Outside the Church, there is no salvation?

[Justice]

Has the GOC-S accepted the sainthood of Met. Philaret of the ROCOR?

[Maria]

Has the GOC-S accepted the sainthood of Met. Philaret of the ROCOR?

The GOC under Archbishop Stephanos does not accept the recent canonizations of any saints done by World Orthodox or other TOCs.

St. John of San Francisco who died on July 2, 1966 and who was canonized on June 19/July 2, 1994 by the ROCOR also poses a problem. I personally (privately) venerate him as a saint. He has healed me several times. How can I not thank him and continue to ask his powerful intercession.

This is why two Greek Orthodox Metropolitans were censored recently by the GOC. These men had asked that the GOC synod, U.S. bishops and clergy sign a statement that strongly implied that St. John of San Francisco and Metropolitan Philaret of the ROCOR were not to be venerated or honored by U.S. parishes. St. John died in 1966 only a few years before the GOC joined the ROCOR in 1971. St. John of San Francisco was already being venerated privately by many of the US parishes under the ROCOR, several of which of later left the ROCOR and joined the GOC, including Holy Trinity parish in Phoenix, Arizona and the Cathedral parish in New York. These two parishes were received as Russian-Greek Pan-Orthodox parishes in the GOC. Sadly, this only became an issue in 2015 when certain inquirers and new members from the U.S.A. leaked information and gossiped about the private veneration of non-GOC saints to these two metropolitans (now recently censored) who did not understand Russian Orthodoxy. This is why gossip, especially from non-informed laity, is so damaging to the Church. In this case, this gossip given to these two Greek Metropolitans has lead to a new schism.

This is also why lay theologians in Orthodoxy are dangerous. In the USA and in Roman Catholicism, a theologian is one who studies (dissects) God into so many parts that they lose belief in God. It is not surprising that the study of philosophy and metaphysics in preparation for theological studies often leads to the abandonment of the faith and to atheism. I have known many Roman Catholic seminarians who have abandoned their faith when they started studying metaphysics. In the end, it is pride in their own research and in their Ph.D. and Th.D. degrees that leads to their downfall into arrogance, heresy, agnosticism and atheism.

On the other hand, in Holy Orthodoxy, a theologian is one who prays and who is mystically taken up into Heaven during the Divine Liturgy to taste and see and experience the Living Triune God. These theologians are our humble saints. They realize that they are lowly creatures whom God has purified, illuminated and sanctified, and they continually give thanks to God for bestowing His Grace on them. And they worship their Creator as Lord and God.

[Orthodox in Michigan]

Thank you Maria , for giving an complete answer with insight , i would not have know much about orthodoxy at all if it were not for the wrtings or books without the help of places like st herman press . The russian saints have really gave me the zeal and interest for orthodoxy.

Its seems to me though these good qualities and holy men however were not well armed against the powerful forces seeking to rend and submit it to ecumenism the greatest heresy of our time

Is it possible that veneration of these holy men could be a means of a trojan horse for the evil forces of ecumenism ?

[Maria]

Thank you Maria , for giving an complete answer with insight , i would not have know much about orthodoxy at all if it were not for the wrtings or books without the help of places like st herman press . The russian saints have really gave me the zeal and interest for orthodoxy.

Its seems to me though these good qualities and holy men however were not well armed against the powerful forces seeking to rend and submit it to ecumenism the greatest heresy of our time

Is it possible that veneration of these holy men could be a means of a trojan horse for the evil forces of ecumenism ?

Serbian World Orthodoxy has taken over the Platina monastery where Father Seraphim Rose is buried. They are heavily editing his books, so yes, his revised books have become a Trojan horse to push ecumenism by keeping people within World Orthodoxy. As a result, those in World Orthodoxy are not being told the truth.

For example, whenever I am out and about shopping, and I meet some of the simple laity in the OCA, the Greek Orthodox Church, or in the Antiochian Orthodox Church, especially those over 70, they tell me that they are not interested in politics (their word for ecumenism), but that they only go to church to receive communion. They are like birds with their heads buried in the sand. They see no evil, hear no evil, and do no evil, so they are happy innocent babes.