TESTIMONIES
FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES AND THE HOLY FATHERS ON THE NECESSITY OF HAVING NO
COMMUNION WITH HERETICS AND SCHISMATICS, THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST
"And
the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the law of the Passover: no stranger
shall eat of it. And every slave or servant bought with money him thou
shalt circumcise, and then shall he eat of it. A sojourner or hireling shall
not eat of it. In one house shall it be eaten." Exodus 12.43-46.
St.
Apraphat of Syria writes that the "one house" in which the Passover
is to be eaten is "the Church of Christ", and that just as the slave
could not eat the Passover unless he was circumcised, so the sinner
"comes to Baptism, the true Circumcision, and is joined to the People of
God, and communicates in the Body and Blood of Christ". Demonstrations
12, 525.8, 525.12.
St.
John Chrysostom writes: "Let no-one communicate who is not of the
disciples. Let no Judas receive, lest he suffer the fate of Judas I would give
up my life rather than impart of the Lord's Blood to the unworthy; and I will
shed my own blood rather than give such awful Blood contrary to what is
right." Homilies on Matthew, 83.6.
St.
John the Almsgiver said: "We shall not escape sharing in that punishment
which, in the world to come, awaits heretics, if we defile Orthodoxy and the
holy Faith by adulterous communion with heretics." The Life of St. John
the Almsgiver.
St.
John of Damascus writes: "With all our strength let us beware lest we
receive Communion from or give it to heretics. 'Give not what is holy to the
dogs,' says the Lord. 'Neither cast ye your pearls before swine', lest we
become partakers in their dishonour and condemnation." Exposition of the
Orthodox Faith, IV, 13.
"Holy
things to the holy!" The Divine Liturgy.
"And
the Lord said to Joshua, Rise up: why hast thou fallen upon thy face? The
people has sinned, and transgressed the covenant which I made with them; they
have stolen from the accursed things (Greek: anathema), and put it into their
store. And the children of Israel will not be able to stand before their
enemies, for they have become an accursed thing (anathema); I will no longer
be with you, unless ye remove the accursed thing (anathema) from
yourselves." Joshua 7.10-11.
"Let
any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon that merely joins in prayer with heretics
be suspended, but if he has permitted them to perform any service as
clergymen, let him be deposed." Apostolic Canon 45.
"Let
any clergyman or layman who enters a synagogue of Jews, or of heretics, to
pray be both deposed and excommunicated." Apostolic Canon 65.
"Concerning
the necessity of not permitting heretics to come into the house of God, so
long as they persist in their heresy." Canon 6 of the Council of Laodicea.
"That
one must not accept the blessings of heretics, which are rather misfortunes
than blessings." Canon 32 of the Council of Laodicea.
"That
one must not join in prayer with heretics or schismatics." Canon 33 of
the Council of Laodicea.
St.
Maximus the Confessor said: "Even if the whole universe holds communion
with the [heretical] patriarch, I will not communicate with him. For I know
from the writings of the holy Apostle Paul: the Holy Spirit declares that even
the angels would be anathema if they should begin to preach another Gospel,
introducing some new teaching." The Life of St. Maximus the Confessor.
"Chrysostomos
loudly declares not only heretics, but also those who have communion with
them, to be enemies of God." St. Theodore the Studite, Epistle of Abbot
Theophilus.
"Guard
yourselves from soul-destroying heresy, communion with which is alienation
from Christ." St. Theodore the Studite, P.G. 99.1216.
"Some
have suffered final shipwreck with regard to the faith. Others, though they
have not drowned in their thoughts, are nevertheless perishing through
communion with heresy." St. Theodore the Studite.
"The
divine and sacred canons say: 'He who has communion with an excommunicate, let
him be excommunicated, as overthrowing the rule of the Church.' And again: 'He
who receives a heretic is subject to the same indictment' The great apostle
and evangelist John says: 'If anyone comes to you and does not bring this
teaching with him, do not greet him and do not receive him into your house;
for he who greets him communicates with his evil deeds' (II John 10-11). If we
are forbidden merely to greet him on the way, and if inviting him into our
house is prohibited, how can it be otherwise not in a house, but in the temple
of God, in the sanctuary at the mystical and terrible Supper of the Son of God
Whoever belches out the commemoration of him who has been worthily cut off by
the Holy Spirit for his arrogance towards God and the Divine things, becomes
for that reason an enemy of God and the Divine things." From an Epistle
of the Martyred Fathers of the Holy Mountain to Emperor Michael Palaeologus
against the heretical Patriarch John Beccus of Constantinople.
"All
the teachers of the Church, and all the Councils, and all the Divine
Scriptures advise us to flee from the heterodox and separate from their
communion." St. Mark of Ephesus.
"Be
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what partnership have
righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What
accord has Christ with Belial? What agreement has the temple of God with
idols? For we are the temple of the living God." II Corinthians 6.14-16.
"Come
out of her, My people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her
plagues." Revelation 18.4.