LITANY OF ANATHEMAS

Christ Enthroned and Judging the World on the Last Day

THE GREAT SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY

The First Sunday of Lent

The Triumph of the Holy Icons and the Proclamation of the Apostolic Faith

(To be celebrated immediately after the Divine Liturgy of Saint James, following the procession of the Holy Icons and the proclamation of the Synodikon: “This is the True Faith…”)

✠ OPENING BLESSING ✠

Bishop: Blessed is our God, who hath manifested the Truth through His Incarnate Word.

People: Amen.

Deacon: Let us attend in peace.

✠ THE PROCLAMATION OF THE TRUE FAITH ✠

Bishop:

This is the Faith of the Apostles.

This is the Faith of the Fathers.

This is the Faith of the Seven Holy Ecumenical Councils.

This is the Faith which hath established the Universe.

All: This is the True Faith. We believe and confess.

✠ ETERNAL MEMORY ✠

To the Holy Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs, Confessors, Ascetics, and all Orthodox Fathers: Eternal Memory!

To the holy Fathers of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Councils: Eternal Memory!

To the defenders of the Holy Icons: Eternal Memory!

To the holy Western Fathers who preserved the Apostolic Faith in Britain, Ireland, Gaul, and ancient Rome before division and corruption: Eternal Memory!

✠ THE GREAT LITANY OF ORTHODOXY ✠

I. Concerning the Holy Trinity and the Person of Christ

To those who deny that the Son is consubstantial with the Father;

To those who deny the divinity of the Holy Ghost;

To those who divide Christ into two persons;

To those who confound His natures;

To all who reject the holy Apostolic Teaching of the One, Holy, Catholic and Orthodox Church regarding Christ’s Being - That our Lord Jesus Christ is true God and true Man in one Person without confusion, without change, without division, without separation;

ANATHEMA!

II. Concerning the Holy Icons and the Incarnation

To those who deny that the Word of God truly became flesh;

To those who reject the veneration of holy and venerable Icons, the holy Cross, and the Gospel Book, disbelieving that we worship not wood, stone, metal or paint, but that we worship God alone, and that our respect passes to the heavenly prototype through the work of the Holy Spirit;

To those who despise matter sanctified by the Incarnation as a vessel of holiness and a carrier of truth;

To the Iconoclasts and all who follow them into the destruction of holy scriptures, holy symbols, holy traditions, and holy words;

ANATHEMA!

III. Against Gnosticism Ancient and Modern

To those who despise the body;

To those who claim secret knowledge above the Apostolic Church;

To those who replace sacramental grace with esoteric speculation and secret rites;

To all who deny the goodness of God’s creation;

ANATHEMA!

IV. Against Modernism and Doctrinal Evolution

To those who say that divine Revelation changes with time;

To those who reinterpret dogma by secular ideology;

To those who deny miracles, the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and the Judgment to come; 

ANATHEMA!

V. Against Protestant Reductionism

To those who reject Apostolic Succession;

To those who deny the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist;

To those who teach Scripture apart from interpretation of the Ancient Fathers, the Disciples of the Holy Apostles, which is Holy Tradition;

To those who reduce salvation to forensic declaration and deny deification by grace; 

ANATHEMA!

VI. Against Roman Papal Supremacy

To those who proclaim universal and immediate jurisdiction of one bishop over the whole Church;

To those who claim infallibility apart from Ecumenical Council;

To those who added to the Creed without conciliar authority; 

ANATHEMA!

VII. Against False Ecumenism

To those who sacrifice truth for unity;

To those who relativize dogma for diplomacy;

To those who teach that all confessions are equal regardless of its loyalty to the “Once and For All Delivered Deposit” of the Apostolic Faith; 

ANATHEMA!

VIII. Against Anti-Ancient Centralization

To those who forbid ancient practices not condemned by Ecumenical Council;

To those who elevate one local custom above the Ancient Apostolic tradition;

To those who claim that a new council may overturn the Apostolic Faith; 

ANATHEMA!

IX. Concerning Simony and Clerical Corruption

To those who buy and sell holy things;

To those who seek ordination for ambition or gain;

To those who exploit spiritual authority to oppress the faithful;

ANATHEMA!

X. Concerning Forced Celibacy and Monastocracy

To those who forbid what Holy Scripture permits and declares good;

To those who condemn the ancient and venerable practice of married clergy against Apostolic example, Ecumenical Council, and God’s First Commandment to Mankind;

ANATHEMA!

✠ THE DEFENSE OF THE IMAGE OF GOD ✠

To those who deny that every human person is created in the Image and Likeness of God;

Anathema!

To those who traffic in souls or treat humanity as merchandise;

Anathema!

To those who abuse children;

Anathema!

To those who oppress the widow, the orphan, the fatherless, the poor, and the elderly;

Anathema!

To those who despise father and mother;

Anathema!

To those who dissolve the natural bonds of the family;

Anathema!

To those who bless sexual immorality or redefine marriage;

Anathema!

To those who mutilate the body or deny its resurrection;

Anathema!

To those who reduce persons to markets and commodities;

Anathema!

To those who destroy the earth for profit without repentance;

Anathema!

To those who deal in war for gain;

Anathema!

To those who invent weapons of mass destruction;

Anathema!

To those who use technology, artificial intelligence, and digital systems for deception and domination;

Anathema!

To those who manipulate the human genome for  false human glory;

Anathema!

To those who attempt to become as gods apart from grace and build again the Tower of Babel;

Anathema!

To those who preach meaninglessness, despair, and nihilism;

Anathema!

To those who weaponize the Church for empire, advance nationalist ideology, and wage war upon their fellow Orthodox Christians;

ANATHEMA!

✠ SACRAMENTAL PROCLAMATION ✠

We confess one Baptism for the remission of sins, wherein we are regenerated by water and the Spirit.

THIS IS THE TRUE FAITH!

We confess Holy Chrismation as the sealing of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

THIS IS THE TRUE FAITH!

We confess Holy Orders as Apostolic Succession, the laying on of hands handed down from the Apostles.

THIS IS THE TRUE FAITH!

We confess the Holy Eucharist to be truly, really, and mystically the Body and Blood of Christ, not symbol only, but life-giving Mystery.

THIS IS THE TRUE FAITH!

We confess that through these holy Mysteries we partake of the divine life by grace, which is theosis.

THIS IS THE TRUE FAITH!

✠ AFFIRMATIONS OF THE TRUE FAITH ✠

We confess the Holy Trinity.

We confess Christ true God and true Man.

We confess the Seven Ecumenical Councils.

We confess the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

We confess that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her.

✠ CORPORATE SELF-EXAMINATION ✠

Bishop:

If we ourselves have fallen into pride, hypocrisy, ambition, lovelessness, or harshness while defending the Truth; 

People: Lord, have mercy (x12)

✠ PRAYER OF REPENTANCE ✠

All kneel.

O Lord Jesus Christ,

True Image of the Invisible Father,

restore Thy Image in us.

Cleanse our pride.

Heal our greed.

Convert our anger.

Deliver us from despair.

Sanctify our use of knowledge.

Purify Thy Church.

Make us holy before we speak of holiness.

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory,

with the Father and the Holy Ghost,

one God, world without end. Amen.

✠ ESCHATOLOGICAL PROCLAMATION ✠

Bishop:

Christ shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

His Kingdom shall have no end.

The Church shall not be overcome.

The faithful shall inherit eternal life.

All: Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

✠ FINAL PROCLAMATION ✠

Bishop:

This is the Faith of the Apostles.

This is the Faith of the Fathers.

This is the Faith of the Ancient Church!

This is the Faith which we shall hold unto death.

All:

THIS IS THE TRUE FAITH!

THIS IS THE FAITH WHICH HATH ESTABLISHED THE UNIVERSE!

Bishop: 

The Triumph of Holy and Ancient Orthodoxy is repentance illumined by truth, sacramental life rooted in grace, and hope fixed upon the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen and Amen.