and ask him to kill his lovely child, and Avraam abide it but God appeared at the right moment, this is believing in God, abiding ALL! His Commandments, belief without deeds is nothing. Like this are doing heretics, they believe but they changed all the rules in their churches. Didn't you heard that times are near and faith will get cold in the world so few will keep the true faith, if you would see how many people from this world are going to hell after death and here and there are some other people who go to heaven. Have you seen any of these herectis how full of proudness they are, what big sins are doing in their homes, killings and heartings and other things and you see them being good, how can they be able to be good if only Holy Spirit gives us strentgh to be good, how can they keep good if they lost the Holy Spirit from their churches. Only earning the Holy Spirit gives us strength to be good in ourdays with so many evelness around. It's long the letter, but in conclusion, it's pretty saying the same things I wrote first: only the mercy of God and His Grace knows who and in what percentage they will be saved. I'll send you others Saints opinion too tomorrow. I'll also send you a vision of a father regarding the judgings of our Lord, I mean we think that our Lord may have made an unfairness, and in the end we discover that our Lord knows everything, I'll send it tomorrow.

Cyprian, about people's perceptions. Often they are formed by stereotypes usually created by the media. As I understand the purpose of Orthodox Monasticism (and please do correct me if I'm in error) a huge part of it is to be apart from the world. Which kinda makes it hard to start some sort of marketing campaign in the world by Monastics themselves to promote Orthodoxy. Its just not what Monastics do, but at the same time that is a monastics greatest strength they don't interact with the world as the rest of us do and thus when they see wrong in the world they are the ones best suited to point it out. Sofia, I wanted to comment on something you said. About how in Romania the people are not supposed to pay anything to church (except for out of love), as I understand it most churches there get funding from the government itself, whereas here in America this is illegal (with some minor exception in certain cases) as there is a separation of church and state. That aside funding here in America is very different. I've had Orthodox churches that I've visited once send me letters all the time telling me I should donate 10% of what I make. Looking at the requirements at a church out here it runs $900 in fees just to start to get married (there are more requirements). Yes I completely agree we should fund our churches but sometimes I think maybe the Roman Catholics had something when they had a council concluded no fee may be charged for any Sacrament. A donation would be a different thing though. Then again this \"law\" lead eventually to papal indulgences. I'd like to hear what other people think of this. Loannis, I would have a propensity to agree with you. I would describe my love for people of other Christian expressions as loving the sinner not the sin. Now if I would go so far to call them a brother or sister in Christ I don't know, because some of them believe in some screwed up things. I'd prefer to not judge that's God's job. Then again, I'd say Monastics are the best equipped to judge the world, but perhaps not people. I'd really like to read what the saints say when you post later Sofia. I must profess I'm not really aware of an authoritative all in one book on Orthodox Saints and their teachings. Now that would be cool. Does one exist in Romanian?

Somsoc, you are right, some of the other christians believe in some screwed up things. But there are also some, who are faithful christians, who I would consider as brother or sister in faith, even if they lack the fullness of our faith and the fulness of all Gods blessings. God is great and His spirit works not only within the boundaries of the Orthodox Church. This does certainly not mean that every group that calls itself \"church\", is a church. There is only one Church - the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. But there is also some light, some grace, some blessing from God to see outside our Church, within other christian communities. I am convinced that in heaven we will be surprised, whom we will see there and I believe, that we will also see other christians there, not only orthodox ones. What will be with people of the other religions? I don't know. That's God decision. I don't know what way God has prepared for them. But for us as orthodox christians, who came to know all the fullnes of the faith there is only one way - the way within our Church, which is the true body of Christ.

onother attempt to say it simply what I mean: regarding other christians I can not say: You are not orthodox, so if you not leave your false way and become orthodox you will go to hell. I would rather instead ask: why do you want to be satisfied with something that is watered, diluted, polluted if you have the chance to scoop out of the fullness of a pure spring?

It's very difficult to answer categorical to such a subject (from the others what are the chances to get in Heaven, big or small?) because I tried very hard to find something in Romanian, written by a Saint or Elder, in which to state straight forward \"Yes, they do get in heaven for sure because of their lives\" and I couldn't find any such categorical statements, at most I could find \"only God knows\", but I did found lots of opinions against their salvation, I'll write down the orthodox Saints and Elder opinion on this subject. Somsoc, there are indeed plenty of books regarding this subject in Romanian, there are written the opinions of Saints and Elders regarding catholics and the others and maybe you can find them also in English too, but search the key word \"Orthodox opinion on Ecumenism\". St Ignatie Briancianinov he was saying that: heresy is considered a deadly sin by the orthodox church, because it's a sin against the Holy Spirit, they don't regcognize the Holy Spirit or they did changed something regarding the Holy Spirit and in this way they lost It. He says \"Don't play with your SALVATION, don't play! don't make tryings because you'll regret all your life and suffer. But start to read the Scriptures/Gospels and see the Truth.\" Elder Dumitru Staniloaie is saying: We, as orthodox, have to love everyone, all the world, sinners or no. As about SALVATION, I'm very humble and I would not want to know that the non-orthodox don't have a chance at SALVATION, but this only God knows, in His love. Laurentiu Dumitru, priest, is saying: The fact that St Siluan Athonit or St John Maximovici or Elder Sofronie were all praying for pagans, doesn't tells us that those who received their prayers they were also receiving SALVATION. Holy Spirit is blowing wherever He wants and God gives SALVATION to whom He wants, in an exceptional cases maybe they can be SAVED some from the others also, but this doesn't justify that their religions are also good and because of them they got SAVED, because only the mercy of God may save such a person. St Siluan Athonit has answered to the question \"All heretics will go to hell?\": \"I don't know the answer to this question, I only believe in the Orthodox Church, it is the single religion who can bring you SALVATION under the love and protection of our Saviour\". Elder Seraphim Rose while being asked if Heretics who bornt like this will ever be saved: This only God knows, but if He does this, it is only because of His love 'cause by doing this He is passing over the right way to SALVATION which He put it on earth for us, and this is the Holy Orthodox Church. Elder Ilie Cleopa was against Ecumenism with the other christians, but when being ask about their SALVATION he answered something like: Our Lord is fair, and I hope in His big love to SAVE the ones who respected his laws even if they didn't know them. Elder Argatu Ilarion was against heretics and pagans but he also said that (his relics are in Romania): orthodox bornt people but who became Satanists or who are practising witchery and die like this have no chance because they are from the earth the devil's children. In life of St Matrona (you can find it in English also - she is a Saint of nowadays, her relics are in Russia): she had a spiritual daughter married to an orthodox man who did not believe in God, and didn't go to church. So this man died and the woman after doing his comemorations stopped giving St Liturgi at the church for his soul, and St Matrona asked her once, after around 7 years from thr death of her husband (St Matrona could see things and souls etc) \"why don't you give St Liturgi at the church for your husband's soul?\" and she answered \"because I do it for nothing, he didn't believe in God and didn't go to church\" and St Matrona answered \"Do you know that I saw your husband in heaven and he was peaceful.\", \"How come?\" \"Your husband even if he didn't believed in church he had a great soul, very good soul, he loved everybody and when someone needed help he helped, and he gave to poor and did lots of good things\" and the woman then remember that indeed her husband sometimes could give up to the last money to his in need friends. Another story from St Matrona life, was of a woman who came to her to tell her where is her orthodox husband's soul, in hell or heaven, and after praying she said to her he is in hell, and she said to the woman \"go and pay a Liturgi for his soul for a year at a monastry\", after a year the woman came back and asked her again, and she answred, I saw him telling me \"tell to my wife to pay for another 40 Liturgi to a monastry because I'm almost out of hell\", and the woman payied and when she came back to St Matrona she told her that she sees her man lying in heaven. In Life of Elder Ilarion Argatu (of whom relics are in Romania) he said that he had a spiritual daughetr, very religious, orthodox and she was very religious, but she came from a family where all were heretics christians, and they tried all her life to change her and take her also in their christian religion, but Elder Ilarion Argatu was all the time telling her, don't do this 'cause you'll loose your salvation, no father I won't do this. When the woman got old, like 80 years, she was about to die and came to Elder Ilarion to be confessed and she also told him, father, after living so many years with my heretic family in the same house they convinced me that I'll loose salvation if I don't do like them also, and they also are good, and also christians and I'm afraid not to loose salvation so I said to be both orthodox and (I don't remember religion), and Elder Ilarion Argatu got so upset but he could not do anything because the woman didn't understand and didn't believed that this is the only way to salvation for her. So she died, after her death Elder Ilarion Argatu started some days and weeks of prayers and fasting and asked God to show him where is her soul, and one night one angel came and took him to show the sould of that woman, and he saw her in hell being tortured by some devils. So I could find and I'm sure there are also many other exemples of orthodox christians who still got salvation inspite of some sins, but I could not find any testimony of somebody who met a catholic or a pagan in Heaven, so I don't know. What I found there are Elders's and Saints testimony on the \"holiness\" of Catholic Saints, they checked a lot of the catholic Saints lifes who felt our Saviour tortures on their hands and bodies or having other feelings they felt and checking the old books written by Saints on which orthodox monks use to determine if a person was holy or not, and they say that these \"saints\" showed very clear signs of demon possession, they explain how the Holy Spirit is working and how demons are working miracles and they take each such saints and demonstrate from quoting their \"saints\" own declarations, that they were clearly possessed, I can sent you these opinions also, with the Romanian website, if you have a translator, or you can find it here, even the Fatima, Medjogorne and other places showings were very careful analized by lots of orthodox priests and monks and they even wrote books on these subject, they analized them using all the hundreds of years ago books regarding aparitins and visions and they own experiences with such things, how can you identify if they are from God or demons, and they took all their teachings from there and they arrived at the conclusion that deffinitely their are from demons, they also say that demons appeared even in Mount Athos taking the form of our Saviour or our St Mary and saying different things, but the monks are checking very carefull each apparition, once appeared for example St Mary to a monk and he was so glad but they know not to believe from the beginning the aparitions, and he remembered this and he started to make the sign of cross and saying Jesus prayer and immediately the aparition disappeared and a terrifying voice was heard and something broke in the monks house. There is a book with plenty of such things written by the monks from Mount Athos, I read and got terrifyied, not to believe in dreams and visions, because most of them are from demons, monks make lots of praying and fasting to find an answer or to have a vision, and they live a holy life all the time, and they check very careful each vision they have, the book is called: \"Pateric about dreams and visions\". So the links regarding the catholic saints and the orthodox opinion that they were possessed, and about the aparitions from Medjougorne which were checked by orthodox clerics and prooved to be demons you can find here in Romanian, maybe I'll translate partially one day something from them, so now you need a translator: http://www.ortodoxie-catolicism.ro/category/catolicism/sfintii-catolici/ and: http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:3GRL1iCnRRMJ:sceptik.wordpress.com/2008/02/16/un-inselat-cel-mai-mare-sfant-catolic/ vis catolic mantuit&cd=3&hl=ro&ct=clnk&gl=ro St John of Kronstadt was very categorigal regarding heretics, you can find his opinion in Romanian here: http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:HsCnYFfpHnoJ:uncrestinortodox2.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/despre-unirea-cu-catolicii-in-viziunea-sfantului-ioan-de-kronstadt/ viziune mantuire schismatici&cd=1&hl=ro&ct=clnk&gl=ro He said that all orthodox people would like to unite catholic church with ours but only if catholic and the other christians would drop their heretic beliefs and would come from where they left, because they lost in this way Holy Spirit too. And because Pope and noone want to drop their heresies, so also orthodox will never agree any Ecumenical discussions with them. St John of Kronstadt was very upset on Pope and catholics, He said they are moking orthodoxy, and they killed orthodox priests and lay people, and they think about themselves as they are invincible, and they are very proud and so on. If you can translate the link I sent you, you will see that he was totally against catholics or the others, though in his life he prayed for all humanity, he was totally against these heresies. He is saying that he only knows orthodoxy. St Paisie Velichikovski, or St Paisie from Neamt is even more cathegoric regarding heretics and catholics, you cand find here in Romanian: http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:0UiaiMaDtdkJ:www.credo.ro/despre-catolici.php CATOLICI MANTUIRE&cd=10&hl=ro&ct=clnk&gl=ro He is saying that St Ecumenical Synods, Canonical, from 1st to 7th, they all anathemizied those who will fall in heresies, so if Saints who participated in such Holy Synods, like St Spiridon and many others anathemizied all those who will broke the laws decided then, then He is doing the same, He said that all the christians decided at the 1st Ecumenical Synod to use during every Liturgi the words \"And be anathemized all those who decide to brake the law of God and be christians by themselves\" but around hundreds of years ago orthodox church decided to take out that formula from our Liturgi, but St Paisie Velichikovski said that it should have been kept and not took out, because He is in the spirit of those saints who decided this and He is as well anathemizing all the others. And remember that this was a big Saint, all the Mount Athos respect him, he is Russian and he left Mount Athos to built a monastry in Romania, and he was a visionary, He was the one who teach all the Mount Athos the Jesus prayer (a very powerful prayer which can after years of practising it to bring you in a state of being kindnapped in Heaven during it, today most of the monks from Mount Athos are saying this prayer, because it's very powerful against dark powers as well). In plus, see this orthodox-american TV show regarding Ecumenism and catholisism, from the orthodox view: http://video.acasa.ro/calatorii/anti-ecumenism---documentar-ortodox-american-superb-partea-5--1a657230cf930de85440.html And here, I'll copy-paste the official position of lots of bishops, priests, monks, nons from Greece regarding Ecumenism and catholic church and the other heretic churches, so I don't know what to say: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/343F71A2.el.aspx. A CONFESSION OF FAITH - Against ECUMENISM Doamne ajută. Intrucat textul mărturisirii ortodoxe impotriva ecumenismului este destul de puţin cunoscut in Occident, postăm aici traducerea in limba engleză a documentului, al cărui text original se găseşte pe http://www.impantokratoros.gr/343F71A2.el.aspx. Ii rugăm pe ceilalţi web-masteri şi blogger-i ortodocşi să preia pe site-uri-le şi blog-uri-le lor versiunea in limba engleză. Mulţi romani merg in străinătate la diferite parohii ortodoxe care se pot folosi de această mărturisire făcută in cuget patristic. Avem rugămintea ca cei care pot să răspandească acest text ierarhilor, preoţilor, monahilor şi mirenilor… Danion Vasile, Grupul Areopag From the Convention of Orthodox Clergymen and Monks Volos, Greece, April 2009 Those of us who by the Grace of God have been raised with the dogmas of piety and who follow in everything the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, believe that: The sole path to salvation of mankind is the faith in the Holy Trinity, the work and the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, and their continuance within His Body, the Holy Church. Christ is the only true Light [ii]; there are no other lights to illuminate us, nor any other names that can save us: «Salvation is not within anything else; nor is there any other name under the heavens that has been given to mankind, in which we can be saved» [iii]. All other beliefs, all religions that ignore and do not confess Christ \"having come in the flesh\" [iv], are human manufacturings and works of the Devil, [v] which do not lead to the true knowledge of God and rebirth through divine Baptism, but instead, mislead men and lead them to perdition. As Christians who believe in the Holy Trinity, we do not have the same God as any other religion, nor with the so-called monotheistic religions, Judaism and Mohammedanism, which do not believe in the Holy Trinity.

For two thousand years, the Christ-founded and Holy Spirit-guided Church has remained stable and unshakeable in the salvific Truth that was taught by Christ, delivered by the Holy Apostles and preserved by the Holy Fathers. She did not buckle under the cruel persecutions by the Judeans initially and later by idolaters during the first three centuries; She brought forth a host of martyrs and came out victorious, thus proving Her divine origin. As Saint John the Chrysostom beautifully expressed it: «Nothing is stronger than the Church... if you fight against a man, you either conquer or are conquered; but if you fight against the Church, it is not possible for you to win, for God is the strongest of all» [vi].

Following the cessation of the persecutions and the triumph of the Church over Her external enemies - in other words, the Judeans and the idolaters - the internal enemies of the Church began to multiply and strengthen. The various heresies began to appear, which endeavoured to overthrow and adulterate the delivered faith so that the faithful would become confused, and their trust in the truth of the Gospel and traditions be debilitated. In outlining the ecclesiastic state of affairs that the prevalence for over 40 years - even administratively - that the heresy of Arius had created, Saint Basil the Great says: «The dogmas of the Fathers have been entirely disregarded, the apostolic traditions withered, the inventions of younger people are observed in the Churches; people are therefore technologizing when they should be theologizing; the wisdom of the world seems to be pushing aside the boasting in the Cross. Pastors are sent away, and in their place are inserted harsh wolves, who disperse Christ's flock» [vii].

Whatever happened to the external enemies - religions - also happened to the internal ones - heresies. Through major and enlightened Holy Fathers, the Church demarcated and entrenched the Orthodox faith with decisions by Local and Ecumenical Synods (Councils) in the cases of specific, dubious teachings, but with the agreement of all the Fathers (Consensus Patrum), on all the matters of the Faith. We are now therefore safe, when we follow the Holy Fathers and do not move the boundaries that they had set. The expressions «Following after our Holy Fathers» and «Not withdrawing the boundaries that our Fathers had set» constitute a steady, straight course and a safety valve for the Orthodox faith and way of life. Consequently, the basic positions of our Confession are the following:

1. We maintain, irremovably and without alteration, everything that the Synods and the Fathers have instituted. We accept everything that they accept and condemn everything that they condemn; we furthermore avoid communication with those who innovate on matters of the Faith. We neither add, nor remove, any teaching, nor do we alter it. Already, the God-bearing Saint Ignatius of Antioch in his epistle to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna had written: «Anyone who says contrary to what has been decreed - even if he is trustworthy, even if he fasts, even if he is celibate, even if he performs signs, let him appear to you as a wolf in a sheep's hide, aspiring to the corruption of the sheep». Saint John the Chrysostom in interpreting the Apostle Paul's words \"should anyone evangelize to you something that was not delivered to you, let him be anathema\", observes that the Apostle \"did not say if they should proclaim something contrary or if they should overturn everything, but that even if they should evangelize even the smallest thing that has not been delivered to you, even if they should prompt it, let them be anathema\" [viii]. Upon announcing its decisions against the Iconoclasts to the clergy of Constantinople, the 7th Ecumenical Synod wrote: «We have followed the tradition of the Catholic Church, and have not made any omission or any redundancy, but, having been taught in the apostolic manner, we maintain the traditions that we received, accepting and respecting everything that the Holy Catholic Church has received from the first years, unwritten and written... for the true and straightforward judgment of the Church does not make any allowance for innovations within Her, or for attempts to remove anything. We, therefore, by following the laws of our Fathers, having received grace by the one Spirit, have duly safeguarded without any innovations and reductions, all the things of the Church» [ix].

Along with the Holy Fathers and the Synods, we too reject and anathematize all the heresies that appeared during the historical course of the Church. Of the old heresies that have survived to this day, we condemn Arianism (still surviving, in the pseudo-Witnesses of Jehovah) and Monophysitism - the extreme form of Eutychius and the more moderate form of Sevirus and Dioscorus - according to the decisions of the 4th Ecumenical Synod of Chalcedon and the Christological teaching of major Holy Fathers and Teachers such as Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint John of Damascus, Photios the Great and the hymns of our worship.

2. We proclaim that Papism is the womb of heresies and fallacies. The teaching of the \"Filioque\" - that is, the procession of the Holy Spirit AND from the Son - is contrary to everything that Christ Himself taught about the Holy Spirit. The entire chorus of Fathers, both in Synods and individually, regard Papism as a heresy because apart from the Filioque, it produced a host of other fallacies, such as the primacy and the infallibility of the Pope, the unleavened bread (host), the fires of Purgatory, the immaculate conception of the Theotokos, created Grace, the purchasing of absolution (indulgences)... it has altered nearly all of the teaching and the practice pertaining to Baptism, Chrismation, the Divine Eucharist and the other Sacraments, and has converted the Church to a secular State.

Contemporary Papism has deviated much further than medieval Papism from the teaching of the Church, to the extent that it no longer comprises a continuance of the ancient Church of the West. It has introduced a swarm of new exaggerations in its \"Mariology\", such as the teaching that the Theotokos is a parallel redeemer (corredemptrix) of the human race. It has reinforced the \"Charismatic Movement\" of Pentecostal (supposedly Spirit-centered) groups. It has adopted further innovations to Divine Worship, such as dances and musical instruments. It has shortened and essentially ruined the Divine Liturgy. In the area of Ecumenism it has set down the bases for the Pan-religion with its 2nd Vatican Council, by recognizing \"spiritual life\" in the people of other religions. Dogmatic minimalism has led it to a minimizing of moral prerequisites, on account of the bond between dogma and morality, the result of which was the moral failures of leading clergymen and an increase in moral deviations such as homosexuality and pedophilia among clergymen [x]. By continuing to support \"Unia\" - that caricature of Orthodoxy with which it victimizes and proselytizes faithful - Papism is sabotaging the Dialogue and is contradicting its supposedly sincere intentions for union.

Generally speaking, there has been a radical change in Papism and a turn towards Protestantism after the 2nd Vatican Council, and even an adopting of various \"spiritual\" movements of the \"New Age\".

According to Saint Simeon of Thessaloniki, the Mystagogue, Papism caused more damage to the Church than all the heresies and schisms put together. We Orthodox have communion with the pre-Schism Popes and we commemorate many Popes as saints. The post-Schism popes are heretics; they have ceased to be successors to the throne of Rome; they no longer have Apostolic succession, because they no longer have the faith of the Apostles and the Fathers. It is for this reason that with each such pope, «not only do we have no communion, but we also call him a heretic». On account of their blasphemy against the Holy Spirit with their teaching of the Filioque, they forfeited the presence of the Holy Spirit and therefore everything of theirs is deprived of Grace. Not one of their sacraments is valid, according to Saint Simeon. «Therefore the innovators are blaspheming and are far away from the Spirit, by blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, hence everything of theirs is Grace-less, inasmuch as they have violated and have demoted the Grace of the Spirit... which is why the Holy Spirit is not among them, and there is nothing spiritual about them, as everything theirs is new and altered and contrary to divine tradition» [xi].

3. The same things apply to an even greater degree to Protestantism, which as the offspring of Papism has inherited many heresies, but has also added many more; It has rejected Tradition, accepting only the Holy Bible (Sola Scriptura) which it however misinterprets; it has abolished Priesthood as a specialized sacramental Grace, as well as the veneration of Saints and of holy icons; it has vilified the Person of the Holy Mother Theotokos; it has rejected Monasticism; of the Holy Sacraments, it accepts only Baptism and the Divine Eucharist, albeit altering in them also the teaching and the praxis of the Church; it teaches absolute predestination (Calvinism) and vindication only through faith. Furthermore, its more \"progressive\" sector has introduced Priesthood for women and marriage between homosexuals - who they even accept into the Priesthood. But above all, it lacks ecclesiology, because the notion of Church as perceived by the Orthodox Tradition is nonexistent to them.

4. The only way that our communion with heretics can be restored is if they renounce their fallacy and repent, so that there may be a true union and peace: a union with the Truth, and not with fallacy and heresy. For the incorporation of heretics into the Church, canonical precision requires that they be accepted through Baptism. Their previous \"baptism\", performed outside the Church without the triple immersion and emersion of the one being baptized in specially sanctified water, and performed by a non-Orthodox priest, is in no way a baptism. It lacks the Grace of the Holy Spirit (Who does not remain within schisms and heresies) and as such, we have nothing in common that unites us, as Basil the Great points out: «As for those who have distanced themselves from the Church, they no longer have the grace of the Holy Spirit upon them, for transmission has ceased with those who have interrupted the sequence... as for the ones who have broken away, who have now become laity, they no longer have the authority to either baptize, or ordain by the placing of their hands, being now unable to provide the grace of the Holy Spirit, from which (grace) they have fallen away» [xii]

That is why the new attempt by Ecumenists to project the position that we have a common baptism with heretics is unfounded and hanging in mid-air, as is their assertion that it is possible to support the unity of the Church with this nonexistent baptismal unity, which supposedly exists wherever a baptism may exist [xiii]. In the Church however, one enters and becomes Her member, not with just any baptism, but only with the one, uniformly performed Baptism, officiated by Priests who have received the Priesthood of the Church.

5. For as long as heretics continue to remain in their fallacy, we avoid communion with them, especially in common prayer. The holy canons in their entirety prohibit not only common officiating and in-temple common praying, but even ordinary prayers in private quarters. The Church's strict stance opposite heretics springs from true love and sincere concern for their salvation, and out of Her pastoral care that the faithful are not carried away by heresies. Whosoever loves, reveals the truth and does not leave the other in a falsehood; otherwise, any love and agreement with him would only be counterfeit and false. There is such a thing as a good war and a bad peace. «...for a praiseworthy war is superior to a peace that separates one from God» says Saint Gregory the Theologian [xiv]. And Saint John the Chrysostom recommends: «If you should see devoutness vitiated anywhere, do not prefer the harmony of a truth, but stand fast to the death... betraying the truth nowhere». And elsewhere, he recommends with emphasis: «Do not acknowledge any illegitimate dogma that has the pretext of love»[xv]. This stance of the Fathers was also adopted by the major defender and confessor of the Orthodox faith against the Latins, Saint Mark of Ephesus, who concluded his own Confession of Faith in Florence with the following words: «All the teachers of the Church, all the synods and all the divine Scriptures exhort us to keep away from those with other beliefs, and to refrain from communion with them. Therefore, am I to disregard them all, and follow those who under the pretense of a manufactured peace strive for union? Those, who have counterfeited the sacred and divine Symbol (Creed) and who introduced the Son as the second cause of the Holy Spirit? [...] May this never happen to us, o benevolent Paraclete (Comforter), and may I never fall away from my own duteous thoughts, but, by following Your teaching and the blessed men who were inspired by You, may I be added to my fathers, by bringing in, if nothing else, this: piety» [xvi].

6. Up until the beginnings of the 20th century, the Church has steadfastly and immutably maintained a rejective and condemnatory stance towards all heresies, as clearly formulated in the Synodicon of Orthodoxy which is recited on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Heresies and heretics are anathematized, each one separately; furthermore, in order to ensure that not one of them has been left out of the anathema, there is a general anathema at the end of the text: «Let all heretics be anathematized».

Unfortunately, this uniform, steady and unswerving stance of the Church has, up until the beginnings of the 20th century, begun to be gradually abandoned, following the encyclical that was released by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1920 «To all the churches of Christ», which for the first time had officially characterized heresies as 'churches' that are not alienated from the Church, but are familiar and related to Her. It recommended that «the love between the Churches should above all be rekindled and reinforced, no longer thinking of each other as foreign and alien, but rather as related and familiar in Christ, and co-inheritors and co-incorporated in the promise of God in Christ» (see I.Karmiris', \"The Dogmatic and Symbolic Monuments of the Orthodox Catholic Church\", vol. 2, page 958).

The path is now open for the adoption, the shaping and the development within the sphere of the Orthodox Church, of the initially Protestant invention - and now with Papal acceptance - heresy of Ecumenism; this pan-heresy, which adopts and legalizes all heresies as 'churches' and insults the dogma of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Now developed, taught and imposed by Patriarchs and bishops is the new dogma regarding the Church, a new ecclesiology. According to this, no Church is entitled to demand for itself exclusively the character of a catholic and true Church. Instead, each one of them is a piece, a part, and not the entire Church; they all together comprise the Church.

All the boundaries that the Fathers had set have been torn down; there is no longer a dividing line between heresy and Church, between truth and fallacy. Even heresies are now 'churches'; in fact, many of them -like the Papist one- are now regarded as 'sister churches' to which God has entrusted, jointly with us, the care for mankind's salvation [xvii].

The Grace of the Holy Spirit now also exists within heresies, and therefore their baptisms - like all their other 'sacraments' - are considered valid. All who have been baptized, and in whichever heresy they may belong, are now considered members of Christ's Body, the Church. The condemnations and the anathemas of the Synods are no longer valid and should be stricken from liturgical books. We are now housed in the \"World Council of Churches\" and have essentially betrayed - even with our mere accession to participate - our ecclesiastic self-awareness. We have removed the dogma regarding the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church - the dogma of «one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism» [xviii].

7. This inter-Christian syncretism has now expanded into an inter-religion syncretism, which equates all other religions to the unique, God-revealed, through Christ reverence for God, the knowledge of God and the Christ-like way of life. Consequently, it is not only the dogma of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church in relation to heresies that is being attacked, but also the fundamental dogma worldwide of the one and only Revelation and salvation of mankind through Jesus Christ in relation to the religions of the world. It is the worst imaginable fallacy, the biggest heresy of all ages.

8. We believe and confess that only in Christ is there a possibility for salvation. The religions of the world and the heresies all lead to perdition. The Orthodox Church is not merely the true Church; She is the only Church. She alone has remained faithful to the Gospel, the Synods and the Fathers, and consequently She alone represents the true catholic Church of Christ. According to the blessed Elder Justin Popovitch, Ecumenism is a common name for the pseudo-churches of Western Europe; their common name is actually \"pan-heresy\" [xix].

This pan-heresy has been accepted by many Orthodox patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, clergymen, monks and laity. They teach it, «barefacedly»; they apply it and impose it in practice, communing with heretics in every possible manner - with common prayers, with exchanges of visits, with pastoral collaborations - thus essentially placing themselves outside the Church. Our stance, per the Conciliar canonical decisions and per the example of the Saints, is obvious. Each one must now undertake his own responsibilities.

9. There are of course collective responsibilities also, and chiefly in the ecumenistic conscience of our Hierarchs and Theologians, towards the Orthodox corpus and their individual flocks. To them, we declare with a fear of God and with love that this stance of theirs and their openings towards all Ecumenistic activities are condemnable from every aspect, because:

a) they are doubting in practice our Orthodox-Patristic tradition and Faith;

b) they are sowing doubt in the hearts of their flock and are unsettling many, thus leading things to division and schism, and

c) they are misleading a portion of the flock towards a fallacy, and through it, to spiritual disaster.

We are therefore declaring that, for the aforementioned reasons, those who are moving within this Ecumenist irresponsibility, whichever rank they may be holding within the Ecclesiastic Organization, are opposed to the tradition of our Saints and consequently opposed to them.

This is the reason that their stance must be condemned and rejected, by the entirety of the Hierarchs and the faithful People.

See treatise by Gennadius II Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople: \"Regarding the only way to the salvation of mankind\" , to George Scholarios \"The complete extant works - Oevres Completes de Georges Scholarios\", Volumes I-VII, Paris 1928-1936, publ. L. Petit - X. Siderides - M. Jugie, Vol. III, 434-452.

[ii] John 8:12 «I am the light of the world - whosoever follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life». John 3:19 «The light had come to the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light».

[iii] Acts 4:14.

[iv] 1 John 4:2-3 «Every spirit that confesses Jesus had cometh in the flesh, is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ had cometh in the flesh, is not from God. And this is what you have heard regarding the antichrist: that he cometh and is now already in the world».

[v] See \"Didaches\" (Teachings) of St.Cosmas of Aetolia, of I.Menounos, \"Cosmas of Aetolia teachings (and biography), Tinos publications, Athens, Didache A1, 37, page 142: «\"All faiths are false, counterfeit, all of them the Devil's. This I realized as being true, divine, heavenly, correct, perfect, both by my word and by your word: that the faith of the pious and orthodox christians is good and holy, and that we must believe and be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit».

[vi] 'Homily prior to the exile' 1, ΕΠΕ 33, 186.

[vii] Epistle 90, \"To the most holy brothers and bishops in the West\" 2, ΕΠΕ 2, 20

[viii] Galatians. 1, 9. To Gall. Homily chapt. 1, PG 61, 624.

[ix] Mansi, 13, 409-412.

[x] The moral laxity and decadence, even among the clergy, had already been noted at the beginning of the 15th century, by Saint Simeon of Thessaloniki (see 'Dogmatic Epistle 16' in D. Balfour, by Simeon of Thessaloniki (1416/17-1429) \"Theological Works, Vlatades gleanings 34, Thessaloniki 1981, page 218: «And furthermore, that they did not regard fornication at all entailing Hell, not even among their priests, but instead, they would unscrupulously have concubines and youths for fornication and would every day officiate.» Ibid, 15, page 216: «They also do not follow an evangelical lifestyle; for, every kind of luxury and fornication to them is not a reprehensible matter, nor anything else that is forbidden for Christians». ) The moral decadence that is observed of late even among the Orthodox clergy is the result of Ecumenism's liberalism and secularism..

[xi] Dialogue 23, PG 155, 120-121. Epistle regarding blessedness 5, in D. Balfour, Simeon Archbishop of Thessaloniki (1416/17-1429), \"Theological Works, Vlatades gleanings 34, Thessaloniki 1981, page 226.

[xii] Canonical Epistle Ά, To Amphilochios of Iconion, Canon a.

[xiii] In the text of the 9th General Convention of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2006, which was accepted by the representatives of the Orthodox churches and was titled \"Called to be the One Chuch\", in paragraph 8 it states: \"All those baptized in Christ are united in His name.\" In paragraph 9: \"That we all belong in common to Christ through baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, gives the churches the possibility and it invites them to walk together, even when they disagree. We assure that there is one baptism, exactly as there is one body and one Spirit, one hope in our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one God and Father to all of us (see Ephes.4:4-6)\". The Metropolitan of Pergamos John (Zizioulas) in his work \"Orthodox Ecclesiology and the Ecumenical Movement\", Sourozh Diocesan Magazine (England, August 1985, vol.21, page 23), had paved the way for this position, by stating: \"Within baptism, even if there is a break, a division, a schism, you can still speak of the Church... The Orthodox, in my understanding at least, participate in the ecumenical movement as a movement of baptized Christians, who are in a state of division because they cannot express the same faith together. In the past this has happened because of a lack of love which is now, thank God, disappearing.\"

[xiv] Apologetics on the flight to Pontus 82, ΕΠΕ 1, 176.

[xv] To Romans, Homily 22, 2, PG 60, 611. To Philippians, Homily 2,1, PG 62, 119.

[xvi] Confession of faith displayed in Florence, in Documents relatifs au Concile de Florence, II, Oeuvres anticonciliaires de Marc d'Ephese, par L. Petit, Patrologia Orientalis 17, 442.

[xvii] See joint statement by Pope John-Paul II and Patriarch Bartholomew during the latter's visit to Rome on the 29th of June, 1995. The same had been proclaimed at an earlier date by the Combined Theological Committee for the Dialogue between Orthodox and Papists, in Balamand of Lebanon in 1993.

[xviii] Ephesians 4: 5.

[xix] Archmandr. Justin Popovitch, Orthodox Church and Ecumenism, Thessaloniki 1974, page 224...

NOTICE:

Whosoever of the clergy, monks, nuns and the laity desires to participate in this small deposition of Orthodox confession may declare it, by writing:

\"I agree with the Confession of Faith against Ecumenism, and subscribe to it\"

They may send this declaration indicating their name and their ecclesiastic, monastic or professional status, to the following address:

Periodical \"THEODROMIA\", P.O.Box 1602, Thessaloniki 541 24, Greece - Fax 30 2310 276590 - email address: palimpce@otenet.gr

OODE note:

This is an UNOFFICIAL translation of the original Greek text. The present translation is available for re-publication by anyone who wishes to use it. We would be very pleased to see a reference to our website as the initial translators, but it is not compulsory.

********************************

The above Confession of Faith has been signed by the following, as a first indication.

It has been signed and will be signed by many more:

Metropolitan of Kythera and Antikythera, Seraphim

Metropolitan of Aetolia and Akarnania Kosmas

Metropolitan of Piraeus, Seraphim

Metropolitan of Gortyna and Megaloupolis, Jeremiah, Professor of School of Theology Athens University

Archmandrite Joseph, Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Xiropotamos, Holy Mountain

Protopresbyter fr. George Metallinos, Professor Emeritus of the Athens University School of Theology

Protopresbyter fr. Theodore Zisis, Professor Emeritus of the Thessaloniki University School of Theology

Archmandrite Mark Manolis, Spiritual Superintendent of the \"Pan-Hellenic Orthodox Union\"

Archmandrite Athanasius, Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Stavrovounion, Cyprus

Archmandrite Timothy Sakkas, Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of the Paraclete, Oropos

Archmandrite Cyril Kehayioglou, Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of the Pantocrator, Melissohori, Langadas

Archmandrite Sarandis Sarandos, Parish Priest of the Holy Temple of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Amarousion

Archmandrite Maximus Karavas, Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Saint Paraskeve, Milochori, Ptolemais

Archmandrite Gregory Hadjinikolaou, Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Ano Gazea, Volos

Archmandrite Athanasius Anastasiou, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of the Great Meteora

Archmandrite Theocletus Bolkas, Abbot of the Sacred Hermitage of Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, Chalkidike

Archmandrite Chrysostomos, Abbot of the Sacred Coenobium of Hossios Nicodemus, Pentalofos, Goumenissa

Archmandrite Theodore Diamantis, Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Panaghia Molyvdoskepasti, Konitsa

Archmandrite Palamas Kyrillides, Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos, Kallipetra, Veria

Archmandrite Lavrentios Gratsias, Sacred Metropolis of Florina, Prespae and Eordaia

Archmandrite Meletios Vadrahanis, Sacred Metropolis of Florina, Prespae and Eordaia

Archmandrite Paul Dimitrakopoulos, Sacred Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, Moutsiala, Veria

Archmandrite Ignatius Kalaitzopoulos, Sacred Monastery of Saint Paraskeve, Milochori, Ptolemais

Archmandrite Simeon Georgiades, Sacred Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Ano Gazea, Volos

Archmandrite Augustine Siarras, Sacred Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Ano Gazea, Volos

Archmandrite Ambrose Gionis, Sacred Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Ano Gazea, Volos

Elder Gregory, Hieromonk, Danielites' Sacred Hermitage, Katounakia, Holy Mountain

Elder Efstratios, Hieromonk, Sacred Monastery of the Great Lavra, Holy Mountain

Elder Philippos, Hieromonk, Retreat of Athanasius the Great, Lesser Saint Anna Monastery, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Athanasius, Danielites' Sacred Hermitage, Katounakia, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Nicodemus, Danielites' Sacred Hermitage, Katounakia, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Nephon, Danielites' Sacred Hermitage, Katounakia, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Chrysostom Kartsonas, Retreat of Saint George, Lesser Saint Anna Monastery, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Onuphrios, Retreat of the Precious Forerunner, Sacred Scete of Saint Anna, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Chrysanthos, Retreat of the Precious Forerunner, Sacred Scete of Saint Anna, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Azarias, Retreat of the Precious Forerunner, Sacred Scete of Saint Anna, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Gabriel, Sacred Retreat of Panaghia Gorgoepikoos, Sacred Monastery of the Pantocrator, Holy Mountain

Hieromonk Pandeleimon, Sacred Retreat of Saint Pandeleimon, Sacred Monastery of the Pantocrator, Holy Mountain

Protopresbyter Lambros Fotopoulos, Parish Priest, Sacred Temple of Saint Kosmas of Aetolia, Amarousion, Attica Province

Protopresbyter John Fotopoulos, Parish Priest Sacred Temple of Saint Paraskeve, Attica Province

Protopresbyter Athanasios Menas, Loutraki, Corinthia Province

Protopresbyter Eleftherios Palamas, Saint Christophers, Ptolemais

Protopresbyter Constantine Mygdalis, Parish Priest, Sacred Temple of Saint Constantine, Volos

Protopresbyter Photios Vezynias, Professor, Sacred Metropolis of Lagadas

Protopresbyter Anthony Bousdekis, Parish Priest, Sacred Temple of Saint Nicholas, Nikaia, Piraeus

Protopresbyter Demetrios Vasiliades, Sacred Metropolis of Maronia and Komotene

Presbyter Dionysios Tatsis, Educator, Konitsa

Presbyter Demetrios Sarris, Parish Priest, Sacred Temple of the Mighty Archangels, Sesklon, Aesonia

Presbyter Efthimios Antoniades, Sacred Metropolis of Larisa

Presbyter Anastasios Gotsopoulos, Parish Priest, Sacred Temple of Saint Nicholas, Patrae

Presbyter George Papageorgiou, Sacred Metropolis of Demetrias

Presbyter Peter Hirsch, Petrokerasa, Chalkidike

Presbyter Theophanes Manouras, Parish Priest of the Sacred Temple of Saint Athanasius, Velestino, Magnesia Province

Deacon Theologos Kostopoulos, Sacred Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Ano Gazea, Volos

Presbyter Paschalis Ginoudis, Sacred Metropolis of Larisa

Presbyter George Diamantopoulos, Lavrion, Sacred Metropolis of Mesogaia

Presbyter Basili Kokolakis, Parish Priest of the Sacred Temple of the Precious Cross, Holargos, Attica

Presbyter Peter Pantazis, Parish Priest of the Sacred Temple of the Transfiguration, Halandri, Attica

Elder Theoliptos, Monk, Retreat of the Precious Forerunner, Sacred Scete of Saint Anna, Holy Mountain

Elder Gabriel, Monk, Retreat of Saint Christodoulos, Karyes, Holy Mountain

Elder Hilarion, Monk, near the Constamonite Monastery harbour, Holy Mountain

Elder Daniel, Monk, Danielites' Sacred Hermitage, Katounakia, Holy Mountain

Elder Akakios, Monk, Danielites' Sacred Hermitage, Katounakia, Holy Mountain

Elder Stephanos, Monk, Danielites' Sacred Hermitage, Katounakia, Holy Mountain

Elder Paul, Monk, Sacred Retreat of the Holy Apostles, Scete of the Xenophon Monastery, Holy Mountain

Elder Onuphrios, Monk, Sacred Retreat of the Nativity of the Theotokos, Holy Monastery of the Pantocrator, Holy Mountain

Elder Nectarios, Monk, Sacred Cell of the Zoodochos Fount, Holy Monastery of Koutloumousion, Holy Mountain

Elder Isaac, Monk, Sacred Cell of the Nativity of the Theotokos, Sacred Monastery of Stavronikita, Holy Mountain

Monk Arsenios Vliagoftis, Sacred Retreat of Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, Halkidike

Monk George, Sacred Retreat of the Nativity of the Theotokos, Holy Monastery of the Pantocrator, Holy Mountain

Monk Christophoros, Sacred Retreat of the Holy Apostles, Scete of the Xenophon Monastery, Holy Mountain

Monk Maximos, Danielites' Sacred Hermitage, Katounakia, Holy Mountain

Monk Dositheos, Kathesma of the Holy Monastery of Koutloumousion, Holy Mountain

Monk Spyridon, Cell of Saint Nicholas, Holy Monastery of Koutloumousion, Holy Mountain

Monk Damascenos, Sacred Cell of the Precious Forerunner, Holy Monastery of Karakallou, Holy Mountain

Monk Savvas, Holy Monastery of the Great Lavra, Holy Mountain

Monk Theophilos, Sacred Cell of Sambre, Holy Mountain

Monk Paisios, Sacred Cell of the Holy Archangels \"Savvaioi\" of the Holy Mountain

Monk Cherubim, Sacred Cell of the Holy Archangels, of Saint John Koukouzelis, Holy Mountain

Monk Nicodemus, Sacred Cell of Saint Nectarios, Kapsala, Holy Mountain

Monk Dositheos, Sacred Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, Sochos, Lagadas, Thessaloniki

Monk Chariton, Retreat of the Precious Forerunner, Sacred Scete of Saint Anna, Holy Mountain

Monk Nicodemus, Retreat of the Precious Forerunner, Sacred Scete of Saint Anna, Holy Mountain

Monk Averkios, Retreat of the Precious Forerunner, Sacred Scete of Saint Anna, Holy Mountain

Monk Prodromos, Retreat of the Precious Forerunner, Sacred Scete of Saint Anna, Holy Mountain

Monk Arsenios, Sacred Retreat of holy martyr Gerasimos, Scete of St.Pandeleimon, Holy Monastery of Koutloumousion, Holy Mountain

Sister Mariam, Abbess of the Holy Monastery of Saint Lavrentios, Pelion

Sister Christonymphe of the Holy Monastery of Saint Lavrentios, Pelion

Sister Lavrentia of the Holy Monastery of Saint Lavrentios, Pelion

Nicholas Vasiliades, Theologian-Author, Brotherhood of Theologians \"SOTER\"

Despina Anastasiadou-Georgouda, infant school teacher, former School Counselor

Panagiota Anjou, Philologist-Theologian, Thessaloniki

George Georgoudas, Dr. of Theology, former School Counselor

John Dekliomis, Theologian, Thessaloniki

Stephen Ziogas, Philologist-Educator, Thessaloniki

Demetrios Karayannides, Gymnast, Thessaloniki

Vasilios Kermeniotis, Professor, Ptolemais

Agathe Kyriakidou-Theodosiou, Philologist, Thessaloniki

Gabriel Lampsides, Journalist, Thessaloniki

Sotirios Lysikatos, Theologian-Philologist, Thessaloniki

Christina Boulaki-Zisi, former Reserve Professor of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki School of Theology

Dimitrios Mavrides, Mathematician, Thessaloniki

Constantine Nousis, Philologist-Theologian, Volos

Lavrentios Digiorgio, publisher-author, President of the Philorthodox Union \"Kosmas Flamiatos\"

Andreas Papavasiliou, Dr. of Theology, former Inspector of Secondary Education, Cyprus

Panagiotis Sematis, Professor of Theology, Secretary of the Philorthodox Union \"Kosmas Flamiatos\", Aegion

Constantine Stavrinides, Holargos, Athens

Marina Stravakou, Philologist, Thessaloniki

Aphrate Strakali-Tzoanopoulou, Philologist, Thessaloniki

Malamate Strakali-Papaioannou, Philologist, Thessaloniki

Dimitrios Zisis, School Counselor, graduate of theology, Kastoria

List updated to the 3rd June 2009.

This list will be regularly updated with added names.

Readers can see the constantly updated list of signatures in Greek, here:

http://www.impantokratoros.gr/ABF82395.el.aspx\"

The Pantocratoros Monastry from Mount Athos, developed an orthodox website who contains lots of useful information about heresies and about orthodox faith, in English, German, Greek, Romanian languages: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/Papism.en.aspx And In the Greek and Romanian languages pages I could find some very miraculous historical presentations about the intervention of our Lord in the protection of the orthodox faith, if you know greek or Romanian maybe it would be useful to traslate the entire stories in english for the others too. I'll short down here little about these stories, the first one is a miracle done by St Spiridon who protected orthodox church from Kerkyra town (church where also lies the relics of St Spiridon) and in which church the catholics wanted to build a catholic altar and to praise their Mass to honour St Spiridon relics from there. So, to short the story witch you can find all exact how it was, in Romanian, at the link of the monastry from greece here: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/7BFC9D60.ro.aspx After the city of Kerkyra was free of turks (by the grace of its Patron, St Spiridon, of whose relics are in this city), freedom which was earned in august 11, 1716; the ruler of those from Kerkyra was Andrei Pizani, a catholic lay person, who was convinced that the city was saved by St Spiridon because he loved the catholic church and because of the prayers of the catholic church from that city. So, he thought that a very good deed to do as a thank you gift to St Spiridon would be to start praying the catholic Liturgi in the church where the relics of St Spiridon were being kept, and this was an orthodox church. He arrived at this conclusion after he talked to his spiritual catholic father Francisc Frangipani, who said to Andrei that this is St Spiridon wish, because the papist thought that St Spiridon helped the city to get rid of the turks and St Spiridon intention is that all the city to come to the catholic religion. So, hearing this, the ruler of Kerkyra city, Andrei Pizani started preparation for building a small Altar (a small catholic prayer place, near the relics of St Spiridon). The orthodox priests and clergy who heard of this, went to Andrei Pizani and told him that in no way St Spiridon, who was always protected true faith and not heresies (St Spiridon took part at the 1st Ecumenical Synod) St Spiridon would never agree a heretic church to do this near his holy relics. But Andrei Pizani didn't listen to him but he told everybody to start bringging all the necesarry building materials for starting building the liitle prayer catholic chapel near the relics of St Spiridon, as a thank you gift. But in the same night, the general had a miraculous dream, he saw St Spiridon coming to him and He looked very upset and told him \"Why do you want to upset me, and why do you spread disorder around my faithful sons? Remember that what you want to do, you'll not be useful for your soul.\" The ruler went next day to his spiritual father and explained his dream but this one talked to the other catholic priests and told him that it is only the devil's plan not to bring the people from that city to the right religion, so he must quickly continue his plans. The general was very happy and did this and brought the materials in the orthodox church where were also the St Spiridon relics in order to begin soon the preparations for the catholic prayer place. But the next night he had a new dream St Spiridon telling him \"Be sure that if you try to upset my faithful church it will not be useful for you.\" He went again to his spiritual catholic father and this told him \"this is deffintely devil's plan, we as christians we should not believe in dreams, so start quickly the building of the catholic prayer place because it will be a very holy thing to do\". Being encouraged by his spiritual catholic father the general went immediately the next day at the relics of St Spiridon to pray for blessing and good work and called for constructors and the mayor to start the preparations for the small prayer catholic place. But when all they were inside discussing the oldest orthodox priest from that church came to them and ask them to stop this heretic thing as the Saint would not like such a thing and it will not be for their use, this was in november 11, 1718, but the general told him to leave him alone because this is not heretic, but it's building a holy place of prayer to our Lord, and this can't be not liked by the Saint, and if he doesn't shut up he will be put in chains and sent to Venice city. But in that night, at around 12 in the night, started a big storm, with thunders and rain, and the person who was protected the house of the general saw a monk with a big light in his hands coming to the door and he asked him \"who are you and where do you want to go at this hour in my master house?\" and the monk told him \"I'm Spiridon\", and when he said this the monk took his hand and throw the man out of his way next to the church, and then the man woke up and see himself in foot and everything ok with him, but in the same moment he heard a big explosion like a bomb and all the house of the general and his apendixes were all in a big fire, and everything from his yard was in fire. They found the general being dead under a big pillon, and they also found the general's spiritual father dead and being thrown out in the hall where all the dirties of the city where thrown there (like a toilet, I don't know the word). Together with them they also died lots of men and women who were serving the general, like 900 of persons. Also, 2 other miracles have happened the same day, the general had put as a gift in the previous day a big catholic candle above the relics of St Spiridon, that candle was found down on the floor but all the other candles from the church were intact. Also in the previous day, the relatives of the general who were living in a big house in Venice, Italy, saw a big fire arrow who destroyed the general's picture from a wall and all they believed that something bad will happen to the general. The next day the catholic clerics from Rome said quickly to the catholic clerics from Kerkyra to remove all the construction materials from the orthodox church and to bring them all to Rome, where they built in the big catholic cathedral from there the praying place for St Spiridon. This was the big miracle which St Spiridon done to protect his beloved Orthodox Church and to make of shame the catholic heresies. I almost translated all the first chapter of the book, I hope it will be of use, who knows Greek or Romanian, can read the entire book of this miracle, who was done to show to the people how terrible are hersies and how beloved is the Orthodox Church. St Marcu Evgheni is saying very straight about catholics that they are heretics, these are His words, and that catholics have not even one valid Mistery (baptize, priesthood, Mass and so on), they have none valid. Also, on the same link you will find like tens of orthodox priests and thousands of orthodox lay persons who were marthirizind in Serbia and Poland and became saints by being killed by the catholics, in very terrible dyieng (between 1850 and 1950), because they didn't agree to babtize themselves and to recognize catholics. Another big miracle who you can find it in Romanian here: http://areopagul.blogspot.com/2009/10/preotii-blestemati-pentru-ca-au-slujit.html this miracle is done in Mount Athos, and is written by father Filthei Zervakos, and happened between 1170 and 1200 when in the Mount Athos came a big group of \"papist\", catolic priests and monks who oblijed lots of orthodox monks to pray together with them and to recognize the catholic church. The ones who didn't want to do this were being killed and now their relics lay in Mount Athos, but the ones who did this, only 3 monks, can also been seen nowadays in a place called \"the cave of the anathemized monks\", because their bodies after being exhumed (unbarried) after 7 years, how the orthodox monks are doing it, where descovered not putrified but smelling bad, and they also look very bad, yellow and BIG, FAT, and terrifying at seeing. The bodies of the marthirized monks who didn't agree to pray together with catholics and to recognize them are smelling of good Myr, and they have the same shape as they were alive and are laying in Mount Athos Monastries, but the others who were terrifying at look were being put in this cave, for all the vizitors who come to Mount Athos and want to see them and hear the stories to know how terrifying is the punishment for praying with heretics. This cave is near the Big Lavra Monastry from Mount Athos, in a place called Vigla, and the place is marked with the name \"Afurismeno\". Another miracle done by our Lord in order to show what is the right religion and in order to light the minds of the catholic to end their heresies and come to where they left, was done in 1625 in the town of Vilno. This miracle you can read it all in Romanian here : http://areopagul.blogspot.com/2009/10/o-minune-care-arata-ca-greco-catolicii.html This miracle shows that indeed greco-catholic and catholic have valid none of the 7 Wonders (Baptize, Mass, Priesthood and so on). In 1625 in the town of Vilno was the black death disease spreading and killing thousands of persons. After the black death ended the catholic and greeko-catholics priests from there wanted to make a Mass in the name of the dead persons. And as it is during Mass, they put red wine in the cup, there were there also ieromonk Rafail Korsak, Valerian Kalnofoiski and some others, and when it came the time for giving communication to the people who came to church all the cup turned into plain water, they saw that there were no at least a bit of wine in the cup they said that maybe the priest didn't put any wine in the cup, but the priest said it put wine enough from the bottle, so they thought maybe the one from which they bought the wine didn't gave them wine so they went after him and the person sware he gave them the best wine as he's afraid of church. They knew then that this was a sign from sky to show them that nothing is happening during their catholic Mass and no Holy Spirit is going down to transform in a miraculous way the wine into the holy Blood of our Saviour, and the bread into the Holy body of our Saviour. The same happened also in the city of Grubesov when Ipatie Pociej with other heretics bishops were having the Mass in St Nicholas church and the wine turned to water, and seeing this they said to pur more wine and more in the cup but no wine was seen, but all wine was turning into water in the cup, and our Lord seeing they didn't understand that He wants them to turn back from their heresies, seeing them pooring/puting and pooring/puting wine in that cup, suddenly the cup broke and all the water felt on the floor and in that moment all were terrifyed and Simeon Ceaika seeing this has yelled from all his lungs \"Our bishops are heretics, don't listen to them anymore.\" And people gathered there seeing what happened they left the church one after the other. The same was in 1596, at the Council from Berestie, at their first Liturgi, the heretics, catholics and greek-catholics announced everybody that they united together and they cursed the Holy Orthodox Church for being heretical and during this first Mass of theirs the wine turned to water, and they were ashamed and understood that this is a bad sign, this our Lord has done in His big Grace only to show that Holy Spirit doesn't go down at any of the heretical Masses, Baptizes etc. The same happened at Rubejov and Berest Litovsk. And because this is a book telling the event from the catholic church from Vilno, I want to add that the witness of this miracle was Elisei Ikovski who was on those times, a monk in the heretical catholic church and now it's protopsalt in the Big Lavra Pecerska from Kiev who converted the next day to the orthodox church, telling us this miracle seen by him in his past church. The miracles done at Grubeşov and in Berestie we found out from other priests and from books which are writing about this moment, if you want to know more about them, please read the book of the so called \"catholic priest\" Skarga, \"In the protection of the Berestie Council\", where you can find this event with the wine turning into water at the page 44, but he is adding that it might have been a mistake with the wine, and in the book \"Virginity verification\", where you can find it on the last page, but also were being told to us by Gavriil Homenetki , who were on those times the helping hand of the staretz from Grubesov. What can be added; there are also the same miraculous events told by our orthodox Saints, events of which they were witnesses, and which you can find in their lives or different books, that during the orthodox Liturgi, Mass, there were many cases when the wine turned into blood and the bread turned miraculous into meat, or they saw angels coming around the holy table or a baby being crucyfied at every St orthodox Liturgi, and the orthodox priests seeing this miraculous things started to pray and ask our Lord for turning them into holy wine and holy bread because they could not communicate the people with them like this, and they miraculous turned back how they were. Because our Lord told us, that at each St Liturgi he is crucyfying Himself for our sins and those who don't believe and don't participate in this biggest orthodox Mass they loose a very important event from the orthodox life, as during it, all the angles from the sky and Saints are praying together with the lay people among them in the church, and we have many orthodox testimony of Saints who were able to see this with their own eyes. So I translated almost all from the Romanian link. There are many such events but it's not so easy to translate them, I'll copy-paste here a little part of St Antony the Great battle with heretics, during 300 year, where heresy appeared in the world and also in the Egypt dessert where St Antony the Great was living, as we know from Pateric, and who was totaly against heretics and heresies. You can find the English version here: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/Ecumenism-Greatantony.en.aspx Or copy-paste it here: 2. Teachers of inaction and hypocrisy. The all-knowing and the humble Before Constantine the Great, during the persecution of the Christians of Alexandria by Maximianus in 311, Anthony the Great at 61 years of age, left for a while the desert, his asceticism and prayer, and came to Alexandria, fearless and undaunted intending with longing to bear witness and encourage those being led to martyrdom. He defiantly ignored the judge's orders for the monks to depart from the city and not be present at the courthouses. He appeared in front of the leader who was in a prominent seat at the courthouse, demonstrating the willingness of the Christians to fight and bear witness for their faith. \"He stood fearless, showing us the Christian zeal; for he too wished for martyrdom as earlier told\". Of course God preserved him and he was not martyred, that he be more beneficial in life, he however did not confine himself to his cell in the desert but \"would usually serve the confessors as one with them in the labour of their services\". When the Orthodox Faith is in danger, the first spiritual priority is for her defense, the struggle, the support of all those who battle, the willingness to shed blood and even die; all other spiritual duties are secondary. All others who act or advise against, simply cover up their excuses for their unwillingness and cowardice and become teachers and professors of inaction and hypocrisy. Of course we are not going to present here how the Great Anthony confronted the great and educated literary men and philosophers of idolatry with indisputable argumentation, himself being illiterate, leaving them speechless and astounded. Perhaps we shall do so another time, for idolatry and paganism again appeared, backed by powerful supporters. The Saint did not know everything the way they did, he did not possess worldly knowledge, but he knew the Bible and the teachings of the Saints and above all he was God learnt and God inspired. Faith is not an issue of great knowledge and learning but humble submission not to the prevailing knowledge but to the truth of the Church, timeless and eternal. If one does not strip oneself of self wisdom and display of self-knowledge and humbly become embodied in the spirit of Christ, of the Church, of the Saints and Church Fathers which opens the spiritual horizons, then one will always wonder and second guess the certainty of Faith and self knowledge of even the simple faithful and he will accuse them as all knowing and selfish, lacking humility. However, humility does not mean one has to accept the prevailing opinion but the knowledge of God and of the Saints because frequently many align with the lie and empower the lie with their majority. If the acceptance of the majority opinion when it disagrees with the truth constituted the acceptance criterion, then not only the Bible would have been acceptable, being supported by the few Apostles nor would the Church had survived in a flood of unfaithful and heretics. 3. The position of Saint Anthony against the heretics. A prototype for imitation for all today. What we wish to do now is to present the way Saint Anthony confronted the Arian heresy, which threatened the Church internally, being supported by the Emperor, leaders, patriarchs and bishops as happens in this day with the pan-heresies of Papism and Ecumenism, which are far more dangerous because they undermine almost all the dogmas of the faith and transform the divine teaching of the Bible to a common human teaching, they withdraw the God-Man Christ, the Saints and the Fathers and replace them with the infallible pope of Rome and the spread of heresies of the World Council of the so-called Churches. This presentation is very instructive even for those who pretend not to see the danger, for \"serious\" spiritual fathers who lead astray or put in very difficult position, their spiritual children, who see better through the eyes of the Saints and end up doubting the worthiness of their spiritual guidance. Of course the Saints are more trustworthy than any elder and spiritual guide, who does not become angry at heresy and does not fight to expose or expel it. So, Great Anthony, left the desert for the second time and came down to Alexandria. The Orthodox bishop and patriarch was the Great Athanasius, who was under constant persecution and a string of exiles and the orthodox flock were under the heretical Arians as at the present time under the tutelage of ecumenist and pro-ecumenist patriarchs and bishops. Great Anthony as we are taught by his \"Life\" and the topic of faith \"he was most wonderful and reverent\". He had dealings with the schismatic Meletians because from the beginning he was aware of their cunningness and apostasy. But also with the Manicheans and other heretics he was never friendly but only to advise and turn them back to be faithful Orthodox. He believed and taught that friendship and keeping company with them was damaging and could end in loss of soul. He detested the Arian heresy and admonished everybody not to draw near them nor accept their false faith. Once when some fanatical Arians paid him a visit. Having talked with them and understanding that they were unfaithful, he sent them away from the mountain where he led his asceticism, telling them their words were worse than the venom of snakes. This document we could say sets the rule which shows us with clarity, truthfully and without deception, how to conduct dialogues with the heretics and we must regulate our human and social interactions with them. At the same time it shows us that today all the boundaries that were set by the Holy Fathers are being demolished by the Ecumenists, who embrace and kiss the heretics as if they were pious and of the same faith and never consider not to send them away and keep their distance but also not even to admonish them so that they return to Orthodoxy. The dialogues are conducted on an \"equal level\". Leveling of lies, heresies and deceptions with truth. When conversing on \"equal level\", it means that you provide the possibility for lies to prevail over the truth, that you doubt the truth and you seek to find it. However the dialogue of the Saints and of the Fathers, is a dialogue of Christ with the Samaritan woman, of the Apostles with the Jews and Gentiles, of the Fathers with the heretics, an invitation and admonishment for their return to the truth, to be re-included in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; this is the true union and peace. All the rest are false unions, false peace and false dialogues. Because therefore this article demonstrates the way to the true union from the mouth of the great Saint and achieves the \"all must be one\" for which the Ecumenists labour and attempt to accomplish it \"ad verbatim\". In faith he is very admirable and devout. For he never communicated with the schismatic Melitians seeing from the start their cunningness and apostasy; nor did he speak in a friendly way with the Manicheans and other similar heretics, but only to admonish them to turn back to piety, leading and commissioning their friendship and dialogue is harmful and risking loss of one's soul. He similarly despised the Arian heresy and ordered everyone not to approach them nor their evil faith. Finally, when some of the Arians and Manicheans came to question him and realizing their impiety, he sent them away from the mountain, saying that their speech is worse than the poison of the snakes. 4. The dreadful vision of Saint Anthony on the heretics: Dumb beasts around the Holy Altar. It is truly dreadful the vision that Saint Anthony had regarding the presence of the heretics inside Orthodox churches. This vision illustrates and explains graphically the reasons why the Holy Fathers forbid with Synodal canons the entry of the heretics into consecrated places, their participation in services and liturgies, with common prayers and common worshipping. The heretics not accepting the teachings of the Church, Apostles and Saints, are influenced by the demons and their father, the Devil, in the promotion of deluded viewpoints. That is why their teaching is \"rather fruitless and absurd and their thinking is not correct, like that of dumb mules Saint Anthony was therefore shaken and frightened, when God allowed him to see in his vision the Arians surrounding the Holy Altar as mules, kicking and defiling it. Such was his sadness and distress, that he began to cry, as saddened and tearful as also many faithful, in seeing the heretic pope entering and defiling the church of Saint George, at Fanar, the very Saint the Vatican abolished. We are certain that if the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops read and learnt of Saint Anthony's vision, of course assuming as Orthodox they continue to honour and follow the life and teaching of the Saints, they will cease the mutual liturgical hospitalities and visits, the weekly co-prayers and the sending of representatives to the anniversary celebrations. For otherwise they too will be included as conspirators in the frightful vision of Saint Anthony. According to the Great Athanasius narration of the \"Life\", while Great Anthony was sitting, occupied with his handy work, he went into a trance and was breathing heavily while seeing his vision. After some time he turned to the monks present; he continued breathing heavily and to shake. He fell to his knees to pray and remained kneeling for a considerable time. When the Elder got up he was crying. Those present became very frightened and shocked; they then asked him to explain to them. As they insisted greatly and compelled him, he sighed again and said \"My children it would be best for me to die before I see the things that will happen which I saw in my vision. The wrath of God will fall on the Church and she will be handed to people who are mindless beasts. I saw the Holy Altar of the church, at the main skete surrounded on all sides by mules which were kicking and jumping up and down as is natural for such dumb animals. You saw and perceived that I was earlier sighing; I did so because I heard a voice saying, \"My altar will be defiled\". That is what the Elder saw. Exactly two years later the Arians attacked and robbed the churches, taking the sacred vessels by force and handed them over to idolaters to hold. They forced them to attend meetings and in their presence they did whatever they wished on the Holy Altar. Then we all understood, said the Great Athanasius that the kicking of the mules foretold to Saint Anthony was what the Arians do now as animals. After the vision, the Elder felt the need to encourage and console those around him by saying: \"Don't be sad my children; for just as our Lord was outraged, so would He again heal all evil. Soon the Church will recover her beauty and will shine. You will witness those who were exiled return, the pious faith will re-appear and rule everywhere. Suffice that you do not let yourselves be defiled by the Arian heresy, as it is not the teaching of the Apostles but of the demons and their father, the Devil, irrational and fruitless just like the dumb mules\" Epilogue The wrath of God has taken over the Church since many decades. Papism and Ecumenism triumph. At that time Great Athanasius and the other Holy Fathers understood the danger described in the vision of Great Anthony. We now witness the contamination of the churches and the Holy Altars by joint prayers and liturgies with the \"irrational\" heretics and we assist the contamination and praise it, by joining them ourselves in the kicking of the Holy of Holies\". If one notes the ecumenical joint liturgies and prayers, like the one in Canberra during 7th General Council of the so-called Churches, with the frequent participation of homosexual priests who dare hold the Holy Chalice, as well as women bishops and priestesses, the view surpasses even the vision of the Great Anthony: \"The only hope for our church to regain her beauty is given in the recommendation and advice of the Great Anthony : \" beware you do not contaminate yourselves with the Arians\" We must beware we do not contaminate ourselves by communing with Papism and Ecumenism , and the pro-papist and pro-ecumenist Orthodox. Because so far we have not done so dynamically and resolutely, God for years now, prolongs His wrath, and captivity of the Orthodox by the pan-heresy Of Ecumenism. How much longer will bishops, monks and the laity allow the mindless beasts, the heretics, to kick and contaminate the Sacred and Holies of Orthodoxy? As long as we remain inactive and come up with different pseudo-spiritual excuses, the abomination of desolation will stand on Holy ground. Greek Text

I'm copy-pasting here the prohecy of our beloved Orthodox Saint, St John of Kronstandt / Cronstadt which He had in 1901. The prophecy is linked to the subject above. You can also find the prophecy on the website of the Monastry of Pantocratorus from Mount Athos here: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/D924D136.en.aspx St. John of Cronstadt from Russia narrates this vision he had on January 1901. ‘The blessed people of God would not betray their faith not even with one word\". Following the evening prayers, being tired, I laid down for a while to relax in my poorly lit cell. My lampada was hanging in front of the icon of the Mother of God. Half an hour had hardly passed when I heard a creak. Someone touched my left shoulder and with a gentle voice told me, \"rise servant of God John, and follow the Will of God!\" I rose and I saw near the window a glorious elder (staretz) with grizzly hair, wearing a black mantia and holding a cane in his hand. He was looking at me tenderly and I had difficulty standing up because of my great fear. My hands and feet trembled, I wished to talk but my tongue would not oblige. The elder made the sign of the Cross on me and soon I was filled with peace and joy. I then crossed myself. In turn, he indicated with his cane the western wall of my cell, so that I would observe a specific sign. The elder had scratched the following numbers on the wall: 1913, 1914, 1917, 1922, 1924 and 1934. Suddenly the wall disappeared and I walked with the elder in a green valley and observed a large number of crosses, in the thousands, as markers of graves. They were wooden, ceramic or gold. I asked the elder what was the reason for the crosses. He answered peacefully, \"the crosses were for those who suffered and were murdered for their faith in Christ and for the Word of God and became martyrs\". We continued to walk. Suddenly I saw a whole river of blood and I asked the elder, what is the significance of this blood and how much was spilled. The elder looked around and answered, \"This is the blood of the true Christians!\" He then pointed at some clouds and saw a large number of lit oil lamps that burned with a white flame. They began to fall to the ground one after the other in tens and hundreds. Having fallen their light went out and they turned into ashes. Then the elder told me: \"Look\" and I saw on one cloud seven lit oil lamps. I asked him what was the meaning of the burning lamps that fell to the ground and he answered: \"These are the Churches of God that fell into heresy, but those seven lit oil lamps in the cloud are the seven Churches of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that will last till the end of time!\" The elder continued, pointing at the air and I saw and heard angels singing \"Holy, Holy, Holy Lord of Sabaoth\". A large crowd of people with lit candles in their hands passed us by, while joy seemed to shine in their faces. They were archbishops, monks, nuns, groups of laity, adults, youth and even children and babies. I asked the miraculous elder who were those people and he replied: \"All these are the people who suffered for the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and for the holy icons that had landed in the hands of the destroyers\". Then I asked the great elder, if I could sit besides them. The elder told me: \"It is very early for you to suffer, so to sit with them is not blessed by God!\" I then saw a large number of newly born that had suffered for Christ by Herod and received the crown from the Heavenly King. We continued further and went into a large church. I wished to cross myself but the elder advised me: \"It is not necessary to cross yourself because this place is the abomination of desolation\". The church was dark and depressing. On the altar there was a star and the Bible with stars. Candles made from tar were burning with crackling sound as if logs. The chalice stood there, covered with horrible filth. There was prosphora with stars. A priest stood in front of the altar, with a pitch black face like tar and a woman was under the Holy Altar, dressed in red, with a star in her lips and howled and laughed in the church saying, \"I am free\" I then thought \"My God how terrible\". People as if crazy started to run round the altar, screaming, whistling and clapping. They then started to sing obscene songs. Suddenly a terrible lightning stroke, with a terrible thunder, the earth shook and the church collapsed, sending the woman, the people, the priest and the rest to the abyss. I thought: \"My God how terrible, save me\". The elder as well as I saw what had happened. I asked him: \"Father, tell me, what is the meaning of this terrible church?\" He replied \"These are the worldly people, the heretics who left the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and accepted the recent modern church that God did not bless. In this church they do not fast, they do not follow services and do not receive communion!\" With fear I said \"God has mercy on us but curses those with death!\" The elder interrupted me and said: \"Do not mourn but pray\". Later I saw a throng of people, each having a star in the lips and were greatly exhausted from thirst, walking up and down. They saw us and called loudly: \"Holy Fathers pray for us. It is very difficult for us, because we ourselves can not pray. Our fathers and mothers did not teach us the laws of God. Not even the name of Christ do we not have and we received no peace. We refused the Holy Spirit and the sign of the Cross. Then they started to cry. I followed the elder. \"Look\" he said pointing with his finger. I saw a mountain of dead people painted in blood. I became scared and I asked the elder what was the meaning of the corpses. He replied \"These are the people that led the monastic life, rejected by the Antichrist and did not receive his seal. They suffered for their faith in Christ and the Apostolic Church and received martyric crowns having died for Christ. Pray for these servants of God\". Without warning the elder turned towards the North and pointed with his arm. I saw an imperial palace, with dogs running around it. Wild beasts and scorpions howled and were attacking, exposing their fangs. And I saw the Tsar sitting on the throne. His face was pale but brave. He was praying the Jesus prayer. Suddenly he fell as dead. His crown fell. The wild beasts, the dogs and scorpions trampled the king. I was afraid and cried bitterly. The elder took me by the right shoulder. I saw a shrouded figure in white-it was Nicholas the 2nd. On his head was a crown of green leaves and his face was white and somehow bloody. He bore a cross around his neck and whispered a prayer. He then told me with tears \"Pray for me, Father John\". Tell to all the Orthodox Christians that I the Tsar-martyr, died bravely for my faith in Christ and the Orthodox Church. Tell to the Holy Fathers that they should make a pannikida for me the sinner, but there will be no grave for me\". Soon everything became invisible in the fog. I cried a lot, praying for the martyr Tsar. My hands and legs trembled with fear. The elder said, \"Look!\" Then I saw a throng of people scattered around the world having died from hunger while others were grazing on grass and plants. The dogs were devouring the corpses and the dead while the stench was awful. I thought, \"Lord, these people have no faith\". From their mouths came blasphemies and they received the wrath of God. I also saw a large mountain from books and between the books crawled worms giving out an awful stench. I asked the elder what was the meaning of the books. He said, \"These books are immoral and full of blaspheme that will taint all the Christians with heretical teachings. Then the elder touched some books with his cane and they caught fire. The wind blew away the ashes. Continuing I saw a church round which there was a pile of commemorations for the dead. I bent wishing to read them but the elder said, \"These commemorations for the reposed have been here for a few years and the priests have forgotten them. They will never be read but the dead will be asking somebody else to pray for them. I asked him, \"Who will pray for them?\" and the elder replied, \"The angels will pray for them\". We continued further and the elder speeded up his step so much that I had trouble keeping up with him. \"Look\" he said. I saw a large crowd of people who were persecuted by the demons who were hitting them with poles, with pitchforks and hooks. I asked the elder what was the meaning of these people? He replied, \"These are the ones that denied their faith and left the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and accepted the new modernizing church. This group represents the priests, monks, nuns and laymen, who denied their vows or their marriage and bonded with booze, immorality and all type of blasphemies and evil doing\". All of them have terrifying faces and terrible breath odour. The demons were hitting them, leading them to the horrible abyss from where great flames were shooting up. I was very scared. I crossed myself while I was praying for the Lord to save us from such fate. Later, I observed a group of people, young and old who were clothed poorly and were holding high up a large star with 5 signs. At each corner there were 12 demons and in the middle was Satan, himself with horns and straw head. He would froth in the mouth with a foul foam whenever he shouted at the people: \"Stand up, you cursed with my seal......\". Suddenly there appeared many demons with iron seals and sealed all the people on their lips, their elbows and on the right hand. I asked the elder, \"What does this mean?\" and he replied, \"This is the sign of the antichrist\". I crossed myself and followed the elder. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed to the East with his hand. I saw a large meeting of people with happy faces who carried crosses and candles in their hands. In their midst there was a Holy Altar as white as snow. On the Holy Altar there was a cross and the Holy Bible and over the Holy Altar in the air was a gold imperial crown on which was inscribed with gold letters, \"For the immediate future\". Patriarchs, bishops, priests, monks, nuns and laity stood around the Holy Altar. They all sang, \"Glory in the highest God and peace on earth\". With great joy I crossed myself and glorified God. Suddenly the elder moved his cross upwards three times and I saw a mountain of corpses covered in human blood and over them flew angels. They were receiving the souls of those who were murdered for the Word of God, to heavens, singing \"Alleluia\". I observed all this and I cried greatly. The elder took me by the hand and forbade me to cry. What pleases God is that our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and poured His precious blood for us. Some of these will become martyrs who would refuse the seal of the Antichrist, and all these who will spill their blood will receive the heavenly crowns. The elder then prayed for those servants of God and turned to the east as the words of the Prophet Daniel were fulfilled \"The abomination of desolation\". Finally, I saw the dome of the Jerusalem temple. On it there was a star. In the Church millions of people thronged in and many more were trying to get in. I wished to cross myself but my elder grabbed my hand and said, \"Here is the abomination of desolation\". So we entered the Church which was full of people. I saw a Holy Altar that burned candles from animal fat. On the Holy Altar there was a king with red, and flaming purple. On his head was a golden crown with a star. I asked the elder, \"Who is he?\" He replied, \"The Antichrist\". He was very tall with eyes like fire, black eyebrows, shaved goatee, beastly, wily and devilish, with terrifying face. He was alone in the Holy Altar and stretched his hands to the people. He had sharp nails like a tiger and was screaming: \"I am king, I am God. I am the leader. He who does not bear my seal will be killed\". All the people fell to the ground and worshipped and he started placing his seal on their lips and hands, so that they could take some bread that they may not die from hunger and thirst. Around the Antichrist, his servants were leading many people with their hands tied and had not fallen to the ground to worship him. They said, \"We are Christians and we all believe in our Lord Jesus Christ\". The Antichrist crushed their skulls, lightning fast, and their Christian blood started to run. A child was then led to the Holy Altar of the Antichrist to worship him but boldly declared: \"I am Christian and believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, but you are a servant of Satan\". Death to him shouted the Antichrist. Others that had received the seal of the Antichrist fell to the ground and worshipped him. Suddenly, a loud sound from a throng was heard again and thousands of bright lightning strokes started to occur. Arrows started to hit the servants of the Antichrist. Later, a large flaming arrow thundered across and hit the Antichrist himself on the head. As he moved his hand, his crown fell and shattered on the ground. Then millions of birds flew and perched on the servants of the Antichrist. I sensed the elder taking me by the hand. We continued further and I saw again a lot of Christian blood. It was here that I remembered the words of Saint John the Theologian in the Book of Apocalypse (Revelation), that the blood would reach even unto the horse bridles (Rev 14:20). I thought, \"God save us\". That moment I saw angels flying and singing, \"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth\". The elder looked back and started to say, \"Don't be sad, for soon, very soon the end of the world will come! Pray to the Lord. God is merciful to His servants\". The age has come to the end. He pointed to the East, he fell to his knees and started to pray. I too prayed with him. Then the elder started to distance himself fast from the world to the heavenly monasteries. As he was so doing, I remembered that I did not know his name and loudly begged him, \"Father what is your name?\" Tenderly he answered, \"Seraphim of Sarov\". A large bell rung above my head, I heard the sound and got up from bed. \"Lord bless me and help me through the prayers of the Holy Elder. You illumined me, your sinful servant, the priest from Cronstadt\". Greek Text You can find more orthodox prophecies on my blog from here: http://my.orthodoxcircle.com/OC/sofia_78/_blog

True miracles, false miracles - Orthodox vs Pentecostals, Catholics & so on What true miracles are? Which condition has to have your soul to prrove you have a true miracle and not a false one? What are the Pentecostals miracles? Our orthodox Elders also told us that after checking carefully the catholic apparitions from Fatima, Medjougorne and other such places they diescouvered they are not from our Lord, but somewhere else, because they also experience in Mount Athos, dark evil taking the form of our St Mary but they carefully check each apparition and don't believe everything what they see. Just to add, that in the books I read about these aparitions is written that Fatima etc, the spirit which apears there is mixing good things with lots of heresies under the shape of humility and salvation, they are telling the catholics to pray daily (but the prayers whicg they are telling to do are having heretic things inside according to our orthodox religion or to the prayers which first christians in byzants were duing - catholic Creed contains Filioque heresy for example), also the aparitions are telling to them that if they want salvation they should attend Liturgi 5 first Saturdays one after the others for 5 months, and they should contemplate on the immaculation of our St Mary - totally heretic according to the orthodox view - because why Saturday? when we celebrate Sunday our Father's day? Why 5? 7 is the christian holy number, 7 Misteries, the 7th day is holy, 7 thousands of years will live good and in the 8th this world will be gone and so on. Also, orthodox christians are keeping the same thousands of years believe that only our Saviour (being God himself) was immaculate, but St Mary was a human and she was a Saint, and this is against our old christian believe, also \"contemplation\" for us it's not good, because we have prayings, himns and it's very harmful imaginations to us as christians. Also our orthodox view is that their Liturgi lost Holy Spirit so it's in vain to attend it, but all these apparitions is happening only for kipping them in that heretic way and to not let them see the real truth, but believing tha our Lord give them a sign and it's good what they do, so this spirit is mixing under a good cover (christian) something not good. And so on. Also their \"saints\" who felt the woonds of our Saviour on their body were checked and the opinion is that they are not fruites of Holy Spirit, it's a lot to talk about, take a book and read better :), but to conclude this \"saints\" were having big pains, and sufferings, and screaming sometimes so bad they would terrify the other monks, and had visions, but mostly they suffered real very much, and cryings and didn't found peace, but thinking they are blessed by Holy Spirit, what orthodox are saying about this: When we recite the prayer of Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, the most sweet name of our Lord brings peace to the heart and blooms and bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, virtue, kindness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal. 5:23). See our orthodox Saints life experiences and peaceful hearts. Here you can find the text below: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/2D843221.en.aspx Forms of experience of the grace of God What are the experiences of grace that a Christian can receive so that his faith and Christian life not be for him something mental and external, but true spiritual feeling of God, a communion with God, a habitation of God in which the complete man participates. It is foremost an internal information that through faith in God he finds the true meaning of his life. He feels that his faith in Christ is a faith that comforts him internally, that gives meaning to his life, and guides him, that it is a strong light that illumines him. When he perceives the Christian faith within himself this way, he begins to live the grace of God. God is not something external to him. Another experience of the grace of God man receives when he hears in his heart the invitation of God to repent for his dark and sinful deeds, to return to the Christian life, to confess, to enter on the road of God. This voice of God he hears inside him is an early experience of the grace of God. All those years he lived away from God he could not understand anything. He starts to repent: he confesses to the Confessor for the first time in his life. After confession he feels a great peace and joy that he never felt before. And then he says: \"I have been comforted\". This comfort is the visit of the divine grace in a soul that has repented and God wishes to comfortl it. The tears of a repenting Christian when he prays and asks to be forgiven by God or when he confesses are tears of repentance. Those tears are very comforting. They bring lots of peace to the soul of man. Then man feels that these are the gift and experience of divine grace. The deeper man repents and comes to a greater love of God and prays with godly eros, that much those tears of repentance become tears of joy, tears of love and divine eros. Those tears that are higher than the tears of repentance, are also a higher visitation and experience of the grace of God. We approach to commune the Body and Blood of Christ having repented, confessed, with fasting and spiritual preparation. After the Holy Communion what do we feel? Deep peace in our soul, spiritual joy. This too is a visitation of Divine grace and experience of God. There are however other higher experiences of God. The higher experience of God is the vision of the uncreated Light. This Light the disciples of the Lord saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. They saw Christ shine like the sun with heavenly and divine light, which is not material, created light, like the sun and the other created lights. It was the uncreated Light, namely the Light of God, the Light of the Holy Trinity. Those who are completely cleansed from their passions and sin, and pray with true and clean prayer, they are found worthy of this great experience to see the Light of God in this life. This Light is what would be shining in the eternal life. Not only to see it from now but they are also seen from now in this Light. For this Light envelops the Saints. We do not see it but the clean of heart and saints see it. The bright crown that is painted around the faces of the Saints is the Light of the Holy Trinity that has illumined and sanctified them. In the life of Great Basil we read that Great Basil when he was praying in his cell, they could see him shine wholly as well as his cell was illumined by the uncreated Light. We see the same in the lives of many saints. So therefore for someone to be found worthy to see the uncreated Light is one of the highest experience of God, which is not given to every one but to very few, those who have progressed in spiritual life. According to Abba Isaac in every generation almost one man manages to see lucidly the uncreated Light. There are however even to day Christians who are worthy to have this unique experience of God. Of course we should also say that everyone that sees the light does not mean that he sees the uncreated Light. The devil deceives and shows them other lights, demonic or psychological, to believe that it is the uncreated Light, when it is not. For this every Christian that hears something or has a certain experience, must not accept it as if from God, because he could be deceived by the devil. He must however confess it to his Confessor who will then tell him whether it is from God or if it is a deceit of demons. A lot of caution is needed in such cases. Determination of a pure experience of the grace of God. Let us now look at the conditions which ensure whether different experiences we have are genuine and not false. The first condition is that we should be men of repentance. If we do not repent of our sins and cleanse ourselves of our passions we cannot see God. As the Lord says in His beatitudes, \"Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God\". The more man cleanses himself from his passions, repents and returns to God, that much better he could feel and see God. To attempt to receive experiences of God with artificial ways and methods as is done in the heresies of Hinduism, in Yoga, is false. Those experiences are not from God. Those are experiences that are derived from psychological ways. The Holy Fathers tell us: \"Give blood and receive spirit\". In other words, if you do not give the blood of your heart with your repentance, prayer, fasting, asceticism, you cannot receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. True spiritual experiences are given to those who through humility do not ask for spiritual experiences but ask God for repentance and salvation. To those who are humble and say, \"My God, I am not worthy to receive a visitation of your grace and divine and heavenly solace and spiritual pleasures\". To those however who through pride ask God to give them experiences, He will not give them true and genuine experiences due to their pride. So therefore the second is humility. The third condition to receive true spiritual experience is to be in the Church. Not outside the Church. For outside the Church the devil will deceive us. When a sheep becomes separated from the flock, it will be destroyed by the wolf. Within the flock there is security. The Christian inside the Church is secure. However, when he leaves the Church, he is exposed to his deceits, of other people and of demons. We have many examples of many people who did not obey the Church and in their Spiritual state they fell into deceits. And they believed that they see God or that they are visited by God when in reality the experiences they had were demonic and destructive to them. Also it helps greatly to have a pure and warm prayer. The truth is that at the time of prayer God gives most of the spiritual experiences to man, for this, those who pray with longing, zeal and patience, receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and feeling of the grace of God. As you may know, there is a prayer we say at the Holy Mountain and which you may also be saying: \"Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me the sinner\". This prayer which is characterized as noetic, heartfelt and unremitting when it is said with humility, with longing and persistence, brings in the heart of man the feeling of the grace of God. False experiences of the grace of God. People have false experiences of God when they believe that by themselves, with their own powers, in heresies, in groups, in religious gatherings, outside the Church, they can receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. They gather and some new \"prophet\" acts the leader and they believe they are receiving the grace of God. It happened that I was present at a gathering of Pentecostals in the States in 1966 while I was there. Their \"church\" was a hall of a school. First someone started to play some music with soft and gentle sounds which as it went on it was becoming progressively more intensive, deafening and frantic so that it caused excitement. The music finished and the preacher started. He too started gently and as he continued he would scream louder. At the end he too created an excited atmosphere. And then when all the people suffered from auto suggestion and hysteria, they started to scream and move their hands and give out unintelligible shouts. I felt that the Spirit of God was not there, which is a Spirit of peace and not of disturbance and excitement. The Spirit of God does not come with artificial and psychological ways. Instead I felt sorry for the children that were there with their parents for they could suffer the consequences of this mass neurosis. A young man who became a monk at the Holy Mountain and who first went through the Hindu yoga (you should know that there are approximately 500 Hindu heresies in Greece), described to me what experiences they try to have there. When they wished to see light they would rub their eyes so that they could see little stars. When they again wished to hear unusual sounds they performed some sort of pressuring of the ears so that they wouldcreate sounds. Similar psychological experiences that are produced artificially, some heretics attribute them to the Holy Spirit. Other experiences in heretic gatherings are not only psychological. They could be demonic. The devil manipulates the seeking of such experiences by some people and presents them different signs which are not of God but theirs, diabolical. They cannot understand that they are victims of the devil. They believe these signs are heavenly and from the Holy Spirit. The devil also can give them some prophetic capability as he gives to the \"mediums\". The Lord has however fore-warned us, \"There will rise false christs and false prophets and will give you great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect (Matt 24:24), They won't simply do miracles and wonders, scary signs. Like the Antichrist when he will come he will not do bad things. He would do benefactions, healing of the sick and other impressive things to deceive the people, if possible even the elect, to believe him as saviour and follow him. That is why we must be careful. Every one who can do signs and prophesies is not always from God. Again as the Lord says: \"Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in Your name? And in Your name cast out devils? And in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I say unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me you that work iniquity\" (Matt 7:22-23). I knew a young man who was led astray by occult and Pentecostal heresies who confessed that the different experiences they had when they were members of these heresies, were diabolical. A previous Pentecostal man for example confessed that at the Pentecostal gatherings when some \"prophetess\" would prophesy he felt a demonic disturbance and that when he tried to say the prayer, \"Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me the sinner\", the speaking in tongues would start and drown him, impeding him from saying the prayer. Because the devil transforms to an angel of light, we must be careful with experiences. The Apostle John advises us \"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God (1 John 4:1). Not all the spirits are from God. Those who have the Apostle's Paul gift of discernment of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10) can discern the spirits if they are from God or if from the devil. The Confessors of the Church have this gift. That is why when we have such problems we must seek our Confessor and he will determine the source of every experience. Even the monastics can be deceived. We have cases at the Holy Mountain where monks were deceived by such experiences. For example, an angel appeared to a monk - while it was the devil- and told him \"Come to the peak of Athos to show you great miracles\". He guided him there and he almost fell over a cliff, had he not invoked the divine help. He made the mistake to believe the vision as if of God when he shouldn't have. The monastics know when they have a vision they must tell it to their Elder and he will tell them if it is from God or from the demons. Where there is pride therefore deceit is very possible. About Pentecostals. The experiences of the Pentecostals are not from God. For this, not only they are not helped to come to Church but instead they are driven away from the Church. For only the devil is interested in driving people out of the Church. Also their divisions in many heresies and groups is proof they do not comprise the true Church of God. Protestantism consists of thousands of heresies. One of the protestant heresies is Pentecostalism. Only in the USA there are over 39 different Pentecostals. Many of the Pentecostal heresies have no relationship between them. Here are some titles of some of the Pentecostal groups: \"Congregation of the Church of God of the Mountain\", \"Integrated Congregation of the Church of God\", \"Theater Gar\", \"Sleepless Mission\", \"Church of Mother Horn\", \"Church of Mother Robertson\", \"Jesus and Sleepless Mission\", \"Remainder of the Church of God\", \"Fire born Church of God's sanctity of America\", \"Church of Mogara Cook\", \"National Spiritual Davidic Union Temple Church of God\", \"Church of the Square Bible\". If the Spirit of God existed in these groups, there would have been a union, there would have been one Church and not so many different and opposing groups. Also, some of the demonstrations that take place at their gatherings, such as trembling, dropping to the ground as if dead, screaming unrecognizable sounds, are not from the peaceful Spirit of God. Similar phenomena we find in idolatric religions. There are also many similarities with the spiritualist phenomena. They also cultivate a spirit of pride believing that the whole Church of two thousand years is deceived, while they discovered the truth in 1900. The first one who created the group of Pentecostals is an American. The first Pentecostal in Greece, Michael Gounas, preached, \"After so many centuries in the land of Greece the outset of the visitation of God happened like the day of the Pentecost\". According to him, the visit of Christ started in Greece by him like in the day of the Pentecost! All these years there was nothing. Do you see the satanic egoism and pride? What happens now with the sought after gift by them of \"speaking in tongues\"? In truth, in the New Testament there is reference to \"speaking in tongues\". The holy Apostles on the day of the Pentecost spoke the tongues of the people who had come for pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to teach them the Good News. The gift of the speaking in tongues is a grace given by God to the Apostles for a specific purpose: To proselytize the non Christians to the Christian faith. The holy Apostles when speaking in tongues, did not speak meaningless sounds like demoniacs. They spoke tongues, not any tongues, but the tongues of those who were in Jerusalem and could not speak the Jewish language, so that they could hear of the greatness of God and believe. So the meaningless cries have no relation to the gift of \"speaking in tongues\" which the Pentecostals maintain. The Orthodox Church is the place of the genuine experience of the Grace of God. The Church of Pentecost is our Orthodox Church. And why is she? Because she is the Church of the incarnation and humanism of Christ, of His crucifixional death, His Resurrection and of the Pentecost. When from the complete work of Christ we isolate only one part, we over emphasize it and falsely explain it, this becomes one sided and a heresy. Only the Church that accepts and lives the whole work of Christ including the Pentecost is the true Church of Pentecost. Can there be Resurrection without a Cross? Unless man crucifies himself with fasting, prayer, repentance, humility, asceticism, could he see God? The Cross precedes in the life of Christ and of the Christian and the Resurrection and Pentecost follows. While they want Resurrection and spiritual gifts, without crossing themselves through repentance, asceticism, fast and obedience to the Church. That is why they do not comprise the Church of the Pentecost. At every Divine Liturgy of our Church we have Pentecost. How does the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ? Don't they become through the descent of the Holy Spirit? There is Pentecost! Every Holy Altar of the Orthodox Church is the attic of Pentecost. At every baptism we have Pentecost. With the grace of the Holy Spirit, man becomes a Christian and becomes one with the Body of Christ. Every tonsuring of a Deacon, priest and of course a hierarch is a new Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descends and makes a man an operative of God. Every confession of a Christian is again Pentecost. The moment the Christian kneels to his Confessor and with humility tells him his sins with repentance and the Confessor reads him the blessing of forgiveness, he is forgiven by the grace of the Holy Spirit. At every gathering and at every mystery of the Church it is a continuation of Pentecost, because they are performed in the presence of the Holy Spirit. For this almost all activities, the prayers and the mysteries of the Church begin with a prayer: Heavenly King, the Paraklete, the Spirit of truth...... come and dwell in us......\" We ask the Paraklete to come, the comforter, the Holy Spirit. And He comes. Wherever the Orthodox Church meets, the true Church of Christ, there also is the grace of the Holy Spirit. Every Saint of our Church is a spirit-bearing man, full of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, a man of Pentecost. The Sunday prayer requests: \"Thy Kingdom come\" meaning: \"May the grace of Thy Holy Spirit come\". The kingdom of God is a grace of the Holy Spirit. So with the \"Our Father\", we seek the Holy Spirit. The prayer, \"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner\", this too is done through the grace of the Holy Spirit. For as the Apostle Paul says: \"no on can say Lord Jesus, if not from the Holy Spirit (1Cor 12:3). No one can invoke Jesus Christ but only through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, only the holy water of the Orthodox remains unspoiled. Those who have holy water at your home, you know that no matter how old it is, it never spoils. This is our faith, the true and Orthodox one. To depart from this faith and follow some American recent \"saviours\" who believe that the Church starts with them? Just imagine what demonic conceit they have! The Church exists for two thousand years and they say that from them, the Pentecostals and other heretics begins the true faith. When in the 14th century the western monk Varlaam fought the Orthodox teaching on the divine energies and the uncreated Light, as they lived it at the Holy Mountain, God brought forth the agiorite hieromonk Gregory Palamas a great theologian and teacher of the Orthodox Faith. As now, if the Pentecostal heresy did not exist we would not have gathered here. We would not have made our faith more profound. We would not have confessed our faith. Thus in the end it goes against the heresies and the devil what they set out to achieve against the Church. The Apostle Paul says: \"For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be manifest among you\" (1Cor 11:19). There must also exist heresies for the faith to appear in the persevering ones. Now that our holy Church is attacked by atheism, carnal pleasures, the heresies through the radio, television, newspapers and other means, this is the time that the faithful and true Orthodox Christians and fighters and witnesses of the Orthodox faith will appear. In these very critical times, any Orthodox Christian who keeps his Orthodox faith in Christ, will receive great blessing and great reward from Holy God. And this because in this evil and corrupt time he was not led astray by the contemporary idolatry, and the false gods, he did not bent a knee to them but remained steadfast and immovable in our Orthodox Faith. We wish therefore that no Greek Orthodox become a traitor, a Judas and apostate of our holy Orthodox faith. May all those that were led astray by the evil one due to their ignorance, into deceits and heresies be illumined by God and return to our holy Orthodox faith that they may have the hope of salvation. We may all be sinners but when we are within our holy Orthodox Church we have the hope of salvation. On the contrary even if we were \"righteous\" outside the Church we have no hope of salvation. All of us who are within the Church, we shall repent, we shall confess, we shall be forgiven and God shall have mercy on us. Outside the Church who will save us? What Holy Spirit will forgive our sins and which Church will intercede after our death for our souls? Therefore, any Orthodox who dies Orthodox should know he/she has a hope of salvation. However, anyone who departs from the Church, even if he believes he has done good works, has no hope of salvation. For this, our brothers, let us remain in our Orthodox Church faithful and immovable with a holy stubbornness to our end so that we may all have, with the grace of God and the blessing of the Theotokos hope for our salvation. Greek Text

All I can really say is ... that's deep.

I could add many more articles or miracles which our Lord did during history to show to all the right way but who wants to find out more can search Mount Athos website or www.eastern-orthodoxy.com or other orthodox christian websites from Greece, Romania, Russia, Serbia and so on. I could add also the miracles during the time of \"crossiads\" - when catholic church tried by force to bring everybody at the catholic religion, and when thousands of orthodox christians have suffered a lot during those times, were killed because they didn't want to became catholics, and when exchumed their bodies were discovered transformed into relics and smelling nice, I remember now a moment from our Romanian history when during 1600 our ruler, Mihai Viteazu (Michael the Brave) of whom mother was an orthodox non, with a very small Romanian army compared to the one of the Turkish Empire decided to go to Istanbul and fight against the Empire in order to stop the debts which Turkish were asking from our people (gold, animals etc) and because Romania had a small army he went to the Pope at Rome and asked him a helping hand, as the Pope had a big influence among the other catholic countries, and the Pope answered him \"sure, go to Instanbul and fight and Austria will send you a big army to help you to fight against the Turkish army\", and what happened? The Pope called to him other Romanian generals during those times and told them that the Holy Chair from Rome will help as everything in this world has a paying after, so they would like in return that a catholic ruler to rule Romania as lots of monies are involved here, as the \"Holy Roman chair\" have money and will give lots of money to each country in order to continue croosiads, so how can he trust an Orthodox ruler, this is why, he told to our Generals \"if you want to help me, let him go to Instanbul and loose the fight and maybe also loose himself and after this we will send the Austrian army to fight the turkish which will get weak after the first fight with the Romanians, so we will win and all Europe will get free from the turks\", all the time religion was a policy for the Pope. So what happened then? When Mihai Viteazu, our ruler gathered the amall Romanian army and wanted to go to istanbul he sent to Pope and asked him where is the big Austrian army? And he received the answer \"in 5 months will come, as it's not so simple to gather such an army all together against turkish, it takes time\", Mihai Viteazu got so upset and he said to his generals, what can we do now? The Pope left us alone, in 5 months all Romania will be under turks as the turks were fighting us for hundreds of years and now it was a time in history when they wanted to occupy us. And they all decided, we will go to Istanbul and pray to God to help us, and if the will of God will be to die be it like this, but we can't let our people to suffer anymore, so they went, in front of the army they had orthodox priests, with crosses in hands and prayers and the miracle happened and all Europe was shocked that in around 1600 a small Romanian army could face the Turkish Empire army. But the turkish didn't stop then, they continue to fight agaist us, we have another ruler, we fighted against turkish for hundreds of years, just to protect our small country from their invasion, we have another ruler of Romanian, Constantin Brancoveanu, who had 4 sons, and during his ruling Turkish had occupied Romania, he fighted against them a lot and once they lost, and Turkish Ruler from that times promissed him that if he baptize himself a muslim he will be left in Romania to rule the country in continuation but pay debts to them, and our Ruler answered he will NEVER deny his faith and never left Orthodox religion, and the Turkish asked then his 4 boys to baptize and rule Romania, and they answered also no, and the turkish answered then \"we will cut your heads if not\", and Constantin Brancoveanu answered this doesn't scary him but first he wants the turkish to start with his boys (because he was afraid that if he will die first his boys will get afraid and became muslims) and turkish took his eldest son and this boy got scared and look at his father and the father told him \"you better die as a christian then living as a pagan\" and turkish cut his head and this happened with all 5, and when they saw this, some of the Constantin Brancoveanu army said they are all christians too, and cut their heads also, now their relics lie in a big Romanian church. It's full our history of such deeds. Also, how come somebody think of the apparitions from Fatima etc that they might be holy when these apparitions happened DAILY!!! for 20 years, at 16.30 sharp, to a group of 7 lay people, sometimes were coming from that village tens of people around to see, and nobody asked himself if it may be from somewhere else, when our holy monks from Mount Athos have such bad/evil apparitions a lot even in the Holy Mountain, but they don't believe them, as they have some methods to proove them that they are from the evil. In Mount Athos are saying that in a generation (which is of around 25 years) there are only very holy people who can live smth like this. I understood that the current Pope, have recently decided not to publish anymore the apparitions sayings, as he named a group of bishops to go there and check what is happening and which are from Lord and which aren't. So, I wonder how can they check this, if our orthodox faith told us that their priests lost all Holy Spirit, they cut the Liturgi to an hour, and cut from the Liturgi VERY! important parts, parts where we call the Holy Spirit and so on, there are books on this subject. What we have to know is that we should try to steak to our religion, 'cause outside it there is nothing certain and we can't know what's happening to their souls. As our Elders are telling us, we have to keep the road, as we can: - they are saying that we should have each of us a spiritual father, having him and listening to him almost gives us salvation, it would be good to be a father who knows how to guide you, a strong father, but at least you have to have one, as those who have no spiritual father will have big fights in his life; - then it's necessary confession, true confession from heart and to feel sorry (but really feeling sorry) for what you did and to decide to not do them anymore, and if you still do them to go again to confession and so on. There are books on confession, it's very important as this cleans your soul and give you power, a sin not confessed is very difficult to fight with, you can only fight against a sin already confessed 'cause it helps you Holy Spirit to do this, there are sins against \"believing\" - not believing, doubting your faith etc (big sins); sins against the 10th commandments (you know which are); and also the 7th capital sins (pride; the love for money; fornication and others like this; having smth against someone, fighting, querrel and so on; having no limits in evrything, eating with no limits, spending with no limits etc; rage; laziness in everything) and also are sins against goodness (not giving to poors, being bad and so on). So when we confess we should say all these thinking and saying what we do against them, I think everybody is doing these sins (maybe monks do little from some only) but the rest we have to confess them everytime, as confessing them often they (the sins) loose power in time and we will see how we can fight them easier in some years of true confession, maybe less. We have to find a father willing to listening to us, some are so busy they can't listen to everyone but there are plenty of fathers who find time, in Romania we are writing our sins on papers and thinking of them with a day before and praying for their forgiveness and the next day we go to confession, it's easier to read them as the evil will dark your mind to forget them while you are at confession. Then you have to keep what your spiritual father is saying to you, be it a prayer, not communication etc, as they use books for this and addapt them for you, if you want to renounce at your spiritual father and find another one, first find him and them asked the old one to bless you and leave you to go to the other one, it's very important to be always under the protection of a spiritual father. It's best to confess at least 4 times per year, during fasting times, but if you're sick or have a problem it's the best to confess monthly and if you can to communicate, at least until your problem is gone. - then if you're allowed to communicate you should do it as often as you can, at least 4 times per year, but at least once per year but do it, the best is at least 4 times per year, and if you're sick or have problems even more, because when you communicate you take the Holy Body and Blood of our Saviour in true, and It gives you much strength for a long time, for at least a month or 2, depends how clean is your sould when you receive it. - then personal prayer is very important, as during it Holy Spirit is covering you, you can do the Jesus Prayer or read an hymn, after each Icos you can ask your \"need\", first you ask for your forgiveness and your family's and the dead ones from your family's each on their names to be forgiven (as you are carrying with you aome sins from ancestors also, lots are erased when you got baptized but others will be erazed only if you pray for this) and then ask your own \"need/wish/want\" in prayer. It's important during prayer to not imagine anything in your mind, nothing holy or not, just think about the prayer's words but not imagines (our Saviour etc), nothing imagining as they are people who did this and called for the dark powers as angles of light and became very ill, possessed. We can pray in front of icons, but the icons to be holied in church by orthodox priests, one Elder was once during prayer, and an angel appeared and took him to a church, and when he entered he saw all the saints painted on walls alive, and icons too, and the voice of our Saviour from an icon told him, if you would know that when an icon is holied the Holy Spirit comes down and that icon comes to life, and when someone is praying to it he lays in front of exactly that saint, and he is there and listening to him in front of him, this is what Holy Spirit is doing when holing an icon. We should pray morning and evening, my spiritual father told me at least 5 minutes in the morning, our Father prayer, and forgive me and my family, and my wish at least to say, and in the night it is best to pray more, maybe 20 minutes, or you can read a prayer or pray your own, one Elder told us that 1 hour per day at least, or 2, but everyone decide his time, he should pray daiyly anyway, sometimes you can walk and in your mind saying Jesus prayer, or our Father prayer all the time, or working and saying them, and so on. During prayer we should first ask forgiveness for us, for our families (even if they are not orthodox, and our dead loved ones) and then our wishes. -fasting and prayer together throw out dark powers, confession and Liturgi also. So, fasting Friday and Wednesday, at least up to 6 PM or so, but the best is all day from 12 am to 12 am, and it's not difficult at all, when we fast we have to also not full our bodies with food, and to hold us from speaking too much, silence is very good all the time, to quarrel and so on. Also the 4th fasting period in year are very important, at least partially, or Wednesday and Friday, but the best is all. - Then St Liturgi is most important Mass, on Sunday, if you're ill or have problems you can go for some days everyday, or evryday for some weeks and stay at a monastry and participate in this holy Mass daily, and at the other Masses too, during St Liturgi in every church comes Holy Spirit and Angels and St Mary and our Saviour, there are Saints who could see this with their eyes. It is told that if you don't go for 3 weeks one after the other to Liturgi then you're not covered anymore by the Holy Spirit, until you go again, it's an old canon this, 3 weeks one after the other with no Liturgi makes you loose protection. - and also reading daily at least one page from the New Testament keeps our souls linked to the church and to religion, and if we can in plus to read another page or so from another orthodox book written by a Saint, Pateric, Philocalia, Saint's lives, Catehism, about Prayer, about Confession, Liturgi, or other Saint's adives etc. Keeping these as we can, and if we can't keep all then we should confess this, as these will clean a lot our souls and we will see changes in our lives and miracles, I'll copy-paste down little miracles from the hundreds of such miracles which you can hear or see in Romania. Also, we have to have in minds that Lucifer had falled from sky because of pride, so pride is a very, very big sin, this is sometimes why we find problems in our lives in order to find humiliation after them, because a humble soul can receive lot of help, is loved by God, but a proudful one no, because our Saviour was God himself and He was not proud at all so how can we be? so to try to get rid of pride, year after year. Then being kind and good, and not judging the others but striving us to be better, and doing everything from love, if I give a money to a poor I do it because I feel bad for him and not because this is supposed to do or to see me my spoose and congradulate me, but because from love from the poor, and keeping this a secret if we can. And never loose hope, love, faith, we should pray to have them all, when you loose hope you loose everything, God is giving us if we ask persistently every day for months or days for what we want, if we loose hope and renounce of asking Him we loose everything, as we have freedom to do what we want. One Elder told us that the reason for which your prayers are not listen can be because you have smth against someone and didn't confessed, \"if you bring your gift to Altar and have smth against someone, leave your gift there and go find peace with that person and then come back and bring your gift again\", or we may ask something which can harm us or is not for our salvation and we don't know this that another way gives us salvation. We can pray to St Mary or different Saints, St Nicholas, St Nektarios, St Cyprian, St Paraschevi and so on, praying hymns or personal daily prayer in front of their holy icons. I've heard that also they do listen our prayers quicly \"St Raphael, Nicholas and Irina\" - a greek Saint. We should all the time drink in the morning holy water and take holy bread, and throw holy water at least weekly in our homes for quarrel to go out and everything bad, and light candles from church during prayer (as they are made by nons who live a holy life not by anybody with sins, and this is important), and also light smirne in house, and if we can we can light on Sunday a holy candle with oil. And women should wear a skirt up to knees at least in church and smth at least little on their heads during church, and in church should be completely listening and praying if we can. And also a holy cross on our neck it would be of a great protection. And bring the priest to holy our homes, offices, cars if we can of course, but at least once. And keeping a holy icon in every room, office or in pocket protects that places, or having an orthodox Bible and a holy cross and Myr. I'll copy paste here little miracles after praying for getting rid of diseases, there are plenty in Romanian language but in English only these I could found: http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:aBCOZ_ppX0EJ:www.saint-nectarios-of-aegina.org/Miracles.html st nektarios miracles&cd=2&hl=ro&ct=clnk&gl=ro Saint Nectarios blessing at his Last Liturgy in Aegina St. Nectarios is a modern day saint, a bishop in Greece, despised by many who mistook his popularity amongst the people as an attempt to become patriarch. As such he was relegated to being put in charge of a run down convent. Here St. Nectarios was able to dedicate his life to prayer. His fame spread amongst the lay people and many people came to him for spiritual guidance. Suspected by his brother clergy of more ambitious goals than a simple abbot of a convent, St. Nectarios was ignored by most of the clergy. He died alone in a local hospital, in the hallway of the emergency room. When it was discovered that he had died, they took his cassock off him and threw on the patient next to him and took St. Nectarios body to the morgue. The patient, upon whom the cassock of the saint had fallen, was healed of the illness for which he had entered the emergency room. Miracles began to abound regarding St. Nectarios. Healings from such diseases as cancer are not uncommon. Many people actually remember being visited by St. Nectarios whom they have described as an old monk in black robes with a white beard. Anastasia, the daughter of an Orthodox priest and was stricken with a stroke at the unbelievable age of two. With palsy on the entire right side of her body and with a speech impediment, His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas visited Anastasia the next day in the hospital. Along with the family, and the Connecticut Deanery clergy, Metropolitan Nicholas prayed over Anastasia and anointed her with oil from the tomb of St. Nectarios asking for the saints healing intercession before our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is without a doubt to the family that through the prayers of St.Nectarios that Anastasia has had a full recovery and shows no sign of the palsy or any speech impediment to this day. Today, St. Nectarios is one of the most well known and highly venerated saints in Orthodoxy. Source: Saint Nektarios of Aegina (G. Georgiou) Courtesy of The Saint Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in London, England My name is George Georgiou and I live in London, England. From Christmas Eve 1989, my mother started to suffer from terrible pains in her back and left leg. Every day her condition was getting worse. From the 2nd January 1990 until the 7th January 1990 she lay in bed, unable to move. She could not sleep, she could not walk, and the tablets she had received from her GP were not easing the pain. On the Saturday 6th January the pain was unbearable. She thought this would be her last night. She was wake until 2am Sunday morning, unable to sleep. She was in so much pain that she was sweating profusely. My father tried to help her by massaging her leg and he also helped her put on a surgical stocking, hoping this would help. Prior to this he had soaked her leg with some bread dipped in wine. As soon as she put on the sock the pain became intolerable. So much so, that she was crying. My father took the sock off immediately. With tears in her eyes she begged St Nectarios for help. Almost at once her leg seemed lighter. She fell asleep. When she woke up on Sunday, a few hours later, the pain had gone totally. She got up and we all went to St Nectarios church in Battersea, London. We even had visitors around later and she served them with tea and cakes. She has been fine ever since, free from this horrible pain. I thank St Nectarios for his help. My name is Nikolina. I live in the Los Angeles area and attend church at The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Greek Orthodox Church in Long Beach, California. My husband, John, and I have been trying to have a baby for about two years. I have infertility issues and was undergoing infertility treatments. I was on 100 mg of clomid, a fertility drug, and undergoing intrauterine inseminations (IUI). My first insemination was in November 2000. I did become pregnant, but had a miscarriage 4 weeks later. The second IUI was unsuccessful. On the Saturday that we celebrate the raising of Lazarus from the dead by our Lord, I was in church making palm crosses with other church members. I was talking with one of the ladies there and telling her about my situation. She told me that I should pray to St. Nectarios and he would help me. Being a convert to Greek Orthodoxy, I had never prayed to a Saint before. I decided to pray to St. Nectarios almost every night before my next IUI and every night after. In April 2001 I was due to have another IUI. I had a good ovulation this time. However, my husband had been working nights for the past two weeks and his sperm count wasn't very good. The nurse let me look at the sample under the microscope and I only saw a few sperm. I was so disappointed. I thought for sure that I would have another unsuccessful IUI. I continued to pray to St. Nectarios and to God for the next two weeks. But my faith was low. When it was time for the blood test I had hope but there was more doubt. The next day when I called for the results the nurse told me that I would need to come in for another blood test because the lab technician had extracted my blood into the wrong tube. This made me more nervous and yet excited, because I had seen no signs of a period. I went the next day and had my blood redrawn. The nurse put it through STAT, and thank God! She called me a few hours later and told me that I was indeed pregnant. I was so happy. Six weeks later I found out I was blessed with twins. I am now 15 weeks pregnant and becoming very excited. I thank God and St. Nectarios for interceding for me. I am hoping for a boy and a girl, but will be thankful for whatever God will give us. In May this year I read the story of Saint Nectarios' life. It affected me so much that my husband and I traveled to Greece in August 2001 to visit his tomb, and to see the monastery where he lived and preached. The effect of seeing first hand his Holy Relics, his room, and the beautiful new Church dedicated to his blessed memory was a great experience. I truly believe that he has become my protector and Spiritual Father. I feel so close to him after being in his room, seeing his belongings. I have become dedicated to him and he has become my Saint. It is hard to put into words how I feel, but I truly felt His presence as I walked around the monastery, such emotions swept over me. I have a stronger faith because of Him, and I know that he directs me on the right path. I feel as though He reminds me to pray, influences the way I act, and talk. I will never be the same after discovering this Saint of our time, and reading his life story. I love him, and pray that he will guide me to Christ. Patrikia Lewis As a Greek-Cypriot boy growing up in London I suffered with severe asthma. When ever I would have an attack I would be rushed off to hospital and put into an oxygen tent. Before my 10th birthday my parents, sister and I went to visit St Nectarios. The doctors had told my parents that I should not be taken out of the country for it would have been dangerous for my health. My parents disregarded them and took me to see the Saint. When I entered the monastery I placed my ear on the tomb of the Saint and I could hear a tick, tick ,tick noise. I immediately started crying and wouldn't let go of the tomb.......From that day my asthma is virtually non-existent. The doctors said a miracle had happened. Since that day I keep our saint close to me and he helps me all day, every day. Pantelis C Fouli Glory be to God for all things! Recently, I was diagnosed with a sudden profound hearing loss in my right ear on November 29th 2001. I was told by one of the top ear specialists in my region, two weeks after my hearing loss, that some hearing had returned (I only could hear environmental sounds very faintly ie. cars, noise) and that my hearing would not get any better. My reply to him was that miracles do happen and the doctor agreed. On January 2nd 2002, I went back to the hospital for further testing. After the test, the audiologist advised me that some more hearing had returned and that I could now wear a hearing aid. His words were that \"Someone from above was watching me.\" Meanwhile, I had anointed my ear on a daily basis with Holy Oil from St. Raphael and had asked many to pray on my behalf. I had asked the Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes to pray for me, and unknown to me, he prayed to Saint Nectarios. Thank you Saint Nectarios for helping in this miracle. Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for all that you do. Thank you Lord for allowing me to meet Father Serfes and through him being introduced to Saint Nectarios. Thank you Panagia, St. Raphael and all the Saints for this miracle. Please believe in Jesus Christ, He is the truth and miracles do happen. In Christ, George Kyreakakos In 1995 my father was dying of cancer. While sitting together one night just the two of us, in his private hospital room, my father who was conversing with me, stopped and stared in disbelief to the corner of the room. He said to me in Greek, \"what is Archbishop Makarios doing in my room?\" I said \"who?\" He said \"Archbishop Makarios, can't you see him he's standing right there behind you?\" I turned and looked but could see nothing. I asked him \"Where do you see Archbishop Makarios?\" He repeated, getting somewhat flustered,\" right there behind you!\" I immediately reached behind his pillow and pulled out a small icon of St. Nectarios that I had placed behind his pillow, and said \"Dad, is this who you see in your room?\" He looked at the icon and said \"yes, yes, that's who I see, Archbishop Makarios.\" \" Father,\"I said, I think you're seeing Saint Nectarios visiting you. He looked at me, looked back at the corner of the room, and nodded his head knowingly, a little embarrassed at mistaking the saint's identity, yet very honoured for the visit. My father died a few days later. Saint Nectarios and many other saints we prayed to, helped my father live with cancer for two years, despite the fact that the doctors had given him only a couple of months to live. In those two years he lived to attend my wedding, and hear of my wife's and my sister in laws first pregnancies. Despite the fact that he did not live to see his grandchildren, Saint Nectarios helped him be there for us as long as he could. We thank our Lord, and all the saints and angels that helped us through that difficult time. We especially thank St. Nectarios for visiting his spiritual child Telemachos, before his great journey. My brother and I now both have sons named Telemachos, and my son is named Telemachos - Nectarios. May this great saint help all those who need his help. Chris Bitsakakis From: Nektarios Kokologiannakis kokoslures@hotmail.com Hi. My name is Nektarios. I was born on May 28, 1970. When I was born and came out of my mothers womb I was really sick- health wise. I was not expected to live. My parents were both devastated by the news. So they decided to name me Nektarios, after Saint Nektarios because he performed many miracles and always prayed to God for mankind. As the years went on, doctors had doubts that I would walk. They didn't know if my mind was okay. I always had bad kidney infections, and they believed I would be a midget. Fortunately I was blessed with great parents who loved me and raised me with faith in my life. I have gone through a lot of pain, suffering, surgeries, needles, and torture in my life. But one thing remains within my mind and that the belief that I will never ever give up in life because it is so precious, and we must take care of ourselves, believe in God himself, and always pray to him for the best- our health and the health of our family, relatives and friends. I wanted to share a story with you. Back in 1982 I was really sick and was going through some hard times in my life. Lots of sadness came into my heart. The question was why me? I couldn't understand that. As I was laying within my bed by the window, there appeared this bishop looking person. I didn't know who he was. He stood there up right, dressed in priestly garments. The colors were mostly green and gold-with some traces of blue. He had his staff which was made of gold. On top of his staff it had 2 dragons heads facing each other. I honestly don't know how tall he was, but I can estimate about 5'8 to 5'9. He had a white moustache attached by his long white beard which was down to his chest- a pure snow white looking beard. I couldn't see exactly the color of his eyes, but I do know he glowed. He didn't smile, but just stared at me. I didn't know any better who this man was, so I buried my face in my pillow and started screaming, yelling at the top of my lungs, terrified . Who was that man in my door way? I kept thinking. Finally my mother and father rushed into my bedroom, shaking me and telling me to get my face out of my pillow. I finally did. What's wrong? they asked me. I described what I had seen . My mother said \"I'll be right back, hold him.\" My mother ran into my grandmother Maria's room, (her mother) and grabbed an icon out of the iconostasio. My mother showed me a picture of Ayios Nektarios and asked me: \" Is that who you saw?\" I yelled \" yes that's him\". She replied \"Don't be afraid of anything. He's here to help you.\" She went on to explain to me who he was. My mother said \"You saw St. Nektarios the Wonder Worker.\" My surgery went well and I grew up and am now 31 years old . Last year in Late April I lost my kidneys. My doctors didn't take care of me, despite the fact that I trusted them. I have a harder life to deal with being on dialysis 3 days a week.The doctors have implanted a shunt in my arm in which they poke 2 large needles 3 days a week. Yes they hurt but in all honesty there is nothing I can do except to go on with life. You have to understand something I am not a quitter. Neither do I give up at all. Every night I pray to God for my family, my relatives and friends. I say the \"Lords Prayer\". One thing I have told my parents is to never blame themselves for how I was born, and that it wasn't their fault. It was meant to happen. The way I look at life is to always be positive, to care about people by being there and loving them, being a good person, to be honest, to joke around, providing laughter into peoples hearts and praying every single night to God himself. Most of all I am blessed and honored to have Saint Nektarios (Ayios) name. I was born in Modesto, Ca. I go to the Annuniciation of Greek Orthodox of Modesto. This is the church I grew up in and the church I will pass away in ,when God comes calling to me on the day whenever his heart wants me to come to him. To see pictures and information about our beautiful church go to http://www.goannuniciation.org From Con Colovos colovos@optusnet.com.au I am 42 years old and I am a firm believer and follower of the Greek Orthodox religion. My desire to learn more, and understand what our religion is about commenced primarily from my parents when I was young. One of the most prominent components of the Greek Orthodox Religion has been Agios Nektarios. He has been the Saint that has guided me, protected me, and helped me when I needed it. I have read all the literature that is available on him, so I may gain a better understanding of his life and the miracles that he has performed. All my life Agios Nektarios has been looking over me and making sure that nothing ever happens to myself and my family. It is Agios Nektarios, God and Jesus that I get up and pray to every morning and every night before I go to sleep. I honestly believe that he has the power to guide, heal and help people who believe in him to a more fulfilled life, understanding his works and the Greek Orthodox religion. An example of something that I regard to be one of his works is outlined below; As previously stated I, my love and understanding of Agios Nektarios goes back to my teenage years. Something happened recently that proved to myself and my family that he is looking after all of us and that he loves us. My family and I took our first overseas holiday together approximately one month ago. It was a trip that was organized very quickly and certain things were neglected. Leading up to the trip I was very busy and my mind was everywhere. The trip was only three weeks and we had to fit a lot of things in. I wanted to go and see Agios Nektarios, but for some reason completely forgot about Aegina and only thought about Hania, Crete. I do not know why this happened. Crete was completely out of the way, and I knew I could not make it there so I was very disappointed that I had come such a long way and not being able to see the Church of Agios Nektarios. Anyway after we arrived in Europe we went to Italy first and then to Greece. Upon arriving in Athens I met up with a travel agent who met me at a different hotel to what we were originally booked into. We met in the lobby and he asked me to pay for the new hotel in which we stayed. After some discussion he asked if we would be interested in going on some tours while we were in Athens. I asked what he recommended and he showed me a cruise which takes in the islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina. He gave me the brochure so I can show my family, I paid him for the tour and proceeded to go upstairs to my family. Upon arriving in the room we started to read the brochure to see exactly where we were going and what we were doing. (Remember that I had not previously organized this tour, it was last minute and primarily due to us staying at a different hotel and meeting this travel agent.) The brochure showed that the trip to Aegina included a trip to the monastery of Agios Nektarios. As soon as I read this I started crying. My family and I all went to the old Church, his house, the tomb, and the new church. It was the highlight of my trip, and I was happy that my children also saw his monasetry and experienced a very important part of our religion. From: John N. Rallis II jrallis@cfl.rr.com I was 25 and [thought I was] healthy...then a lump appeared on my right side just in front of my ear (the parotid gland region). It was Hodgkins lymphoma (cancer). My godfather gave me a book about the life of St. Nektarios, which I committed to read from cover to cover. He and my godmother also gave me a q-tip swabbed with oil from a miracle-working icon of St. Nektarios which I applied to the affected area. Not only was I cured (I can use that word now; it's been 9 years), but I also received an enormous amount of emotional and, yes, financial support from people I didn't even know (I had just started a business and didn't have health insurance yet). By the grace of God and, I believe, through the intercessions of St. Nektarios, I have received blessing upon blessing, not the least of which has been living long enough to marry my wife and raise my daughter, joys our great Saint did not himself have. I am forever grateful for his help, and for his humble example. I talk to him still. From: CATHERINE DUBLE Loaner1@benefitfunding.com I am a 54 year old woman. On September 19, 2002, I had an allergic reaction to a prescription drug. I was rushed to the emergency room and while there, I went into cardiac arrest. Not knowing if this was caused by a blockage or anaphylactic shock from the medicine, the decision was made to give me TPA. This is a clot buster which is routinely given to prevent further heart problems, etc. In 1% of instances when this is administered, it results in a brain bleed or “haemoragic stroke”. This is what happened to me. I was rushed to another hospital with a much more sophisticated neurology unit and there I stayed in a coma for 9 days. My priest (I am Greek Orthodox) was called in to pray for me and my children were told to prepare for my imminent death. On the following Sunday morning I opened my eyes for the first time in nearly a week and a half. I was eventually moved out of intensive care into a “stepdown” unit. I remained there for about another week and then I was moved into a rehabilitation facility. I was still pretty confused for the first couple of weeks. When I started making sense of things, I told my daughters that I saw an elderly priest or monk in my dreams. He was walking on a grassy knoll alongside a water bank. The area was beautiful, very peaceful and serene. He extended his hand to me and said in Greek, “Come here my child. You have nothing to fear, you will be fine.” At the time, I did not know who he was. When my sisters were told of this by my daughters, I then learned that the entire time I was in a coma, I was clutching a small wooden icon of Agios Nektarios in my hand. I would not let go of it for anything. My one sister has been to Aegina and brought holy water back from there. She gave this to my priest and when he sprinkled it on me, it was the first time that I had shown any movement on my left side (I was completely paralyzed on that side). I am now certain that the person in my “dream” was Agios Nektarios and that it wasn’t a dream at all. I firmly believe that I was dying and that he sent me back for whatever reason. I will forever venerate him and celebrate in his name…Thank you for letting me share my story. From: Emmanuel M. Mavrakis NYA320Capt@yahoo.com As an aspiring airline pilot, I had to pass some very stringent eye examinations while at a military academy. I prayed to Saint Nectarios continually since this was the one hurdle that many candidates could not qualify on. A few weeks later I saw him in my dream helping me up a very steep ladder and into a basket overlooking an airport where some airplanes were taxiing. As I stood there watching in awe, I noticed an old man with salt and pepper beard standing to my left watching me. I asked him what his name was and he said \"Aeginos\". I knew that a man from Aegina was called Aeginos and in the morning I thanked the Saint for blessing me. Several weeks later I took my eye examination which qualified me for flight training. Today Im an Instructor pilot and Captain for a US major airline