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Epistle Of the Sobor Of Bishops To the Faithful Sons and Daughters Of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ! We, the bishops of the holy Russian Orthodox Church Abroad have gathered in a Sobor of Bishops at the Transfiguration Skete in Mansonville in order to resolve a host of important ecclesiastical issues. We thank the Lord God that He has preserved us in the bosom of His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, against Which the gates of hell shall not prevail, even unto the end of the age. We also thank the Most-High for the flock that He has given us in order to serve Him in spirit and in truth. Now total chaos reigns in the world. It is not only in saecular life that the situation is confused in the extreme, but disorder and schisms are also multiplying in ecclesiastical life, leading many sincere people away from faith in God. The Lord forewarned us that times of trial would come: «Then, if any should say to you: «lo, here is the Christ», or «there», do not believe it; for there shall arise false christs and false prophets and shall present great signs and wonders, in order to lead astray even the chosen, were such a thing possible» (Matt. 24, 23-24). «Truth has been shaken in the world», wrote the hiero-martyr Bishop Damaskin [Damascene]. «Falsehood has become the law and foundation of human life. Men have lost faith in one another and have sunk into an ocean of insincerity, hypocrisy and fraud. But among these elements of general corruption, guarded by a rock of martyrdom and confession of the faith, the Church has stood firm, as the pillar and the ground of Truth». Through blows inflicted upon the Church of Christ, the enemy of the human race attempts to deprive Orthodox Christians of that spiritual freedom which the Saviour purchased by means of His suffering and death upon the Cross. Contemporary man, satiated with a surfeit of things in this sinful and adulterous world, is most of all likely to become a «victim» of the enemy's will. World powers, in their striving to dominate the entire earth, wage war against the last bastion of man's true freedom - Orthodoxy. St. Ioann of Shanghai reveals this mystery is his Discourse On the Dread Judgment: «Those forces which are making possible the appearance of the antichrist will dominate social life... The antichrist will be very wise and gifted in human relations. He will be charming and loving... During the reign of the antirchrist there will be a massive falling-away from the faith. Many bishops will betray the faith and will attempt to justify this by pointing to the magnificent condition of the Church. The search for compromise will characterize mankind's mood. Unreserved confession of the faith will vanish. Men will excel at justifying their fall and affectionate evil will support this general mood. There will be an habitual falling away from truth and righteousness among men, and the sweetness of compromise and sin shall prevail». In the course of the past 80 years many Russian folk have left the Russian Church Abroad and melded with world society: the schisms of old - that of the Platonites in America and the Evlogians in Western Europe - have torn away from the fight for Russia many of her faithful sons who, thinking of personal advantages and gain, ceased to become confessors of the faith; then, too, there are the repeated Lazarite schism, which began at the start of the 90s, the Valentinian one, and the tragic schism of Archbishop Lavr, which led a large part of the Russian Church Abroad away from the Truth. All these disorders have led many believers astray, casting them into error; however, all of them must be given the opportunity to return without hindrance to the bosom of their Church. When those people who have been deceived come to realize where they find themselves, they must know that our door is open to them. But, first of all, each of us must fence ourselves off from all false teachings and false witness - and with the fear of God and Faith, let us us not fear the trials to which we might be subjected.
St. Paul, Archbishop of Constantinople,
Confessor of the Faith
Signed: + Metropolitan Vitaly Mitred Protopriest Veniamin Joukoff, Secretary of the Synod of Bishops
Bottom row, left to right: Bp. Sergii, Metropolitan
Vitaly, Bp. Viktor |
