Why the Pope is an opponent of the Orthodox world

The Roman Catholic Church is not just one of the Christian denominations, but has been and remains a historical, theological and geopolitical opponent of the entire Orthodox world.

As for theological-dogmatic, canonical and church-historical disagreements (disagreements due to which literally rivers of blood are spilled), here the knowledge of most of us, including Orthodox christians, is extremely scarce.

Of course, within the framework of one article it is impossible to disassemble in detail the whole complex of discrepancies between Orthodoxy and Catholicism. In the meantime, I propose to understand the basic reasons why the Pope as a guest for us, the Orthodox, to put it mildly, is worse than any enemy.

"The Holy Canons do not allow this"

To begin with, it is important to understand why the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s sisterhood to us categorically opposed the visit of Pope Francis imposed on it by the Euro-Atlantic politicians. And one of her hierarchs, Metropolitan Nikolai Plovdivsky (Sevastyanov), explicitly stated that the purpose of the “pontiff's” visit to Bulgaria is ecumenical, and therefore anti-Christian:

The visit of the Pope is a political act, his goal is to unite all the religions around the pope, so that when the antichrist comes, the pope will meet him, and through him and everyone who is with him.

In turn, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church, with which politicians who invited Pope Francis to Sofia, did not even bother to consult, clearly stated the inadmissibility of any joint prayer and prayer actions of the Orthodox with Roman Catholics:

We would like to emphasize that service in any form of general liturgical or prayer-following is unacceptable for us, since the Holy Canons do not allow this. In this regard, participation [in the meeting of the Pope] Patriarchal Choir is also impossible.

The liberal media immediately subjected the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to monstrous persecution. Although it would seem that these "progressive" journalists and their curators understand in canon law? Church rules from early Christian times unequivocally establish harsh punishments not only for worship, but even for joint prayer with heretics and schismatics. Up to the eruption of dignity and even anathema - excommunication from the Church.

And in general, is there any case for the liberal media before anyone praying with or not praying? But no. In the minds of pro-Western propagandists propagandists far from any Christian denomination, the Roman Catholic Church is “its own”, although it sometimes opposes abortions and same-sex “marriages” (recently less and less often, but more often to protect the rights of all kinds of illegal immigrants and minorities) . But what is the reason for such marking "your - someone else's"? Here it is worth delving into the story.

"Heresy, declaring the West"

The creators of today's "united" Europe are actively abandoning its Christian roots. To the extent that even in the preamble of the European Constitution there is no mention of Christianity. Nevertheless, the whole logic of Western European sociopolitical processes is associated with the retreat of Roman Catholics from the fullness of patristic Christianity, called "orthodox" or, in Slavonic, "Orthodox."

So, long before the separation of the Western and Eastern Churches, Latin theology began to show gradually not a focus on penance and penance, but a kind of Catholic anthropocentrism. It was he who led the Roman Catholic Church to such heretical tenets, as already mentioned “filioque”, as well as “papal primacy” - the exaltation of the Roman bishops over all Primates of the Local Churches. Moreover, in the end, this was expressed in the doctrine of "papal infallibility." Of course, it is not about the fact that the popes are completely devoid of human sins, but, according to Catholic teaching, are infallible in matters of faith when they come up with their encyclicals and other theological statements.

And if the numerous other theological and canonical delusions of Roman Catholics (whose analysis will also be given on the pages of the Tsargrad TV channel), they themselves are ready to discuss and even compromise with the Orthodox in some way, then this is the fundamental basis of their heresy. move over "not ready. Actually, this is why the greatest Russian Orthodox theologian of the 19th century, Prelate Ignatius (Brianchaninov) insisted that papism was not just a delusion, but akin to Satanism:

Papism is the so-called heresy, which declared the West, from which various Protestant teachings originated, as from the tree of the branch. The grace of God has receded from the papists; they are committed to themselves and to Satan - the inventor and father of all heresies, among others, and papism.

No, of course, it's not about the fact that Roman Catholics worship a goat baphomet or three sixes. This is one of the most terrible sins - pride, on which (and not the stone of which Christ Himself spoke) the Roman Catholic Church is founded.

And it was this pride that first led the Latins to have greatly distorted the Church's Sacred Tradition. Starting from dogmatic theology (the same filioque) and sacramentology (the doctrine of the sacraments, including the moment of the liturgical transubstantiation of bread and wine in the flesh and blood of Christ, of service not on leavened bread, but on wafers similar to the Judean unleavened bread — Matse, and many other things). And ending with aggressive proselytism - often violent attempts to convert Orthodox Christians to Catholicism.

It is worth noting that in the notorious 1054, when the first mutual anathemas were heard, the point of no return in Orthodox-Catholic relations was not yet passed. However, exactly one and a half centuries later, when during the Fourth Crusade the “crusaders” destroyed Constantinople and outraged the Orthodox shrines, it became clear: the Latins no longer considered us to be co-religionists, but the historical, cultural and civilizational differences were already so great that the reunion was barely is it possible.

Bloody "method of uniatism"

Nevertheless, attempts to unite with the Orthodox by the Roman Catholics were made repeatedly. But not through dialogue and penitential deliverance from heresies, but on the basis of political blackmail and truly raider seizures. So it was in 1439, when during the Ferrara-Florence Cathedral, the Patriarchate of Constantinople temporarily fell into Greek Catholic union, submitting to the popes. The same union was imposed in 1596 by the West Russian Episcopate, a number of representatives of which, under the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, betrayed Orthodoxy.

The consequences of these two unions we, the children of the Russian Orthodox Church, are still observing today. As in relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which behaves like the Vatican, and relatively Uniate Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). The latter is by far the most effective breeding ground for Ukrainian Russophobia and anti-Orthodox sentiment. Moreover, during the Euromaidan and further tragic events in the Donbass, it was the UGCC clerics who showed and continue to be particularly active in fomenting a fratricidal war.

By the way, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill, spoke very harshly and emotionally in one of his priests of the Holy Hierarch a few years ago.

One of these divisions is over 400 years old. And it was always aimed at the separation of the people who lived in this region. And when today, saying that someone from the side has destroyed the unity of the Ukrainian people, we answer: Shut up! 400 years you have worked to divide our people in Ukraine!

However, shortly after these words, Patriarch Kirill in February 2016 met with Pope Francis in Cuba. There was nothing reprehensible in the very fact of this meeting; moreover, the “Joint Statement of Pope Francis and His Holiness Patriarch Cyril” appeared on its results. The document in which “uniatism” was condemned black and white: “It is obvious that the“ uniatism ”method of previous centuries, which involves bringing one community into unity with another by separating it from its Church, is not a way to restore unity”.

However, more than 3 years have passed since then, during which the Uniates from the UGCC only intensified their “Drang nach Osten”. Along with the nationalist pseudo-Orthodox schismatics, it is the Greek Catholics who are doing everything so that in Western Ukraine there are no parishes of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the rest of South-Western Russia (where they are in absolute majority) Orthodox communities were extremely limited. rights (as representatives of the religious organization of the “aggressor state”).

And at this very time, when blood continues to flow in the Donbass, and the UGCC clerics not only bless the Ukrainian punishers, but also ideologically justify their crimes, Pope Francis continues to support Ukrainian Greek Catholics. And in the beginning of July of this year, she plans to receive a large Uniate delegation in the Vatican in order to “express closeness to the UGCC, which provides pastoral service both at home and in various regions of the world.”

"Visit for the visit"?

And now “attention to the question”: why would Pope Francis, not only extremely far from Orthodoxy, but also taking a consistently Russophobic position, visit to Orthodox Russia? To see the sights of the Third Rome? Hardly. Such a visit can only be of a religious and political nature. And if its content is about the same as the meeting in Cuba, it will only bring harm to our secular and ecclesiastical authorities.

On the one hand, the authorities of the Russian State will be put in a foolish position. We'll have to smile and shake hands with a man in a white hat, whose many predecessors have slept for centuries and saw how to subordinate the Moscow Kremlin to the Vatican Hill, and this “guest” himself is completely inscribed into the world political elite that does everything to destroy Russia as a superpower . On the other hand, the clergy of the Russian Church will also have to smile and kiss the character, who, in fact, deceived our Primate in 2016.

Will there be any benefit from this? The answer is obvious. Although for Pope Francis himself there could well have been a spiritual benefit if he had brought repentance to the Orthodox. Not hypocritical, like the way he was washing his feet for illegal immigrants who flooded Europe, but sincere and active. First of all, for the bloody sins of the UGCC, which can hardly be eliminated now, but it can be quite limited in the rights and territory of its activities.

And the main thing is to publicly acknowledge the Catholic responsibility for the bloody deeds of a century ago (the murder of many thousands of Orthodox Russians of Galicia and Transcarpathia, including in the Talerhof concentration camp and the Terezin prison during the First World War) and the last five years. In the meantime, nothing of the kind is noticeable; the international Orthodox "slogan of the moment" remains:

“Stop the Pope!”