On the the Pan-Heresy of Ethnophyletism

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

Introduction

The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church actively supports the Russian government's war in Ukraine, referring to the West's resistance to this illegal action as "dark forces," gifting holy icons to the invaders, insisting that the war in Ukraine is a "Holy War," and using their religious influence to provide soft power support for the attack worldwide. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Church, also known as the "MP" ("Moscow Patriarchate"), is directly colluding with and supporting President Vladimir Putin in his military aggression, communing him in the Holy Mysteries, despite his self-excommunication due to the murder of innocent civilians, and indirectly promising heavenly glory to those who die fighting for Putin's cause. Despite many calls from clergy of good will around the world, the MP refuses to denounce the violence against Orthodox brothers and sisters in Ukraine, and the local jurisdictions dependent upon the MP in the United States, the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), have failed to do so as well. Thus, the Russian-affiliated Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States reveal themselves in support of the "Pan-Heresy of Enthnophyletism" and the "Russian World" ideology.  

Q: Has the OCA come out in condemnation of the violence in Ukraine or do they also continue to commemorate the MP?

A: They continue to commemorate the MP, as does ROCOR, despite a statement that said the contrary last week. That statement has now been denounced as fraudulent by the bishops of the ROCOR. Several strong statements have come out from OCA priests, unlike the ROCOR, where several of their priests have written excoriating critiques of Sr. Vassa Larin, Fr. Dr. Cyril Hovorun, and Public Orthodoxy’s “A Declaration on the Russian World,” denouncing them as servants of Satan for rebuking “righteous Russia.” ROCOR is willfully complicit in the violence of Russia against Ukraine, and despite the more reasonable stance of the OCA against the "violence" in Ukraine. However, none of their bishops have come out with any declarations condemning ethnocentric or statist heresies at this time. 

Q: So there is no official statement from the OCA?

A: The OCA clergy’s cry to their hierarchs to address the problem of the MP’s support on a war of aggression against the innocent in Ukraine can be found here. It appears that the reason the OCA’s hierarchy will not speak up is that the MP will break communion with them, and they will be “uncanonical” again.

Q: Can the OCA choose to move under the EP if the MP breaks communion with them? 

A: Not and keep their structure intact. The EP has been very adversarial to them in the past. Much like the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA,” they would be excluded from leadership and unable to influence the Greek Synod, effectively reduced to “vicar bishop” status. 

Q: Maybe this trouble is the church will help flush out the inconsistencies and help bring purity and truth to the forefront of the Church?

A: I hope it will, but the problem right now is that the MP’s misconduct is strengthening the EP’s Papalism, which is pushing a new false narrative in Orthodoxy, centralizing and disempowering local Churches, while making the EP’s underhandedness look warranted. I am actually very concerned that the EP wins this round and extinguishes the proper view of inter-ecclesial independence and accountability. The EP is very liberal leaning and not very pro-family, effectively acting as a secularizing Monastocracy. We are really “between a rock and a hard place” politically as Orthodox around the world. How to best address the problem is still slightly beyond us, since our dysfunctional canonical system means that priests and people will only listen to their centers of power, the Patriarchates, and suspect and despise anything else. This means that we can’t triangulate with other Orthodox to address the problem.

Q: How is our Church different when it comes to the difficulties world Orthodoxy is facing right now? 

A: I am confident in our Church’s stance against Ethnophylitism and Pan-Slavic "Russian World" ideology because of our unwavering historical rebuke to these heresies from the 1950's until today. This firm stance is also why I believe we are correct in our understanding of our rightful autocephaly and canonicity, which, once given by the Mother Church, cannot be canceled, reneged or taken back by any other ecclesiastical authority. The inability to stand against the heresies of ethnocentrism and statism on the part of these larger jurisdictions reveals a secret underbelly that they, with their major canonical inconsistencies and airbrushed narratives, would rather keep concealed from view, but which we can see clearly as the original missionary jurisdiction in the United States. I do not believe that they are any more “canonical” than we are, despite their great protestation to the contrary, especially when it comes to the ecclesiology of the ancient Church and how they reckoned canonicity from the apostolic foundations of the local Church, in its place, in synodality with itself and other local Churches. One of the things that makes these other jurisdictions so uncomfortable right now is that these hidden seams and fault-lines are now showing, pointing to the realities I have highlighted in my writing over the past decade. 

Summary

Orthodoxy must take a strong stance against heresy and corruption, so that we may be true to our calling as Christ's Church on earth. To denounce other churches such as the Roman Catholics or Anglicans for heresy, while embracing Ethnophyletism and "Russian World" ideology ourselves, is disingenuous, dishonest, deceitful, and damnable, showing that we are falling away from grace in the same ways we declare others to have fallen due to other heresies. The Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Anglican Vicariate rejects these heresies in the strongest terms possible and insist on the repentance of those who embrace them, support them, or defer to them because of canonical structures. They deprive us of the true faith and God's saving grace in just as dramatic a capacity as the Filioque ever could! 

We pray that the OCA and the ROCOR will find the strength to guide their people away from the heresy of ethnocentric and statist ideologies, restore a pure and simple Gospel to their people, and preach Christ and Him crucified to a lost and needy world! May God give them wisdom and strength! 

May the Lord have mercy on us all!