Плоды экуменического древа. Экуменическое движение в экклезиологическом аспекте

Let nobody think, that I'm going to judge The Most Reverend Anthony — God is a judge to everyone. I'm only going to try to suggest the reader regarding more attentively his doctrines highlighted in respect of the orthodox teaching. I beg for forgiveness beforehand, if I hurt somebody. It is habitual for doctors to cause pain so that a man can recover. As St. John Chrysostom says: «Should not we rather vex the slaves like us rather than annoy God against us?»¹. Not daring rely on my little knowledge in the sphere of praying, I turned to the works of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. I hope that his true knowledge of praying will help us to look into the matter and point out theoretical and practical mistakes in «The School of Prayer».

Influence of the West

Talking about the prudence with which one should attend to praying, The Most Reverend Anthony rather carelessly introduces «edifying» examples from many world religions and also some stories from the life of people who had never been attached to the Church. In the Orthodox Religion there are enough examples of piety which are worth following. Though The Most Reverend Anthony turns for praying experience not to the holy fathers of Church, but to western secular writers-day- dreamers. Thus, he attains the reader's attention to the story «The Small Prince» by a French pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who, as it is known, had even no idea about Christianity. In addition to that he approved of theomachistic communism and had at his disposal ideas of morality far from Christian ones².

It is difficult to understand what made The Most Reverend resort to an innovation, which has never taken place in the Church doctrine. Why would he choose something from heretic and godless teaching, something that in no way can be a good example, at the same time neglecting the words of St. Irenaeus of Lyon, who says: «One must not seek within others for truth which it is easy to derive from Church. For into it like into a rich treasury the Apostles placed everything that is referred to truth...» ³.

Trying to justify somehow the teaching of His Eminence I presupposed that such variety of «edifying» examples for a modem Englishman, being unfamiliar with the orthodox tradition, will be helpful in quicker choosing and finding the right way to pray. It's a pity, but such understanding does not suit the teaching of Metropolitan Anthony. There are numerous locally honored orthodox saints in England the life and podvigs⁴ of which can and must be an example for our contemporary. These are St. King Oswald, St. Winifred-Boniphatsy, St. Beda the Venerable, St. hermit Gootlak and many others. All in all, on the icon of All the Saints of Britain approximately five hundred people are depicted.

I think that not only for the Englishmen, but for all the believers it would have been much more edifying to get to know the praying experience of the orthodox Britons rather than lean from heretics. St. Ignatius Brianchaninov ⁵ writes the following on this account: «The one reading books by false teachers is sure to join the sly, dark spirit of He. Shall not this seem strange and unreal to you. This is announced by the Church luminary — the holy fathers... Let only God's finger be writing on your tablets»⁶.

Maybe, someone would say that His Eminence Anthony did so following the suit of St. Basil the Great who in his «Instructions to the Youth how to use heathen manuscripts» teaches to choose the good in them. But, St. Basil, when he addressed the youth studying the Greek philosophy and gave examples from Homer, taught them to choose the record of virtues simultaneously warning them of danger. Thus he wrote: «It is necessary not to accumulate along with them (the virtues) into the soul something bad unnoticed, exactly the way some people along with honey bolt poisonous things»⁷.

The Most Reverend Anthony gives examples from heretic teachings not only failing to warn, but, on the contrary, passing «poison» for a virtue. So, he holds up as an example the prayer of a French peasant, who spent every day in the rural church. When asked by the Cure of Are⁸, what he was doing there sitting all day long, he responded: «I look at Him and He looks at me and we are fine together» ⁹.

The second part of the phrase sounds especially blasphemous: «We are fine together». Which sensible person would say that he is /stays/ with God? More to that, God is unalterable and, if I can put it this way, he can be fine even without a catholic peasant. As for the God's will regarding a person, it consists in the active deeds of a Christian — in constant repentance and love, and not in being passive and motionless, like the peasant, whose example was cited.