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| Saint Sophrony the Athonite. "Prayer is infinite creativity above all art" |
Supposedly,
many of the Churches which are nominally Christian have equal grace, and
because of that we should proceed towards the union of the Churches on the
basis of some common program. One of the most frequent questions which one
comes across is the question of who will be saved and who will not be saved.
These people usually think that it is not only the Orthodox who will be saved
(according to Orthodox teaching), not only the Catholics (according to Catholic
teaching), but all virtuous people in general who believe in Christ. This
viewpoint has passed from the Protestants to the faithful of other Churches.
There are many among the Orthodox who hold this opinion.
Some
people think that no single one of the existing Churches can receive the
fulness of knowledge and grace, because each one of them in one or another
degree has deviated from the truth. They think that only now ‘at the end of the
ages’ they (these sages) have fully grasped the spirit of the teaching of
Christ, and that the entire Christian world has been led astray for many
centuries until now. That now the time has come when we must unite all the
separated parts into one universal and apostle Church, which will have the
fulness of truth in all its aspects, even though this union will only embrace
what is common to all the Churches. What is even worse, some of them are
pondering in their hearts a certain high, supra-ecclesial, mystical,
understanding of Christian religion, which… I won’t say more about this.
I
digressed into discussing this for one reason only: to tell you that I
very much want you (and I pray to God for this) not to be deceived by all
that, but to be convinced firmly in your heart and mind that on this earth
there is one unique and true Church which Christ founded; that this Church
maintains unspoiled the teaching of Christ, that she in her totality (and not
in her individual members) possesses the fulness of knowledge and grace and
infallibility. [I want you to be convinced] that what for several people seems
to be incompleteness in her teaching is none other than the potential for some
scholarly elaboration of her inexhaustible and infinite riches — this, however,
does not contradict in any measure what I said above about her possessing the
fulness of knowledge.
The
definitive form of expression of the Church’s teaching at the Ecumenical
Councils cannot be subjected to any change. All future academic work must
obligatorily concur with what was given in divine revelation and in the
teaching of the Ecumenical Councils of the Church. The same is true in connection
with grace: only the one and unique Church can have the fulness of grace. All
the other Churches, however, do have grace because of their faith in Christ,
but not in its fulness. We can, furthermore, believe that in our days there are
still people who, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, are equal to the great
Saints of the Church of ancient times. (I am saying this in connection with
what I heard about several people in Russia.) [This is] because Christ is the
same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13:8). All this is the truth.
Whoever departs from this faith will not stand.
Reference:
Striving
for Knowledge of God pp. 144-146. Letter 11.
https://classicalchristianity.com/2016/10/17/elder-sophrony-on-orthodoxy-and-ecumenism/