A Study of the Ecclesiology of Resistance: The Writings of Metropolitans Cyprian of Oropos and Fili, Chrysostomos of Florina, and Cyril of Kazan

Publication Data: Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1994
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: 95
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.3 cm × 13.8 cm × 0.6 cm

   
Patrick G. Barker

Number X of Monographic Supplement Series

“‘God-pleasing resistance’ may appear at first sight to be a contradiction in terms. Is not Christianity all about love, peace, and harmony? [...]If we should form factions for personal gain, we are indeed guilty of dividing the flock. But when the Church is assailed by wolves in sheep’s clothing, that is, by heretics masquerading as Hierarchs, each one of us, whether a clergyman or a layman, has a sacred responsibility to guard the treasure entrusted to us (cf. I Timothy 6:20). St. Peter also advises us: ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist [‘ἀντίστητε’] steadfast in the Faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world’ (I St. Peter 5:8-9). It is, after all, the devil who sows seeds of dissension among Christians; it is he who, as the ‘father of lies’ (St. John 8:44), seeks to lead the flock astray with false teachings. And to him, we must react in a spirit of ‘steadfast resistance.’”
—“CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS”

CONTENTS

Chapter I
Introductory Remarks
Chapter II
An Ecclesiological Position Paper
Chapter III
Reply to the Magazine Thymiama: The Panheresy of Ecumenism and False Depositions
Chapter IV
A Reply We Owe to the Magazine Thymiama
Chapter V
The Epistles of Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan