Patriarch Bartholomew is against traditionalistic values: Are the masks off?

On June 18, 2023, the 16th General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) took place in Tallinn.

The organization itself was created in 1959 with the aim of promoting the reconciliation of the peoples of Europe after the Second World War. The ROC was one of the founders and an active member of the CEC until 2008, when it suspended its participation in this organization. In total, the CEC includes about 125 Christian denominations in Europe. The current Assembly was marked by the the OCU being admitted to its composition.

Now, let’s move on to the scandalous statement of Patriarch Bartholomew. It was devoted to the issue of ecumenism in general and the appropriateness of the so-called "good" or "classical" ecumenism in particular. This ecumenism was developed after the Second World War, when various European and global ecumenical organizations began to emerge, designed to establish a dialogue between representatives of various faiths.

It was believed that such a dialogue would promote mutual understanding between peoples and overcome the divisions that arose as a result of the Second World War. The goals were basically good, but the very cooperation of religious organizations began to develop in a slightly different direction. This "good" ecumenism proceeded from the idea of the equivalence of all religions, or at least of all Christian denominations. According to this ideology, no denomination can claim being exclusive and the only true Church, with all the rest being heretical and false. This is considered a disrespectful, intolerant attitude towards other confessions, although, in fact, this is the primary Christian dogma about the Church: “I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.”

"Good" ecumenism

"Good" ecumenism postulated that the walls between confessions, and even more broadly between religions, do not reach to the sky. The image is very beautiful. However, Christian denominations, not to mention religions, differ from each other not in some trifles, but in very significant points. Differences in dogmatic creeds, differences in the doctrine of morality, differences in what constitutes the core of the religious worldview – all these do not allow religious organizations in the context of ecumenism to go beyond simple cooperation on some everyday earthly issues. Moreover, "good" ecumenism goes much further and declares a willing to unite confessions and even religions. Conducting joint “worships” and “ceremonies” is a clear case in point.

Here is what the American ascetic Seraphim (Rose) writes about this “good” ecumenism in his book Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future: “Until recently, it seemed that ecumenism was something so artificial, synthetic it did not carry any spirituality of its own; the ‘liturgies’ celebrated at ecumenical meetings, from large to small, seemed to be little more than a slightly more complicated version of the Protestant Sunday service. But the very nature of the ecumenical heresy – the belief that there is no single visible Church of Christ, that such a Church is only just being formed – is such that it exposes the soul, succumbing to its influence, to certain spiritual effect, which over time should lead to a typically ecumenical ‘piety’ and ‘spirituality’.”

This ecumenical "piety" and "spirituality" is most clearly expressed in the policy of liberalism and tolerance towards any perversions and errors. Speculating on the commandment of love and on the words of the Lord “that all of them may be one” (John 17:21), advocates of ecumenism, including those from Orthodoxy, preach tolerance for such deviations from the norms of Christian morality as LGBT, abortion, euthanasia, and so on.

For example, on January 21, 2022, during the Phanar-hosted so-called “Ecumenical Liturgy for the Unity of the Churches”, Patriarch Bartholomew declared, “The future of the ecumenical movement lies in embracing the ‘light of love’ by incorporating new symbols of tolerance and coexistence into our a daily life that struggles with prejudice and discrimination <...> As we pray here today for the unity of Christianity, let us hopefully move forward on the path to this common cause, which we long for.”

At this event, it was clearly shown what kind of "new symbols of tolerance" they are. Among other religious figures, a certain “bishopess” participated in the “worship”, and her presence did not bother the head of the Phanar at all.

As you know, Patriarch Bartholomew fully supports the current US President Joe Biden, who, despite his belonging to Catholicism, promotes the LGBT ideology, freedom of abortion, etc. Both the American Archdiocese of the Phanar and the Patriarchate of Constantinople itself support this agenda and promote it to the public at large.

For example, on July 9, 2022, in the suburbs of Athens, in the church of Panagia Faneromeni, the head of the Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the United States, Archbishop Elpidophoros, baptized the children of a homosexual couple. It was not some private event. The scale of the event, the resonance it caused, the fame and financial capabilities of the participants, as well as the degree of their involvement in the affairs of the American Archdiocese and other circumstances, indicate that this was some kind of declaration, a loud bid to change the Phanar's attitude towards LGBT people.

Another similar claim was made on June 10, 2023, when the same head of the Phanariot Archdiocese in the USA, Archbishop Elpidophoros, celebrated Vespers at the Church of the Holy Apostle Bartholomew of the US Episcopal Church in Manhattan. At the same time, the service, timed to coincide with the name day of Patriarch Bartholomew, was performed in the church, on which the flag of the LGBT community hangs.

Many have criticized Archbishop Elpidophoros for this action, but he responded that those who condemn Orthodox worship in a church with LGBT flags have no kindness. He also stressed that this is not an accident or a coincidence, but rather a declaration of the Phanar's position in relation to both the LGBT ideology and ecumenism.

In his opinion, “we are celebrating the name day of the Ecumenical Patriarch here, in the church of another Christian community, because His Holiness is the very definition of ecumenism.” In this, Archbishop Elpidophoros is absolutely right: Patriarch Bartholomew is indeed "the very definition of ecumenism." Only now it turns out that this ecumenical life can be “bad” if it is based on traditional values.

"Bad" ecumenism

When the dominance of the ultra-liberal agenda in the ecumenical movement began to go off scale and diverge very dramatically with the text of the Holy Scriptures, with those very traditional values, a backlash arose in many religious organizations – among the Orthodox, Catholics, and some Protestant denominations. These were the voices of those who declared this liberal agenda to apparently run foul of the Christian doctrine of morality, who said that the adoption of LGBT ideology and all other liberal innovations denies the Gospel and betrays teachings of Jesus Christ.

Naturally, representatives of various religious organizations who wanted to remain faithful to the traditional Christian doctrine of morality quickly saw each other as allies in this matter. A confrontation began to emerge between adherents of traditional values from different confessions and adepts of the “classical”, “good” ecumenism, which assumed the promotion of a liberal agenda. In turn, the latter saw in this a threat to their ecumenical efforts.

For this reason, Patriarch Bartholomew, not just as a representative of this “good” ecumenism, but, in the words of Archbishop Elpidophoros, as “the very definition of ecumenism,” attacked the cooperation of adherents of traditional values from various confessions, calling it “new ecumenism.”

“There are some who call for a 'new ecumenism'—namely, a unity of Christian churches around what are labelled as ‘traditionalistic values’. This form of ecumenism inevitably creates strange alliances among Christian churches. Those churches who were once opposed to any type of ecumenical conversation are now willing to participate in this so-called ‘new ecumenism’ that champions traditionalistic values," said Patriarch Bartholomew.

It is very strange to hear this from the lips of a longtime and consistent ecumenist: how can an ecumenist oppose ecumenism, regardless of whether it is “old” or “new”? But the fact of the matter is that adherence to traditional values is the key threat to ecumenism as the construction of a “super-church” that unites representatives of different views on dogma, morality and ethics. That “super-church” that Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) and many other ascetics and theologians warned about.

After all, if we postulate that there is no truth or that it is blurred and scattered across different confessions, then we will strive to unite these confessions into something single, because in this way we will “collect” the truth. If, however, we assert that Truth exists and that there is the Church in which it is contained in its entirety, then we will seek this Church, examine the teaching of each denomination for its compliance with the Holy Scripture and Tradition of the Church. That is, to go in a completely different direction than the one in which ecumenists like Patriarch Bartholomew are pulling us. That is why he takes up arms against the supporters of traditionalistic values and opposes the "new" ecumenism to the "old". “If in the twentieth century ecumenism was conceived as a way of contributing toward a vision of common humanity and common good, then the 'new ecumenism' of the twenty-first century is instead a force for division and destruction,” said Patriarch Bartholomew.

But after all, Christ did not come to unite humanity on the basis of some abstract universal human values, but to divide it according to the criterion of attitude towards Himself: “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Mt 10:32-35).

And the Gospel of Mark shows us another facet of this denial of Christ: “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Consequently, the one who is ashamed of His words renounces Christ. What is the word of Christ? This is Holy Scripture, the Word of God, which contains the revelation of God to people. And if the Holy Scripture calls sodomy a sin, then the one who is ashamed of these words renounces Christ with all the ensuing consequences.

If we say that Christ united people, then we mean that He united them around Himself, around faith in Him as the Son of God. Christ, rather than universal human values, is the center of such unification. However, “his All-Holiness” Patriarch Bartholomew stands up for the good old ecumenism, which ignores both doctrinal truths and moral norms.

At the same time, in order to discredit traditional values, he tries to associate them with the ROC. This is a fairly effective technique, if not for one but. Indeed, the Russian Orthodox Church supported the bloody aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, while speculating on the alleged protection of those same traditional values. The ROC prefers not to talk about the fact that human life is an even more traditional value than heterosexual orientation. Because of this, the ROC has become toxic in the eyes of many people. Therefore, today, in order to discredit someone in the religious sphere, it is enough to simply associate him/her with the ROC.

However, Patriarch Bartholomew managed to make a mistake here as well. Mentioning the ROC's commitment to traditional values in a negative sense, he began to cite examples of "bad" ecumenism in the United States.

“For example, some American evangelical Christians, who had previously considered Catholic and Orthodox Christians as pagans worshipping idols, now appear willing to work with certain Catholic and Orthodox Christians in order to support these values,” Patriarch Bartholomew lamented. It turns out that adherence to traditional values is not only a “Russian narrative”, and this is not at all about the ROC.

What does all this imply?

It seems that Patriarch Bartholomew denounced himself, threw off the mask under which he hid his commitment to the liberal agenda with its LGBT ideology and other deviations from the Holy Scriptures. Now it becomes clear to everyone where he leads his followers. In Catholicism, a real split is now brewing between liberals who promote LGBT and the female priesthood, and conservatives who advocate traditional values. The same tendencies, although with some delay, can be traced in Orthodoxy.

German Catholics, many of their fellows from other countries, and even Pope Francis himself position themselves as adherents of the liberal agenda. They also advocate rapprochement with other confessions up to unification. In Orthodoxy, the contours of the division into traditionalists and liberals also began to emerge. The Phanar, notably its American Archdiocese, has already firmly taken the side of the latter. The Patriarchate of Alexandria has recently been marked by a serious nod to "good" ecumenism. Who will be next – time will tell. One thing can already be said quite definitely: all those who recognized the primacy of the Phanar in Orthodoxy, who obeyed his decisions on the Ukrainian issue (and not only), who put the authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople above the traditional teaching of the Church, all of them will be forced to follow the Phanar in his " good" ecumenism and rejection of traditional values.

The choice is for each of us.