The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

Our Christian CREED tells us very clearly and unequivocally, leaving no room for reinterpretation, that the Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. This confession silences any council, secretariat or spokesperson who tells us that there are several churches.

The Church is One, as we confess in the Creed, but so that there may be no doubt regarding any other group that claims to be a church, the Holy Fathers have left us the condition of catholicity. That is to say, we are one throughout the world by virtue of recognising ourselves as One, distinct and separate, united through the mutual confession and recognition of all bishops and priests who perform the sanctifying ministry received from the Holy Apostles, for which reason we call our Church ‘Apostolic’.

Ecumenicity is the fundamental criterion by which the Church is preserved. Anyone who is not part of the Ecumenical Council breaks away from the Church, losing grace. The argument that ‘they too are part of it, because they once were’ is anti-Gospel, as the Apostle John replies: ‘They went out from us, but they were not of us’ – (1 John 2:19).

Nothing does the devil hate more than conciliarity. If all people were to pray ceaselessly, yet without being united amongst themselves, the devil would not only remain unperturbed, but would even clap his hands…

Without the unity of faith, which we ask for at the Divine Liturgy, prayers are of no value. That is why the devil divides the Church and instigates the emergence of sects, so-called churches encouraged and protected by the laws of the world.

And because the devil mimics everything God does, the response to the Ecumenical Nature of the Church is Globalism. The universality of faith is replaced by the universality of Money. In this way, Mammon will take dominion over the world and demand service and worship as a god.

Today, as never before, the Ecumenical Nature of the Church of Christ is under attack, not from those outside, but from those within. Let us be careful lest, believing that we are serving God, we find ourselves fighting against Him.

☦️ Hieromonk Savatie Baștovoi ☦️