Temptation to orthodoxy

Started by Chestertonian, October 28, 2020, 11:12:18 PM

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Prayerful

Another day another Francis apology on the occasion of his Greek visit. This time he applies to the Orthodox for the wrongs done them by Catholics. Now there was 1204 and the junkers of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth were perhaps harsh, the former was a venture gone wrong and the latter was just how history went. Later Catholics in those borderlands or Ukraine suffered grievously. Not a word on the Orthodox benefitted from the later Stalinist tolerance for them to wage bloody war on Greek Rite Catholics. Honestly it sounds like the usual ecumenical conference gibberish, if the report is a fair guide, so perhaps Francis wasn't deliberately slighting a category of Catholics he doesn't like too much, that is, Greek Rite Catholics, although more than he does trad Caths. Francis did offer a Greek Rite Mass in Slovenia. He will not do that with the Mass of Ages. Greece isn't really on the frontline of Eastern Orthodox and Greek Rite Catholics. Former Venetian possessions still have a slight Latin Catholic element. Anyhow.

the usual
Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.

AlNg

Quote from: Prayerful on December 05, 2021, 06:31:00 PM
Not a word on the Orthodox benefitted from the later Stalinist tolerance for them to wage bloody war on Greek Rite Catholics.
Were the Eastern rite Catholics in Ukraine allied with the German Nazis and hostile to the Russian Orthodox?

Ragnarok

#242
Quote from: AlNg on December 05, 2021, 10:58:26 PM
Quote from: Prayerful on December 05, 2021, 06:31:00 PM
Not a word on the Orthodox benefitted from the later Stalinist tolerance for them to wage bloody war on Greek Rite Catholics.
Were the Eastern rite Catholics in Ukraine allied with the German Nazis and hostile to the Russian Orthodox?

Many were, but in their defense the institutional Russian Orthodox Church was effectively an arm of the Soviet state at that point.

After the death of the last Pre-Revolution Patriarch of Moscow, Patriarch Tikhon (who is a Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church), the Soviets pretty much killed off all of his named successors until the Patriarch was under their direct control.

This Patriarch, Patriarch Sergius, published a dogmatic statement which proclaimed Communist ideology compatible with Russian Orthodoxy and Christ's Gospel message.
The Russian Orthodox Church communities outside of Russia immediately afterwards came together and anathematized the Moscow Patriarch.

Communion wouldn't be restored until 2007, but despite the Moscow Patriarch's rulership over them, they still operate administratively distinct (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia vs. the Moscow Patriarchal Parishes).

Xavier

#243
"The Filioque: A Call to the Separated East to Come Home
Nishant Xavier


[1] Five Ecumenical Councils approved a letter of Patriarch St. Cyril of Alexandria that taught the Dogma of the Filioque!

Cardinal St. Robert Bellarmine gives a manifest proof establishing the Dogma from the Authority of Five Ecumenical Councils:

Omitting these things, then, let us bring forward the Councils that testify the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son. First the Council celebrated at Alexandria, from which Council Cyril writes a letter to Nestorius in which are these words, 'The Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth, and Christ is Truth, and so He proceeds from Him likewise as from the Father.' This letter was read in the Council of Ephesus and was approved both by the Council of Ephesus itself and by the fourth Synod, and by the fifth Synod and by the sixth and seventh Synods. We have therefore five general Councils celebrated among the Greeks which receive the most open and clear opinion that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as from the Father. What then do they now seek? What do they demand?

Patriarch St. Cyril and the Five Ecumenical Councils mentioned by Cardinal St. Robert Bellarmine give us the patristic and Church-authorized interpretation of the Word of Christ in Sacred Scripture. As we will see subsequently, Bishops like St. Hilary, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine had already done this in the West in the 4th century.

[2] Greek Orthodox Bishops and Patriarchs, at Nicene Ecumenical Councils, confess doctrine practically equivalent to the Filioque.

As if that were not enough, we have the testimony of two Eastern saintly bishops, one of whom was patriarch of the Greek Church and made a dogmatic confession.

Bp. St. Leontius of Caesarea, at Nicaea I, testifies that "the Spirit proceeds from the Father, and is proper to the Son and gushes forth from Him" [3]. This is the Faith of the 318 fathers gathered at Nicaea. As Cardinal St. Robert writes, it was not explicitly defined in Nicaea, because the necessity had not yet arisen, as the ancient fathers testified, "I for my part cannot sufficiently wonder with what boldness Jeremias, who calls himself Ecumenical Patriarch, dared to write recently in his censure of the confession of the Lutherans that it was defined by the Synod of Nicaea and all subsequent general Councils that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone[.] ... Let us then consult the Nicene Creed, and let us see whether it teaches in very expressive words that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. The whole Nicene Creed is cited by Cyril among the Greeks, by Ruffinus among the Latins, but nothing else is read in that Creed about the Holy Spirit than this opinion 'and [I believe] in the Holy Spirit.' Now Nazianzen testifies that the Nicene Synod did not hand on the perfect doctrine about the Holy Spirit for the reason that the question about the Holy Spirit had not arisen. Let Jeremias see in which Nicene Creed he has read that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone."

Patriarch St. Tarasius of Constantinople, at Nicaea II, declared, in the Creed, "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, Who Proceeds from the Father through the Son, and is acknowledged to be Himself God" [4]. Just as the 150 fathers at Constantinople I added to the Creed of Nicaea the words, "the Lord and Giver of Life, Who Proceeds from the Father," etc., Patriarch St. Tarasius here adds the words "through the Son," etc. This shows the Faith of the Universal Church at Nicaea II.

[3] Great Latin bishops and fathers exegete and interpret the words of Sacred Scripture in favor of the Filioque Dogma:

Bishop St. Hilary of Poitiers says it is one and the same thing to proceed from the Father, receive from Him and from His Son:

Now I ask whether to receive from the Son is the same thing as to proceed from the Father. But if one believes that there is a difference between receiving from the Son and proceeding from the Father, surely to receive from the Son and to receive from the Father will be regarded as one and the same thing. For our Lord Himself says, Because He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father has are Mine: therefore said I, He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you. That which He will receive — whether it will be power, or excellence, or teaching — the Son has said must be received from Him, and again He indicates that this same thing must be received from the Father. For when He says that all things whatsoever the Father has are His, and that for this cause He declared that it must be received from His own, He teaches also that what is received from the Father is yet received from Himself, because all things that the Father has are His. [5]

Our Lord Jesus teaches about this in detail in Gospel of St. John, chapters 14–16. The Lord Himself, the apostles, and the fathers, explain that the Spirit proceeds from the Son.

Bishop St. Ambrose says St. John was a witness even in Heaven that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son [6]:

53. And this, again, is not a trivial matter that we read that a river goes forth from the throne of God. For you read the words of the Evangelist John to this purport: "And He showed me a river of living water, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street thereof, and on either side, was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of all nations" (Revelation 22:1–2). 154. This is certainly the River proceeding from the throne of God, that is, the Holy Spirit, Whom he drinks who believes in Christ, as He Himself says: "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He that believes in Me, as says the Scripture, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke He of the Spirit." (John 7:37-38) Therefore the river is the Spirit. [5]

Such an amazing testimony hidden in the Sacred Scriptures should fill us with amazement. It is the Holy Spirit Himself Who assures us whence He proceeds.

Bishop St. Augustine says Jesus breathed forth the Holy Spirit to show that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son. St. Augustine has written much on the Filioque.

Augustine says Lord Jesus Christ bears witness to Filioque in countless ways:

And it is proved by many other testimonies of the Divine Word, that the Spirit, who is specially called in the Trinity the Holy Spirit, is of the Father and of the Son: of whom likewise the Son Himself says, Whom I will send unto you from the Father; and in another place, Whom the Father will send in my name. And we are so taught that He proceeds from both, because the Son Himself says, He proceeds from the Father. And when He had risen from the dead, and had appeared to His disciples, He breathed upon them, and said, Receive the Holy Ghost, so as to show that He proceeded also from Himself[.] ...

Wherefore let him who can understand the generation of the Son from the Father without time, understand also the procession of the Holy Spirit from both without time. And let him who can understand, in that which the Son says, As the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself, not that the Father gave life to the Son already existing without life, but that He so begot Him apart from time, that the life which the Father gave to the Son by begetting Him is co-eternal with the life of the Father who gave it: let him, I say, understand, that as the Father has in Himself that the Holy Spirit should proceed from Him, so has He given to the Son that the same Holy Spirit should proceed from Him, and be both apart from time: and that the Holy Spirit is so said to proceed from the Father as that it be understood that His proceeding also from the Son, is a property derived by the Son from the Father.

For if the Son has of the Father whatever He has, then certainly He has of the Father, that the Holy Spirit proceeds also from Him. But let no one think of any times therein which imply a sooner and a later; because these things are not there at all. How, then, would it not be most absurd to call Him the Son of both: when, just as generation from the Father, without any changeableness of nature, gives to the Son essence, without beginning of time; so procession from both, without any changeableness of nature, gives to the Holy Spirit essence without beginning of time? [7]


A testimony so clear as this should suffice to put an end to the later heresy of Photian Monopatrism once and for all.

[4] Byzantine and Eastern fathers and monks testify that the spiration of the Spirit from the Father does not exclude but rather is mediated through the Son.

St. Basil the Great states that the Holy Spirit is united through the Word in the eternal unity of the Holy Trinity: "Through the Son, who is one, he is joined to the Father, who is one, and by himself completes the Blessed Trinity" [8]. The Son is One, the Father is One, the Spirit is One united to the Father through the Son.

St. Maximus the Confessor said: "By nature the Holy Spirit in his being takes substantially his origin from the Father through the Son who is begotten" [9]. The Holy Spirit takes His being substantially from the Father through the Son, and this in such a way that the Father gave the Spirit to the Son in eternally begetting Him.

St. John Damascene is the sole saint cited as possibly denying the Filioque, yet even he does not deny that the Trinitarian Order has the Spirit always issuing from the Father through the Word: "I say that God is always Father since he has always his Word coming from himself, and through his Word, having his Spirit issuing from him" [10].

We have seen that St. Tarasius dogmatized such a profession at the Second Nicene Council, the seventh ecumenical council. This is the true tradition of the fathers.

[5] The Latin fathers are absolutely unanimous in teaching the doctrine of the Filioque. Bishops and several councils do the same.

This is a fact so clear that it will hardly be doubted. It is explicitly stated by St. Maximus [11], and further evidence for the same can be read in Dr. Henry Barclay Swete's monumental work on the subject [12]. The evidence documented in point [3] already establishes this, and in St. Robert's treatise, the doctor explicitly cites much proof; but we will cite the Athanasian Creed, which even secular scholars do not doubt was the widely accepted faith of the Western Church by at least the 5th century.

As St. Robert adduces it, "Blessed Athanasius who says in his Creed, 'The Holy Spirit is not made nor created nor generated by the Father and the Son, but proceeds.'"

To this testimony an objection might be made — namely, that this creed is not really from Athanasius. This is easily refuted, both by Nazianzen, where he says in praise of Athanasius that he composed a most perfect confession of faith that the whole West and East venerate, and also from Augustine, who by name cites Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria and adduces a complete section of this creed, and he uses whole sentences from it, with the name of Athanasius, as if it were well known in the Church.


The Third Council of Toledo (589) is also evidence of the universal acceptance of this doctrine: "Credo in Spiritum Sanctum qui ex patre filioque procedit" (I believe in the Holy Spirit Who Proceeds from the Father and the Son). Both Archbishop St. Leander of Seville, who presided, and his brother, St. Isidore, teach the Filioque dogma.

[6] The Greek Fathers are unanimous in teaching the doctrine "per Filium" (through the Son). This fact has been found embarrassing by deniers of the Filioque.


Philip Schaff, in History of the Christian Church, says, "Photius and the later Eastern controversialists dropped or rejected the per Filium, as being nearly equivalent to ex Filio or Filioque, or understood it as being applicable only to the mission of the Spirit, and emphasized the exclusiveness of the procession from the Father [13]. "The teachings of St. Basil and St. Maximus shown earlier, and especially the profession of St. Tarasius at Nicaea II, demonstrate that per Filium is dogma.

[7] The Roman pontiffs, the successors of St. Peter, have unanimously taught the Filioque explicitly for millennia. There is clear unbroken tradition present here.

Pope St. Damasus, quite likely in a synod before the year 380 A.D., used the Filioque in a response to the Macedonian heresy: "We believe ... in the Holy Spirit, not begotten nor unbegotten, not created nor made, but proceeding from the Father and the Son, always co-eternal with the Father and the Son" [14].

Note the special value of this ancient testimony of the 4th-century Roman Church, world-renowned for its Catholic orthodoxy and defense of St. Athanasius contra mundum under Pope St. Julius, et al. It is incidental and undesigned. It presupposes the dogmatic truth of the Filioque in a controversy against Macedonian heretics (who blasphemed against the Divinity of the Holy Spirit). And it shows that the dogma of the Holy Spirit's divinity is no less certain than the dogma of the Filioque.

Another 4th-century Roman synod states: "The Holy Spirit is not only the Spirit of the Father, or not only the Spirit of the Son, but the Spirit of the Father and the Son. For it is written, 'If anyone loves the world, the Spirit of the Father is not in him' (1 Jn. 2:15). Likewise, it is written, 'If anyone, however, does not have the Spirit of Christ, He is none of His (Romans 8:9).' When the Father and the Son are mentioned in this way, the Holy Spirit is understood, of whom the Son Himself says in the Gospel, that the Holy Spirit 'proceedeth from the Father (John 15:26)' and 'He shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you (Jn. 16:14)'" [15].

Are there more such testimonies from the ancient orthodox Roman Church? Yes: Pope St. Leo the Great, in the 5th century, says, "And so under the first head is shown what unholy views they hold about the Divine Trinity: they affirm that the person of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost is one and the same, as if the same God were named now Father, now Son, and now Holy Ghost: and as if He who begat were not one, He who was begotten another, and He who proceeded from both yet another" [16].

This letter of Pope St. Leo I is cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Is there another Pope, saint, and great who teaches Filioque? Yes: Pope St. Gregory the Great in the 6th century shows the dogmatic Roman and universal tradition when he confesses, "We can also understand His being sent in terms of His divine nature. The Son is said to be sent from the Father from the fact that He is begotten of the Father. The Son relates that He sends the Holy Spirit[.] ... The sending of the Spirit is that procession by which He proceeds from the Father and the Son. Accordingly, as the Spirit is said to be sent because it proceeds, so too it is not inappropriate to say that the Son is sent because He is begotten" [17].

This statement shows that, contra the Greeks, sending reveals hypostatic relation. That is why, throughout the Holy Scriptures, we never read that the Father is sent. The Father does not proceed from anyone. The Son proceeds from the Father alone, by generation, therefore He is said to be sent by the Father. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, therefore the Son explicitly says many times, "But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (Jn. 16:7) that we may understand the eternal relation implied here."

Taken from: https://onepeterfive.com/filioque-separated-east/ Since its my own article, I added bold and highlights wherever I wanted.
Bible verses on walking blamelessly with God, after being forgiven from our former sins. Some verses here: https://dailyverses.net/blameless

"[2] He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:[3] He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.(Psalm 14)

"[2] For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."(James 3)

"[14] And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; [15] That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Phil 2:14-15)

GiftOfGod

Quote from: Xavier on December 06, 2021, 12:20:56 AM
"The Filioque: A Call to the Separated East to Come Home
Nishant Xavier

If by "home" you mean the Conciliar Church, then they would be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Quote from: Maximilian on December 30, 2021, 11:15:48 AM
Quote from: Goldfinch on December 30, 2021, 10:36:10 AM
Quote from: Innocent Smith on December 30, 2021, 10:25:55 AM
If attending Mass, the ordinary form as celebrated everyday around the world be sinful, then the Church no longer exists. Period.
Rather, if the NOM were the lex credendi of the Church, then the Church would no longer exist. However, the true mass and the true sacraments still exist and will hold the candle of faith until Our Lord steps in to restore His Bride to her glory.
We could compare ourselves to the Catholics in England at the time of the Reformation. Was it sinful for them to attend Cranmer's service?
We have to remind ourselves that all the machinery of the "Church" continued in place. They had priests, bishops, churches, cathedrals. But all of them were using the new "Book of Common Prayer" instead of the Catholic Mass. Ordinary lay people could see with their own eyes an enormous entity that called itself the "Church," but did the true Church still exist in that situation? Meanwhile, in small hiding places in certain homes were a handful of true priests offering the true Mass at the risk of imprisonment, torture and death.


Ragnarok

Quote from: GiftOfGod on December 06, 2021, 12:30:26 AM
Quote from: Xavier on December 06, 2021, 12:20:56 AM
"The Filioque: A Call to the Separated East to Come Home
Nishant Xavier

If by "home" you mean the Conciliar Church, then they would be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Christ's "plank in your own eye" is apt here.

Xavier

You Sedes clearly prove you are enemies of the Church by preventing our dearly beloved Orthodox Christian Brothers and Sisters from Coming Home to Rome. Orthodox Christians - especially those born and brought up through no fault of their own in the Orthodox Church, separated from their Loving Mother, the Holy Roman Church, through no fault of their own - are far, far, far better than you sedes.

I swear by the Precious Blood of Lord Jesus, and the holy blood of the Asian Christian Martyrs of Communist Terrorism, I will never stop fighting SVism. But I care very little about it, as there are hardly 500K sedes. There are 300 MILLION ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS, and we True Traditional Roman Catholics will never stop working till our last breath to bring our beloved Orthodox Christan Brethren Home to Rome.

Short Article without Original Links on the IC [Links Later if requested nicely]"Article: "The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mother of God, once believed in Moscow:
On Dec 8, 1854, to the great rejoicing of the Holy Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Bl. Pius IX proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In Ineffabilis Deus, the Supreme Pontiff taught, "This sublime and singular privilege of the Blessed Virgin, together with her most excellent innocence, purity, holiness and freedom from every stain of sin, as well as the unspeakable abundance and greatness of all heavenly graces, virtues and privileges — these the Fathers beheld in that ark of Noah, which was built by divine command and escaped entirely safe and sound from the common shipwreck of the whole world;[15] in the ladder which Jacob saw reaching from the earth to heaven, by whose rungs the angels of God ascended and descended, and on whose top the Lord himself leaned'[16] in that bush which Moses saw in the holy place burning on all sides, which was not consumed or injured in any way but grew green and blossomed beautifully;[17] in that impregnable tower before the enemy, from which hung a thousand bucklers and all the armor of the strong;[18] in that garden enclosed on all sides, which cannot be violated or corrupted by any deceitful plots;[19] as in that resplendent city of God, which has its foundations on the holy mountains;[20] in that most august temple of God, which, radiant with divine splendors, is full of the glory of God;[21] and in very many other biblical types of this kind. In such allusions the Fathers taught that the exalted dignity of the Mother of God, her spotless innocence and her sanctity unstained by any fault, had been prophesied in a wonderful manner.

In like manner did they use the words of the prophets to describe this wondrous abundance of divine gifts and the original innocence of the Virgin of whom Jesus was born. They celebrated the august Virgin as the spotless dove, as the holy Jerusalem, as the exalted throne of God, as the ark and house of holiness which Eternal Wisdom built, and as that Queen who, abounding in delights and leaning on her Beloved, came forth from the mouth of the Most High, entirely perfect, beautiful, most dear to God and never stained with the least blemish."

The Immaculate Conception and the Orthodox Church:

Should not all who profess devotion to the Mother of God likewise have rejoiced? In particular, should not the Orthodox have acknowledged and believed the Truth of this Dogma? Well, originally, there was a positive response from some quarters. For e.g. a Greek Orthodox Professor, Christopher Dalamas, said of the Papal Definition, "We have always held and always taught this doctrine. This point is too sacred to give rise to quarrels and it has no need of a deputation from Rome". Indeed, it is too sacred, and yet it most certainly needed a declaration, as subsequent history proved.

Unfortunately, less than 40 years later, a Patriarchal Encylical opposed the dogma and that novel idea has now become common in Orthodox circles, with some admirable exceptions.

History of the Immaculate Conception in Russia and the East:

A Theology Journal reviews recent research by Eastern Catholic Priest Rev. Fr. Christian Kappes, "The Immaculate Conception greatly improves upon other studies which have treated the same question, in that Fr. Kappes does not just gather a florilegium of hand-selected quotes from the theologians under consideration.  Rather, his is a groundbreaking historico-linguistic study which treats the development of the word ????????????? ("prepurification" – transliterated prokathartheisa) as it is used in progressive Byzantine discussions of Mary's sinlessness ... Her sinlessness from birth, conversely, is designated under expressions like "all-holy," "ever-blameless," and "all-immaculate."  The evidence of this Eastern Tradition is an unbroken theological and liturgical transmission of this idea well beyond John Damascene's time."

St. John of Damascene had said: "O most blessed loins of Joachim from which came forth a spotless seed! Oh glorious womb of Anne in which a most holy offspring grew!"

Fr. A.F. Kimel tells us, "This belief is encapsulated in the title given to her by St Gregory the Theologian: prokathartheisa (prepurified) ... [St. Gregory says] "He approaches his own image and bears flesh because of my flesh and mingles himself with a rational soul because of my soul, purifying like by like. And in all things he becomes a human being, except sin. He was conceived by the Virgin, who was purified beforehand in both soul and flesh by the Spirit, for it was necessary that procreation be honored and that virginity be honored more. (p. 71)

Fr. Kappes notes that when Rufinus translated the Nativity oration into Latin in the late 4th century, he rendered the Greek word Prokathartheisa by the Latin word Immaculata."

Patriarch St. Sophronius of Jerusalem had said of Mary Prokathartheisa, or Immaculata, "Many Saints appeared before You [Mary] But none was filled with grace as You. No one has been purified in advance as You have been." Another clear testimony that Mary the Sole Immaculate One was "Prepurified in Advance" (Prokathartheisa).

As for Russia, Eastern Orthodox theologian Fr. Lev Gillet admits, ""The Academy of Kiev, with Peter Moghila, Stephen Gavorsky and many others, taught the Immaculate Conception in terms of Latin theology. A confraternity of the Immaculate Conception was established at Polotsk in 1651. The Orthodox members of the confraternity promised to honour the Immaculate Conception of Mary all the days of their life. The Council of Moscow of 1666 approved Simeon Polotsky's book called The Rod of Direction, in which he said: "Mary was exempt from original sin from the moment of her conception".

Liturgical Expressions of the Immaculate Conception in the East:

Does the Sacred and Divine Liturgy likewise bear witness to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, now sadly denied by many Orthodox, though happily admitted by others? Yes.

Eastern Orthodox Priest Fr. Laurent Cleenewerck, in his book, His Broken Body, tells us,

"6. Liturgical Expressions: The Eastern Tradition has always considered the Conception of the Theotokos to be a miraculous event. Joachim and Anna, elderly and barren were given by the power of God's blessings on account of their prayers. The Orthodox Churches celebrate Her Nativity on the 8th of September, but the Feast of Mary's Conception was advanced to 9th December. If the principle of Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi is to be applied to this issue, it seems that Orthodox Hymnography presents Mary as Truly Panagia (All-Holy) entirely free from sin and stain ("Immaculate") from the point of Her Conception. The Liturgical Texts for December 9th exclaim,

This Day, O Faithful, from saintly parents begins to take being the Spotless Lamb, the Most Pure Tabernacle, Mary.

Having conceived the Most-Pure Dove ...

The Unique All-Immaculate [Mary] is today made manifest to the Just by the Angel. He who announced the Conception of the All-Immaculate Virgin gave our human race news of great joy. The prelude of God's Grace falls today [on the day of the Theotokos' Conception by St. Anne] in the Conception of the All-Immaculate"(!)

Thanks to the Papacy, Eastern Catholics, with us Latin Catholics, faithfully understand and rightly preserve this doctrinal Tradition. Unfortunately most Orthodox still misunderstand and reject it.

Our Lady of Fatima – Heavenly Witness to the Immaculate Conception and Russia:

Our Lady of Fatima, in the Five First Saturdays Devotion, said Heaven asks for reparation owing to five great blasphemies and sins, mostly committed by Protestants and secularists: (1) Blasphemies against Her Immaculate Conception (2) Blasphemies against Her Perpetual Virginity (3) Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, while refusing at the same time to accept Her as Mother of all men. (4) Instilling indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children (5) Direct outrages against Her sacred images or icons.

Very happily, Orthodox Christians are not guilty of the last 4. They fully agree with the Church on that. But Orthodox Christians, and Russia specifically, have sadly been guilty of the error of (1) since 1895.

Our Lady's Pardon for all erring separated Christians provided they return to the Church.

Nevertheless, Our Lady has promised to show Mercy and grant Pardon to those who thus greatly blaspheme and offend God and Her, provided they repent and return to the Catholic Church, the One True Church, the Only Church that preserves the dogmatic Truth correctly.

Here, also we see the Perfect Wisdom and Infinite Providence of Almighty God in directing His Church's Pastors to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart – it is necessary for the whole Church to solemnly acknowledge Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, and for the Orthodox to do the same, as the condition of their return to, and re-union with, the Holy Roman Church.

Final Consideration - Are the Church Fathers Explicit on the Immaculate Conception? Wasn't this Dogma invented by the Church in the 19th Century?

Answer: Not at all. No more than the Dogma of the Holy Trinity was invented by the Catholic Church in the Fourth Century. It was merely explicitly defined at that point of time since it had been attacked by some.

Let's take a look at what the holy orthodox Fathers of the early Catholic Church believed and taught:

(1)    St. Augustine declares that God and the Most Holy Virgin Mary alone are without any sin!

The holy Doctor writes,"We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon Her Who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin. (1 John 3:5)

Well, then, if, with this exception of the Virgin, we could only assemble together all the forementioned holy men and women, and ask them whether they lived without sin while they were in this life, what can we suppose would be their answer? Would it be in the language of our author, or in the words of the Apostle John? I put it to you, whether, on having such a question submitted to them, however excellent might have been their sanctity in this body, they would not have exclaimed with one voice: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us? (1 John 1:8) " [1]

St. Augustine here expresses the doctrine of a special exemption of the Immaculate Virgin when it comes to sin. He explains all the just have truly known of sin except Jesus and Mary.

Again, the Doctor of Grace writes, "We do not transfer Mary to the devil by the condition of Her birth, for this reason, that that condition is dissolved by the grace of Her new birth" [2]

St. Augustine is here teaching the Immaculate Mother was not transferred to the devil by the condition of Her Birth, because Her new birth was altogether Stainless and Immaculate.

The Saint's doctrine is clear: we are born in original sin, but the Immaculate Virgin was rather born Full of Grace. The Woman and Her Son (Gen 3:15) are alone specially excluded.

(2) St. Ambrose declared Mary as entirely inviolate and free of every stain of sin:

St. Ambrose declared that the Blessed Mother Mary is "a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin [Latin: ut incorrupta sit virgo, sed virgo per gratiam ab omni integra labe peccati]." [3]

St. Ambrose had thus preceded his Saintly disciple in teaching the doctrine of Mary's Complete Sinlessness and Immaculate Nature. By Grace, Mary is free of every stain of sin.

(3) St. Fulgentius teaches that Luk 1:28 shows Mary is Altogether Immaculate:

St. Fulgentius said in a sermon, "By these words [Hail, full of grace], the angel shows that She [Mary] was altogether excluded from the wrath of the first sentence, and restored to the full grace of blessing." [4] [Latin: "Cum dixit, gratia plena, ostendit ex integro, iram exclusam primæ sententiæ, et plenam benedictionis gratiam restitutam."]

(4) St. Ildephonsus says plainly that the Blessed Mother is without original sin:

The Saint wrote in the plainest terms, "It is certain that She was exempted from original sin". (Latin: Constat eam ab origanali peccato fuisse immunem".)[5]

(5) St. John of Damascus testifies that the Mother of God is All-Immaculate:

St. John of Damascus calls the Blessed Mother a Paradise, a Paradise to which the Serpent never had access. He writes that Her Conception and Birth was not so much a work of nature as a product of grace. This is not only a reference to St. Anne's miraculous child-bearing, but also contains clear traces of an indication that Mary was sinless even in Her mother's womb.

"Since it was to be that the Virgin Mother of God was to spring from Anne, nature did not by any means dare to anticipate the embryo of grace, but waited until grace should have produced its fruit."[6] St. John taught Mary Immaculate was already holy in St. Anne's womb

(6) St. Amphilocius says the Immaculate Virgin, the New Eve, was without sin:

The Saint explains that as Mary is the New Eve, She was created Immaculate just like the first Eve was, before the latter's fall from grace. Hence the Catholic Tradition, admitted by the Orthodox, that Mary is the New Eve, found long ago in St. Irenaeus (In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word. Luke 1:38 But Eve was disobedient ... having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race) [7] is a further indicator that the True Eve, like Eve of old before her fall, was Immaculate:" He who formed the first Virgin without deformity, also made the second one without spot or sin."[8]

(7) Conclusion from Cardinal Lambruschini on the Immaculate Conception:

For brevity's sake, we omit further testimonies, although they could easily be multiplied.

Cardinal Lambruschini, known to Pope Bl. Pius IX, in a wonderful treatise on the Immaculate Conception, written in the year 1855, concludes:

"More than forty [Saints/Church Fathers/Ancient Writers] in turn attest this Tradition, which stretches from the cradle of Christianity to the days of St. Bernard, when the banner of opposition was first raised : here we find St. Denis of Alexandria, St. Justin, St. Epiphanius, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Tertullian, Origen, St. Ephraim, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Fulgentius, Theodore of Ancyra, St. Maximus, St. Peter Chrysologus, St. Sabbas, St. Andrew of Crete, Esychius and Tlieodore of Jerusalem, St. Germanus, John the Geometrician, Fulbert of Chartres, Paschase Radbert, St. John Damascene, St. Sophronius, St. Peter Damian, St. Anselm, St. Bruno : such are the names found amongst a crowd of less famous names and of anonymous authors.

Some of these testimonies suppose the Immaculate Conception, others express it in equivalent terms, others formally define it, and so by divers ways all end in the same point, the Immaculate Conception; and such is the energy of their words and the drift of their assertions, that if Mary knew for one instant the stain of sin, we must admit that all these men, so great by virtue, so illustrious by genius, so venerable by antiquity, have made a compact to connive at error through all time and space."

Conclusion: A Call to our Separated Brethren to acknowledge our Loving Mother as All-Immaculate

Dearly beloved Orthodox Christians, the day draws near when Russia and Rome will be re-united. We Christians who believe and profess ourselves blessed and happy children of God and the holy Theotokos, the Virgin Mother of God, must also believe Her to be All-Immaculate. She is the Full of Grace (Luk 1:28), the Woman unconquered by the Serpent (Gen 3:15), Who with Her Son crushes his heel, She is the Paradise to which the Serpent never had access, Her Conception a Miracle of Grace rather than a Product of Nature. She is the One specially exempted by Grace, because of Her dignity and merit as Mother of God, and also by the free choice and special Love Almighty God had for His own beloved Mother.

She is altogether pure, the specially Chosen One, the Bride of the Spirit, the Dove of God, His Beloved, to Whom He said, "Thou art all fair, My Love, and there is no stain in thee" (Canticle 4:7. Vulgate: "Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et macula non est in te" (Macula non est=Immaculate/Without Spot/Without Stain/Panagia) She is the Mother of the Church, and a living Image already of what Mother Church (Mater Ecclesiae) will be on the last day, "without spot or wrinkle" (cf. Eph 5:27; Rev 22:17), the Mystical Bride of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, St. Ambrose in the West and St. Ephrem in the East call Mary a type of the Church.

We Catholic and Orthodox Christians who believe so much in common, perhaps 99%, must be completely one and 100% united in a Common Faith under One Hierarchy. It is only then that we will be able to successfully withstand and even overcome the assaults of atheistic Communism, Islamism, anti-Christian naturalism, Christian persecution worldwide etc.

Orthodox Bishops, to whom we are grateful, have promoted wider use of the TLM in the Latin Church. We traditional Catholic Christians can never forget Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow was one of the first Bishops to publicly support Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum, which set the Traditional Latin Mass free to grow and expand, as it has done this last decade.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians are natural allies. We must be one, united in love for Jesus and Mary, and the Pope and all the Bishops, including the Major Patriarchs. The schism has gone on far too long and is continued now by mere inertia. It is enough. Come home. We are praying for you, and waiting for you, and believe and firmly hope we will be re-united soon.

We rejoice that Orthodox Christianity is triumphing in Russia over the former atheistic Communism of the Soviet Union. We look forward to warm fraternal relationships also with Patriarch Bartholomew, who is on good terms with Pope Francis, and the rest of the Orthodox Christian world, including the Oriental Orthodox Churches who are Miaphysite in Christology.

In the end, the Immaculate Heart of the Holy Theotokos, the Virgin Mother of God, will Triumph. She will do by Herself what all the best and brightest and holiest men in all of Christendom, both East and West, through their combined prayer and efforts for over a millennium, could never do. She will make the Orthodox Churches One with the Catholic Church, as She already holds us both in Her Immaculate Heart as Her beloved children. The East and West, as Pope John Paul II said, are like two lungs of the Church, and no doubt the Church can and must learn to breathe through them again in this Third Christian Millennium.

God Wills it, it is for the Greater Glory of God, the Common Good of Christendom, the spread of the Gospel of Christ as taught by the Church all over the world, and the Salvation of Souls. We recall Our Lord taught in Mat 24:14 that His Gospel must spread to every nation before the end of time. It is only a fully re-united Church that will be able to accomplish this Mission.

References:

[1] [De natura et gratia Cap. 42, PL 44:267]

[2] [Contra Julian PL 45:1418]

[3] (Comm. on Psalm 118, Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers, vol 2, page 166)

[4] (Serm. de Laudibus Mariae.)

[5] (Disput. de Virg. Mar.)

[6] Sermon II on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

[7] (Against Heresies, Book III, Cap. 22, p. 4)

[8] Orat. in S. Deip.et Simeon."
Bible verses on walking blamelessly with God, after being forgiven from our former sins. Some verses here: https://dailyverses.net/blameless

"[2] He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:[3] He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.(Psalm 14)

"[2] For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."(James 3)

"[14] And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; [15] That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Phil 2:14-15)

GiftOfGod

Quote from: Xavier on December 06, 2021, 12:51:39 AM
You Sedes clearly prove you are enemies of the Church by preventing our dearly beloved Orthodox Christian Brothers and Sisters from Coming Home to Rome. Orthodox Christians - especially those born and brought up through no fault of their own in the Orthodox Church, separated from their Loving Mother, the Holy Roman Church, through no fault of their own - are far, far, far better than you sedes.

I swear by the Precious Blood of Lord Jesus, and the holy blood of the Asian Christian Martyrs of Communist Terrorism, I will never stop fighting SVism. But I care very little about it, as there are hardly 500K sedes. There are 300 MILLION ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS, and we True Traditional Roman Catholics will never stop working till our last breath to bring our beloved Orthodox Christan Brethren Home to Rome.

Short Article without Original Links on the IC [Links Later if requested nicely]"Article: "The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mother of God, once believed in Moscow:
On Dec 8, 1854, to the great rejoicing of the Holy Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Bl. Pius IX proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In Ineffabilis Deus, the Supreme Pontiff taught, "This sublime and singular privilege of the Blessed Virgin, together with her most excellent innocence, purity, holiness and freedom from every stain of sin, as well as the unspeakable abundance and greatness of all heavenly graces, virtues and privileges — these the Fathers beheld in that ark of Noah, which was built by divine command and escaped entirely safe and sound from the common shipwreck of the whole world;[15] in the ladder which Jacob saw reaching from the earth to heaven, by whose rungs the angels of God ascended and descended, and on whose top the Lord himself leaned'[16] in that bush which Moses saw in the holy place burning on all sides, which was not consumed or injured in any way but grew green and blossomed beautifully;[17] in that impregnable tower before the enemy, from which hung a thousand bucklers and all the armor of the strong;[18] in that garden enclosed on all sides, which cannot be violated or corrupted by any deceitful plots;[19] as in that resplendent city of God, which has its foundations on the holy mountains;[20] in that most august temple of God, which, radiant with divine splendors, is full of the glory of God;[21] and in very many other biblical types of this kind. In such allusions the Fathers taught that the exalted dignity of the Mother of God, her spotless innocence and her sanctity unstained by any fault, had been prophesied in a wonderful manner.

In like manner did they use the words of the prophets to describe this wondrous abundance of divine gifts and the original innocence of the Virgin of whom Jesus was born. They celebrated the august Virgin as the spotless dove, as the holy Jerusalem, as the exalted throne of God, as the ark and house of holiness which Eternal Wisdom built, and as that Queen who, abounding in delights and leaning on her Beloved, came forth from the mouth of the Most High, entirely perfect, beautiful, most dear to God and never stained with the least blemish."

The Immaculate Conception and the Orthodox Church:

Should not all who profess devotion to the Mother of God likewise have rejoiced? In particular, should not the Orthodox have acknowledged and believed the Truth of this Dogma? Well, originally, there was a positive response from some quarters. For e.g. a Greek Orthodox Professor, Christopher Dalamas, said of the Papal Definition, "We have always held and always taught this doctrine. This point is too sacred to give rise to quarrels and it has no need of a deputation from Rome". Indeed, it is too sacred, and yet it most certainly needed a declaration, as subsequent history proved.

Unfortunately, less than 40 years later, a Patriarchal Encylical opposed the dogma and that novel idea has now become common in Orthodox circles, with some admirable exceptions.

History of the Immaculate Conception in Russia and the East:

A Theology Journal reviews recent research by Eastern Catholic Priest Rev. Fr. Christian Kappes, "The Immaculate Conception greatly improves upon other studies which have treated the same question, in that Fr. Kappes does not just gather a florilegium of hand-selected quotes from the theologians under consideration.  Rather, his is a groundbreaking historico-linguistic study which treats the development of the word ????????????? ("prepurification" – transliterated prokathartheisa) as it is used in progressive Byzantine discussions of Mary's sinlessness ... Her sinlessness from birth, conversely, is designated under expressions like "all-holy," "ever-blameless," and "all-immaculate."  The evidence of this Eastern Tradition is an unbroken theological and liturgical transmission of this idea well beyond John Damascene's time."

St. John of Damascene had said: "O most blessed loins of Joachim from which came forth a spotless seed! Oh glorious womb of Anne in which a most holy offspring grew!"

Fr. A.F. Kimel tells us, "This belief is encapsulated in the title given to her by St Gregory the Theologian: prokathartheisa (prepurified) ... [St. Gregory says] "He approaches his own image and bears flesh because of my flesh and mingles himself with a rational soul because of my soul, purifying like by like. And in all things he becomes a human being, except sin. He was conceived by the Virgin, who was purified beforehand in both soul and flesh by the Spirit, for it was necessary that procreation be honored and that virginity be honored more. (p. 71)

Fr. Kappes notes that when Rufinus translated the Nativity oration into Latin in the late 4th century, he rendered the Greek word Prokathartheisa by the Latin word Immaculata."

Patriarch St. Sophronius of Jerusalem had said of Mary Prokathartheisa, or Immaculata, "Many Saints appeared before You [Mary] But none was filled with grace as You. No one has been purified in advance as You have been." Another clear testimony that Mary the Sole Immaculate One was "Prepurified in Advance" (Prokathartheisa).

As for Russia, Eastern Orthodox theologian Fr. Lev Gillet admits, ""The Academy of Kiev, with Peter Moghila, Stephen Gavorsky and many others, taught the Immaculate Conception in terms of Latin theology. A confraternity of the Immaculate Conception was established at Polotsk in 1651. The Orthodox members of the confraternity promised to honour the Immaculate Conception of Mary all the days of their life. The Council of Moscow of 1666 approved Simeon Polotsky's book called The Rod of Direction, in which he said: "Mary was exempt from original sin from the moment of her conception".

Liturgical Expressions of the Immaculate Conception in the East:

Does the Sacred and Divine Liturgy likewise bear witness to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, now sadly denied by many Orthodox, though happily admitted by others? Yes.

Eastern Orthodox Priest Fr. Laurent Cleenewerck, in his book, His Broken Body, tells us,

"6. Liturgical Expressions: The Eastern Tradition has always considered the Conception of the Theotokos to be a miraculous event. Joachim and Anna, elderly and barren were given by the power of God's blessings on account of their prayers. The Orthodox Churches celebrate Her Nativity on the 8th of September, but the Feast of Mary's Conception was advanced to 9th December. If the principle of Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi is to be applied to this issue, it seems that Orthodox Hymnography presents Mary as Truly Panagia (All-Holy) entirely free from sin and stain ("Immaculate") from the point of Her Conception. The Liturgical Texts for December 9th exclaim,

This Day, O Faithful, from saintly parents begins to take being the Spotless Lamb, the Most Pure Tabernacle, Mary.

Having conceived the Most-Pure Dove ...

The Unique All-Immaculate [Mary] is today made manifest to the Just by the Angel. He who announced the Conception of the All-Immaculate Virgin gave our human race news of great joy. The prelude of God's Grace falls today [on the day of the Theotokos' Conception by St. Anne] in the Conception of the All-Immaculate"(!)

Thanks to the Papacy, Eastern Catholics, with us Latin Catholics, faithfully understand and rightly preserve this doctrinal Tradition. Unfortunately most Orthodox still misunderstand and reject it.

Our Lady of Fatima – Heavenly Witness to the Immaculate Conception and Russia:

Our Lady of Fatima, in the Five First Saturdays Devotion, said Heaven asks for reparation owing to five great blasphemies and sins, mostly committed by Protestants and secularists: (1) Blasphemies against Her Immaculate Conception (2) Blasphemies against Her Perpetual Virginity (3) Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, while refusing at the same time to accept Her as Mother of all men. (4) Instilling indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children (5) Direct outrages against Her sacred images or icons.

Very happily, Orthodox Christians are not guilty of the last 4. They fully agree with the Church on that. But Orthodox Christians, and Russia specifically, have sadly been guilty of the error of (1) since 1895.

Our Lady's Pardon for all erring separated Christians provided they return to the Church.

Nevertheless, Our Lady has promised to show Mercy and grant Pardon to those who thus greatly blaspheme and offend God and Her, provided they repent and return to the Catholic Church, the One True Church, the Only Church that preserves the dogmatic Truth correctly.

Here, also we see the Perfect Wisdom and Infinite Providence of Almighty God in directing His Church's Pastors to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart – it is necessary for the whole Church to solemnly acknowledge Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, and for the Orthodox to do the same, as the condition of their return to, and re-union with, the Holy Roman Church.

Final Consideration - Are the Church Fathers Explicit on the Immaculate Conception? Wasn't this Dogma invented by the Church in the 19th Century?

Answer: Not at all. No more than the Dogma of the Holy Trinity was invented by the Catholic Church in the Fourth Century. It was merely explicitly defined at that point of time since it had been attacked by some.

Let's take a look at what the holy orthodox Fathers of the early Catholic Church believed and taught:

(1)    St. Augustine declares that God and the Most Holy Virgin Mary alone are without any sin!

The holy Doctor writes,"We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon Her Who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin. (1 John 3:5)

Well, then, if, with this exception of the Virgin, we could only assemble together all the forementioned holy men and women, and ask them whether they lived without sin while they were in this life, what can we suppose would be their answer? Would it be in the language of our author, or in the words of the Apostle John? I put it to you, whether, on having such a question submitted to them, however excellent might have been their sanctity in this body, they would not have exclaimed with one voice: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us? (1 John 1:8) " [1]

St. Augustine here expresses the doctrine of a special exemption of the Immaculate Virgin when it comes to sin. He explains all the just have truly known of sin except Jesus and Mary.

Again, the Doctor of Grace writes, "We do not transfer Mary to the devil by the condition of Her birth, for this reason, that that condition is dissolved by the grace of Her new birth" [2]

St. Augustine is here teaching the Immaculate Mother was not transferred to the devil by the condition of Her Birth, because Her new birth was altogether Stainless and Immaculate.

The Saint's doctrine is clear: we are born in original sin, but the Immaculate Virgin was rather born Full of Grace. The Woman and Her Son (Gen 3:15) are alone specially excluded.

(2) St. Ambrose declared Mary as entirely inviolate and free of every stain of sin:

St. Ambrose declared that the Blessed Mother Mary is "a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin [Latin: ut incorrupta sit virgo, sed virgo per gratiam ab omni integra labe peccati]." [3]

St. Ambrose had thus preceded his Saintly disciple in teaching the doctrine of Mary's Complete Sinlessness and Immaculate Nature. By Grace, Mary is free of every stain of sin.

(3) St. Fulgentius teaches that Luk 1:28 shows Mary is Altogether Immaculate:

St. Fulgentius said in a sermon, "By these words [Hail, full of grace], the angel shows that She [Mary] was altogether excluded from the wrath of the first sentence, and restored to the full grace of blessing." [4] [Latin: "Cum dixit, gratia plena, ostendit ex integro, iram exclusam primæ sententiæ, et plenam benedictionis gratiam restitutam."]

(4) St. Ildephonsus says plainly that the Blessed Mother is without original sin:

The Saint wrote in the plainest terms, "It is certain that She was exempted from original sin". (Latin: Constat eam ab origanali peccato fuisse immunem".)[5]

(5) St. John of Damascus testifies that the Mother of God is All-Immaculate:

St. John of Damascus calls the Blessed Mother a Paradise, a Paradise to which the Serpent never had access. He writes that Her Conception and Birth was not so much a work of nature as a product of grace. This is not only a reference to St. Anne's miraculous child-bearing, but also contains clear traces of an indication that Mary was sinless even in Her mother's womb.

"Since it was to be that the Virgin Mother of God was to spring from Anne, nature did not by any means dare to anticipate the embryo of grace, but waited until grace should have produced its fruit."[6] St. John taught Mary Immaculate was already holy in St. Anne's womb

(6) St. Amphilocius says the Immaculate Virgin, the New Eve, was without sin:

The Saint explains that as Mary is the New Eve, She was created Immaculate just like the first Eve was, before the latter's fall from grace. Hence the Catholic Tradition, admitted by the Orthodox, that Mary is the New Eve, found long ago in St. Irenaeus (In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word. Luke 1:38 But Eve was disobedient ... having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race) [7] is a further indicator that the True Eve, like Eve of old before her fall, was Immaculate:" He who formed the first Virgin without deformity, also made the second one without spot or sin."[8]

(7) Conclusion from Cardinal Lambruschini on the Immaculate Conception:

For brevity's sake, we omit further testimonies, although they could easily be multiplied.

Cardinal Lambruschini, known to Pope Bl. Pius IX, in a wonderful treatise on the Immaculate Conception, written in the year 1855, concludes:

"More than forty [Saints/Church Fathers/Ancient Writers] in turn attest this Tradition, which stretches from the cradle of Christianity to the days of St. Bernard, when the banner of opposition was first raised : here we find St. Denis of Alexandria, St. Justin, St. Epiphanius, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Tertullian, Origen, St. Ephraim, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Fulgentius, Theodore of Ancyra, St. Maximus, St. Peter Chrysologus, St. Sabbas, St. Andrew of Crete, Esychius and Tlieodore of Jerusalem, St. Germanus, John the Geometrician, Fulbert of Chartres, Paschase Radbert, St. John Damascene, St. Sophronius, St. Peter Damian, St. Anselm, St. Bruno : such are the names found amongst a crowd of less famous names and of anonymous authors.

Some of these testimonies suppose the Immaculate Conception, others express it in equivalent terms, others formally define it, and so by divers ways all end in the same point, the Immaculate Conception; and such is the energy of their words and the drift of their assertions, that if Mary knew for one instant the stain of sin, we must admit that all these men, so great by virtue, so illustrious by genius, so venerable by antiquity, have made a compact to connive at error through all time and space."

Conclusion: A Call to our Separated Brethren to acknowledge our Loving Mother as All-Immaculate

Dearly beloved Orthodox Christians, the day draws near when Russia and Rome will be re-united. We Christians who believe and profess ourselves blessed and happy children of God and the holy Theotokos, the Virgin Mother of God, must also believe Her to be All-Immaculate. She is the Full of Grace (Luk 1:28), the Woman unconquered by the Serpent (Gen 3:15), Who with Her Son crushes his heel, She is the Paradise to which the Serpent never had access, Her Conception a Miracle of Grace rather than a Product of Nature. She is the One specially exempted by Grace, because of Her dignity and merit as Mother of God, and also by the free choice and special Love Almighty God had for His own beloved Mother.

She is altogether pure, the specially Chosen One, the Bride of the Spirit, the Dove of God, His Beloved, to Whom He said, "Thou art all fair, My Love, and there is no stain in thee" (Canticle 4:7. Vulgate: "Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et macula non est in te" (Macula non est=Immaculate/Without Spot/Without Stain/Panagia) She is the Mother of the Church, and a living Image already of what Mother Church (Mater Ecclesiae) will be on the last day, "without spot or wrinkle" (cf. Eph 5:27; Rev 22:17), the Mystical Bride of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, St. Ambrose in the West and St. Ephrem in the East call Mary a type of the Church.

We Catholic and Orthodox Christians who believe so much in common, perhaps 99%, must be completely one and 100% united in a Common Faith under One Hierarchy. It is only then that we will be able to successfully withstand and even overcome the assaults of atheistic Communism, Islamism, anti-Christian naturalism, Christian persecution worldwide etc.

Orthodox Bishops, to whom we are grateful, have promoted wider use of the TLM in the Latin Church. We traditional Catholic Christians can never forget Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow was one of the first Bishops to publicly support Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum, which set the Traditional Latin Mass free to grow and expand, as it has done this last decade.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians are natural allies. We must be one, united in love for Jesus and Mary, and the Pope and all the Bishops, including the Major Patriarchs. The schism has gone on far too long and is continued now by mere inertia. It is enough. Come home. We are praying for you, and waiting for you, and believe and firmly hope we will be re-united soon.

We rejoice that Orthodox Christianity is triumphing in Russia over the former atheistic Communism of the Soviet Union. We look forward to warm fraternal relationships also with Patriarch Bartholomew, who is on good terms with Pope Francis, and the rest of the Orthodox Christian world, including the Oriental Orthodox Churches who are Miaphysite in Christology.

In the end, the Immaculate Heart of the Holy Theotokos, the Virgin Mother of God, will Triumph. She will do by Herself what all the best and brightest and holiest men in all of Christendom, both East and West, through their combined prayer and efforts for over a millennium, could never do. She will make the Orthodox Churches One with the Catholic Church, as She already holds us both in Her Immaculate Heart as Her beloved children. The East and West, as Pope John Paul II said, are like two lungs of the Church, and no doubt the Church can and must learn to breathe through them again in this Third Christian Millennium.

God Wills it, it is for the Greater Glory of God, the Common Good of Christendom, the spread of the Gospel of Christ as taught by the Church all over the world, and the Salvation of Souls. We recall Our Lord taught in Mat 24:14 that His Gospel must spread to every nation before the end of time. It is only a fully re-united Church that will be able to accomplish this Mission.

References:

[1] [De natura et gratia Cap. 42, PL 44:267]

[2] [Contra Julian PL 45:1418]

[3] (Comm. on Psalm 118, Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers, vol 2, page 166)

[4] (Serm. de Laudibus Mariae.)

[5] (Disput. de Virg. Mar.)

[6] Sermon II on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

[7] (Against Heresies, Book III, Cap. 22, p. 4)

[8] Orat. in S. Deip.et Simeon."
Xavier, shut up. If you can't "convert" 500K sedes, who completely agree with Catholic dogma, then you have no chance in India of converting 300 million EOs who have major and longstanding (1,000 year) dogmatic disagreements.
Quote from: Maximilian on December 30, 2021, 11:15:48 AM
Quote from: Goldfinch on December 30, 2021, 10:36:10 AM
Quote from: Innocent Smith on December 30, 2021, 10:25:55 AM
If attending Mass, the ordinary form as celebrated everyday around the world be sinful, then the Church no longer exists. Period.
Rather, if the NOM were the lex credendi of the Church, then the Church would no longer exist. However, the true mass and the true sacraments still exist and will hold the candle of faith until Our Lord steps in to restore His Bride to her glory.
We could compare ourselves to the Catholics in England at the time of the Reformation. Was it sinful for them to attend Cranmer's service?
We have to remind ourselves that all the machinery of the "Church" continued in place. They had priests, bishops, churches, cathedrals. But all of them were using the new "Book of Common Prayer" instead of the Catholic Mass. Ordinary lay people could see with their own eyes an enormous entity that called itself the "Church," but did the true Church still exist in that situation? Meanwhile, in small hiding places in certain homes were a handful of true priests offering the true Mass at the risk of imprisonment, torture and death.


Xavier

By God's Grace, I've converted many sedes. Some are hardened. Sedes deny many Catholic Dogmas. (1) Perpetual Succession by their 63 year Svism (2) Apostolicity, which requires actual succession to an Episcopal See, by saying all dioceses/Church Offices are vacant (3) The Vatican I Dogma, which clearly teaches there will be Shepherds and Teachers until the end of time, which sedes deny.

Sedeism is one of the easiest errors to refute, and many have come home in recent years. Read the testimonials on True or False Pope.
Bible verses on walking blamelessly with God, after being forgiven from our former sins. Some verses here: https://dailyverses.net/blameless

"[2] He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:[3] He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.(Psalm 14)

"[2] For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."(James 3)

"[14] And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; [15] That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Phil 2:14-15)

Xavier

Sample reviews. Svism is dying. Lolololol.

Sample reviews: "reviews from the United States

tello

5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase

Great!

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2019

A must read for all Catholics in todays confusing times! The gates of hell will not prevail!

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mindy M

5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase

Set straight "Sede"

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2016

Absolute clarity on the errors of Sedevacantism after reading this book! Truly makes you fall in love with Holy Mother Church as Christ's bride. Which of course He would never abandon and the "gates of Hell shall not prevail against it". A must read for anyone that... See more

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Big Guy

5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2017

Good book, well written and exposing the Cult of the Diamond Brothers and others.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Steven

5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase

Must have for your theology collection!

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2016

The best book of it's kind! Excellently written, thorough, it is an absolute must have for anybody who has dealt with Sedevacantism. I wish I had this book years ago, it provides the fundamentals to armchair theologians showing the illogical outcomes of the sede position.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase

Recommended to me

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2016

My expert traditional Roman Catholic friend said this book will save me from the "slippery slope to sedevacantism." I haven't started reading yet but looking forward to it.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Vagabond of Letters

4.0 out of 5 stars

Doesn't refute Benevacantism

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2020

7.5/10. Decisive refutation of traditional sedevacantism. Overwritten and repetitive, the book could have been edited down to 400 pages with little loss (and great improvement in the typography). There's not enough addressing - virtually none outside of the... See more

Helpful

Paul Folbrecht

5.0 out of 5 stars

I'm so glad I did not

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2016

I nearly skipped (or indefinitely deferred) this book. I'm so glad I did not. If you are tempted to pass on True Or False Pope? because you think you understand the sedevacantist error well enough, the first thing you should know is that virtually all of the... See more

30 people found this helpful"
Bible verses on walking blamelessly with God, after being forgiven from our former sins. Some verses here: https://dailyverses.net/blameless

"[2] He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:[3] He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.(Psalm 14)

"[2] For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."(James 3)

"[14] And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; [15] That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Phil 2:14-15)

GiftOfGod

Quote from: GiftOfGod on October 18, 2021, 07:02:01 PM
Quote from: GiftOfGod on May 19, 2021, 09:00:31 PM
Quote from: GiftOfGod on November 19, 2020, 01:30:05 AM
Quote from: Chestertonian on October 28, 2020, 11:12:18 PMI hate that my 10 year old son wouldn't even know what an abortion is if he hadn't heard about it at Mass.

The average Russian woman has had 3 abortions. As of 1991, abortion was "the primary method of birth control" for Greek women (I do not know of an updated statistic). Many "Orthodox" women have abortions. Very few traditional Catholic women have abortions. By their fruits, you shall know them.

I'm concerned that you don't think that your children should know about it being government policy to allow women to have doctors rip 60 million infants out of their wombs, causing the infant's souls to be cast straight to Hell (Limbo); never, ever having the chance to see God. Your beef with traditional Catholicism seems political, frankly, judging by your use of the communist buzzword "reactionary".

In charity, please watch these videos before dragging your family to Hell with you:

Greek "Orthodox" Gregory Palamas Is Not A Saint & He Was Condemned Before Vatican II
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTQbU1kqxFM[/yt]

Did St. Paul Really Rebuke St. Peter In Galatians 2?
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxDvhDIiVc0[/yt]

The Bible Proves The Papacy
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KV6PXSODgE[/yt]

Jay Dyer Exposed & Palamism Refuted
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRLOQUnw-FY[/yt]

Eastern "Orthodoxy" Exposed: Their Heretical Doctrine Of God
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d07mgLoOW8g[/yt]

Eastern "Orthodoxy's" Fatal Flaw On Bishops & Ecumenical Councils
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_35whxfeY2I[/yt]

The Trinity & The Filioque: Catholicism Refutes Eastern "Orthodoxy"
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rrzo55G364[/yt]

God's Eternity & Immutability – Denied By Eastern "Orthodox" Speakers
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpBWkxJNL3s[/yt]

New video: The Real History Of "Orthodoxy"



St. Gregory Nazianzen Refutes "Orthodoxy" On The Papacy
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNuRAC1WuzI[/yt]


New video: Catholic vs. "Orthodox" On The Transfiguration Light (Leo, Maximus)
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NO2ldWhT9s[/yt]

This video is old but I missed it when posting the others:

St. Athanasius & John 16 Prove The Filioque
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbEzyAlvTaw[/yt]
Quote from: Maximilian on December 30, 2021, 11:15:48 AM
Quote from: Goldfinch on December 30, 2021, 10:36:10 AM
Quote from: Innocent Smith on December 30, 2021, 10:25:55 AM
If attending Mass, the ordinary form as celebrated everyday around the world be sinful, then the Church no longer exists. Period.
Rather, if the NOM were the lex credendi of the Church, then the Church would no longer exist. However, the true mass and the true sacraments still exist and will hold the candle of faith until Our Lord steps in to restore His Bride to her glory.
We could compare ourselves to the Catholics in England at the time of the Reformation. Was it sinful for them to attend Cranmer's service?
We have to remind ourselves that all the machinery of the "Church" continued in place. They had priests, bishops, churches, cathedrals. But all of them were using the new "Book of Common Prayer" instead of the Catholic Mass. Ordinary lay people could see with their own eyes an enormous entity that called itself the "Church," but did the true Church still exist in that situation? Meanwhile, in small hiding places in certain homes were a handful of true priests offering the true Mass at the risk of imprisonment, torture and death.


lauermar

#251
I have a humorous anecdote that killed my curiosity about the Serbian Orthodox chapel just down the road from my home. It's beautiful to look at, and they have a reverent liturgy.

One local visitor, an elderly widow about my age, loves to go there but wants to return only with her brother. Read her review on google. Here's a snapshot:

Gordana Nastali
Local Guide·170 reviews·103 photos
3 years ago
"Churches beautiful the grounds are gorgeous friendly people in the kitchen had a great meal the only problem I had as men pestering me they assumed I was not married because I was alone and they were looking find a way to stay in United States by any means possible this is not the first time it happened to me it didn't matter that I'm over 60 years old they keep pushing I don't think I'll ever go there again by myself I'll make sure that I go with my brother but boy is it beautiful."
_________________________________

I showed the above review to my husband. He chuckled and said that it reminded him of a bar scene in "Looking For Mr. Goodbar."
:rofl:
"I am not a pessimist. I am not an optimist. I am a realist." Father Malachi Martin (1921-1999)