Visit of HOCNA clergy to St. Maximus Parish
http://www.hotca.org/index.php?option=c ... &Itemid=74
Friday, 28 August 2009 02:37
On August 10/23 Bishop Demetrius of Carlisle, together with two other priests of HOCNA, Fr. John Fleser and Fr. Peter Farnsworth, attended a festal Liturgy at St. Maximus parish in Owego, New York. At this celebration Metropolitan Pavlos awarded Fr. Thomas Marretta, the rector of St. Maximus, the office of Protopresbyter for his dedicated service to the Church as a priest for 30 years. Metropolitan Pavlos invited the clergy from Boston to attend as a sign of unity among the True Orthodox Christians; this being especially appropriate in view of Fr. Thomas’s long-standing friendship with the clergy of HOCNA and the fact that he was baptized into the Orthodox Faith at Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston, MA. We wish Fr. Thomas Many Years on his reception of the honor of the protopresbytery, and pray that such demonstrations of brotherly support from other True Orthodox jurisdictions will become more frequent!
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It is quite unfortunate to learn that Met. Pavlos invited clergy from the heretical group "HOCNA" to one of their festal liturgies. It is even more disturbing that HOTCA refers to the HOCNA as "True Orthodox Christians" and as a "True Orthodox Jurisdiction". The leaders of HOCNA have shown no indication of repenting of any of their heresies, but rather they appear to be becoming more entrenched, as recent unorthodox articles published by the HOCNA's Met. Ephraim demonstrate.
May we all pray that Met. Pavlos and Bp. Christodoulos return to their senses and abandon their planned path to unity with this heretical group.
One wonders if Bp. Christodoulos, or perhaps a spokesman acting on his behalf, would like to explain to us how it is that their churches in America are adorned with icons of the Holy Trinity, with the Beginningless Father depicted as an old man (The Ancient of Days), while the HOCNA has officially and very publicly declared these icons to be heretical, and will not adorn their assemblies with depictions of these types. Is this some sort of old-calendarist ecumenism at work? It appears to be that way. Either these depictions are sacred, holy, and canonical, and ought to be venerated by the faithful, as has been the tradition of the Church dating back many centuries, or they are not!
Either HOCNA must repent of their slander of these sacred depictions, and abandon the Trinitarian heresies that accompany their unorthodox rejection of these icons, or, God forbid, the HOTCA will be forced to admit that these icons which have adorned many of their temples in America, and in their sister synod in Greece for decades, are kakodox!
It is naive to believe that these two groups can share any "unity" or "communion" together while holding diametrically opposed opinions with regards to the holy icons and other doctrines. This is something we have come to expect from the anti-Christ inspired World Council of Churches, but not something that one would expect to learn from churches claiming to adhere to the Gospel teaching of "One Lord, one faith, one baptism."
It appears that HOTCA and HOCNA are content to proclaim a unity amongst themselves, while maintaining not One, but rather two faiths--one publicly and unabashedly opposed to the icons, and the other maintaining a long tradition of adorning their churches with said icons.
Kyrie eleison!
Old-calendar ecumenism is rearing its ugly head. Unity cannot come at the expense of Truth.
