Anti-Ecumenist Efforts to Derail the Holy & Great Synod by Protopresbyter Anastasios Gkotsopoulos, Rector of the Holy Church of St. Nicholas, Patra, Greece
An article written about this time last year by Dr. George Demacopoulos, "Innovation Cloaked in the Guise of Tradition: Anti-Ecumenist Efforts to Derail the Holy and Great Synod" has been once again making the rounds through the internet after it was uploaded to Academia by the author. Several clergy have written to me their concerns about this article and the need for a repy to be issued. There is no need for a new reply to be written, for one was issued at the time of its first appearance, which you can find here:
It is extremely important for the clergy and faithful alike to be well-equipped to discern the "spirit of this age" from the Spirit of God and whether or not an article such as this by the Fordham professor is representative of the phronema of the Holy Fathers and thus "epomenois tois agiois patrasi" (following the Holy Fathers). It was to the clergy and laymen of the Church of the Galatians - and not to the hierarchy or theologians alone - that the Apostle Paul wrote these timeless words:
"8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1: 8-9).
Hence, we are all - clergy and laity - co-responsible for receiving what has been passed onto us - without any change or innovation in terms of dogma or ethos. On this rock of the Church's confession of the Theanthropic Nature of Christ and His Body our salvation and the salvation of world depends.