Ecumenism leads to religion of Antichrist, U.S. theologian says
Theologian Fr. Peter Heers described ecumenism as the greatest temptation of the last days and a heresy concerning the nature of the Church.
American theologian Fr. Peter Heers, a priest of the Romanian Patriarchate in the United States, said that ecumenism represents the greatest temptation of the last days and will inevitably lead to the emergence of a “religion of the future” – the religion of the Antichrist. In an interview with the UOJ-Greece edition, the priest explained what he sees as the historical and spiritual roots of the movement.
Fr. Heers recalled that the ecumenical movement originated among Protestant missionaries around 1880, driven solely by practical considerations and worldly interests, and that the Vatican joined the movement in 1965. He stressed that ecumenism constitutes a heresy at the ecclesiological level because it distorts the very doctrine of the Church.
“When it comes to what the Church is, ecumenism is a heresy because it speaks of a divided Church, a Church that contains heresy within itself,” Fr. Heers said. “These ideas extend even to the level of the sacraments – people speak of sacraments outside the Church. But there can be no sacraments outside the Church. All the sacraments and the mystery of the Church are one and cannot be separated.”
According to the theologian, ecumenism will ultimately lead to the acceptance of perennialism, the theory that all the world's religions are equally valid paths to God.
“I think people will come to accept theories claiming that religions bring salvation, that all religions are paths leading to Christ and salvation,” Heers warned. “That is where ecumenism will lead, and it will be the ‘religion of the future’ that Fr. Seraphim Rose spoke about – the religion of the Antichrist.”
The priest emphasized that attempts to engage in dialogue with heresy “on equal terms” are misguided. He argued that the only genuine antidote to ecumenism is Orthodox missionary work, which brings people not a false sense of peace but the truth of Christ.
As the UOJ previously reported, Metropolitan Nektarios of Kerkyra warned that the global system seeks to establish a “universal religion.”
