haralampopoulosjc wrote: ↑Fri 28 November 2025 2:58 pmview the encyclical as not representing the genuine views of Metropolitan Chrysostom of Florina at the time
A big mistake. We both judge what the bishops believe by what they formally claim, to know if it is Orthodox, and judge what the ancient saints believed by what they formally proclaimed, to know if we are Orthodox.
Claiming that what the Florinites put on paper was not the Florinite position, or that what the Cyprianites put on paper was not the Cyprianite position, or that what the Oecumenical Councils put on paper was not the Oecumenical position, or what the ROCA put on paper was not the position of the Church Abroad (in the 80s), or what the Greek state churches put on paper (in, say, 2016) is not the state church position, is a comfortable little mental gymnastic which would allow me to believe absolutely anything and belong to absolutely any group. I could go back to the patriarchate. I could join the Roman Catholics or the Calvinists, and happily believe anything I want contrary to their written doctrines.
Most members of heretical groups (incl. WO) do just that. We mustn't fall into the same trap. It's logically equivalent to oecumenism.