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The cosmic warfare theodicy, outlined in the previous paper, portrays overarching biblical echoes of the struggle challenging God and His creation. On earth, not all of God’s challengers operate in the light of the day for all to see. The challengers prefer to act in the shadows, despite the presence of light, attempting to lure man to willfully ignore God’s judgment.
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)
The deceivers operate with human impunity, unafraid of God, because they possess pride and confidence in their intellect and positions of power to manipulate man. In other words, they are doing today to humans that which they have succeeded in doing in the past. Their past deeds have become one with their flawed nature.
But before getting to an individual malefactor—at the granular level—let us look at the earthly battlefield within which they are operating. If the first paper was a cosmic viewpoint, let us briefly reduce our field of vision to the 50,000-foot level of altitude—one wherein the armies of evil can be seen moving on the battlefield.
An excellent paper entitled, An Open Letter from Greek Clergy and Laity on the Ukrainian Issue,1 succinctly depicts the challenge against God.
Almost all the Local Churches harbor very serious reservations about the canonicity and validity of the new church’s priesthood. Indeed, 15 out of its roughly 50 bishops received their “priesthood” from self-ordained individuals!2 Such a thing has never happened before!
While the paper is powerful in content, let's get to the granular level answering the question: What does this mean to us—to you? Let me attempt to provide a consequence of the “compromise” made by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Our Holy Orthodox Church’s strength resides, among many elements, on the apostolic priesthood.
The Orthodox Church has her origin with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, not with a human teacher, or group, nor a code of conduct or religious philosophy. Orthodoxy believes that the Church has her origin in the Apostolic Community called into being by Jesus Christ, and enlivened by the Holy Spirit.3 [Emphasis added.]
Without apostolicity, the Holy Mysteries are invalid. By willfully, in the light of day, incorporating a non-apostolic element into the body of the church, it is compromised—its integrity is poisoned. The intentional breach of God’s will is an affront not only to the Son of God, the Bible, history, Holy Tradition, tradition, and canon laws; it is also a perilous act for humanity and its future—more so for its souls and salvation. It is worse than the traitorous actions of the Hungarian cannon founder named Urban in allying with Mehmet.
In the words of witness Nicol Barbaro,
One hour before daybreak the Sultan had his great cannon fired, and the shot landed in the repairs which we had made and knocked them down to the ground. Nothing could be seen for the smoke made by the cannon, and the Turks, under the cover of the smoke, and about 300 of them got inside the barbicans.4
It was at that moment on May 29, 1453, that the Eastern Roman Empire ceased to exist. No, the wall was not felled with a single cannon shot. It had been pummeled for over a month.
The same spiritual pummeling has been ongoing for well over a year. The spiritual cannon shots to which Orthodox Christians are being subjected are the denuding of the apostolic priesthood by a failure of leadership to adhere to the commandments of Jesus.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”5
With last year's decision by the Ecumenical Patriarchate the apostolic walls of Holy Orthodoxy have been breached, and many clergy and laity are willing abettors, and too many others are ignorant of the actual spiritual ramifications.
Let us take one example, the Holy Mystery of Baptism, which requires three exorcisms.
To understand the Orthodox view and practice of exorcism, one must know the Orthodox presuppositions of evil and its doctrine of Satan. The patristic evidence points to the fact that the cause of evil in the world is the devil. The devil was created by God as an angel, who was free, and as a free agent chose to oppose the plan of God. That is, the devil is a fallen angel. Satan is not evil by nature, but by will and action. In Satan there is no truth whatsoever; he is absolute falsehood and deception. Satan is not just a negation or deprivation of good, but a positive force with free will that always chooses evil. The devil has the ability to recognize divine power, as in the incident of recognizing Christ as the Son of God (Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-3).6 (Emphasis added.)
If the preceding is valid (and it is), then the non-apostolic “bishops,” “priests,” and its willing church laity are, by their choice, not of a divine community. The non-apostolic individuals cannot expel demons through exorcism prayers. As a consequence, every infant, child, or adult is spiritually compromised—open to the demonic.
The preceding is not my personal opinion, it is the belief of the Holy Orthodox Church.
From the Orthodox theological point of view, the following can be considered exorcists: [1] Christ is the exorcist par excellence for it is He who won the victory over the power of the devil. [2] Priests in the performance of the holy sacraments and in preaching the word of God follow Christ's example.7
Moreover, if the non-apostolic individuals and their abettors are not of a divine community, then the consecration of the bread and wine into the body and blood at the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist is non-valid, non-healing and open to the demonic. The “so-called priestly” individuals are not only self-deceiving but deceivers.
The same issues are evident in the Holy Mystery of Repentance. How can a non-apostolic individual or abettor forgive sins while in a non-apostolic community in the name of God?
This begs the question, what is the efficacy of any non-apostolic individual's blessing or prayer?
And the list of questions, as you can see, begins to grow. The actions initiated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate against the Holy Orthodox Church increase with greater demonic ferocity and boldness than that of Urban’s cannon. It is not a human-made wall that has fallen. Instead, it is a spiritual bulwark against the demonic forces reigning on the earth that has fallen, torn down by men unfaithful to God.
A visitor came to our small parish and, in apparent displeasure, asked, “What has Ukraine to do with Constantinople and this parish?” An astute parishioner volunteered, without hesitation, “Everything.” Yes, “everything” was the right answer. The visitor stayed.
Very few former parishioners want to listen, much less appreciate, the above. Instead, they’ve succumbed to the world of today, defining their happiness as being apostolic. Some, if not many, understood the preceding logic and have moved on to other apostolic dioceses.8 Certainly, I pray, more would move if they realized the gravity of their egos and emotions controlling their decision-making. Unfortunately, those who remain are listening to deceptive counsel. Still, others do not want to hear or read of the above because they’d have to confront an inconvenient spiritual reality. Others, sadly don’t care—they neither go to confession nor believe in the demonic.
All of the above is reinforced by a priest who has, in response to parishioner queries said, “This is problem for the priests, not the laity.” I beg to differ strongly. The demon’s target is us…the observers…every person in this house.9 The house being attacked is the Holy Orthodox Church. It is being undermined by men who have forsaken their apostolic priesthood. It's done willfully and with subtlety, bearing no accountability to anyone except their self-serving needs. The following paragraph aptly captures the ultimate intent of the effort.
Hitler himself taunted his opponents for their powerlessness against him. They might rage at him as much as they liked, but “When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side’, [Hitler] says calmly ‘Your child belongs to us already . . . What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community.’”10
Indeed, that is the wish and the desire many have in their mind—“to pass [on the non-apostolic entity, knowing its descendants] now stand in the new camp. In a short time, they will know nothing but this new community.”
The problem remains and is real. Ultimately, this conflict is about our children's souls. And despite words to the contrary by the singular priest above, as well as others, they will find no darkness at noon in which to hide from God.
