Does the Russian Orthodox Church Need to Participate in the Ecumenical Movement? (Part I/II)

St. Seraphim (Sobolev) of Sofia (+1950) gives an exemplary defense of the ecclesiology of the Church and on this basis, why the Russian Orthodox Church (and all local Orthodox Churches) should not participate in the Ecumenical Movement. Delivered during the proceedings of the Congress of the Orthodox Churches at the celebration of the Quincentennial of the autocephaly of the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow, Russia, July 13, 1948, on the eve of the Amsterdam Conference of the World Council of Churches. Consider how much has changed since this address as given, and how the words of the Saint have been followed by some, and rejected by others.St. Seraphim is known as defender of the truth of the Church and as a wonderworker. He was glorified as a Saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2016. A beautiful and well-known saying of his reads, “Adapt your life to your Faith, not the other way around.” The book of his life and works: https://churchsupplies.jordanville.or...A brief account of his life here: https://blog.obitel-minsk.com/2021/02...Full text: http://www.dep.church/downloads/StSer...From “Does the Russian Orthodox Church Need to Participate in the Ecumenical Movement?”:“The Russian Orthodox Church has been invited to participate in this ecumenical conference as one of many ecclesiastical organizations, each of which understands itself to be the Church. But we Orthodox Christians confess that, strictly speaking, only one community of true, faithful Christians can be called “the Church,” as established by God Himself for our salvation. To call every heretical community “the Church” is to have an incorrect understanding of the word and to trample upon the dogma of the Church as it is taught in our Faith, as laid down by the ninth article of the Symbol of the Faith.”“The Orthodox viewpoint always defines the One Church as consisting only of right-believing Orthodox Christians. Our Church has never considered heretics to be included in Her ranks, as members of the Body of Christ.”“Members of the Orthodox Church who are sinners, no matter how great their sins may be, are always able through the Mystery of Repentance and with the help of active and saving Grace to become Saints; they can attain to a true and perfect Grace-filled sanctity. But for the heterodox, whether as individuals or as a group, it is not possible to become Saints, because the Grace of the Mystery of Chrismation and the Grace of the Mystery of Repentance are not active among them. Heterodox are only able to become Saints if they repent, renounce all of their heresies, and unite themselves with the Orthodox Church; only then can one include other Christians in the Holy Church of Christ.”“But what sort of Grace is this, which, according to ecumenists, allows Christians of other creeds to become Saints? According to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, the Grace of the Holy Spirit is manifest in two forms: firstly, as an external, providential Grace, which acts in and throughout the lives of everybody, enabling anyone to accept the True Faith; and, secondly, as an internal, salvific Grace, which revivifies, redeems, and functions solely in the Orthodox Church. Undoubtedly, in the previously cited quote by the Orthodox ecumenist, external Grace was not what he had in mind, since when it acts in the lives of Christians of other creeds, and even in the lives of non-Christians, it does not make them Saints. It follows, then, that what he had in mind was the internal, revivifying Grace. But this Grace is either wholly absent in Christians of other creeds or is present but inactive, unable to save or to make them Saints. So neither the one nor the other type of Grace can make heterodox Christians into Saints. Subsequently, it is inappropriate for Orthodox ecumenists to speak at all about either Grace or sanctity in connection with Christians of other creeds.”This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Ch