World Orthodoxy and the Name-Worshiping Heresy

[Maria]

Below are some very important quotes by our Holy Fathers:

Remember, the power is not in the word, not in the name, but in Christ Himself, Who is
named. -- St. Barsanuphius of Optina.

There was a time when God had no name, and there will be a time when he will have no name.
-- St. Isaac the Syrian, Unpublished Chapters on Knowledge, III,1, syr e7, Bodleian.

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And this is an excellent sermon by an ROCOR Priest
http://orthodoxengland.org.uk/nameworship.htm
Evidently, some in the ROCOR are trying to correct the erring.

[Priest Antonios]

I have the 1997 edition of the HTM Psalter and in it "name" is not capitalized either.

-Antonios

[Lydia]

Yes, I agree. Well done, Maria!
"The Wonderful Name" website refers to several biblical quotes. In my KJV, I can't find the verses from the psalms. Are they numbering them differently?
The ones I can find, the "name" is never capitalized. However, in their quotations it is.

In the HTM Psalter, published in 1974, Psalm 30: "for Thy name's sake..."
In my Russian language bible, published in 1964, the "name's" is also NOT capitalized.

Subtle and sneaky, just like a serpent.

Dear Lydia,

For the Psalms, the KJV and the NKJV and other Protestant Bibles and Psalters use the Hebrew numbering, which differs from that of the Greek Septuagint used by HTM and other Orthodox Psalters. Therefore, Psalm 29 (Greek Septuagint or LXX) is Psalm 30 (Hebrew Text).

The 1974 HTM Psalter did not capitalize the Lord's name, but the newer editions do.

• Psalm 148
  12: Young men and virgins, elders with the younger:
  let them praise the Name of the Lord,
  for exalted is the Name of Him alone.
  13: His praise is above the earth and heaven,
  and He shall exalt the horn of His people.
  14:This is the hymn for all His saints, for the sons of Israel,
  and for the people that draw nigh unto Him.

Reference: The Psalter According to the Seventy, Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA 1974, 5th printing 2008, p. 236.

• Psalm 148
  12: Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
  13: Let them praise the name of the Lord,
  for his name alone is excellent;
  his glory is above the earth and heaven.
  14: He also exalteth the horn of his people, he praise of all his saints;
  even of the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise ye the Lord.

Reference: Holy Bible (KJV), Thomas Nelson Inc., Nashville, TN, 1977, p. 384.

A great book on Name-Worshipping is Vladimir Moss' On the Name of God, published in 2007. Apparently, the Name-Worshipping cult began to spread in Russia in 2000. Moss' very scholarly book can be downloaded for free at:
http://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/d ... OF_GOD.pdf

Yes, of course. Thank you again, Maria.

[Maria]

I wanted to share these thoughts on Arch. Sophrony's book, On Prayer.

• The Name Jesus as knowledge, as ‘energy’ of God in relation to the world and as His proper Name, is ontologically bound up with Him. It is spiritual reality. Its sound can merge with its reality but not necessarily so. As a name it was given to many mortal men but when we pray we utter it with another content, another ‘frame’ of spirit. For us it is the bridge between us and Him. It is the canal along which the streams of divine strength flow to us. As proceeding from the Holy God it is holy and it hallows us by its invocation. With this Name and through it prayer acquires a certain tangibleness: it unites us with God. In it, this Name, God is present like a scent-flask full of fragrance. Through it, the Celestial One can be sensed imminently. As divine energy it proceeds from the Substance of Divinity and is divine itself.

Reference: Archimandrite Sophrony, On Prayer (Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998), p. 133.

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Someone over at OC.net asked me if I could explain the difference between the Holy Eucharist and calling upon the Name of Jesus. Note that although I have taken some courses in theology, I am not a theologian, neither do I have an MA in theology. My specialty is linguistics.

However, that said, reception of the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist is not the same as pronouncing the Name of Jesus. In the reception of the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist, we receive not bread and wine, but our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, True God and True Man. Our Lord truly is present to us in the Holy Mysteries, and it is He who gives us the remission of our sins and life everlasting.

[list] "Whoever who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me" (John 6: 54-57 (NKJV) [i]Orthodox Study Bible[/i], 2008, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008, p. 1436). [/list]
However, God's Name is a created word, which we use to identify Christ. The Name of God is neither an uncreated Divine Energy, nor is the Name of Jesus God Himself contrary to what Arch. Sophrony asserts in his passage above. The Bible mentions nothing about invoking the Name of Jesus for the guaranteed remission of our sins and for a guarantee of life everlasting. "Name it and claim it salvation" is preached by those Protestants who believe "Once Saved, Always Saved," not by True Orthodox Christians. According to the late Father Alexander Schemann of the OCA, even when a priest prays the prayer of Absolution seven times during Holy Confession, if a penitent is not repentant, his sins will not be forgiven (c.f. [i]For the Life of the World[/i]). Even though the Bible does mention that demons tremble at the Name of Jesus, it also states that not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord" will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Furthermore, if the Name were uncreated, why would a large number of men be named Jesus? How could these Hispanic men continue to live with such a Divine Name? This is a question which the Name-Worshippers carfefully avoid.

Name-Worshippers claim that the God's Name is uncreated and also claim that His Name is a Holy Sacrament. If a priest's prayer of absolution cannot guarantee remission of sins, then mentioning the Name of God is not a sacrament. If merely saying the Name of Jesus is efficacious and effects changes, then why, as told in the New Testament, could not men cast out demons in the Name of Christ? Thus, Name-Worshipping is a false teaching that was rightfully condemned by both the EP and the MP in 1913.

[Maria]

Name-Worshippers often quote St. John of Kronstadt as being one of them.

Let us listen to the words of Vladimir Moss on this subject:

• Vladimir Moss observes:

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  "As another example of how the name-worshippers distort the holy fathers, let us consider their oft-repeated claim that St John of Kronstadt believed that the Name of God was God. Now it is quite true that St John sometimes employed expressions which, taken out of context, might lead one to believe that he was a name-worshipper. But the context was always prayer; and the point St John was always trying to make was that in true, heartfelt prayer, no distinction is felt between God and the Name of God (and this, as we have seen, is perfectly true). But that St. John did not confuse the subjective identification of “Jesus” and Jesus in prayer with their objective identification in reality is evident from the following: «Let not the heart weak in faith think that the cross or the name of Christ act of themselves, or that this cross and this name of Christ produces miracles when I do not look with the eyes of my heart or with the faith of Christ”.[105] These words of St John contradict one of the main theses of name-worshipping, namely, that the name of God, being God Himself, works of itself ."[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imiaslavie

[Archimandrit Nilos]

Sophrony was a disciple of Sergius Boulgakov (+1944) from the so called "Parisian School". I shouldn't wonder he was indeed a Name-Worshipper. Boulgakov was very favourable to the Name-Whippers. There is also favourable statement of Boulgakov about the Name-Worshipping. No wonder.

[Maria]

Sophrony was a disciple of Sergius Boulgakov (+1944) from the so called "Parisian School". I shouldn't wonder he was indeed a Name-Worshipper. Boulgakov was very favourable to the Name-Whippers. There is also favourable statement of Boulgakov about the Name-Worshipping. No wonder.

Thanks for this information. Lord have mercy.