Nicholas,
How many hundreds of these heretics are within the new-calendarist organization? I just tried summarizing the list of situations and people I know in my own area, and it grew so long I deleted it and placed this sentence in its place. Suffice it to say, these heretics (and I know people are "tired" of that word) are not limited to certain "bishops" and "priests". The corruption and desolation is spreading to every acre and every new-calendarist.
As you seem to agree, Heretics have no Grace. Their ordinations are not Ordinations, their communion is not Communion. Their liturgies are not Liturgies. All those priests under a heretic bishop are as he is - Graceless. And in the period of 80 years, who can say who was ordained and baptised by who? If our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the spiritual eyes to see, we would not see Orthodox Priests and Bishops, we would see fallen and wounded men, pulling others down with them by the thousands.
But as it is with "walling off", it is impossible to speak of an absence of Grace. One is forced to accept heretic baptisms, and thus a quasi-communion exists with heretics, which is most absurd. In the history of the Church, one does see periods where this Saint or that group were "walled off". But in such cases, it was almost ALWAYS for canonical infractions, or in the cases of heresy, the heresy was very isolated.
"With a great voice, Saint John Chrysostom declared that not only heretics, but also they who hold communion with them are enemies of God," writes Saint Theodore the Studite. The entire written and unwritten Tradition of the Church, all the Saints and the Apostles in the Holy Scriptures declare the heretics and those who are in communion with them are Graceless. If you would like we could start another thread to list them all!
And to your point of slowly receading Grace:
The churches Grace is immediatley withdrawn from the heretics, and slowly from the people who become aware of it but do nothing.
When Nestorius first taught heresy in Constantinople, the other Orthodox Churches, even though they kept the Orthodox Faith, continued to maintain unbroken canonical relations with the Church of Constantinople and with Nestorius. Why did the few priests and laymen of Constantinople act differently? Why did they cease commemorating their Archbishop, and why did they publicly denounce him? By this act did they not place themselves outside of the Orthodox Catholic Church? Especially since the excommunication issued by their Archbishop (with whom all the Patriarchs and Bishops of the world were in communion) had descended on their heads? Which local Church of those that maintained the Orthodox Faith unsullied had canonical relations with the true Orthodox Christians of Constantinople? The Church of Jerusalem? That of Antioch? That of Rome? That of Alexandria? Not one. All the Churches maintained relations only with the Official Church of Constantinople and Patriarch Nestorius. If, because of the heresy of her Archbishop, the Church of Constantinople became automatically heretical, (that is, without prescription by the other Churches, which came later), then all the local Orthodox Churches became heretical, since they were in communion with a heretical
Church!?
In fact, neither the genuine Orthodox Christians of Constantinople who had been excommunicated by Nestorius were ever outside the Church, nor did the other local Churches ever become heretical, since they had never agreed with Nestorius. However, Nestorius’ heresy had not yet become widely known. Rumors were circulating, but things had only been substantiated or clarified for the residents of Constantinople because they had personally heard Nestorius’ preaching. For them, to continue in communion with Nestorius would have been tantamount to true heresy. The others were justified in remaining in communion until they could ascertain the facts of the matter. In such instances, communion is broken with a heretic little by little by the surrounding Churches, according to their measure of awareness of their neighbor’s heresy.
Today, after so many years, there is no excuse for anyone. No one should be scandalized, therefore, on hearing me say, on the one hand, that the new-calendarists are in heresy, and on the other, that we accept that the grace of the Mysteries was still with them in the beginning but that it was lost little by little as the sickness advanced, and until now, when there may not be a right-believing bishop left among them.
The Orthodox do not await the Church’s pronouncement of anathema in order to withdraw from heretics. All who become aware of an outbreak of a disease, withdraw without waiting for the order to be given to them by the health authorities. Circumstances may prevent such an order from ever being given, or of it being given too late. Those infected with a disease are thus infected whether the physicians know it or not, or whether they declare it or not. They who are near may be the first to comprehend the gravity of the disease, and they must be the first to leave since they are in greater danger than all the rest. Heresy is heresy whether it has been anathematized or not. Death comes to those who remain in communion with it, while awaiting, perhaps forever, for a synodal clarification.
