The Sunday of Orthodoxy: about Heresy, Heretics and Ecumenism

We hate heresy because heresies misguide souls away from God and towards hell; this is the chief reason behind the anathema on a heresy and its creators and promoters.
Despite this, we love the heretics themselves and do not say that they will necessarily end up in hell, since there is a power that is able to save them from their delusions; this power is their conscience.
Plus it is not always possible to know the secret workings of Grace that may be going on within a particular soul.
Ecumenism
Within the Church today, believers who fail to make this distinction between the heresy and the heretic tend to fall into one of two errors. The one group, in order to accept the heretic in the name of “unity” and “love”, glosses over and fails to condemn and reject the heresy. This is the error of ecumenism.
Hardhearted legalism
The other side, in their effort to rightfully condemn the heresy, also rejects and condemns the soul under the spell of the heresy, the heretic. This is the error of hardhearted legalism. Just as the true Christian must hate the sin and love the sinner, he must also condemn the heresy and love the heretic.
This true path may be seen in the tradition of the Holy Fathers, as it is typified so beautifully here in the service of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, on the first Sunday of Great Lent.
The photos are from Sunday of Orthodoxy at Vatopedi monastery, Mount Athos.
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Alexandru
cum se spune in romana “hardhearted legalism” … am multi prieteni care cred ca au alunecat in aceasta directie
anonim
n-ai si prieteni “iubiristi”….? E greu de catalogat, trebuie discernamant. Dupa laxismul nostru general de astazi Sfintii Fotie cel Mare, Marcu al Efesului, Grigorie Palama etc. ar fi catalogati cam fixisti. Ce sa mai zicem de sinodicon…
Ioan Toma
Foarte posibil ca amândoi să aveți dreptate. Ceea ce dă calea corectă este consensul Sfinților Părinți (printre care la loc de cinste se află cei pe care i-ai numit) – din cauza asta am amintit de slujba din Duminica Ortodoxiei.
Alexandru
n-am mai intalnit termenul “iubirist”, am googalit evident, cred ca te referi la extrema cealalta…de sinodicon am auzit acum la Duminica Ortodoxiei; cred ca cei la care te referi sunt mai greu de depistat…