THE NATIVITY EPISTLE Of His Eminence
VALENTIN, Metropolitan of Suzdal and Vladimir, First Hierarch of the Russian
Orthodox Autonomous Church
To All Faithful Children of the Church of Christ,
in the Fatherland and in the Diaspora
'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will
among men.' (Lk. 2:14)
Beloved in the Lord, my dear brethren-Archpastors,
zealous Pastors and Servants before the Altar of the Lord, Reverend Monks and
Nuns, Brothers and Sisters, Faithful Children of the Church of Christ!
Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 1:3) I
make bold to address you with this sacred Apostolic greeting in this 'chosen
and holy day' of the great feast of the Lord's Nativity. Reliving this great
event yet again, and contemplating it with the eyes of the spirit, this event
that has become the central point of all human history, we are filled with
reverent trepidation and holy joy. With trepidation-because the great mystery
of God's incarnation is unfathomable; with joy-because we are no longer alone
in the face of death and evil, 'for God is with us!'
I would
remind you, beloved, of the words that the Angel of God pronounced-that bright
herald of heavenly mysteries-almost two thousand years ago. These words were
directed to all people, but firstly to Christians, that is, to you and to me.
'I announce to you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for
a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord, was born to you today in the city of David.
And this shall be a sign to you: Ye shall find the newborn Babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes lying in the manger.' (Lk. 2:10-12) The first to hear these
words were the pious shepherds of Bethlehem, who with contrite hearts entered
into the humble cave of Bethlehem and worshiped the Divine Infant. But how much
more blessed are we, who not only worship our incarnate Lord and Savior, but
also commune His honorable Body and Blood, becoming one flesh with Him! Here,
in this holy temple, in this dwelling place of God's glory, on the holy altar
table, surrounded by the bodiless powers who are unseen by the eyes of flesh,
as once in the cave of Bethlehem, lies the very King of Glory-He Who created
the heavens and the earth, Who gifted us with life, even unto eternity. 'For
verily I say to you that many prophets and righteous ones desired to see what
ye see, and saw not, and to hear what ye hear, and heard not. (Mt. 13:17)
Can it be
that we 'who are burdened by our abundant sins' are to be found more worthy
than the great prophets and righteous saints of the Old Testament with whom God
conversed 'face to face?' Of course not! The closer that we come to the end of
time, we see that lawlessness only increases in the world and this dramatic
process cannot but involve us as well. Without question, the prophets and the
righteous of the Old Testament lead incomparably holier lives than we do, and
were incomparably more worthy of the grace of the New Testament, the
fulfillment of which is the Divine mystery of the Eucharist. But the judgments
of God are inscrutable-in His limitless mercy, the Lord has arranged things in
such a way that it has been given to us, with all of our sins and vices, with
all of our weaknesses and passions, to venerate His Nativity, His Resurrection,
and even to unite with Him in the most intimate way through the reception of
His Body and Blood. Think for a moment about how enormous and limitless our
gratitude to God should be for this! Even if we should dedicate the entire
remaining portion of our lives to the fervent service of God, spending it in
fasting and unceasing prayer, it would seem too meager a sacrifice in
comparison with the sacrifice which was offered on Golgotha for the sins of all
people. We should always remember this and never consider ourselves worthy of
communing with the Divine and abiding within the confines of the Church of
Christ which receives us with the loving care of a parent, even with all of our
vices.
We meet
the present feast alarmed by thoughts about our brothers who once dwelt
together with us within the confines of the saving Church, who once communed
with us from one chalice, but who are now rushing headlong into the abyss of
heresy and of apostasy. Sad tidings have reached us this Nativity Fast from
America where the bishops and priests of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of
Russia, once famed for their unassailable Orthodoxy, seem to have decided to
unite with the Moscow Patriarchate, which they have now begun to refer to as no
less than the 'Church in Russia.' It was not so very long ago that this very
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia helped many of us, the Orthodox in
Russia, and in other countries of the world, to open our eyes to the fact that
the Moscow Patriarchate is not the true Church of Christ. The God-inspired
writings of the great fathers of the Russian diaspora, whose assembly is now
headed by our Father among the Saints Philaret, Metropolitan of Eastern America
and New York, a wonderworker, were and remain for us a pure source of the Truth
of the Church. And the truth is that, in the twentieth century, a time during
which godless atheism raged over the unfortunate land of Russia, the Russian
Church was forcibly divided and almost completely destroyed as a result of
seventy years of bloody persecutions. During the Second World War, specifically
in 1943, in pursuit of his political aims, the bloody tyrant, Stalin, who had
annihilated millions of people, including the New Martyrs of Russia, took a
handful of surviving clergymen-frightened and unwilling-and founded his false
church which began to pretend to be the Russian Orthodox Church. The real
Russian Church went underground, into the catacombs, and the persecution waged
against her neither ceased nor decreased over the course of the entire Soviet
period, in spite of several 'thaws' and reforms. And this tragic division was
always witnessed to by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which in
its synodal documents confessed spiritual unity with the Catacomb Church, but
labeled the Moscow Patriarchate as the 'church of evil doers' and as a
heretical organization.
The
heresy of the Moscow Patriarchate became especially evident to the Orthodox
people of the Russian diaspora when in 1961 it (the MP) joined the World
Council of Churches-an organization uniting every conceivable kind of heretic,
and having as its aim the foundation of 'one Christian Church,' into which
would be incorporated all of the ancient and newest heresies and false
teachings. Not being content to wait for the establishment of this 'universal
church,' the members of the World Council of Churches began to pray together
and even to perform so-called 'sacraments,' which things are strictly forbidden
by the holy Apostles and the Ecumenical Councils. Thus, the 'Orthodox' members
of the World Council of Churches, including the Moscow Patriarchate, clearly
severed their ties to the holy Apostles and the Ecumenical Councils, and
thereby to Orthodoxy. This is exactly what was taught by the Russian Orthodox
Church Outside of Russia, which in 1983, on the initiative of St. Philaret,
anathematized ecumenism, i.e., gave over to ecclesiastical condemnation and
excommunication all who took part in the World Council of Churches and the
ecumenical movement. Until this day the Moscow Patriarchate remains a member of
the World Council of Churches, and some of her hierarchs and priests make up
the leadership of that heretical organization. And the present day Russian
Church Abroad-more correctly that part of her which is headed by Met.
Laurus-without formally abrogating the anathema against ecumenism, has
announced its approaching unification with the ecumenists. Is this not a
classic example of what is called in the Order of the Mystery of Confession
'falling under one's own anathema?' In their blindness, the leaders of the
Russian Church Abroad 'didn't notice' that at the same time that their
delegation was meeting in Moscow, an ecumenical 'theological conference' was
also being held which had been opened by the patriarch. Similarly, the leaders
of the Russian Church Abroad are now ready to 'swallow' any apostasy of the
Moscow Patriarchate. And this means that despite the hopes of the 'zealots'
within the Moscow Patriarchate itself, after uniting with her, the hierarchs of
the Church Abroad will become some of the most submissive and silent, in
relation to the betrayals of Orthodoxy.
For more
than seventy years, the Russian Church Abroad was the custodian of the pure
repository of the true Orthodox Faith, and the whole Orthodox world looked up
to her with respect and hope. How sad she appears now after her rejection of
her great inheritance, in her role as a humiliated petitioner for mercy from
the likes of the Moscow Patriarchate. It makes your heart bleed when you look
upon such an 'abomination of desolation,:standing in the holy place' (Mt.
24:15). Indeed, the fall of the Church Abroad is a phenomenon more tragic and-I
would even say-apocalyptic, than the fall of the Moscow Patriarchate, which
from its inception in 1943, was 'conceived in iniquities' and 'born in sins.'
The Russian Church Abroad, for almost all of the twentieth century, shone like
a torch of Orthodoxy, and for this reason the satanic crime which her present day
'blind leaders' are committing is frightening and unforgivable. Metropolitan
Laurus, Archbishop Mark, Archbishop Hilarion, Bishop Kyril-having kissed the
hand of the impostor-patriarch Alexis-give the impression of people who have
lost their sight, hearing, and have lost all common sense, not to mention their
Orthodox Faith. They have likened themselves to the people who were reproached
by the prophet Jeremiah, when he said: 'Hear now this, O foolish people, and
without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear
not' (Jer. 5:21). Hear now, O hierarchs and clergy of the Russian Church
Abroad, not our lowly voice, which for a long time now has meant nothing to
you, but the trumpet blast of your own fathers. Hear how your first First
Hierarch, the blessed Metropolitan Anthony, implored by the Living God the
founder of the Moscow Patriarchate, Sergius (Stragorodsky) to follow the path
of the New Martyrs and not betray the Church into the hands of the atheists.
Read the sacred lines of the spiritual last will and testament of your second
First Hierarch, Metropolitan Anastassy, who forbade not only prayerful, but
even simple everyday communion with the false church, founded by Stalin. Behold
the incorrupt relics of the great zealot for Orthodoxy St. Metropolitan
Philaret, whom you sacrilegiously buried in the crypt of the cathedral church
of the monastery in Jordanville! Do you think that you will escape hearing his
ominous anathema when you stand before the throne of the King of Heaven where
this great God-pleaser now stands pouring out bitter tears over your inglorious
end?
Look into
the eyes of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia-both those who were
'glorified' hypocritically by the Moscow Patriarchate without first repenting,
and those whom they continue to blaspheme. What do you expect to hear from that
'Divine Army,' the many millions of Saints 'of whom the whole world was not
worthy' when you try to justify your treachery? For now you are about to cross
the threshold of that same Moscow Patriarchate, for which many bishops,
priests, and lay people, the salt of the Russian land, because they refused to
recognize her, were summarily shot, without any trial or due process. You kiss
the cold hand of the successor of that same Sergius who once openly, before the
entire world, renounced the New Martyrs and blasphemed them saying that they
were political criminals, and that the Church distances itself from them. And
this at the same moment when these New Martyrs were witnessing to their
fidelity to Christ and His Church by incredible sufferings!
You, the
unworthy successor to the former glory of the Russian Church Abroad, sing
Hosanna and Many Years to the so-called 'most holy patriarch' who not only has
never uttered a word of repentance for directly collaborating with the KGB
(formerly the NKVD), but has increased his apostasies since the fall of the
Soviet authorities. In 1990, none other than the present leader of the Moscow
Patriarchate announced, while speaking before a group of rabbis in New York,
that he and the followers of the Talmud have but 'one father.' But was it not
the Lord Himself Who said to the Jews who rejected Him that their father was
the devil? Under Alexis II, the Moscow Patriarchate signed two unions: the Chambesy
Union with the Monophysites, and the Balamand Union with the Catholics. This is
the same false patriarch Alexis who covers over all of the transgressions of
the post-Soviet authorities, because of which a large portion of the Russian
people continue to suffer.
And
finally, you, the church of Met. Laurus, are betraying your own flock in
Russia, which trusted you and which now, it seems, is not even worthy of being
called 'the Church in Russia!' What will become of this admittedly little flock
which consciously chose to depart from the unrighteousness of the Moscow
Patriarchate, but has now suddenly found itself to be unneeded and even a
'liability' for its own church leaders? At the Last Judgment, each pastor must
give an answer for every soul that has been destroyed and betrayed by him, for
the entire world is not worth even one human soul.
The
spiritual essence of what is now taking place with the Russian Church Abroad is
clear-it is part of the process of the worldwide apostasy from the Truth which
will precede the glorious Second Coming of Christ. The Savior forewarned us
about this saying: 'When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find the Faith on the
earth?' (Lk. 18:8) Alas, it is already the case in this imperfect world, which
reposeth in evil, that the 'little flock' of true Orthodox Christians is
getting smaller and smaller, and it is becoming more and more difficult for it
to survive under these conditions of universal apostasy. Nevertheless, besides
the spiritual aspect, the process of unification between the Russian Church
Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate has another, purely secular, mercantile side
to it. Apparently, this secular concern controls the activities of the
hierarchs of the synod of Met. Laurus, which from a spiritual point of view,
appear completely absurd and unnatural. The secular aspect of this process
results in the fact that over the course of the past few years, the Russian
Church Abroad has consistently been losing its properties and flocks abroad.
This may be explained by the fact that the major portion of the Russian
emigration is now comprised of people who have emigrated recently from Russia,
where they were raised and educated under the Soviet regime. For the majority
of these people, those ideals which were insisted upon in the past by the
Russian Church Abroad, have no meaning, and the Church for them now is simply a
'link to the motherland.' Besides this, the Moscow Patriarchate is also very
actively opening new parishes abroad, and snatching away the properties of the
Russian Church Abroad. Thus the leadership of the Russian Church Abroad is
compelled to 'capitulate' in order not to lose the latter. This means that the
underlying stimuli for the 'reunification' that is taking place are not
spiritual, theological, canonical, or even patriotic ones, but purely economic
and financial ones. And this imparts a certain cynicism to the betrayal that is
being carried out, and to the self destruction of the Russian Church Abroad.
The fatal
mistake of the leadership of the Russian Church Abroad was made in 1994, when
it actually pushed away its faithful children in Russia who were then joining
her in droves. After the fall of the Soviet regime, the future of the Russian
Church Abroad was only in Russia whither she was to have returned the unspoiled
repository of Orthodoxy which she had been keeping. And the process of this
return had already been begun-in just a few short years there appeared hundreds
of Orthodox parishes and communities which had renounced the heretical Moscow Patriarchate
and had joined themselves to the Russian Church Abroad. Such a development of
events, threatening the Moscow Patriarchate itself with ruin, frightened many
of those in power-both in the church and in the government. With the help of
various provocations and slanders, the seeds of mistrust between the parts of
the Church in the Russian homeland and abroad were sown, and soon afterward,
the Church abroad set out on the course of compromise and rapprochement with
the Moscow Patriarchate, which had never been an acceptable possibility for the
part of the Church in the Russian homeland from the beginning. But in any case,
the Russian Church Abroad did manage to return the repository of unspoiled
Orthodoxy to the Russian homeland, even if only at the last moment. Canonical
episcopal consecrations were performed, and the living bearer of the great
tradition of the Russian Church Abroad-the ever-memorable Bishop Gregory
(Grabbe)-not long before his repose, bound to a wheelchair, visited Suzdal,
where he blessed the path of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. Thus, the
thread of succession, stretching from Apostolic times, through the
pre-revolutionary Russian Church, through the Church of the New Martyrs and the
Russian Church Abroad, was transferred to us. The repository was returned to
the homeland, and the historical mission of the Russian Church Abroad was
accomplished.
Many of
the great Churches of the past fell away into heresy or ceased to exist. Before
the end of time, only the Universal Church of Christ will survive, but
independent Local Churches can come and go. Now that the Russian Church Abroad
has fallen from Orthodoxy, an especially providential mission has been placed
upon us, dear hierarchs, fathers, brothers and sisters. We should do everything
possible, and everything that is not possible, in order to preserve the true
Orthodox Faith without any distortions, modernizations, and false
interpretations. And if it is ordained that Russia should experience a
renaissance, then this will only happen on the foundation of true Orthodoxy
which our Church confesses and preaches. However, our preaching should not be
confined by the traditional territorial borders of the Russian Church. Now,
when the official local churches have fallen away from Orthodoxy, our preaching
should resound across the entire world, 'from the rising of the sun to the
setting thereof.' And we note with joy the increasing numbers of our flocks
abroad-in places like America, Western Europe, Bulgaria, Korea, etc. We should be
prepared for the task that the Lord has assigned to our Church in particular-to
continue the service of the Russian Church Abroad, even beyond the borders of
our homeland.
I call
upon you, beloved brethren and children, to increase your prayers for the salvation
of all true Orthodox believers, who for one reason or another continue to
remain aboard the sinking ship that is the Russian Church Abroad. It is
necessary to serve special moliebens to ask God's help for those people in
their imminent search for the path which leads to the true Church. May the Lord
enlighten our brothers abroad so that we might one day again, with one mouth
and with one heart, glorify Christ our Savior with the words of the angelic
doxology of the feast of the Nativity: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, goodwill amongst men.'
Beloved in the Lord children of the Church of Christ!
Once
again, I sincerely and heartily greet you with the light-bearing and saving
feast of the Nativity of Christ! With all of my soul, I wish all of you good
health, the salvation of your souls, perseverance and courage, and also
spiritual discretion which is the mother of all virtues!
With enormous love and care for your salvation,
Lowly Valentine,
Metropolitan of Suzdal and Vladimir,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous
Church
Suzdal, Nativity 2003(2004)