Memorandum on the reform of the papacy

 

The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate (BCP) hereby turns to the below-mentioned Churches:

 

Belarusian Orthodox Church                                                                Orthodox Church of Greece

Moldovan Orthodox Church                                                                Armenian Orthodox Church                            

Serbian Orthodox Church                                                                    Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt        

Romanian Orthodox Church                                                                Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church      

Bulgarian Orthodox Church                                                                  Eastern Christian Churches of Syria  

Georgian Orthodox Church                                                                  Eastern Christian Churches of Lebanon

 

Dear Patriarchs and Bishops of the Eastern Churches,

 

On 1 May 2011, the Roman Catholic Church has completed her apostasy by the beatification of the deceased apostate Pope John Paul II. The gesture of beatification elevated to the altar of the Church the spirit of Assisi – the spirit of antichrist. By this gesture, the Catholic Church has driven away from her midst the Holy Spirit and brought upon herself God’s curse – anathema – according to Gal 1:8-9: “Who would preach any other gospel, let him be accursed.” Every bishop, every priest and every believer who form a unity with the ex-Pope Benedict XVI, make unity with the spirit of antichrist, and therefore all the sacraments of the Catholic Church are now invalid. So the priests no longer celebrate the Divine Liturgy validly, nor do they administer confessions validly. Without the Holy Spirit, the sacraments are sacraments no longer; by their connection with the spirit of antichrist they have acquired the character of magic.

 

In this apocalyptic time of mass apostasy there is a need for the renewal of the orthodox Christians as well as for their firm unity in Christ through the Holy Spirit. The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate presents here a model of unity and internal renewal of all orthodox Christians:

 

1) Restoration of the papacy

2) Renewal of the believers

 

Ad 1) Restoration of the papacy

The service of the first among the apostles was established by the Saviour himself (cf. Mt 16:16-19; Jn 21:15-19). The essence of this service is:

- to maintain spiritual unity between local Churches,

- to protect the faith and morals against heresies,

- to “strengthen brothers” and lead them to internal renewal (Luke 22:32).

 

In the first millennium, this service protected the faith and morals, inner and outer unity. In the year 1054, a separation of the East from the West took place. The papacy in the West went through various crises. During the pontificate of John Paul II and Benedict XVI there was a collapse; both of them betrayed the essence of the papacy. Both of them became heretics and brought a curse upon the Western Church.

 

On 22 February 2012, the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate turned to You by the letter “A reform of the papacy”. To the possible question of how to implement this reform we answered:

1) to diagnose truthfully the current crisis of the Church and of the papacy;

2) to make a truthful prognosis.

 

Neoarian heresy – historical-critical interpretation of the Holy Scripture and reverence for pagan demons (Nostra aetate) – the so-called spirit of Assisi – has brought God’s curse upon the Catholic Church. The fruit is homosexuality and paedophilia among the clergy and inability to defend the fundamental truths of the faith and morals. It is necessary to separate from the Roman Babylon which refuses saving repentance, and return to Jerusalem. Restoration of the papacy and the transfer of the spiritual centre from Rome to Jerusalem will be a milestone. The current ex-Pope is under a curse and cardinals as well as bishops together with him. That is why they can not elect from their midst a new orthodox and valid Pope. They can only invalidly elect another apostate with the spirit of antichrist. The election must therefore be made only from the Eastern candidates, but just from those who are orthodox (i.e. of true faith) and who have proven themselves in the fight against heresies and for moral values. A candidate can be e.g. a proven monk, on whom the Eastern bishops will bestow episcopal ordination and elect him as the successor of the Apostle Peter. Since the See of Peter is in a state of Sede Vacante, the election can be held immediately; the resignation of ex-Pope Benedict XVI is not a condition.

 

After the election, the newly elected Pope should live in a monastery (in Jerusalem) in unity with a group of orthodox monks with whom he would fight against heresies and moral decline, and initiate an internal reform – the restoration of the Church. Nowadays, the Internet would make it possible for him to manage the spiritual struggle for the defence of faith throughout the world from this enclosed monastery. He does not have to travel anywhere. Papal ministry must be a service of the protection of faith and morals, not a jurisdictional power.

 

Each of the local Eastern Churches mentioned above should have a patriarchal structure. Papal monastery should have at least one daughter monastery in each patriarchate. Apart from the protection of faith, it should also have responsibility for the spiritual renewal of all men’s monasteries in the patriarchate. Jurisdictional power in the local church is exercised by the Patriarch together with the bishops; the papal monastery is not subject to them but is subordinate to the central papal monastery, which is the residence of the successor of the Apostle Peter. It would be ideal if the Patriarch and bishops spent one and a half days a week in prayer and in fraternal community in the local papal monastery. Without this spiritual support the Church representative is exposed to one-sided negative impact of the world. He has no chance to hold up spiritually and is not able to properly discern spiritual influences or to fight bravely against lies and evil. That is also why the bishops of our Patriarchate spend the time from Sunday evening to Tuesday afternoon in prayer (8 hours of intense prayer) and in fraternal community. Prayers and spiritual conversations help to separate from the spirit of the world and to become rooted in Christ and His Spirit.

 

Ad 2) Renewal of the believers

Nowadays, in the time of the spread of various heresies and moral depravity, it is necessary that every Christian, the more so a bishop, should make a clear confession of faith:

1) I accept the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. I believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true Man, who paid for my sins with His blood and with His death on the cross. I believe that through repentance and faith in His name my sins are forgiven. I believe that Jesus, being God, rose again from the dead historically and really.

2) I believe that the Holy Scripture is inspired by God. I renounce the spirit of the atheistic historical-critical method.

3) The First Commandment of the Decalogue emphasizes the worship of one God: “I am the LORD your God ... you shall have no other gods before Me ...” (Dt 5:6-10). Paganism is intrinsically linked with various forms of magic, divination and spiritualism. At the present time, to accept the spirit of Nostra aetate and the spirit of Assisi means to accept the worship of pagan demons. It is apostasy, expulsion of the Holy Spirit.

I renounce the spirit of Nostra aetate, the spirit of Assisi – the spirit of Antichrist – and all forms of divination, magic and spiritualism.

4) I renounce false tolerance of demons that are behind homosexualism, transsexualism and gender ideology.

5) I profess that both happiness in heaven and the suffering in hell are eternal (cf. Mt 25:41).

6) In 1983, ex-Pope John Paul II received Freemasons into the Church. No Mason can be a member of the orthodox Christian Church, because in its essence Freemasonry is dedication to the devil. I renounce whatever unity or form of cooperation with the Masons.

 

Restoration of the celebration of Sunday – resurrection of the Church

This is the day when Christ rose from the dead and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles. All the believers in Jerusalem likewise were baptized by the Holy Spirit. They were of one heart and soul (Acts 4:32) and were in communion with the apostles and Jesus’ Mother Mary. They adhered to four basic principles:

 

a) the apostles’ teaching,                                                                       c) fellowship

b) common prayers,                                                                              d) the Eucharist (Acts 2:42)

 

 

 

How to practise celebration of Sunday on the foundation of these four pillars?

Our Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate puts these principles into practice within the framework of the formation of future ministers of the Church: The formation takes place every second weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in our retreat house. On Saturday there are 5 hours of lectures (the apostles’ teaching) and 5 hours of prayer. In the afternoon, two hours of prayer are devoted to contemplation in common on the seven words of Christ from the cross. Interior prayer has its specific order. Every hour of prayer is divided into three parts, 20 minutes each (see http://uogcc.org.ua/en/letters/?=blog.en&letters=uogcc.ppray.psunday ). Prayers continue from 7:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. In this time there is also the possibility to go to confession. From 9:15 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. we reflect on the truth of Christ’s resurrection. On Sunday morning from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. we continue our reflection on God’s Word related to Christ’s resurrection. From 7:10 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. there is breakfast. Then from 7:45 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. we reflect on the truth of the Pentecost according to a specific prayer model. This is followed by fellowship (9:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.) when there is an opportunity to encourage one another with personal testimonies of faith, to deal with the actual problems of everyday life as well as of the present-day society, to give advice on how to resist the cunning of the spirit of the world or how to perform practical evangelization... This fellowship has its order and a moderator. From 11:00 a.m. to 12:40 a.m. the Divine Liturgy is celebrated. After the Liturgy there is lunch. From 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. we reflect on the encounter of the apostles with Christ at Emmaus and then His appearance among the apostles behind the locked door. At 2:30 p.m. the formation ends and the men travel to their homes.

 

The essence of the formation is practical discipleship. It is based on interior union with Jesus in prayer and in practical everyday life.

We also try to develop ministries in the Church according to Ephesians 4:11-14.

Besides this, every day we stop to pray seven times: in the morning when getting up, at 9:00 a.m., 12:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., at bedtime. The prayer is short (3-5 minutes, see http://uogcc.org.ua/en/actual/article/?article=3847), it includes the following:

a) awareness of sin and calling upon Jesus’ name,

b) a short act of perfect love (Shema Israel)

c) in the span of two weeks seven times a day we repeat a verse from the Scripture (three times); we started with the Epistle to the Romans; some verses are taken from chapters 3 and 4, all other verses from chapters 5, 6, 7, 8.

 

This model of restoration of the papacy and renewal of the believers may leaven the Western Church as well.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

                                                                                         + Elijah

                                                            Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

 

 

                                                            + Methodius OSBMr               + Timothy OSBMr

                                                                                   Secretary Bishops

 

                                                                                                                                           Lvov, Ukraine, 8 March 2012

 

Cc: Bishops’ offices of the Western Church