Page 1 of 1

St Ignatius Brianchaninov on Anathema

Posted: Tue 24 February 2015 2:24 pm
by Isaakos

Taken from his homily on the Sunday of Orthodoxy:
http://orthodoxy1982.blogspot.com/2015/ ... a.html?m=1

The word anathema means severance, rejection. When the Church anathematizes a teaching, it means that that teaching contains blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and for the sake of salvation it should be rejected and removed, as poison is removed from food. When a person is anathematized, it means that he has irreversibly adopted a blasphemous teaching, and through them deprives himself and those near him, to whom he has imparted his line of thought, of salvation. When a person has made the commitment to abandon the blasphemous teaching and to receive the teachings upheld in the Orthodox Church, he is obligated, according to the rules of the Orthodox Church, to anathematize the false teaching that he formerly upheld, which was destroying him, alienating him from God, keeping him locked in enmity against God, in blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and communion with satan.

Now consider those things that are anathematized, like the New Calendar, and you can see why the zealot fathers of Athos spoke strongly against it as a spiritual condition, calling the New Calendarist bishops Heresiarch Hierarchs and Antichrists.

And truly, could communion with anyone LESS than Satan have brought about their epic fall?


Re: St Ignatius Brianchaninov on Anathema

Posted: Tue 24 February 2015 9:21 pm
by jgress

Thank you for this.