Thomas Deretich and Name-Worshipping

[StIgnatius]

Thank you Father!

[eish]

I am not interested in dialogue with name worshippers. Get lost.

[Jean-Serge]

I am trying to make a list of the events in the recent times.I am speaking from what I remember or heard.

Phase 1

In the early 2000s, Gregorie Louie resurrects the name-worshipping within ROAC. Are his theses based on Bulatovich or on the book "On the Mounts of Caucasus" by the Hieromonk Hilarion Domratchev, published in 1845? Gregorie Lourie is condemned. All the topic seems then a rather obscure Russian affair.

What was exactly Gregori Lourie's these?

Phase 2 HOCNA and Gregorie Lourie

Gregorie Lourie enters in communion with HOCNA, while he was visiting the US. Then HOCNA becomes associated with name-worshipping.

When did this happen?
What were the documents published by HOCNA at this precise moment and period ? What were they telling? They are necessary to evaluate any change in the position of the HOCNA. Could someone provide them? Could someone provide them?

Indeed, I do remember that in this period, much talks were not about the name of God but around the name "Jesus", with people telling that the name "Jesus" was God itself, other replying that it was a non-sense because Jesus was a name shared by many people, "Josuah" being a form of it. By the way, "Jesus" is a very common name in Spain.

The fact that the polemic was around the word "Jesus" is according to me confirmed by the fact that the 1913 document by the Synod of the Church of Russia tells :

"and they [Name-worshippers] decided to replace it with their teaching, i.e., that the Jesus Prayer saves, because the name “Jesus” is salvific, for in it, as in the other divine names, God is inseparably present."

OR

"More significantly, the acceptance (by Father Bulatovich) that “in the very sounds and the letters of the name of God the Grace of God is present” (Apology, pg 188) or, which is essentially the same, that God is inseparably present in His name"

Source : https://www.omologitis.org/en/wp-conten ... syn_en.pdf

So, I am really convinced that during this first phase, HOCNA and name-worshippers thought that the name "Jesus" was God in essence.

The rumour that came to my ears was that people of HOCNA, if they found the word Jesus printed in a newspaper, would cut it out with scissors so that this words are not desecrated when the newsparer is thrown.

Phase 3 HOCNA and GOC-Makarios enter in communion

This led to the Metropolitan Christophoros of Mesogeia leaving the synod. He dedicates here writings against name-worshipping : https://www.omologitis.org/en/archive/v ... rshippers/

Phase 4 Change in the definition of name-worshipping

Then the HOCNA published it defense of the position. I suspect that it was also a change in HOCNA position, abandoning the assertion that the word "Jesus" contains the essence of God or is God and using instead the expression "Name of God" without precising what they meant by it. I asked twice Metropolitan Gregory (of HOCNA) what they meants exacty by it, I got an answer to the first questions but not to the second batch.

Phase 5 HOCNA and GOC-Makarios break

Name-worshipping seem to be one of the reason, as if if both parts actually misunderstood what the other meant on the same topic. Metropolitan Philarète who is a GOC-Makarios bishop in France wrote a very good and short explanation about the limitation and error of name-worshippers, basing himself on Saint Gregory Palamas, on Saint Gregory of Nysse (Against Eunomus). It confirmed by intuitions that name-worshipping has some similarities with Eunomus's doctrine. Metropolitan Philarète knows ancient Greek, so he has a better access than some other people to key texts. I regret that he did not have time to write more in detail about the topic.

The website has disappeared. So, I will ask one of their monks to send it to me directly. It had interesting insights.

Conclusions

So, after so many years, I have the impression the name-worshippers themselves changed their doctrine from something like the word "Jesus" is God, to the "name of God" is God without defining what they call "Name of God" : is a name (if so, please give it), is it the expression 'name of God". If they could make public all their publication from the start to today, so that we can see the changes, it would be helpful. Can you provide all the HOCNA documents on the topic starting from Gregorie Lourie's visit to HOCNA until now?

Please note that the patristic commentaries explictely tell that :

• the expression "the finger of God" designates God's energy. So should we define ourselves as finger-glorifiers ?